Storm came through yesterday. Knocked out power in 2 minutes and took down trees, fences and power lines. I felt so good knew I had everything I needed. Chuckled when I found out I had dead flash lights that needed batteries. Lol! Always good for a little trouble to let you see what you forgot.
Been there, lol. I don't but many flashlights though. I have those blowup solar lights you can get from Walmart and any camping store. I leave them in the windowsills. Never had a problem with them. Very bright, light, and I don't have to worry about buying batteries.
I strongly suggest that you vacuum seal those spices in canning jars. We tried storing varied spices in a bucket. We opened the bucket eleven years later to find that our cinnamon tasted like chili powder, garlic, onion, etc.
Ural Rider, when you are prepping for as many other people as I am, you cant possibly use enough to rotate properly. I often donate to local pantries but even that isn't enough.
My husband absolutely refuses to let me buy freeze dried food, or anything like that. I've always believed in food storage, but now I have to do it differently. Your videos are the best I've seen so far.
When I started prepping a few years ago I bought a lot of different spices. Enough to fill pint jars. I dry canned them and put them away. My main go to spice is Lowrys Season salt. You'd think it would be Tony Chachere's because I'm from Louisiana but can't handle the heat anymore. But I do have it. I also love Mrs Dash's different blends.
I buy the big containers of dehydrated chopped onion. I get the large stuff because I can use it as is, mash it with the side of my kitchen knife for smaller (minced), and grind it for powder. It cuts down on the space I allocate for onion in the cupboard. I really enjoyed this video. You have great ideas. Thanks.
Breaking this down into 2 videos 1 for your opinions and what speces to use...and the other ON HOW TO LONG TERM STORE SPICES would save a ton of time - our most precious personal asset.
Three favorite spice blends all from Trader Joe’s. Everything But the Bagel (great on bagels and pretty much any Asian dish), Mushroom Umami powder (it’s amazingly tasty and the secret to both my refried beans and pretty much any dish that has mushrooms or beef in it) and “Everyday Seasoning” which is blend of different spices that goes great on just about everything. Honorable mention would go to masala curry powder (from the Indian grocery store).
For me it would be basil. I seem to put it in everything. I grow it every year and I filled two quart jars with dried basil. I actually filled a third quart jar which I traded for a quart of homemade salsa. Most of my herbs are home grown and I grow enough to last to the next summer.
You go through spices quickly! Your 4 month supply would last me much longer. A few things I was very glad to learn in this video was the difference between granulated and powdered garlic and the length of time dried herbs last, it was longer than I expected. Great video as always!
All of my "survival spices" I have vacuum sealed in glass mason jars with a moisture absorbent packet contained within. The more commonly used ones I keep in greater quantities in larger jars, and the less frequent are in smaller jars. In retrospect, I should have left some of the items in their original packaging. Things that are very fine and powdery (cinnamon, corn starch, onion powder, ground garlic etc.) I have found can be difficult to vacuum seal because particles will get sucked into the seal. Be sure to include spices for making sweets or deserts, not just savory spices for meals. For hot sauce lovers, be sure to add things like sriracha power. Also, another great thing to add would be "veggie flakes", essentially finely minced dehydrated vegetables that can be sprinkled into, say, a rice dish that will add flavor and nutrition.
@@olliedynoduck Great ideas! I just saw videos that recommended parchment paper or a paper lunch bag then folding the top (use a little tape just to hold the fold in place).
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve seen videos where they put powdery items inside a jar, place a lid and band on the jar, and then put the jar inside one of the Food Saver canisters and using the Mason jar sealer accessory, put the hose into the top of the canister. Then vac/seal as usual and the jar inside will seal. I’ve seen people use a Food Saver as well as a brake bleeder.
One of the best places I have bought spices is The San Francisco Herb Co. they have some of the best prices on bulk seasonings I have found. And, don’t forget, many common herbs can be grown in your gardens!
Plant you own herb garden. That was you have a steady supply and can even use fresh in many recipes. Many herbs can also be dried for teas. Just make sure to label them if you are unfamiliar with the plants. Some can be grown in pots on window sills You can even make your own mixes as many commercial ones rely heavily on salt which has a tendency to sink to the bottom of the bottle.
I have #10 cans of dehydrated onion flakes, freeze-dried red and green Bell pepper flakes, and freeze-dried cross-cut celery. These, along with dried bay leaves, salt, black pepper and bacon drippings are common flavorings in Cajun style foods. And I have plenty of red beans, black-eyed peas, white rice, freeze-dried sausage crumbles and freeze-dried shrimp and cod fillets, dehydrated okra and jambalaya dried mixes to use with these seasonings to make all sorts of Cajun and Creole style dishes. I also keep a gallon size jug of Aloha brand shoyu (Japanese style soy sauce) in my food storage because I like to sprinkle shoyu on a serving of steamed rice when I am doing a Hawaiian style breakfast of fried slices of Spam, scrambled eggs (from the mix in a #10 can) and two scoops of rice. I have never had soy sauce go bad. Also keep bottles of Tabasco sauce and Worcestershire sauce to improve the flavor of those pre-packaged instant meals from Mt. House, Readywise and other companies.
The only thing lacking in this Prepper's Survival List is a roll of duct tape and a can off WD-40! But with Tabasco, you got it covered. In a spray bottle, it can double as fire ant killer and wasp spray, and personal protection, too. 🔥
@@user-uj3kw5wt3i The quality is the same as any other brand of freeze-dried Bell peppers. Good to add to soups, rice pilaf or to rehydrate and use in omelets.
Store whole spices when ever possible and get a good mortar and pestle. This will work for cumin, coriander seeds, mustard, all spice f.ex. A hand cracked pepper mill and whole peppercorn. A small grater for nutmeg and cinnamon sticks. And toast spices when possible to extract more flavor.
Thank you guys for walking folks through spices, the ins & outs of dealing with them, etc. Totally jazzed about your recipes! They looked simple and delish without eating up so much of our hard-earned food storage inventory! Whewww. Off-topic...Wondering if you have done a video or have info about cooking with cast iron skillets? Thanks a million!
You can cook any thing in cast iron. I have a special one that I cook corn bread in it never sticks. They have a few magazines out for cast iron cooking with great recipes. Good luck 👍
Goofy Roofy, hi yes, I store same type spices in the same plastic totes. Like the sweet spices go together, mainly because I dont want them to start smelling like onions, garlic & taco seasoning. Then all the nutmeg, cinnamon, & sweet spices are together. I haven't really kept all the breakfast foods separated out, with the exception of some bug-out buckets I made. I'll hand those out if people are passing through to help them on their journey, or if my own family has to bug out.
I did an experiment with ordinary bread...i cut some thick slices and dried it out in direct sunlight...put it in a zip lock bag.. .i check it regularly...it is now over a year old and still edible...not to say tasty but still edible....in shtf this is a feasible method to prolong whatever bread you may come across...i would not recommend ot as a long term solution but it could keep a loaf going for a week or possibly a month .
You two are the salt of the earth! This is a superb video for all preppers! It's time to ACT! I'm supposed to be napping but I'm watching your videos instead. We just got a small dehydrator & I'm growing herbs in my earth boxes (currently in our greenhouse) to dry. I have a citrus sage that's outstanding on chicken. If you give me a P.O. Box, I'll send you some of my first batch. I'm going to copycat your bucket idea and add seeds to the buckets (so if I open up a container of parsley, the plan is to plant & replenish). I really appreciate your recipes, too! PS DoTerra sells cilantro & citrus oils that are positively wonderful. I use a few drops of lemon in my chicken noodle soup and one drop of cilantro + several drops of lime in ranch or sour cream. Game changers for sure! There are probably other excellent brands but I'm only recommending DoTerra because I've tried & used them. I also use ginger & black pepper oils in ginger snap cookies. ❤️
I buy spices bulk, even those that I grow. I repackage them in jars and vacuum seal them. The difference in freshness when you open them is incredible. Rain Country Homestead here on RU-vid has amazing tips for vacuum sealing jars with a brake bleeder. They even designed (and sell on Etsy) a vacuum sealing chamber (for use with brake bleeder or food saver) that allows you to use recycled jars and lids they came with. Absolutely brilliant.
I only discovered Goya Adobo powder this year, so maybe it's strange to say that's the one seasoning I wouldn't like to do without. The Creole seasoning you featured is a pretty close second choice. The commercial yeast shortage surprised me as much as the TP shortage, so I have been cultivating wild yeast during the past few months. I confess sourdough pizza tastes a little weird and it's uncertain if I'll ever get used to it. I really appreciate the many recipes you've "salted" into these videos. You are taking the mystery out of using bland and basic foods. I cannot think of another prepper oriented channel who offers that helpful instruction.
There is an Italian variant of sourdough called lievito madre. It's used traditionally for breads and pizza and you can find many recipies on RU-vid. Many are in Italian but automatically produced subtitles in English are widely available.
I can see where the bucket is a great idea, esp to say have a certain amount per number of 5 gal buckets of rice & beans, maybe a breakfast one(cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice) for buckets of oats, pancake mix, etc. especially when you have a lot of food stored. for multiple people Maybe this has been talked about on another video, but as i'm building up my stores for one, I've been thinking of the idea of what I call a "food cell". Basically a plastic tote/5 gal bucket with a mylar bags of rice, beans, salt, spices and a container of fat(ghee,coconut oil), or oats, pancake mix, maple syrup in a metal can, powdered eggs, milk & b-fast spices, so that if I have to cook from my stores, i have everything in one spot, or if i have to bug out, or give some to others, everything is more or less there to make a variety of dishes. Does anyone else do that? Are there pros/cons to such a system? Thanks for the great channel & content, many blessings to you and yours.
@@TheProvidentPrepper Thanks, I will check out her info, I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. My thinking is the beans and rice will last 20+ yars in mylar bags, the ghee/coccnut oil will last that long as well, from what i hear, and so it will be the spices that will fade first. The breakfast cells im guessing will be trickier with the powdered eggs and milk, they're not a high priority on my list so far, so havent looked into how long they will last, along with the other b-fast items. Reason being, I eat what they call a carnivore diet, so meat is my main prep item, I have a couple of freezers stocked up, and have got the stuff to make pemmican, and have been looking into canning meat. I got the beans and rice when things got crazy in Feb, in case meat got to be unavailable or too expensive. Side note, thought I would share after I had asked you about the o2 absorbers when I mas bagging them last week. I was looking them over today, and more of them are more "vacuum sealed" looking now. I guess it was just the amount of air in the 3 gallon bags was more than maybe i had planned for and even though i had 4 absorbers in them, they just needed more time to do their thing. Thanks again
I have something similar to a 72hr bucket that we keep to "grab n go" in case of evacuation (we live in a hurricane zone). There's no way I could pack my whole pantry in time to go. I use 5gal buckets or the 5gal Craftsman totes (I can sit on the tote) and rotate everything out every year or so. You could probably pack your own mix bucket of long term stuff sealed in several mylar bags packed in a bucket, too.
@@goofyroofy we are the same. My husband is carnivore and I am low carb. I went straight for rice and beans. We have 3 freezers FULL of meat. I really want to try to can it all so we don't lose it if grid goes down. Fuel won't last forever.
@@alf287 Hey there, I'm Carnivore as well, although I do have a lot of rice and beans just in case. One thing you might like, and in more recent PP videos I talk about it in the comments is something I picked up from the "Cairn of Dunn Croft" YT channel, although prob lots of ppl do it, and its dehydrating ground beef. His video walks you through the process, basically you cook the meat first, pour boiling water over it & let it soak for a bit to kill surface bugs, mold, etc. and then dehydrate it in the oven/dehydrator. The oldest ones I have are almost a year old and they still taste great, theyre just in a ziploc bag & sit in my cupboard. It's allowed me to not have to get extra freezers, although I have 2 full of meat. I do @ 10 family packs at a time, so @ 25 lbs uncooked weight & it lets me wait till ground beef is on sale and I go refill the freezer. I save the rendered tallow in old jars. You can add it to any prep food you want, its @ IMO 90-95% as good as eating the ground beef in mountain house, etc type meals. Also the tallow lasts forever and saves you needing to get butter, ghee, coconut oil separately. Hope that helps you out, I know it's a game changer for me,(in fact I have a batch in my oven right now and another 10 packs thawing in my fridge as I write this xD
Thanks for the help on what spices to get and how to store it. If possible I would love to have your recipes that you showed. They all looked so good!!
I have actually dehydrated herbs I've grown, although of course I have storebought spices. And I've mixed chili powder myself using ground peppers. Also some other flavoring mixes, using vegetables of several sorts.
Just watched this video and read through some of the comments. I was thinking of anything in glass jars should be fine but could see how anything in cardboard could take on the scent of other items, maybe put those in a ziplock bag before putting in tote? The one reader mentioned how her cinnamon took on other flavors, not getting how that happened? Cinnamon usually comes in glass jars. 🤔
had a midnight snack and started thinking about spices in the future without regular trips to the store. Thank you for the great information Provident!
Salt, black pepper,paparica, onion powder, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. I use a lot of these seasonings ever since my cajun aunt gave me her fried chicken recipe and I tried the same seasonings on pork and beef.
You can make your own baking powder with baking soda and cream of tarter. I wonder if It would be more beneficial to store the two ingredients separately and combine them when you need to use them?
@@TheProvidentPrepper I am doing well laying in all of my main meal ingredients, but I had not yet figured out how to "file" spices, herbs, and other added ingredients that make a meal savory. This was exactly what I needed.
Great video.. very informative on what I need to add to my storage list. I usually put everything in Mylar w/Oxygen absorbers! Salt goes into Mylar as well! I do recommend that you getting Gamma Lids for your buckets... don't screw lids down tight just stack buckets on top of each other seals them up...
So my girls have their own home challenges sometimes where they'll do 1 month no meats... And I try to make them meals that don't have any but still try to give them what they need.. We are a Mexican-American family that still love our carne tacos. So when they are in need of tacos I whip up a batch of soy meat and give it the beef or chicken flavor with those knor cubes or powder... Also I cook my rice with that tomato one. I think some spices I would totally need to have would be salt, pepper corns, knor powders, BASIL, and I'm gonna have to say dried peppers, garlic and onion are big ones too...
I, too, store mostly for Mexican dishes. By accident I found out about the Soya because of my vegan sister. Made for great chicharrones (cracklings)! Now I have plenty of bags for that dish alone. Of course, I have plenty of other ingredients for my Mexican food prepping so having chicharrones will be a treat!
Wonder if this would work ? Could I take my spices ( in their original container), vaccum seal them, then store them in a food safe bucket with a gamma lid? That way if you need a particular item you can just open it up and get the item you need.
Thanks for another great and informative video ! I've started using chipotle power in place of chili powder in some dishes. It has more of a kick, but we like that here. :) We need to store our supplies better. That is a weakness here right now. Thanks for the ideas. I've been buying certain spices in 1 lb bulk, so need to find a way to break it down into smaller containers. I'm with you on the Creole Seasoning. Tony Chachare's is my "go to". Lowery's is a close 2nd.
I use a bunch of cinnamon and vanilla. Also I use parmesean cheese. I was wondering if I could freeze those containers? Tfs!! I’ve learned do much from your videos!
Couldn't live without Tajin. It combines chili powder and dehydrated lime. Great on anything. Sometimes I make bland things like scrambled eggs or mashed potatoes just to use as a vessel for tajin.
pepper, luckily is easy to grind. i ALWAYS suggest that people try to grow some herbs. rosemary, mint, thyme, oregano, basil? those all can grow on a windowsill
We grew up having fried rice or steamed rice for breakfast quite regularly. It kept us full, so that we didn't feel like snacking (junk food) before lunch time. Our dinner was, still is what people generally have for breakfast, ie. cereals+milk+fresh fruits - after all, you don't need to go to bed with a full belly. 👍🏻
I grow swiss chard. Interesting to see it in the video. I really don't eat it. I plant it for a groundcover because of its mixed colors. I don't live far from the Sauers plant. I'm in central Virginia. I can use about 12 spices and have about anything I need. The flip tops break after awhile, so I try to buy screw tops. I do need some lemon pepper, but powdered ginger is close. 🐀🐾
Will, I saw a video from a preper on Utube and he was vacuuming non standard containers by putting a very small hole in the lids and holding his Food Saver vacuum over the hole until the air was pumped out. Then he put a small piece of Good tape over the hole as soon as he removed the hose. Wouldn’t that work with buckets with gaskets? Might take several minutes to vacuum the volume of air out of a bucket.
I'm so glad to see some more recipes! I tend to food fatigue even when the stores are well stocked with a wide variety of foods. If the supply chain is sluggish again this winter, I'll need a number of easy, tasty recipes using my stores to get me through. White Chicken Chili was already on the menu for tonight. On to a new adventure!
@@TheProvidentPrepper I’ve noticed you humbly have never mentioned your book. I am going to order it but would like to know if some of your recipes are included! Thanks for ALL the valuable information.
@@TheProvidentPrepper thanks for the heads up on an easy correction. I’ll look forward to the new book! Please consider including recipes to use our stored goods.
Thank u I live in Britain sm one reminded me about spices I'm trying to replace the ones I had and use a lot and I Nd s few different others two they are dear so I will collect one or two every few wks while I can I didn't kn how to store them ,so thank u for that,I can't get plastic buckets here so I will HV to buy a plastic tube would that still be ok and safe thank u 😊
I have found, over the years, that when I leave food products -- pasta, rice, spices -- in the original PLASTIC containers and packages, after a while the contents take on a horrible plastic smell and taste. Am I the only person experiencing this? I also agree with Bubba, I find that my plastic buckets of spices need to be separated into spicy-type and sweet (like baking) spices because the smells do indeed transfer.
Hi. Help!!! I think I saw a video in which y'all were purifying and saving water in 2 liter soda bottles. But I can't find it. Can you help me? Thanks,
Excellent! Remember, many spices have a MUCH higher antioxidant value than the foods we eat! Oregano, CEYLON (NOT store bought) Cinnamon etc... These should be STAPLES in our diets SHTF or not!
Yes Ma'am & Sir I had just received my shipment of buckets and the extra sealed lids today I had ordered from Amazon... However I'm using them for my flour and sugar, and I do have more on the way for my spices as well. I'm teaching my middle son how to continue to be a Prepper like me. However I am not sure if I am able to reuse jars that once contained spaghetti sauce as I don't like to waste any of the jars since there is a shortage of them. Cause I want to use my pressure cooker and can me some of my tomatoes and vegetables. Anyway may y'all stay safe and healthy.
You can you just want to be careful of what you put in them (my family will use them to re-can tomatoes or other acidic foods) and clean them really well. You can also fill the jar halfway with boiling water and put the lid on to test the seal to make sure it's still good.
You can also use any of the glass jars for dry goods storage. I buy my herbs and spices in bulk, and I use my glass jars to store them. They seem to stay fresher in the glass jars. There is a certain type of bottled spaghetti sauce that uses regular size canning lids also, and it’s safe to use in pressure canners and water bath canners. Happy prepping!
@@ln1273 I buy my seasonings in bulk too and was planning to separate into individual ball jars. I was wondering if I needed an oxygen absorber in there? Or would vacuum sealing the jar be enough?
I do my spice shopping at the stores whose nationalities shop at. Indian grocery stores are best for most of my needs...saffron, cardamom, all kinds of cinnamon...spices I never heard of till I started cooking basic Indian. My families go to rice dish)? Pilaf. Fruit, vegetable, meat. For Chinese I go to the Chinese grocery store. Polish, Mexican, and Korean. Same for ethnic fruits and veggies. Don’t know where y’all live, but you can order online for spices. These places also can boast excellent quality and inexpensive prices. For brekkie, for me, I love chilequiles. Soft scramble eggs, toasted corn tortillas ( no wheat...they don’t turn out right...and any Mexican spices you can think or like.
