CANDY for long term storage

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Prices are already rising almost too quickly to keep track of. I'm working on my stores and am doing well with laying in staples. We bought 10 metal trash cans: 6 for critter feed and 4 for our human staples, like flour, cornmeal, pasta and rice. I have a huge unopened bag of dum dum suckers from last halloween, and will be opening it to pour the suckers into nooks and crannies of our human food cans. I mean, in case things get really ridiculous, we'll still need a 1-sweet-a-day treat.

Question is: looking for other candies that could help alleviate boredom ... like jolly ranchers. But wondering if some other candies would last well in long term storage to give us alternatives and variety.

Does anyone have experience with old candies lasting well, like: smarties, M&Ms, those candy bracelets and necklaces, lifesavers, maybe werther's ???

Plan to buy a bunch in bulk from Sam's around Halloween. Besides, since most are made from corn, the costs will probably skyrocket! Thanks for your input.

 

[baymule]

Buy powdered cocoa and stock up! Then you can make your own chocolate candies!

 

[k15n1]

That's a bold step in preparing for the future. Congrats.

From what I've read (nothing specific I could cite) cocoa stores forever and plain fat stores well whether cocoa butter, palm oil, etc. And sugar stores well. But when you put them together, I think the lifespan decreases. I think chocolate blooms in the refrigerator or freezer, giving it a specific shelf life.

Making hard candy and taffy is pretty straightforward, I think. Just ingredients and labor. Pulling the taffy would also alleviate bordom!

 

[moolie]

We don't eat candy, except back when the kids were little and used to go trick-or-treating (and even then we donated most of it to the Children's Hospital), but I would assume that any hard candies (like Lifesavers) would last pretty much indefinitely if stored properly. Candy like M&Ms would likely be more perishable due to melting.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

None of us care much for taffy but that's a good suggestion. Same for cocoa and making our own! I wonder if there's a simple recipe for cocoa and milk (we have our 2 girl goats) and sugar. Will have to research.

We don't each much candy at all. My kid has a lot of health problems but every once in a while gets a chocolate bar and likes a dum dum sucker at the bank. Hubby likes his nut rolls.

Hmmm... thanks for the ideas.

 

[moolie]

Did you mean a recipe for Hot Cocoa/Hot Chocolate the drink? Easy-peasy:

Moolie's Mom's Hot Chocolate

3-4 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups milk

Warm milk in saucepan or double boiler, dip out half a cup of warm milk and mix in cocoa powder and sugar, stir into rest of milk, enjoy (with marshmallows if you wish!)

 

[k15n1]

Did you mean a recipe for Hot Cocoa/Hot Chocolate the drink? Easy-peasy:

Moolie's Mom's Hot Chocolate

3-4 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups milk

Warm milk in saucepan or double boiler, dip out half a cup of warm milk and mix in cocoa powder and sugar, stir into rest of milk, enjoy (with marshmallows if you wish!)

My mother had a similar recipe. She usually used powdered milk and called it instant. But the proporitions didn't always come out because the large and small grains don't stay mixed. We found that putting the powdered milk through the blender or mortar/pestle helped. Cocao isn't very soluble in water, but the milk helps--the more fat, the better. If you want to do a traditional mexican style cocao, the water must be really hot, or so I'm told. I prefer the milk variety.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Actually, I wanted to make a simple fudge or candy. I think I found something using oats. Will have to experiment.

 

[Denim Deb]

Candy doesn't store well around here. I eat it.

 

[Bettacreek]

Your best bet for purchased candy is not bulk, but stalking the stores the day after Halloween, Easter and the like. It's usually 50% off. Making your own is a brilliant idea as well. My friend makes hard candies and chocolates, my mother makes "gourmet" chocolates (with coconut, rice crispies, jams inside of them, etc).