I find that, with the downturn in the economy and as I grow into my role as wife and mother, I have developed a real passion for food storage and emergency preparedness (in case you haven't gleaned this from my previous posts).
But, much like my goals when it comes to my marriage, parenting, finances, etc, storing food and preparing for "what-ifs" are a work in progress. Our food storage and our emergency kits are NOWHERE near complete; please don't get me wrong about this. But, I do have a developing love for this subject, and I figured it would be helpful for me and my readers to follow me on my journey to self-reliance. So, I decided to start a series in my blog on what we have chosen to store in our household, the ways we "prep," and also, our progress (are we meeting our goals, how have our goals/aspirations changed, and so forth).
In my introductory entry, I think I want to talk about one of my favorite things as a sugar junkie: sweeteners. In my opinion, if an emergency ever takes place, or if we need to rely on our food storage for a time, I don't want my food to be boring and bland.
The obvious solution to this would be to have sugar on hand, which we do. We currently have several #10 cans of white sugar, a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff, two 7 pound bags of brown sugar, and a very small amount of powdered sugar (which, admittedly, I don't use very often, and don't keep in good supply). We buy our sugar at warehouse clubs, mainly. I like buying the 25 lbs. bags of white sugar and placing the contents in a bucket you can buy at Lowe's or other home improvement stores. Admittedly, I don't buy food grade buckets (and I should), but we use the stuff so fast that I'm not overly concerned about anything leaching out from the plastic. We also buy our brown sugar at warehouse clubs, and brown sugar freezes WONDERFULLY. It thaws in about a half an hour on a table, if that, and you're good to go. Dump it into a big Tupperware container or something comparable that is air tight, and you're set. I probably should buy some more powdered sugar, but am not sure of a good way to store it, so if anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears. In terms of shelf life, sugar can last for years, if stored correctly.
An alternative sweetener is honey, which we buy locally and in bulk. We are lucky to have resources available to us in our area to buy inexpensive, local, pure honey, and I typically buy it in 3 lb. or more jars. It doesn't go bad easily, though it does crystallize, which you can remedy by placing a jar under warm/hot water for a bit. Honey also has a lengthy shelf life.
We also buy Karo corn syrup. I'm not sure why there is so much hatred of corn syrup, but I have yet to buy into all of the ire, so we keep some on hand. We just buy small bottles of the light and the dark both to keep on hand--we do use it, but not often enough for me to want to keep more than maybe 4 jars on hand at any given time. Also stores well.
Molasses...I keep a jar of this on hand, but don't use it very much. I have heard that the shelf life is poor, so that is a deterrent for me, though I haven't researched it much because, well, we don't really use it.
Agave nectar--just bought our first jar of it, and have not tried it, but have heard that a little goes a long way, and that a small amount can replace sugar in some recipes. If anyone has any information to share about this, please feel free to comment.
Maple syrup is a sweetener that I absolutely adore. I'm talking real deal, pure maple syrup, and this is something that I just recently started using. I use it in lots of applications, but most often, as a glaze for meat, oddly enough. Has a shelf life of a year or two on the shelf, and about six months to a year in the fridge, judging from the research I have done. I have been told that occasionally a harmless mold can grow on the syrup, but you can boil the syrup, skim the skin, and replace it into the bottle, and you've fixed the issue.
I do also store other syrups, like commercial artificial maple syrup (like Mrs. Butterworth, for example), and fruit syrups that we have come across on sale at discount stores in our town.
Jams and jellies are an easy sweetener alternative. They are inexpensive, come in all sorts of varieties, and have a lengthy shelf life. Plus, you can make your own if you're canning inclined or like making freezer jam. Between our jams and jellies, as well as our fruit butters that we have on hand, I would say we have easily a dozen to a dozen and a half jars on our food storage shelves. I canned homemade apple butter with a friend a couple years ago, and it turned out OK, but the majority of our jams are commercially produced, or made locally by a small producer. I really like what preserves have to offer in the way of variety and shelf life, and they can be a very appealing option when looking to add to your food storage without breaking the budget.
I think my goals would be to 1) widen our repertoire of sweeteners and know how to use and store them (like molasses and powdered sugar), 2) to not go overboard in this category seeing as I love jam, for example, and could buy unlimited quantities if given the option, and 3) I would still like to have more white sugar on hand, as well as a better means to store it--maybe keeping some in actual food grade buckets, buying more #10 cans of it, etc.
So, what do you do to make your kitchen/food storage a bit "sweeter?"
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