Bunker-down Survival Groceries

Readers, let’s play a game!

Whenever there’s an announcement of bad weather that puts everyone in survival mode, scurrying to the supermarket, here are the items I bring home:

My Bare-bones Survival Mode Groceries:

1) eggs

2)  milk

3) bread

5) potatoes

7) frozen vegetables

8) fresh fruit

9) peanut butter

10) Some type of meat - beef, chicken, or ham

If I must stop at 10, these are my bare-bones survival mode groceries. 

But if the alert or crisis gives me more time to shop and the supply chain is optimal, I would also buy:

11) extra sharp cheddar cheese

12) spicy nacho tortilla chips (I know, but I’m addicted!)

13) dried peas, beans, and/or lentils -- in that order. So whatever is left on the supermarket shelf

14) all-purpose flour - in a pinch, I could make my own pasta and dumplings or gravy for the meat and potatoes!

15) dried pasta - because if I don’t have to make it myself

16) Cajun spice -- that would cover salt, pepper, and garlic

17) tofu - Toss into spicy peanut butter noodles or egg drop-like soup.

18) Greek yogurt

19) tomato or vegetable juice 

20) rice

As you can tell, I lean savory over sweets. I like sweets, but I crave salty and umami food and snacks. We’re not headed into bad weather, and yet, I have everything on my list in my kitchen now. It gives someone playing our game a clue to what his/her bunker-down groceries are: the foods you buy time and again, and feel you can’t be without when there is no crisis. In thinking about your list, just eliminate the extras: the treats. Not to get testy, but my dear readers, I’ve already explained the nachos.🙂

Personally, I’d never invest in one of those survival food kits with dried and canned food. I don’t understand the reasoning behind them. They tend to be pricey, and what would it help you to survive a few months after everyone else in the world perishes? And if bunkering down is temporary, which is our game, having to eat that terrible-tasting freeze-dried food, sans being shot into space ... no way! Bunkering down with food you like can lead to an element of fun! Perhaps you have good dinners and chats with family or friends. Maybe you watch a few movies with snacks until the bad weather passes.

This list of 20 comprises my bunker-down survival groceries. What are yours?

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Classic vs Healthy Thumbprint Jam Cookies

I’m thinking about making Thumbprint Jam Cookies for Christmas this year, a cookie we never made in my family. After a test run of making Healthy Jam Thumbprint Cookies this evening, I plan to go with the Classic Thumbprint Jam Cookie recipe. The healthy recipe is tasty enough to eat (I ate 6 cookies for dinner), but its texture isn’t exactly right to satisfy my (and likely your) cookie craving. It’s like eating a protein bar instead of a candy bar, which doesn’t quite cut it! I’ll give you both recipes, and you can try each one to see if you agree with me.

Healthy Thumbprint Jam Cookies

1 1/2 cups oatmeal, ground into a fine  powder

1/2 cup almonds, ground into a powder

3 tbs applesauce

1 large ripe banana, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a squirt of honey (about a tablespoon)

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup of all-purpose flour

1/4 cup low-sugar fruit jam (like raspberry or strawberry)

Directions:

1) With a fork, incorporate the 1st 7 ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

2) I used the all-purpose flour to make the cookie dough less sticky and easier to handle by sprinkling it on the dough and my hands as I formed 1 tablespoon of the dough into balls.

3) Flatten the balls of dough and place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, then press an indentation (a well) into the dough with your thumb.

4) Fill each well with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam.

5) Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Let cool before eating.

These aren’t terrible cookies to eat, but they aren’t the best in texture. The banana makes them sweet enough, but a lack of butter leaves the texture wanting, except perhaps for an unwavering Health Nut. A Health Nut who buys those very dense $7 chewy protein bars. They do not taste like candy bars, readers. Some folks have forgotten how great candy bars taste! Gee, I digress.

Classic Thumbprint Jam Cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup strawberry or raspberry preserves

Directions:

1) With a fork, incorporate the first 6 ingredients. I’ll save 1/4 cup of the all-purpose flour to sprinkle on the dough and my hands while forming the balls of cookies. If necessary, refrigerate the dough to make it easier to handle.

2) After forming the balls (about a tablespoon of dough each), flatten and place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Use your thumb to form a well into each cookie.

3) Fill the wells with about 1/2 teaspoon of preserves.

4) Bake at 350 degrees F for 11 - 15 minutes. Cool before eating.

A classic Thumbprint Cookie is a shortbread cookie with a well filled with jam. The most satisfying shortbread cookies are soft to bite into, yet crunchy. I plan to get wild and crazy by rolling them in vanilla sugar before baking for a sweet and rich vanilla flavor.

Visions of sugar, butter, and vanilla dancing in our heads and on our tongues sound like the perfect Christmas cookie, don’t you agree?

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Good Frozen Pizza

Friends say I make a good pizza pie from scratch, and I've shared how I make it here. But life isn’t limited to either/or actualities, and we don’t have to spend all our time in the kitchen.

Good frozen pizza exists! Today I’ll share what I like and pay for it. I’m a fan of DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza, which I buy when it goes on sale for $6.00 and sometimes $5.50. It comes close enough to good homemade or pizza parlor slices to be worth eating. In fact, it's superior to what’s sold by many of the newer Manhattan pizza parlors that are opening and skimping on ingredients or making cardboard dry crusts. There’s nothing more disappointing than eating bad pizza in a city historically known for its great pizza! How can it be? Why open up a pizza parlor when merchants could do something else they could take pride in?!

At home, I buy the DiGiorno Rising Crust Everything variety, and if out of stock, I’ll get the Pepperoni Supreme alternative, then finish it off by adding diced bell peppers, onions, and sliced mushrooms. On a frozen pizza, I always sprinkle parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes before baking it. Perhaps it's the key to making frozen pizza taste better and even delicious.

I’ll pay up to $6.00 for a frozen pie. If it's priced higher, I’d rather go out and bring home a hot pie from a good pizza parlor, if one can be found. Frankly, it took a few bad pizza parlor pies to get me to try making my own and DiGiorno frozen pizza pies!

You may wonder why great pizza in Manhattan is harder to locate. Once upon a time, real Italians opened pizza parlors, but nowadays it could be people of any nationality. Or it could be because some of the new pizza parlors are not mom-and-pop businesses but are owned by private equity firms, public shareholders, or institutional investors. There’s less love of the product!

On a brighter note, if you look for it, there’s still great pizza in all 5 boroughs of New York City, including Manhattan, but no longer will you find a great slice on every block. Alas, reason enough for me to have a box of DiGiorno Rising Crust pizza in my freezer and, when I have 24 hours to let the dough rise, to make it myself.

What’s your favorite frozen pizza?

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Blog Extra: Other food I buy when it is on sale:

1) Sushi - Fairway offers 10 pieces of inside/out sushi rolls for $5.99 on Wednesdays. I get nori with tuna and salmon = 20 pieces. So one day a week I don’t have to think about what to cook or scrounge up for dinner.

2) Coleslaw - $1.99 for a 16 oz. bag.

3) Mushrooms - Either 2 for $4, 3 for $5, or $2.29 each for 8 oz, depending on the sale. I select the mushrooms that are sliced for me.

4) Baby carrots - $1.69 - $1.99 for a 16 oz bag. Note: Baby carrots do not exist, but what a treat that someone else has cleaned, scraped, and cut them into bite-size pieces. Ready to eat! 

5) Light mayonnaise - $4.25 - $5.00 for a 30 oz jar. The price of mayonnaise is sky-high, like the price of gasoline nowadays. Who knew we’d pay $5 for a jar on sale!

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3 Mustard Chicken For Dinner With Mendel Bread For Dessert

Photo: Butter Your Biscuit: Click the photos for each blog’s recipe.

I was served a delicious 3 Mustard Chicken dinner by a friend, which I’m too lazy to make without a few tweaks. I don’t aim to buy 3 different mustards for one chicken dish to complicate its preparation! First, I’ll list the original ingredients, my friend’s recipe:

3 Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp whole grain mustard
2 tbsp hot-honey mustard
1 to 2 tbsp honey (adjust to taste)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Next: The 3 Mustard Chicken Dinner with Debra’s tweaks:

Photo: Sandra Valvassori

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 tbsp of any mustard - I have Dijon and yellow mustard. (Sometimes I buy spicy brown or whole grain, but didn’t for this.)
1 tbsp honey

1 cup water (I like sauce!)
1 large chicken bouillon

2 minced garlic cloves

1 medium onion, sliced

1 teaspoon of either dried rosemary or thyme (Both are tasty on chicken and look pretty. I used rosemary.)

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to sprinkle on the raw chicken breasts

A pad of butter to grease the pan

A sprinkle of dried parsley after it was plated

Directions:

1) Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken.

2) Whisk together the mustard, water, chicken bouillon, honey,  garlic, and spices in a bowl into a smooth sauce.

3) Butter a baking dish. Lay onion slices on the baking sheet, and arrange the chicken breasts on top. Alternately you can cook it in a 12” chef’s skillet on a stovetop, covered with a lid.

4) Pour the mustard-honey sauce over the chicken breasts, fully coating each piece.

5) Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 30 minutes or until the chicken breasts are white and tender. Alternately, simmer at midium-low on top of your stove until the chicken is fully cooked.

Photo: The CookieRookie

Let the chicken rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Slice the chicken breasts and pour a good amount of sauce over them. Serve with potatoes and vegetables of your choice.

While hot-honey mustard is delicious and I love it, I don’t think you need to buy it for a chicken dish when you use mustard, honey, and red pepper flakes as ingredients. As noted, this dish can also be cooked in a 12” skillet on a stovetop. Steel or cast-iron skillets heat up hot and cook evenly, grilling to perfection. Drizzled in honey-mustard sauce, I bought 3 very large chicken breasts and sliced them to serve on a platter. The chicken breasts get so tender, and the sauce tastes amazing! This may the way I make chicken from now on. The dish works equally well with chicken thighs for dark meat lovers.

Mine on the stovetop

I have no idea who created this scrumptious recipe, as it's floating around the internet on all forms of social media. The finished mustard chicken from the 3 cooks I’m featuring on my blog looks amazing! Click the identifying photos to go to their blogs to compare their recipes. Making this recipe our own leads down the same road to deliciousness!

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What a fabulous melting pot New York City is! Inspired by my Jewish friends and neighbors who’ll celebrate Yom Kippur soon, here is a simple dessert for tea(s), or when you make this mustard chicken dinner for friends. It can be made days ahead of the dinner:

 Mandel Bread is a traditional Jewish biscotti-type cookie. It is short for mandelbrot, which means almond bread. Dry, not overly sweet, like Scottish shortbread, but a different tasting cookie.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

From Sparks Kitchen

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp cinnamon - Traditionally, the finished rectangular cookies are rolled in cinnamon sugar, but I toss the cinnamon into the batter.)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup of nuts (any, chopped almonds or walnuts or pecans)

Directions:

1) Using a fork, mix the dry ingredients in one mixing bowl.

2) With a fork, mix the wet ingredients in a 2nd mixing bowl.

3) Incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Fold in the nuts, and refrigerate for 2 hours. This prevents the dough from spreading out.

4) On a buttered baking sheet or long baking pan, shape and the dough into a long, flat, even log and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 - 30 minutes, until it is lightly browned.

5) Cool the finished cookies for 15 minutes (so they don’t fall apart), then cut into rectangles, squares, or diagonals. You do you! These cookies go back onto the baking sheet for a 2nd baking at 25o degrees F for another 20 minutes. Remove and cool. I do not roll them in cinnamon sugar because I don’t want them sweeter or the mess of sugar falling off the cookies, nor do I relish getting my fingers mucked up. Avoid messes and extra dishes to wash by not creating situations for the messes to occur! 

Sparks Kitchen has ultra-fancy Mendel bread stacks that can be ordered for pickup, delivery, or shipping. Even easier, and there’s no shame in buying the cookies! We can do both at different times, right?😋

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6 Better Hot Dogs

Frankly, my family doesn’t usually eat hot dogs for dinner. My practice is to buy a pack of hot dogs to toss into the freezer and add 2-3 sliced, pan-grilled links to beans or my quick vegetable meal. But a friend nudged me to eat a hot dog this past July 4th. She thought it was patriotic, so now I’m hooked on better hot dogs!

To my surprise, the price of hot dogs has risen a lot at the supermarket. No more messing around buying turkey or chicken hot dogs for the lower fat content, calories (about 80 per dog), or price for me! They too have gotten more expensive! From this day forward, I’m going for the better-tasting all-beef (accepting 130 calories; 160 is pushing it) per hot dog.

Since the cost of a package of 8 hot dogs at the supermarket is often well over $5, I headed straight to Fairway Market and bought the very best ~ Black Bear Natural Casing Beef Franks ~ a 40 oz package for $16.72; that’s 16 slightly bigger hot dogs in a package. I tossed 15 hot dogs in my freezer for later meals, eating one hot dog right away (of course with mustard and sauerkraut).

The natural casings have a snap I had all but forgotten about that the turkey and chicken hot dogs lack!

Still, I’m no foodie, so when I must buy hot dogs at the supermarket for convenience, the following brands are 100% beef with a well-balanced smoky and spicy profile: Nathan’s Famous Coney Island or Nathan’s Angus Beef, Boar’s Head Beef Frankfurters, and Sabrett’s Skinless Beef Frankfurters.

Reportedly, Costco’s Kirkland Signature Beef Hot Dogs are quite good too, although personally I’ve never eaten one. I do trust what customers say enough to include it here, and one day I have to try one as a tagalong with a Costco shopper.

Nowadays, hot dogs cost almost as much as other meats, so you might as well go for the best! No point in skimping on calories, fat content, or cost! When you decide to eat one, THE SAVVY SHOPPER recommends going all in.🙂

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Dietitians rate Applegate Organics’ Uncured Beef Hot Dogs as the healthiest option on the market - another brand I’ve never tried. It’s relatively low in sodium, fat, and calories per link, but its still a hot dog ~ processed meat!

Feel free to tell us about your favorite hot dogs.

Making German Sauerkraut

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Making German Sauerkraut

These containers are great for stacking in a refrigerator.

Sauerkraut and mustard are delicious on a beef hot dog. I overruled a bossy friend who insisted I put Sabrett’s sweet-ketchup-onion topping on my hot dog. To each his own, but no, no, no, no, no, not on mine!

At home, I prefer canned sauerkraut to supermarket bagged refrigerated sauerkraut. The canned is blanched, so less raw in texture and less sour. I like the sour toned down a notch so it complements and doesn’t dominate the other paired food, like potato salad or pork chops.

Our favorite sauerkraut comes in jars from Germany, which is more costly (about $8 - $12 a jar) since it's imported.

Recently, using a medium head of cabbage (at 99¢/lb), I made my own batch of sauerkraut to see if I could match the German Sauerkraut in a jar. You only need 2 ingredients to make it: shredded cabbage and salt. You have to wonder why all forms of sauerkraut, including canned, have doubled in price. 

My recipe follows:

German Sauerkraut

4 days of fermenting

Ingredients:

cabbage, a medium-large head, shredded

1 1/2 tablespoons of non-iodized salt (I used pink Himalayan.) 

Although you should keep sauerkraut simple, you can add optional flavors or textures to your batch if you wish --

Optional: I sprinkled in bay leaf powder (or 3 bay leaves work). I diced a carrot just to add color to the kraut. Some people like to toss in garlic or caraway seeds, which I didn’t do.

Directions:

2 weeks later

1) Mix the shredded cabbage and salt thoroughly. I used a fork and didn’t massage it. What am I, a masseuse? You can taste it to know if the salt is incorporated throughout.

2) Pack the sauerkraut into glass jars or food-grade plastic containers. 

3) Let it sit at room temperature for 7 days to 4 weeks. No need to add water, as the salt draws the water out, turning it into a pickled juice.

My sauerkraut, weighing 2 pounds, is fermenting and starting to look like sauerkraut. How exciting that it's coming along without effort! I don’t aim to go into the sauerkraut business, but it’s great to know where your food comes from and what goes into making it! We’ll use this batch as condiments whenever we need a bit of sour and crunch, like on Fairway’s beef hot dogs. Fermented sauerkraut keeps in the refrigerator.

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Keeping Produce Fresh

Photo and more info from USDA - here.

We eat a variety of fruits and vegetables in my home as part of a healthy diet. A confession: I wash and refrigerate potatoes and refrigerate onions, which we’re not supposed to do. The reason why: I have a Manhattan-size, not a suburban-size kitchen, so I lack a cool dark place to store a bag of produce, and if I had to buy one potato or onion at a time, I'd lose the motivation to cook. I dislike having a job before I start a job!

Not including the above compromises, I try to follow as closely as possible the ways experts tell us to keep produce fresh. But it gets confusing. Certain fruits and vegetables release ethylene, a natural gas that speeds up ripening. Let’s learn which ones.

High-ethylene produce includes apples, bananas, kiwi, avocados, tomatoes, and peppers. What the USDA calls ethylene-sensitive produce includes leafy greens, mushrooms, broccoli, cabbage, and cucumbers. If we mix high-ethylene produce with ethylene-sensitive produce in the same crisper drawer, they will spoil sooner rather than later.

We’re supposed to keep apples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, avocados, potatoes, and onions at room temperature, but I don’t -- except to let avocados or bananas ripen at room temperature -- before tossing them into the refrigerator. Immediately, you can refrigerate berries, leafy greens, cauliflower, green onions, mushrooms, and peas.

Ways to make fresh produce last longer include storing the high-ethylene produce and ethylene-sensitive produce in 2 separate crisper drawers. There’s usually a slide knob on the outside of each crisper drawer to set for high- or low-moisture produce also. Plus I bought thin plastic bins to store like produce together, which I place outside on the shelves of my refrigerator since all my produce won’t fit into my crisper drawers. I also have refrigerator liners, which absorb moisture inside the refrigerator to some extent. Moisture and poor air circulation greatly contribute to food spoilage.

Food experts tell us not washing produce keeps them fresh longer (which frankly I also ignore). I wash berries, leafy greens, and a stalk of celery before tossing them in my refrigerator. Remember, I dislike having a job (washing celery or potatoes) before starting a job (cooking ). Washing produce also keeps my refrigerator and refrigerator liners cleaner. 

Often I slice or dice and freeze celery, peppers, and mushrooms to keep them from spoiling. Mostly I buy bags of frozen peas and mixed vegetables (diced carrots, peas, green beans, and corn) instead of fresh peas or mixed vegetables. 

Once produce like an onion or apple is cut, I store it in a Rubbermaid plastic food container, not plastic wrap, as I’m slightly afraid of the chemicals in plastic wrap touching the food.

Photo: Dreamtime free royalty image

What my family loses by my storing produce such as potatoes or onions in our refrigerator instead of at room temperature is some flavor, but not enough flavor that we detect it. Certainly we’d notice a difference if we had the luxury of farm-fresh produce, but we don’t. (Sometimes the freshness of supermarket produce is also questionable.) We deal with the compromises of city life. Our main objective is to get healthy food into our pie-holes before it welts, tastes bad, grows eyes, stems and fuzz, or decays! At least we’re eating a variety of imperfectly stored produce rather than not eating produce or rotted produce, right?

Do you have any hacks for keeping produce fresh?

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The Healthy Food Staples in My Home

I’m not against health food stores, but for convenience, most of my pantry/refrigerator food comes from either a supermarket or Fairway (for deli-type foods, sushi, and fresh-baked goods). I also order dry foods from Walmart and buy milk and eggs from Target Express (they are everywhere in Manhattan; there is no brick-and-mortar Walmart).

The following are healthy food staples I always buy and never let myself run out of stock. I’m not going to list ultra-common spices like salt or pepper, common condiments like mustard, ketchup, or mayonnaise, or common beverages like coffee or tea. I know people who don’t drink milk or only buy a quart of milk for coffee, or never have eggs at home, so I’m listing them. We drink gallons of milk and always have enough eggs for cooking or baking.

Healthy Food Staples that are always In My Kitchen

1) milk, eggs, and all-purpose flour.

2) mushrooms, celery, carrots, tri-colored bell peppers, and onions. Onions last. I chop and toss mushrooms, bell peppers, and celery into the freezer, so when I cook vegetables, soups, stew, pizza, or omelets, I have them ready to incorporate.

3) Oatmeal - one-minute flaked - For cereal or to use as breadcrumbs.

4) Organic cider vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and Cajun spice. There’s nothing wrong with regular cider vinegar; I just think the organic, containing a mother, tastes better.

5) Greek yogurt - If I make potato or macaroni salad, I’ll boost the protein by substituting some of the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt.

6) Avocados, bananas, and berries (strawberries, blueberries, or both).

7) Canned salmon - Salmon patties are great for fast, last-minute dinners.

8) Bread and saltine crackers

9) Bags of frozen mixed vegetables, including frozen lima beans. Who decided to remove lima beans from mixed vegetables? Not me! I return them.

10) Potatoes - My favorite starch. I never get tired of potatoes.

11) Extra sharp New York Cheddar. Other types of cheese come and go, but extra sharp cheddar is always and forever in my refigerator.

12) 1/2 - 3/4 pound deli sliced ham - A pound was always too much, and we had to eat it before it went bad. We grill ham with eggs in the mornings or make sandwiches for lunch.

We eat beef, chicken, rice, pasta, corn, and a variety of other fruits and vegetables, too, but they come and go. The listed foods above are like our basics, so we always restock them before we run out.

How about you?

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A Sprinkle of Nutmeg

Photo: Williams Sonoma - Peugeot nutmeg grinder

Nutmeg is a spice made by grinding the seed of the nutmeg (or Myristica fragrans) tree into a powder. I have a nutmeg grinder to do the job. The spice adds a warm, nutty flavor to both sweet and savory dishes. It’s also fragrant, and a sprinkle goes a long way.

Eating nutmeg has many health benefits, and yet too much of a good thing is dangerous! Never consume more than a pinch up to 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Over 5 grams (which is 1 to 2 nutmegs) is toxic.

As it happens, nutmeg is a potent spice. It is packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. The rich flavonoids, cyanidins, and essential oil in nutmeg protect our cells from stressful oxidation and harmful free radicals. Nutmeg also contains myristicin and eugenol, which block enzymes responsible for chronic inflammation. A pinch of ground nutmeg reduces bloating and treats diarrhea. Spinkled in warm milk or tea, nutmeg promotes better sleep. The essential oil of nutmeg, made into a mouthwash, fights oral bacteria to protect our teeth and gums and treats bad breath. Animal studies have shown that nutmeg lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Its potassium content regulates blood pressure and improves circulation. The analgesic properties in nutmeg can help to ease muscle, menstrual, and arthritic pain.

My family uses ground nutmeg to flavor our stews, soups, vegetables, eggs, rice pudding, and some of our baked cakes and cookies. We tend to use spices like nutmeg to reduce our reliance on salt or sugar to flavor our food.

Sprinkling nutmeg on your food regularly will not only boost its taste, but also your health!

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