When I think about food preparedness, I don’t see a basement filled with freeze-dried meals. I see a sensible plan that includes pantry, shelves of home-canned produce, root cellar for storable foods, sprouts on the counter in winter, a garden and farmers’ markets in summer, DIY skills, and a community of likeminded people. As with any worthwhile endeavor, there’s more than one path to food security.
When it’s cold outside and time is short, I stir up pantry meals with a side of greens. Right now, though, garden produce is coming in. Some meals are all garden, like yesterday’s new potatoes and green beans. Today’s lunch was a hybrid meal, part garden and part pantry,
On my way home from yoga this morning, I was wondering what to do with the half package of taco shells in the pantry. Chicken tacos, that’s what!
My friend Phyllis grew a lot of onions. I didn’t get mine in the ground this year. Thankfully, she shared. I have tomatoes coming along nicely, green ones, but I picked up a few pounds of ripe ones last week at the farmers’ market. Add chicken, some fat for sautéing, homemade salsa from last season, and some good cheese. Yep, I had everything I needed.
I have an abundance of seasonings, food for the taste buds and the soul. One might even call me a seasonings hoarder, except I use them up and I share them.
I sautéed the onions, added leftover chicken meat, and seasoned to taste. If you don’t have leftover chicken in the fridge, use canned chicken.
I warmed the shells, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and set it all on the table with the salsa. It was as delicious as I hoped it would be. And simple.
This winter, when there are no more tomatoes ripening on the counter, make sure you have a few jars of whole, canned cherry tomatoes in the pantry. They taste almost as good as the freshly chopped tomatoes we ate today. Almost.
Apocalypse Farm 