Gluten Free Food Storage Plan for the Year

I have been working on my food storage for years, buying a little a time and buying a few extras when they are on sale.  I came across this wonderful woman's website at Prepared LDS Family.blogspot.com .  I modified her list to fit my gluten free lifestyle.  I snuck in toiletries scattered throughout different months.  I  also included different options for egg replacers so that I always have different egg substitutes I can use on hand, along side real dehydrated eggs for those in the family that can have those.  I also put flours on the list that would enable me to make Cybele Pascal's gf flour mixes if I needed to, even though I buy Better Batter Flour regularly.  And as for water, I try to buy a case of water a month, and two if they are on sale.  

In these times of job loss and crazy health care reforms,  I feel the need to be more diligent about being prepared.  It would be scary to be caught with my pants down and not enough food.  

The list below helps me to take small steps and think about one week at a time.  I hope that it can help you do the same.  And if you don't have the money to do everything that a week lists, then cut it down and just pick up one item.  Something is always better than nothing.  

Also, I like to go to the farm and do my own pick-your-own fruits and vegetables.  This helps me get a year supply of strawberry jam, and can and store vegetables.  It also builds great family memories!  

Remember to keep this post up on your iphone so you can check what you need to buy for storage for the week.  Be sure to make modifications to the list for your needs and what you cook regularly.   

Good luck to you and getting prepared! Just in case lean times come!

Month	Food
JAN LIST	Focus: Beverages
Week #1	6 tubes of toothpaste
Week #2	24 oz pkg Penzeys Hot Cocoa Mix (http://www.penzeys.com/)
Week #3	24 oz powdered drink mix or herbal teas
Week #4	4 lbs Dari Free Powdered Milk
Week #5	3 x 64 oz bottle juice
FEB LIST	Focus: Breakfast Foods
Week #1	3 boxes gf breakfast cereal
Week #2	5 lbs Mc Cain’s oatmeal
Week #3	2 lbs gf pancake mix and 32 oz pancake syrup
Week #4	8 oz powdered eggs
MAR LIST	Focus: Tomatoes and Pasta
Week #1	12 x 8 oz tomato sauce and 6 x 6oz can tomato paste
Week #2	6 x 15 oz canned tomatoes and 1 jar salsa
Week #3	4 lbs dry gf pasta and 2 boxes of gf macaroni and cheese
Week #4	1 package walnuts 1 package of pecans 1 package of hazelnuts
APR LIST	Focus: Soup/Tuna/Beans
Week #1	12 cans of beans and 2 packages taco shells
Week #2	12 cans of tuna or salmon
Week #3	10 cans of coconut milk
Week #4	3 cans of prepared soup and 1 jar organic pickle relish
MAY LIST	Focus: Condiments/Spices
Week #1	refill spices, 3 oz of dry onions, aluminum foil
Week #2	1 of each gf teriyaki, gf soy sauce, and gf worcestershire sauce
Week #3	2 bottles of vinegar and 1 bottle of hot sauce
Week #4	2 bottles ketchup, 2 bottles mustard, 1 gf BBQ sauce
JUNE LIST	Focus: Grains
Week #1	10 lbs millet flour and 3 bags of potato starch
Week #2	10 lbs rice and 3 bags of tapioca starch
Week #3	10 lbs brown rice flour and 1 bag of flax meal
Week #4	2 cooking spray, 2 toothbrushes and 2 dental flosses
JUL LIST	Focus: Summer Foods
Week #1	2 boxes of gf crackers, 2 bags of chips
Week #2	1 box of gelatin and 2 deoderants
Week #3	12 food bars, 1 box/bag popcorn
Week #4	2 lbs of honey and 2 lbs of agave syrup
Week #5	4 oz lemon juice, 4 oz lime juice, 1 box of egg replacer
AUG LIST	Focus: Fruits and Vegetables
Week #1	12 cans/jar fruit
Week #2	12 cans/jar vegetables
Week #3	8 oz dehydrated fruit and 16 oz of dried raisins
Week #4	6 cans of chilies and 6 can of mushrooms
SEPT LIST	Focus: Meat and Potatoes
Week #1	6 x 12 oz cans of canned turkey or chicken
Week #2	6 cans of canned meat
Week #3	12 pack of soap
Week #4	4 lbs of potato flakes, slices, etc
Week #5	2 x 24 oz spaghetti sauce
OCT LIST	Focus: Oil and Fats
Week #1	6 lbs beef/corned beef/ or jerky
Week #2	24 oz vegetable/olive oil etc, and 1 lb of shortening
Week #3	1 x 28 oz peanut butter/ almond butter/sunflower butter
Week #4	12 oz Enjoy Life chocolate chips and 4 oz baking cocoa
NOV LIST	Focus : Holiday Baking
Week #1	1 x 15 oz can pumpkin and 2 x 14oz cans gf broth
Week #2	2 lbs brown sugar, 1 lb powdered sugar and 10 lbs white sugar
Week #3	1 set of vitamins you take and 2 gf pizza crust mixes
Week #4	15 lbs gf flour mix( Better Batter) or other gf flour - sorghum,
DEC LIST	Focus : Baking Basics
Week #1	2 bottles gf vanilla extract, and 4 oz instant yeast,
Week #2	1 gf brownie mix, 1 cake mix, 1 gf cornbread mix
Week #3	15 lbs gf bisquick mix and 6.5 oz salt
Week #4	5 oz baking powder, 4 oz baking soda and 4 oz cornstarch/arrowroot

GF Sesame Noodles

I found this awesome recipe from The Pioneer Woman and wanted to make it immediately!  With only 7 minutes for my noodles to cook and mixing up the sauce while they cooked.... I made this dish in under 15 minutes!    I love quick dinners and this one was fast and delicious!  If I didn't have to wait for the water to boil it would have been done in 7.  This recipe was easy to tweak and make gluten free!  And I couldn't resist adding some left of chicken that I had made myself earlier this week!  YUM!

Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) package of gluten free noodles of choice ( I used King Soba Sweet Potato Buckwheat Noodles )
1/4 cup of tamari soy sauce, wheat free
2 Tbsp sugar
4 cloves of minced garlic
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp organic toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp hot chili oil
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 whole green onions, sliced

Directions:
Cook noodles according to package directions.  Save 2 Tbsp of the hot pasta water.
In a small bowl combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil, and olive oil.  You will whisk in the 2 Tbsp of hot pasta water right before pouring onto your noodles.
Drain your noodles and rinse with cold water.
Place noodles in a bowl and toss with your sauce until well coated.
Sprinkle with green onions and eat!

2 Ingredient Recipes - Can they really be good?

All of this started with this email from StumbleUpon, 34 Insanely Simple 2 Ingredient Recipes.  I was  curious.  My first thought was, "What can you cook with two ingredients, and it really taste good?"


So I tried a few that sounded good to me....

              I jumped in and tried the Banana Cookies from The Burlap Bag...

This recipe called for 2 bananas and 1 cup of oatmeal.  I just couldn't resist throwing in the chocolate chips.  These cookies were really good!  I was pleasantly surprised.  

Mash up the bananas, stir in your oatmeal and bake at 350˚F for 15 minutes.  Soooo simple! 

8 out of 9 kids loved this.  This one is perfect for little hands to learn to cook.

            Next were the Banana Crackers from Undressed Skeleton...

        This recipe called for 1 banana and 1/2 cup of flax seeds.  After reading some reviews, I decided to go with flax meal because of the health benefits of them ground up over the whole seeds.  Now,  I must admit that I strayed from the recipe in that respect.  It was another mash the banana, stir in seeds and bake for 20 minutes at 300˚F.  I have to tell you, not very tasty.  Unfortunately, no one here liked it.  

          I tried Ice Cream Bread from a Well Seasoned Life... and it was so bad, that I chucked it, and didn't even take a picture.  It called for ice cream and self rising flour.  I used dairy free ice cream and made gluten free self rising flour  by add salt and baking powder and it just wasn't good, at least not my dairy free, gluten free version.  In all fairness, she did warn not to use low fat ice cream.  This might account for the poor translation into a good gluten free, dairy free bread.

           My last recipe was No Bake Coconut Cookie Dough Balls from Chocolate Covered Katie

This recipe called for a scant 2/3 cup of pitted dates, 1-1/2 Tbsp of coconut butter, and I added in the optional shredded coconut. Whirl it all in your food processor until combined.  Shape into balls and then munch.  I wasn't crazy about this recipe but it wasn't awful either.  

So out of the 35 recipes, I found three that really came through ---the banana and peanut butter ice cream from Two Peas and Their Pod , the magic shell recipe - which I think everyone already knows about, and those banana oatmeal cookies.  

 I think I will continue to give those two ingredient recipes some consideration.  

There are some really healthy and delicious recipes out there!

GF Cereal Bars - Rice Free!

I stumbled upon this recipe from the Tessa Domestic Diva.com.  She has a wonderful website chock full of allergy free recipes.  I didn't think I would love this recipe, but my whole family loved them!  I have several kids that can't have oatmeal or rice, so we used quinoa flour instead of oat flour.  We also used our homemade jelly and they turned out heavenly!

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 cup gluten free oat flour or quinoa flour
• 1 cup teff flour (or more oat or brown rice flour) 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup palm sugar (or other granulated sugar)
• 2 tablespoons chia meal or flax meal

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or other oil)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling:

• 1/4-1/2 cup favorite jelly  (If your jelly is very thin like some low sugar jelly’s are, it is ok to add a couple of tablespoons of tapioca flour or arrowroot starch to thicken it up!)

OR:

• Alternative: Simmer on a stove 12 ounces frozen blueberries (or other favorite frozen fruit), 2 tablespoons sweetener of choice, 3 tablespoons tapioca or arrowroot starch.  I also added a few drops of stevia to taste, this will greatly depend on the fruit you are using! Once cooked through and thick, puree with an immersion blender for texture-averse kiddos!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk the wet ingredients.  Pour into the dry mix and blend until a soft dough is formed.  You may add a couple tablespoons milk if it is necessary.  Divide the dough in half.
4. Grease an 8 x 8 pan or line with parchment paper.
5. Place half the dough on a piece of parchment, place another piece of parchment over the top, and roll it out into a rough 8 x 8 square (the dough should be too wet to roll without the parchment on top. I have used plastic wrap, waxed paper, and a Silpat for this job too with success, just be sure you don’t try and bake the plastic wrap or waxed paper!)   Invert the rolled dough into the pan, pressing and smooshing until the bottom crust is dispersed.  Gently remove the parchment.  Spread your filling evenly over the bottom crust.  Roll out the top crust in the same manner, and flip over onto the top of the filling.  Press and smoosh with the parchment in place and then remove when you are happy!  I have also just moved pieces of the dough and overlapped pieces as a top crust…works great too!
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the center is set.

Seed Party

The weather is getting warm and it is almost spring time again!  I love spring!  I have started my seedlings under my grow light and awaiting the warm weather so I can begin to turn the soil to add my plants.

I love starting things from seeds, and my kids love to mess in the dirt and call it helping.  If you want to share that passion with friends, try throwing a seed party.  I found this wonderful template to make your own decorative packets.   Click here for the envelope and then click here for the labels.  To view the whole idea you can check it out here!

I used scrapbooking paper and instead of using the labels they provided, I color copied the front of my seed packets.  I did use their labels for the back, which gives directions.

These would make great gifts to give to neighbors with a sampling of your home grown veggies.  

Hummus Fried Chicken - 2 ingredients!

I saw this recipe in Reader's Digest and couldn't resist making this super simple two ingredient recipe!  Chicken and hummus!  I used my favorite hummus from Whole Foods, a jalapeno hummus because I love spicy chicken.  It is not a crispy hard crust, but a soft crust.  I love this recipe!  It is tasty without all the oily fat calories!

Instructions:
On a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Take your favorite cut of chicken and slather on a thick coating of hummus.  Bake your chicken until it is done.  How is that for a simple dish?  

Great Website for a GF Candy List for 2013

Wanted to share this great resource  My Gluten Free Facts for a comprehensive gf candy list.  I am thankful for a people who take the time to make these lists!  You can also check out their other lists for restaurants and other products.