I hope that you were able to try some of your new recipes using your popcorn. This week I am suggesting Crisco shortening, oil and cocoa.

It is so important to have shortening and oil in our storage. I know that we have some concerns about oil, but unopened Crisco shortening will store for a very long time if you store it in a cool dry place. Also, just as a note, powdered butter doesn’t work well in cakes and cookies and neither does powdered shortening. The powdered shortening does, however, work well with mixes such as pancakes, muffins, etc. (Also, a woman at the USU Extension service said that if a cookie recipe calls specifically for shortening you can substitute wheat flour instead of white.)

Other oils store for about one year, so you will want to rotate it. I have had sealed oils for longer than a year and they haven’t gone bad, but I imagine that if the seal were to be broken that it would eventually turn rancid.

I am including cocoa because I think that it would be such a shame to be stuck without chocolate. It is hard to store chocolate bars. From personal experience I don’t know if chocolate bars go bad or not, they never get stored long enough for me to find out. (My family likes to keep this item rotated.)

Chocolate has been proven to be a stress reliever (duh) and during stressful times a plate of brownies or a chocolate cake can be just what you need to make things seem a little better. Chocolate is also a wonderful item to barter with. Oil, cocoa and cinnamon are especially good items to have on hand for this reason.

During the depression and when times were tough, these items were as valuable as gold. Cocoa and cinnamon are grown outside of the United States and so they have to be imported, hence their increased value. Also, it is always more pleasant to cook with oil or shortening than rendered fat (lard) or drippings.

I also wanted to pass on an additional idea. If you watch the grocery ads, you can sometimes find chicken quarters (legs and thighs) for only .28 cents a pound. You can buy 100 lbs. for only about $28.00. You can either take the chicken and re-wrap it in individual servings and freeze them or you can bottle them.

Bottling is a really good way to preserve meat and it is very simple to do. It is also very handy to have on hand to make meat pies, sandwiches, soups, etc. If you have never preserved meat just buy a “Ball Blue Book” which has just about everything you need to know about bottling – including meat.

When you pre-cook the chicken to bottle it, keep the broth, strain it, and bottle it also. It makes a wonderful base for soup or anything else that you need chicken broth for.

This weeks suggestion: Crisco shortening – 6 lbs. for approximately $6.00 or Ambrosia Baking Cocoa – 5 lbs. $9.00 and/or 160 oz. Crisco oil for $5.00. (These prices may vary depending on your location.)