Please note: This is part of a series of reviews we are doing on food storage, emergency preparedness, and self-reliance type books. For more reviews click here.
Simply Planned and Simply Delicious
by Leslie D. Probert and Lisa L. Harkness
Background: A few months ago we presented at a food storage fair and had the chance to meet tons of great people in the food storage industry. We happened upon Leslie Probert and she told us that she thought what we were doing with helping people get their food storage was great. This was a huge compliment coming from Leslie as she as a long-term food storage expert who teaches at BYU Education Week, has a regular column in the MormonTimes and is the author of a fantastic food storage book. I have to admit I was a little “starstruck” speaking with her but she was so sweet. She gave us a copy of her book and I’m so excited to share my thoughts about it with you.
What I Liked: There is so much that I liked about this book I could fill up pages about it! But here are a few of my favorite things:
- Very thorough and yet basic information about the long term food storage foods
- Everything is very well researched and well sourced so I feel like I am getting accurate and safe information
- Great charts on which months are best to purchase which items, shelf life of foods, lots of planning guides, etc.
- 200 recipes made ONLY with food storage foods!
- Tips on “expanded food storage” to increase the variety in your meals
- Appendices full of more advanced information
Favorite Tip: When I first read through the book I somehow missed the fact that there were 7 appendices in the back. I got to the section with recipes and figured that was the end. As I was flipping through it again for this review, I noticed them and I was just thrilled. They include everything from gardening/sprouting tips, conversion charts, and rotation ideas to my very favorite thing … alternative cooking methods! This is an area that feels so overwhelming to me and I have been too intimidated to really delve into it thoroughly. This appendix includes many different options of fuel for cooking and discusses safety precautions, proper storage, shelf life, and cooking devices for each one. Seriously, it is 15 pages jam-packed full of great info.
Feedback: A lot of the bread-type recipes in this book call for “mixes” as one of the ingredients. There are a few basic mixes you can make and store to be used in multiple recipes later. While I am definitely a fan of keeping some some mixes on hand for “emergency” meals, I would also like to try the recipes without using a mix so that I could use fresh ground flour. There is no conversion or easy way to calculate how much of each ingredient to use for a single recipe.
Summary: For someone who is fairly new to food storage, this book is extremely thorough but is still “user-friendly” for a beginner. For those with some basic knowledge already, the recipes and additional tips and information are invaluable. We found the book available at Amazon.com from time to time, but you can also buy it from Deseret Book or Emergency Essentials. I highly recommend it!
Tags: food storage, food storage book reviews, food storage books, food storage training
Filed under: Book Reviews
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