Preppers Tips -- Weekly Goal March 25, 2012

Spice is the Variety of Life!

You may only be able to store certain foods, and may have family who only eat certain foods (read kiddos!), but using the right spices makes all the difference in the world and can change a simple piece of chicken (or canned chicken) into something so savory.  You do not need to be a gourmet with recipes a mile long to make a dish everyone will love.  It all comes down to using the right spices and herbs.

Beautiful color and variety of spices

And that is what our goal is this week -- storing herbs and spices you use on a regular basis.  Never, ever store things that you haven't tried or won't use regularly.  Just doesn't make sense!  For us, besides regular salt and pepper, it's seasoned salt, garlic salt/powder, onion salt/powder and dried onions, Italian spices, etc.  Look at your shopping list and see what you use all the time.

What about storing?  What's the shelf life?  Google search provided many good sites full of information.  I found the below at FareShare Home:  Spice Rack Shelf Life...

GENERAL SHELF LIFE GUIDELINES

• SPICES:
  • Ground Spices 1 - 3 years.
  • Whole Spices 4 years.
    
• HERBS: Green Leafy 1 - 3 years.
• SEEDS: 3 - 4 years.
• EXTRACTS: 4 years.
• SEASONING BLENDS: 1 - 2 years.
• FOIL PRODUCTS: 12 - 24 months.

They also say to NEVER store vanilla or vanilla beans in the refrigerator, but DO store members of the red pepper (capsicums) like paprika and chilli powder in the frig to keep color and prevent infestation.

Store air tight and out of sight!  If you have wonderful spice racks that sit on the counter, be sure they are never in direct sunlight.

The only spices that come in cans anymore is black pepper.  If you have cans of spices in your cabinet just know that their potency is most likely compromised (they haven't been using cans for spices in years).  I ended up pitching a few that my JH had when we got married.  Never know how long a bachelor has had anything like that on the shelf!  :)

As always, thanks so much to Karon Carlson for providing this weekly plan and setting up the display at church each week.  She and Desi Ellis have great information regarding storage, gardening, canning, food sources so please don't hesitate to contact them for more information...

Bon appetit!