Yesterday
my boys and I made Scotch Broth. Now before you get any ideas, it has
nothing to do with a dark, smoky room and a manly drink that has been
fermented in oak barrels. It actually has nothing to do with a liquid
at all. So why it is called Scotch Broth? I don’t have the slightest
idea! But I can explain…
If you read my posts on a regular basis, you know I like to
do things myself and have things prepared for my family. There’s a lot
of talk lately of fault lines and rumblings in the earth. In fact,
scientists have said an earthquake is “imminent” along the Wasatch
Fault. What is imminent – within the next 50 years is their
definition. Well, if it’s 50 years from now, I hope my house falls down
and ends it for me. If it’s tomorrow, I want to have a few things ready in case.
Eating after an Earthquake
I saw this information originally written as “One Year
Supply of Food Storage for Under $300!” Yes, you read that right – but I
did it for even less. I think I may have found one of the best kept
secrets around for pumping up your food storage REAL FAST and REAL
CHEAP. And if I can have this available in storage, I can easily share
it with others. Don’t worry – I’ll tell you how this works.
What is it??
Scotch Broth is a combination of grains and legumes (read
rice and beans). It provides a balanced and nutritious meal on the
cheap! People all over the world have been subsisting on the “perfect
protein” combination of beans and rice for hundreds of years. Maybe
they figured something out. “This particular combination is said to
provide a balance of ALL of the appropriate amino acids required for a
person.” In layman’s terms that means yes, you could eat this and only
this for quite a while and have what you need.
This is also really easy to “change” in countless ways. By
adding meats or vegetables or dried vegetables to the mix you could
totally change it up. It wouldn’t have to be the same ol’ thing day
after day.
What do I buy?
So I loaded up the kids and headed to Winco (which actually
is quite an entertaining store all on it’s own). We filled our cart
with 25 bags of beans and rice and slowly pushed it to the front to
check out – those bags are heavy! Here’s what we got (if the recipe
calls for 20 or 15 lbs, I actually got 25 lb bags because it was cheaper
per pound than the smaller amounts, and if it was 10 pounds, I did get
the smaller bags).
Scotch Broth
- 75 pounds of White Rice
- 20 pounds of Barley
- 20 pounds of Kidney or Small Red Beans
- 20 pounds of Lentils
- 15 pounds Black Beans
- 10 pounds of Split Peas
- 10 pounds of Chick Peas (Garbanzos)
- 30 pounds (total) of powdered Bouillon: chicken, beef (I
got 15 containers of bullion cubes) (watch out for bullion with MSG –
could only find one brand without it)
- 5 5 gallon buckets and lids
The total for all of this was $195. That includes the buckets. And I have some left over for other uses.
What Do I Do With It?
You don’t want to mix it all together, because when you
cook it, the rice and barley cook faster than the beans and it makes it
mushy. So here’s what I did:
-
Fill 10 GALLON size ziplock bags with rice. Fill them as full as you can get. This is about 7 pounds per bag.
-
Fill 10 PINT size ziplock bags with barley, again as full as you can. This is about 2 pounds per bag.
-
Mix the beans in a bin. I did it in batches big enough for one 5 gallon bucket which is:
4 lbs Kidney beans
4 lbs Lentils
3 lbs Black beans
2 lbs Split peas
2 lbs Chick peas
(I found a bowl that fit about 4 pounds in it – used my
bathroom scale to figure it out. Then I just used a bowl full or half
full for this so I didn’t have to weigh every time.)
-
Mix the beans and put them in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket.
-
Add two bags of rice on top, standing upright. (DON’T dump
the bags in – one of my boys almost did this. Keep the grain in the
bags and put the bags in.) Then squeeze two bags of barley into the
spaces at the ends of the bags of rice.
-
Put the bullion packages along the top.
-
Add a copy of the cooking instructions (found below) and close the lid tight.
-
Repeat step 3-7 four more times. (I decided to do it this
way so I would get the right amount in each bucket rather than trying to
mix it all together and try to divide it out evenly)
How do I cook it?
- 1 cup bean mix
- 6-7 quarts water
- Little bit of oil (this prevents boiling over)
- Bouillon to taste
- Any fresh veggies and or meats that you have
Combine together and bring to boil, then simmer for 1.5 hours. Then add:
3/4 cup rice
⅓ cup barley
Cook for additional 20-30 min.
This will be enough for 8 people for 1 day or 4 people for 2
days**. You would get sick of it, but these five buckets could feed a
family of four for a year.
**On the second day you’ll need to add some more water (it
thickens in the fridge overnight) and another tablespoon of stock. Make
sure to boil for at least 10 minutes the second day to kill off any
potential bacteria, – especially if you are not storing in fridge, but
just in a root cellar or somewhere cool in the event of no electricity
in summer.
Giving it away
Of course this is intended as an excellent source of food
for your long term food storage. It’s also a good way to have something
easy and filling to give to someone who doesn’t have food for their
family.
If you are short on time or money, this is easily made one
bucket at a time. Use these amounts when you’re at the grocery store.
Should cost around $37 for a bucket’s worth.
- 15 lbs rice
- 4 lb barley
- 4 lbs Kidney beans
- 4 lbs Lentils
- 3 lbs Black beans
- 2 lbs Split peas
- 2 lbs Chick peas
- 3 tubs bullion cubes
- 1 5 gallon bucket and lid
So I hope you take the time to do a little Scotch Brothing
sometime soon. And let me know what you think about it! Beans and Rice
never tasted so good!
Love,
Dr. Michelle Jorgensen
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