Kestrel
Flashaholic
We've had all sorts of threads on culinary indulgences here in The Cafe; a recent post on the security of our food supply chain made me instead think about the 'heavy lifters' in my own personal pantry.
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Rice; I could eat rice every day, I love love love brown basmati rice. Have a great recipe that uses my own homemade stock/broth along with a sauteed onion and a few cloves of garlic; easy to make, tasty, healthy, and inexpensive. The only reason I buy rice in 25-lb sacks is that my local stores don't have it in 50-lb sacks.
- Hispanic: Top with pepper sauce & squeezed lime
- Italian: dried Parmesan cheese
- Indian: curry powder & a dash of olive oil
- Asian: low-sodium soy sauce & ?
Potatoes; Cream of potato soup - I have a really good soup recipe that uses about 8 oz of diced bacon (from ends&pieces i.e. a very economical cut), five pounds of potatoes, four quarts of my homemade stock/broth, two large onions, a half-dozen large celery stalks (esp. the center segments w/ all their leaves), pepper flakes & pepper sauce, and a pint of heavy cream; 16 servings (many individual containers going into the freezer), containing approx. 1/2 ounce of meat per serving.
Beans: Many go for canned beans, but my thing are the 25lb sacks of dried red kidney beans (not really into pintos). Soaking for a day or two in the fridge cuts down on cooking times considerably. Beans & rice, always topped with pepper sauce and various perishables as available: fresh tomatoes, green onions, and/or cilantro.
Dried split peas; something else that comes in 25-lb sacks. I have a very good split pea soup recipe that uses something like a pound of dried split peas (for speed of preparation, I do much of my cooking by measures not weight), three quarts of my homemade vegetable stock (starting to see a pattern?), and ~6 oz. of bacon. Works out to less than an ounce of bacon per serving, but lots of flavor for a dish that is close to vegetarian.
Corn meal; I have worked out an /outstanding/ cornbread recipe - can be good for breakfast, lunch, a dinner side, or even toasted for dessert (dribbled with blackstrap molasses). The only significant perishable components are eggs & milk - but eggs do last quite a long time in the fridge, and milk isn't that big of an issue if bought by the gallon & having portions of it frozen ahead of time. My cornbread recipe was originally half corn meal & half white flour, but is just as tasty using whole wheat flour instead of white.
Nuts; did you know that the two most popular "nuts" in the American diet aren't technically even nuts all? :huh: My two stalwarts are almonds & cashews - has anybody tried the Chili Lime cashews at Trader Joe's?
Dried fruit; While I buy the occasional pkg of dried apricots at Trader Joe's, I dry close to a hundred pounds of my fresh fruit every year; mostly apples, plums, and figs. Inexpensive, but unfortunately /very/ labor intensive. It is a great feeling to see a dozen huge jars of dried fruit at the end of every summer; they make for healthy snacks year-round, and a few packages get added to my Christmas gifts every year.
Chili; 56oz of stewed tomatoes, as many pre-soaked red beans as will fit in the crockpot, 1/4 lb of free-range ground beef, two onions, and other minor ingredients. Another excellent dish that has only 0.5oz of meat per serving. The perishable component consists of two green bell peppers - without which chili just isn't the same. :-/
Ramen; well ok, ramen isn't in the bulk foods / staples category, but maybe it should be? As one of my very few processed foods, it makes for an excellent quick soup when fortified with a healthy serving of kale & sauteed onions.
Onions, garlic, fresh apples, and purple cabbage; while not bulk staples per se, they transport & store well, and are indispensable components of my shelf-stable pantry.
Jams: The rhubarb is coming in well again (as usual); the 25-lb sack of sugar I bought this spring will keep me in fig&rhubarb jam for years, at the production rate of 50+ jars of my jam most every year.
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My only significant gap IMO is lentils; despite being one of the all-time best long-term staples, my efforts have not yielded a lentil dish that I like.
Still, I have done well with many other foods above, so feel pretty content all-in-all.
It's always good to go back to the basics; nominations for what keeps you fueled, anyone ?
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Rice; I could eat rice every day, I love love love brown basmati rice. Have a great recipe that uses my own homemade stock/broth along with a sauteed onion and a few cloves of garlic; easy to make, tasty, healthy, and inexpensive. The only reason I buy rice in 25-lb sacks is that my local stores don't have it in 50-lb sacks.
- Hispanic: Top with pepper sauce & squeezed lime
- Italian: dried Parmesan cheese
- Indian: curry powder & a dash of olive oil
- Asian: low-sodium soy sauce & ?
Potatoes; Cream of potato soup - I have a really good soup recipe that uses about 8 oz of diced bacon (from ends&pieces i.e. a very economical cut), five pounds of potatoes, four quarts of my homemade stock/broth, two large onions, a half-dozen large celery stalks (esp. the center segments w/ all their leaves), pepper flakes & pepper sauce, and a pint of heavy cream; 16 servings (many individual containers going into the freezer), containing approx. 1/2 ounce of meat per serving.
Beans: Many go for canned beans, but my thing are the 25lb sacks of dried red kidney beans (not really into pintos). Soaking for a day or two in the fridge cuts down on cooking times considerably. Beans & rice, always topped with pepper sauce and various perishables as available: fresh tomatoes, green onions, and/or cilantro.
Dried split peas; something else that comes in 25-lb sacks. I have a very good split pea soup recipe that uses something like a pound of dried split peas (for speed of preparation, I do much of my cooking by measures not weight), three quarts of my homemade vegetable stock (starting to see a pattern?
), and ~6 oz. of bacon. Works out to less than an ounce of bacon per serving, but lots of flavor for a dish that is close to vegetarian.Corn meal; I have worked out an /outstanding/ cornbread recipe - can be good for breakfast, lunch, a dinner side, or even toasted for dessert (dribbled with blackstrap molasses). The only significant perishable components are eggs & milk - but eggs do last quite a long time in the fridge, and milk isn't that big of an issue if bought by the gallon & having portions of it frozen ahead of time. My cornbread recipe was originally half corn meal & half white flour, but is just as tasty using whole wheat flour instead of white.
Nuts; did you know that the two most popular "nuts" in the American diet aren't technically even nuts all? :huh: My two stalwarts are almonds & cashews - has anybody tried the Chili Lime cashews at Trader Joe's?
Dried fruit; While I buy the occasional pkg of dried apricots at Trader Joe's, I dry close to a hundred pounds of my fresh fruit every year; mostly apples, plums, and figs. Inexpensive, but unfortunately /very/ labor intensive. It is a great feeling to see a dozen huge jars of dried fruit at the end of every summer; they make for healthy snacks year-round, and a few packages get added to my Christmas gifts every year.
Chili; 56oz of stewed tomatoes, as many pre-soaked red beans as will fit in the crockpot, 1/4 lb of free-range ground beef, two onions, and other minor ingredients. Another excellent dish that has only 0.5oz of meat per serving. The perishable component consists of two green bell peppers - without which chili just isn't the same. :-/
Ramen; well ok, ramen isn't in the bulk foods / staples category, but maybe it should be? As one of my very few processed foods, it makes for an excellent quick soup when fortified with a healthy serving of kale & sauteed onions.
Onions, garlic, fresh apples, and purple cabbage; while not bulk staples per se, they transport & store well, and are indispensable components of my shelf-stable pantry.
Jams: The rhubarb is coming in well again (as usual); the 25-lb sack of sugar I bought this spring will keep me in fig&rhubarb jam for years, at the production rate of 50+ jars of my jam most every year.
-----
My only significant gap IMO is lentils; despite being one of the all-time best long-term staples, my efforts have not yielded a lentil dish that I like.
Still, I have done well with many other foods above, so feel pretty content all-in-all.
It's always good to go back to the basics; nominations for what keeps you fueled, anyone ?
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