Store cupboard - in case of emergency

seasalt_2

I gave away my St0ckli dehydrator as didn't use it enough, although having read about several of you drying your own fruit and veg I am wondering if I should have kept it - can use the bottom of the rayburn though and do for eg wild mushrooms. But didn't particularly like my "sundried" tomatoes or green beans - never tried onions or peppers and don't have top fruit myself or local orchards. Do you just use them in soups/stews etc or could you soak them and then eg use onions and peppers in a stirfry? I'm guessing not?

We only have an under fridge freezer and although I keep thinking I would like a small chest freezer as well - particularly for summer glut of vegetables and soft fruit - end up giving a lot away although nice to be able to do that too - it's powercuts (overhead lines) and adding to electricity use that put me off.

I am very glad of my store cupboard now though - lots of empty shelves in the shop - especially fresh/frozen produce - little or no bread, milk, meat, fruit and veg - as deliveries not getting through.

RAS

seasalt wrote: »

But didn't particularly like my "sundried" tomatoes or green beans - never tried onions or peppers and don't have top fruit myself or local orchards. Do you just use them in soups/stews etc or could you soak them and then eg use onions and peppers in a stirfry? I'm guessing not?

We only have an under fridge freezer and although I keep thinking I would like a small chest freezer as well - particularly for summer glut of vegetables and soft fruit - end up giving a lot away although nice to be able to do that too - it's powercuts (overhead lines) and adding to electricity use that put me off.

I think that if you have a major problem with power cuts the thing to do with soft fruit is to bottle it (canning in US terms).

MAFF whoever they are these days never recommended canning vegetables except tomatoes as they are insufficently acid to be safe. The US seem to have the hang of it however.

I recently borrowed a book from the library that covers a lot of preserving ideas that I had not really encountered before, so fermented turnips, beets, tomatoes for example. Veggies preserved in oil and brine. I am copying loads of recipes as it is the best I have encountered.

I would be inclined to combine that with drying, particularly of things like onion that can add flavour but not bulk to soups and stews.

Nodette

RAS wrote: »

I recently borrowed a book from the library that covers a lot of preserving ideas that I had not really encountered before, so fermented turnips, beets, tomatoes for example. Veggies preserved in oil and brine. I am copying loads of recipes as it is the best I have encountered.

I would be inclined to combine that with drying, particularly of things like onion that can add flavour but not bulk to soups and stews.

Oooh. Please could you let me know the name of the book? I'd be very interested to find ways of preserving things that don't require a freezer (I have a dehydrator already).

At our previous home (farm) we had 5 freezer because we were so remote. Now we have 2 and I'd like to cut that down to 1 or less!

ceridwen

"Preserving food without freezing or canning...."

by

The Gardeners & Farmers of Terre Vivante

(made it - 3rd time of trying - with the timing out MSE is doing last coupla days....).

Think this might be the book.

frugalbrunette

I'm sitting here racking my brains for things to stock up the cupboard for powercuts. Things that can be warmed on the camping stove and I've gone blank. Beans, soup... it'll need to be tinned won't it as all i'll be able to do is warm it up.

Any help or ideas would be fab

Butterfly_Brain

frugalbrunette wrote: »

I'm sitting here racking my brains for things to stock up the cupboard for powercuts. Things that can be warmed on the camping stove and I've gone blank. Beans, soup... it'll need to be tinned won't it as all i'll be able to do is warm it up.

Any help or ideas would be fab

You can do all sorts on one ring !

• Tinned mince is surprisingly nice, just add some veg and tatties
• Corned beef hash
• Dried porcini mushrooms a chicken stock cube and some risotto rice will make a nice risotto.
• Hot dogs with pasta or rice and veg
• HM soup is cheaper than buying tins and a lot healthier
• Sausage, bacon, mushrooms and bean hot pot
• Stir fries take very little time to do
• pkts of pasta with sauce are a good stand by as are flavoured rice and cous cous and you can add what ever you want

Oh and try and get a book on camping cooking it has some great ideas
I think the works has one
(I have one that is over 40 years old and it is great)
Hope this helps x

sb44

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

You can do all sorts on one ring !

• Tinned mince is surprisingly nice, just add some veg and tatties
• Corned beef hash
• Dried porcini mushrooms a chicken stock cube and some risotto rice will make a nice risotto.
• Hot dogs with pasta or rice and veg
• HM soup is cheaper than buying tins and a lot healthier
• Sausage, bacon, mushrooms and bean hot pot
• Stir fries take very little time to do
• pkts of pasta with sauce are a good stand by as are flavoured rice and cous cous and you can add what ever you want

Oh and try and get a book on camping cooking it has some great ideas
I think the works has one
(I have one that is over 40 years old and it is great)
Hope this helps x

Plus if you have a pressure cooker you can cook a whole meal in no time at all on your camping stove.

recovering_spendaholic

frugalbrunette wrote: »

I'm sitting here racking my brains for things to stock up the cupboard for powercuts. Things that can be warmed on the camping stove and I've gone blank. Beans, soup... it'll need to be tinned won't it as all i'll be able to do is warm it up.

Any help or ideas would be fab

Are we due for power cuts?

zebredy

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

Are we due for power cuts?

I was just thinking that same thing.

Its nice to have a well stocked cupboard but I'm always concerned that if I have to much stock then stuff might go off before I get round to using it..

Is it worth stocking up on things like pasta and rice etc, as I have heard people saying the prices of those may be going up because of the flooding they have had abroad, is this true?

BitterAndTwisted

Well, wheat prices have been going up of late but I can't say that I've noticed the price of pasta increasing: Tesco are still selling a half-kilo of their "Basics" penne for 30 pence. Still, if you stock up it couldn't possibly hurt if it's money not earmarked for something else. The interest earned on savings don't make it worth the trouble of hanging on to a few extra quid at the moment.

I wonder if Big Brands For Less are still selling four kilos of risotto rice for a pound like they were around Christmas-time?