Food Storage

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Peas – don’t shoot, I’m unarmed!

One reason I have been working to get my preparedness binder in shape is that otherwise I get distracted with side projects. Take sprouting, for instance.  I was reading about food storage and clicked off on one link or another and was reading about sprouts.  A lot of nutrition, a good way to have something fresh and green with your food storage meals.  Apparently pretty easy to add sprouting items to your preps.

I remember a couple of my Mom’s friends who I suppose looking back, were homesteaders. They raised rabbit for food, had gardens, chickens and compost piles.  I don’t think we called it that, they were hippies. When I was there, meal time was very strange to me. I seem to recall everything had wheat germ in it. Anyway, 35-40 years ago were those times, and that’s the last time I ever really had “sprouts”.

So, reading about sprouts, picked up a kindle unlimited book to read and found learning about growing sprouts are often paired with learning about microgreens.  Well, I pay a fortune for pea shoots whenever they are available at my local New Seasons.   I can grow those?!  In my house?

Pea shoots are amazing. Tons of vitamins, far more than the actual peas that they would eventually produce.  Pea Shoots are a nutritious leaf with high levels of vitamin C and vitamin A. A 50g portion (about 2/3 a cereal bowl full) of these tasty greens offers more than half of the RDA for vitamin C, a quarter of the RDA for vitamin A and significant amounts of folic acid.   They aren’t a significant source of calories (only 9 for those 50g), but for nutrition and for varying your diet and preventing food fatigue, And just because I love them and they are expensive to buy, this sounds like something I “need”.

I tried to figure out online why kind of yield I could expect from a pound of pea seeds.  One site selling organic seeds suggested it’s only 1 pound per pound of seeds. The OSU extension office had far different yields. However, I think that was geared towards large scale growing with multiple harvests from each seed rather than indoor 20″x10″ planting trays, harvesting at the base when they reach a few inches.

So never mind I have a lot more important items to acquire first, I decide that I just have to test it myself. A few days pass.  Ding dong!  My box from sprout people arrived!

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(In addition to my pea shoot experiment, I also got a pound of a seed blend for traditional sprouting.) So 1 lb. of this particular pea seed was about 2 1/2 cups, and to do half the tray (as you can see, I got a split tray; that way I can stagger the plantings) should take about 3/4 cup.  So my daughter is excited about this experiment too.  She measured out the seeds and set them to soaking so tomorrow we can “plant” them.

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Of course, there is no way she will eat these. Probably. She might tolerate them in her salad; she does love a salad.  Time will tell 🙂

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I blinked, and the day is over.

I did pretty much nothing productive today. I had intentions to finally get my pantry emptied and tidied and re-organized when the kids were in school, but that didn’t happen.

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Here is where it stands right now. You can see how much space is wasted on non food items.

I am still not sure what I’m going to do about all the lunch making and bento supplies. When they are all binned up, it fills 8-10 of the large ones.  I’ve spent a lot of time and money collecting all these items. And when my son was in kinder through 4th grade, I used it every day. He appreciated fun shaped foods and cheese carving and character meals. Then he grew out of that, and while my daughter was starting kinder when my son started 5th grade, it quickly became obvious it was a waste of time to spend 30 minutes or more on artfully constructed lunches. She barely eats any lunch in general, and refused to eat a cute sammie with a face drawn with food safe markers.  She’s very picky and only eats a few vegetables, so what’s the point of making radish mushrooms or chain link cucumber when she MIGHT eat 2 baby carrots, a strawberry or two and half a jelly sandwich?  She won’t eat eggs or cheese or cured meats in her lunch. She doesn’t like grapes or kiwi or any exotic fruits. She doesn’t eat nuts or dried fruits of any kind. If I line her box with curly lettuce, she won’t eat anything it touched. She won’t eat my sons favorite brunch for lunch with mini pancakes or waffles because they aren’t hot off the griddle/maker. I can’t even make her sandwiches on different types of breads. No rolls or croissants or wraps – even if the filling is the same.

In short, she is challenging to feed.  She doesn’t even like traditional kids foods.  The things I don’t want to make anyway, but have tried out of desperation – no corn dogs, no chicken nuggets.  Only plain cheese pizza.  Even foods she will eat one way, she won’t even try if presented in a slightly different way.   This is not all just pickiness.  She has some genuine issues with food that stem from sensory issues and “overexcitabilities” that are part of her giftedness.  She has a lot of anxieties about new and different things, not just about food.  She is very sensitive to flavors and textures.  Everything seems more intense for her. I don’t short order cook though, or let her limited diet influence my meal plan too much.  I try to include one item that I know she will eat (a lot of the time that is a salad with ranch dressing).  And after seeing a food 2-3 dozen times, she will often finally take a nibble or two.

Well, that got a bit off topic, sorry.  This may give you a bit of insight into how challenging stocking food storage may be for me though!

Anyway, I was super bummed because I was quite invested in my adorable lunches. Aside from the occasional cute food pick or small container for dressing, all those supplies go unused. And it’s been that way for 3 years.  So I am going to have to be emotionally strong and pack that stuff up. Trying to look at the bright side – think of how much more food and supplies will fit after I do it!

So at school time, I stayed to volunteer a bit in the classroom. After that I came home with intentions of attacking the pantry – instead I had a long nap :0

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Im So Giddy!

I was checking out Cragislist, sorta looking for food grade barrels and / or gamma lids, more to get an idea of availability and cost versus buying them new when I was browsing around and came across a listing for canning jars.  There’s lots of overpriced vintage jar ads, but this was different – clearly from a family who are no longer canning, not some re-saler looking to make a profit.  50-some 1/2 pint, 50-some pint, 40-some quart and a handful of 1/2 gallon jars, for a total of 152 jars, all stored in 4 Rubbermaid roughneck totes for only 25$ !!  The totes alone, if I purchased them new would cost more than that!

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I emailed them right away, and they got back to me today.  They wanted to make sure the jars were going to someone that actually wanted to can with them, and I assured them that this is a skill I really do want to become proficient in.  I rushed right over to get them. They even threw in a bag of rings and unopened boxes of lids! A 12 pack of quart jars, new, I haven’t seen for less than 30$ and I’ve see them for 50$ or more on amazon.  Half-Pints and Pints are a bit better at 10-15$ a dozen (but about half my half pints are the decorative cut glass looking ones).

The wife, who had been the canner, looking a little frail and very sweet, said she went through and recycled any jars that had chips or seemed unsafe.  I still will check them of course, but even if a few were unusable for actual canning, I can find a use for it.  (I love me some mason jar crafts)

Unless Santa brings me a Pressure Canner, I probably won’t get any use from my jars until next year, but I am absolutely giddy with excitement to have these supplies that I can fill with food to build the pantry.