If you think of yourself as a pretty good cook, there’s probably nothing in this post for you, but there’s probably plenty you could contribute. In our current age of convenience, the abundance of prepared foods found in any grocery store makes feeding oneself, or a family, quick and easy. However, we are now entering the era of the Corona virus, and that means access to convenience foods may be limited. For the first time, you may find yourself without access to hot and fresh pizza appearing at your doorstep, fully cooked meals in a box, or timely grocery delivery. Suddenly, you may find yourself required to cook if you want to eat.
Earlier this week, I found myself tweeting out suggestions as to how to store foods, or what ingredients to use to stretch, or “bulk up”,a meal, or info as to how long certain food items can be stored. It occurred to me that a more comprehensive list might be helpful to my readers, most of whom have a disability, who find themselves cooking, perhaps for the first time. Below is a list of tips and suggestions on a variety of topics. I encourage all of you who think of yourselves as a kitchen whiz to contribute in the comments. The list that follows is by no means exhaustive, but we can all share what we know to help others in our community. Also, this is not a list fit for a prepper. I’m not talking about survivalism here, just offering tips for those of you who may be looking at a box of something in your cupboard and thinking: “Can I use this? “Is this still good?” ” Or, “How do I use this?” There are lots of things you can make with very few ingredients, and it’s always a good idea to have at least some of these items in your pantry, since they last (almost) indefinitely.
Stuff that lasts (almost) indefinitely, depending upon how it’s stored:*
Alcohol. Without comment as to how alcohol may be used to self-medicate, it lasts a long time and can be used for purposes other than over imbibing.
Apple Cider Vinegar and white vinegar: Can be used for making everything from salad dressings to barbeque sauce or marinades, to cleaning your bathroom.
Baking Soda: Don’t use the box you’ve had in your refrigerator for the past year when called for in a recipe. Have a couple of small boxes on hand for cooking, cleaning, and absorbing odors almost anywhere.
Bouillon Cubes: These are tiny little cubes of flavor that are a bit throwbackish, as they were once maligned for containing MSG. They are also very high in sodium, so while they keep well, if you have any special dietary requirements, you may want to use an alternative. One is mentioned below.
Cocoa: Both the hot chocolate powder and the pure cocoa powder. Lots of ways to use either for drinks or baking.
Corn Starch and corn meal: Both keep well when stored correctly, but note that they are not the same thing. You cannot make cornbread using cornstarch.
Corn Syrup: Used in place of sugar.
Dried Beans: Almost any variety, pinto, kidney, black beans, etc. can last for years when stored in a very dry place in an airtight container.
Ghee: A butter alternative, can be stored for long periods because of the way it’s processed. It’s packaged in a can.
Honey: Eventually, honey will harden or crystallize, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone bad. Just gently warm it up, or give it a good stir to reliquify it.
Instant Coffee: Hey, when you’re desperate for a caffeine fix, you’ll drink anything. This keeps a long time, just make sure you keep it sealed.
Powdered milk: Just add water.
Tea: Bags or loose, both will store a long time, keep it in an airtight container.
Maple Syrup: The high sugar content is what keeps maple syrup – the real thing, not the imitation – stable for a long time.
Pasta: Not variety specific. Spaghetti, rigatoni, fettuccini, whatever. Store it in an airtight container so it doesn’t attract bugs, and if it’s not old or packaged badly when you bring it home from the store, it will last for years.
Potato Flakes: Also called instant mashed potatoes. You might want to transfer these to an airtight container if you think you won’t use them for a while.
Ramen Noodles: There’s no telling what preservatives are used in those foil “flavor packets,” but in a pinch, they’ll fill you up, even if you’ve had them for years.
Rolled Oats, and to a lesser degree, instant oatmeal: Same packaging requirements as mentioned previously. Keep away from moisture, and store in an airtight container.
Salt: It’s a natural mineral from the Earth, and you may not need to worry about salt going bad, ever.
Soy Sauce: It has a lot of salt in it, which acts as a preservative, so that bottle you have in the door of your fridge from the one time last year you attempted to make an Asian dish is still good.
Sugar: Sugar really should be transferred to an airtight container, especially if you’ve opened the original box or package, since it attracts ants.
Vanilla Extract: The alcohol content is what makes this substance last a long time. Vanilla extract is an ingredient frequently called for in baking recipes, so it’s good to have on hand.
Rice, both white and brown: Stored properly rice can last a long time, although brown rice lasts only about 6 months, whereas white rice lasts much longer.
Spices: Spices are simply dried leaves or ground seeds, roots, or herbs. They will last for years in a sealed container, but note that the longer you have them, and the more you use them, the less pungent they become, due to exposure to air.
* Note that the vast majority of the ingredients above store much better if they are kept in a cool, dry place. Often, repackaging them into an airtight container will not only lengthen the storage life, but preserve the taste as well. Just be sure to use storage containers that are clean and dry, and have not been previously used for keeping something aromatic, as the smell can transfer.
Stuff you can use to easily make other stuff:
Bisquick baking mix: The original, all-purpose variety is the most versatile. Just add a liquid to a quantity of Bisquick, and you can make anything from muffins to dumplings to biscuits. You can also find a really convenient Bisquick pancake mix that comes in a pre-measured jug, with a mark as to where to fill with water. Simply add the liquid, water or milk or buttermilk, whatever the instructions suggest, and shake, shake, shake until blended. Then, just pour silver dollar sized dollops into the pan and cook as directed.
Self-rising corn meal: Making cornbread is pretty easy, but it’s even easier if you use a self-rising corn meal, because it eliminates an ingredient you may not have on hand – baking soda or baking powder.
Anything in a box by the Jiffy brand: While the cooking directions printed on the box may suggest you add milk, eggs, oil, or other ingredients, when I’ve been out of any of these, I’ve just used water, stirred, and cooked as directed. You may get muffins or cornbread with the dimensions of a hockey puck, but it tastes fine.
Canned tomato paste, or crushed tomatoes: Endless possibilities. Tomato paste usually comes in a tiny can, and usually costs less than a dollar, and because it’s condensed, one little can can result in a very nice quantity of soup base. Crushed tomatoes add heft to sauces or soups.
Better Than Bouillon: Soup is one of the best ways to get a whole lot of nutrition in a very simple meal. Better Than Bouillon is a brand of soup and meal base that is, in my opinion, and as the name suggests, better than bouillon cubes. You can get it in a low sodium, vegetarian, or vegan version, and there are many flavors. It’s economical, easy to store, and there’s almost nothing you cannot make with it.
Campbell’s tomato soup, condensed or not. Sometimes, when you need to change the taste of an otherwise bland dish, such as pasta or rice, adding a can of this soup can work wonders. Of course, it’s a great start to a soup stock, or, you know, a bowl of soup.
Frozen fruit and vegetables: Use your imagination. Veggies can be tossed into casseroles or stews, frozen fruit is great for smoothies, ice cream or oatmeal toppers, mixed drinks, or in cereal. Yum.
Great tools for people who don’t cook:
Stock pot: A big giant pot. Manufacturers often stamp the bottom of cookware with some info about capacity, so check to see if your pot is 4, 6, or 8 quart capacity, just FYI.
Slow cooker or Crock pot: Similar to a stock pot, except that these are electric and enable slow cooking.
Rice cooker: For those of you who insist you can’t boil water without burning it, a rice cooker will save your bacon. Or, in this case, rice.
Instant Pot: Which you’ve probably heard about, ad nauseam.
Bread machine: Surprisingly fun and easy to use, and really puts out a delicious loaf, while filling your home with a glorious baking bread aroma.
Stuff you may not have realized freezes really well:
Butter: Just leave it in the original packaging and toss it in the freezer.
Cheese, block or shredded: If you buy this in bulk, consider how much you usually use before storing. Cut the block of cheese into pieces and wrap tightly in plastic wrap before freezing. If you buy an 8 ounce package of shredded cheddar, toss the unopened package in the freezer, as is, and only take out what you need, as needed. Otherwise, an opened package of cheese will only last about a week in the fridge, depending upon how you store it. If you plan to use the cheese in a dish where the cheese will be melted, such as in burritos, or as a topping, you don’t even need to thaw it first.
Fresh herbs: This is a trick I had forgotten about until a friend recently reminded me. Fresh herbs last a nanosecond, but you don’t have to throw away leftovers. Tear fresh herbs into small pieces, place a few bits in the bottom of each square of an empty ice cube tray, fill with water, and freeze. When you want to use them, toss the ice cubes directly into the dish you are cooking. The ice melts, the water evaporates, and the herbs do delightful things to your meal.
Fruit juice: Do the ice cube tray trick with fruit juice. Fruit juice ice cubes are surprisingly useful.
Panko: If you like to use bread crumbs, you may already know about Panko, which is a more coarse grind, so whatever you coat with Panko tends to come out crispier than bread crumbs. You may have to add seasoning, though, as you may find them bland. Store them in an airtight container, and use as needed, no thawing required.
Tortillas, flour, corn or veggie wraps: Most tortillas are packaged in resealable bags, which can be tossed into the freezer as is. Store them flat, and they will be easier to separate when frozen so that you can just thaw what you need. Gallon sized freezer bags are great for resealing and storing leftovers.
Stuff that’s really cheap you can combine with other ingredients to stretch a meal:
Mashed potato flakes: Can be used to thicken a soup or stew, coat chicken or meat for baking or frying, or add milk, water, cheese, and bacon bits and other ingredients to make loaded mashed potatoes.
Bread crumbs: Whether used plain or blended with Parmesan cheese, herbs, and spices, adding bread crumbs can transform boring fish or even veggies such as eggplant into crunchy goodness.
Corn Flakes: Out of Panko or bread crumbs? Use Corn Flakes. Yes, the cereal. No, I’m not kidding.
Crackers, such as saltines, oyster, or even matzo: There are endless uses for crackers, including bulking up ground beef for burgers or meat loaf, binding together other ingredients, and used in place of bread.
Pasta, including the old standby, ramen noodles: It’s pasta. Enough said.
Frozen hash browns: Unless you bought the kind seasoned with onion and green peppers, they’re just shredded potatoes, and can be used to add filler to soups, stews, casseroles, and so on. You can make potato pancakes or fritters, and then there’s, you know, breakfast.
Pie crusts: Keep some plain frozen pie crusts in your freezer. At the end of your grocery buying cycle, you may have a plethora of ingredients in your fridge leftover from several days of meals. Bake one pie crust and set aside. Throw together your leftovers with a little bit of liquid, and fold it all into the cooked pie crust. Bake. When almost heated through, pull it out of the oven, lay a thawed second pie crust over the top, and continue to bake until the top pie crust is golden brown. Easy way to make your own chicken pot pie, or “impossible pie,” and takes care of those leftovers without the guilt of throwing them away.
The 2:1 ratio:
You may have a package of rice or grains in your pantry that you’ve repackaged, and therefore may not have the original cooking instructions. For most grains, such as white rice, brown rice, basmati rice, buckwheat groats, also called Kasha, quinoa, millet, which is actually a seed, and others, the cooking directions are nearly the same. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add 1 cup of rice or grains, stir, bring back to a boil, cover, and then simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes. There may be slight variations to the cooking time, based upon your stovetop or cookware, but this is a general guideline.
There are lots of great books and web sites on food preparation, food storage, safety, and reuse. If you are looking for more substantive information on long-term food storage and disaster preparedness, I have a few to recommend. Just ask. Feel free to include your own tips or favorite resources in the comments below. We’ve got to keep our head together during this stressful time, and by extension, we must keep our families, communities, and societies in general together as well. In other words, we need to look out for one another as well as ourselves. The minute we abandon our neighbors is the minute we jeopardize our own well-being.
I’m rooting for you, precious humans.
LL