Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid – Cook with It!

Ok, let’s be honest with each other- not everything in your food pantry is healthy, right? Many of us cannot live without some of our favorite high-calorie snacks and drinks. In an emergency situation, it is important to have some comfort foods stored away to create an air of normalcy. Some of these comfort foods have more than one use, so there is no need to feel guilty about storing them. For instance, many preppers are storing carbonated beverages. These have multiple purposes in the prepper world – they can also be used to marinate and cook meats or used in flavoring baked goods. Cokes, in particular, can also be used to clean rust off of metal.

My purpose in this article is help others realize  how to help others use their food pantry effectively. It’s time to start thinking outside of the pantry closet and get creative with your preps!

Kool-Aid and other powdered drink mixes are one of those prep items that have more than just one use. In fact, they can be added to baked goods, added to gelatin or even used to make more elaborate tasting drinks. Use some of these recipes to practice using your drink mixes. After all, they could become your family’s next favorite recipe!

Kool-Aid Pie

• 1 (12 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 graham cracker pie crust
• 1 pkg. unsweetened flavored drink mix
• Whipped topping

1. Coat a 9-in. pie plate with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom and sides of plate with wafers.
2. In a mixing bowl, add whipped topping and then pour condensed milk.
3. Then, add Kool-Aid mix and stir with a wire whisk until smooth.
4. Spoon over lined pie plate; chill for at least 2 hours. Garnish with whipped topping if desired.

Kool-Aid Cookies

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ butter or shortening
• 1 cup sweetened Kool-Aid, your favorite flavor

Note: Omitting the drink mix from this recipe makes delicious sugar cookies.

1. Cream shortening, butter, sugar, and Kool-Aid mix together with a mixer.
2. Add eggs, combine well.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together remaining ingredients and add carefully to sugar mixture.  Mix well.
4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
5. Roll dough carefully to ¼ inch thick.
6. Drop by spoonful or cut with cookie cutters.
7. Bake at 375° for 7-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Kool-Aid Frosting

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• 1 small packet of powdered drink mix

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and whip until butter is whipped and ingredients are combined.
2. Allow frosting to chill 30 minutes prior to using.

Flavored Whipped Cream

• 1 container whipped cream or Cool Whip®
• 1 packet Kool-Aid
• Powdered sugar for sweetening, optional

1. Fold in a packet of Kool-Aid into a container of thawed Cool Whip®.
2. If the frosting tastes a little tart, add in sugar, a little at a time until it tastes good to you.

Po’ Mans Sherbet

• 1 c. sugar
• 1 (.13 ounce) pkg. Kool-Aid or unsweetened drink mix
• 1 cup milk

1. In a bowl, stir sugar, soft drink mix and milk until sugar is dissolved.
2. Pour into a shallow freezer container; cover and freeze for 1 hour or until slightly thickened.
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl, beat until smooth. Return to freezer container; cover and freeze until firm.
4. Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving.

 Kool Aid Popcorn

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 packets Kool Aid (flavor of your choice)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 quarts plain popcorn (or about 4 large bags worth)

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Remove middle rack, leaving the bottom rack in.
2. Pop popcorn and set aside.
3. In a small bowl combine 2 packets Kool Aid and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a boil. Let boil for three minutes stirring constantly, then remove from heat.
5. Pour in Kool Aid and baking soda mixture to saucepan and stir in carefully. It will expand a bit from the baking soda so be careful not to get burned. Once it is mixed in, pour immediately over the popped popcorn in a large container.
6. Stir well until all popcorn is evenly coated. Place popcorn in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and stir well again. Repeat the 10 minutes in oven 2 more times and stir in between each time frame.
7. Once you are finished and popcorn has baked for a total of 30 minutes, stir the final time and remove from pot to cool.

Note: You want to separate out the popcorn into small clusters while it is still hot or it will break apart.