100% food storage/pantry/freezer meals. Haven't been to the grocery store since November, 2023 and today is January 24, 2024.
Tonight's dinner is in the instant pot, on the slow cooker setting. It's a mushroom roast and I'll be serving with potatoes, either home canned or mashed from stored potato flakes. The star of the show however is the mushrooms. Our family loves mushrooms cooked with our roasts but obviously mushrooms from the store go bad within days so storing them means you have to choose one or more options of storing longer term.
We store mushrooms in 4 different ways.
The first, obvious and one we don't actually store too many of are canned from the store. I may have some still in my 2-3 year storage but they are never my first choice.
The second way we store them is freezing. Because they go bad so quickly, I have always immediately sliced the whole mushrooms or used sliced mushrooms from the store and put them into a food sealer bag and popped them into the freezer. This is my primary way of using and storing mushrooms on any given day - when not using food storage items. It ensures I always had fresh mushrooms on hand for pizza, sauces, roasts, soups, etc.
Third: Freeze dried. Expensive, but we do have some cans of freeze dried mushrooms in storage. Freeze dried is the most expensive option to purchase but the quality and flavor and texture is awesome.
Fourth and last, dehydrated! And that's what I used today.
This is my regular container of dehydrated mushrooms that lives in my kitchen pantry at all times. I would always restock it when it got low (although of course I'm not restocking it now that we are using food storage and not buying anything at the grocery store).
To make them, simply slice your mushrooms or buy store bought sliced and place them on the dehydrator trays. Dehydrate until they are dried out of all moisture but still pliable. Place into a jar with a lid and let them set for a week or so, shaking them and letting the moisture left in them equalize out. Check for no excess moisture left in them, mold, etc. When you see they are still dry and loose, you can make sure they are sealed tightly and start to use them as needed.
No need to rehydrate before use except if you want to use them pizza. I add them to the dishes directly and they soak up the liquid/water/broth as they cook. To rehydrate them for things like pizza, just toss them in a bowl of hot water and let them soak for 10-15 minutes or even overnight. You can drain off the liquid and use them as you would fresh.
Roast
1 can cream of celery soup
onion powder
Slow cooked about 6-8 hours or until it's fall apart tender.
