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Freeze Dried Meals in a Jar: Sausage Potato Soup

January 20, 2016 By ParkerMama 2 Comments

Freeze Dried Meals in a Jar provide nutrition, convenience, and long term storage ability to your food storage plan.   Boil a pot of water, dump in the ingredients, and viola!, dinner is served in record time.

Even if that dinner was made a YEAR ago!

DIY Homemade Freeze Dried Meals In a Jar: Sausage Potato Soup Recipe

Why I Love Freeze Dried Meals In A Jar

What makes Freeze Dried Meals in a Jar so fantastic?  Imagine coming home too tired to cook, and the family wanting to eat…..NOW.  You boil water.  Dump in the contents of the jar.  Stir.  Viola.  It’s dinner baby.  It’s way healthier than fast food, AND at about $10.00 a jar for a family of 4, CHEAPER too.

You are learning to use your food storage, saving money, creating shelf stable, long lasting meals for your storage, and making your life easier.   We aim to please, here at Simply Preparing.

Sausage Potato Soup Ingredients (Enough For ONE Jar)

1 C. Freeze Dried Sausage
1 C. Dehydrated Potato Chunks
1/3 C. Freeze Dried Sweet Corn
1/4 C. Freeze Dried Onions
1/3 C. Dehydrated Carrot Dices
1/3 C. Freeze Dried Peas
6 TBSP Chicken Bullion

plus:

1 TBSP Parsley
1 TBSP Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp Pepper
4 TBLS Butter Powder

These are the ingredients you will add to each mason jar.  When making this recipe, you’ll also need to create a roux to thicken the soup.  I’ll teach you how to do this below. (SO easy!)  But you will NOT add the ingredients for the roux to your mason jar.

Layer Each Ingredient Listed Above Into A Mason Jar

Individually layer each ingredient into the mason jar.  The ingredients listed above are enough for ONE jar of soup.  Want to make 12 jars of soup?  Times each ingredient by 12!

After adding the ingredients for your Sausage Potato Soup to the mason jar , you’ll also need to add an oxygen absorber to each jar or vacuum seal each jar.  Personally, I do both.  By keeping the air out, you will get  least a year’s (if not 5!) storage for this recipe.

Bring three quarts of water to a boil.  Add the ingredients of your mason jar to the boiling water.    While these ingredients simmer, make your thickening sauce.

How To Make A Thickening Sauce (Roux)

( The ingredients for the thickening sauce/roux will NOT be part of what you actually put into your jars.  These are items you’ll need to have on hand in your fridge/pantry to complete this meal.)

From your pantry grab:

1/4 Cup flour

1 C  milk or reconstituted Powdered Milk

2 TSPB Butter or Butter Powder, reconstituted.

Melt butter in a small pan over a low temperature.  Whisk 1/4  C. flour and allow to cook for a minute, whisking constantly.   Pour in 1 C. milk.  Stir until thick and bubbly.

Once Your Roux Is Ready

Next, add a bit of your soup liquid to your thickening sauce to thin it out some.  Then add everything back into your soup and stir.  Allow to simmer for a few minutes before serving with a garnish of  Freeze Dried Parmesan Cheese.  Devour!

Beans And Rice Are Nice

Beans and rice might keep a body and soul together, but they are not going to be able to do much when food fatigue sets in. It is important to stock a variety of foods, especially ingredients for meals that are tried and true family favorites.  That’s where Freeze Dried Meals in a Jar come into play.

Have you ever created shelf stable freeze dried meals in a jar?   What are your family’s favorites?

Filed Under: Food Storage Tagged With: dinner's in the jar, DIY Freeze Dried MREs, Food Saver, food storage, freeze dried food, frugal living, how to make a roux, Meals in a jar, oxygen absorbers, powdered milk, prepper, thickening sauce, Thrive, Toscana Sausage Potato Soup

Why You Should Store Food NOW.

January 13, 2016 By ParkerMama Leave a Comment

I’ve had people ask me why they should store food now rather than waiting to see if a crisis event takes place.    Many would rather have their money earning interest in a bank so that if the s-ever does hit the fan, they have the finances to deal with their new normal.  Having a stash of cash is important in an emergency situation.  However, I believe that the time to get your tangibles is before the crisis, not after.  There really are times when food is more valuable than money.

Store Food

 

How do I come to this conclusion?

* You can’t eat money.  In times of crisis, store shelves will be wiped out in the blink of an eye.  It won’t matter how much money you have on hand if there’s nothing around to purchase.

* Items from your food storage will be highly valued barter items.  Cash stands a huge chance of being devalued to the point of worthlessness.

* Food prices are only going up.  And up.  And after that, they’ll go up some more.   When you store food now, using a variety of techniques, it’s like money in the bank that is actually earning interest in the form of  being exempt from rising food costs.

* A one dollar package of humble garden seeds will increase the value of that buck 20x in the form of fresh veggies, compared to vegetables purchased at a grocery store.  Where else can you increase the value of that greenback in such a dramatic way within one mere growing season?

Nobody can control the economy.  But we can control how it affects our lives.  Storing food is one way to prepare for what ever uncertainties the future may hold.

Do you store food in case of emergency?

*Photo Credit:  Visual Hunt

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Filed Under: Food Storage Tagged With: food storage, freeze dried food, preppers, prepping, storing food

The Pros and Cons of MREs

December 18, 2013 By Guest Author Leave a Comment

Most preppers and outdoor enthusiasts are familiar with MREs. MRE stands for meal, ready-to-eat, and they are most common as field rations for the military. MREs are meant to feed one individual for one meal. Fortunately, these meals in a bag or box have come a long way since hardtack, cans of Spam, and freeze-dried meat. Modern MREs offer a wide range of foodstuffs and now include heating elements, desserts, and beverage powders. There are even MREs made for cold weather that pack plenty of extra calories when you need them to stay warm.

All of the items included in modern MREs make them extremely popular for preppers and outdoor recreationists alike, including campers and backpackers. You might be wondering, though, if MREs are right for you as part of an emergency preparedness kit. Before you run out and buy cases of MREs to have when disaster strikes, it is helpful to know both the advantages and disadvantages of these.

pros and cons of mresThe Pros:

  • Versatility – Modern-day MREs offer a wide variety of options when it comes to food. MREs from the U.S. military offer a great diversity that was missing even just a few years ago. You can now select those with chicken, beef, or pork as the main dish or vegetarian meals. There are also a large variety of carbohydrates like pasta, rice, oatmeal, and applesauce. MREs come in breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices.

  • Heating Elements – MREs now come with some kind of heating element so that you can have a hot meal even if you don’t have access to a stove, and these heating elements come right in the bag. This makes MREs perfect when you are left without electricity or when you find yourself out in the wildness miles from civilization.

  • Sheer Number of Items – MREs come packed with numerous food items including a main dish, side dishes, desserts, energy bars, beverage flavoring powders, instant coffee, and, of course, the customary salt, pepper, toilet paper, spoon, chewing gum, and Tabasco sauce if you’re lucky. What is included in one MRE differs immensely, and no two are ever exactly alike!

  • Portability – MREs can be easily thrown into a backpack or bug out bag. Once you open a MRE, you have everything you need for a meal.

The Cons:

  • The Amount of Calories – Since MREs were designed for soldiers in combat, one meal contains a large amount of calories. Each MRE contains about 1200 calories and that makes it great for outdoor pursuits but hard on the stomach for more sedentary individuals. An entire MRE should probably not be consumed all in one sitting.

  • Weight – MREs weigh more than freeze-dried meals. It is something to take into consideration if you are thinking about packing them around all day.

  • Cost – MREs are more expensive compared to fresher foods and freeze-dried meals. On average, a single MRE costs around $8 to $10, and a case of twelve can cost around $80 to $100.

  • Availability – MREs are not something that you can find at your local grocery store. Special military supply stores or outdoor stores might carry them but they will probably be limited in quantity and variety. Thanks to the Internet MREs are now available from several online retailers. If you order online, however, you will obviously pay more for shipping.

Filed Under: Food Storage Tagged With: freeze dried food, mre's

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