23 Common Spices That Should Be In Your Pantry Now

By Joe on May 16, 2013

5

MRE’s, mac and cheese, powdered potatoes, and canned vegetables are going to get really old, really fast after the SHTF.
But if you take a little extra time to include herbs, spices, and seasonings into your supply lists, you can completely change the flavor of otherwise bland meals.
I don’t always follow the rules and tend to be a fan of the “throw it in, how bad could it be” cooking method when it comes to spices.
With many of the prepackaged survival meals on the market, it would be pretty hard to ruin a meal by adding some. (Which in a survival situation you really don’t want to do.)

Common Spices:

1. Salt
2. Black Pepper
3. Crushed Red pepper
4. Chili Powder
5. Garlic Powder
6. Garlic Salt
7. Minced Garlic (If you can’t tell, I like garlic )
8. Onion Powder
9. Cinnamon (also great on fruit)
10. Bay Leaves
11. Parsley
12. Oregano

Uncommon Spices:

These mostly include ingredients mentioned above and are way too high in sodium, but they sure can turn bland food into something delicious and take all the guess work out of seasoning.

1. Meat Spices ( those mixed spice things that are made for grilling) One of my favorites is Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormicks.
2. Mrs. Dash
3. Cajun Seasoning
4. Chinese 5 spice
5. pickled peppers ( jalapeno,  banana, and peperoncini are my all time favorites)
6. Wasabi Powder
7. Tobasco sauce ( Or my favorite Cholula… goes great on eggs)
8. Sriracha Sauce
9. Balsamic Vinegar
10. Oils ( olive oil is great and can be infused with other flavors for all kinds of uses)
11. Honey (Not technically a spice, but an unlimited shelf life that can be used to sweeten everything from coffee to baked goods is never a bad thing to have around!)

The Great thing about spices is that they never actually spoil. But over time, spices will lose their potency and not flavor your food as intended and you may need to experiment on how much more spice needs to be added.

As a general rule, whole spices will stay fresh for about 3-4 years, ground spices for about 2-3 years and dried herbs for 1-3 years.

What Else?

What other spices and seasonings would you most want to stock to keep your meals flavorful?
http://www.survivallife.com/2013/05/16/23-common-spices-that-should-be-in-your-pantry-now/

Food Storage Meatless Sausage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HReSTeVbaxM

VEGETARIAN BREAKFAST SAUSAGE

Makes 4 Large Patties

1 cup uncooked oatmeal
3 egg whites or 2 eggs or equivalent
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 – 3 cups vegetable stock

This simple recipe was adapted from a WWII recipe for meatless sausage. Mix all ingredients except the vegetable stock and form into four patties. Oil a non-stick skillet or use non-stick cooking spray and brown the patties over medium heat.

Add enough vegetable stock to cover the patties and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove patties from the liquid, drain, and re-brown before serving.

The trick to this recipe is to make the patties properly. If you pack them too tightly, the middle becomes glutinous. If they are not packed tightly enough they will fall apart. If you are not going to use the patties right away, do not re-brown them after boiling; save the re-browning until just before serving. They will keep for several days in the refrigerator.

The following was reported by a reader: Wow! I have to say, I’m impressed — and I’m not a vegetarian, but a typical “pork fat rules” kind of gal when it comes to breakfast meats/sides. My husband and I are innkeepers and fairly frequently have guests who are vegetarians. In a quest to find a substitute for bacon or sausage, I discovered this recipe. I just tried it and was very pleasantly surprised. It actually has a very similar texture as regular pork sausage. The seasonings were well balanced — though I think next time I will add some chopped fresh garlic.

I made them using Egg-Beaters Original. And, just for reference, the mixture is still quite runny when mixed together (not possible to “form” into patties), so I used a 1/4-cup measuring cup — packed them semi-tightly and then “dumped” them into my skillet — slightly flattening them with the back of the measuring cup. ….. After the first browning, I simmered them in the veggie broth on one side for 10 minutes, flipped for the remaining 10 minutes and drained on paper towels. For the second browning, I used a cast iron skillet with a little Canola oil. They came out just perfectly!!

From: http://www.bigoven.com/19411-Vegetar...22-recipe.html

[Your editor tried the oatmeal version of breakfast sausage using Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats. The flavor and texture were both excellent. It appears that with the steel-cut oats, there is no problem with how the patties are formed. The texture will be good, but for a less chewy sausage, simmer a few extra minutes in the vegetable broth. Using extra-large eggs, one egg plus one egg white added just the right amount of binding liquid.]

http://www.rffriends.org/wpx/?p=1276

Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe

My daughter gave me a 5-gallon bucket with homemade laundry soap. In my opinion it works better than store bought laundry soap. And the bestest part ever is its only 2 cents a load!

Here, the recipe:

Laundry Soap

1 bar Zote Soap or Fels Naptha
1 ½ cups Arm and Hammer washing soda
1 ½ cup s Twenty Mule Team Borax
Lots of Water

A bucket to store it in 5gal

Heat 12 cups of water in large pot. Grate the bar of soap and add to water. Stir until soap melts. Add washing soda and Borax. Ingredients will foam, stir until everything is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Heat 8 cups of water and place in 5 gallon bucket, add soap mixture and stir. Add 2 gallons plus 12 cups water and stir. You may add 1-2 oz. of essential oil for a scent.

Cover and let set for 24 hours- mixture WILL gel. You will need to stir the mixture up a few times over the next few hours just so it doesn’t turn into one big blob.

Use ½ cup of laundry soap per load.

I have it in a 6 gal bucket with a gamma lid.

And if you want this vinyl to stick on your bucket... check this out to order.

(go to title, and click on the attached link.)