Healthy Food Storage

January 15, 2013 The Provident Princess 0 Comments

Wow, it has been a long time. I took a hiatus because I really wanted to think about what direction I wanted to take this blog. I am passionate about being self-reliant and I love to share my interests and knowledge with others. But I want to go about it in a healthy way.

You can store a bunch of mac and cheese or other heavily processed foods. That would help with the food storage and self reliance goal but it is not healthy.

Food storage is a big part of self-reliance. But a bigger is knowing how to grow your own food and more importantly what to do with it once you have it.

One summer I grew 4 yellow squash and 3 zucchini plants. Needless to say we had squash coming out our ears and I had no idea what to do with it. We could only eat and give away so much. I learned my lesson that year. Perhaps if I had had my deep freezer then, I could've cubed it up and saved it for stir fry but I didn't and a lot of food and effort went to waste.

The same can be said if you store a bunch of wheat in your basement but don't have any idea of what you can do with it. It will just be a waste if you don't know the ways in which you can use it.

That will be my focus this year. Growing more of my own food and using all the different kinds of grains I have in my food storage. I will go more and more in depth on this subject but for now, know that I have thought long and hard about how to feed my family. I want especially my growing kids to have the best chance at health that they can and I believe most of that comes from what you eat. And I believe that is eating a plant-based diet. I mean real, whole foods. Not a bunch of made from soy wannabes.

Don't worry. I really enjoy food and good tasting food so I'm not advocating a diet of just flavorless iceberg lettuce. There are so many yummy tasting foods out there just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. And like I had to assure my husband. I am not swearing off meat. Plant-based to me means mostly plants, not all. But I will be using less meat. Instead it being the main part of every meal, it will now be used as a flavoring agent. Think beef stew with vegetables instead of a 12 oz steak with a few puny potatoes or green beans on the side.

You won't be stuck just making bread with your wheat either. Although I don't know if anything tastes as delicious as fresh baked bread straight out of the oven, there is a lot more you can do with wheat and all the grains have different things to offer.

I'm excited to start this new year and hope you all are excited to join me.

Provident Princess