Okay, my husband got laid off a month ago, and while we're putting in resume's like crazy (and have several good leads at this point), nothing has borne fruit yet. The day he lost his job, we cut all of our expenses, in an effort to make our savings and severance pay last longer. I haven't been to the grocery store in 5 weeks now - we're living completely off of our stored food (we had 9 month - 1 year's worth socked away).


The problem is.. after 4 weeks of cooking *everything* from scratch, I'm tired. Tired of cooking, tired of coming up with ways to use this stuff, tired of washing pots and pans non-stop (geeez, this kind of cooking tends to dirty every dish in the kitchen!) I need some new recipes that my family will eat!


Anyone have any ideas that DON'T require fresh ingredients? Eggs and milk, I have powdered.. but I can't do anything that requires eggs for rising purposes (powdered whole eggs won't do that). I have lots of pasta, lots of frozen meats, frozen/canned veggies, frozen shredded cheese, tons of flour/oil/baking stuff, lots of frozen juices, etc.


Help!

 

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gumbo requires very little as far as "fresh" ingredients are concerned


chicken and sausage gumbo

1 cup flour
1 cup oil
creole seasoning
gumbo file (powdered sassafras leaves)
1 bay leaf
1 pound chicken
1 pound sausage
salt
black pepper
1 onion (diced)
worchestshire sauce
tobasco sauce


{roux}
put the oil in a skillet and get it hot
pour the flour in it and cook it on med-med/low heat until it gets really dark

add in your onions and cook them until they get soft

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add your roux to a big stock pot with water .. add the rest of your ingredients
cook it for an hour or two

 

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Tell us what you've made a lot of.

 

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Breakfasts:

- Pancakes

- Gingerbread pancakes

- Oatmeal

- Muffins (usually apple/cinnamon, because I have a ton of dried apple chips and applesauce)


Lunches:

- Soups (Tomato, Chicken Noodle, Cheddar Potato, Split Pea, Bean/Ham)

- Sandwiches (Grilled Cheese, tuna, PB&J)

- Tuna Melt

- Shepherd's Pie

- Runzas (My own filling, basically a beef stroganoff filling)

- Hamburgers

- Quesadillas


Dinners:

- Spaghetti

- Beef Stroganoff

- Creamy Chicken Crepes

- Pork Chops

- Tuna Fettucine


Sides:

- Cornbread

- Canned/Frozen Veggies and Fruits

- Breadsticks

- Rolls

- French, White, or Whole Wheat Bread


Snacks/Desserts:

- Muffins

- Banana or Applesauce Bread

- Graham Cracker Sandwiches (Graham Crackers with frosting in between)

- Cookies (Choc Chip, Sugar, Soft Ginger)

- Apple Crisp (made with Dried Apples)

- 5 minute Fudge

- Popcorn/Caramel Corn


Pretty standard fare.. they won't try anything really exotic or unusual. I'd like to get a 2 or even 4-week menu going without too many repeats, because I feel like we're eating just about the same things every week, and everyone is getting really tired of some of this stuff!

 

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Dried beans needs to get worked into your rotation. Ultra cheap. Typically doesn't involve a lot of pots, pans, and skillets. Usually get several meals out of them. Dishes usually don't involve a lot of prep. Very nutritious. Tons of variety.

Possible dishes: red beans & rice (one of my favorite meals), chili with beans, hummus, any number of soups & stews, and you can even make "burgers" solely using beans. India has a term for the latter, but I'm drawing a blank. Closest thing I can think of is falafel, but that's not it. Anyway, here's my recipe for red beans & rice. You can substitute out some of the fresh ingredients if you like:

Red Beans & Rice
1lb small red beans, dried
sofrito, 1 small block (essentially a few tablespoons of a dense tomato sauce that's been spiced--cilantro, corriander, cumin, etc)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 green BP, chopped fine
½ red BP, chopped fine
3 stalks celery, chopped fine
5 cloves garlic, minced or smashed/chopped
1.5 tbsp tobasco
6 bay leaves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 vegetable bouillon cube
½ stick butter
3 heaping tbsp flour
1.5-2lb kielbasa, cut in 1" slices


1. Cover red beans in big pot. Should have 2 inches of water over top layer. Soak over night. Next day, pour off half.
2. Begin to simmer. Add all ingredients except butter, flour, sausage, and rice.
3. When beans are almost done, begin making a medium brown roux in a separate pot with the butter and flour. Mix some of the juice from the beans into the roux to start the thickening process. Then transfer to the big pot with the red beans and mix well.
4. After roux has been stirred, add the sausage to the pot
5. Begin making some white rice.

By exotic do you mean Chinese food like kung pao chicken?

Take a can of beans, pinto, navy, black, black eye peas, whatever, drain.

Put into a food processor, turn it on, pour olive oil into the blender while it's whizzing around until you have a paste, as thick or thin as you want.

Then add, garlic powder, cumin, and salt to taste. I never measure, just add salt to taste, then start with 1tsp garlic powder and 1tsp cumin.

Smear over toast or a flour tortilla or chips.

I think you can even use this with pasta. I'd have to give it a try to iron out the details but that should work.

 

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You could make an easy Spanish Rice and add chicken or really any meat you want. You would just need onions, garlic, a can of diced tomatos, tomato paste, chicken stock (could use water and a bouillon cube), oregano and S&P. Just saute the veggies, add tomato paste, the diced tomatos, oregano, salt & pepper, then the stock/water and rice. Cook the rice according to normal directions. Cook up a few chicken breasts, a steak, ground beef, any kind of pork, etc., and serve together.


I make yellow rice and hamburger (what my mom called it) frequently. Again, saute some onions and garlic in a little olive oil or butter, add tumeric and then stock/water and rice (I also add a few shots of Tabasco). Let it cook according to rice package directions. In another pan, sautee up a pound of ground beef (season however you like) and then add a can of green peas just to heat through. When the rice is done, mix the ground beef/pea mixture in and serve.

 

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What about chili? I made some the other night and used frozen peppers and onions, etc. Just brown up some meat, thrown in the veggies you like, spice it up and wah-lah.

 

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You guys are right, beans are very much lacking from the menu there. I do have a lot of dried beans, just not a whole lot of recipes to use them in... besides refried beans, for the quesadillas.


Thanks so much for the suggestions!

 

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I will try to think of some recipes using the items you're likely to have. I'm still working on putting together our food storage...I don't even have a month's worth yet! I decided to give what we had in Texas to my sister, since I didn't have the room or the money to move it (I thought) and I'm somewhat regretting it now. Our next move will be paid for though so I'm starting over again. My storage consists of meals and then I buy the right amount of ingredients for those meals, and I've tried really hard to make sure I have at least 21 different dinners so that no one meal has to be eaten more than once every three weeks (I do double up on a couple of favorites like spaghetti though). Might be something to consider when you're in a position to add to your storage again

 

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