This summer has taken a lot of my time for food growing. I have spent most of it on a self watering system. This is because I hate wasting water even though I live in a place that has plenty of water and does not seem in danger of having water shortages soon.
It is distressing to see water problems getting worse in so much of the world. Places that already had difficulties with enough clean water to keep people healthy, are getting worse due to climate change. Places that never had water problems are now getting them due to climate change. It is obvious that these water problems will only worsen as climate change becomes worse.
My neighborhood is taking some steps to prevent future water problems. I am very proud that my neighborhood has people in it who are so aware and interested in taking care of our future and that of people who will live here after us.
One of these steps to prevent future water problems is the planning and installation of a system to melt snow and return it to our groundwater.
The normal method of handling snow is to scoop it up with heavy machinery, load it into lots of big trucks and haul it outside the city and dump it there.
A big advantage of the new snow melting in place system is that it will help to prevent saltwater intrusion into fresh water aquafers beneath us. We are very close to the ocean, so this could easily become a problem some day.
Not only does the snow melting system prevent saltwater intrusion into our fresh water, but it also saves a great deal on fuel for all of the snow hauling that now takes place.
They plan to dig a large hole under our recreation center parking lot and install a heater there. This system was planned by students at our local college. They did it free of charge. This is good for us because we get a system that we can more easily afford and it is good for the students, because they are gaining valuable experience that will give them jobs in the future. I expect they will get the first of those jobs designing more of these systems for the rest of the city.
My small contribution to water efficiency with my self-watering garden is not nearly as impressive as the snow melting. I hope that more people will learn a little bit from mine and increase the good effect, however.
The self-watering system that I used outside uses rain gutters to hold water with a float valve to control the amount of water that goes to the plants.
A man from the eastern part of the USA, named Larry Hall is the one who invented this rain gutter watering system. Thousands of people are already using his system and they are very generous in sharing their experiences and the modifications and improvements they make as well. He is on facebook and on youtube as well. Here are links to get you started with his system:
http://containergardening.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/self-watering-rain-gutter-grow-system-larry-hall/
https://www.youtube.com/user/larrylhall
The bottom one is for his channel on youtube. He has links to lots of videos about his system to show what he and others have done with it.
There is nothing like letting plants take whatever water they need, as they need it to make them healthy and beautiful. They make you the same when you eat them. YUM!
A local hydroponics store gave me a free system that I plan to keep inside. They told me that it is a $500.00 system. That is certainly a lot more than I planned to spend right off. I have not used it yet, but it is high on my list. I have to do a bit more with the Larry Hall rain gutter system first. It will be winter all too soon, so that will stop what I can do outside for a while, so I have to make use of outdoor growing while I still can for this year.
I also have plans to make several hydroponics tower systems. I have most of the supplies for some of those, but not the pumps. Those are the most expensive part of that system. Those have free plans and materials lists to make them. I already posted links for those, but will do it again, to make it easier for others to make those as well. Here is a link to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTc6Sv2Gi3o
http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/
This last one is a link to the plans to make your own rain tower hydroponics system. He even includes templates for cutting out parts for it.
The original inventor of those used a 5 gallon bucket as the base for his towers. This means that it will not take much more room in your home than a potted plant. You can get as many as 28 plants in one tower. You replace the plants as you use them, so this will make a big dent in your food budget. You will be much healthier as well, when you eat the food that you grow in your Rain Tower hydroponics system.
The knowledge that you are making the world a better place in many ways, should make you feel even better than the personal benefits to you, when you use your Rain Tower hydroponics system.
I hope that you will go make a rain gutter self watering system or a Rain Tower hydroponics system and benefit yourself and the world by doing so.
Showing posts with label cheap disaster preparedness food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheap disaster preparedness food. Show all posts
Friday, August 1, 2014
Monday, March 18, 2013
Cheap Solar Oven You Can Make
You can make your own solar oven very inexpensively. I think it is a good idea to make my cardboard one before you invest in making a sturdier, and more expensive one.
I decided to make this cardboard solar oven when I read that the town that I lived in got more sunny days a year than Arizona did. That sounded like a good opportunity to use all of that sunlight to save money and the Earth at the same time.
This cheap oven is not super efficient, so it is probably not a good idea to think of it as something permanent for cooking. It takes quite a while to get the temperature up high enough to cook in it and it is also slow.
I was patient and poor, so I cooked two meals a day all summer in it for several years. It does not work well enough that I even wanted to try it in the winter.
It is kind of fun to make this stove and it feels good not to feed the electric company and save the Earth by using it.
The materials I used to make my stove were:
Two cardboard boxes that will nest, the smaller inside the larger with several inches of space between them all around, except on top. The tops need to be even. I cut my boxes and used duct tape to get the sizes I wanted.
Styrofoam to fit in the space between the cardboard boxes, including underneath the smaller one on the inside. Packing peanuts are okay, or waste cardboard in whole slices or cut or broken into bits.
A piece of glass for a top to fit across both boxes. A little larger is okay, but not too much because it will interfere with reflectors.
Aluminum foil to make reflectors to get more light/heat into the interior. The more light you can get into your box, the hotter it will get.
Black paint to paint the inside of the inner box to absorb more heat. It is best to make sure the paint is not toxic since it will be in there with your food. I just used some water based acrylic I already had. I had to touch it up once in a while though because of spills and cleanup.
Hinges for the glass top. I just used duct tape to begin with. The duct tape loses its stickiness even at the low temperatures of this oven after a short time, however. If you want to use this oven longer, you need better hinges. I settled on leather for later. I did not have a drill to make holes in the glass, so I had to constantly re-glue it.
Sticky stuff like glue or tape to hold things together. Regular duct tape does not do well longer term from the heat. You can get higher temperature tape. There are glues that handle higher temps also. Be careful what you put inside the box because of the food in there. Check for toxicity and fumes. I look on the internet at the site of the manufacturer if necessary. The USA mandates that manufacturers have information like this available.
String, twine, yarn, etc. to adjust and hold the angle of the reflectors.
A sunny spot to position your solar oven in for several hours, a lot of hours if you intend to cook two meals in it. I used a cinder block wall behind my home. The cinder blocks absorbed more heat and got the oven hotter too.
A timer to keep track of when to adjust the reflectors as the sun moves.
If you try this and like it, you can use the same basic idea to make a more permanent version out of wood instead of cardboard and you can use a mirror for part of the reflectors. There are other better designs, however. I think a Fresnel lens is a good thing to use to raise the heat a lot more.
You will have to watch the oven a lot closer if you use a Fresnel lens. It is possible to melt metal with a big Fresnel lens. Some people have devised a sun tracking system with a motor that automatically adjust the reflectors as the sun moves across the sky.
I will end this post with a picture of how to put it together.
I decided to make this cardboard solar oven when I read that the town that I lived in got more sunny days a year than Arizona did. That sounded like a good opportunity to use all of that sunlight to save money and the Earth at the same time.
This cheap oven is not super efficient, so it is probably not a good idea to think of it as something permanent for cooking. It takes quite a while to get the temperature up high enough to cook in it and it is also slow.
I was patient and poor, so I cooked two meals a day all summer in it for several years. It does not work well enough that I even wanted to try it in the winter.
It is kind of fun to make this stove and it feels good not to feed the electric company and save the Earth by using it.
The materials I used to make my stove were:
Two cardboard boxes that will nest, the smaller inside the larger with several inches of space between them all around, except on top. The tops need to be even. I cut my boxes and used duct tape to get the sizes I wanted.
Styrofoam to fit in the space between the cardboard boxes, including underneath the smaller one on the inside. Packing peanuts are okay, or waste cardboard in whole slices or cut or broken into bits.
A piece of glass for a top to fit across both boxes. A little larger is okay, but not too much because it will interfere with reflectors.
Aluminum foil to make reflectors to get more light/heat into the interior. The more light you can get into your box, the hotter it will get.
Black paint to paint the inside of the inner box to absorb more heat. It is best to make sure the paint is not toxic since it will be in there with your food. I just used some water based acrylic I already had. I had to touch it up once in a while though because of spills and cleanup.
Hinges for the glass top. I just used duct tape to begin with. The duct tape loses its stickiness even at the low temperatures of this oven after a short time, however. If you want to use this oven longer, you need better hinges. I settled on leather for later. I did not have a drill to make holes in the glass, so I had to constantly re-glue it.
Sticky stuff like glue or tape to hold things together. Regular duct tape does not do well longer term from the heat. You can get higher temperature tape. There are glues that handle higher temps also. Be careful what you put inside the box because of the food in there. Check for toxicity and fumes. I look on the internet at the site of the manufacturer if necessary. The USA mandates that manufacturers have information like this available.
String, twine, yarn, etc. to adjust and hold the angle of the reflectors.
A sunny spot to position your solar oven in for several hours, a lot of hours if you intend to cook two meals in it. I used a cinder block wall behind my home. The cinder blocks absorbed more heat and got the oven hotter too.
A timer to keep track of when to adjust the reflectors as the sun moves.
If you try this and like it, you can use the same basic idea to make a more permanent version out of wood instead of cardboard and you can use a mirror for part of the reflectors. There are other better designs, however. I think a Fresnel lens is a good thing to use to raise the heat a lot more.
You will have to watch the oven a lot closer if you use a Fresnel lens. It is possible to melt metal with a big Fresnel lens. Some people have devised a sun tracking system with a motor that automatically adjust the reflectors as the sun moves across the sky.
I will end this post with a picture of how to put it together.
Eat Cheap Save The Earth
A great thing that you can do for yourself and the Earth is to grow your own food. Even if you live in a small apartment, you can manage to grow sprouts to eat.
If you are fortunate enough to have any space outdoors to grow things, you can grow a lot or all of the food you eat. There are some wonderful videos on youtube about this. A man in Arizona made one of them. It is very encouraging to watch his video about food growing for profit.
He has invented his own hydroponics system and explains how you can make millions of dollars using only an acre of land. That is using his hydroponics system, of course. He shows diagrams of his system and explains how it is basically built. He grows an amazing amount of food in a few feet of space.
He suggests beginning with one hydroponics plant for less than a dollar if that is all of the money that you have available now. He suggests that you use the profits from the one plant to buy more equipment to grow more plants and repeat until you are a millionaire from selling your crops.
The process he suggests works much faster if you have enough money to buy more equipment to begin with. It makes me want to rush out and buy equipment. I actually prefer to learn more about how to grow stuff and operate hydroponics first, though.
Here is a link to his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GghlbtGjfk&NR=1&feature=endscreen
If you are fortunate enough to have any space outdoors to grow things, you can grow a lot or all of the food you eat. There are some wonderful videos on youtube about this. A man in Arizona made one of them. It is very encouraging to watch his video about food growing for profit.
He has invented his own hydroponics system and explains how you can make millions of dollars using only an acre of land. That is using his hydroponics system, of course. He shows diagrams of his system and explains how it is basically built. He grows an amazing amount of food in a few feet of space.
He suggests beginning with one hydroponics plant for less than a dollar if that is all of the money that you have available now. He suggests that you use the profits from the one plant to buy more equipment to grow more plants and repeat until you are a millionaire from selling your crops.
The process he suggests works much faster if you have enough money to buy more equipment to begin with. It makes me want to rush out and buy equipment. I actually prefer to learn more about how to grow stuff and operate hydroponics first, though.
Here is a link to his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GghlbtGjfk&NR=1&feature=endscreen
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Bread Recall Alert
Wheat Bread products are being recalled from grocery stores. They are from the Kroger company. The recall is because pieces of plastic may be in the bread.
I received notification of this because I am on the Food and Drug Administration alert list for email.
I am sorry for the vagueness of this alert. This is the way I got it, however. Just about any bread on most grocery shelves is "wheat bread". I am guessing that it means whole wheat bread, but who knows. I will give more specifics and links further down this post.
This alert is to encourage readers to be wary of the boobie traps awaiting us unsuspecting (formerly) customers. Here we are wandering into the grocery stores like Bambi meets Godzilla and KAWHAMMO! We have to watch out for recalled bread now.
I am somewhat sorry if you are offended at my unseemly levity over this sad state of events, but I really can't help it. It strikes me as funny. If you haven't noticed yet, I have an unabashedly warped sense of humor. It entertains me a lot, thank you.
Okay, I am going to do the public service part of this post and tell you about Kroger, which markets might carry the brand and where you need be especially wary of lurking plastic bits in your daily bread. I suggest you chew unusually well for a while. You might want to spit out any bits of plastic before you swallow. You can, instead, return the loaf(ves) to the store instead. That option is being offered.
Day old bread is a rather euphemistic phrase. Bread stays on the shelf much longer than a day before it is retired to the thrift bakery.
http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTMwMzA1LjE2MjUwNzkxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDEzMDMwNS4xNjI1MDc5MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MDQ4MDA1JmVtYWlsaWQ9eWVsemJpZXRhQHlhaG9vLmNvbSZ1c2VyaWQ9eWVsemJpZXRhQHlhaG9vLmNvbSZmbD0mZXh0cmE9TXVsdGl2YXJpYXRlSWQ9JiYm&&&100&&&http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm342413.htm?source=govdelivery
I know you are going to really hate it if you prefer to type in links rather than click on them. Lol. Unseemly humor again.
In case you are one of the aforementioned typists as opposed to link clickers, the specific names of breads are mentioned. It is kind of a long list. It isn't just loaves, twists are mentioned. I didn't read the whole thing.
Here is a list of stores that carry the Kroger brand: Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's.
I shop at one of those, so it caught my attention. I make my own bread, so that lets me off the hook there, though. I probably wouldn't see nearly as much humor in the situation if I ate the stuff also.
The states mentioned as being affected by the plastic bread recall are Idaho, Oregon and Washington State. I live in Alaska and whatever Washington State gets, we usually get. That Hostess corporate collapse got our only very large bakery in the state. We still have smaller ones here, but that was the cheap bread that was not shipped a couple of thousand miles.
Now we have yet another reason to make preparedness a part of daily living. You not only enjoy fresh baked bread when you make it yourself, but you avoid getting extra roughage in the form of plastic. I also love the aroma of rising and baking bread. I call it, "Bread Perfume". It is one of the little pleasures of preparedness.
I received notification of this because I am on the Food and Drug Administration alert list for email.
I am sorry for the vagueness of this alert. This is the way I got it, however. Just about any bread on most grocery shelves is "wheat bread". I am guessing that it means whole wheat bread, but who knows. I will give more specifics and links further down this post.
This alert is to encourage readers to be wary of the boobie traps awaiting us unsuspecting (formerly) customers. Here we are wandering into the grocery stores like Bambi meets Godzilla and KAWHAMMO! We have to watch out for recalled bread now.
I am somewhat sorry if you are offended at my unseemly levity over this sad state of events, but I really can't help it. It strikes me as funny. If you haven't noticed yet, I have an unabashedly warped sense of humor. It entertains me a lot, thank you.
Okay, I am going to do the public service part of this post and tell you about Kroger, which markets might carry the brand and where you need be especially wary of lurking plastic bits in your daily bread. I suggest you chew unusually well for a while. You might want to spit out any bits of plastic before you swallow. You can, instead, return the loaf(ves) to the store instead. That option is being offered.
Day old bread is a rather euphemistic phrase. Bread stays on the shelf much longer than a day before it is retired to the thrift bakery.
http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTMwMzA1LjE2MjUwNzkxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDEzMDMwNS4xNjI1MDc5MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MDQ4MDA1JmVtYWlsaWQ9eWVsemJpZXRhQHlhaG9vLmNvbSZ1c2VyaWQ9eWVsemJpZXRhQHlhaG9vLmNvbSZmbD0mZXh0cmE9TXVsdGl2YXJpYXRlSWQ9JiYm&&&100&&&http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm342413.htm?source=govdelivery
I know you are going to really hate it if you prefer to type in links rather than click on them. Lol. Unseemly humor again.
In case you are one of the aforementioned typists as opposed to link clickers, the specific names of breads are mentioned. It is kind of a long list. It isn't just loaves, twists are mentioned. I didn't read the whole thing.
Here is a list of stores that carry the Kroger brand: Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's.
I shop at one of those, so it caught my attention. I make my own bread, so that lets me off the hook there, though. I probably wouldn't see nearly as much humor in the situation if I ate the stuff also.
The states mentioned as being affected by the plastic bread recall are Idaho, Oregon and Washington State. I live in Alaska and whatever Washington State gets, we usually get. That Hostess corporate collapse got our only very large bakery in the state. We still have smaller ones here, but that was the cheap bread that was not shipped a couple of thousand miles.
Now we have yet another reason to make preparedness a part of daily living. You not only enjoy fresh baked bread when you make it yourself, but you avoid getting extra roughage in the form of plastic. I also love the aroma of rising and baking bread. I call it, "Bread Perfume". It is one of the little pleasures of preparedness.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Make Cheap Convenience Food For Emergencies And Everyday
Surviving in place will probably mean that you will have a lot of times when you will be very busy. Digging neighbors out of their collapsed home, for example, or hauling injured to the nearest doctor.
During these times you will still need to eat. You can make your own convenience food for these times. One of the ways that I do this is with small flat pies that are thin enough to pop into a toaster. I am not suggesting that you can use a toaster if you have no electric power, but having them this thin means they will thaw out quickly and if you do heat them you won't need much fuel.
They will fit easily into a pocket and are not difficult to eat without making a mess or dropping most of it while you are still moving. They would be even good to use for part of your go bag food if you have enough time to get them out of the freezer.
I already posted about these, but did not go into a great amount of detail. I am giving the detail here because the readership on the other post was low. My turbocharged gift of service is kicking in and I'm going try to help you with this some more. :-)
You can use commercial biscuit mix or even those pop open cans of biscuits. I hate both of those because they have chemicals in them, but whatever it takes you to get started is good.
I make my own whole wheat biscuit mix with no chemicals in it and am giving you the recipe right here:
During these times you will still need to eat. You can make your own convenience food for these times. One of the ways that I do this is with small flat pies that are thin enough to pop into a toaster. I am not suggesting that you can use a toaster if you have no electric power, but having them this thin means they will thaw out quickly and if you do heat them you won't need much fuel.
They will fit easily into a pocket and are not difficult to eat without making a mess or dropping most of it while you are still moving. They would be even good to use for part of your go bag food if you have enough time to get them out of the freezer.
I already posted about these, but did not go into a great amount of detail. I am giving the detail here because the readership on the other post was low. My turbocharged gift of service is kicking in and I'm going try to help you with this some more. :-)
You can use commercial biscuit mix or even those pop open cans of biscuits. I hate both of those because they have chemicals in them, but whatever it takes you to get started is good.
I make my own whole wheat biscuit mix with no chemicals in it and am giving you the recipe right here:
QUICK MIX about 13 c mix use
within 10-12 weeks
8 1/2 C all-purp flour (or 4 1/4 c all-purp
flour
and 4 1/2 c whole-wheat flour)
4 T baking powder (increase to 5 T for
whole
wheat)
1 T salt
2 t cream of tartar
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 c instant nonfat dry milk or dry
buttermilk
powder
2 1/4 c vegetable shortening
In lg bowl, sift tog all dry ingreds.
Blend well. With pastry blender or a
heavy-duty mixer, cut in shortening
until mixture resembles cornmeal in
texture. Put in an airtight container.
Label w date and contents. Store in a
cool dry place. Use within 10 to 12
weeks. Makes about 13 c of QUICK
MIX.
Here is the recipe for the biscuits to
make with this mix:
Biscuits (Also pizza dough, pies, fruit
cobbler, etc.)
3 c Quick Mix
3/4 c milk or water
Preheat oven to 450F. Grease a baking
sheet. Combine Quick Mix and milk or
water in a
medium bowl. Stir until just
blended. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls
onto prepared
baking sheet. Bake 10 to
12 minutes,
until golden brown. Makes
12 lg drop
biscuits.
Once you have biscuit dough made you
can easily make the little pies I
mentioned. You will need to add a little extra flour to make the dough stiff enough to roll out. The dough should be rolled very thin. If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a water glass, jar, or can. I like about an eighth of an inch or less. Any of these items will also work to cut out circles of flattened dough. I use a small zippered pouch from a chef's supplies shop. It makes crusts about six inches across. I put the filling to one side and form the pie by folding the crust in half.
If your pocket is small this size will be
too big. You might do better with a tin
can cutter. You can use a zip lock bag to
roll them out in, but you might need to
oil or flour the inside between each crust
to prevent sticking.
If you plan to use these pies to carry
around in your pocket, you need to be
sure to place only a very small amount
of filling in them. If you put too much
in, they will leak.
If you are using a very small glass or tin can to cut out your pies, you may want to use two of them instead of folding over your crust on top of the filling.
I crimp the edges together with a fork. Next I cut a tiny opening to let air out while it is cooking. If you neglect this, your pie may burst open. I like to put some kind of glaze on top of the crust to make it brown attractively. Milk, butter or beaten egg all work well. If you have no pastry brush for the glaze, your fingers will do to spread it on the crust. A very thin glaze is fine. It does not take much.
Don't have the pies touching on your baking sheet or pan. They will be likely to stick together if you do that.
The amount of cooking time varies a lot according to many things including the thickness of the crust and amount of filling. Until you are used to this recipe and how you do it, I would check every five minutes or less to see how they are doing. Keep track of the time for the next batch. When the oven is already hot, they will cook a little faster, so you need to allow for that in your timing.
I allow them to cool before I put them in the freezer, usually on the same sheet they were cooked on. Once the pies are frozen solid, you can remove them from the baking sheet or pan and put them in containers or zip lock bags. They will keep for several months once frozen.
When you want to thaw the pies, you can put them in a toaster, or up on top of your refrigerator to thaw out. I like to put them on top of the fridge the night before I plan to eat them. They will be ready the next morning.
I especially like these for snacks when I plan to go shopping. Several previous posts on this blog were about how shopping on an empty stomach is very expensive. You are much more likely to buy things you don't need. These pies are part of my tactics to avoid this problem.
I seldom use these pies for dessert. If that is your wish, you can fill them with canned pie filling, or instant pudding. Chopped fruit with a little corn starch and sugar or honey will work also. That should be simmered until tender in a pan on the stove, before using it for filling.
My preference for fillings is to use anything that would go into a good casserole dish. Spicy Mexican style beans, egg roll fillings, etc. are good. If the dish you want to use is too liquid, you can add a little corn starch and cook it on a low temperature for a little bit to thicken it.
These little pies are your chance to have exactly the kind of filling you especially like. I don't eat meat, but there are lots of nice meat dishes that would go well in these little pies. Ham or hot dogs and sauerkraut might be good.
Children love these little pies and will devour almost anything that is in them as long as it isn't too spicy. This is a way to get them to eat things that are good for them and enjoy it.
These pies are excellent for emergency preparedness storage. You can thaw them quickly even without heat and avoid cooking smells bringing in the whole neighborhood. If you happen to like the idea of feeding the whole neighborhood, you need a different recipe. :-)
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Diatomaceous Earth To Protect Stored Food
I have already posted a little about diatomaceous earth. This post is going to be about how to use diatomaceous earth to protect your food. I will fit in a little about other ways to protect your food as well.
I like to use hardware cloth to keep out rodents. It is a lot tougher than wire screens, so they can't get through it as easily.
If you are making raised garden beds, you need to put hardware cloth on the bottom, before you add extra soil or even think about plants.
If you absolutely cannot afford hardware cloth you can put pieces of broken glass down deep so the rodents will cut themselves. I hate this method and it make become a risk to you and others later.
Your root cellar really needs to be protected against rodents. Even if everything is safe in glass jars and cans, rodents can contaminate and carry disease with droppings. If you have barrels of apples and potatoes, etc., those can become a rodent haven.
Pick hardware cloth to line your root cellar with that is smaller than you think you will ever need. You do not want a surprise to find they can get through smaller holes than you thought. We can also expect new species of rodents to invade new territories. You could get smaller rodents than you were used to.
You need to be fanatical to make sure there are NO GAPS in your hardware cloth. Cover vents as well, even small pipes and areas around the pipes and vents.
Put diatomaceous earth into food that could be infested by insects. If you are not aware of this, I have to inform you that there are already insect eggs in most of your food. This includes everything from dry pet food and grains, to prepared foods that are ready to put into your toaster.
Once any insects hatch from eggs in your food, they will die as soon as they eat any food with diatomaceous earth in it.
This post is getting too long so I will continue it.
I like to use hardware cloth to keep out rodents. It is a lot tougher than wire screens, so they can't get through it as easily.
If you are making raised garden beds, you need to put hardware cloth on the bottom, before you add extra soil or even think about plants.
If you absolutely cannot afford hardware cloth you can put pieces of broken glass down deep so the rodents will cut themselves. I hate this method and it make become a risk to you and others later.
Your root cellar really needs to be protected against rodents. Even if everything is safe in glass jars and cans, rodents can contaminate and carry disease with droppings. If you have barrels of apples and potatoes, etc., those can become a rodent haven.
Pick hardware cloth to line your root cellar with that is smaller than you think you will ever need. You do not want a surprise to find they can get through smaller holes than you thought. We can also expect new species of rodents to invade new territories. You could get smaller rodents than you were used to.
You need to be fanatical to make sure there are NO GAPS in your hardware cloth. Cover vents as well, even small pipes and areas around the pipes and vents.
Put diatomaceous earth into food that could be infested by insects. If you are not aware of this, I have to inform you that there are already insect eggs in most of your food. This includes everything from dry pet food and grains, to prepared foods that are ready to put into your toaster.
Once any insects hatch from eggs in your food, they will die as soon as they eat any food with diatomaceous earth in it.
This post is getting too long so I will continue it.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
How To Keep Your Stored Food From Spoiling 2
When you place food inside a mylar bag you need to remove as much oxygen as possible from the bag to prevent the food inside from spoiling.
They have expensive specialized sealers that seal and pump out the air as they seal the bag. I use a clothing iron and a bicycle pump.
Seal the bag almost closed leaving a small gap open. You use the opening to get the air out of the bag and put in oxygen absorbers. You can also seal the bag entirely and throw in the oxygen absorbers just before you close it. Then you puncture the bag and pump the air out.
I read about problems with the oxygen absorbers spoiling and not working if purchased and some were saved to use later. It was suggested that one buy only enough oxygen absorbers for the bags that you are processing immediately.
I have never used oxygen absorbers, so I can't speak from experience yet. I plan to do so soon, however. I have never had enough food stored to worry about long term food storage. A year or less was all I dealt with. Since shipping costs are rising very fast in the USA, I am planning more long term food storage for some items than I used to have. Storing them now will be much cheaper than purchasing them and shipping them later.
I do not know how long you can expect 5 gallon buckets to last. I know some plastic can get brittle over time, especially if exposed to the elements. I plan not to expose my 5 gallon buckets for food storage to the elements. I expect them to last the rest of my life. They can be reused for many years if you are careful with them.
Some 5 gallon buckets are stronger than others. You can get an idea of the strength of your buckets by filling them and stacking them. Look at the sides of the ones on the bottom. If they are bowing at all, you need to protect them from excess weight. One way to do this is to put a piece of plywood on top of a bucket before placing another bucket on top of it.
Even if you have strong buckets, it is a bad idea to stack them more than 4 or 5 high. I don't like more than two high. You have to plan for more floor space for storage of the buckets if they are in lower stacks, however.
Another way to protect your buckets and still save floor space is by using shelves sized for holding only one or two buckets high per shelf. They will need to be very strong shelves. Heavy metal ones are good. You can find the weight capacity for shelves that you would want to use for your food storage.
I found a nice site that has calculators to help you know how much food of different types will be needed for your family. It also has a calculator that tells you how many buckets you need to store the food and how much floor space those buckets will require.
It was a shock to me to realize how much food is actually required per year for one person. The same applied to how much floor space it takes for the food.
If I was shocked and you are just beginning your preparedness, you had better sit down before you use that calculator.
I do some things that most preppers do not do, like my indoor year-round greenhouse, microgreens, sprouting, and drying my own food. That means I do not need to store as much as some other preppers, for some kinds of emergencies.
In spite of those different things that I do for my regular diet that work for preparedness, I am far short of the amount of some kinds of food that I need to meet my preparedness goals. This is not something you want to find out during an emergency, so maybe you need to do some checking, too.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
How To Keep Your Stored Food From Spoiling
Drying, canning, pickling, and smoking are all good methods of food preservation. They all may require specialized equipment. I posted earlier on how to use minimal equipment to dry some food for storage.
Canning, pickling and smoking are more of a short term way of storing food. It is possible to prepare some foods to last many years without spoiling. I like to use the long term method especially for grains and dried foods.
I start with a 5 gallon bucket. They come with lids that must seal very tightly. The seal has to be good enough to keep out air. The problem with this is that the lids can be very hard to get off of the bucket.
There is a special tool that helps open the lids more easily. You can usually order this lid opener from the places that sell the buckets online.
They also sell smaller and larger buckets. If you are small you probably won't want anything larger than a 5 gallon bucket because it will be too heavy to safely lift.
Another solution for opening 5 gallon bucket lids is "gamma seals". Gamma seals transform an ordinary 5 gallon bucket into a screw top lid. I like these for foods that I will access frequently, like sugar and grains that I am currently using.
Some of the places on line that sell preparedness, or bulk foods, also sell gamma seals. They are considerably more expensive than regular lids for 5 gallon buckets, but I think they are worth it. I only have a few of them, though.
Five gallon buckets are good for long term storage, but the buckets alone will not keep your food safe from spoilage. Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers will do a lot more to keep your food safe.
If you want to spend the extra money, you can buy 5 gallon buckets that have the mylar bags and oxygen absorbers inside them. Those buckets usually come sealed with the sealed mylar bags inside them. They already have oxygen absorbers inside the mylar bags. They cost a lot more than doing it yourself.
If you want to put your food into 5 gallon buckets yourself, you can buy them, the mylar bags and the oxygen absorbers from some of the companies online that sell preparedness or bulk foods. You can buy different sized mylar bags.
Some mylar bags are bigger than necessary to fill up a 5 gallon bucket. I like those because you can seal the edge. When you cut open the bag to use the contents, you will still have lots of bag left to reseal again and again. I wash out my mylar bags after I use the food stored in them and reuse them. This is not only economical, it is better for our environment.
As often happens, this post is getting too long for my blog, so I will continue it.
Canning, pickling and smoking are more of a short term way of storing food. It is possible to prepare some foods to last many years without spoiling. I like to use the long term method especially for grains and dried foods.
I start with a 5 gallon bucket. They come with lids that must seal very tightly. The seal has to be good enough to keep out air. The problem with this is that the lids can be very hard to get off of the bucket.
There is a special tool that helps open the lids more easily. You can usually order this lid opener from the places that sell the buckets online.
They also sell smaller and larger buckets. If you are small you probably won't want anything larger than a 5 gallon bucket because it will be too heavy to safely lift.
Another solution for opening 5 gallon bucket lids is "gamma seals". Gamma seals transform an ordinary 5 gallon bucket into a screw top lid. I like these for foods that I will access frequently, like sugar and grains that I am currently using.
Some of the places on line that sell preparedness, or bulk foods, also sell gamma seals. They are considerably more expensive than regular lids for 5 gallon buckets, but I think they are worth it. I only have a few of them, though.
Five gallon buckets are good for long term storage, but the buckets alone will not keep your food safe from spoilage. Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers will do a lot more to keep your food safe.
If you want to spend the extra money, you can buy 5 gallon buckets that have the mylar bags and oxygen absorbers inside them. Those buckets usually come sealed with the sealed mylar bags inside them. They already have oxygen absorbers inside the mylar bags. They cost a lot more than doing it yourself.
If you want to put your food into 5 gallon buckets yourself, you can buy them, the mylar bags and the oxygen absorbers from some of the companies online that sell preparedness or bulk foods. You can buy different sized mylar bags.
Some mylar bags are bigger than necessary to fill up a 5 gallon bucket. I like those because you can seal the edge. When you cut open the bag to use the contents, you will still have lots of bag left to reseal again and again. I wash out my mylar bags after I use the food stored in them and reuse them. This is not only economical, it is better for our environment.
As often happens, this post is getting too long for my blog, so I will continue it.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Save Money On Your Food Bill Through Emergency Preparedness
Preparedness can save you money on your food bill all the time when you do it right. There are many ways that this can happen. The easiest way to know about how this works is you already know that the price of food keeps going up. When you buy enough food to last a few months, you will save the difference between the cost of the food when you bought it, and the raise in price before you eat all of it.
Another way that you will save is in trips to the store buying a little bit of food at a time. You must spend time and money each time you go to the store and back home. One trip to buy a lot of food at one time is cheaper than many trips.
It is common for people to spend money on fast food when they do not have food at home and do not want to go shopping. Having food on hand at home all of the time will save on buying expensive fast food.
In order for your preparedness food storage to save you money, you have to eat it as part of your regular diet. Some people waste their preparedness food supplies by letting them get too old or spoiled to eat.
The right way to use your preparedness food storage food supplies is to use the oldest food in your storage for your daily meals. As you use your older stored foods, you buy new food to replace it. This rotation will always keep your stored food fresh, so it will never spoil or go stale.
You do not have to make your own mixes like cake mixes, pancake or biscuit mixes. It is just a good idea to save more money. Factory made mixes cost a lot of money to buy from the store.
You can get healthier food from the mixes by picking what you put in the homemade mixes, and they will not have a lot of chemicals and preservatives. I use whole wheat flour for my mixes, and reduce salt, to make them healthier.
You can make mixes to suit the special needs of family members. An example of this is reduced calorie mixes, for a diabetic or someone who wants to lose weight.
Packaging your mixes may help you. In an emergency you will be tired and distracted, so mixes that are packaged in the amounts that you will need will help. This could be individual servings for drink mixes or soup mix to serve the whole family one meal.
Here is a site with a lot of nice mixes on it: http://www.budget101.com/frugal/mix-recipes-166/
There are many other sites with recipes for making your own mixes, but this one has more variety than most.
Making your own mixes will save you a very large amount of money. It is hard to understand how much money until you try it for a little while. If you do this your food costs will drop a lot.
Another way that you will save is in trips to the store buying a little bit of food at a time. You must spend time and money each time you go to the store and back home. One trip to buy a lot of food at one time is cheaper than many trips.
It is common for people to spend money on fast food when they do not have food at home and do not want to go shopping. Having food on hand at home all of the time will save on buying expensive fast food.
In order for your preparedness food storage to save you money, you have to eat it as part of your regular diet. Some people waste their preparedness food supplies by letting them get too old or spoiled to eat.
The right way to use your preparedness food storage food supplies is to use the oldest food in your storage for your daily meals. As you use your older stored foods, you buy new food to replace it. This rotation will always keep your stored food fresh, so it will never spoil or go stale.
You do not have to make your own mixes like cake mixes, pancake or biscuit mixes. It is just a good idea to save more money. Factory made mixes cost a lot of money to buy from the store.
You can get healthier food from the mixes by picking what you put in the homemade mixes, and they will not have a lot of chemicals and preservatives. I use whole wheat flour for my mixes, and reduce salt, to make them healthier.
You can make mixes to suit the special needs of family members. An example of this is reduced calorie mixes, for a diabetic or someone who wants to lose weight.
Packaging your mixes may help you. In an emergency you will be tired and distracted, so mixes that are packaged in the amounts that you will need will help. This could be individual servings for drink mixes or soup mix to serve the whole family one meal.
Here is a site with a lot of nice mixes on it: http://www.budget101.com/frugal/mix-recipes-166/
There are many other sites with recipes for making your own mixes, but this one has more variety than most.
Making your own mixes will save you a very large amount of money. It is hard to understand how much money until you try it for a little while. If you do this your food costs will drop a lot.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Eating Cheaper Is A Survival Advantage
Most people, like you, who can afford to be on the internet are probably well fed and are able to eat things you don't really need to survive. In a The End Of the World As We Know It (TEOTAWKI), situation, this could be a disadvantage. As soon as you know you can't have something that you like to eat, you are likely to start craving it. This can be very hard to deal with. Americans often do this when they travel outside the USA.
I enjoy asking people what they miss eating. The most common American answer is hamburgers. Ice cream is usually next and then ethnic fast food from their part of the USA. I think Mexican Food is the most common of those. That is what it was for me. I just thought I was dying for a spicy burrito.
I made up a saying for myself that I use to explain some things. It is, "Get more or want less." If you simplify your food and other needs now, you will miss them less when you can't have them. This will also lower chances that you will face a nuclear disaster as soon.
When you have x resources and x+ people want to use them, people are more likely to fight over them. Bearing that in mind, I have deliberately reduced the level of resources required for what I regularly eat. This means that I eat more one dish meals and I use more simple ingredients that I might be able to grow myself or get locally. I eat more food made with basic staple ingredients like beans and rice. I have also learned to make more of my own Mexican food.
"Eat local, think global", is a saying that will help you understand how to do this. When you eat food that is grown closer to you, it takes less fuel to get it to you. You are using less resources.
None of this means that you have to eat food that is not tasty or satisfying. I have learned to eat well, even though it is simpler and costs less.
You can learn cooking techniques that allow you to eat less prepared foods. I do grind my own flour some of the time, for example. That is really basic, but it also saves a lot of money. Grain is a lot cheaper than flour, and fresh ground is better nutrition and tastes better.
Making your own mixes is another way that you can eat more simply and save money as well. There are a lot of nice sites on the internet that have great recipes for making your own mixes for just about anything.
Before all of the sites with mixes were available, I bought a book about making your own mixes. It is called "Make-A-Mix", by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, and Madeline Westover.
You can look at the recipes you use the most and see what dry ingredients are in them. Once you do that, you can invent mixes for your favorite foods.
I enjoy asking people what they miss eating. The most common American answer is hamburgers. Ice cream is usually next and then ethnic fast food from their part of the USA. I think Mexican Food is the most common of those. That is what it was for me. I just thought I was dying for a spicy burrito.
I made up a saying for myself that I use to explain some things. It is, "Get more or want less." If you simplify your food and other needs now, you will miss them less when you can't have them. This will also lower chances that you will face a nuclear disaster as soon.
When you have x resources and x+ people want to use them, people are more likely to fight over them. Bearing that in mind, I have deliberately reduced the level of resources required for what I regularly eat. This means that I eat more one dish meals and I use more simple ingredients that I might be able to grow myself or get locally. I eat more food made with basic staple ingredients like beans and rice. I have also learned to make more of my own Mexican food.
"Eat local, think global", is a saying that will help you understand how to do this. When you eat food that is grown closer to you, it takes less fuel to get it to you. You are using less resources.
None of this means that you have to eat food that is not tasty or satisfying. I have learned to eat well, even though it is simpler and costs less.
You can learn cooking techniques that allow you to eat less prepared foods. I do grind my own flour some of the time, for example. That is really basic, but it also saves a lot of money. Grain is a lot cheaper than flour, and fresh ground is better nutrition and tastes better.
Making your own mixes is another way that you can eat more simply and save money as well. There are a lot of nice sites on the internet that have great recipes for making your own mixes for just about anything.
Before all of the sites with mixes were available, I bought a book about making your own mixes. It is called "Make-A-Mix", by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, and Madeline Westover.
You can look at the recipes you use the most and see what dry ingredients are in them. Once you do that, you can invent mixes for your favorite foods.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
More Cheap Long Term Food Storage
This post is about preparing your own food for long term storage. It is continued from a previous post.
Sometimes I used paper in between the iron and the plastic to protect the iron from getting scorched plastic all over it. You can get the iron hotter if you use brown paper that comes from wrapping things or from paper bags.
I found that it was easier to have the iron hotter because it seals faster and you don't have to hold the plastic together as long. I used chopsticks to hold the plastic closed while ironing it to seal it.
I sealed my dried foods into serving sized packages. I often sealed a batch of serving sized packages into a larger bag.
This method is ideal for using up fruits or vegetables that might spoil before you can use them up. That last bit of celery is good for at least a meal of soup, if you dry it and seal it, for example.
I also find it convenient to tuck a serving sized packet of fruit into a pocket along with some nuts and crackers to eat for lunch when I can't get home. This combination can be a balanced meal.
This saves a lot of money, not only because of not having to buy lunch, but because you don't spend extra money because you are not shopping when you are hungry.
If you decide to carry dried food with you for a meal or snack, please remember to chew it thoroughly and drink it with lots of fluids. The dried food will expand back to normal size once it is inside you and is moist again. Water will be pulled out of your body if you don't drink enough while eating your dried food. This could cause you to become dehydrated or eat too much.
It is very easy to eat too much dried food because it is small and does not take long to eat. Once the dried food returns to its un-dried size, you could also have a terrible stomach ache from it. A whole banana can be only a handful of banana chips when dried, but when it gets inside you it will still be a whole banana. It is easy to down three or more dried bananas in a few minutes.
Shopping when you are hungry, makes you more likely to buy things you don't really need and ruin your budget. I have done previous posts on this subject. Many studies have been done on the buying habits of shoppers and I gave links to some of them.
I would mostly rather have some food that will last me for a while than some kind of junk food that will be gone in a minute or so, and probably be unhealthy for me as well. An example of this is that a large container of old fashioned rolled oats will usually cost less than a bag of cookies or potato chips. (Potato chips are called crisps in many countries.) The oats will last for many meals, the cookies or potato chips may provide only a snack or a few of them, at most.
During an emergency, measuring out serving portions of foods may add to your stress by making meal preparation more difficult. Emergencies are stressful enough, so planning to lessen this by making your food preparation easier will help you.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Cheap Preparedness - Make Your Own Mixes For Emergency Preparedness
It is easy to make your own mixes. I cheated and got a book to get me started. It is a great book and makes it easy to make your own convenience foods that have the ingredients you want in them and save a lot of money. The book is called, "Make-A-Mix". It is just wonderful. I ordered mine online, but you can get it from bookstores too.
There is an amazing selection of mixes in this book for all sorts of foods. Once you read it a little, it will probably inspire you to make up some of your own mixes.
A way to get started is to look at your favorite recipe. Separate the dry ingredients from the wet ones. You can mix together most dry ingredients ahead of time. You need to know how much of your mix to use for one batch. You can make enough dry mix to make the dish one time or make a lot of it to use for a week or a month or several.
There are some dehydrated foods that you can buy from preparedness storage companies that are especially good for making your own mixes. Some of my favorites are, powdered eggs, powdered butter and powdered cheese. You can use these in your mixes and end up only needing to add water for some of them.
You already know you can get powdered milk from the regular grocery store, but it is often cheaper when you buy it in bulk. Powdered milk makes mix making easy. One of the easy ones that I especially like is cocoa drink mix. It is a lot cheaper than buying it already made.
You can use powdered milk to make whipped topping. You can add extra sweetening or not; your choice.
Something you may not already know is that not all powdered milks are alike. Most are low fat, but you can get them made from whole milk. These are not low fat and taste more like fresh whole milk when you add water and let them sit in the refrigerator for a while.
The mix that I use the most from Make-A-Mix is the biscuit mix. I use whole wheat flour to make mine. I do not like the taste or texture of white flour biscuits much.
I make my own pizza dough without any change in the biscuit recipe. Instead of making biscuits I just roll the dough out onto a lightly greased pan. I brush the dough with oil so that it will brown nicely and not get soggy when I add toppings. I bake the dough and then take it out and add already cooked toppings and cheese.
I make extra pizzas like this and freeze them for convenience foods and emergency storage as well. I cut them into individual servings and put them in plastic containers or zip lock bags. If I want to use zip lock bags, I freeze the pizza, already sliced on the cooking sheet and put them in the bags already frozen. They handle easier that way.
I am especially terrible about eating up my frozen pizza food storage. I love the stuff and it is so easy. I take it out and thaw it. Sometimes I eat it without even warming it up. It works great for writing blog posts, for example. I can easily eat and type at the same time. Sure it is disgusting, but nice for me anyway. It gets my writing done.
There is an amazing selection of mixes in this book for all sorts of foods. Once you read it a little, it will probably inspire you to make up some of your own mixes.
A way to get started is to look at your favorite recipe. Separate the dry ingredients from the wet ones. You can mix together most dry ingredients ahead of time. You need to know how much of your mix to use for one batch. You can make enough dry mix to make the dish one time or make a lot of it to use for a week or a month or several.
There are some dehydrated foods that you can buy from preparedness storage companies that are especially good for making your own mixes. Some of my favorites are, powdered eggs, powdered butter and powdered cheese. You can use these in your mixes and end up only needing to add water for some of them.
You already know you can get powdered milk from the regular grocery store, but it is often cheaper when you buy it in bulk. Powdered milk makes mix making easy. One of the easy ones that I especially like is cocoa drink mix. It is a lot cheaper than buying it already made.
You can use powdered milk to make whipped topping. You can add extra sweetening or not; your choice.
Something you may not already know is that not all powdered milks are alike. Most are low fat, but you can get them made from whole milk. These are not low fat and taste more like fresh whole milk when you add water and let them sit in the refrigerator for a while.
The mix that I use the most from Make-A-Mix is the biscuit mix. I use whole wheat flour to make mine. I do not like the taste or texture of white flour biscuits much.
I make my own pizza dough without any change in the biscuit recipe. Instead of making biscuits I just roll the dough out onto a lightly greased pan. I brush the dough with oil so that it will brown nicely and not get soggy when I add toppings. I bake the dough and then take it out and add already cooked toppings and cheese.
I make extra pizzas like this and freeze them for convenience foods and emergency storage as well. I cut them into individual servings and put them in plastic containers or zip lock bags. If I want to use zip lock bags, I freeze the pizza, already sliced on the cooking sheet and put them in the bags already frozen. They handle easier that way.
I am especially terrible about eating up my frozen pizza food storage. I love the stuff and it is so easy. I take it out and thaw it. Sometimes I eat it without even warming it up. It works great for writing blog posts, for example. I can easily eat and type at the same time. Sure it is disgusting, but nice for me anyway. It gets my writing done.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Save Money - Make Your Own Sandwich Patties For Emergency Food Storage
I make my own veggie burger patties for my emergency food storage and freeze them. They are not hard to make. They are much cheaper than getting them already made from the store. I think people who want to have meat patties or hamburgers could use my pattern/recipe for their emergency food storage with little change to it.
Protein is the basis for my choice of what to use for my veggie burger patties. For me that is usually some sort of beans or other legumes which are high in protein. Lentils, and peas are legumes too.
For people who want meat patties, you can use meat as the main part of your patties. You can add some beans or some of the other items that I put in my veggie burgers to stretch your meat to save money and get better nutrition.
I like some sort of complex carbohydrate in my veggie burgers, because they hold together better and I try to get a full meal of balanced nutrition all in one patty. Whole wheat, brown rice, and potatoes are some of the complex carbohydrates I use.
Some kind of vegetables round out the nutrition in my veggie burgers and make them more tasty and satisfying as well. That will usually be a seasonal vegetable or vegetables or whatever is handy and cheap.
I put liquids in my veggie burgers and what they are depends on what is handy and cheap. If I am using potatoes in my veggie burgers I use the liquid from cooking the potatoes in the veggie burgers. The potato liquids are sticky and gooey and help hold the veggie burgers together.
I pick some things especially to help hold the veggie burgers together. Eggs are my favorite. I am not a vegan, so I do eat eggs. Vegans might want to figure out what they want to eat that is sticky enough to hold their veggie burgers together besides eggs. Molasses and honey are sticky, but I know some vegans don't like to eat honey.
You don't need much egg to hold a lot of veggie burgers together. I sometimes only need one egg for as many as 60 veggie burgers.
I use a food processor to grind up the ingredients for my veggie burgers and mix them together as well. I put in the protein first and add the complex carbohydrates next. I usually have everything in bowls or on big plates so I can easily keep adding more ingredients as the food processor mixes and grinds.
I use vegetable oil in a large skillet to fry the veggie burger patties. I lightly brown them, mostly for taste and appearance, since everything is already cooked before I start grinding the ingredients for the veggie burgers.
I usually have a lot of patties shaped on big plates so I can add them to the large skillet as I remove the cooked ones onto clean plates. I usually let them cool on the plates, because I don't have enough racks to cool that many veggie burgers.
Once the veggie burgers are cool, they can be packaged in plastic bags. I like to put several burgers in small zipper bags and then put several small zipper bags full into a larger zipper bag. They don't get freezer burn as easily that way and are easier to find and less of a mess in the freezer that way.
Each veggie burger patty has all the foods necessary for a balanced meal in it. That means you don't need to cook anything else with it to have a healthy diet during an emergency. If you have bread to make a sandwich of your veggie burger patty, that is not necessary, but it might make you feel better to eat it that way instead of by itself.
I eat my veggie burgers on a bed of rice or pasta or with a baked potato and a vegetable or two for regular meals. You could do the same during an emergency as well. (They would not have to be heated if defrosted ahead of time.) They are also nice with a salad and some type of bread and or soup.
When I plan ahead enough for regular meals I take the veggie burgers out of the freezer and defrost them. A meal after that can be as simple as a couple of slices of bread or buns and some lettuce or sprouts and condiments. This is nice to do when I am really busy. It would work fine for emergencies too.
Protein is the basis for my choice of what to use for my veggie burger patties. For me that is usually some sort of beans or other legumes which are high in protein. Lentils, and peas are legumes too.
For people who want meat patties, you can use meat as the main part of your patties. You can add some beans or some of the other items that I put in my veggie burgers to stretch your meat to save money and get better nutrition.
I like some sort of complex carbohydrate in my veggie burgers, because they hold together better and I try to get a full meal of balanced nutrition all in one patty. Whole wheat, brown rice, and potatoes are some of the complex carbohydrates I use.
Some kind of vegetables round out the nutrition in my veggie burgers and make them more tasty and satisfying as well. That will usually be a seasonal vegetable or vegetables or whatever is handy and cheap.
I put liquids in my veggie burgers and what they are depends on what is handy and cheap. If I am using potatoes in my veggie burgers I use the liquid from cooking the potatoes in the veggie burgers. The potato liquids are sticky and gooey and help hold the veggie burgers together.
I pick some things especially to help hold the veggie burgers together. Eggs are my favorite. I am not a vegan, so I do eat eggs. Vegans might want to figure out what they want to eat that is sticky enough to hold their veggie burgers together besides eggs. Molasses and honey are sticky, but I know some vegans don't like to eat honey.
You don't need much egg to hold a lot of veggie burgers together. I sometimes only need one egg for as many as 60 veggie burgers.
I use a food processor to grind up the ingredients for my veggie burgers and mix them together as well. I put in the protein first and add the complex carbohydrates next. I usually have everything in bowls or on big plates so I can easily keep adding more ingredients as the food processor mixes and grinds.
I use vegetable oil in a large skillet to fry the veggie burger patties. I lightly brown them, mostly for taste and appearance, since everything is already cooked before I start grinding the ingredients for the veggie burgers.
I usually have a lot of patties shaped on big plates so I can add them to the large skillet as I remove the cooked ones onto clean plates. I usually let them cool on the plates, because I don't have enough racks to cool that many veggie burgers.
Once the veggie burgers are cool, they can be packaged in plastic bags. I like to put several burgers in small zipper bags and then put several small zipper bags full into a larger zipper bag. They don't get freezer burn as easily that way and are easier to find and less of a mess in the freezer that way.
Each veggie burger patty has all the foods necessary for a balanced meal in it. That means you don't need to cook anything else with it to have a healthy diet during an emergency. If you have bread to make a sandwich of your veggie burger patty, that is not necessary, but it might make you feel better to eat it that way instead of by itself.
I eat my veggie burgers on a bed of rice or pasta or with a baked potato and a vegetable or two for regular meals. You could do the same during an emergency as well. (They would not have to be heated if defrosted ahead of time.) They are also nice with a salad and some type of bread and or soup.
When I plan ahead enough for regular meals I take the veggie burgers out of the freezer and defrost them. A meal after that can be as simple as a couple of slices of bread or buns and some lettuce or sprouts and condiments. This is nice to do when I am really busy. It would work fine for emergencies too.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Cheap Preparedness Food Longer Term Storage
My current longest term storage is in things that don't spoil that fast even if you don't do anything to them. That is things like rice, beans and grains that are not even flour yet. I also think things like popcorn, and rolled oats are necessities for me, so I get lots of those. They are ok to have enough bought in bulk to last me longer than my things that spoil more easily. I don't try to have food in my freezer that will last me for the next year, for example.
That is not because I don't think it is a good idea. It is just because my funds don't stretch far enough for me to prepare that far ahead. If you can afford it, you might want to have more food in the freezer to last you for the next year.
You will have to think about what you put in your freezer for your emergency storage because freezer burn and tasting yucky from being frozen too long are problems.
I do use my freezer for emergency storage, but it is for shorter term foods. I make my own casseroles for emergency storage. When I make a casserole for dinner, I make two or three of the same thing and cook them in the oven at the same time. I eat one and freeze the other two.
I rotate them into my menus when I don't feel like cooking or don't have enough time. I can just take one of my frozen casseroles out and thaw it ahead of time or defrost it in the microwave. I really like the convenience of doing my casseroles this way. I probably like it too much. It is hard to keep enough in the freezer because I use them up too soon.
Making my own frozen casseroles is much cheaper than buying frozen casseroles from the store. I often like the ones I make better than what I get from the store too. A lot of the time my homemade convenience foods are more healthy than those from the store as well.
If I manage to have any frozen casseroles left in my freezer during an emergency, they will not even have to be cooked. They can simply be thawed out and eaten, so they are good for emergencies. I just need to make them more often or eat them up less often.
One of my emergency preparedness frozen foods is veggieburgers. I make my own in batches of 60 or so at a time. I like them quite a lot and think they taste better than the ones I get from the grocery store. They are considerably less expensive than those from the store, so they save a lot on my food bill all the time. I have a hard time leaving enough of those in the freezer for emergencies too.
That is not because I don't think it is a good idea. It is just because my funds don't stretch far enough for me to prepare that far ahead. If you can afford it, you might want to have more food in the freezer to last you for the next year.
You will have to think about what you put in your freezer for your emergency storage because freezer burn and tasting yucky from being frozen too long are problems.
I do use my freezer for emergency storage, but it is for shorter term foods. I make my own casseroles for emergency storage. When I make a casserole for dinner, I make two or three of the same thing and cook them in the oven at the same time. I eat one and freeze the other two.
I rotate them into my menus when I don't feel like cooking or don't have enough time. I can just take one of my frozen casseroles out and thaw it ahead of time or defrost it in the microwave. I really like the convenience of doing my casseroles this way. I probably like it too much. It is hard to keep enough in the freezer because I use them up too soon.
Making my own frozen casseroles is much cheaper than buying frozen casseroles from the store. I often like the ones I make better than what I get from the store too. A lot of the time my homemade convenience foods are more healthy than those from the store as well.
If I manage to have any frozen casseroles left in my freezer during an emergency, they will not even have to be cooked. They can simply be thawed out and eaten, so they are good for emergencies. I just need to make them more often or eat them up less often.
One of my emergency preparedness frozen foods is veggieburgers. I make my own in batches of 60 or so at a time. I like them quite a lot and think they taste better than the ones I get from the grocery store. They are considerably less expensive than those from the store, so they save a lot on my food bill all the time. I have a hard time leaving enough of those in the freezer for emergencies too.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Cheap Preparedness Food Storage Without Waste
I had a discussion with someone today that made me think I need to do a post on how to avoid waste with your preparedness food supplies. I have a very simple method that I use and it will probably work for others as well.
My preparedness food is more of what I eat every day. I type my grocery lists into my computer with the date on them. I can look at the dates I buy a particular food and see how long before I had to get it again. It is not really precise, but it gets me close enough for my purposes. It is not complicated and it is easy to do. It gives me preparedness foods that I am sure to like and already know how to prepare.
I estimate from my grocery lists how much of different foods I need during a month, for example. That way I can buy enough of those foods I need to eat for a month. I do not have the funds to have a long term storage, so that makes things easier. The best I can manage is a year ahead on some things, less on others.
Most foods on the grocery shelves will have a use by date that is at least a year away from the time you take it home. It is not a problem to get ordinary grocery items and store them for a year or less. Just look at the use by date before you buy it and make sure it is as far away as you plan to store that food item.
If you are comparatively rolling in dough and are able to store food for longer than a year, there are many grocery store items that will last for two or more years before their use by date. You can begin with these and start buying bulk foods by mail or online.
I have not done this much yet, but I do it a little for items that I use a lot like grains, for example. It is cheaper to buy these in paper or plastic sacks and then buy your own plastic storage pails. You can dump your paper or plastic sacks into the storage pails and save a lot of money. You need to make sure the pails that you use are food quality plastic.
If you want to be extra careful, you can buy mylar or plastic bags to put in the storage pails instead of putting the food directly into the pails. There are extra things you can do to make the foods stored in your storage pails last up to 40 years. I think that is a little excessive, but my life expectancy is shorter than that, so what do I know?
I will post more on cheap, non-wasteful food storage. I don't just use it for preparedness. There is not a sharp dividing line between my money saving and my preparedness food supplies.
My preparedness food is more of what I eat every day. I type my grocery lists into my computer with the date on them. I can look at the dates I buy a particular food and see how long before I had to get it again. It is not really precise, but it gets me close enough for my purposes. It is not complicated and it is easy to do. It gives me preparedness foods that I am sure to like and already know how to prepare.
I estimate from my grocery lists how much of different foods I need during a month, for example. That way I can buy enough of those foods I need to eat for a month. I do not have the funds to have a long term storage, so that makes things easier. The best I can manage is a year ahead on some things, less on others.
Most foods on the grocery shelves will have a use by date that is at least a year away from the time you take it home. It is not a problem to get ordinary grocery items and store them for a year or less. Just look at the use by date before you buy it and make sure it is as far away as you plan to store that food item.
If you are comparatively rolling in dough and are able to store food for longer than a year, there are many grocery store items that will last for two or more years before their use by date. You can begin with these and start buying bulk foods by mail or online.
I have not done this much yet, but I do it a little for items that I use a lot like grains, for example. It is cheaper to buy these in paper or plastic sacks and then buy your own plastic storage pails. You can dump your paper or plastic sacks into the storage pails and save a lot of money. You need to make sure the pails that you use are food quality plastic.
If you want to be extra careful, you can buy mylar or plastic bags to put in the storage pails instead of putting the food directly into the pails. There are extra things you can do to make the foods stored in your storage pails last up to 40 years. I think that is a little excessive, but my life expectancy is shorter than that, so what do I know?
I will post more on cheap, non-wasteful food storage. I don't just use it for preparedness. There is not a sharp dividing line between my money saving and my preparedness food supplies.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Sprouting Has A Good Place In Your Food Storage
Sprouts are even more space saving than dried foods because a small amount of seeds will produce a much larger amount of food and good nutrition when they are sprouted and ready to eat. The shelf space that the seeds for sprouting take up is very small.
Here is what you need to do sprouting:
Seeds that are not chemically treated (I also prefer organic, and non GMO seeds)
1 glass jar for each variety of seeds you wish to sprout at one time
A piece of screen or cloth like cheesecloth for each jar (small seeds may require more layers of cloth or screen)
1 string or rubber band to hold the cloth over the mouth of the jar
Clean, not too cold or hot water for rinsing and soaking the seeds
Exact instructions for different types of seeds vary, but some basics apply to most. Put the seeds in your sprouting jar or sprouter. Rinse the seeds off and drain the rinse water. Pour warm water on the seeds and leave them soaking overnight or about 6-8 hours or so. The exact time is not that critical. The soaking water needs to be several times the volume of the seeds that you wish to sprout. They will expand a lot while they are soaking and some will not be kept wet if you don't have enough water on them. If that happens they probably won't sprout.
You can use a glass jar with a piece of cloth or screen across the lid to keep the seeds in when you drain them. You will have to keep the seeds fairly warm when your are sprouting them, though. If you are in cold weather without power, you will have to keep the seeds near your body while you are sprouting them. If this last sentence sounds odd to you, that is because you live in a warmer climate than I do. I live in Alaska and it is very relevant here.
After the seeds have soaked initially, they need to be drained and rinsed a couple of times. You can save the soaking water to use for beverages, soups or other cooking. It is very nutritious and adds flavor to soups. It also saves water if you do not have a lot. You can re-use the water every time you rinse the seeds that you are sprouting.
After the first soaking, you will need to re-soak the seeds for about 10-15 minutes at least twice a day. Drain and rinse them again two or three times each time you re-soak them.
You need to do this until the sprouts are ready to eat. It will vary from 3 to 10 days most of the time. After the sprouts are big enough, they will gain a little more nutrition if you expose them to light for an hour or more so that they turn green. That is just the tiny "leaves" on the top ends.
Give the sprouts a final rinse or two and they are ready for consumption or cold storage, if that is available. If you do not have a working refrigerator during the emergency, they will keep at room temperature for at least a day or so unless it is very hot or very cold.
If you buy a sprouter, they will usually come with instructions on how to use them on various seeds. Seeds intended especially for sprouting often have instructions for that type of seed.
You can buy different sorts of sprouters that allow you to sprout more than one type of seed at a time or will automatically soak and rinse the seeds or are especially easy to use. I bought one of the latter and I like it very much. It is even possible to do sprouting while you are travelling. That would include if you find it necessary to evacuate on foot and it takes several days to reach your destination. There are backpackers who sprout as they go hiking.
Sprouting is a very good thing to do all the time if you like to eat healthy fresh food or cheap food. If you eat a variety of sprouts it is not necessary to buy any produce for your nutrition. Since I began sprouting, my food bill has dropped a lot. This allows me to buy the preparedness items that I can not make like a good wind up radio. If you work at reducing your food costs you can do likewise.
Lowering your budget is not an obvious part of disaster preparedness, but if you think about the cost of some of the items on your list, you can easily see why it is. I plan to write about how to save money so you can afford to have the preparedness items you need sooner, or at all.
There are some larger seeds that you can sprout as well as the usual ones. Pumpkin seeds and walnuts are in this category. They are called "soaks" rather than sprouts because they don't actually sprout before you eat them. They are usually soaked overnight and eaten the next day. These are good if you are in a hurry for something to eat and want the extra nutrition from sprouting. Most regular sprouting takes from three days to a little over a week to be ready to eat. That means you could plan to eat soaks for a few days until your first sprouts are ready if you are just starting out in an emergency.
You can use sprouts on most foods just to give it a nutrition boost or because you want something fresh to eat. I even put them on my breakfast cereal at times. You can make salads entirely of sprouts and incorporate them into baked or fried foods. This can be helpful to keep you from getting bored with your emergency foods during a longer term disaster.
I must apologize for a problem with my blog. The dates did not post correctly due to an error I made. I had to go back and re-do the dates because it was giving the same date to different posts. If you have been using the notifier on my site to tell you when I do a new post that will not have been working and you will have missed some new posts that are up. I am attempting to post daily at this time.
I wish to post about water for emergency preparedness next. It will probably require several posts since it can require a lot of information and is even more important to your well being than food.
Here is what you need to do sprouting:
Seeds that are not chemically treated (I also prefer organic, and non GMO seeds)
1 glass jar for each variety of seeds you wish to sprout at one time
A piece of screen or cloth like cheesecloth for each jar (small seeds may require more layers of cloth or screen)
1 string or rubber band to hold the cloth over the mouth of the jar
Clean, not too cold or hot water for rinsing and soaking the seeds
Exact instructions for different types of seeds vary, but some basics apply to most. Put the seeds in your sprouting jar or sprouter. Rinse the seeds off and drain the rinse water. Pour warm water on the seeds and leave them soaking overnight or about 6-8 hours or so. The exact time is not that critical. The soaking water needs to be several times the volume of the seeds that you wish to sprout. They will expand a lot while they are soaking and some will not be kept wet if you don't have enough water on them. If that happens they probably won't sprout.
You can use a glass jar with a piece of cloth or screen across the lid to keep the seeds in when you drain them. You will have to keep the seeds fairly warm when your are sprouting them, though. If you are in cold weather without power, you will have to keep the seeds near your body while you are sprouting them. If this last sentence sounds odd to you, that is because you live in a warmer climate than I do. I live in Alaska and it is very relevant here.
After the seeds have soaked initially, they need to be drained and rinsed a couple of times. You can save the soaking water to use for beverages, soups or other cooking. It is very nutritious and adds flavor to soups. It also saves water if you do not have a lot. You can re-use the water every time you rinse the seeds that you are sprouting.
After the first soaking, you will need to re-soak the seeds for about 10-15 minutes at least twice a day. Drain and rinse them again two or three times each time you re-soak them.
You need to do this until the sprouts are ready to eat. It will vary from 3 to 10 days most of the time. After the sprouts are big enough, they will gain a little more nutrition if you expose them to light for an hour or more so that they turn green. That is just the tiny "leaves" on the top ends.
Give the sprouts a final rinse or two and they are ready for consumption or cold storage, if that is available. If you do not have a working refrigerator during the emergency, they will keep at room temperature for at least a day or so unless it is very hot or very cold.
If you buy a sprouter, they will usually come with instructions on how to use them on various seeds. Seeds intended especially for sprouting often have instructions for that type of seed.
You can buy different sorts of sprouters that allow you to sprout more than one type of seed at a time or will automatically soak and rinse the seeds or are especially easy to use. I bought one of the latter and I like it very much. It is even possible to do sprouting while you are travelling. That would include if you find it necessary to evacuate on foot and it takes several days to reach your destination. There are backpackers who sprout as they go hiking.
Sprouting is a very good thing to do all the time if you like to eat healthy fresh food or cheap food. If you eat a variety of sprouts it is not necessary to buy any produce for your nutrition. Since I began sprouting, my food bill has dropped a lot. This allows me to buy the preparedness items that I can not make like a good wind up radio. If you work at reducing your food costs you can do likewise.
Lowering your budget is not an obvious part of disaster preparedness, but if you think about the cost of some of the items on your list, you can easily see why it is. I plan to write about how to save money so you can afford to have the preparedness items you need sooner, or at all.
There are some larger seeds that you can sprout as well as the usual ones. Pumpkin seeds and walnuts are in this category. They are called "soaks" rather than sprouts because they don't actually sprout before you eat them. They are usually soaked overnight and eaten the next day. These are good if you are in a hurry for something to eat and want the extra nutrition from sprouting. Most regular sprouting takes from three days to a little over a week to be ready to eat. That means you could plan to eat soaks for a few days until your first sprouts are ready if you are just starting out in an emergency.
You can use sprouts on most foods just to give it a nutrition boost or because you want something fresh to eat. I even put them on my breakfast cereal at times. You can make salads entirely of sprouts and incorporate them into baked or fried foods. This can be helpful to keep you from getting bored with your emergency foods during a longer term disaster.
I must apologize for a problem with my blog. The dates did not post correctly due to an error I made. I had to go back and re-do the dates because it was giving the same date to different posts. If you have been using the notifier on my site to tell you when I do a new post that will not have been working and you will have missed some new posts that are up. I am attempting to post daily at this time.
I wish to post about water for emergency preparedness next. It will probably require several posts since it can require a lot of information and is even more important to your well being than food.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Fresh Alaskan Tomatoes In December
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| These are tomatoes in my indoor apartment greenhouse. It bears year round. I thought people might like to find out about doing this as well. It is pretty nice to have fresh tomatoes in December. |
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