What to Do with Rice!

When I was a young child I remember the one thing for dinner was some kind of potatoes; mashed, baked, roasted, etc. When I married into a Latin family I learned that rice was a part of the main dish. As a kid rice was a treat but as an adult rice became the main stay of our meal.

I like to bake, but I have never been a good cook, or should I say a creative cook. If you asked me how I would've served rice with a meal, it would have been as a side. But after years of eating with my in-laws I now see the wisdom in rice as a food that can be used to make a meal to feed many.

Rice can go along way to feed many mouths. I never realized how much more your meal can feed by adding rice as a main course; see some examples below.

Eggs over Rice

Rice and Beans

Beef Stew and Rice

Crock Pot Chicken over Rice

SOS over Rice

You can use your imagination and come up with much more uses for rice.

They say brown rice is better for you than white rice, I never liked the taste of brown so I really never used it but my friend, Ashley, said that you could cook the brown rice in chicken broth and it will give it a better flavor. I'll have to try it sometime.

Rice is a good items to store for food storage because it goes along way and has a long shelf life, like 20+ years, if stored properly.

Best way to store rice


Who else has some rice ideas whether its brown or white? We'd love to hear what you do to spice up rice.

Here is one way you can use rice as a non food item.I have heard of using rice in bags to make heating pads. I found this Pinterest page that had some real cute ideas to make these bags.

Fun Rice Packs

Here is more on rice bags.

Rice bags

What about crafts, I probably wouldn't waste food on crafts but you might like this idea for kids if you are trying to find an activity to entertain the kids.

U tube colored rice activity

What else can do you do with rice? Share with us!

Emergencies Happen Every Day

Emergencies do happen every day. Nobody wants these things to happen to them or others but they do, so we need to "be prepared for the worst and hope for the best". I heard that phrase somewhere, not sure who said it first.

Being prepared for what is to come is the smart thing to do. The world today sees earthquakes, tornado's  hurricanes, flood, droughts, and snowstorms. Our economy takes its ups and downs without our permission so we have to adjust to its will. Being prepared for whatever comes our way is the only way to stay sane in troubled times.

It's important to know what things to store for your family so I have included some links that might be helpful in preparing for the worst. There are lots of websites out there so do your research them and choose wisely.

Emergency Kitchen

Food Storage Tips

Seven Major Mistakes

Helpful Tips

Emergency Kit for your Car

Have you ever thought about traveling a long distance to an area you are not familiar with then your car breaks down? It has happened to people before. I remember a story about a young couple that was on their way to visit family but ran into a snow storm and was stranded for a while.

The husband felt the need to find help for them so we traveled by foot in the snow leaving his wife behind to stay in the car until he returned. To make a long story short, things worked out for them. But I don't remember if they had an emergency kit in their car or not; that would have been a good time to have one.

You never know when storms arise or even if the issue is not storm related say you are in the desert or many miles away from civilization and you break down, you need to have an emergency kit handy.

Here is a link with suggestions for what the kit would have in it but be creative and think about the path you are going and what your needs might be, then adjust your kit to fit those needs. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Emergency Prep Car Kit

You might also want to prepare a first aid kit for your car, just in case.

Being Prepared Means less Fear

Hello,

Today, I plan to talk about the importance of Emergency Preparedness. I want to share my story about being prepared.

I grew up in Florida, and you know that means hurricanes but we hardly ever see them on the west coast. After I grew up and started having my family I realized I had more than just me to worry about so I started attending hurricane preparedness seminars. Every year I would go and every year I learned new stuff. We had only had one hurricane once that just sat in the gulf, Hurricane Elena, but eventually it moved off only leaving us with some beach erosion.

One year, my mothers aunt became ill so I took my kids and went to Miami to help her out for  a while. I never liked putting the radio on in the car because it was always a good time to talk with my family. But one day as we were going to the library my daughter begged me to turn it on, good thing we did because we heard the news saying that Hurricane Andrew was heading for Miami.

What a scare, we only had a day and a half to get ready for landfall. So we rushed home and started prepping the yard and house for the storm. All those years of preparation seminars helped me to be better prepared for this major storm. After the electricity went out we headed to a hallway in the middle of the house and waited out the storm. Early the next morning after daylight appeared we went out to assess the damage.

We had a couple of trees down, one against the house but no real damage, and one across the driveway. We still had no power then we saw why, a tree from the neighbors yard had fallen over the power line from the street to the house. But we were all in good shape other than that. The bad part of it was the electric company couldn't fix lines to the house until they had power up on all the streets. So we lived several weeks without power.

Lucky for us my aunt had a gas stove so we could still cook without a problem but the well was on an electric pump, so we had to go borrow water every day from friends, once we were able to get out of the driveway. I think because of all those seminars we were better prepared for the storm. We always have to be prepared anywhere we live and not just because of  Mother Nature.

I have learned that emergencies happen when you lose a job, or a loved one, or the economy gets tight, there are just so many different scenarios. But the key is to be prepared no matter what. All those things need the basics which include cash, food/water and shelter. If those needs are met then it is easier to think through your situation and get down to business of picking up the pieces.

The funny thing is after 8 years of living out west with no real emergencies, we moved back to Florida to be closer to family in 2004. Yeah, that was the year 4 big hurricanes hit Florida. welcome back, right?

Anyway, over the next few months we will be discussing how to make emergency preparedness plans. Until then stay safe.