What will we eat when the lights go out? Donuts!!

Every week I make bread from scratch for my family and the preschool that my wife and I run. We no longer have a need to purchase any from the store. Often when this comes up as a topic of conversation people look at me like I'm the greatest magician the world has ever known! "How do you do it!" they say. Or they say "I used to do that 20 years ago"...or "I love homemade bread...can I have a piece!!"

My response is "I learned it by reading a cookbook"..."You ought to do it again!" and..."OK".

I think that we all could agree that a lot less people know how to make bread now than just a short time back in history. Many of the people that do still "make bread" rely upon bread machines that have taken the place of their kneading hands...and packaged bread mixes have taken the place of measuring and mixing the ingredients. I guess the reason why most people don't make their own bread comes down to 3 major reasons. It takes time, they don't feel confident that they can do it, and it takes work.

So if we currently are having a hard time making our own bread...even while we have all the resources at our fingertips...how are we going to make our own bread when those resources disappear? When there is no store to buy bread or just to buy the ingredients? How about when the power grid goes down and we have no electricity?

I have a solution! It takes a ton less time to make than traditional loaf bread...it doesn't require a bunch of kneading and waiting...you don't need an oven to make it...you can make it from food storage basics...and it is soooo easy! The answer is....DONUTS! Well actually Indian Fry Bread.

Have you ever had Indian Fry Bread before? There are many recipes...but they are all basically the same. A small batter ball is put into a pan of frying oil...it puffs up...is removed with tongs to dry...and then can be made to be "donut-like" by adding sugar, cinnamon, jam...or whatever sweet thing you have to add. You can also add herbs to the batter or eat it with another meal like you would a bread.

Indian Fry Bread will be devoured by even the most finicky of children! Seriously...you won't be able to make them fast enough to keep up with people eating them.

While I do think that Indian Fry Bread is a great hard times/survival food...you should know that it is rich. Just like I wouldn't tell you that a diet of just chocolate cake is a good thing...I won't tell you that you should make fry bread your only source of food. Fry bread has come under fire to some degree because there is an issue with many tribes eating so much of it...they become overweight.

I recommend seeking out a frying oil that is low in saturated fats. Take note that olive oil...which is what a lot of us store is not the greatest cooking oil because it smokes at lower temperatures. I also recommend getting together the supplies needed to make Indian Fry Bread...namely...the ingredients found to the left on the "recipes for Fry Bread"...and a way to fry oil other than your stove...

Happy eating!