You want me to eat what???

Food can elicit some pretty strong emotions in people, and my family is no exception.  When my husband and I got married I found that he had pretty low expectations when it came to meals.  My mother-in-law, bless her heart, doesn't like to cook and so my husband was raised on a lot of fast food and good old fashioned red meat and potatoes.  Me, on the other hand, I was raised on vegetables, vitamins, liver, whole grains, and anything else that my mother thought was good for us.  As far as what I prepare for my family, I think I would say "practicality" rules.  I have never had a large grocery budget, so I tend to cook with very little meat and I try to use the items that I store in my food storage:  legumes, grains, powdered milk, etc.  With all due modesty, I have to say that I'm a pretty good cook.  Although, anytime I try a new recipe I have to ask my family if it's a "keeper", especially if it involves food storage items.  I am happy to report that my children, for the most part, are willing to eat just about anything because they have been exposed to a large variety of foods from many different ethnicities.  My husband, on the other hand, thinks that I am trying to kill him anytime I feed him legumes or whole grains.  Still working on that...

I am always looking for inexpensive meal ideas, and in particular, ways to make my food storage items more palitable.   That is why I was really excited when I found this recipe for Curried Lentils and Rice at one of my favorite food storage resource blogs Safely Gathered In.  It tastes good, really good.  I liked it, my children liked it - even my picky 2 year old.  My husband, well, he said that it tasted good but had that health food quality about it.  Good enough for me!  Lentils are cheap, full of protein, and easy to prepare because they take far less time to cook than most other legumes.  This recipe is a keeper!

While I am on the topic of food storage, be sure to check out the new button I have posted for the Preparedness Pantry blog.  In addition to being a great resource for information and great products, they have a fabulous giveaway going on right now for a dairy combo, with a retail value of $175.70.  Check it out!