The Value of Prepping

Some of the readers seem to think that all the canning gets stacked in the closet for when the zombie apocalypse happens. No. That’s not what happens to the jars. We use them. I cook for three weeks and then for one week, we eat out of jars. In theory, that means 10 minutes or less in the kitchen and we have a yummy meal. There are all kinds of heat and eat meat type dishes. Some need barley or rice or pasta added. Vince is on a low carb/watch the glycemic index type diet so pasta and rice have been replaced with barley, which is fine with me for everything except red beans and rice.

I don’t mind keeping my home canned food two years and sometimes three and there was a jar of taco soup I found that was 12 years old and we ate that and we were fine. Don’t do as I do! 🙂

But, it’s been two weeks since I had a kidney stone incident. The first two days I was able to function taking aspirins. Those were the days I was making food for the freezer – some for us and some for a friend who was having surgery. The next two days, I got a few things done but I was feeling the stone. Monday morning early, we went to the ER and it’s kinda been off and on the same for almost two weeks now. I’ve seen the PCP twice, the urologist once, had another scan, had more blood work. I have not felt good.

Having food in jars and in the freezer has been perfect. Of course, I love canning! I love using canned foods because that means I’m emptying jars and can do more canning. 🙂

Yesterday I had a scan and appointment with the urologist at the hospital in Joplin and we got out of there a bit after 12:30. We were both starving and went to Panera to eat. Vince was able to have a salad with chicken and I got my favorite sandwich. As much as I love Panera, it made me thankful to have all the food here to heat and eat.

Here are a few examples of what we’ve been having that involves just heating and eating. I’ve read that for barley, if you cook it ahead and refrigerate it, something happens to the starches and makes them “better” for those on low carb diets. One source I read says it’s best to eat the grains cold and another said they can be “gently heated”.

• Beef Rogan Josh over zucchini noodles (Meat and sauce from jar), sauteed fresh green beans, salad
• Meatloaf (freezer), steamed broccoli, cannellini beans (jar), coleslaw
• Chicken Salsa Verde (jar), Spanish barley (similar to Spanish rice), black beans (jar)
• Red Beans and Sausage (jar), rice for me, barley for Vince, coleslaw
• Pasta sauce (jar), meatballs (freezer), zucchini noodles, salad
• Chicken in eggplant sauce (jar), cauliflower rice, Lima beans
• Teriyaki Chicken (jar), pearled barley, steamed broccoli, roasted carrots

Depending on whether the jars were pints, one and one-half pints or quarts, we had leftovers for another day on some of those dinners.

Tomorrow we will have 15 bean soup, cooked with ham and ham broth. I will make tuna salad and have lettuce wraps with the bean soup. In 2022, I put together 24 quarts of 15 beans mix. I haven’t even used half of those yet so I probably won’t have to make more bean soup mix for at least a couple more years.

It never hurts to have good ready to heat and eat since we don’t know what the future holds – on so many counts!