Mom, Prepared

Ok, so I'm back to food storage!

So, so many of our friends & family are simply not yet ready to start working on their own preparedness... or, sadly, even see a need for it. Our gentlest urgings toward doing something as small as buying a bag of beans & rice can easily be met with a cold shoulder... amirite?

I know this has been the case for me. I am one to care more about getting my loved ones prepared, than whether or not I'm bugging them (shocker!).. and believe me: If I had the money, I'd buy everyone a case of freeze dried food for Christmas! :D

But, I don't have that kind of money. Few of us do.

Despite this, there is still a way that we can add to others' food storage in a sneaky (or maybe, not-so-sneaky) way:

Meals in a Jar (or a Bag)

Probably, most of us have seen or received some version of this, or other, over the course of our lifetime. Often, people will make these delightful gifts with some 'sweet' recipe - cookies, cake, brownies, what-have-ya.

But you may or may not have seen regular ol' meals in them. I hadn't until a couple of years ago!

This is a brilliant (and way cute!) way to make sure others have SOMETHING in their 'storage'. Some may know, right off, that this is your agenda ;-) which may or may not matter to you. But a lotta folks won't. Especially if you're already the type to give handmade gifts, anyway.

A Beautiful Gift; A Hearty Meal

These can also be stored (and given!) in mylar bags, prettied up in similar fashion, altho, if you don't already have the bags & such, it might not be as economical to do it that way. Indeed, you'd have to invest in the jars, too, if you don't already have those. But canning jars are pretty easy to find this time of year, generally. You can often find them at Walmart, even.

Now, if you have the time or inclination, you are likely to find various recipes for these 'jarrable' types of meals online. Even allrecipes.com has a small selection of these types of soups/stews.

Or you could buy a book or two, filled with several recipes. This was my route of choice, because I wanted to have options. Amazon has several great books on this.. just be sure to read the reviews before you purchase. :D

Here's a little recipe to either getcha started, or get your creative juices flowin'. I found this recipe at http://mawhats4dinner.com/

She actually has a blog here that looks pretty neat, so I think I'm going to check it out further, myself. But anyway, it's at her website that I found the following recipe.

I thought of copying and pasting the recipe for you into this post, but its worth it if you just click the link. She's added pics of the whole process for you, which is neat. Besides, you might find yourself traipsing around her site, and find a new recipe you love! I can't wait to do that, myself!

Merry Christmas and Happy Full Tummies!