pandemic pantry - food, getting it, storing it, baking during lockdown

[MJ5150]

Grow it as a plant in your kitchen.

This is what we do. Always fresh basil in the house. If it ever gets to be too much, we just eat more of it or share some with friends.
We used to make these little Italian cooking packets we'd give to friends. Fresh basil and roma tomatoes from our garden with a recipe card. It's a perfect gift as it creates a nice meal and memories for the recipient, and they aren't stuck with another thing in the house to take care of.

-Mike

 

[charlie monroe]

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Unfortunately the best ideas take up the most space. Here's the guy who convinced me to stop putting onions, shallots, & garlic in the fridge:



There's some basil in our windowsill now, grows far too slow & it's just not enough. I'd use the amount in the video above in one week if I had that much.
I'll have to eek out a spot to 'plant' some basil in water.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I've started baking bread. Other than the fact that it ends up too flat, it's delicious.

 

[Tom Bomb]

Needing to prep one kilo of raw organic beetroot, today. I refuse to make boursht — certain to trigger chilling, unsavory memories of a cull-inary nature I'm sure though, if done right, it'd be worth a shot. No blood on my hands I won't be going there, this time 'round, not without rubber gloves

No doubt, this could get messy, again. Looks like simply washing and then boiling's the way to go. Last time, I just roasted 'em. That went over a treat but they were still a bit on the firm side when all the rest was done to a tee. Don't see why I can't do both. I always par-boil the carrots and the spuds, before roasting. We have a big fat chook in the freezer … Just thinking out loud. Looks like we're in for a treat, and no mistake

Also have some organic celery — last thing I want to do is roast that. Wholly guacamole! Entrée, moo Along with the celery, the salad greens, and the organic cacao in the diet, I'm topping up our nitric oxide fuel levels here enthusiastically, as best I can. Still humming along to that tune, hard to beet … So far so good

Celery does kick it up nicely, without any roasting. But, the carrots, spuds, pumpkin, and the garlic, is far from safe. And there will be onion. That'll fix 'em, along with some Moroccan spices (and a boatload of gravy)

​

 

[Boogiepop]

For a variety of reasons, some of which I can't go into here, I find myself unwilling to let go of my "crazy stash". I keep adding to it, too: latest was a half dozen cans of long-term-storage butter and a case of #10 cans of Mountain House pilot bread.

B.

 

[Boogiepop]

i thought we might want a place to talk about the issues, pitfalls and successes of food, pantry staples and drink during stay-at-home, quarantine and lockdown. what can be substituted, what we're finding at stores vs online, how you're dealing with picking up and eating restaurant food. storing larger amounts, time it takes to get your stuff and so on.

also a good place to talk recipes for cooking and baking. first time bread makers? need a way to make what you have tastier?

let me start. i eat primarily spelt flour as i'm allergic to wheat but can eat gluten. this has never been a problem - i have 2 brands i eat, while most of the rest process or package their spelt on the same equipment they process their wheat. i've been keeping an eye open for white spelt flour - we like it better - but haven't seen any for weeks. then last night, some 25 pound bags appeared for sale. i ordered one, and i was stoked, but i also have never had more than 5 pound bags, and i know i need to do something to keep it fresh. oxygen absorbers? sealed bucket? i have just over a week to figure it out...

Are you familiar with einkorn at all? It's the original pre-hybridized wheat, and people who csn't tolerate gluten can frequently do well with eincorn. I see that gluten isn't your problem, but einkorn might bear looking into.

We're still keeping our apocalypse stash. Not trusting anything anymore.

B.

 

[pcake]

Are you familiar with einkorn at all? It's the original pre-hybridized wheat, and people who csn't tolerate gluten can frequently do well with eincorn. I see that gluten isn't your problem, but einkorn might bear looking into.

We're still keeping our apocalypse stash. Not trusting anything anymore.

B.

i've never used eikhorn, as i hear from friends that it's quite challenging to bake with. have you found that to be the case at all?

 

[Boogiepop]

i've never used eikhorn, as i hear from friends that it's quite challenging to bake with. have you found that to be the case at all?

We just ordered some from that company you use and will grind it ourselves. It apparently makes a stiffer dough than regular flour.

I'll post results when we have them.

B.

 

[pcake]

We just ordered some from that company you use and will grind it ourselves. It apparently makes a stiffer dough than regular flour.

I'll post results when we have them.

B.

please do post your results.

i hear the rise is different, and the gluten is finicky. spelt, which is halfway between einkorn and modern wheat, makes a much more fragile dough, is very difficult to score after a rise, and it's harder to work with than wheat, but for me it's a must. i add a little barley flour as it has a stronger gluten - and i like barley

 

[Boogiepop]

please do post your results.

i hear the rise is different, and the gluten is finicky. spelt, which is halfway between einkorn and modern wheat, makes a much more fragile dough, is very difficult to score after a rise, and it's harder to work with than wheat, but for me it's a must. i add a little barley flour as it has a stronger gluten - and i like barley

Einkorn makes a soft, sticky dough (it didn't help that we used too much water at first and had to add more flour). Our rise went over the edges of the baking pans and dribbled down the sides...in the oven as well!

We wound up with two low loaves that had to be coaxed out of the pans because of the spillover. Texture is pretty much like bread, snd it toasts well. Flavor is good...actually a little sweet.

B.

 

[MJ5150]

We've started making our own flour. This indeed is fun, and now we can make only what we need.

-Mike

 

[pcake]

Einkorn makes a soft, sticky dough (it didn't help that we used too much water at first and had to add more flour). Our rise went over the edges of the baking pans and dribbled down the sides...in the oven as well!

We wound up with two low loaves that had to be coaxed out of the pans because of the spillover. Texture is pretty much like bread, snd it toasts well. Flavor is good...actually a little sweet.

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B.

thanks for remembering to post and for the pics, and i'm glad it worked out tasty. i'll have to try it. after all, the worse case scenario is the bread won't be good. i can use baking parchment or a silicone loaf pan to deal with the sticking.

We've started making our own flour. This indeed is fun, and now we can make only what we need.

-Mike

what are you using to mill it?

 

[MJ5150]

what are you using to mill it?

A Vitamix using the small eight ounce bowl. It works great.

-Mike

 

[Boogiepop]

thanks for remembering to post and for the pics, and i'm glad it worked out tasty. i'll have to try it. after all, the worse case scenario is the bread won't be good. i can use baking parchment or a silicone loaf pan to deal with the sticking.



what are you using to mill it?

We used a Wonder Mill electric miller. Unfortunately, I messed up the volume I ground and wound up breaking the mill.

Expensive bread.

B.

 

[pcake]

We used a Wonder Mill electric miller. Unfortunately, I messed up the volume I ground and wound up breaking the mill.

Expensive bread.

B.

i was considering a wondermill. my husband got a manual grain mill, and it's not for me - or for him, as it turns out.

how much grain did it take to kill it?

 

[Boogiepop]

i was considering a wondermill. my husband got a manual grain mill, and it's not for me - or for him, as it turns out.

how much grain did it take to kill it?

The mill attaches to a collection reservoir, and I put so much grain into the hopper that the reservoir filled up and the flour backed up into the mill, freezing the milling burrs and maybe burning out the motor.

The instructions say to fill the hopper, and all the promo photos show the hopper heaped with unground grain, so I shrugged and filled the hopper...with unfortunate results.

The Wonder Mill is touchy: you're not supposed to stop the mill when there's grain in the hopper (so aborting a grind is imposdible) and if you do, there's a long and iffy process for freeing up the burrs...which, it is inferred, sometimes doesn't work.

It's a small company with minimal tech support (probably someone's home) and I wound up disassembling the mill to see if I could clear the jam. The further I got into the guts (Wonder Mill has never heard of "right to repair") the more I realized it was hopeless, so I wound up throwing the thing away.

I ordered another, but I'll be taking pains to avoid the pitfalls.

Decent flour, touchy machine.

B.

 

[pcake]

The mill attaches to a collection reservoir, and I put so much grain into the hopper that the reservoir filled up and the flour backed up into the mill, freezing the milling burrs and maybe burning out the motor.

The instructions say to fill the hopper, and all the promo photos show the hopper heaped with unground grain, so I shrugged and filled the hopper...with unfortunate results.

The Wonder Mill is touchy: you're not suppised to stop the mill when there's grain in the hopper (so aborting a grind is imposdible) and if you do, there's a long and iffy process for freeing up the burrs...which, it is inferred, sometimes doesn't work.

It's a small company with minimal tech support (probably someone's home) and I wound up disassembling the mill to see if I could clear the jam. The further I got into the guts (Wonder Mill has never heard of "right to repair") the more I realized it was hopeless, so I wound up throwing the thing away.

I ordered another, but I'll be taking pains to avoid the pitfalls.

Decent flour, touchy machine.

B.

our manual mill is a wonder junior. when i wrote to the company, the reply did seem almost like a personal email rather than a company. in the middle of the first wave of the pandemic, when everyone was out of the wonder junior plus, wondermill hooked me up with a seller who was a very small one-person company and it was an odd experience.

i guess we'll get a mockmill or a nutrimill. i'll read the manuals before deciding. i'd like to be able to turn off the mill at any point - after all, what if we have a power outage while we're milling?

you going to try a different mill?

 

[Boogiepop]

you going to try a different mill?

I ordered another Wonder Mill, but I know the pitfalls now.

We have one of those big, hand-cranked jobs, but I don't want to use it unless I have to, because mounting it is such a hassle.

B.

 

[MJ5150]

If you have one, try a Vitamix. Easy peasy.

-Mike