Cookbook Giveaway: Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook

I’m giving away a copy of the “Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook” by Peggy Layton (Prima Publishing).

  The past few weeks have shown us how quickly our lives can be disrupted by circumstances out of our control. Coronavirus? Earthquakes? What’s next?

  Sure, we all wish we’d done more prepper stuff a few months ago when there was no emergency. But, better late than never! This book gives advice for everything you need to know to keep your family safe during a crisis — from making a 72-hour kit, sanitation, to how to organize and build up a stockpile of food, and lots of recipes using food storage items like wheat, beans, dried egg powder, and powdered milk.

  The book is written by Peggy Layton, a home economist from Manti, Utah, who has written five self-published books on home food storage and cooking. It’s a paperback book, with black-and-white photos and lots of checklists.

   I’m guessing that many of you — like me — spent some this past week looking through your cupboards and basement shelves to see just what supplies you have on hand. I was really grateful for the extra rolls of toilet paper I bought at Costco last year, when nobody could accuse me of hoarding! And I discovered I have literally TONS of whole wheat, beans and powdered milk that need to be used. They say that wheat has a long shelf life, and now we will find out if that’s true.

   Thanks to Peggy Layton’s book, I found out I can grind some of those beans into flour. And I might even try making her Pinto Bean Fudge!

  – No yeast? There are directions for making your own sourdough starter.

  – If you have wheat but not wheat grinder, there’s a good recipe for making whole wheat blender pancakes.

  – If your powdered milk gets all clumpy when you reconstitute it, the book recommends mixing it in the blender.

  Here’s a recipe from the book. In order to win a copy of the book, leave me a comment telling us your favorite food storage recipe, if you have one. If not, just say hello!

  WHOLE WHEAT BLENDER PANCAKES

  1 ½ cups milk (or 3/8 cup powdered milk reconstituted with 1 ½ cups water

  1 ½ cups whole wheat

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 eggs (or 5 tablespoons dried whole egg powder, reconstituted with 5 tablespoons water)

3 tablespoons melted butter (or 3 tablespoons butter powder, reconstituted with a few drops water)

½ teaspoon salt

First put the milk in the blender, then add the whole wheat a little at a time through the hole in the top of the bender lid as the blender is running. The wheat must be ground up very fine. Then add the remaining ingredients until the batter is blended. Oil the griddle or skillet, pour the batter on it in about 5-inch circles. When one side is brown, flip pancakes over and brown the other side. Makes 10 5-inch pancakes.

— From the Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton

Valerie’s Note: I have made a similar recipe, and I find it’s easier on your blender to let the wheat soften in the milk beforehand. Just let it sit for an hour, or even better, overnight in the fridge. In the morning, whir the wheat/milk mixture in the blender until it’s finely ground, then blend in the rest of the ingredients.