April 6, 2011

Food Storage for Dinner

Almost every week I make a pot of soup. Usually something with minimal meat, a lot of beans, and a ton of veggies. This is one of the best ideas I've had. Seriously. It lasts my husband and I a week at least, sometimes I freeze half and pull it out a few weeks later. We eat it for lunch or dinner depending on the day and whether or not I'm making something else for dinner.

This is a great meal idea for eating through some of your FOOD STORAGE (the church I belong to suggests each member have a year's supply of food for each member of the family). Whether we're talking about short or long term food storage you need to rotate through it.This dish is great for either- but in this post I used short term as a matter of convenience. Our short term food storage is comprised of a lot of canned vegetables, since we live in a condo and only grow very few potted veggies in summer.
Rotating through tons of canned veggies or beans isn't always the first priority when you wanna cook food you like, so this dish has been a life saver for getting through all the stuff we store.

This week I'm making a variation of chili, which is one of our favorites.
I make vegetarian recipes because they put in so many vegetables, but then I also put in lean ground beef (93 or 97% fat) 
We love the chili option because you can eat it with chips and cheese or maybe just sour cream on top. I am always using different variation on the vegetables and this keeps it from getting old.




This dinner is AWESOME for several reasons:
*It will feed each of us 5-7 times, making 10-14 meals. That makes the cost approximately .78 to $1.10 a meal. I buy the canned foods at Costco in bulk, I use whatever vegetables are on sale, and buy my meat in bulk.

*Although there is very little meat in the chili, my husband is always happy with it and feels like he's getting a regular hearty meal. He is a HUGE meat eater and wants it every single day and he feels  there's enough to satiate him- although it's more likely the beans are what's filling him up.

*It takes very little time considering how many times it saves you from cooking.

*It is so healthy! I always leave out the noodles in the soups so we're filling up on healthy veggies, beans, and lean meat.


Vegetarian Chili

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 green bell peppers, chopped
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
  • 2 (12 ounce) packages vegetarian burger crumbles
  • 3 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
  • 1/4 cup chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
  • 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained
  • 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
  • 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
  • 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Directions

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, and green chile peppers. When vegetables are heated through, mix in the vegetarian burger crumbles. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
  2. Mix the tomatoes into the pot. Season chili with chili powder and pepper. Stir in the kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and black beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes. Stir in the corn, and continue cooking 5 minutes before serving.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 342 | Total Fat: 7.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg