You’ve heard me harp about food storage for a few months now. I’ve made a couple of things with food storage items, but most have been pretty typical food storage fare. While traditional food storage dishes will keep you alive and pretty happy, there is more to life and eating than bread and BBQ. I decided to branch out today and try a recipe I found on Emergency Essentials’ website.
As a side note, one thing I LOVE about Emergency Essentials is all the information they have on their website. Yes, they sell food storage and related products, but they also have great resources like recipes, how-to’s, and a fantastic blog. I highly recommend you take a look at their website and see all the great information they offer for free.
Back to making food with food storage… I found a recipe for Beef Brisket Lo Mein when I searched Emergency Essentials’ website for Beef Brisket. I did not have all the ingredients listed in the recipe, so I adapted it to what I had on hand. Here’s my version of their recipe.
Food storage like you’ve never had before!
Beef Brisket Lo Mein with Organic Vegetables
Adapted from a recipe by Emergency Essentials
1 cup freeze dried Beef Brisket (reconstituted)
Vegetables of choice, diced or chopped
1/4 – 1/2 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon salted butter (or fat of choice)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil (or oil of choice)
3 cups cooked spaghetti
4 tablespoons soy sauce (or a little more or less, to taste)
pepper, to taste
Reconstitute brisket according to the instructions on the package. Drain and set aside. Prepare vegetables of choice and onion. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add butter and oil. When butter has melted, add onion and any other firm vegetables. Cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften. Add beef brisket, stir to combine, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add vegetables which require less cooking time, and cook for one minute. Add spaghetti and a little more oil (to help keep the spaghetti from sticking). Heat through, stirring to combine the vegetables, beef, and spaghetti. Add soy sauce and other seasoning to taste. Serve immediately.
This was so delicious, and, quite frankly, I was surprised it was as good as it was. It certainly didn’t taste like any food storage meal I’d had before! And I would certainly make it again. Here’s my photo step-by-step, so you can see how I did it.
I started with some lovely vegetables: fennel stalks, baby bok choy cabbage, carrot, kale, white onion, and green pepper. These delicious veggies along with freeze dried beef brisket, soy sauce, butter, oil, and spaghetti round out the ingredient list.
I prepped the vegetables and put them in different bowls based on when I planned to add them to the pan.
I preheated the pan with butter and oil, then I added chopped white onion, fennel stalks, bok choy cabbage (the white part, not the green part), and the “stalk” or stem of a kale leaf. I let them cook for a few minutes until the started to soften.
Then I added some green pepper and continued cooking on medium-high heat.
Next, I added the reconstituted beef brisket to the pan and continued to stir and cook the vegetable mixture.
After a couple of minutes, I added the leafy part of the kale leaf…
Shortly thereafter, I added the green part of the baby bok choy and my shredded carrot, stirring well to incorporate into the vegetable-beef mixture.
I let the entire mixture cook for about 1 minute, then I added the cooked spaghetti noodles and about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, stirring to incorporate into the vegetable-beef mixture.
After cooking for 1-2 minutes, I added the soy sauce and a little pepper. The entire cooking time was less than 10 minutes.
And lunch was served! This sure doesn’t look like traditional food storage, does it? It didn’t taste like it either. It was fantastic!
Think you’d like to have food like this if you have to live off of your food storage? Check out my giveaway (here) to win a free #10 can of freeze dried Beef Brisket, courtesy of Emergency Essentials. Or, you may want to consider taking advantage of their limited time group special. If you buy 6 cans, each can is only $28/each rather than $49.95 each, plus shipping is free! Don’t think you will use 6 cans? Talk to your friends. They may want to join with you in buying this great special.
Remember, freeze dried meat lasts 20 years or more when stored unopened at the appropriate temperature. Once you open it, you need to use it within a couple of months, but you will find that easy to do.
