99 boxes of Rice A Roni in the cupboard

[iggy]

Just tossed about a dozen boxes of Rice A Roni because they were infested with bugs! These I bought just recently - as compared to the three boxes that I bought over 8 years ago and vacuumed sealed. Totally didn't vacuum seal them.

In prepping for the Handy Man to come and remove the inset range top and it's cabinet, dead microwave above the range top, dead wall oven and the horrible, dirty carpeting on the kitchen floor - I had to move everything to the dining room table. Since my kitchen was upside down, I went into my food storage cupboard to find a meal to microwave (new microwave was sitting on the kitchen counter). As I dumped the Rice A Roni into a casserole dish, lo and behold there were the lil creepy's crawling around. At closer inspection saw the dead carcasses of their ancestors in there too. BLEH. Sigh, change of menu ~ Pasta Roni. Dumped a box of Fettuccine Alfredo into a same casserole dish, again with the bugs!! Dumped the four boxes of them. ARGH!

The moral of this story is: NO more boxed dinners where the rice/ pasta is loose. Hamburger/ Tuna Helper has the pasta in plastic.

Just opened one of the Rice A Roni's that was vacuumed sealed - bugs!!! Double ARGH! OK - since we really like Rice A Roni, and I like the simplicity of cooking it- IF it goes on sale for a fantastic price - guess it will need to be emptied into a vacuum seal bag with it's packet of seasoning and the flavor written on the outside of the bag. Then make photocopies of the directions and keep in my 3-ring binder cookbook.

Think I paid $0.88 a box. Need to stock up on more Rice/Pasta Sides in the envelopes, only have about three of them left.

I had been buying jars of pasta sauces: Alfredo, Cheddar, etc. BUT they just don't store for very long AND one jar is way too much for me. Hubby really doesn't like pasta. He likes the cheesy sauces over cooked veggies or even on mashed potatoes. I had been veering away from dehydrated 'cause if there is no water then how to you cook 'em? Well, we don't like frozen green beans, seems they just never get cooked enough. The water from the canned green beans used in place of the water for the envelope of dry cheese sauces works great. Oh, yeah - they call for milk. Well I use evaporated milk, add the green bean water and presto-chango mmmmmmm good cheesy sauces. Same for envelope gravy mixes. Except no evaporated milk, just green bean water. I use it for the Idahoan brand instant mashed potatoes too. Once I added canned beet water. Pretty pink potatoes. Just don't do it to the roasted garlic potatoes. YUCK!

One of the men at church eats mashed carrots in his mashed potatoes. Well I had 6 cans of carrots. They are mushy as all get out - so I added one can to three envelopes of mashed buttery potatoes - measured the water from the can, added more water to make 6 cups. While the water came to a boil in the microwave, I took my hand blender and mashed the carrots up. Then I added the 3 envelopes of instant potatoes, added the boiling water and again - TaDa Yummy Good Spuds. Fed Hubby and two Missionaries plus myself. Had no leftovers. Oh we had meatloaf, made with fresh ground pork and lean hamburger.

[arbilad]

I think that there is a strong case to be made for having meal sized quickly prepared food on hand in case of disaster. But you're right, the challenge is to preserve it. When we had our huge flood a few years ago, one sister in one of the worst hit areas had food and water stored, but she pointed out that on the first day of the flood, after taking care of keeping her family safe and protecting her house as much as she could, she and her husband were simply exhausted and had no energy to devote to cooking items from their storage.

[iggy]

Way back when I first lived on my own (1970), you could purchase meat entree's in boiling bags. I would pop one of them in the boiling water, add a potato and either fresh brussel sprouts, cauliflower or broccoli. I lived on those. They really didn't cost very much either.

Fast forward to 1999 and I am newly separated from hubby #1, I am on commodities from church and the county of Lincoln in the grand state of Oregon. The meat I got was enough for a family of three - so I made up meals and put them in sealed, boil-able/nuke-able bags, then froze them. The next year I grew my own salad makings. For those two years the two sister missionaries and myself ate pretty well. I also perfected my bread making skills. I sped up the process by making large bread sticks = elongated rolls, rather than loaves.

It is time to start dehydrating vegetables that I can't cook-n-eat before they spoil. Even if it is only a tray or three.

Getting new appliances, new flooring and a brand new super high rise faucet has flipped the get-up-and-go switch in me. Good thing, all this getting things done tires me out at the end of the day and I am getting to sleep before 4 AM. Another Good Thing.

[DMGNUT]

It was years ago... before we were even members of the Church, (but for whatever the reason was, I've always had a strong desire to have ample food storage)... anyway, the wife and I experienced the whole "weevils in our dried, boxed foods" thing.
It was very disheartening, how much we had to toss.
Many years later (as members of the Church), we learned the proper way to prepare those types of food for long term storage, and on a side note (and I can't find the link now), but we also learned that even if weevils got into your food storage, but due to an oxygen free environment or whatever, they died and just lingered there with your food, although it may seem gross... it won't hurt you to eat them.
Having said that, I'd pick out as many as possible, but in a starvation situation,... dig in.

[CurtisG]

We have had good luck keeping bugs out of our pantry by putting grains etc in the freezer for a few days. Learned that on GLO, thank you very much.
BTW, i dont bother freezing anything i will eat soon like oatmeal or snacks. It get used up quick then ends up on the shopping list for replacement.