Corn and other Food Staples

I'm working on a new page/section of my website that is all about corn. This interesting food is present in some form in a large portion of the items available in your local grocery store, yet was unknown to Europeans until a few hundred years ago. On my corn pages I'll be looking at its history, traditional uses, modern uses, crafts, recipes and controversies in terms of farming and also in terms of products and their effects on health.

There are other food staples that have also become important to people, including rice, wheat and potatoes. At this point I have no plans to expand on those, although that could change over time.

In thinking of food staples though, I was reminded of an activity we did as a family a few months back about food, food staples and cooking. The idea is this: make a list of food items your family keeps on hand, particularly those that do not require refrigeration--the unperishables. Now, without straying from that list, make a list of recipes/meals you could make from that list. How well did you do? Do you want to add any items to your food list? How pleasant would the cooking and eating of these meals be for you?

Now lets think about what foods are most useful to you and your family that store well, cook easily, and provide high nutritional value. Why do this? I think it is a valuable lesson for kids (and adults) to be able to put together a nutritional meal from a few ingredients, particularly when conveniences such as fast food restaurants and grocery stores full of processed foods might not be available, such as in an emergency situation or natural disaster.
It's also a good exercise to be able to cook from a set list, to put together a nutritional meal, and to be able to improvise where necessary. In North America, healthy eating doesn't have to be expensive, and it doesn't have to come processed or from a freezer either.

Depending on your cooking habits and personal preferences, your list may be quite different from ours. Here is what we came up with:

Whole wheat flour
Oatmeal
barley
Sunflower seeds (raw, hulled)
Raw popcorn
Corn Meal
Corn starch
dried instant potatoes
raw brown rice
quinoa
dried kidney beans, navy beans and garbanzo beans
dried peas/lentils
Unsweetened Cocoa powder
OLIVE/&Vegetable Oil
salt
yeast
baking soda
baking powder
DRY mustard
vanilla
molasses
Vinegar
maple syrup
assorted dried nuts
cinnamon/cloves/ginger
chili powder/cumin
dried basil and oregano
garlic powder
onion powder
tomato paste/preserves/sundried tomatoes
dried fruit (apples, bananas, peaches, blueberries, raisins, cranberries, etc.)
sugar and/or honey
whole wheat pasta
powdered milk
powdered eggs
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we usually also have TVP (textured vegetable protein, used by vegetarians in a similar way others might use ground meats), but since that isn't something the average person has hanging around, I didn't include it in this activity.

These items require cold storage, but not necessarily full refrigeration for short-term use: Onions, Potatoes, carrots, peanut butter (natural, with no hydrogenated oils)

What my kids came up with from the above list:
Pasta and sauce
Pizza
Baked beans
Rice casserole
Lentil casserole
Lentils and rice
Bread
Garlic bread
Pb and raisin sandwich
Sunflower seed and raisin chocolate snack bars
Quiche
Scrambled eggs
Omelette
Popcorn
Popcorn peanutbutter balls
Granola
Bean chili
Soup
Oatmeal cereal (with raisins, seeds, salt and maple syrup)
Veggie roast
Onion gravy
Jam (using the dried fruit)
Oatmeal Cookies
Muffins
Maple fudge
Mashed potatoes
Peanut butter cookies
Apple crisp
Barley, onion and carrot casserole
Barley and tomato casserole

I was pleased they did so well, but have to admit that there are several things on this list that my youngest (a notorious picky eater) would turn his nose up at.

How did you do with your list? I'd love to hear back!