Cookbook Review: I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage! by Crystal Godfrey

Do NOT skip reading this review (or this book) because of your preconceived notions about food storage. So many of us (myself included) have long avoided food storage because every time we think about it, we begin to feel confused or discouraged. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “I really need to work on getting my food storage”, gone online to try to figure out where to find the stuff, how much I needed, and – maybe worst! – how much it was all going to cost, and ended up frustrated, trying to forget the whole thing.

Crystal Godfrey has taken the topic of food storage and really simplified it in her cookbook, I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage. In her book, Crystal makes food storage approachable. Sometimes, it seems like gathering forty jillion tons of wheat and eleventy-seven thousand pounds of milk powder just seems so unattainable, so overwhelming. Crystal lays it out for us and shows us how to build our food storage step by baby step, making it feel like we’re making consistent enough progress that we will eventually be able to actually feel…“prepared”. Probably more importantly, though, Crystal helps us find practical ways to use and rotate our food storage. Because, I don’t know about you, but I really want to learn how the heck to use those fourty-leven hundred tons of wheat. I feel like any education I undertake now will only help me be less stressed when, one day, for whatever reason, I am called upon to live from my food storage supply. Of course, it’s beneficial to feel prepared for a national disaster or situation that has you sheltered in your home for an extended period of time. But, possibly more relevantly, wouldn’t you like to feel more prepared, particularly in these uncertain economic times, for some unforeseen circumstance that changes your family’s ability to earn a living? I know I would.

Crystal starts right at the beginning with us, discussing the importance of having a reliable food storage, which basic items should be included in our food storage, and how to find, package, and store these items. One of my favorite aspects of Crystal’s research is her concrete suggestions for quantities. Like, as in formulas. CONCRETE information! I also liked that Crystal divided up the book into sections based on these food storage items, easing us into implementing first those items that are least foreign and most likely to be accepted by our families. She includes action steps in each section of the book, encouraging us to set goals for using our food storage items by choosing specific recipes and even setting a date to try each one. By easing food storage items into our pantries little by little, We are able to feel as though we are mastering the use of one item at a time, and by the time we have cooked our way through the entire book, we feel confident enough to be able to use our food storage items on a daily basis.

Daily use of food storage items has several benefits. Primary to me is acclimating my family to the tastes & textures of the items (although, I must agree with Crystal’s assertion that if they don’t know they’re eating food storage, they probably won’t even notice a difference). We can also enjoy a healthier, more balanced diet higher in fiber and nutrients and lower in fat. Cooking with food storage items also has the potential to save us not only time (if you have dehydrated fruits and vegetables, there’s no need to wash, dry, or chop them before cooking) but also money (having food storage items on hand eliminates the need to run to the grocery store for a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs). And - I have to add this – cooking with food storage items can also be fun (your kids who love to help you cook can actually sample the cookie dough or brownie batter made with powdered eggs without risk of food-borne illness!)

The main highlights of this book that I want to emphasize are these:

• Nutritional information. This book is loaded with nutritional information that makes you really understand why the items recommended for food storage are so important for us to have. And use!
• Number of recipes. There are just so many new recipes!
• Conversion charts. I’ve never seen so many useful conversion charts in a cookbook before. And this is important when cooking with all these “new” ingredients. Crystal also sells magnetized conversion charts on her website – I’ll be buying a set very soon because they’re so much more convenient than flipping through the book to find the chart you want.
• Approachability. I said it before, but were it not for Crystal’s down-to-earth, organized, and simple approach, the content in this book would seem obscure, remote, and overwhelming. She makes it feel not only possible, but fun and desirable.

A few things that bear mentioning:

• There is frequent scriptural reference in the first portion of Crystal’s book. If you think this might bother you, I would strongly encourage you to at least become familiar with Crystal’s blog, where I don’t see as much of that. You might find that the wealth of food storage information
• It is noticeable that the chapters are divided up into categories based on food storage items that can be obtained at canneries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Don’t let this bother you. The LDS church is without question a leading authority on the subject of long term food storage. Furthermore, cannery items – including mainly powdered milk, whole wheat, dried beans, flour, sugar, white rice, and dried onions, apples, and carrots – might seem limited at first glance, but when you read this book you will be surprised at all that can be done with these staple ingredients. In fact, I noticed that several of Crystal’s recipes can be made exclusively with these food storage items. If you do not have access to an LDS cannery, all of the items can be obtained outside of a cannery, and Crystal provides references for these sources, as well.
• There are no photos of the recipes in the cookbook. But let me tell you, there are a TON of recipes! Here are a few of the ones I tried with my family, but this doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s in Crystal’s book.

Dutch Apple Pie:

Easy Pasta Pizza:

(meatless) Cracked Wheat Sausage:

White Bean & Sausage Rigatoni:

Overnight Caramel French Toast:

Roasted Wheat Kernels:

Feta Wheat Berry Salad:

…those are in addition to the recipes from Crystal’s website that we use on a regular basis in our home, including Blender Wheat Pancakes and 45-Minute Breadsticks or No-Fail Deep-Dish Pizza Dough.

This book is well-researched and well-written. I recommend it for anyone with a desire to learn more about and prepare their long-term food storage. I also recommend it for those of you lucky few who have their food storage safely gathered in but are looking for new ways to cook with it. It is a particularly good reference for LDS families, with information about Family Home Evenings, scriptures, and words from Prophets. But, I would suggest this book even for non-LDS families. It contains a wealth of information about an entirely non-secular subject.

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Right now, Crystal is doing something so wonderful over at Everyday Food Storage! She’s offering a download of her top 25 most popular recipes, including EZ Whole Wheat Bread, Blender No Bake Cheesecake, Blender Pancakes, Magic Mix, Sweetened Condensed Milk,and more, for ONLY $3! This would make a really great stocking stuffer for your wife/ sister/mom or a very useful neighborhood gift to distribute!

Want to know the best part? 100% of the proceeds go to benefit Feeding America. Isn’t that awesome?