Food Storage Made Fabulous: Principles of Food Storage and Recipes So Fantastic Your Family Won't Realize There's a Disaster

The Barely Better than Roadkill Grill, two blocks down on the left, is dimly lit. However, the soft light isn’t contributing to the ambiance one would normally expect. The joint is jumping. Ummm, that’s not quite the right word. Agitated. Demoralized.

It’s funny though. Because it’s so crowded, it seems to be the place to eat. Neon lights flicker, and yet something’s not quite right. Their advertising budget is huge. Maybe that’s why the menu is pricey. It’s also really tiny. Because the managers there proclaim that everybody will be happy to eat whatever’s served when they’re hungry enough. And then you start looking closer at the customers. Hmm… What’s wrong here? They’re not smiling. Even as they’re about to be served, they look dejected.

Across the street, it’s a different story at the TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) Café. It doesn’t have a lot of diners. Maybe it’s the goofy name putting people off. But the people there are really happy. The servers have a bounce in their steps. Cooks are smiling and joking. It’s really well lit, bright. There’s great food, and at much better prices than down the Roadkill Grill. Why? The dessert case is full—cakes, pies, whoa—cheesecake?! And not in foil pans that came from some commercial bakery using mystery ingredients? Homemade? On site?! Clean ingredients? And the menu changes daily, using extremely local, fresh produce when available, or preserved when fresh isn’t an option. And it includes appetizers, desserts, snacks? Variety?!! The customers are polite and clean. Cheery. The employees there understand their purpose. Their mission is to boost morale. And the best way to do that? Through amazing food.

(Queue the Star Trek soundtrack as you hear the words: "Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.")

Your pantry: the final frontier. These are the recipes for your family dining table. The one-year mission: to experience comfort in the kitchen, to seek out familiar classics and new favorites, to boldly go where no food storage manual has gone before. Where food storage isn’t barely tolerable, it’s fabulous.