If ye shall prepare ye shall not fear

Have you ever watched the movie Contagion? Not that great of movie, but it got me thinking again about food storage. If all those people in the movie had food storage, they wouldn't have such a dramatic movie...there would be no killing, stealing, etc. People would be prepared.

So...my new resolution for 2013 is to work on my food storage and I want to invite you to join me!

I am going to do a few things a month so here is January Food Storage for you:

Long Term Food Storage:
Vegetable oil-
2 gallons per adult/year
1 gallon per child/year

So my family needs 7 gallons of vegetable oil for my long term food storage (why start with oil? Because I am completely out!)

I am going to buy mine at Costco. If you know of a better deal let me know!

Short Term Food Storage:

I was told the easiest way to do this storage is to pick a recipe that uses mostly canned goods and then stock up on those items so you can have them for a 3 month supply. So I am going to choose 1 recipe a month and get all the things I need for that recipe to make it 8 times. Why 8? Because if I do one recipe a month then I will have 12 recipes for the year, if I get 8 of each item, I will have a 90 day supply of dinners.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie
1 and 1/2 cup cubed or shredded chicken ( I am going to use 1 can of chicken)
1 15oz can veg-all mixed vegetables
2 cans cream of potato soup
1/2 cup milk (I have powdered milk in my long term food supply or you can use evaporated milk...)
1/2 tsp pepper
2 pie crusts (see below)

Combine ingredients; pour into pie crust. Cover with top crust and crimp edges to seal, put 4 slits on top.

Bake at 375 for 45 min.

Pie Crust

2 cups all purpose flour (long term food supply)
1 tsp salt (long term food supply)
1 cup shortening (long term food supply)
1/2 cup water (big huge drums of water in my garage :)

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.

Roll dough on a floured counter.

Shopping List for 90 day supply:
8 cans cooked chicken
8 cans veg-all mixed vegetables
16 cans cream of potato soup
4 cans evaporated milk (if you don't have powdered milk in food storage)

The rest I already have in my long term food supply! So there you have it...easy as pie (get it, man I am funny). This is actually my absolute favorite recipe for chicken pot pie too, so it is also delicious! See ya next month!