Today I have been digging out some old easy recipes to use with your food storage. Sometimes we need a few new recipes that we can use by grabbing something out of the pantry. I have declared myself a stay-at-home mom because I love eating at home. It’s awesome to grow a lot of my food in my backyard garden so I don’t have to go to the store to get tomatoes, lettuce, or spinach.
Some of these easy recipes I used whenfeeding my daughters over 30 years ago. I have to tell you, my mouth is watering over these gems. My recipes have to be easy and not complicated or I won’t make them. You may know by now I love storing freeze-dried meats because they have a shelf life of about 15-25 years at optimum temperatures. Here’s the deal, most manufacturers state the products must be stored at 65-70 degrees, well that’s not going to happen with the price of my electricity bills here.
This is how I see it in my situation, they may last 10-15 years and that works for me. I do buy a lot of canned chicken, roast beef, and tuna. They typically have a shelf life of 1-2 years. Every manufacturer is different. I realize that tuna gets mushy after 2 years. I store more canned chicken than anything else. So let’s get started with some old standbys you may want to try for your family. These are my favorite easy recipes!
Table of Contents
Easy Recipes Using Food Storage:
Linda’s Rigatoni
Linda’s Rigatoni
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
6 hrs
Total Time
6 hrs 20 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1poundground beeffried or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried hamburger
- 1chopped fresh onion or equal amount of freeze-dried onions
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1/2cupto 1 cup sugar
- 2teaspoonsItalian seasoning
- 8-6-ouncecans of tomato paste
- 8-6-ouncecans of water
- 3ouncesof parmesan cheese
Instructions
Put all of the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Serve over cooked Rigatoni noodles.
Linda’s Chicken Salad
Linda’s Chicken Salad
Prep Time
20 mins
Course:Salad
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 2cupscooked diced chicken or 2 cans 12.5-ounces ofcanned chickendrained or equal amount reconstituted freeze-dried chicken.
- 3/4cupchopped apples or equal amount of rehydrated freeze-dried appleschopped
- 3/4cupchopped/diced celery
- 1-8-ouncecan pineapple chunksdrained
- 1cupfreeze dried grapesdo not reconstitute
- 3/4cupMiracle Whip or Mayonnaise
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed together. Serve on a bed of lettuce.
Summer Zucchini Casserole
Summer Zucchini Casserole
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
Total Time
55 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 4medium zucchinis or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried zucchini
- Cook about 15 minutes or until tender.
- 1/2cupchopped onions or equal amount of freeze-dried onions
- 4tablespoonsbuttersave 2 tablespoons for topping
- 2-1/2cupsStove Top Dressingsave 1 cup for topping
- 1can cream of chicken soup
- 1/2cupsour cream or equal amount of reconstituted dehydrated sour cream
Instructions
Saute the onions in the butter. Stir in the 1-1/2 cups dressing, soup, and sour cream. Pour the ingredients into a 9 by 13 inch greased pan. Saute the remaining 1 cup dressing in 2 T. butter. Sprinkle the topping on top of the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Serves 6-8.
Poppy Seed Chicken
Poppy Seed Chicken
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
40 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 2cupscooked diced chicken or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried chicken
- 1can cream of chicken soup
- 1-1/2cupssour cream or reconstituted dehydrated sour cream
- 1-8-ouncebox Ritz crackerscrushed
- 1cube butter melted
- 1tablespoonpoppy seeds
Instructions
Combine the chicken, cream of chicken soup with the sour cream. Mix the crushed crackers with the melted butter and poppy seeds. Combine 1/2 of the cracker mix with the chicken mix. Grease a 9 by13-inch casserole dish. Scoop the ingredients into the pan and top with the remaining cracker mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until warmed thoroughly. Serves 4-6 people
Chicken Enchiladas
5 from 7 votes
Chicken Enchiladas by FSM
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
45 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:Mexican
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1-12.5-ouncecan chicken or 2 cups of cooked chicken
- 2cans cream of chicken soup
- 1-4-ouncecan green chilies
- 4green onions chopped
- 3/4poundgrated cheddar cheese (save 1 cup grated cheese for the topping)
- 12corn tortillas cut into bite size pieces (spray with vegetable oil instead of frying them)
Instructions
Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl except the tortillas. Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan and alternate layers of the chicken mixture and the tortillas. The last layer will be the chicken mixture and top it off with one cup of reserved cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Serves 6-8 people.
Mexican Casserole
Mexican Casserole
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
45 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:Mexican
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1poundhamburger cooked or equal amount reconstituted freeze-dried hamburger
- 1chopped onion or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried chopped onions
- 1poundgrated cheese or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried cheddar cheese
- 1bag of Fritos
- 2-16ouncecans of chili with beans
- 1small can ofchopped or sliced olives
Instructions
Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan. Alternate layers with chili, Fritos, cheese, hamburger, onions, and olives. The last layer should end with the chili and top with the remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes or until the cheese melts. Serves 6- 8 people.
Chicken Rice Casserole
Chicken Rice Casserole
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
37 mins
Total Time
47 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 2cupscooked chicken diced or 3-12.5-ounce cans of canned chicken or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried chicken
- 3 -4cupscooked rice
- 1/2cupchopped onion or equal amount of freeze-dried onion
- 1cupcelery or equal amount of freeze-dried celery
- 1can of sliced chestnuts
- 2cans of cream of chicken soup
- 1cupmayonnaisesounds weird, huh?
- 2tablespoonslemon juice
- 2cupssliced almondsone cup for the top
Instructions
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and scoop the ingredients into a greased 9 by 13-inch pan. Do not cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Sprinkle the last cup of almonds on the top of the casserolethe last 5 minutes of baking. Serves 6-8 people. The mayonnaise sounds weird but I must say this is truly one of my all time favorite casseroles.
My Daughter’s Enchiladas
My Daughter’s Enchiladas
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Total Time
45 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 3-4chicken breasts cooked and shredded or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried chicken
- 1cupsour cream
- 1-8ouncecream cheese softened
- 1can ofdiced green chilies
- 3cupsgrated cheddar cheese or equal amount of reconstituted cheddar cheesesave one cup for the top of the casserole
- 12flour tortillas-cut into bite-size pieces
- Combine the following and cover the casserole with this mixture:
- 1can “Old El Paso” enchilada sauce
- 1can cream of mushroom soup
Instructions
Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes covered with foil. Serves 6-8 people.
My Sister’s Meatless Lasagna
My Sister’s Meatless Lasagna
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
40 mins
Total Time
50 mins
Course:Main Course
Cuisine:American
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1large jar spaghetti sauce or 6 cups of spaghetti sauce
- 1-8ouncepkg. lasagna noodlesuncooked
- 1poundricotta cheese or cottage cheese
- 1poundmozzarella cheese or equal amount of reconstituted freeze-dried mozzarella
- 1cupparmesan cheese
Instructions
Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan. Layer the sauce, lasagna noodle, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Repeat the layers twice. The last layer will be lasagna noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until the cheese melts.
I hope you enjoy some of my easy recipes and if you have some easy recipes I will add them to this list. Here’s to saving money using food storage and staying out of restaurants and grocery stores. I know we are all trying not to use processed food, but sometimes my budget doesn’t warrant fresh meat, and I am okay with that. Life is good because I can cook at home and enjoy every minute of it.
One thing to consider, take half the cooked entree and put it in the freezer to heat and eat later. My husband and I certainly couldn’t eat one 9 x 13 pan of any of these meals, unless we had guests. We often will save part of the food in the fridge to eat it as a leftover, or we’ll freeze it and eat it at some future date.
Dinner rolls by Linda
My favorite lasagna pan
Copyright pictures:
Zucchini:AdobeStock_69886713 by Melima
Poppy Seed Chicken:AdobeStock_63645513 by Ginauf
Mexican Casserole:AdobeStock_37128292 by MSPhotographic
Meatless Lasagna:AdobeStock_66463062 by Bill
