Guide to a Food Storage Thanksgiving Dinner [Recipes Included]

So as I have mentioned several times in the past, keeping things familiar during a crisis can make the difference between sanity and hysteria. This includes holidays. So why not store the fixins for a crisis-inspired food storage Thanksgiving Dinner. Below I’ve included ideas and recipes to make your food storage Thanksgiving a success.

The Menu

Turkey, Bread & Celery Stuffing, Potatoes and Gravy, Candied Sweet Potatoes, Dinner Rolls, a Side Vegetable, Cranberry Sauce and Apple Pie
for Dessert

Turkey

There are a couple different options you can choose to go with for the Turkey.

1. Raise actually Turkeys for Butchering – I know lots of people that do this currently. It’s actually a fun tradition and the top choice for this main dish.
2. Freeze Dried Turkey Dices – There are a few different brands that offer this. You can reconstitute the turkey dices and serve them on top of the mashed potatoes with gravy on top. This would be my second choice.
3. Canned Turkey Dices – This is my least favorite option but I know some of you out there have no problem with canned meats and this would be a great inexpensive alternative.

Bread and Celery Stuffing

For your stuffing you can simplify things and just use a boxed version or feel free to store the ingredients from the recipe below. (Freeze dried measurements and water for reconstitution based on the THRIVE brand)

Ingredients

1 Loaf of Bread, Sliced
3/4 C  Canned Butter (or reconstituted powdered butter)
1 C Freeze Dried Onion
2 C Freeze Dried Celery
2 tsp Poultry Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 C Chicken Broth
2 C Water

Preparations

Let bread slices air dry for at least 2 hours, then cut into cubes. In a separate bowl, combine freeze dried onion and celery with water to reconstitute. Drain excess water.

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Cook onion and celery until soft. Season with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
2. Stir in bread cubes until evenly coated. Moisten with chicken broth and mix well.
3. Use as a stuffing for a 10 to 12 pound turkey, or bake in a buttered casserole dish at 350 degreed F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes.

Potatoes and Gravy

For potatoes and gravy you once again have a time-consuming, quick and a quicker option. You can grow your own potatoes and make mashed potatoes the traditional way. You can store boxed instant potatoes (usually have around a year shelf life). Or you can use Potato Beads from a #10 can (Approximately 8 year shelf life).

Store packaged gravy for an easy condiment for turkey and potatoes.

Using #10 Can Potato Beads

Makes 2 Servings

Ingredients

2 C Potato Beads
2/3 C Milk (reconstituted powdered milk acceptable)
3 T Canned Butter (or reconstituted powdered butter)
2 C Hot Water
3/4 tsp Salt

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients and stir to moisten. Do not over beat. Add milk to make creamier.

Candied Yams

Now our family loves real, from the garden candied yams. I’ve only tasted the canned version once or twice. It’s not as tasty but I’m not too snobby to say that it’s a fantastic alternative if you don’t have the convenience of a garden. So here’s a simple recipe using the canned goods.

Ingredients

1 (40 ounce) Can of Yams
1 C Brown Sugar
1/4 C Raisins
1 tsp Canned Butter (powdered butter not recommended for this recipe)
2 C Mini Marshmallows

Directions

1. Pour can of yams in a casserole dish.
2. Pour out half of the liquid.
3. Sprinkle yams with brown sugar and raisins. Mix well.
4. Pat butter on top.
5. Place in preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes.
6. Top with marshmallows and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Dinner Rolls

You have tons of options for this one. There are boxed versions of dinner roll mixes, #10 canned versions or you can make your own with a limitless numbers of available recipes. Here’s just one of thousands that you can choose from.

Ingredients

1 C + 3 Tbsp Warm Water (almost hot)
1/3 C Vegetable Oil
1/4 C Sugar
2 Tbsp Yeast
3 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour
1 Egg (2 Tbsp Egg Powder + 3 1/2 Tbsp Water)
1 tsp Salt

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the water, oil, sugar, and yeast until well combined. Cover and let it rest and rise for 15 minutes. (Side note: If using a KitchenAid/stand mixer to make these, you’ll want to use your dough hook. However, for this first step just give it a good stir with a whisk instead.)
2. Add about two cups of the flour, the egg and the salt. Mix it up. Start adding the rest of the flour, half a cup at a time and continue to mix well. The trick to getting light, fluffy rolls (as always with bread dough) is to get the dough just to the tacky point. If you don’t use the full amount of flour, that’s okay. You just want to be able to touch the dough with your finger and have it stick a little, but not too much. (I don’t like to use the guideline of ‘when the bread starts pulling away from the side of the bowl’ because usually by that point I’ve added too much flour.) So let the stickiness be your guide.
3. Leave the dough in your bowl/mixer, cover and let it rise for about 30 minutes. (You can shorten this to about 10 minutes if you’re in a rush, but 30 minutes is better.)
4. Spray two 8×8 square pans with non-stick cooking spray. (And go ahead and get your oven preheating to 375 ºF now too.)
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured or lightly greased surface (I like to spray my surface with non-stick spray) and knead it a few times. (Remember, if it’s a little sticky, that’s okay! It may make it a little harder to work with, but you’ll appreciate the end results!) Just add a little extra flour to your kneading if desperately needed.
6. Using a sharp knife (which I also spray with non-stick spray), cut the dough into approximately 18 equal pieces. (Cut the dough in half, then cut each half into three pieces, and cut each of those into three pieces.) Shape each segment into a little ball by tucking the end pieces under (they don’t have to look super pretty or anything, but just try to get the top smooth) and place into your prepared baking pans (9 rolls to a pan). Cover each pan and let the dough rise again for roughly another 30 minutes until about doubled in size.
7. Bake at 375 ºF for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown on top. Serve with butter and/or honey! De-lish!

Side Veggies

This one is kind of a “duh” side dish. Either get canned or freeze dried veggies that you want to eat with your food. Like corn, peas, green beans, etc. Duh!

Cranberry Sauce

If you have a freezer and generator, cranberries can be kept frozen for approximately 1 year. This gives you the option of making cranberry sauce from scratch. If you don’t you can go the traditional route and just store some Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce in a can. Whichever floats your boat!

Apple Pie

I LOVE APPLE PIE! So when you are enjoying this – think of me.

Ingredients

1 Premade Pie Crust (or you can make your own)

Filling:

2 C Dehydrated Apples, Firmly Packed
2 C Boiling Water
1/3 C Sugar
2 Tbsp Flour
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Butter

Topping:

1/3 C Brown Sugar, Packed
1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 C Canned Butter

Directions

1. Add apples to boiling water and allow to reconstitute for 5 minutes. Add sugar, flour and cinnamon to the apple mix.
2. Stir constantly over medium heat until thick.
3. Pour mixture into pie shell and dot with 1 Tbsp butter.
4. Combine topping ingredients and cut in until crumbly.
5. Sprinkle over the filling and place in oven at 350 degrees F for 55 minutes.

So that is all my friends. May you and your family enjoy this Thanksgiving and take a moment to reflect on all that we have and the time we have to prepare.