Anybody tried making homemade stuff and canning it in appropriate sized jars?

Hi,

I do can. I do work at home and usually eat with the usual suspects, my parents, so I can soups in quart jars. I can sauces in pint jars. If I worked away from home, then I would consider at least pint portions on the soups.

Once we visited our home away from home (HAFM), where I knew I needed to concentrate on repairs over going out to eat. I knew my breakfast and lunch were going to be in-place, so I prepared a few meals in advance. I made some beef in wine sauce, some chicken dishes and canned them. I also brought canned green beans, apple sauce and pickled beets to round off the meals. Everything arrived in jars and went home empty jars. I didn't have to eat 2nd rate food.

Of course, sometimes at our HAFM, I have also pretended to live like everyone else. I went to the local supermarket and bought all the frozen curiosities I know many people rely on for dinner: frozen mac and cheese, frozen lasagna, frozen tv dinners and frozen breakfast. Oh my goodness, my curiosity was satisfied and my family was quite agitated from the experience.

I thought I would revisit this topic to mention a few things that have now become desk staples for emergencies.

My favorite is Myojo Ippeichan Yakisoba Japanese Style Noodles. These are somewhat similar to ramen except they're not soup. They come in a rectangular plastic tub. You remove the wrapper and the lid and take out four little packets. One of these is dried veggies that you sprinkle over the noodles in the tub. Pour on boiling water, snap on the lid, wait 3 minutes. Pour the water out through the holes in the perforated lid. Then stir in the contents of the other three packets (spices, soy/oil, mustard/mayo). Very fast, very easy, not messy, surprisingly good and rather close in flavor to yakisoba I've had in restaurants (except for being meatless).

On the ramen soup front, I've developed a favorite whose name I don't know, since the package labeling is all in Japanese, but there's a JAS in a circle on the side and a picture of a pig on top. They come in a bowl. A paper label slapped on says they're distributed by Hosoda Bros. Inc. They come in a couple of flavors. Inside, along with the regular ramen noodles, there are some dumplings, and some noodles shaped like pigs.

Both of these are available at a variety of Asian groceries.

I've also tried several kinds of shelf stable Indian meals, and for my purposes, I'd say the best are Patak's Original brand. These come with rice in their own microwavable container, so you just nuke and eat. I've bought them at Meijer's, Woodman's and Cost Plus. I agree with the other posters who found other brands too much trouble for an office microwave, but the Patak's (pink box) I've tried have been fine, considering.

OK for a change, now and then: canned stuffed grape leaves, but I always think they'd be better with a squeeze of fresh lemon. Tonight I tried Bulgarian imam bayaldi (fried eggplant) from a jar; judged for the dish alone, it was decent, but I quickly decided it was too oily to make a meal of without bread, salad and the other things I normally have with this dish.

Edited to fix typo.

Yep, Mitsuwa is great place to pick up cool shelf stable foods... I picked up some of the yakisoba mentioned above, and ramen noodles. The korean spicy noodles "Shim" is very good too... and they have 2 sizes: regular and BIG...

When I am at mitsuwa, I usually pick up rice. yep microwaveable rice, no refrigeration needed.

They have regular white rice and red beans & rice. This recent trip, I also noticed that they have these pastes that you mix in with rice, and then break a raw egg on top, and nuke it for 1-2 minutes.

I forgot to bring an egg today to work, but I was planning on trying it out. The flavors are tomato, salmon cream sauce and curry...

annieb wrote:Last weekend I picked up two new brands of shelf-stable Indian foods on Devon--Ashoka and Swad. Slicker packaging, almost as slick as Tamarind Tree, and sleeker, you could slip them into your laptop case.

So far I tried the Ashoka Navratan Korma. Navratan Korma is a favorite of mine, but this one had a horrible taste, I could not finish it. And I'm a charter member of the clean plate rangers.

Of the Swad, I have tried the peas pulav. It's about the same as Tasty-Bite. My problem with them both are that they are hard, almost crusty. You need to poke and prod them and stir them to get them to even approximate rice as we would like to know it.

And that's not what I'm into when I'm grabbing a nuked meal.

One of my Indian friends recommended teh Tasty Bite brand to me once and I think I've also tried the Swad brand, but I just can't eat the stuff, and would definitely not recommend them to anyone looking for healthy, quick meals. Just looking at the sodium content (usually 1,000+ mg) was enough to scare me away for good. And I generally like a healthy sprinkle of NaCl.

I'm a big fan of the Anni Chun's noodle bowls. About 250 calories a piece.

The Miso, Udon, and Teriyaki are decent renditions. Fill with hot water from the coffee pot and nuke for 90 seconds. (1.99 at TJ's and Whole Foods)

http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncom ... nbr=172703

The Hot and Sour is neither Hot nor Sour...I wouldn't buy it again.

I've tried the Thai Curries in the little plastic boxes from TJ's. They are ok, but not enough food for a meal.

I once bought an entire case of Tamarind Tree Chana Dal for office lunches. They did not require refrigeration and I thought they were very good, but since they were all the same flavor I got really tired of them about 3/4 of the way through the case. These were the only Indian shelf stable products I tried. I think I could eat them again, but I would not purchase them by the case in the future.

Well, this is an interesting thread on all kinds of levels...just wanted to bump it because I noticed that Cost Plus has all kinds of interesting individually-sized gourmet items like flavored mustards and teeny-tiny nutella, and interesting shelf-stable stuff (I believe they have shelf-stable paella, though I haven't tried it)

With all the recent natural disasters and the suggestion to be prepared for 3 days without electricity or water, does anyone actually have a stockpile of non-perishables? Living in Aurora, I can't really see being that isolated, but I guess it could happen.

After 9/11, on the direction of our esteemed leader, I bought 10 gallons of water and supersize cans of ravioli and stashed them in the basement.

Then someone pointed out every house has a large cache of fresh water - the water heater. (50 gallons, in our case.) I looked in my pantry - pasta, canned tomatoes, sauerkraut, beans, olives, artichokes, crackers, tuna, fresh potatoes, onions and shallots, baking supplies, fresh fruit, coffee, even condensed milk, dry milk powder and evaporated milk,...frankly, using our grill and charcoal for cooking, we could live nicely for a frightening amount of time even if the gas and electric were out.

I donated the ravioli to a local food pantry.

I hadn't seen this thread before. It's perfect that I came across it today because I have on my "to do" list for this morning "clean out snack drawer."

Here's my inventory, pre-clean-up:

(1) Trader Joe's punjab choley
(2) Packets green onion instant miso
(4) Packets instant soybean drink
(1) Jar raw almonds
(1) Bag prunes
(1) Apple pie Lärabar
(4) Little packets of haw cakes
(1) Box Trader Joe's woven wheat wafers

In addition to these items, I always have a stock of various foodstuffs that I order through my co-workers' kids' schools for fundraising. Right now, I have a decorative tin of roasted cashews and a box of World's Finest chocolate covered almonds.

Sardines are a good idea. I'll have to get some for my desk this week.

There's this scary new product at Jewel, if you don't mind dropping $9 on lunch - the self-heating meal. I don't remember exactly what you do - I think you immerse the entire package in an inch of water or something - and the little bastard heats up in minutes. No microwave or refrigeration needed, there they are just sitting on the shelf in this incredibly heavy box at Jewel, I think in the Ethnic aisle? Maybe in the canned beans aisle? It's at the one on Touhy & Niles Center Road in Niles, so it's probably at other stores too. If I remember I'll check out the name and instructions next time I do my shopping.
Otherwise, next time you go someplace that has individual packets of mayo, stuff your pockets, then bring a can of tuna and make yourself a sammich. Also, fruit/veggie/nut combos, peanut butter sandwiches, naked rice with some fresh veggies tossed in, canned chili and soups, naked pasta with a few squirts of lemon, Ensure shakes, bread stuffed with peppers/olives/etc before they were baked, good ol' SPAM, and that wonderful canned devilled ham/chicken on crackers are some ideas for lunch. Or tell a coworker that can leave to bring you back something post haste. Good luck.

I typically try to cook in large batches whenever the urge strikes. I then freeze everything in smaller containers. I can then stash a week's worth of food in the office freezer and know I am covered for some meals.

Sometimes, however, I have no interest in cooking everyday meals I know this may be a sacrilegious statement to make on this site, but honesty does have some merits!. Anyway, for when I am not cooking, I am partial to the following items that I can store in the office:

Trader Joe's Tuna in Red Curry Sauce
Sardines - either in Louisiana Hot Sauce or with Thai chilies

Jyoti

I'm a big fan of Horizon's shelf stable milk. I know I've seen them at the Whole Foods out in the 'burbs.

The Laughing Cow cheese wedges are also shelf-stable.

The Kraft Mac & Cheese cups (don't even need to dirty a dish) are no worse than your standard boxed Kraft mac & cheese. One of those plus a small pouch of tuna or salmon has saved me many time (writer of another type - technical - but often just as chained to my desk!)

And yeah... I'm also often surprised by the sheer amount of ingredients I have on hand.... I know we'd never have a problem having enough food to last a week if we needed it. Heck, we've even got a microwave in the basement next to all the canned stuff, freezer and beer fridge.

I am starting to get tired of everywhere I eat lunch. I pack my lap-top so I could pack a lunch. The problem, there is no place to heat lunch or keep it refrigerated. I am a vegetarian. Any suggestions?

pairs4life wrote:I am starting to get tired of everywhere I eat lunch. I pack my lap-top so I could pack a lunch. The problem, there is no place to heat lunch or keep it refrigerated. I am a vegetarian. Any suggestions?

My wife uses an insulated lunch box. It also has a separate compartment for a small thermos. She packs her lunch the night before and keeps it in the refrigerator until she leaves the house. She says it keeps stuff cold. I think she bought it at Target.

Dave148 wrote:

pairs4life wrote:I am starting to get tired of everywhere I eat lunch. I pack my lap-top so I could pack a lunch. The problem, there is no place to heat lunch or keep it refrigerated. I am a vegetarian. Any suggestions?

My wife uses an insulated lunch box. It also has a separate compartment for a small thermos. She packs her lunch the night before and keeps it in the refrigerator until she leaves the house. She says it keeps stuff cold. I think she bought it at Target.

Speaking of thermoses, I've never owned one, but a few months ago I bought a Sigg metro mug. Maybe all thermoses are like this, but this travel mug is incredible. Sigg claims that it keeps beverages hot for up to 6 hours, and it does! I can put tea in it and run around for a few hours and open the mug to have my beverage just cool enough (i.e. still hot) to drink. I imagine it would work well for a single serving of soup heated up in the morning before work. Note that the metro mug is not dishwasher safe.

I have been shopping at Trader Joe's weekly to pick up the following items for my at-work/at-desk lunches. We have a microwave and fridge at work. There is a line to use the microwave usually about 4-5 people deep, so I try to bring in items that can be nuked in 2 mins or less. The people that microwave their meals for 7-8 mins seem to generate a lot of sneers and huffs.

Annie Chun's Udon Soup bowls--They are cheaper at TJs than my Dominicks
Trader Ming's Pad Thai and Kung Po noodle boxes and these are labeled as Vegan.
Trader Joes 50% less salt dry roasted and salted almonds
Trader Joe-San wasabi peas

I also have had the shelf-stable indian food from TJs and its not bad. It takes about 1.5 min to heat up at home--I may bring this in next week with some naan.

Hi,

Via Mariano's sometime ago, I got a free packet of shelf-stable cooked rotini pasta from Barilla. I wanted to give it to my niece who declined because of all the chemicals. I told this to food scientist Kantha Shelke when she talked about pasta. She rolled her eyes explaining my niece would breath in more chemicals walking down a city block than from this pasta.

Finally opened it up today to make a quick tuna salad. The pasta initially seemed slightly undercooked and stiff. One minute on high in the microwave perked it up quite a bit. Added canned tuna packed in olive oil, then stirred in pesto. Decent fast lunch without anyone noticing any texture or taste differences in the pasta.

It is not likely something I would buy, but it could produce a quick desktop meal with a few thoughtful additions.

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Via Mariano's sometime ago, I got a free packet of shelf-stable cooked rotini pasta from Barilla.

We keep it on hand for some near-instant buttered noodles for the little nieces/nephews (just to shut them up). Not bad in a pinch.

You’ve tried the rest, now try the longest-lasting: M.R.E. pizza, developed at an Army laboratory in Natick, Mass., is designed to remain fresh in storage for up to three years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/us/a ... tions.html