Delicious Indian Naan Bread

If you have ever been to an Indian resteraunt, the Naan bread they serve is SO delicious! They are light, buttery, garlicy, and YUMMY! We served these with a pasta dish, but would be great with a curry dish. If you get tired of making the same bread recipe, this one is fun for a change.

Naan
2 3/4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 egg
1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt or sour cream
1/2 cup milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl by hand), stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and yeast. In a small bowl, mix together the egg, yogurt, and milk. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir for about 1 minute, until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the wet ingredients.

Increase machine speed to 2 (or by hand) and knead the dough until it is smooth and shiny. Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover with a towel. Leave in a warm place to rise until the dough doubles in size, about an hour.

Put a baking stone or heavy baking sheet on the lowest rack of your oven. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees for at least 30 minutes prior to baking.

Divide the dough into eight pieces and form into teardrop (mine were more like oval) shapes with your hands, about 6 to 8 inches across.

Cook two or three pieces at a time. Drop the dough onto the hot stone and shut the oven door, watching until they are just starting to turn brown in places, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove the naan and lay on a board. Butter the naan with garlic butter after it comes out of the oven.

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Great question..How do you keep your food budget low??

I just signed up hoping desprately that your site will help me and my family with our goals to spend less, while still eating healthy foods and build our storage up at the same time. So far I really like what I see, however, if I was to budget based off of your weekly menu's (keeping in mind that I'm just starting out) It looks like I'd spend about 200$ a week! Right now I budge 450$ a month.We figured we could bump that up another 100$ for the purchase of storage items, but I still think that after 2 weeks, I'd be out of money. We have a family of 6 (Me, my husband, and 4 little kid) I find that I'm going over budget all the time so I'm hoping your site will help us stay within that range. My question to you is if that is even reasonable. I noticed you mentioned on your blog that you also have 4 kids, how much do you budget? And what should I expect to spend each week at the store while I'm just starting out?
~~Anne


That is a great question! Our family also has 6 people and I spend about $400-$500 a month (depending on how much food storage I am stocking up on). I could definitely spend less if we didn’t cook so much and go through our food so quickly. I am always entertaining, and at least a couple of times a week cooking for over 15people (our family parites a lot!). So..if I can spend that, you should definitely be able to stay within that range.

Now, the fact I have all of my food storage will save me money, but you will be there over time. If I were you I would focus on getting a 3 month supply of food. On the weekly deal sheets, when a food storage item is on sale for a ‘red’ price, divide the year total by four and that will give you the 3 month supply per person. Times this by 6 and you will have a good number to begin stocking up on. If you are trying to get your whole year supply all at once, you will be spending more than the $400 a month. If you have the money however, this is the way to get your year supply in one years time (if not faster).

Another way I keep my food budget down is I DON'T buy ANY item that is not on sale for the ‘red’ prices!! I generally shop at Walmart and price match all of the ‘red’ deals and do one stop shopping to save the most money. (I have tips on my blog if you need help with price matching www.myfoodstoragedeals.blogspot.com).
I also don’t buy hardly any snacks, prepackaged/processed items, chips, cookies, pop, frozen dinners/meat, etc. I cook everything from scratch and stick pretty close to my weekly menu planner. If you were to cook every meal on the menu planner it would cost you around $100 a week. However, for most families the eight meals will last you at least 1-1 ½ weeks. You will most likely have leftovers, eat out, or cook quicker meals on some of the nights. I try to shop only every week and a half (unless there is a screamin’ good food storage deal on an item I am low on). The less I am at the grocery store, the less I spend each month. If you are planning your menu to last you 1 1/2 weeks, you will find you will spend less.

I also shop at Costco only once a month! Costco can eat up my money faster than any other store! I make sure I only go once a month and stock up on the items I will need that month (lettuce, cheeses, butter, spices, condiments, mushrooms (they have the best price!), peppers (usually the least), etc.) Their produce is such great quality, I find that if I buy enough of their produce, it will last me nearly the whole month (I buy 3 packages of their Romaine lettuce. It you keep it in the crisper, it will last for weeks! It is awesome and a great price!).

One other aspect of my food budget is that EVERY year at tax return time we spend close to $500 on beefing up our food storage. We do this every year and just plan on a portion of our return to go to our storage. That month I do spend a lot on food, but that will help me spend less throughout the rest of the year.

Ways to save you at the grocery store is to not go hungry, try to not to bring your children, bring your list, stay focused, and only buy items on sale! If you need your money to stretch even further, incorporate less expensive meals into your weekly meals…grilled cheese & soup, spaghetti, macaroni & cheese, etc. They are not the healthiest meals, but can be inexpensive and quick when you are running low on time & money! That is why having a food storage is so fabulous!! This last week I was running low on groceries, was sick, and didn’t want to cook (You know I am sick when cooking isn't fun!!). I was able to make a big pancake dinner, spaghetti, and had Progresso soup and grilled cheese the next night and it was all out of my food storage (except for the cheese). It was great not to have to run to the store and I could stretch my food budget by three days because I have plenty of food in my storage. Now that I am feeling better I can go shopping again and cook better meals. Yippee!!

Hope that helps! Staying within a food budget can be hard. But if you are disciplined and organized, it can be easy & FUN!! With the help of Deals to Meals you should find that you are eating healthier/homemade meals, saving less at the grocery store, and stocking up on all of the basic food storage items your family needs to be prepared. It is such a GREAT feeling!!

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How I store my long term grains

MY FOOD STORAGE BASICS: FLOUR, WHEAT, RICE, SUGAR, OATS, BEANS

I have still had several questions from people wondering how I store my grains (in my pantry). Well..if you read this post before Wednesday and you live in Utah, Maceys is having a great sale on their 5 gallon food storage buckets. I went and bought six of them (with lids) and have put my long term food storage items in them that I use the most (wheat, rice, flour, sugar, beans, oats). I then keep them in the bottom of my pantry so that I can easily access them when I need to use them in my cooking or fill my canisters on my counter. I have really enjoyed this method! If you have the money to invest in Gamma Lids, they will screw on tightly to your bucket and make for easy access to your food. They are expensive ($5.99 ea. lid) but only need to bought once and will keep your food fresh and sealed for years!

The key to making sure you rotate through your food storage is to make your food storage items accessible. If it requires too much work, you most likely will not use your food storage. You need to get it out of your storage room and into your kitchen. That is where you will use it and rotate through it.

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We are EXPANDING to Southern California & Nevada!!

We are SO excited to announce that Deals to Meals is expanding! If you are a Southern Califonia or Nevada resident, we are expanding our service to you! Our service is currently for Utah residents, and we are excited announce that now MORE of you will be able to take advantage of the weekly deals and meal planner! Before the year is over we are hoping to also be coming to a state near you...Arizona, Idaho, and Northern California!

If you are a California resident and would like to try our service FREE for the next two weeks, email us at California@dealstomeals.com. If you are a Nevada resident and would like to try our service, email us at Nevada@dealstomeals.com

We will then add your email to our list and send you the deals and meals for FREE until our website is finalized.

SPREAD THE WORD!!

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Commonly asked question on storing your food storage

Hi, I have a quick question for you. Your food storage lists says that oats and milk, flour and things will last 20-30 yrs if stored correctly. What exactly does that mean? Do I have to store oats in 10# cans? Can I buy oats and flour from the cannery and then put them in a 5gallon bucket and have them last that long? I am just not sure the best methods. I would appreciate some advice. Also, do you know if the cannery oats are even good? This process can be overwhelming!

Yes! Everything I have tried from the Cannery is excellent quality :) Buy the items at the Cannery in BULK 25lb. bags and you will save! They have awesome prices!!

As far as storing..here are my thoughts:

Don’t be overwhelmed!! Getting started is the hardest part, I promise!! You will find it really is fun and you will get great satisfaction as you see your storage room take shape and shelves stocked.

This is the deal with how long food lasts…I don’t worry about it!!! If you are only stocking up for a one year supply, even if you don’t rotate through the food in over five years, it will still be FINE! People get so worried about having their food ‘go bad’ that they frustrate themselves. The study that was done from the Cannery showed that food stored in #10 cans were PERFECTLY fine after 30 years. They came to the conclusion that many of these long term storage items can last even longer than 30 years, and MUCH longer than they ever thought they would.

I don’t can my food in #10 cans because it almost doubles the price. The only item I have in #10 cans is powdered milk from the Cannery. I don't rotate through this as quickly and I want to make sure it lasts and is fresh. All other items I put in the 5 gallon buckets or plastic containers, and I figure they will last as long as I need them to (5-10 years). If you are not rotating through your items in less than 10 years, you are most likely buying too much, or don’t need to restock as often. I have oats in my pantry that I bought right after I was married (nearly 10 years ago) and they are perfectly fine! I also have powdered milk that is almost that old and is still good.

The only exception is if you live in an area where you have to worry about moisture, mold, flooding, or rodents. If you do have these issues, then it may be wise to can as much of your food as you can in the #10 cans. If not, just rotate your long term food storage items once a year, check to make sure there is no weevil, and you will be set!

Hopefully that helps!

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Good Things Utah Link

What a blast that was! Thank you to all of my friends & family who came to support me. It was a lot of fun and they have asked me back May 28th to cook in the kitchen (my FAVORITE thing!). Personally, I think they invited me back to have our enthusiastic audience back---you guys were great!

Thank you to everyone for your support...there are so many sweet people out there! Thank you for your emails, love, prayers, and kindness. You make this job worth it :)

http://www.abc4.com/content/about_4/gtu/featured_on/default.aspx

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My Apologies!

Wow! I just found out something tonight that shows how incompetent I am with computers!!! For nearly TWO years I have spent HOURS & HOURS answering people's comments on my blogs and my sister told me today that my replys were never recieved!! I was sending them to the noreply@gmail.com. AHHHH!! I can't think of the hundreds of hours I have lost, but more than that, I feel badly that so many of you think I never answered your questions or comments. SORRY!! I have been told that the only way to recieve my comments or answers to your questions is for you to personally check the 'Email Follow-up Comments' box. I can then answer your comments in the comment section.

I am sure many of you already knew that, but this was news to me!

So, I am posting this post a little wiser than I was earlier today. If any of you can remember your questions, feel free to email me with them again :)

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Great Blog!

If you love getting a good deal like I do, here is a great website for you that gives you the opportunity to win FREE items every day! It seems pretty cool, and features Utah companies. Check it out http://www.giveawaytoday.blogspot.com/

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We are changing our name!

Watch for BIG changes to My Food Storage Deals coming in March! We are excited to introduce our new name and logo! We are excited to share the new details by the end of this month.

Thank you to everyone for your support this last year. We are excited to offer new & improved pricing and features by our ONE YEAR anniversary. What a year this has been!

We would love your help...for those who are willing. We are working on the testimonials page of our new website and I would love to hear your success stories this past year. Have any of you increased your food storage supply while using My Food Storage Deals? Do the recipes help make your life easier? HOw has having your food storage helped you in your life? Do you have pictures of your food storage? We would love to share your experiences and thoughts on our new website. You can send us your pictures or email us your thoughts/stories/testimonials to Shandra@myfoodstoragedeals.com.

Thank you and happy shopping!

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