Food Storage...A Necessary Adventure

Those seasonings--- gluten-free

2012-02-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

I posted previously about this taco soup recipe, and was thinking how great it would be if it were gluten-free, since that issue has come up in my comment section before.Then I checked my taco and ranch seasoning packets, and found out that if I used at least one of them, (if memory serves, at least one had wheat flour in it) the soup wouldn't be gluten-free. Then, thanks to a friend, I found out about this post on do-it-yourself seasonings--taco and ranch, with a bonus of dry onion soup mix--over at Self-Reliance by Jamie. (I originally had (hopefully) in the post title to indicate that I didn't see any ingredients that I associate with gluten, but if someone else who knows more than I do sees something that would be a problem, please let me know--otherwise, it's all good.) Love that I can use these recipes for much more than just taco soup... :)

Thanks to my friend for the heads-up, and to Jamie over at Self-Reliance by Jamie for sharing the recipes!

Price-wise, things are harder to replace..

2012-01-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's no big surprise that prices tend to go up. And up. And up. But I recently had a very specific experience with price/availability that shows that it can go up reallly quickly...

I've written in the past about the price of ground turkey--we like to buy it in "bulk" (if you can call 3 lb. packages "bulk") brown it, and freeze it in meal-size packages. Having done so, we went for a while without doing what we call "big-time shopping"--quite a while, in fact, and just picked up milk and the like occasionally instead of planning out weeks' worth of menus, and making do with what we had without adding to our storage. (This applies to food and non-food items.) Not surprisingly, our storage went down, down, down while some prices were going up, up, up. Here's what happened with the ground turkey during this time:

I noticed as I was picking up milk or whatever that the ground turkey wasn't there. So I decided to keep an eye on it, because in the past it seemed to be a first-come, first served basis for the turkey, and you just had to be there at the right time. But this time, there didn't even appear to be a place marked for the packages of turkey that I usually bought.

Fast forward to when I really needed to get some more turkey. We found that there were 2 pound packages available at our other preferred place for grocery shopping, and if memory serves, when we first started buying ground turkey there, it was $3.98/2 lbs. Since then, it has gone up to $4.98/2lbs.

Bad enough, right? Well, at our used-to-buy turkey place, ground turkey made a reappearance, perhaps a different brand, and perhaps a different fat content or something, but the bottom line is that there is only one kind of package of ground turkey available last time I looked, and it was $3.98/1.25 lbs. Ouch. Hopefully it does not soon become our buy-again-turkey place because it becomes the best buy in town again. Might have to swear off turkey if that happens...

Anyway, my point is that having some food on hand for price hikes alone is a good idea because they most likely will continue to go up. At least if you have something in storage, it gives you a little time to save up for/look around for your next purchase without going hungry in the meantime. It doesn't have to be an emergency per se for a person to be glad they've put something aside for a rainy day...

And speaking of rainy days, it sounded like a rainy day outside the window today, but it was because of the melting snow, which was not melted enough after falling today to not require some shoveling when it came to the driveway. :) And thanks to all who participated in the poll about snow. I have mislaid the results, but if memory serves, 85% said they were getting less snow than normal, and everyone else who answered doesn't usually get snow where they live. The roads have been easier to drive on, but the really uncharacteristic lack of snow makes me wonder about the water supply.

Oh, I just found the post on my other blog where I wrote about the price of turkey. It used to be $6.22/ 3lb. package. Hope it comes back--it's happened before... :)

A bean recipe--and lots o' links--for the recipe file

2012-01-13T13:03:00.001-07:00

I am always looking for more ways to use beans, and my family loved this one for taco soup over at Marie's Cooking Adventures (Yeah. No, that's not me, but I like the name... :).

It's wonderful what you can find when you go blog-hopping. Almost the entire family loved this soup. The only thing I had to change wasn't really a change--I followed the recipe as stated, and you really couldn't get any easier. I cooked it on low, but when I checked it about an hour before we were supposed to eat, it tasted really salty to me. To be fair, I had two of my children taste it as well, and they didn't think it was too salty, but I peeled and cut up a couple of potatoes and dumped them in for the remainder of the cooking time, because doing so is supposed to help remove excess salt. I removed them before serving, and the soup didn't taste too salty to me anymore, so it was all good. If I had been on the ball, I would have just cooked some black beans on my own and added those, because I wouldn't have added salt, and perhaps the seasoning packets I used were saltier than some others or something... In any case, this soup was an absolute hit here, and uses mostly canned foods, and I have wondered if you could just use canned chicken if you wanted instead of the ground beef (we used ground turkey) and then it would be an entirely pantry-friendly recipe. I highly recommend it. It has gained a place in the coveted recipe rotation. So many, many thanks to Marie for the recipe!

And now, at the risk of future posts, I am going to list some links to other recipes that caught my eye while I was doing some aforementioned blog-hopping. I haven't made them yet, but they look wonderful, (and ok, let's not forget that they also look like they would be easy to try, in most cases) and sometimes I just want to share what I've found sooner than it takes to actually make them. Another one on the same blog is here for Southwest Chicken Egg Rolls. (A little trickier, I guess, for just food storage, but I am thinking canned chicken, canned corn, and the cheese and frozen spinach might just to have to be freezer storage unless someone else has a suggestion... :) I actually found Marie's Cooking Adventures via

-- Cupcake Diaries, which also happens to have the recipe for the soup-I-am-most-likely-to-make-next-in-my-crockpot, aka Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup . This just looks really good to me, and combine the ease of a crockpot, a use for any potatoes that are lonely in storage (which I don't have currently, but have in the past and expect to have in the future) and it's all win-win-win. I would suggest checking out this recipe and others while you are there--you might find something else you would like as well. Thanks Cupcake Diaries!

--And of course, I check out the Harried Homemaker site regularly, and the recipe for chicken soup found here looks interesting. True confessions: I don't recall ever having cooked with parsnips before. But this recipe might convince me to start, seeing as how it is supposed to help you get over sickness and looks delicious in the pictures. It apparently is rather work-intensive, but soup that acts like an antibiotic might be an incentive for many people... In any case, talk about blog-hopping potential: beneath this recipe are links to 63 more soup recipes--thanks Harried Homemaker!

So, thanks again to the wonderful people who share over at Marie's Cooking Adventures, Cupcake Diaries, and Harried Homemaker! You make adding new recipes into the rotation during the New Year all that much easier... :)

(Next to) no snow, and cool gift possibilities for next year...

2012-01-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to me that here it is, January 6, and we have had very, very, very little snow here in Idaho. Don't get me wrong, the car and I are really ok with this when it comes to the roads, but I am worried about a drought factor coming into play later on because of the lack of moisture. What's it like where you are? I put up a poll to the right, but it ends soon. Just wondering if there is a lack of moisture everywhere...

So just some thoughts that I thought I'd share (plus, if I put this up now, I can just look at it next year when I am trying to think of something to give that's not all that expensive, but useful/helpful in some way) about some things I observed/received/in some way learned about over the holidays:

--One of the neighbor gifts we got this year was canned apple pie filling. Wow, it looks great, and I would imagine tastes even better than it looks. I can't imagine it will remain in storage long, but it is a great food storage item....

--There was a great comment left on the post about great, inexpensive gifts that I already linked to on December 19 (this link) where someone (thanks, Kristen B.) suggested wrapping paper, with a tag that reads: "May your Holidays be wrapped with Joy!" Clever, and something that could be given out at the very beginning of the holidays and you would be done, and people would have something they could totally use. Seeing as I'm a procrastinator, this one might not work out that well for me, but who knows? :)

--We went to visit some relatives, and saw what one of their neighbors was giving out for neighbor gifts--paper towels! There was a roll of paper towels with a candy cane, and the note said something to the effect of "absorb the Holiday spirit". Again, very useful...

--Amazing that, seeing as how we discovered just prior to Christmas that all of our flashlights could not be accounted for, two new ones showed up as gifts under the tree. Great minds think alike, I guess, because I provided one of them and my husband provided the other. Odd that we couldn't find the ones that are supposed to be in a very specific place in case of a blackout, but good that we found out that we couldn't find them when it wasn't an emergency. The previous ones, which will hopefully eventually show up, really had been in the same place for ages. So here's my question for you--it's not an emergency--do you know where your primary secondary (ha!) light sources are? We would use our flashlights to find our candles--seems easier that way... :)

Well, seems unusual to still be talking about the holidays, but guess where I'll go looking sometime in November for those ideas I want to remember? Plus, I got the link to the gift ideas to work this time (hurray!) so that's a plus! Thanks again to Fabulous Finds (I love when the links actually work) for the above link, and when I went to go get that link, I saw that there is a giveaway for a free stencil that ends soon that is on the current post, so thanks for that too! (I know that the giveaways I post for aren't always strictly on this blog's subject, but who doesn't like a free giveaway? :)

Anyway, happy 2012!! More on things I'm working on/need to work on to come---because yes, I still have a lot to learn/do/ practice.... :)

How quickly was that help supposed to come?

2011-12-31T15:37:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone has had a great week and a happy Christmas! The day after Christmas we headed south for a road trip, and fortunately, everything went well for us. We could put a big question mark on how it went for whoever was parked next to us in one location we went, however.

We had arrived in large parking garage, and had finally found a place to park, only to find that the vehicle next to us had one of its rear doors left open. This would be fine if, say, the owner were there taking something out of the backseat, but the problem was that there was absolutely no one there. Kind of eerie, really.

And since the car was at the edge of a row, on the pillar nearby was a security box flashing its blue light like crazy. We looked around the car, and directly into it, to make sure that no one had passed out or something right next to or right inside the car, but there was no one to be seen. When we looked more closely at the security box, it indicated that if the light was activated, security would respond. We didn't touch the car, but looked around for the (hopefully) arriving security as we went on our way.

By the time we got back to our vehicle, the car door was closed. The blue lights, however, were still flashing. Or flashing again. Hard to know.Just like it's hard to know when help will come whenever there's an emergency. Granted, there's not enough information here to know what happened. The person who left their door open could have activated the security light themselves and made their way to help afterwards. Someone could have activated the light for another reason altogether, and the door could have been left open by a forgetful youngster. (Hey, it happens.) I guess my point is that even though the light was flashing, there was none of the advertised help immediately visible.

Hopefully, none of us will be in a situation where we need help, but emergencies happen, (in all probability not something even vaguely related to what happened with the person with the open car door) and for many of them we can be prepared in such a way that we don't immediately need help if one happens where we are. Having at least 3 days of emergency supplies ready, like this list of supplies at ready.gov can make our lives easier if we have to wait for help we hope will come. (I do think that I have linked to this site before, but it does give a basic list that newer readers may find helpful.) It will also make it less urgent for help to get to us, which might especially help anyone who is in more need of assistance than we are...

In any case, hope everyone will make (or perhaps update) a 72-hour kit for emergencies, and hope no one will ever need it. The link above gives some ideas, but everyone's needs will vary, so it is likely that no two 72-hour kits will look the same. The open car door thing was a reminder to me that help might not always arrive as quickly as one would hope...better to have one and not need it than to not have one and need it...

Take care, and Happy New Year, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T20:57:00.000-07:00

Wishing you and yours all the best for Christmas and throughout the holiday season!

If you're still needing ideas...

2011-12-19T13:27:00.003-07:00

...for inexpensive "neighbor gifts" or the like, you might want to check out this post: http://todaysfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/2010/12/15-gift-ideas-under-2.html. I have no idea why all the options for inserting links are gone as I write this post, but they are, so here's hoping I figure it out (or the options come back) before the I write the next one... Thanks to Fabulous Finds for the ideas!

Giving food, getting food...

2011-12-09T18:06:00.003-07:00

Well, that was about the most cohesive title I could think of, given that I am about to relate a bunch of experiences that are semi-related...

--I had the opportunity to prepare a meal for a large family and deliver it--thing is, my typical "go-to" meals wouldn't necessarily work in this circumstance, given I didn't know how much food was actually needed. There were a variety of ages represented, and, well, I wanted to make sure there was enough food taken in. Sooo, I went looking on the internet and found this recipe for a ground beef casserole. Thing is, I used ground turkey, and omitted the green pepper, and made it for my own family the day before I made it for the other family. It went over ok with my family, although it wasn't a huge hit. What I liked about it is that with these ingredients, it's easy to manipulate the measurements to make it larger by doubling, and I'm pretty sure if you wanted to stretch it with a little more pasta, it wouldn't hurt anything, and would be more to serve. Anyway, not strictly a food storage recipe, but it is easy, and readers remember how much I love easy when it comes to recipes. :) Just thought I'd share. I think it would be great to take to a potluck dinner, as well.

--Many thanks to the kind "Christmas Elf" who left the homemade cinnamon bread ring (reminded me of what I have seen called "monkey bread") and ran away before we opened the door. It was still warm, and enjoyed by all!

--And speaking of "getting food", I thought I should share this link about legislation that was recently passed, as I understand it, without the amendment that was suggested at the beginning by Senator Paul. Storing food is particularly mentioned, so I include this link in the interest of spreading more information, and because people need to make informed decisions whenever possible. You may have already seen/heard about this, but wanted to include it here for those who have not.

--Picked up some boxes of potatoes at a local farm for my parents and took them down at Thanksgiving--they were requested so that they could be given as Christmas gifts. Ahh, Idaho potatoes, fresh off the farm. Gotta love food for gifts. Saw on the internet elsewhere a suggestion of giving a case of toilet paper for a "white elephant gift"--I think it may come across as funny, but no question would be useful....

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and is enjoying the Christmas season!

Thank you, Veterans!

2011-11-11T20:04:00.004-07:00

Can never say thanks enough to all those who have served our country and protected our freedoms--but the thanks is heartfelt. Thank you!

Some things are worth repeating...

2011-11-02T23:25:00.003-06:00

I imagine by now that many if not all of my readers have heard about the peanut butter companies raising their prices in a major way--soon, if they haven't already. I wrote about and posted this article over on my other blog on Monday, and it gives details on when some of the prices are going up with some of the major peanut butter companies. Looks like there is some time left before some companies raise prices, but not much, so you may want to stock up on peanut butter, if it is one of your preferred preparation items. Since time is of the essence in this case, I hope you will pardon the repetition...

And since I am repeating myself, you may want to check out my post here that includes links to a great site that I don't think I have ever mentioned on this blog....

And, speaking of repetition, I can't say thanks too many times for coming back to read... :) Hope all is well with everyone!

Update on the watermelon, etc....

2011-10-13T18:29:00.004-06:00

Yes, these watermelon came from our garden--my husband brought them in last night because there was an expected freeze. (The first expected freeze, even though last week we got, from one neighbor's account, 5 inches of heavy, wet snow. I can't verify the five inches (have to say I believe my neighbor) but I can verify the wet, heavy part-- from when the children and I cleaned off the driveway :) Anyway, yay, we grew watermelon in Idaho! Don't know how it will taste, but there is a certain happiness in having seen it get bigger and bigger.

Bigger and bigger, but not exactly huge. When the above picture was sent to relatives, an e-mail was returned asking about size, because it was hard to judge from the picture. So, the following e-mail was sent out:

Yeah, my husband's hand gives you a point of reference. Hope they taste as good as they look, and as to the size, you're always supposed to leave people wanting more, right? :)

We got a lot of carrots, our zucchini thrived, and we got a lot of peas from our garden this year. We had more ears of corn, but we waited too long to pick them. Our pumpkins are still out there, and looking good--how did your garden do this year? Hope everyone had/is having a great harvest...

Grapefruit juice...or the lack thereof

2011-09-12T21:53:00.003-06:00

We don't buy grapefruit juice all that often, but recently, since it is one of my children's favorites, I went looking for some. The bottled variety was available, but there was no frozen concentrate. Ok, this didn't happen at the store I shop at the most often, but it does seem to have the best price on cheese that I've seen around, and the butter prices are better than most as a rule, and really good with the occasional coupon. So, I thought, it's a fluke. It's just this store.

Until, out of curiosity, I checked to see the availability of frozen grapefruit concentrate at our local national chainstore. There was none.

Then there is the bag-your-own variety of store that my husband needed to stop by because of something we had forgotten to purchase. When he called to tell me that he would be stopping by, I asked him to check to see if there was any frozen grapefruit concentrate available.

Again, nothing.....

Anyone else notice this in their area? I guess I can't really claim that there is no availability when it comes to grapefruit juice, since the bottled variety is still available, (at a somewhat hefty price) but I was surprised at the lack of the frozen variety, and am wondering--is it too expensive to produce in this form anymore, or have there been weather problems, crop problems, or something else that makes it impossible (at least as far as I have seen) to find now?

Paying attention at the cash register...

2011-08-29T12:42:00.005-06:00

Can pay off if you actually are paying attention at the cash register, or really cost you if you aren't. Take today for example--I picked up a package (1.25 lb.) of ground turkey (would have picked up a 3 lb. package, but more on that later) and made my way to the cash register with other purchases. I thought the price on the package was $2.98.

Imagine my surprise, when, as the last product scanned, the turkey rang up at $4.58.

So I asked about it. The poor cashier, who had just put the closed sign on her register, asked me if I wanted her to check it. I did. So off she went. And she was gone quite awhile. When she returned, she said that the turkey at a different fat content level was the one at $2.98, but since there was no sign posted for the package I wanted to purchase, they decided that they would let me have it at the price of the other type. Quite the savings, if the $4.58 was the price it will be when they do find the sign...

I had planned to pick up a 3 lb. package, since I usually brown it and freeze it, and since we had been using our frozen meat, I had not noticed until now that there were no 3 lb. packages available. And no space marked for 3 lb. packages, making me wonder how long this had been going on, and if there were any plans to bring back the more economical package sizes. The turkey available was a different brand. So, I asked someone pulling a stocking shelf out from the back what the deal was--were we ever to see the 3 lb. packages again at this shopping location? The long and short of it was that he didn't know.

And hence, I don't know either. I do have one back up location for buying the 3 lb. packages, so I certainly hope it is stil available, and at a better price than $4.58 for 1.25 lbs...what are prices like where you are at?

And on the first note, makes me wonder how many times I have been overcharged without realizing it--through my own fault (misreading or misattributing signs) or otherwise...

Price check

2011-08-06T23:50:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to mention a couple of prices that I have seen go up recently:

--The candy in the cashier lane.
Sometimes when my children go shopping with me, I will let them choose a treat from the shelves next to the checkout stand. Alas, I found out this week that the price on such treats has gone up nearly 50% when you consider the treats that are usually the ones being considered-- $.50 or less. Now, for the same treat, the price is $.74. Still under a dollar, but 50% is a big jump...

--The 12-pack Ramen noodle package

For quite some time, the price on this product has held steady at $1.68. Then, recently I saw that these boxes are now priced at $1.98. Granted, you might be able to find it at a lower cost, but I'm just talking about comparisons in the same store where I remember the previous price--prices are going up, up, and up... Still, not a high-priced item, but more is more...

Any price increases that have particularly caught your eye lately?

A new recipe tried, and the importance of good utensils...

2011-07-21T19:37:00.003-06:00

I got a message in my comments recently about a new food blog called My Food Storage Cookbook. You gotta love food storage recipes that include the actual directions for using things like powdered milk/eggs, etc. So, one of my children and I tried out the German Spaetzle recipe today...

And that's where the importance of good utensils come in. Those, or at least expect to need a lot of practice if you're going to attempt to use the alternative method of preparation. We used powdered milk, powdered eggs, followed the excellent directions, and everything went well, including the test tablespoon in the boiling water. I loved the fact that the directions included the option of using a food storage bag with a corner stripped off to make the noodles if you don't happen to have a pastry bag handy.

Just turns out that I'm not that proficient of forming noodles via food storage bag. Yet.

The flavor of our version of the German Spaetzle was great, it's just that I had short, stubby "noodles". I'm sure that a pastry bag would have worked better--as sure as I can be, considering that I haven't used one that much. But my guess is that if I practice these some more, which I am planning to do, I will get better at the food storage bag alternative, or at the pastry bag method, if that's the route I choose to go. Can't underestimate the importance of practice...

Anyway, saw a couple more recipes over there I'm looking to try in the future, among them the Creamy Chicken Enchilada Recipe (which I will wait to try until it gets cooler, since it needs to bake for an hour) and the Italian Chicken Recipe, which looks like it would be a good option any time of the year. And that's only a couple of many recipes, with the author supplying sources, and a great way to organize your preparation efforts. There's a lot to check out if you are interested, so you might want to check it out. I know I'll probably head back for more info soon...

Hope that everyone is having a great summer, and that your garden is going well--in ours the radishes have done well, and there is great hope for the carrots. Looking forward to our raspberries ripening. Take care, and if you are in an area that is hot, hot, hot, try to stay cool, cool, cool..... :)

Happy Birthday, America!

2011-07-04T16:20:00.003-06:00

Have a safe and happy 4th of July! Sending gratitude to all who defend and uphold our freedom, because freedom is never free...

Wheat: a recipe, and cooking options

2011-06-28T09:37:00.005-06:00

A great big thank you to Kristen at Harried Homemaker, who posted a recipe for Wheat Berry Spinach Salad, which looks really, really good. (Makes me wish I had planted spinach this year--wondering if it's too late at this point...) Gotta love more ways to use those wheat berries than just grinding them into flour.

When I saw that the salad recipe required cooked wheat, the first thing I thought of was the thermos method of cooking wheat, directions for which can be found here, at the Hillbilly Housewife website. Still, gotta love more options, so I e-mailed Kristen to ask how she cooked her wheat. She uses a pressure cooker, (which I don't have) but was kind enough to also include the following links on how to cook wheat:

---If you prefer to use a crockpot, you might wish to look here. (Thanks again, Hillbilly Housewife!)

---If you prefer to use a saucepan, you might wish to look here. I'm not familiar with this website, but sure appreciate the recipe!

Oh, yeah, gotta love having more options! Especially when it comes to wheat berries--and gotta love that people with expertise will share information!

Changing the subject, our little jalapeno pepper plant disappeared--the one that one of our children named "Jeff". As in, there is literally no sign of it anywhere, so it's not that it shriveled up due to mistreatment or bad weather or the like. Supposition around here is that one of the animals ate it, though why they would want to is beyond my understanding... We will probably return to the Farmer's Market and get another plant to try again. I hope everyone else's plants are still in their garden... :)

What would you do?

2011-06-23T13:58:00.002-06:00

At our local national chainstore, they've been doing quite a bit of remodeling lately. Not too long ago I was in line at the cashier and an alarm went off--really screechy, accompanied by flashing lights up in the ceiling. I was second or third in line, and briefly wondered if I should just abandon my cart and run like crazy out of the door. It had all the classic signs of being a fire alarm system going off.

Everyone, including the cashier, acted like nothing was happening. So I stayed in line.

Yeah, but not exactly being the shy type when it comes to asking questions, when I did get the chance to get my purchases rung up, I asked the cashier what that alarm had been, because if memory serves, it had finished going off by then. She basically said that they had been having problems with the system, but if it had been the real thing (i.e., there actually had been a fire) someone would have come over the intercom and said so.

Interesting. Interesting, too, that when I went to pull my car out of my parking space a couple of minutes later, I had to wait as two massive fire engines went by in front of me...

In a conversation that I had with someone soon after, the person pointed out that the logic that the cashier used was backward--that it would make more sense if, after the fire alarm started going off, that it was the policy to come on the intercom only to announce that it was only a test, if that was what it was. If there were a fire, there would be a good chance that the intercom wouldn't work at all. This person said they would have left the cart where it was and exited the building.

What would you have done in this situation?

I never heard of any fire and/or fire damage associated with the alarm going off that evening. There have been a couple of times that an alarm has gone off while I've been in that store since then, and one was because someone leaned against a secured exit or something, and that time there were no lights flashing as the sound went off. It's something that has made me think twice about shopping there, because if it goes off that many times when I have actually been there, how many times does it go off?

Fires are tricky, and can spread quickly. I have heard about a casino fire in the 1980's where people died because, as I understand it, they were sitting in the casino, and the fire spread so fast through the ceiling that it just collapsed. The person that was talking about that fire said they weren't even sure if the alarm had gone off in that situation. Sometimes, there is no warning. But if there is a warning, there is no telling how fast the flames are going through the building, and that's why acting quickly to get out of harm's way (even if it is not immediately evident) is crucial. It seems like it would be best to have decided before you ever get into such a situation what you are going to do if that situation arises.

Yeah, standing around acting like there was nothing wrong was not the best choice in the situation outlined above, but it was made all the easier by the fact that no one else seemed worried about it. But just because you aren't worried about it doesn't mean nothing will happen---in fact, it seems to be human nature for everyone to think that nothing like a store fire will ever happen to them....

So, would love to hear any responses, but hope that at least everyone will take the time to figure out so they know for their own personal benefit what they would do if a fire alarm went off while they were shopping. The emergency would be a lot less devastating in this instance if people knew what to do to avoid being caught in a store/hotel/building that is not home fire. What would you do?

If you like easy soup recipes....

2011-06-13T09:27:00.002-06:00

May I direct your attention to this link? 50 easy soups, a copy of which has been printed out and is now in my hot little hand. Haven't tried any of them yet, but I'm all about the easy (and I love the fact that there are variations on the bean theme in some of them, like #37 and #38... :)

Readers may recall that I am not into sewing, but I have decided that it is time to fix that if possible and have been eyeing my sewing machine tentatively recently. (With me, sewing is really about the baby steps, since sewing and I just really don't get along. And in this relationship, it's not the sewing, it's meeee...) But, in a positive step forward, when I went garage-saleing on Saturday, I came across a garage sale that was mostly fabric, at really good prices. So, I picked up a couple of pieces. I then went back a little later with one of my children and bought a few more. I figure if I'm going to practice on fabric, I should buy it at the best price possible, considering that most likely it's going to take me a few tries to get things right. (I write this not as a pessimist, but based on logical conclusions reached based on past experience.)

Before I went back to the garage sale, I gave my best source (Mom) a call, to see if the pieces of fabric were big enough for what I wanted to make, and found out that sewing can be an even more expensive skill to develop than I had originally imagined. I thought the fabric was expensive based on passing the posted prices occasionally in a store, but imagine my surprise when she told me that patterns can cost more than $10.00! (I don't remember the exact numbers she quoted, it must be the shock... :) But she also said that there is a sale this week at JoAnn's on patterns where they are closer to $3.00, so I plan to check that out. (As usual, if this interests you, please check with your local store to see if the offer is there--don't want to waste a trip there just to find out that what you want isn't available in your location. My mom lives in Utah, so it may not be here in Idaho, but I will probably go in any case to get at least one pattern while I am working up my desire to sew.... )

Yeah, I went looking for clothes, and came back with fabric...I'll let you know how that goes.... I will be looking for patterns along the lines of "super-duper easy for the reluctant sewer" brand.

Hope everyone is doing well! Weather varies around here from cold to rainy to warmer--just hope the garden thrives this year....

How does your garden grow?

2011-05-16T14:56:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm actually talking literally, as in the size of the garden, since it hasn't been consistently warm enough to actually plant anything yet, but soon, soon, soon, or we won't have much of a growing season at all. As for the size of our garden, it grew significantly on Saturday because my husband expanded it. Less room for the children to play, but more room for growing food...

Also visited the farmer's market for the first time this season on Saturday, and the most exciting purchase was a jalapeno plant one of my children named Jeff. The name has since changed to something else, but hey, I'm still going to call it Jeff. :) Now that the garden is bigger, we are going to put the children in charge of sections that they can plant and take care of themselves. They have helped plant in the past, but there is general excitement about getting to pick what they will plant in their section. Of course, we haven't reached the weeding stage yet... :)

So, are you growing anything new this year? Jalapeno peppers are new to our garden, and we are going to try watermelon because the children want to, though I don't have great hopes for it in our climate. Oh, well, hope I'm the one that's surprised, and we turn out with a great watermelon harvest. :)

A tale of two coupons...

2011-05-09T11:35:00.003-06:00

Well, more accurately, two types of coupons, but I thought that way the title sounded better....

First, there is the tale of the cheese. Readers may remember that I have had sticker shock about buying cheese for a while now anyway, but I had found a grocery store that put out coupons for cheese in the Sunday paper every couple of weeks that I was pretty happy with: 2 lbs cheddar cheese, 2/$7.00, limit 2. I would go and take advantage of this deal when it came up, and it seemed to be pretty consistent.

Then, not too long ago, there weren't any coupons for what seemed like quite awhile. I would look for the cheese coupon, but alas and alack, it didn't seem to appear. Then one day it was back, but it was different: 2 lbs cheddar cheese, 2/$7.00, limit one. Ok. Sad, but similar.

Fast forward to yesterday: 2 lbs cheddar cheese, $3.99, limit one. $.49 increase per package, and you can only get one, now. The prices are going up everywhere, and while cheese may not be on everyone's list, I hope that everyone is getting some food into storage while the prices are even as low as they are now (read: not very low, and rising....)

Ah, and then there is the other type of coupon alluded to in the title: the Walgreens coupon. I must admit to a certain type of glee when I would peruse the Walgreens ad on Sundays, and they would have a particularly good deal, limit (insert number here), followed by the words, except in ID or NM. (Idaho or New Mexico) Imagine how I felt yesterday when (yes, it started yesterday, because I still have last week's ad to rub it in...) I saw this change: great deal, (insert number here), followed by the words, except in NM. Yes, the days of gleefully going through their coupons and thinking I can get more than the stated limit if I so desire are gone, gone, gone. And that is sad to me...and perhaps a little irritating, as I don't know why it changed....

Well, before I get any negative comments (please be kind), I realize that it doesn't seem fair that Idaho got the exemption in the first place, but here's how I look at it--take advantage of the great deals you can find, whatever they are. As I read other blogs, I hear about stores that we don't have in our area where they are doing a promotion that I would love to be able to take advantage of, or prices that are much better than what I can find around here. Every place has its advantages--here, in an emergency in the dead of winter we wouldn't have to worry about power outage of the freezer because we could put things in a cooler in the garage, but say, down in Florida, I would think that they could use more firewood as a cooking fuel rather than to survive below zero temperatures, for example--so it's different everywhere. One of the things that isn't different is that everyone's gotta eat...

Yeah, sad for me, but also another indicator that prices are going up, coupon or no coupon....

A two for one recipe link, and substitutions, part 3

2011-04-13T20:12:00.008-06:00

Well, we had this soup, posted over at Mangiabella for dinner tonight. Thing is, if you keep reading past that recipe, you will see that there is a recipe for "Quick Peanut Butter Cookies" that takes only three ingredients. I haven't tried it yet, but with only three ingredients, it doesn't seem like it would take that long to try... :)

I made the soup a little differently, although it was mostly the same. I thought this might work in a 12-week rotation, so I used canned chicken, more than what it called for. Turns out the cheese soup I ended up using was something like "Fiesta Nacho Cheese" soup, and used canned green chiles as well. I cooked 1/2 cup rice, so ended up adding considerably more than 1/2 cup cooked rice, and the result was what one of my children said was more like stew than soup. It was very thick, very tasty, and very filling. Some members of the family liked it better than others, but it's a keeper! Thanks Mangiabella!

With the same disclaimers mentioned here, (and just in case you were looking, there are more substitutions here), even more substitutions that are found in my emergency notebook:

Flour, white (1 cup)
1. 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2. 7/8 cup rice flour
3. 1 cup corn flour
4. 1 cup corn meal
5. 3/4 cup buckwheat
6. 1/2 cup barley flour
7. 3/4 cup rye flour

Flour, self-rising
1. 1 lb. flour, 2 tsp salt, and 2 tablespoons baking powder

Green pepper (1 medium)
1. 1/4 cup dehydrated green pepper

Half and Half (1 cup)
1. 7/8 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon butter
2. 1/2 cup coffee creamer and 1/2 cup milk

As always, thanks to any and all who posted this information!

Some noodle ideas

2011-03-24T21:57:00.003-06:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected in the recent events in Japan. I hope that all the help needed gets where it is needed as quickly as possible.

In terms of food storage, I thought you might be interested in this link, which gives a large variety of recipes so you can vary your instant noodle meals. Variety can be wonderful when using your storage items, and you can never have too much variety when it comes to your 12-week rotation...

More substitutions...finally. Part 2

2011-03-07T22:50:00.004-07:00

With the same disclaimers as my previous post , and without further ado:

Corn Starch (1 tablespoon)
--2 tablespoons flour

Cream (1 cup)
--1/3 cup butter plus 2/3 cup milk

Egg
1) Combine 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin with 3 tablespoons cold water and 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon boiling water.
2) Dissolve 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin in 1 tablespoon cold water, then add 2 tablespoons boiling water. Beat vigorously until frothy.
3) 2 egg yolks plus 1 tablespoon water
4) 2 tablespoons dehydrated eggs plus 2 1/2 tablespoons water
5) 1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds, 3 tablespoons water (or other liquid). Stir together until thick and gelatinous.

Evaporated Milk
--1 cup water, 2/3 c. powdered milk

Fats/Oils
--Applesauce (subtract some sugar), or beans (cooked and mashed)

Sorry for the delay--more coming. This time sooner--time sure flies.... :)

A page from my emergency notebook: Substitutions

2011-02-07T11:00:00.003-07:00

I have gathered many substitutions in my "recipe substitutions" section of my emergency notebook, from more than one place. I entered these substitutions so long ago that I don't remember everywhere I got them from, so thanks to all who have shared their expertise with these on other blogs, because I certainly didn't come up with them on my own. However, I thought it was a good time to put this up, because even if you find that you need to make substitutions, you have to have the ingredients to substitute with:

Baking Powder (1 teaspoon):
1. 1 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 cup buttermilk (to replace 1/2 cup liquid in recipe)

Butter or margarine (1 cup)
1. 1 1/2 cup margarine or butter powder
2. 2/3 cup vegetable oil
3. 1 cup shortening plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 2 sticks softened margarine plus 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 1/2 cup buttermilk. Beat until liquid is absorbed. Refrigerate.

Buttermilk
1. 1 tablespoon vinegar (or 1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar) mixed in 1 cup milk.
2. 1 cup water, 1/3 cup powdered milk, 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice.
3. 1 3/4 dry milk in 3 cups slightly warm water (shake or beat until blended). Cover and allow to stand at room temperature until clabbered (6-12 hours). Refrigerate.
4. 1 cup water, 1/3 cup powdered milk, 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Let mixture stand in a warm place until thickened (18 hours). Stir until smooth. Refrigerate.
5. A buttermilk freeze-dried culture can be purchased at a grocery or health food store, and kept indefinitely.

Ok, I am the first to admit that I haven't tried all these substitutions. Some I would actually be wary of using, like the one that says to leave the mixture standing in a warm place until thickened for 18 hours. I probably wouldn't use that one, but with the list that I have, at least I have the option to pick and choose what I like.

That's one page, with a little over to finish the buttermilk section. Not interested in buttermilk because you don't use it? I didn't used to use it--I didn't buy buttermilk. However, the add vinegar or lemon juice (I prefer lemon juice personally, but use vinegar when needed) method is great for the following recipes I have linked to before:

Coffee Cake That Tastes Like Donuts???
Angel Biscuits (The recipe is a little further down in the linked post)
Best-Ever Buttermilk Biscuits
Cornmeal Buttermilk Biscuits

Thanks to all of the authors of the blogs that supplied these links! I have linked to them in the linked articles where applicable...

So, as always, decisions to use the information (or not) on this blog are your sole responsibility--I got the information (though in this case I don't remember exactly where) from sources that I thought were reliable, so I thought I would share them. If you have different substitutions to share, feel free (especially if they're easier--I love easy :) I'll be sharing a few more pages on substitutions from my emergency notebook this week. Gotta love options, especially if you find yourself in a situation where you can't just run out to the store....

A matter of supply....

2011-02-03T08:04:00.002-07:00

Just a quick link to this article on food prices going up. Um, yeah, not good news, and another reason to get some food into the pantry before the prices go up even more--wheat, sugar, and rice prices are mentioned specifically. The article also talks about supply and demand of nations, weather and crop issues, etc., so thought you might want to take a look....

Does your road look/feel/damage your car like an ice rink??

2011-02-02T17:02:00.008-07:00

Sorry, couldn't resist the post title. It is cold here, (as in -21 this morning, with no windchill) but watching the news it appears that elsewhere there is mega-snow, so we (almost) all have weather issues to deal with in the winter... :) Unfortunately, I wasn't really kidding about the "damage your car" issue--our road is iced over and the lack of adequate plowing earlier in the season has led to huge ruts, and where there are no ruts, there is usually a really thick and inconvenient layer of ice. When it's warmer, there is the occasional standing puddle/pond/bottomless black hole of water, but that's not today. Fortunately, our road is right off a more valued road that is better plowed, so as you are driving out, you can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel....

Anyway, in terms of emergency preparedness, I made enough different kinds of breads recently that one of my children commented on it. When we had spaghetti last week, I made Herbed Bread Sticks, a recipe I found over at Harried Homemaker. They were really good, and so much more substantial than frozen breadsticks that we have had in the past, but I have found that in general it takes me longer to actually make the recipes than what is expected. Ah, well. That's what practice is for, right? :) It is great when practice makes perfect, but absolutely convenient when it makes a task go more quickly....

Also wanted to share this link about first aid from SurvivalBlog.com, that I received and read about in an e-mail sent to my inbox recently. Makes me realize (again) that there is so much more that I have to learn, and more supplies that would be good to have in case of an emergency. Knowledge and supplies are a great combination for emergency preparation....

I hope that everyone has had a great start to February, and that your road is in better condition than ours. Speaking of cars, I would suggest, as has been suggested by many before me, I'm sure, that you attempt to keep your tanks as full as possible. For one thing, there is concern that the prices of fuel may go up, up, up in the near, near future. And more money used on fuel means less money available for other emergency preparation activities...

Ah, banana bread and winter outerwear...

2011-01-24T16:43:00.005-07:00

Well, in this case at least, the title of the post pretty much says it all when it comes to my emergency preparedness efforts last week...

First, as promised, comes the banana bread recipe. The time was ripe (pun totally intended) to use the bananas we had, so I looked for the simplest recipes with the most common on-hand ingredients that I could find. It may have been the very first time ever I had made banana bread, because if I had ever made banana bread before, it was apparently long ago and not very memorable. This banana bread was tasty, although not all of my children wanted to actually taste it. And, despite the fact that Idaho is not exactly the place to expect great access to bananas in an emergency situation, in normal circumstances I figure it would be cheaper to make this recipe than buy a loaf somewhere....

And then came later in the week, when I saw in a flyer that one of the major clothing chainstores in the area was having a sale (if I recall correctly, 60-70% off was advertised) on winter outerwear. I was basically looking for coats for next year for my quickly growing children. Apparently I was not alone, because on the first evening of a three-day sale there wasn't that much to choose from on the racks. Then I figured I would check out a few other stores to see if they had things on sale, and they did have some items on clearance racks, or items on sale that were still too expensive for my taste and/or wallet. So not an entirely profitable outing, but I did get some shopping done. I'm just sharing this info because you might have a better selection in your area, and apparently the best time for winter outerwear sales is now. I gather this from the fact that one of the cashiers, when asked if what they had out was all that was available, replied to the effect that what was out was all there was, that now was the time for Spring merchandise, and they already had some Spring items out. One of the (really disappointing) things that I saw in the outerwear selection of items is that many of them didn't seem to offer that much in terms of warmth. Even if the price is right, if the item is not going to accomplish the desired goal of actually keeping you warm, it doesn't really interest me. That kind of criteria can greatly affect your range of selection... :)

Lastly, and really as an aside, has anyone else noticed that the price of tortillas has gone up? I made tortillas last week (the recipe I use is here) but when I saw more recently that a large package was closer to $5.00 than $4.00, I didn't buy them. Mine aren't as pretty as the ones in the store, (or as uniform in shape, quite frankly) but it's hard to rationalize that they're worth that much more....

Easy biscuit recipe

2011-01-14T18:16:00.003-07:00

I found this cornmeal buttermilk biscuit recipe over at Liv Life. They were good and disappeared shortly after they were taken out of the oven. Mine didn't come out as fluffy-looking as the ones on the blog, so I'll have to work on that aspect, but hey, my children and husband liked them, and they have been declared a "keeper". I substituted 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice in 1/2 cup of regular milk for the buttermilk.

I found this recipe through a link on the Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker website, which I tend to visit a lot. I actually have a few recipes that I'm hoping to get to from that site, such as these Panini all'Olio rolls, or these Spoon Rolls, since we're on the subject of breads. And as an added bonus, I have now told you about the recipes and you don't have to wait until I get around to making them to try them yourselves.... :) Thanks to those over at Liv Life and Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker for sharing their recipes!

How many hoops would you go through to get a recipe?

2011-01-13T14:12:00.002-07:00

For me, it depends on the ease of the recipe. Oh, yeah, and if I think that I will like what I'll be cooking/baking....

You can almost get a recipe by going here. I say almost because when you go to the linked website, it's actually a children's game about muffin-making. I suppose it is geared to help younger children with coordination, etc., because there are girls decorating muffins on a conveyor belt. Ah, everyone needs a little computer-animated fun, right? Thing is, after you decorate a level of muffins, when they show a rack of finished muffins, when you press on it, your prize is a muffin recipe. There are three levels to play, and each finished rack with different colored ribbon will give you a different recipe. Though I don't remember the order that you win which recipe, the three recipes available at the time of this writing are: corn muffins, applesauce muffins, and chocolate muffins. I can't speak for the other two recipes, but I did make the chocolate muffins on Saturday and they were received well by all. They all use pretty basic ingredients and the chocolate ones were easy to make. Ah. You gotta love easy..... :) And for the buttermilk ingredient in the corn muffins I would just substitute regular milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar in it....

I tried to just link to the recipes, but no luck. So, while it may be a little annoying to have to go through the game to get to the recipes, I hope you find it worth the effort if you do. (Of course, this could be the way to get your children involved in thinking about recipes if you wanted... :) Anyway, I have found that children's books and websites sometimes have useful, easy recipes that could be useful for food storage because the recipes aren't complicated, and the ingredients are basic. So, a little weird to put an almost link in a post, but it does add variety to my bread-type recipes--and I'm always looking for variety in the flour, oil, and salt category...

For those who like to win preparedness-y things...

2011-01-04T13:34:00.004-07:00

Yeah, you gotta love it when someone just blatantly makes up words in the titles of their blog posts.... :)

But sometimes, you just gotta love it more when you get a chance to win free things (in this case, at least once a month this year) over at Preparedness Pro. The post with all of the helpful and pertinent information is here. It helps your chances if you have a facebook account, but apparently, leaving a comment on the blog's articles will enter you as well.

If you enter, I hope you win--there's a lot of good information and a lot to think about on the blog, so I guess everybody wins.... good luck!

Another recipe for that ground turkey (or beef)

2011-01-03T12:18:00.002-07:00

I have mentioned somewhere before that one of the things we do to make the most of our dollars is to buy ground turkey in 3 lb. packages and brown and freeze it for future meals. Sometimes when it is first opened, I make a meatloaf (recipe here). And sometimes I make a recipe passed down from one of my grandmothers, which I will put below for your consideration. I love it because it has few ingredients, and is one of my favorite "comfort foods". Thanks to my best source (Mom) for compiling the family recipe book, and here is the recipe :

Swedish Meat "Balls"
Ingredients:
1 1/2-2 lbs ground meat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs or quick oats
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix thoroughly. My grandmother always made them into patties about palm size and 1 inch thick.
Heat skillet and add a little oil or shortening. Brown on med. high about 5 min. each side. Remove from pan. Melt 3 TBS shortening (or use oil) in pan. Add 1/3 cup flour and brown, scraping loose browned meat crumbs. Add 1 cup cold milk and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and simmer 2 minutes. Add water to desired consistency. Return meat to gravy and simmer 20 minutes.

Editorial note from the cookbook: If you don't like the meat soaked in gravy, cook 12 minutes each side and serve separately.

End of recipe.

Ok, well--I haven't exactly made them like my mother does (and my meat "balls" aren't as good as hers, either) but my children like them. Mine have differed in the following ways:

--I have yet to add poultry seasoning to the meatballs. I will fix that.
--I browned the meatballs and made the gravy as directed. Then I put the meatballs into a crockpot, poured the gravy over the meatballs, and let it cook for a few hours.
--I used onion powder instead of fresh onion.

My family loves these. Just thought I'd share because they are easy, not many ingredients (I would use powdered milk if fresh weren't available), and hey, I found a way to use my crockpot, for them too, so win-win-win. If you try them, I hope you enjoy them...and I hope everyone is having a great New Year!

Chicken little (as in that's how much I know right now)

2010-12-28T10:25:00.004-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Thanks to some wonderful readers who took the time to comment, I would strongly recommend checking out the comments under my December 15th post, where there are some great links and an easy fudge recipe...

Now, about those chickens....on Christmas Eve day, we took the children out and about and ran into someone we know who knows a lot about raising chickens. In fact, the law recently changed in our area so that now residents are allowed to raise up to six chickens (no roosters) in their backyards, so now it is an actual possibility for us to raise chickens! But before we do so, there is quite a lot of research to do, seeing as how I have no desire to get the chickens and have them die early deaths unnecessarily due to may lack of knowledge. Some of the things we learned (as I asked many, many (potentially annoying) questions:

--It has always been legal to have chickens here, apparently, as there were rules on the books that indicated how owners were to take care of their chickens. Why have rules on how to take care of chickens, etc., if there were no chickens allowed? As a side note, this reminded me of a law I once heard of that may or may not still exist in Massachusetts that stated that it was legal to let your cows graze on Boston Common. The clincher was that it was illegal to take your cows to Boston Common....

Anyway, the person we were talking to said that many questions were asked about the legality of keeping hens in the backyard, and said person got many answers indicating that yes, that the law indicated that it was acceptable to raise chickens. Then someone thought that it was not, and hence the following activities that led to the authorities limiting ownership to a flock of six. Readers of my blog(s) may remember that I myself called and asked whether we were allowed to have chickens in our backyard, and was told that no, no we were not. I have to admit to feeling a bit cheated when I found out that being permitted to have six chickens was actually a downgrade, when before, legally, we were actually just allowed to own chickens in general, according to the statutes already in place. Not that I would necessarily even want six, but sometimes it's just the principle of the thing....

---I want to raise chickens for the eggs, but according to this source, you really should rotate the chickens out every couple of years, which means that after you bring in some new chicks and all is going well with them, the older chickens should ideally end up as part of a well-balanced meal. This brings up a whole 'nother area of inexpertise (is that a word?) for me, which is the butchering of well, just about anything. OK, yeah, absolutely anything. But I do know enough that you have to know what you are doing if you want to get meat that's safe to eat when you are doing your own butchering. The person we were talking to mentioned that there is someone not far from here who will do the whole business for you for $3.00. I still think that knowing how to harvest our own meat would be a very useful skill to have, if I could stand it. I figure when it comes down to it, you do what you gotta do....but it definitely is necessary that you know how.

--If we were to get chickens, we would start in the spring. My main concern would be keeping the chickens alive in the Idaho winter, so I asked about coops, and the necessity of running electricity (or not) out to a coop in the winter. Turns out this person does use electricity. That would be something to figure out. I asked over at My Adventures in Self-Reliance (check the comments out under this post) and got some useful information about chickens and rabbits in the winter. If I understand correctly, the amount of heat that there is affects egg production, which is something to consider.

Well, if you're still reading, I still have a lot more to learn. Turns out that the person we were talking to actually makes and sells coops, and has a website here. I mention this because knowing how/where to get my hands on a coop would be one of my first concerns. Looking at the website is as far as I've gotten when it comes to that subject, but it is a place to start. Raising chickens would not exactly be cheap, and it was mentioned in our December 24 conversation that with a flock of just six chickens (and honestly, I would likely start smaller), the chickens wouldn't really pay for themselves. But then I thought, what price self-reliance? Oh, and when the question of cleaning up chicken waste came up, turns out it's one of the best things possible to add to a compost pile and/or garden....

So, a lot to think about. I also learned in the course of this conversation (I mentioned that I could be annoying, didn't I? :) ) that when you first get the chicks you keep them inside so that they will be warm enough. So spring would be the earliest we would get them anyway, and then they would be inside, and then if it continued snowing into June... (don't laugh, this is Idaho)....well, just a lot to think about.

As always, if you have more info, please share. Any errors about raising chickens in the above post are most likely due to my misunderstanding something that was said, or not remembering correctly, so please don't blame my source. I'm just trying to find out more and possibly add some "live storage" to my food storage efforts. Never a dull moment.... :)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:47:00.001-07:00

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Wish I had written those down...

2010-12-15T16:13:00.003-07:00

I am talking about recipes that should be in my emergency notebook. Like the recipe, Extremely Easy Peanut Butter Fudge, that I found on one of the first blogs I found that talked regularly about food storage, and which had some of the best food storage recipes I found then, or since. The author of that blog went on to put up the food blog, Friday's Food Fancy. Regular readers may have noticed that there is not the usual colorful linkage in this paragraph that can be found in many of my posts.

That is because those blogs are no longer to be found, so there is nothing to link to.

Granted, peanut butter fudge would not be a food staple, but it would be an easy way to provide joy in an emergency situation if those you are responsible for like peanut butter and sugar, and dessert-y goodness. And who doesn't want to provide some desserty-goodness and joy in an emergency situation?

I write about this now because we really liked including the peanut butter fudge on our Christmas plates for neighbors. But among the other things that I wish I had written down in terms of food storage from the mentioned blog include the recipe on homemade noodles where you didn't need a noodle machine, just a knife....the food storage information on the sites was great.

So, just putting in a plug for keeping your emergency notebooks updated. You never know when you may need the information that is so plentiful on the internet, but then find yourself without power or the blog(s) no longer accessible. That's one of the reasons the time to prepare is now....

Just as an aside, I do remember the computer name of the author of the blogs, but didn't know if the author would want that name mentioned, so have not mentioned it. I did notice that the link no longer worked some time past, but being ever-hopeful, check it occasionally to see if it is back up. Ah, well. Hopefully, I will have learned my lesson on this and will either write out or print all emergency preparation information I think I may need earlier from now on...

Anyone else sending out anything food-storage friendly out on their neighbor plates this year? Gotta love food storage-friendly goodies...

Happy Thanksgiving! Also, how bad roads changed our plans...

2010-11-25T15:09:00.009-07:00

We are celebrating Thanksgiving here in Idaho for the first time in I don't know how many years. We usually head down to Utah to celebrate it with some of my family, and that was the intention again this year--until the road conditions influenced our decision to just turn around and stay home yesterday. We had heard about the storm that had hit in Utah the night before, (and it had actually gone through our area leaving much snow to shovel in its wake) looked at the weather reports and internet maps, looked outside at the sunny sky, and decided to go for it. We packed up and headed out---and made it about 6 miles from home before we saw the first slide-off.

I asked my husband as we came up on it if he thought the driver needed help. At first he thought there was no one in the car, but I was pretty sure that there was--and out came the driver. From the way it looked, the young man must have just slid off the road right before we approached.

My husband pulled over. By the time I turned around to see how things were going, there was another car pulled over as well. My husband and the other helpful driver got out and attempted to help push the vehicle back on the road. Things were not going too well, and meanwhile many other cars, trucks, you name it, were crawling along side us on the slick roads. There was even a tow truck that paused as it was passing us, but we later figured the driver was checking to see who exactly he was supposed to be helping. He didn't say anything to the men who were working on getting the car back on to the road, but eventually drove on. My husband later said that he thought that one of the reasons that the cars were moving so slowly was that there was a major crash further up the road.

Thankfully, another driver with a truck pulled up to help after a while. He had a tow rope, and my husband came back to let us know what was going on before going back to help push the car back on to the road. Once the tow rope gentleman stopped to help, it wasn't long before they had success. Thanks helpful other driver and tow rope gentleman!!

When my husband got back, we talked about the rate that the traffic was going, the road conditions, and all factors involved, and we decided to take the next exit and turn around and go home. Great disappointment for everyone, but when I called and explained the situation my parents were glad because besides the slick roads the temperatures last night were forecasted to be rather (read: extremely) brutal, and they were worried if we got stuck in any way it would be in really unfortunate circumstances.

We finally got back on the road. Before we got to the next exit (sometimes traveling at about 5 miles an hour) we saw at least one more slide off before we got to what was a serious accident--what looked like a van upside down. I am hoping no one was hurt--there was no ambulance, although there were a number of people who were trying to help. I think we made a good choice in staying home--it was brutally cold last night, and we heard later about one person who took two hours to travel a route that is usually a 30-minute drive. To continue on our journey would have been nerve-wracking and long, long, long, even barring any unforeseen accidents... Turns out the person my husband helped was from Utah, so I hope he made it home alright.

Snow, cold weather, icy conditions with (occasionally) horrendous roads, and trucks equipped with tow ropes--that's Idaho.
Stopping and helping someone who needs a hand--and stopping and helping when there are already people helping---that's America.

We've certainly got a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Stay safe, and best wishes to you and yours!

More incentive to stock up...

2010-11-09T01:05:00.005-07:00

...in a major way, if people at this website (for the National Inflation Association) are correct. Most recently, I received information in an e-mail that appears to have been taken from this article on predicted food prices, and the news isn't good. Please read it. Among other things, it talks about how much they expect food prices to go up, one example being that the price will be "$23.05 for a 24 oz loaf of wheat bread". Apparently, they also think that it is not only food prices that will go up--also predicted in said article is that "a plain white men's cotton t-shirt at Wal-Mart will cost $55.57". They think that we will see these kind of prices soon--from what they say, in 2011. Yeah, next year-- and it's already November.

I hope that prices won't go up like that, but what if they do? I don't know about you, but I still have a lot of preparation to do. Please do what you can to get the things you need into storage, if you are in the position to do so. If it's not prices like these, it may be something else, and it can't hurt to have some extra supplies on hand...

The comments trump the post....

2010-10-22T07:23:00.003-06:00

Again... :) Thanks to kind readers, I now have more information about gluten. Without further comment from me, here are responses I got to my last post:

From Catherine:

"We've had to do as-gluten-free-as-possible storage (my daughter ad I both react to gluten). The only mix I have to buy is Pamela's Pancake/baking mix. It's kinda like Bisquick. We use it for pancakes and pot pie crust.

Store lots of potatoes, and learn to use the potato starch to thicken dishes instead of flour. For example, when making scalloped potatoes, if you slice your potatoes ahead of time into the milk you are going to use in the recipe and let them soak for a few minutes, the starch in the potatoes will leach into the milk and thicken the sauce while it cooks. Voila, gluten-free scalloped potatoes.

Other than that, we eat lots of slow-cooker/solar-cooker meals: Minestrone with either rice pasta or just rice, chicken soup, chicken pot pie, chicken enchiladas (all from one chicken, I might add), risotto, polenta, cassoulet (a bean and pork/lamb/goat/whatever-meat-is-available stew), frittata, latkes (potato pancakes), Cuban beans, lot of squash dishes, posole, and lots of vegetable dishes.

When cooking gluten free, you pretty much have to ignore the standard American diet, because almost everything in it has gluten/HFCS/coal-tar-based colors (red40/yellow5&6/blue1)/other nasties. Think ethic foods and you'll do fine. Mexican food (minus the flour tortillas)is almost totally gluten-free.

Our food storage consists of lots of beans and rice, but it is also heavy on the potatoes. We stock lots of corn in several forms (corn on the cob for fresh, corn off the cob for soup, hulled and dried for hominy, ground for polenta). We have goats, so we use milk in many of our meals. We use eggs as our "meat dish" frequently. We eat 1 chicken per week (which I stretch to cover at least 4 meals) and use about a pound of bacon each week for flavoring.

Hope that helps."

From Jenn:

"This is my life -- I started a blog to detail this - glutenfreefoodstorage.blogspot.com. Hopefully, I'll find some free time to update it again someday. Still plenty of good info, though."

(You can press on the address to link to the blog.)

From Vlad:

"I tried millet, amaranth, quinoa and oatmeal in my chili.
Oatmeal taste good, is very nutritious and a lot cheaper.
BTW I cannot find anyone who knows
if cleaned whole oats (oat groats) at the feed store are ok
for human consumption. (From what I read a lot of foods from
China n the grocery store are not suitable for human consumption)
Whole oats 50 lb $9.95 = 20 cents a lb.
Oatmeal 42 oz $2.49 = 95 cents a lb.

Chili
2 lb ground beef chuck
2 cups oatmeal (crimped oats)
water
15 oz can Ranch Style Beans
two tablespoons
cayenne
turmeric
one tablespoon
chili powder
yellow curry
two teaspoons
cumin

boil meat and oatmeal until done
add beans
put spices in half cup water,
shake well and stir into chili"

Thank you so much, Catherine, Jenn, and Vlad! Gotta love when you not only get information, but practical ways to use that information...

What about needing to go gluten-free?

2010-10-15T18:46:00.003-06:00

On one of my posts quite a while ago (I think it was on my other blog, if memory serves) about rice and beans recipes, a comment was left about a commenter's family member needing to eat food that is gluten-free, and finding storage to meet that need. Lately I have been encountering a lot of people that need to have gluten-free diets, and thinking about what I would need to know/do if I needed to supply gluten-free food on a regular basis from my food storage.

Um, yeah. Unfortunately, right now, other than the rice and beans mentioned, I have next to no idea.

Thing is, from what I understand, needing to go gluten-free can happen at any time, and doesn't happen at any particular time. This could be a major problem if you are about 100 lbs. into your 400 lbs. of wheat in your food storage, and have stored little else. I don't claim to know a lot about this, (so please don't be unkind in the comments--I'm not purposely messing this up) but I can imagine that it would be difficult to cope with a total change in diet anytime, and even worse if there were other factors like a long-term emergency. So my question is, what do you store in your food storage in case something like this happens (or if you find yourself responsible for someone who can't eat gluten)? I have asked some people if they have recipes for the gluten-free food they have made, but mostly, if not all of the time, I have heard that they made the food from mixes. I would imagine that would be expensive, but I have not looked into it fully.

So, now the search begins. I imagine there are sites out on the internet that are full of gluten-free recipes, but I need the same kind of recipes that I look for even when gluten isn't a factor--pretty easy, (cuts down on emergency stress) fewer rather than more ingredients, and hey, hopefully, pretty tasty. If anyone has recipes/information to share, please do. Just another factor that might be a consideration when it comes to emergency food storage...

Coupons can be good...

2010-10-08T10:13:00.002-06:00

I love coupons if they're for something that I'd buy anyway. Got this link in my e-mail that leads to a page for coupons for Campbell's products, like canned soup, which is one of my favorite food storage items, so I thought I'd post it. And seeing as how I use soup normally anyway, it's a win-win. No, neither I nor anyone I know of is directly connected to Campbell's, but we like their soup around here, so I will probably be printing some of these out soon...

Oh, and after I wrote the post on emergency lists, I saw this post over at iPrepared. Each family is going to have a very personalized list, but the more ideas that are out there, the more people will be prepared for emergencies, I hope. I love getting more information...

For some reason, my account is being difficult today, so I was unable to post responses to the comments left on my last post. There were some interesting links left about growing food all year round, and I always appreciate it when people take the time to comment--as for the terrariums, the way that I put them together (food container with lid + potting soil) couldn't get any easier, so if anyone tries it, let me know how it works out for you. Thanks Vlad and Book Lady!

I sent one of the children out to count the pumpkins, and it looks like we have seven likely usable candidates for Halloween, pumpkin seeds, etc. Gotta love growing your own... :)

Corn grand total: 1

2010-10-05T12:00:00.005-06:00

That's right--we got a total of one edible ear of corn from our garden this year. Frankly, it's one more than I was expecting, so I was glad to get the one. In other garden news, we have picked our first carrot, and the pumpkins look promising, so things are looking up...

In other "growing things" news, I recently did a project with some children, and they made terrariums. I researched it on the internet, and tried to find the least expensive (read: absolute cheapest) way to put together a terrarium, and after reading about cutting up soda bottles and using pebbles and other materials, I headed to the dollar store.

Granted, you can buy soda, and it's not that expensive, but my family doesn't drink that much soda, and given the number of terrariums that needed to be made, the amount of soda that would need consuming would be unhealthy by anyone's estimate. Soooo, I bought clear food containers with clear lids at $1.00 a piece, and headed to the local national chainstore for some potting soil.

My conscience was eased somewhat by the fact that the ingredient list on the potting soil was quite lengthy and included at least one of the materials that was needed in the directions for the more complicated terrariums I had researched. I had also done some good old- fashioned research by visiting the expert in the gardening section of a home improvement store, so by the time I purchased the barest minimum of supplies, I was pretty sure that there was a reasonable expectation that things might work out for our terrariums (I know, how could it fail when I was so certain about its success? :). I took the food containers, the potting soil, and some left-over bean seeds from our garden, and headed to the activity. (Note to self (and anyone who may be reading) : Don't expect the home improvement store to have any seeds if you wait to do terrariums until after the typical planting season....)

So, a good time was had by all, and the seeds were planted, the soil slightly dampened with a few drops of water, and the containers sealed. I told them not to put the plants in direct sunlight, but only in indirect sunlight. They went home, and I stopped thinking about it.

Well, last week, some of them told me that their plants were thriving, and that they had outgrown their containers pretty quickly. If memory serves, it was mentioned that one of the plants had to be transplanted. Sooooo----it worked!!!! Yeah, the joy is there. So now, I'm thinking, what could I plant this winter? Would there be enough sunlight in the Idaho winter to have plants actually produce food? Hey, I still have some potting soil left, and if I got just one ear of corn out of it.... :)

Ok, I'm kidding about the corn--but not about the rest of it. In any case, I could start some of my plants in terrariums next spring if we have weather like we did last spring, which delayed planting. Something to think about, anyway....

Emergency evacuation preparation

2010-09-29T09:03:00.005-06:00

I know, I'm totally guilty of blog neglect--but I intend to start making up for that now.... Thanks for coming back to read!

I think that I have mentioned before that I am on the rather extensive e-mail list of an emergency preparedness expert down in Utah. Those of you who may also be on said list may find the following information familiar, but with permission and slight modification (names, offers specific to the area, etc.), I am posting the e-mail here for more to see, since I think it contains great information for preparing for emergency evacuations:

"I have had many questions about what should be on the 5, 15 and 30 minute evacuation lists. The following are my lists. Yours will be different and the priority will vary, sometimes extremely, depending on your family situation. There are only three adults for us to evacuate but I have some suggestions for families with children below.

5 minute list:

A) Grab 72 hour kits for each of us and stuff meds in refrigerator in top along with billfold and purse so we have credit cards, cash and checks.

B) Run to basement and get zipped 3 ring binder with copies of important papers, and memory sticks and disks with pictures on them, plus the bucket of instant meals that sits next to fire safe. {It would be wiser for us to put all of the ring binder things on a memory stick and put that in the 72 hour kits, eliminating the trip to the basement. I just haven't taken time to scan it all yet. That is going to the top of my list of "things to do"}

C) One of us take down pictures of great grandparents while other one pulls quilt and pillows from bed to wrap them...I love my pillow and want that with me anyway! [You may have jewelry, photography equipment, collections or other sentimental or valuable things, and hunters will want their weapons ]

D) Grab laptop, Ipad and current tax record file folders from office drawer.

E) Get in car and truck and leave to pick up W's mother at the assisted living center.

If I had young children at home I would grab their 72 hour kits and strap them with their favorite blanket or toy in their car seats first so I would know they were safe and couldn't go missing. Then I would pack what I could in the order on my list in the time left. It may take 3 minutes just to get every little one buckled in. With older children they need their own lists posted on closet doors or back of bedroom or bathrooom doors where they can find it immediately. They will have hair dryers, video games, etc that are necessities to them. They MUST understand that they ABSOLUTELY MUST be in the vehicle in 4 minutes max so you don't have to worry about looking for or waiting for them! It would pay to practice this to see just what you can do in 5 minutes even if takes a half hour to put back everything you tried to pack! :) Practice yelling Go! Go! Go!!!

15 minute list:

Do first 5 minute things as fast as we can except for (E)

F) Pack first aid and home remedy things ( see lists on inside of doors under main and guest bathroom sinks)

G) Grab journals and boxes of unscanned photos on bottom basement shelves ( see list on shelf at bottom of stairs. Empty bins are next to fire safe )

H) Stuff more clothes and bedding in back of car ( see list on closet door )

I) Toss cases of water and camping and cooking things in back of truck along with garbage can on wheels full of the "175 hour kit" ( see check list on wall by garage door)

E) Get in car and truck and leave to get W's mother at the assisted living center.

30 minute list:

We are still working on this. I am making lists for pantry and closet doors. I think this will depend on the situation for priority order. If it is an "evacuate for a couple of weeks and come back" the priority will be different ( food storage can stay put) than "evacuate and you probably won't be back and your house won't be here either". Or "the looters will steal or destroy everything you leave." Or whatever scary emergency you might have in your community. Food storage is a valuable investment and I would want to take what I could of the most expensive and light weight things... freeze- dried stuff, if at all possible, for an example. If you have expensive tools that might be your prioity.

We have to plan to pick up W's mom at the assisted living home if conditions require it, so possibly we won't even have this full 30 minutes. We may have only 5 extra added on to the 15 minute deadline. Almost too much to think about and decide on now. Imagine how much more overwhelming it would be if we haven't even considered what to do before "IT" happens. It is no wonder that many people lose everything because they cannot begin to decide what to do, so they do nothing but leave.

If you do not have a 72 hour kit for every family member now is the time to get one. You really don't have time to pack everything you need in 5 minutes. First look around your home for old backpacks or diaper bags to carry your things. Basically tho it is what you will need to survive at least the minimum 72 hours it will probably take for the churches, the Red Cross or others to get to you if the emergency includes thousands of people. Think Katrina or an earthquake. For smaller emergencies like the Herriman fire help will arrive right away. Even then it is nice to feel you have some control over your own well-being. "

Thank you, preparedness expert from Utah! I need to update my 72-hour kits, and make out my own lists for the different time limits for evacuation. Yeah, a lot to do, but a lot easier when I have (I hope!) a lot more time than 5, 15, or 30 minutes to do it in....

Camping...interrupted

2010-08-19T11:21:00.004-06:00

We have had a pretty busy summer with family get-togethers and such, and last week we thought we'd take out the tent and do some camping. Got some cookout appropriate food (i.e. hot dogs) and headed for a campsite sufficiently far away that it felt like we were out in the middle of somewhere, as opposed to the backyard...

It started well enough, except that I might add that Friday late afternoon/early evening is not the ideal time to go in search of camping supplies, unless you want plenty of company, and the accompanying longer lines at the store. By the time I returned home, it was starting to cloud over a little, but we hit the road anyway. What's a few clouds, right?

Having arrived at our destination, we got a fire going and while I took over the culinary responsibilities, my husband set up the tent and our children took off and climbed a tree, etc. It was interesting to me that in the bordering campsites there were mostly campers complete with electricity, dining rooms, and all the comforts of home, and few to no other tents. (I suppose I may have missed some if they were blocked by the larger campers.)

The clouds were darkening, but we managed to get through dinner for the most part before it started to rain. The problem was, the wind picked up as well. The children ran into the tent, but as my husband started to put the final cover over it, he said we might have to call it quits, not because of the rain, (we had our vehicle, and set-up on the tent was nearly complete) but because of the wind. The way things were going, it looked like there was a great possibility that the tent would end up being blown over, and that was not a pleasant prospect. So, to everyone's disappointment, while the children sat in the vehicle, my husband and I put out the fire, packed up the tent, and drove home pretty much drenched. The weather got better the closer we got to home, but what can you do?

We chose to return home because we had that option. If we hadn't, and the tent had blown over, we could have taken (likely uncomfortable) refuge in our vehicle, and ended up packing up either in the middle of the night or early the next morning. But here is my question to anyone who is willing to offer some advice--what could we have done to better weather out the "storm", and lessen the chances that the tent would blow over? Are there any practices that we don't know about that we could have utilized? It would not be pleasant to have no other options than a tent and not know how to make the best of the situation. Like HermitJim from Coffee with the Hermit commented on my last post, "knowledge is power!" So feel free to share... :)

Let them drink milk

2010-08-11T13:12:00.002-06:00

We went on a tour of a local dairy recently, and my children loved it. I am considering starting home delivery for milk, but the big thorn there is that a gallon is probably usually going to be about twice the amount we would pay at the store. Of course, it is delivered to our door, and there is the aspect of impulse buying, where you go out for milk and come back with $50 of additional purchases, but I'm not a big impulse buyer. (Please note that I said not a big impulse buyer--I have been known to indulge in the occasional non-necessary and totally extravagant small purchase(s). ) Hence, the impulse buyer aspect wouldn't necessarily make the milk pay for itself in our case. But the fact that we would have a local supplier if there was disruption in the milk supply/food transportation industry makes the home delivery option somewhat tempting, plus we like to support our local economy when possible....

Anyway, I was thinking, non-farmer that I am, that even in an emergency cows would have to be milked, so it should be available, given that you had the means to preserve it. Thing is, during a guide's informational talk, it came out that every cow provides 9 gallons of milk per day, and to do so, every cow drinks 60 gallons of water a day. As you may have noticed from my last post, I have been worrying about water storage lately, and this didn't really do anything to make me feel better about it.... If you have dry milk, you will still need water to drink it. If you think that you may get your hydration from fresh milk from a local supplier as part of your storage plan, it might be good to know that the cows need water too, and a bunch of it. Since they won't even let me raise a chicken where I live, I hadn't given much thought to the needs of larger livestock. Quite eye-opening, for me at least.

There are other options for milk--evaporated and condensed come to mind--but if part of your plan for your circle of responsibility is to "let them drink milk", please consider how much water must come into the equation to do so. I know I am...

I don't think you could ever have too much of that...

2010-08-06T16:53:00.006-06:00

I recently attended a food storage presentation, but due to conflicts in schedule, I was very late and only caught part of it. When I came in, the speaker was asking about how many in attendance had toilet paper in their storage. I turned to the person next to me, and said, (yeah, you guessed it) "I don't think you could ever have too much of that in storage..."

This is true for me on at least a couple of levels--for one, even if you were to meet a goal of, say, a year's supply of toilet paper, it is the kind of resource that is in constant rotation, and it would be difficult to keep it at that level if/when an emergency hit. But there is also the fact (as I think I mentioned to my neighbor) that it has the potential to be a great barter item. In an idea that is not original to me, (thank you, whoever put this on their blog) you should never barter a supply that the person you are bartering with could use against you--a good example of which might be ammunition. So, in my opinion, it can never hurt to have a little (extra?) toilet paper around.

I was also reminded earlier this summer that it would be difficult indeed to store too much water, especially depending on weather conditions (except, of course, when it's raining... :). I was at an amusement park out of state, and we were doing the rounds of rides, when I went on one that didn't quite agree with me. Something to do with spinning around at relatively high speeds, most likely, but in any case, when I got off the ride, I was very overheated and not very happy about it. We had water and we had ice, but it didn't seem to help much. I did not feel very good, and after seeing myself in a mirror and my red-dark red-purplish hue, I was kind of concerned. A person who saw this (who herself looked like she had just arrived at the park fresh from an air-conditioned atmosphere) commented on the heat, and I said, "It looks like you are handling it better than I am." She replied that they (I'm assuming her family/group) had been hitting the water rides. I told her that was probably where we were going next. Then I had a better idea.

Somewhere near the middle of said amusement park, there are a bunch of fountains that spurt up at random times, and people stand in the middle to get a soaking. It appears that usually this activity is pretty much enjoyed by a younger crowd, (i.e. children) but I felt that getting soaked immediately would beat standing in line in the blazing sun some more before getting an unspecified amount of wet, so the square with the fountains was most definitely my best option. I talked to my husband, and off we went. As I said, the fountains appear to be random, but they're very effective, and I was soon pretty soaked. And as a result, I was soon pretty much feeling a lot better. (No matter that the majority of the other people enjoying the fountains seemed to be three and under, or something.... :)

Yeah, it's pretty much a no-brainer that getting wet will cool you off in hot weather, but what was striking to me was the fact that it took a lot more than drinking water and eating ice to cool off in this scenario. In an emergency situation, it seems likely that water would be monitored very carefully, and there wouldn't be fountains to cool off in. Any "extra" water that can be put aside to just cool off in this manner would be much appreciated in a hot-weather scenario, and might be needed even in places that are not known for being hot climates. So, yeah, using water to get soaked with might not be the first choice for use of the storage, but if it's needed, it would be hard to imagine a case where you felt like you had stored too much...

Food would obviously also be something that it would be hard to have too much of, considering that there will likely always be people that you could share it with if you didn't need it yourself, but what else comes to mind for you when you think of emergency preparedness? Is there anything you store or something else that comes to mind when you hear, "I don't think you could ever have too much of that..."? You never know how many people you may help with your ideas...
Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Back to school...as in sales

2010-07-13T12:01:00.003-06:00

Yeah, amazingly overdue post, but it gets busy around here in the summer, as I am sure it does for most people. One of the reasons is that school's out, but imagine my surprise when Sunday's paper had ads for back-to-school sales already. Thing is, if you are the kind to be diligent about rebates, you can buy a ream of paper for a penny after rebate (limit 2 rebates) at Staples if you shop by tomorrow, because that particular sale is for Sunday-Wednesday only. (I would imagine that the rebate deal is good nationwide, but you may want to call your local store to make sure they're participating if you're not sure--would hate for someone to waste gas/time/money for no reason...) There were also back-to-school specials at Shopko, complete with the school supply lists available all neat and convenient for everyone, and pocket folders for $.15 apiece, for one example. Picked up a couple of things and will keep the lists so I can hopefully be as frugal as possible when other sales come up, as I hope they will. Even if you don't want the supplies for school, it's a good idea to have paper, etc., around in the case of an emergency-- for entertainment if nothing else.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer--I had been planning on posting some pictures of the garden, but the last time I could locate the camera it was being temperamental and uncooperative, so it will have to wait. There is greenery in the garden area, but it remains to be seen whether we will get anything edible out of it this year. We have gotten a few strawberries, and there are plenty of green raspberries that the children are monitoring, so I hope they will ripen nicely and we get to them before birds/varmints do.

I am about to put this same link over on my other blog, but feel that it is important enough to include in both places. You may have already read the article, "Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning", but I only received it in an e-mail at the beginning of this month. It's better to prevent an emergency than have one, obviously, but you need to recognize it for what it is--stay safe!!

Check your Spaghetti-Os

2010-06-18T11:50:00.002-06:00

Just saw this article about a Spaghetti-Os recall. If they are your canned comfort food spaghetti of choice, you may want to see if your stored cans are among those affected. It won't be much of a comfort food if it makes you sick in an emergency....

In other news of the more local (to me) variety, we finally had to resort to the more expensive option of internet service, and for now it is working well. Nice to have the internet work and work quickly at that. Yeah, the smile is there. :)

On the garden front, it is finally planted. Still looks pretty bleak out there, and that's not really a surprise, considering that there was a frost warning for last night and 42 degrees out the night before. For plants that like warmth, not much of an incentive to come out and check what's going on... And we insisted on planting corn again, because we're basically optimistic about things like that--can't see it being knee-high by the 4th of July, but hey, if it is, I'll take pictures! :)

Hope your garden is going well--our biggest producer at this point is rhubarb, which grows like a (very large and unruly) weed. Planning to hit the Farmers' Market tomorrow and may try to grow even more things. You don't know until you try.....

It's not for lack of trying....

2010-06-01T07:41:00.003-06:00

Well, we have made an attempt to change internet providers so that we would stop having so many instances of "Internet not able to display webpage" or the like coming up. Twice, in fact. Come to find out that there are just too many trees in the way, and in both cases the installers didn't know until the day of installation that they weren't able to get service in our area. So our current providers came out and raised the antennae, and so far, a lot better internet connection. The only other options are a lot more expensive, so here's hoping....

Anyway, if you are interested in giveaways, you might want to check out:

-- The opportunity to enter to win a free Bosch mixer over at Deals to Meals. That contest closes June 30th.
--The opportunity to enter to win a variety of food storage items over at Preparedness Pro. That contest closes June 15th.

Yeah, I don't expect to win, but if you do, I would love to hear about it... :)

When it comes to gardening, my husband has now partially rototilled the garden, and some lovely little seed potatoes that I picked up at the farmers' market are going to make their way into the ground soon. Hope that we get them in soon enough that they will have a long enough growing season this year. Am also thinking about picking up some jalapeno pepper plants next time I'm at the farmers' market, but really have no idea about how well they do around here. The other seeds we are holding onto because winter is still around quite a bit--it snowed last Saturday (reminds of me of the joke that there are four seasons in Idaho--winter, winter, almost winter, and construction :) and though it was pretty nice yesterday, hard to know what it will be tomorrow. Need to get the planting going soon, though, if we want to eat anything out of the garden this year.

Hope all is going well with everyone, and if all goes well with the internet service, am planning to do more posts more often...thanks for coming back to read!

Thank you

2010-05-31T20:27:00.002-06:00

Thank you to all those who have served and who are serving in the military, and thank you to their families. Memorial Day is the designated day to remember, but regardless of the day, we will never forget.

"Pizza bombs"--version 2

2010-05-13T21:09:00.005-06:00

Well, you may recall that we had "pizza bombs"--a dish in which you flatten two pieces of dough and place pizza toppings on one piece and then pinch the second piece on top of it to seal the toppings in, and then bake--because I wrote about it here. Well, the dough from my regular bread recipe was kind of heavy, so I went looking for the pizza dough recipe in my family recipe book. (Thanks, Mom!) Here it is:

Pizza Dough
Let stand 5 minutes:
1 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar

Then add:
1/4 cup salad oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Dough may be sticky. Spread with floured hands in greased pan. Add toppings. Bake @ 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

It worked well, and it was wonderful not to have to wait for it to rise, etc. like I do for my regular bread recipe. I used olive oil, because that was what was in my cupboard. I also just messed around with the dough like I usually have to, adding a little water, and then a little flour, etc., until it was the consistency that I wanted. Seems like I almost always (if not always ) have to do that--must be me.....

Anyway, I ended up making them too big, and there was some leaking of spaghetti sauce, but they were well-received. And hey, even if you don't want to make "pizza bombs", now you have a really easy recipe for pizza dough that uses pretty much all staple foods. Gotta love something else you can do with the flour, oil, salt, combination. :) If I put some effort into thinking about different topping combinations, I could end up with more variety--any ideas?

Farmers' Market and thinking about the garden

2010-05-03T14:49:00.006-06:00

It's been awhile, in large part because our computer is having issues. Sometimes it will log on to the internet, and sometimes it won't. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) the wind is blowing here, so perhaps the connection problems are weather-related. We have considered changing providers, but have not yet. It's easy to keep the same service when it's working.... :)

I have also been thinking about starting the garden, but when the children are still wearing their winter coats to school in the morning, and we have to fire up the woodstove a lot of the time, I am not quite ready to put any seeds/bulbs/starts in the ground yet. That didn't stop me from visiting the Farmers' Market that was held for the first time of the season on Saturday. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about it and got there when most of the people were packing up. There were flowers out, but I am more of a "if I'm going to plant it, I probably want to eat it" person, so I stopped at one stand that was selling vegetable seeds. They were a good price--I asked if they were non-hybrid, but the gentleman there indicated that they were most likely hybrid. There was also a spot on the table for Walla-Walla onion bulbs, but alas, it was empty. I want in the worst (or is it best?) way to be successful growing onions--but have had no edible results from my garden as of yet. Learned something interesting about Walla-Walla onions, though--they are not really storage onions. They need to be eaten within a couple of weeks of harvesting them, I guess. I'll most likely check back this week to see if there are any Walla-Walla onion bulbs (hope that is the right term) to be had, but I also want to get some onions growing that will store well.

Have you started your gardens yet? It seems like here it is always a line to be walked between starting too early and having your plants freeze (or perhaps get snowed on) and not giving the plants long enough to get anywhere because they are planted too late. Ah, well, we'll do our best....

Two weeks already?

2010-04-19T22:51:00.003-06:00

Yeah, sometimes I think, "Wow, I could post about that!" and then put it off and put it off--not very healthy for my post numbers, and the further I get away from an event, the more I think that it's too old to post about...

--For instance, on April 6 we had a snow day--as in they actually closed the schools!! Ah, Idaho. I did not see that one coming, even though I have lived here for awhile. :) I was glad that we still had some wood left for the trusty old woodstove. You never know when something unexpected is going to happen... I don't think that it was the snowing so much as the blowing, but the result was the same, and the day's plans changed in a moment (or at least as long as it took to realize that there was no one else at the bus stop, and for someone who must have been watching the right news (or the news at the right time) to share the information. Funny thing, it was hard to get official information anywhere--it wasn't on the news when we went to check, and we only saw the list of school closures when we went online--I'm sure that there must be something to be learned from that alone...

--I had already procrastinated about writing about the snowstorm when I found this recipe for Do-Si-Do cookies over at the Harried Homemaker website. Ordinarily, I am not much of a baker, but it was Monday, and I saw that I had everything I needed on hand in storage for this recipe, so we made it. That day. They are sooooo good, although we skipped the frosting for the middle because I just wasn't sure how old my powdered sugar was (did I mention I don't bake that often? :)--again, I'm sure that there must be something to be learned from that alone... It was nice, however, to be able to just bake something without running to the store.

--Sometime between posts I saw something I hadn't seen/noticed before--there are big displays of food storage items in our local national chainstore, and there are cans of things like instant/dried potatoes on the shelves in the lanes as you wait to check out. I am hoping that this means that food storage is a big concern/purchase item right now. Is this happening anywhere else?

Just a few things happening around here--hope all is well with you and yours, and that if you have a later snow day than we have (so far... :) that the snow melts as quickly as it did here. No complaints here--we need the moisture....

How much is it, really?

2010-04-05T17:38:00.003-06:00

A food storage expert I know that lives in Utah sent me an e-mail last week about a sale on some food storage items. It was one of those sales where you had to be there in person to take advantage of the prices, and it looked like a great sale. Not long after the sale e-mail, another e-mail was sent, reproduced in part here, with permission from the author:

"It is always wise to be cautious and thorough when you purchase anything, but especially something you will some day need to rely on totally. Here are some pointers for special sales shopping.

Check for dates and don't buy if there is no date on a can of dairy products in particular. If there is no date it could be possible that older product has been re- packaged for a special price sale. Ask questions and get the storage/use time in writing. Save your receipts.

Shake cans of freeze dried foods to determine how many inches of food is probably in there. Check for amounts by weight and by servings on EVERY brand you buy. Sometimes some companies do "special" packaging for sales and the ounces will be correct on the label but the can will only have a couple of inches of product in it. We have all seen the amounts in some store brands shrink over the past few months while the packaging stays the same size. Knowing the number of servings will help you decide if the price is a good one.

As you know I just try to get the best info possible and don't guarantee anything. It is up to you to determine for yourself what you purchase. I hope these pointers help. "

Thank you, food storage expert from Utah! I thought these were some really good things to think about no matter what kind of storage you are doing--especially since my children seem to eat more and more all the time, and I want to make sure that I have enough to feed them. :) It sometimes surprises me how quickly I go through normal and routine supplies, and I would be really unhappy (read: distressed and distraught) to find that what I had thought would last longer had already disappeared, especially if I was totally dependent on what I had stored. I know that sometimes even when I read how many servings there are in such-and-so product, when I look at the size of what they consider to be a serving it doesn't always add up to what I would consider to be a serving size--it always seems that I like my servings a little larger. In any case, it can't hurt to ask, how much is it, really?

The answer might surprise you...

2010-03-25T13:24:00.005-06:00

Well, not this answer: I had a reader ask where my post was on the subject of diy mixes for your food storage, and think she was referring to this one. If not, let me know. It appears that my comments and I are still having a love/hate relationship--they love to disappear, and I hate it. Sometimes they show up later, but I haven't noticed a pattern yet. Ah, well, if the comment ever shows up on my blog page, I will publish it. And thanks for asking!

While we are still talking about the food aspect of storage, you might want to head over to the Harried Homemaker website and sign up for a chance to win a yogurt maker--diy can be a wonderful thing! And if you live near a Safeway or another one of the stores she has listed, you might want to enter to win a $25 Safeway card + goodies as well. Alas, we don't live near any of the stores mentioned, but I will be happy for you if you win....

The answer I was referring to in the post title, however, was quite different. We heard about some people who were planning to travel to Chile after the earthquake there. They called ahead to ask about the area they were planning to visit and to ask what they should bring that would be most beneficial to meet the needs of the people there. The answer, as I understand it, was this list:

--Adult diapers
--Baby diapers
--Wet wipes

I have heard suggestions on more than one blog to store things like adult diapers in the event of a pandemic, because you might be involved in nursing bedridden adults. I am sure that in just about any emergency where there would be babies that it would be hard to have too many diapers. I guess I was just surprised because it wouldn't have been the first thing I would have thought to store up on. The people in question accepted donations of these items, and I have to say that I thought that the adult diapers were quite expensive, especially considering the number of diapers there were in a package. (In the package that I purchased, there were only 18 for a price close to $9.00).

It's at times like this that I wonder what else I just haven't thought to put into storage. Some things I would like to have and are on a wish list, so that we remember to save up for. Now that I have heard about this, I am thinking about getting some adult diapers in storage--even if no one in my immediate circle of responsibility needs them, there might be someone else who does. If anyone has other ideas that wouldn't immediately come to mind, feel free to share (and I'll try not to get overwhelmed... :) You won't store what you haven't even thought of.....

I hope that the wonderful people going down were able to take the contributions down, and my thoughts and prayers are with all the people affected by the earthquake in Chile.

Gotta love crockpot chili

2010-03-19T14:38:00.002-06:00

Or, at least I'm glad my family does... I tried this recipe for white chicken chili over at Cooking: Prepare by applying heat and a little bit of love yesterday. It was easy and it was a hit with the family. I only did a couple of things differently, mostly in the name of trying to use food storage, and because I figured it was about time I did something with navy beans (as opposed to pinto, red, or black beans :) :

--I used yellow corn, because that's what I had on my shelf. I'm not familiar with hominy, but maybe it would be a good addition to my food storage...

--I used navy beans, but not of the canned variety. I cold-soaked them for about 8 hours overnight, rinsed them, and dumped them into the crockpot as directed. I have to admit that I was a little nervous about them getting done, so I...

--Put the crockpot on high for about the first four hours, debated with myself, thought that surely they would be cooked after four hours, and then turned the crockpot down to low. I was a little worried (what, me worry? :) that the salt in the other ingredients would hinder the cooking of the beans, but somewhere around an hour before dinner I pulled one out and it seemed well-done to me. Ahhhh....ended up cooking the chili about 9 hours total, and stirred in the sour cream.

This was really delicious and was labeled a "keeper", which was especially nice since everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think I have a new addition to my 3-month storage menu, because I figure I could use some of my very valued and extremely guarded supply of home-canned chicken here, and the other ingredients are already great storage items, except for the sour cream, which I think we could leave out without rendering it inedible... :)

I highly recommend this recipe, and thanks to Kietra on Cooking... for sharing it!

The Price of Produce

2010-03-16T15:53:00.004-06:00

My husband called me today and said that there was a gentleman selling Texas grapefruit on the side of the road. (Long-term readers may recall that we live in Idaho.) Our conversation (s)--there were at least two-- went something like this:

Me: Really? Does he have a license plate from Texas?
Him: I don't know. I can't see it from here.
Me: How much does it cost?
Him: I don't know--he's selling it by the box, though. What would be a good price?
Me: I don't know. I really just don't know. I probably wouldn't be willing to pay more than, oh, say, $15.00. But I really don't know. Remember the e-mail from Florida where it said that the price of tomatoes was $3.00/lb, and peppers were the same? So...I really don't know. Maybe $20 for the box? Maybe I should call someone who would know. (Long-term readers may surmise that in all likelihood that would be my best source, aka Mom. Those long-term readers would be correct.)

Yeah, so I basically wasn't that much help. And then, I couldn't reach my best source. My husband was on his own. And it turns out that he didn't really need my help anyway... Our third conversation went something like this:

Him: Well, I bought a box. 40 lbs. for $25.
Me: That's not too bad. Less than $1.00/lb, and oranges I know are like $0.99/lb right now, so that's really good. (One calculation later on a calculator indicated that it was between $0.62 and $0.63 /lb for the grapefruit) So did he have a Texas license plate?
Him: No, somewhere in Idaho.
Me: So did you ask him how he got ahold of Texas grapefruit?
Him: No.
Me: (Disappointed) Ahhhh...... I would have asked....
Him: He did open one up for me, and they were really juicy...

Did I mention that I love as in looooovvvve grapefruit? Somewhere up there by curry in terms of favorite flavors. So I am happy that we now have some in the house...and at a good price. It's best to grow your own produce if you can, but Idaho isn't really suited in terms of climate to grow that much grapefruit. Love the deals we can get on potatoes regularly here, though...

So here is my question to anyone who is willing to answer: How are the produce prices where you live? We know people in Florida, hence the e-mail information cited above. It must have been on my other blog that I mentioned not too long ago that peppers (as in green and other assorted varieties) were on sale for $1.50 each. My children are not big fans of green and other varieties of peppers, so I don't pay that much attention to the prices because they are not a frequent purchase, but to me that seemed really high.

Due to the wonder that is caller id, my mother called me back and we talked about the logistics of having Texas grapefruit in Idaho. Came to the conclusion that growers in Texas most likely sent a truck up and local people sell it at a bigger profit for them and a nicer price for us....got to love the free market...

As an aside, I had a sample taste at one of the grocery chainstores not too long ago of what was called a "Cara Cara " orange. They were also $0.99/lb. I got some because to me they tasted like a cross between orange and grapefruit, (did I mention that I love grapefruit? ) and they were delicious. I even went back for more because one of my children liked them particularly. Haven't seen them since, but they are one of the reasons that I could remember the price of oranges today, and I would highly recommend them if you can find them near you...

So I would appreciate any input on produce costs in different areas. And if you are still here after this somewhat rambling post, thanks for reading! :)

Is anyone else having problems publishing comments?

2010-03-09T11:08:00.007-07:00

Ok, weird, but here it is: yesterday I published a comment from Carl, and it didn't show up in the comments section. Then today, I went to publish a comment from Asphyxiated Emancipation, and it wasn't even available to publish in my blogspot account. I get the comments in an e-mail account, however, so fortunately I can reproduce Ashyxiated Emancipation's comment (which is full of great info) here through the wonder that is copy and paste:

Ammo. Ammo has been non available in my area since around August of 2008. Oh sure, you can find some oddball calibers here and there, but 9mm, .40, .45? Forget about it. .22? No way. I managed to score the last 8 boxes at a gun show Saturday, thankfully, since I have a training class next month.

Since Walmart has rearranged their stores, the choices aren't there anymore. Seems they wanna be like Costco when they grow up. Problem is, the are facing the shelves, and not actually keeping them full. So, when I go in and buy a case of beans, the shelves are left empty.

I've been running into the same problem you have with shoes since late last year. Finally caught an online sale in December, and ordered two extra pairs of shoes.

The more I prepare, the more experience shows me it is better.

End of comment.

Thanks, Asphyxiated Emancipation, you bring up a lot of good points. I had noticed that there just doesn't seem to be much choice anymore for products on the shelves, and it may just be me, but it seems that store brands are taking a more prominent place, with prices that seem pretty close to other brands, in at least one example I can think of.

Well, don't know what's next with the comment problem--hopefully I will at least keep receiving them by e-mail. Hope that it doesn't turn out that I won't see them at all, because I really appreciate comments--lots of times there is more information in the comments than what I put in the posts... :)

There doesn't have to be an emergency for there to be scarcity...

2010-03-08T10:16:00.004-07:00

Ah, reason number (insert large number here) to stock up on more than food for emergencies. I went shopping for shoes again recently, and my experience was even more disturbing than it was almost two years ago....though it was similar:

I went to our national chainstore of choice first, and the choices were extremely limited, and the prices were considerably higher than I wanted to pay. Extremely limited=there was one pair of shoes in the size that I wanted, and a salesperson told me that the only shoes they had were the ones on display. So I went to choice 2 on the chainstore list.

Wow, the displays in chainstore 2 were impressive. There were even some shoes that were 50% off. I was very happy to see the display, but from there it went downhill. These shoes were mostly display only, so a sales associate had to go check one by one for the shoes I requested. To make a long story short, she went back again and again, and there were no shoes in the size I was looking for--except for one pair that for some reason (color I guess) was $10 more than another similar model. I declined and went to look at store 3.

Again at chainstore 3 choice was very limited, but I did find one pair that would work. If memory serves, it was about the same price as the lone pair that was in chainstore 1. So I reasoned that since we get a coupon occasionally for our membership in a kids club at chainstore 1, that I would spend our money there. The shoes were a necessity, and stores were about to close, so I headed back to chainstore 1....

...only to find at that point that the one pair in the size I needed at chainstore 1 was actually wide width. So they had no shoes in the size that I needed. I ended up taking yet another trip to chainstore 3 and buying the pair there.

So, okay, I don't sew, and I should work on that, but I pretty much am sure that aside from wrapping together something with twine and/or duct tape under dire circumstances that I won't be successful at making anything even vaguely resembling shoes. I asked the salesperson at chainstore 1 how often they got shoes in, and she said that honestly, they didn't get them in very often. (You can compare this to the linked post in 2008, when I was told that they got shoes in weekly.) She did say that you could order just about anything online, but that will not help in an emergency situation, when you need the shoes now because one of your children has failed to mention that hard work/play and resultant shoe holes + melting Idaho snow make it necessary to purchase shoes asap...or any other emergency, for that matter.

So, one of my goals is to save up and buy shoes ahead, online or otherwise, because shoemaking is not one of my talents. I also am going to try to find out if there are other items that I will need to take notice of--the scarcity of items is not always immediately apparent. For example, in chainstore 3 there were rows upon rows of shoes, but not much of what I needed. There were even clearance shelves, but again, full of pairs that were of no use to me. I don't know how many pairs of ultra-expensive pairs there were in the size that I was looking for, because they weren't an option. Not an option is not an option, whether it's due to price or unavailability, so it seems to me that storing ahead would be a wise practice.

What about you? Have you noticed a scarcity in any items, food or otherwise, that you are now planning to add to your emergency supplies? The more we get the word out for each other, the better prepared we will all be able to be....

Tortilla Success

2010-02-27T11:08:00.004-07:00

I have been putting off making tortillas for awhile, but I finally got around to actually making some earlier this week. I have watched tortillas being made in the past, and I thought they would be a great item to have on my food storage menu, since they take few ingredients and cook fast, so not that much fuel would be required to cook them. I looked around and looked around and looked around...and procrastinated...

I finally settled on this recipe, which I found over at the Happy Housewife.

Then I procrastinated some more.....

Flash forward to a night where I didn't feel like scrubbing potatoes and was low on ideas for blog posts, and the time just seemed right. So I tried the recipe.

High points: They tasted really good. The kids really liked them, and they disappeared almost as fast as I could make them. Even my child who doesn't really like bread was eating them. However, their popularity made it very inconvenient to get a picture, since I was hungry myself by the time I sat down, which reminds me of the single, solitary low point:

I probably wouldn't have been particularly happy with a picture, because my tortillas weren't round. They were more...glob-shaped. Yeah, entirely my fault. So they weren't uniformly shaped, but since we were just eating them with chili, there wasn't really a problem. However, there would have been some difficulty had we been trying to make tacos or something with them. Soooo, I guess I will have to practice the rolling-out methods that will lead to round tortillas. After I master that particular point of tortilla making, it will be more of a total success.

I recommend this recipe--easy, fast, and delicious. And if you can make your tortillas round, you're ahead of me already.... :)

More ways to use your long-term storage...

2010-02-22T20:48:00.003-07:00

And when I say "more ways", I mean a lot more ways, many of which I haven't had a chance to even look at yet. Thanks to a kind e-mailer, I received a message with some wonderful links to recipes, one of which contains a lengthy list of recipes. I quote from said e-mailer, who actually took the time to put some of the actual recipes in the e-mail:

"These recipes are for making instant meals for long term storage. The sites have many more.
Just mix up, measure into bags seal and put in buckets."

Here are the sites:

Soup Mix in a Jar Recipes, (I'm looking to try this one sometime, of the ones I've looked at so far... and there are even more types of mixes below the list of soup recipes)

AllFreeCrafts.Com, where you can find chicken noodle soup and minestrone in a jar recipes

This Veggie Rice Mix---I don't know if there are other recipes to find here yet, but this one looks pretty good.... :)

It's really the first link that has the most options to choose from, and hopefully you will find something that you and your loved ones would like. It's always good to have different options that are easy to make, and the recipes that I have seen in the first link so far look pretty good--I have a lot to go through on the list still, but I thought I'd give you the links so you can find what you like--gotta love variety, probably even more so when you are using your long-term supplies...thanks again, kind e-mailer!

Wish I had seen this a couple of months ago...

2010-02-10T14:23:00.004-07:00

I came across the blog, Cooking: Prepare by applying heat and a little bit of love, not long ago. Too late to make Christmas treats, but when I saw this Festive Pretzels recipe, I thought, "Wow, that would be great for next year!" I haven't tried them yet, but they look incredibly easy, and you know how much I like easy recipes....

Then I got to thinking that these could be great for Valentine's as well, if you stuck to red and white M&M's--I mean, they're totally made with hugs and kisses. I will probably still file it away for December, but I thought it might come in handy for someone, and who knows, maybe I'll make some with my children before then.

I look forward to trying more recipes that are posted on the Cooking...love blog--I would recommend checking it out. I just thought I'd mention the pretzels now as a possibility for more festivity this weekend. (This post will also make it incredibly easy to find the recipe again before the holidays.) And just speaking for myself, I wouldn't turn down chocolate of any color.... :)

Rolls and Rotation

2010-02-08T21:52:00.008-07:00

Decided I would finally try another recipe that I entered into my emergency notebook awhile ago, this one, from Mennonite Girls Can Cook, in fact. They came out looking like this:

Yeah, if you check out the link, their rolls are prettier, and they probably taste better, too, since I forgot to add the salt. Fortunately, I don't think anyone else noticed that I forgot the salt, and these rolls disappeared pretty fast. An added plus--this recipe made so many that some are headed for the freezer for another meal anytime now.

Now for the rotation part. This recipe calls for 5+ cups of flour, which I knew by looking was more than was sitting in my handy-dandy flour container on my counter. I had some small bags of flour in my storeroom, and a big bag of flour in my storeroom. Those who read my blog regularly may recall that I would rather just buy something and put it in my storeroom and walk away, coming back occasionally for a visit that results in warm fuzzy thoughts that run along the lines of, "I love big bags of flour...", or "Tuna is a good source of protein, tuna is a good source of protein...", than to actually use said storage. Unfortunately, warm and fuzzy thoughts do not necessarily turn into useful and necessary action, so the big bag of flour has been sitting there for awhile instead of being used in new and/or old recipes.

So today was the day I opened the big bag of flour and later secured it with a clip. I need to properly store it in a bucket with one of the colored reusable lids that I have (sorry, the name of said lids escapes me at the moment) and do it right. To be honest, I probably would have used the flour that I consider to be more every day flour in the smaller packages if I didn't know that flour does not have an incredibly long shelf life, like say, wheat, some of which I also have stored. The long shelf life of wheat is one of the justifications I use for not grinding it yet, but yeah, that also is not the most productive way of thinking.

So yes, I am rotating my flour now, and have yet to start using a grinder on my wheat. Still kind of a victory for me anyway. Ah, baby steps. And those who may be like me, please remember to rotate your flour--you can only visit it so many times in your storeroom before it goes rancid....sad, I know. I love those visits....

Sometimes you just can't tell...

2010-02-05T17:43:00.002-07:00

We love baked potatoes around here. In fact, we use them as the main star of the meal when we put chili and various other toppings on them, or as a side for meatloaf. After buying some oatmeal in the sale mentioned in the previous post, I was in the mood for meatloaf, which I learned to make growing up, and the recipe for which used to be found on the back of the Quaker oatmeal box. Someone has kindly posted the recipe online here. Easy, with few ingredients, and delicious. I usually use tomato sauce and ground turkey--beef or turkey, it's all good.

Ah, one of my favorite foods. And, as an added bonus, if you put baking potatoes in 1/2 hour before the meatloaf, they will be ready at the same time.

So I had the oatmeal. I had the egg, the tomato sauce, and the turkey. And I had lovely, huge, beautiful baking potatoes--after all, we live in Idaho. So I started scrubbing potatoes, and cutting off blemishes, and as memory serves, the first potato was only lovely on the outside. Just under the skin there was black throughout. Bye-bye, potato.

Ok. Well, we usually buy at least one extra baking potato in case something like this happens, but by the time I had wrapped one for the oven and thrown away a total of three, I was done. One potato made it into the oven before the meatloaf, and the remaining potatoes went into the refrigerator for another day. One person ate the baked potato, and the rest had instant mashed. Not as good, but tasty enough.

There is no way the farmers could see this particular problem before they sold the potatoes, and no way that the grocer could know either. And there is no way that we could know until I was in the process of preparing them for dinner. In some situations, you just can't tell ahead of time that you are going to have a problem, no matter how carefully you plan. Everything looked good. But sometimes, even if it is not an emergency, your food supplies can provide you with a Plan B.

Gotta love having a plan B, even if it you were looking forward to Plan A......

Got oatmeal?

2010-01-29T13:46:00.004-07:00

If not, or if you need more, you might want to head over to an Albertson's near you. I don't usually give out the names of where I shop, but hey, a good deal deserves a little advertising...

In Wednesday's flyer (which says prices are effective Wed., Jan 27 thru Tues., Feb. 2, 2010) in the newspaper, there are these deals mentioned (I would always suggest that you call your local store to make sure the deals apply in your area.):

--When you buy 5 (42 oz) packages of Quaker Oatmeal, they are only $1.40 each. There is also syrup available, but this time I was all about the oatmeal.

--When you buy the instant oatmeal (in those yummy flavored packets) in the 10.69-15.1 oz select varieties, you can get them for $1 each when you buy 5. I didn't get any this time, but it was tempting...

--Quaker Chewy Granola Bars or Dipps (7.9-8.7 oz.) are also $1 each when you buy 5. I'm thinking 72 hour kits... These were apparently very popular, because I had to get a raincheck.

--There are also some cereals (14-16 0z., select varieties) that fall under the $1 each when you buy 5. (Oatmeal Squares are among them, but also Cap'n Crunch, or Life.)

You will need an Albertsons Preferred Card if you don't already have one, but it might be worth it to get one for these deals.

So I went last night and checked it out. And I bought some oatmeal--old-fashioned, which cooks in about 5 minutes, and some instant, which cooks in about 1 minute, I think. Wasn't exactly wild about the instant, 1 minute type until I thought, well, that would take a lot less energy in an emergency situation....

And the 42 oz-ers are the big packages. I don't use oatmeal all that much, but I did see a recipe for oatmeal bread over at the Harried Homemaker that I want to try. In the same post is a link to the Krazy Kitchen, which is highlighting oatmeal this month. Hence, many links to many recipes. So I will need to head over there to see what will work for my family. After all, I have a lot more of the main ingredient now.... :)

Very little, but a little is better than none...

2010-01-25T12:52:00.006-07:00

First of all, my apologies to those who have left comments or sent e-mails lately. I have sadly neglected my e-mail accounts and blogs since the earthquake in Haiti. Years ago I lived in Haiti, and it breaks my heart to see and hear what is happening there. I have mostly been watching the reports on TV, and trying to find out information when I have been on the computer. My heart goes out to all those affected, and my thanks goes out to all those trying to help in this devastating situation. I'm praying for you all.

I have not entirely neglected my preparation efforts, but no huge strides have been made. For instance:

--I spent a grand total of $1.98 (plus tax) on Top Ramen last week. Not the most exciting of purchases, but hey, 12 more packages of easy preparation makes me happy...

--In one experience, I gained a little knowledge, and it wasn't, shall we say, of the happy variety. You may recall that I have mentioned the (what I consider to be) outrageous prices of cereal these days. I cut out a coupon that had several varieties of cereal listed for under $2.00, and planned to take advantage of the deal. I went one night, and they were out of the items. I asked (probably my first mistake) if it would be better to get a raincheck now, (since I had always been able to get one previously) or come back the next day, since the person I was talking too said that they had just received a shipment, and there hadn't been time to unload it yet. The person said that it would be better to wait until the following day, because previously items in coupons had been on coupons because they were being discontinued, and the items on this one might not be available in the future.

Sigh. So I went back the following evening, and the shelves were as empty as ever. It was also the last day that the coupons would be honored, so I headed to the customer service desk again. It was a different person on duty, and when I asked for a raincheck, I was asked if someone had specifically said that I could have a raincheck on the cereal coupon. I said no, but I had talked to someone the previous evening who had told me a shipment had come in, and there still weren't any of the mentioned sizes available. She then said, well, sometimes the coupons are "while supplies last", and proceeded to show me where it was mentioned on said coupon. I then said, well, I wished that the other person had told me that the previous evening, because I probably wouldn't have come back, and that I was sorry that I had bothered her.

Old coupon pros are probably shaking their heads because this would appear to be somewhat of a rookie mistake, but in my defense, I have used this store's coupons many times, and have never seen the second paragraph where this phrase was found. I honestly think that this is a new addition, because I have always been able to get a raincheck before. I trust that I will not make such an error again. So I learned a little bit... :)

--A couple of weeks ago, we bought some powdered milk in bulk for our storage. Now to use it like it isn't storage---so I'll be able to use it when there's no fresh milk available....

And that's about it, but I'm planning to try out some new recipes soon. Hope all of your efforts are going well....

Sometimes you just need other people--or at least someone else's jeep

2010-01-12T08:55:00.008-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we found ourselves in a scenario that perhaps many people find themselves in, especially in Idaho. It snowed. This is fun when you have no place to go. It is not fun when the accumulation on the road is such that you and just about everyone else on the road is in danger of being stuck. One of our neighbors told me she got stuck three times before she got out of the neighborhood. Another told me that she got stuck in the driveway and promptly went inside and told her husband she was taking the truck. That morning my husband got out while he was driving and helped someone who was stuck in the middle of the road. While we were together as a family, we did not get stuck. But conditions were a little worse when my husband was out in a neighborhood helping a moving party...

Our neighborhood was not the only one in bad shape that day, and my husband said the neighborhood where he was helping load furniture, etc., was in even worst condition than ours was. When he was ready to go, things were not looking good because the snow was so high in the road that he was getting stuck just trying to leave. So someone else there offered to tow him out to one of the main roads with his jeep. My husband accepted. I'm not sure my husband had even met that gentleman before that morning, and I don't remember hearing his name, so it is unlikely that I know him. In any case, if he is reading, I say thank you!

I have been thinking about that situation (because, obviously, I have not been writing about it :) for awhile. There are times when you are just going to need other people. I suppose that there are scenarios where you could do all of the heavy lifting/pushing/ trying to extricate your vehicle from a snowdrift all by yourself until you finally got to where you were going. I suppose. I'm sure that there are some people that have situated themselves so that they really wouldn't ever need other people, and they have the self-sufficiency aspect down to an art. But I think that most of us would need other people in at least some ways in certain emergency situations, and those situations are different depending on where you live.

Who will you call if the power goes out and you have no alternative source of heat when it is -14 with a windchill of -26? (Ah, Idaho.) What if you have an earthquake, and have to evacuate? What if your probable weather emergency is a hurricane? A tornado? A flood? A mudslide? A heatwave? What if your probable emergency is of a financial nature, and you find yourselves in need of shelter or other basic necessities? What if the probable emergency has to do with a situation that requires defense of property, and you need strength of numbers to protect you and yours? I'm sure that there are more emergencies that could occur, but those are the ones that come to mind.

There are many ways that we can prepare ourselves so that we need minimal/no help during emergency situations, but there are also many emergency situations that are likely to eventually lead to our seeking help from other people. My husband and I have discussed some of the scenarios that might lead us to seek out other people (most likely family members) but we still have work to do in this area. For us there would likely be a plan A and plan B at least. But we do think that it would be best to have a plan with the people we would seek out in an emergency situation, so that there would be less confusion and better transfer of supplies, etc. if an emergency were to arise.

What about you? What is your most likely emergency situation where you would need the assistance of other people? Do you have a plan? We're still working on one here, and are so grateful that we still have some time to do so, and are hoping that we would never have to put such a plan into action.

Just so you know, don't come to us if you need to be towed by a jeep. However, if you get stuck in the snow in our neighborhood, don't be surprised if my husband shows up with a snowshovel. Hey, you do what you can... :)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T20:26:00.003-07:00

Here's hoping 2010 will be one of great preparation! Or great rotation, increase, and use of everything already prepared... :) Little by little, everything counts!

Mom's Fudge

2009-12-28T15:29:00.006-07:00

Ok, not strictly food storage. But so, so, sooooo worth sharing. Seriously, this fudge is the best:

Mom's Fudge

Bring the following three ingredients to a boil.
Then boil 8 minutes at full boil, stirring constantly:

1 tall can (12oz) evaporated (non-sweetened) milk
5 cups sugar
1/4 lb margarine or butter

Remove from heat and add:

3 small packages chocolate chips
1 pint marshmallow creme
1-2 cups chopped nuts

Pour into buttered pan. Chill and cut into squares. Makes 5 pounds of fudge.

I remember helping to make this fudge when I was a kid, and when the recipe says you need to stir constantly, it means constantly. In the interest of full disclosure, however, I don't believe I have ever made this on my own, because regardless of what the original source is for this recipe (which was being made when my mom was a child), my source has always been my best source: Mom.

That includes this year, when we got an unmarked container of fudge in our Christmas package, which, when I saw it, caused me to say to my husband something like ,"This has to be fudge!" This exclamation was followed by rapid opening of said container, the contents of which led me to say, "Yes, yes, yes!" while putting my arms in the air in the classic gesture of victory. Yes, this fudge is that good. Thanks, Mom!

Sadly, there is only one piece left now. I call dibs. If I can get to it first... :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T18:08:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful day--Merry Christmas!

What's happening in your area?

2009-12-21T11:53:00.004-07:00

I know that it's the season for collecting money for the less fortunate, but this year there seems to be an especially high number of good causes to which one can contribute. And more pressure to donate, as well.... Are you seeing a greater need/greater number of causes where you live?

--There is the traditional food drive for the food bank at the schools, and in the newsletter sent home people were asked, if not exactly, to the effect to send canned food according to what they felt they could afford. There was even one evening when school children came around caroling for donations for the food bank. And the drive isn't over yet....

--There was a collection in one part of the school for coins that could be used to buy shoes for children who need them. I don't remember this being collected for at this time of year--seems to me it was collected for closer to the beginning of the school year in years past, but I could be wrong. Or there could just be greater need this year...

--There was a collection at school for money to give books to children who couldn't afford them. It happened not too long ago anyway, so I'm figuring it was a collection for the holiday season.

--At least one class took up a collection for a child (identity unknown to the children) for clothes/ gifts for Christmas. This was just before they started the food drive, where there are rewards/incentives/contests for bringing in whatever numbers of cans of food...

--Not exactly my area, but when I was down in Utah over Thanksgiving, it seemed like there was a huge number of businesses with signs saying that they were a food drop location. I found it kind of alarming that there was so much indication that there was a lot of need for food assistance...

What does this have to do with food storage? I hope that everyone that is still in a position to do so can put away a few cans of food/bags of rice/cans and/or bags of staple foods so that they can be more self-sufficient if a personal/more widespread emergency occurs. If someone who doesn't currently need assistance finds him/herself needing such assistance, there might not be anywhere to go, because it appears that resources are spread pretty thin already. Seems like only yesterday that they had the scouts out collecting food...

I wish I could give credit, but as someone mentioned on one of the blogs (that I cannot seem to relocate) that I read while I was blog-hopping, this could be a really good time to stock up in terms of baking goods because they're on sale for the holidays. The coupons really do make a difference--I used a coupon today for some cans of broth that made it possible to purchase them 2/$1.00, while in the store the sign said you could get 3/$2.00. I use broth in one of my rice and beans recipes, which I modify somewhat, and hey, it would add flavor to just plain rice if that is what is available.

One last thing, please check out this article over on Preparedness Pro. You may see that in the comments to the linked article on that post that some people don't believe that there will be a food shortage. In my opinion, it won't matter very much in the long run why you need the food if you need the food, but there is definitely reason to be concerned if the article on a large food shortage is even partially right.

Hey, whatever the motivation is that people need to get some food storage in is good with me. I hope no one ever actually needs it, and that they just find that they don't have to go to the grocery store for a really long time and can use food money for other purposes. And it appears, according to all the collections and food drops around, that if one person doesn't need it, there are others who do....

A new modem later...

2009-12-18T09:20:00.003-07:00

Yeah, it's not the only reason there have not been blog posts lately, but needing a new modem is one of the big ones.

Turns out my sometimes love/hate relationship with technology was not the cause of the internet spottiness which I mentioned in the last post, but the fact that we needed this very vital piece of hardware. Of course, this is something that can only be determined by one of the internet providers showing up and confirming that there is indeed something wrong, so it wasn't fixed immediately. Once we asked for help from the provider, however, we were pretty much helped immediately, which was impressive, and the problem is fixed now...

Hope to get more info on here quicker now...and if you're still reading, thanks!

Adventures with bread dough...

2009-12-08T11:21:00.004-07:00

I haven't been posting much, but I did try something new last week and then our internet service became very, very spotty--so spotty, that, for example, I was able to post a comment that someone left, and then unable to post a reply. Hopefully the service will hold up for the duration of this post. Ah, the suspense of it... :)

Anyway, not too long ago I was at a youth activity where they were making "pizza bombs". Basically, they took bread dough that originally looked like rolls, flattened it, spread pizza sauce, added toppings like cheese and pepperoni, and took a second flattened piece of dough to cover it. Then they pinched the edges of the dough together to hold the toppings in, and marked their individual pizza bombs with food coloring so that they would know whose was whose once they emerged from the oven. They turned out well. I asked the person who supplied the dough if it was homemade, and was told that it was Rhodes dough. So I wondered if I could do pizza bombs with my homemade rolls....

Well, the pizza bomb experience took place before Thanksgiving, and at Thanksgiving, I made the roll recipe I now usually use (this one) and asked my best source (Mom) what she thought of using it to make the aforementioned recipe. She pretty much indicated that it would be better if I used a more basic recipe, since those rolls are pretty dense, so I mentioned I might use the bread loaf recipe I usually use, (this one) and let it rise into the loaf, only to tear it apart when it was done rising and make it into a tasty pizza delight....

And that's what I did. As a matter of fact, when I was in the middle of constructing the pizza bombs, I told my husband that I should be taking pictures for this blog...but he was helping and I had spaghetti sauce (our mini pizza sauce of choice) on my hands, and then we were eating them, and then they were gone...and then there was nothing to take a picture of, and so it goes. Sorry. But I will comment on how this experiment went....

---The pizza bombs were a success and were labeled a "keeper", which means that the likelihood that they will be made again is very high.

---Although the dough seemed pretty thin when rolled out and painstakingly pinched together, when it was baked until brown, it was pretty dense. This made it really filling, but so much density kind of made the toppings harder to find.

---Even though I was careful pinching the edges together, there were still at least some cases where the fillings made their way out of the bombs before they were removed from the oven. They still tasted good though, and took less time to bake than the loaf form would have at the same temperature....

Now I will probably try to come up with new fillings so that we can make different kinds of "bombs" in the future. Spaghetti sauce stores easily, as do olives, which we also used. It didn't take much cheese or pepperoni per bomb, and so there are few ingredients to use, and as mentioned, the bread part of it made it filling. I don't consider pepperoni to be a long-term storage item, so it's back to the drawing board to make a more food storage friendly recipe, but variety with your basic bread dough has to be a good thing, right? Maybe something with canned chicken or Spam would work out when I try this again... :)

A couple of experiences....

2009-11-30T10:48:00.004-07:00

Got back from Utah, where we spent Thanksgiving, and we were able to gather a few more items for storage--dehydrated corn, toilet paper, clothes from the cousins for my children, who are growing, growing, growing. All good things. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Of the two experiences I referred to in the title, one happened before Thanksgiving, and one happened after:

--Within the last little while, our car has had difficulty starting. Although it was fine once we were actually able to get it to start, it was a worry that almost every time the driver sat down, there would need to be multiple attempts to get it to catch. One day I was unable to get it to start at all, and we were no longer able to deny that professional intervention was needed for whatever the problem was.

My husband was able to get it started, and took it in to be repaired. The car works great now. Thing is, right before Thanksgiving, we got a receipt in the mail from the business that my husband took it to. Not so unusual, I guess, although my husband had already received paperwork when he paid for the repair. The unusual part was found at the bottom of the receipt, where a personal note, handwritten, (which I don't have in front of me, but I think this is close to, if not verbatim) was included:

"Thank you for your business in these hard times."

I had never seen anything like this, but I thought a lot about this. The place where my husband took the car to be repaired is not the "usual" place that someone might think to take it--he took it to a car dealership where they sell cars, but also have an automotive repair shop. What with the economy the way it is, it seems difficult to imagine that people are lining up in droves to buy new vehicles, and perhaps there is even less this year at this time because of certain programs that were in place earlier. Whatever the case, it just reminded me of how hard it is almost everywhere right now. My husband pointed out that when you need a vehicle repair, you don't really have much choice about repair if you need the vehicle--I said yes, but you do have a choice as to where to get the repairs done....

The other experience happened Saturday, when I ran into the local national chainstore to pick up a few things. It was very quiet, something that came up when I went to check out. I said that I expected it to be busier, and the cashier replied that she did too. Then I said that maybe it was just that people were still out of town for the holiday, and she said that that would be a good reason. And then she said something along the lines of, " I hope it's not that no one has money to buy anything."

This stuck with me because it seems like a cashier would have a pretty good idea of how business was going, and if the amount of shopping being done was something to worry about. If you haven't started any food storage, or need to add to your food storage, please do so as you are able. Little by little it all adds up, and chances are that more choices with lower prices are available today than will be tomorrow, since prices just seem to go up and up. Just something to think about (and hopefully do) with the economy the way it is.....

There's a lot to be thankful for...

2009-11-26T07:52:00.004-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday--best wishes to you and yours!

Got rice?

2009-11-21T10:23:00.003-07:00

If not, you might want to read this article, which talks about the price of rice going up, up, up. The weather is a factor, and the news already isn't looking good if you like to eat rice--so this may be motivation to get a little (more) in storage if you are able...

On the bright side, if you have an Albertson's near you, you may want to take advantage of the deal they have on potatoes currently--10 lb. bag for $.88, limit 2 bags, and you have to have an Albertson's card. I would call if you haven't seen the ad to see if your particular Albertson's is participating in this deal--20 lbs of potatoes for less than $2.00 may make the extra effort worth your while. Haven't gotten mine yet, so hoping they're still available when I get there. If not, I have relatively recently learned about the wonder of at least asking for a raincheck.... :)

Hope everything is going well with everyone. Not too much to report here that's new--just hope everyone is getting what they can into storage. Little by little, everything counts. And don't forget the rice....

Why practice is important....oh, and 2 bread recipes

2009-11-13T12:22:00.005-07:00

Well, I haven't had that much to write about lately--still working on stocking up and actually just storing what we have properly. Except for the fact that I have been trying to increase my number of food-storage-friendly recipes, and have been concentrating on bread recipes--the mostly flour, oil, salt, etc. variety. I have had mixed results....

So, good news first--I found a "keeper" recipe for fried bread here. Highlights:

--After adjusting the temperature of the oil, the bread just got prettier and prettier--the final pieces were something to behold.... :)

--Even the more "well-done" pieces were readily eaten....

---There were varied levels of enthusiasm, but there were no left-overs, and an agreement that the recipe should be repeated in the future. (Granted, I would not make this too often, but I do think that in the midst of appetite fatigue this might be a welcome exception to the menu....It requires quite a bit of oil, as well as not being at the top of my "most healthy foods" list. But it does taste oh-so-good... :)

Um, yeah, so on to the second bread recipe, which made me realize (again) how vital it can be to try a recipe before an emergency strikes...

I found the following recipe in a family recipe collection, and we got it from a family friend, E.W., many years ago. I don't know if E.W. originally got it somewhere else, but E.W. is our source, so E.W. gets the credit here:

Angel Biscuits

5 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 tbsp water
2 cups buttermilk
1 package dry yeast

Sift together flour, sugar, soda, salt, and baking powder. Cut shortening into dry ingredients. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add with the buttermilk to the flour. Mix well. Turn out on a floured board. Roll 1/4 inch thick. Cut out. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Ah, pretty straight forward. Except, although I added the phrase, Cut shortening into dry ingredients for your benefit and recipe convenience, it is not included on the recipe card copied into our recipe book. Nowhere to be found. So, I had done everything else, ( I used milk with a tbsp. of lemon juice per cup to substitute for the buttermilk) when right before I was going to turn out the dough onto a floured surface, something in my brain clicked, and I thought, "Didn't it say something about shortening?"

Why, yes. Yes, it did. And I did enough baking when I was a kid (nigh these many years ago :) that my next thought was that I probably should have cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. And here I stood with the sticky mound of dough in my mixing bowl, and cutting anything into it didn't look too promising. A cup of shortening with nowhere to go--my thoughts were that little pockets of shortening would show up in the biscuits like chocolate chips, if I proceeded at all.

The most dominant thought, though, was: "5 cups of flour! I just wasted 5 cups of flour!" So I decided to call my best source (Mom) to see if this little adventure was in any way salvageable. My first inclination was to say no, but there were still enough echoes of "5 cups of flour!!" to make it worth my while to find out.

Except, my best source was not available for comment. By home or cell phone. At least not at first. By about the fourth attempt, contact was made. And she suggested that I try to add the shortening now and see how it worked out. She also pointed out that experienced cooks would know to add the shortening to the dry ingredients, so that it was understood and not added to the directions.

Yeah, not so much understood here. But I decided to continue, and cut the shortening in using two knives (many thanks to whomever included this tip on their blog, because it works really well if you don't happen to have a pastry cutter handy--don't remember for sure where I read it, but the gratitude is there) and the shortening disappeared into the massive mound of dough.

Rolled it out. Cut the biscuits out. And baked them.

The results (surprisingly more positive than the previous information would lead you to believe) :

---Very flat biscuits emerged from the oven, and although they didn't rise very much, they were mostly very well-received.

---No wads of shortening masquerading as "biscuit surprise", for which I was grateful. They were a lot sweeter than I was expecting, but perhaps I should have been expecting it when I remember that the recipe does call for a cup of sugar...that "experienced cook" thing again, I guess.

---They were eaten heartily the first night. They were used to dip in gravy from crockpot chicken the second night. And they were mostly gone the third night. So they are a "keeper". I'll keep looking for a more salty version, partly because I prefer saltier, but also because it's always good to have options and variety....

From what I hear, these biscuits are supposed to rise pretty high, and will do so if not handled too much--if you want them lighter, avoid too much handling/rolling out, etc. (Yeah, I rolled that dough out several times, thus adding to the "flatness" of the final results...)

So it's kind of embarassing to relate how little I knew, but if it encourages anyone to practice their skills before an emergency, it's worth it. I can just imagine how (much more) upset I would be if I wasted that much flour when there was probably no place to replenish it easily. I might have finished the batch anyway, but it was definitely a plus to be able to contact someone with more knowledge (thanks Mom!) when a question arose, and that also might not be an option in an emergency. We might have only those in our household, or just ourselves, to turn to in an emergency situation. Better to get the questions out of the way before an emergency situation--less stress, and hopefully, smoother sailing. Or lighter biscuits. Whatever the case may be.... :)

Thank you

2009-11-11T23:45:00.002-07:00

Thank you to all veterans and their families, past and present. Posting this late, but the gratitude is always there for those who serve/have served in the armed forces.

Happy Veteran's Day!

More great information from a comment

2009-11-02T14:16:00.004-07:00

After my last post, Bellen left a great comment which I've been granted permission to use as a post, and which provides valuable information and tips for being better prepared for emergencies. I've said it before--there are many times in which there is more information in the comments than I put in the posts, so be sure to read the comments! With many thanks to Bellen, here is the information:

Now for the food storage - back to the old adage of 'store what you eat and eat what you store'. I store and use dehydrated eggs, butter, milk on a daily basis. Truly can't think of a single day that I don't use something from my food storage. And, of course, replennish on my monthly storage shopping trip.

Besides just the food, practice what you will be cooking on. Almost daily we use a solar oven (works like a crock pot for us), at least once a month we use our one burner camping stove, and the grill - well I've done everything from breakfast bacon & eggs, to grilled cheese for lunch and dinner's a no-brainer. Just to be sure - it came in handy when we had no electricity after a major hurricane 5 years ago - we ate at home, neighbors had to drive 20-30 miles to a restaurant that was open.

Find one pot meals you like - chicken & dumplings from canned chix and homemade bisquick. Did you know you can bring spaghetti to a boil, turn off heat and cover and it will be done in about 15 min? Have done this on the grill and the camping stove - so you can make spaghetti with sauce, mac & cheese or tuna casserole.

With kids it can be an adventure - try some Scout recipes over a grill or open fire - toad in a hole or biscuit wrapped hot dogs (Spam or Vienna sausages if using storage food).

Good luck in your prepping!!

A little bit is better than none

2009-10-30T08:40:00.004-06:00

Of course, when it comes to food storage itself, every little bit that you can get in will be helpful, a can, bottle, bag, or box at a time. In this particular case, though, I'm referring to information.

Yesterday I was ironing near the front door while one of my children was reading out loud. (Kind of an unusual situation, but hey, ironing boards are portable, and in this case it turns out that the emergency was all about location, location, location...) All of the sudden I heard a whooshing sound that sounded really close to the house. I asked one of my children to look out the front window and see what was making that sound. The answer was "the wind". However, when I looked out the window from my vantage point, I saw no movement in the trees. My second thought was that it was a street cleaner, because it sounded more like water.

Then I got smart and actually opened the front door.

Water was spurting everywhere from a water fixture right next to the front porch, and it wasn't pretty. And, though my technical expertise limits my description to calling it a "water fixture", you may recall our experience nearly a year ago when my expertise on water valves increased by necessity, though fortunately gushing water was not a part of the equation. Add to that the fact that a couple of months ago we had a family night where we talked about the water valve by the street and actually taught our children how to turn off the water in an emergency among other emergency information, and things turned out better than they would have otherwise. I sent a child out with the water key to turn it off (glad to see that a lesson learned was a lesson remembered :) and I was relieved to find that the water stopped immediately.

We went back in, and I was soon informed (read: immediately) that there was water leaking into the basement. I was soon outside emptying out a window well with a bucket. It did not turn out to be a big deal, since we were able to deal with it so quickly.

If I had not been in the front room, I would not have heard the water problem, and it would have been more time before we found out about the water in the basement as well. The way it turned out was a real blessing for us. After I was done bailing water, I called my husband and told him what had happened.

Turns out that the "water fixture" has something to do with the sprinkler system, and a line burst because it hadn't been cleared before freezing temperatures had set in. (This is an odd occurrence because my husband is very good at this sort of thing and has even cleared lines on other property for other people, but there it is.) So when he got home, he dealt with the sprinkler system and turned the water back on. That was nice.

If I had had more information, I could have dealt with the sprinkler system as quickly as my husband did. However, even though my information consisted of "water fixture", I did have enough information to deal with the immediate emergency and to tide me over until someone with more information could help me.

This reminds me of food storage as well, in that I don't have all of the knowledge that I need/would like to have when it comes to emergency situations, but when it comes to food, I do have some. I know how to make some "emergency meals" (which I try to work into my regular meal rotation occasionally) and how to do some basic breads, etc. I know how to use my basics to some extent--rice and beans, flour, oil, etc.--but need to learn more. The plan is to be even (much) better prepared before an emergency hits, but I have some information. You have to start somewhere, and sometimes I get worried that people don't start at all on their food storage because there is so much to learn. I hope people get some grains and/or other basics in, even if they don't know how to use them yet, so that they have something to work with before there's a food shortage. It's more ideal to be an expert with your food storage, obviously, but if you know how to make a few basic dishes with foods that can last long-term, you will be much better off than if you don't have anything at all. After all, you and your loved ones may be your only resource when an emergency first hits. Surviving on a few dishes may not be ideal, but it is surviving. And if there are people to help you after an emergency strikes, it will be a better situation if we have our own resources to share and/or learn with.

Oh, and the other thing this reminds me of is the necessity to clear those sprinkler lines before they freeze.... :)

Here's a treat

2009-10-27T12:23:00.005-06:00

Just not the kind you can hand out on Halloween. But hey, everyone loves a little treat now and then, and it gets better when the ingredients are basic. Oh, and did I mention the recipe is easy? I present to you:

Peanut Butter Fingers

Cream together:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Add:
1 unbeaten egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Blend. Stir in:

1 cup flour
1 cup quick oats

Press into greased 9x13 pan. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden. Sprinkle with 1 6- oz package of chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes. Spread evenly.

Topping:
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons evaporated milk
1/4 cup peanut butter
Drizzle over cookies. Cool and cut.

I don't know who came up with this recipe, so it's hard to give credit, but thank you, peanut butter finger inventor. At the risk of shocking someone, we got a little lazy last time we made these at our house, and we skipped the topping and dived in after the chocolate chips were spread evenly. We somehow managed not to feel deprived..... :)

Our pumpkins are probably going to get carved tonight, regardless of their irregular hues. I'm sure some of them will make it into the freezer as puree as well. Those of you who may have missed my great adventure last year in finding pumpkin recipes may be interested in this one for pumpkin bread that I posted then. It's always good to take something that takes up so much room in the garden and make it take up room in the freezer.... :)

The camera is back (plus more about pumpkins)

2009-10-19T07:54:00.008-06:00

For wonderful information, for the whole process from growing to preserving pumpkins, check out the comments on my previous post. Thanks to Kristen, Anonymous, and Stephanie--another case of me finding out about things I didn't know I didn't know from my internet friends!

My husband found a cord that works with our camera, (hurray!!) so without further ado, a look at some of this year's pumpkins--

I would put this gem in the "green suits me so I'm not planning on changing anytime soon" category:

Then there is, as there was last year, a candidate for "most likely to be ripe in time for use as a jack-o-lantern" category:

And finally, there is the "we will keep you guessing" category, as in when will these little buddies be ready for harvest (if ever, in the case of the one on the left)... :

Ah, well. We have a few more, but these are the ones that made it into the photo shoot. Just glad the camera can be used with the computer again, and that it is highly likely that we will end up with more pumpkin puree in the freezer eventually....

The sure thing about this post is that there is valuable information in the comments left on my last post. If you have questions about pumpkins, be sure to check them out--you'll be glad you did.

Info, request for info, and links

2009-10-16T14:02:00.004-06:00

Well, sometimes you find out what you wanted to know in your own backyard. Or, in my case, in your driveway.

I mentioned the question I had about the uniformity of pumpkin color to one of my friends, and was informed that the way they get pumpkins to ripen is to separate them from the vine. Once the pumpkins are no longer attached to the vine, they will turn orange. Not the exact words of my friend, of course, but that's what I got from it.

Ah, mystery solved.

Now, on my previous post, I also received a comment asking about preserving pumpkin, other than freezing it. I don't know of any other methods, so I'm putting the question to the people who have helped me in numerous ways in the past--the readers. If you have any alternate methods to preserving pumpkins, could you leave it/them in a comment? It would be greatly appreciated.

And, since I am not going at the pace I would like to be in adding information/recipes/tips to my emergency notebook, I am going to go against what I usually do (try something out and then blog about it) and simply give you the links to the blogs/posts where I plan to go next in my food storage adventures, because I think getting the information out there is much more important than having a "surprise" in my blog posts. There is a gold mine of information out on the internet on how to use food storage, but it won't do me/you/us any good if we don't have a copy of it somewhere, and ideally, to have tried it out before an actual emergency. I'm planning on putting the recipes/info in my own notebook within the next couple of days, and probably won't actually try them out until after that. So again, why wait?

---Check out Today While the Sun Shines if you prefer to have a plan laid out week by week for gathering storage. There are also a lot of recipes and helpful information--- a lot of which still needs to find its way into my emergency notebook.....

---Check out this post on the Harried Homemaker. I know which mixes I'm going to try first, but there are 13, so maybe your favorites will differ from mine. I think I actually used the words "gold mine" in a comment I left on this post--hey, if the shoe fits... :)

---And if you are looking for really basic and easy (two of my favorite words when it comes to food storage) you might want to look through the archives of Safely Gathered In. I now need to try out cooking my frozen chicken for other recipes like this, among other recipes and tips. Sometimes you may already have your own methods for doing something, but hey, it never hurts to have a plan B, C, D, etc. Especially if they turn out to be easier/more energy efficient/name the advantage here....

And, from sad experience, I know that what is on the internet today might not be there tomorrow or next week, so it really is necessary to have a copy in good old pen/pencil/computer ink for your own use. You never know when a blog might close down or the electricity might go out, among other things.

Oh, and when I actually make the recipes I find at these sites, you can still act surprised--and not just at how long it has taken me to get to them... :)

I guess I got the "non-uniform" variety...

2009-10-09T17:21:00.003-06:00

Now that the corn stalks, etc., are out of the garden, we have a much better view of our pumpkin patch. Some of the pumpkins are quite rotund. Some are rather orange and some are rather green. Some look rather like they will not be ready for Halloween. Or ever.

I would venture to say that none of them look remotely like the pumpkins piled up at the local national chainstore or various other locales in the vicinity. I know the pumpkins stacked up and for sale are all individual, and different sizes, and have their own pecularities. Here's the thing, no matter their size or individual personality quirks, they do have something my pumpkins do not: they are all orange and they are all ready for harvest. At the same time.

So, how do the pumpkin merchants do it? I'm not really worried about it-- I figure we'll be able to get plenty of pumpkin in the freezer and have jack-o-lanterns out for Halloween. I'm just wondering if it's a matter of seed variety, the climate, the location of the pumpkin patch relative to other plants, or if there are specialized pumpkin farms where they keep the pumpkins in specially shaped cages from the time the seeds sprout.....

Just kidding on that last one. :) Hope everyone is having a great pumpkin harvest.

Sometimes it's all about the source

2009-10-07T23:14:00.003-06:00

When one of our children heard that we were having boiled potatoes as part of our dinner last night, there was not a great deal of enthusiasm expressed. When it was further revealed that they were potatoes from our own garden, there was a mad rush to tell another sibling that we were having potatoes from our garden (!!!!). Yeah, it's hard to put that kind of excitement in writing. And yes, sometimes it's all about the source....in this case our backyard.

We were fortunate and blessed to have had a good harvest from our first-time potato planting. We just used the garden, but it you look at this post over at Preparedness Pro, you'll see how to make the most of 10 lbs of potatoes (the comments are informational as well) using tires. And in this post over at Nova Scotia Preppers, you will see a first-hand account of how successful a tire garden can be, and if you search further back in the blog, the process is given in detail. Ahhh--and those blogs even have pictures....

If you haven't tried growing potatoes, I strongly recommend trying either a garden or tire space--lots of results for a little investment, and they sure are tasty. And anyone who helps will be glad to try the results of their labors. After all, consider the source... :)

It's that time again...

2009-09-30T16:11:00.003-06:00

At least it should be--it has been awhile (toooo long) since I've updated my 72-hour kits, but the aim in our household is to update them in April and October. Time to renew this aim... I was reminded of this when I went by the Harried Homemaker website, where she is having a giveaway of Nature Valley products. I haven't tried the nut clusters, but have put Nature Valley granola bars in our kits because they have great expiration dates and they're tasty. Not in it to win, but you may like to swing by and enter, and hey, a reminder about 72-hour kits is always appreciated. Long-time readers of this blog may remember that I'm a big fan of products with far-in-the-future expiration dates..... :)

In other news, we should have perhaps checked our potatoes before, say, yesterday, seeing as how we do live in Idaho. Um, yeah, our potatoes are plentiful and huge, and we are very happy about it. Hope they taste as good as they grew. One of my children came running in when I came home from being out and told me one of the potatoes looked like a turkey. When I saw the gargantuan spud that had grown in a really unusual shape with plenty of unusual features, I understood the comparison. Our other potatoes are not quite as unusual, just larger than I expected. Wish our camera connecting cable would allow us to post pictures....

Also have a healthy number of beautiful cucumbers, and our pumpkins are coming along nicely. It's all good. And for the most part, the timing is great because it turned colder today. Now to figure out how to use all of the produce before it becomes unuseable.....not a bad problem to have. :)

Glass and wood don't mix....

2009-09-28T23:29:00.002-06:00

Given that:

---The wood is placed in such a way that it keeps the glass-fronted door of a wood-burning stove from closing entirely. But hey, it almost closed, and it would have been fixed before the wood was actually lit.....

And:

--There is an incredibly helpful and observant child in the house, who passing by said situation decided to pull the handle down on said door, causing the said wood to make contact with said glass.....

Resulting in a popping sound, which although muffled, was nevertheless ominous enough to cause immediate discovery of the fact that the glass on the door was splintered.

The good news:

---The glass stayed in the door, and there were no splinters out and about on the hearth to worry about.

--We didn't need a fire that day.

--It only took a couple of days to get it fixed, and the incident did not take place in the dead of winter or the middle of a quarantine.

Yeah, in a case like this, glass and wood don't mix. Don't try this at home. :)

Log time, do see...

2009-09-21T12:44:00.004-06:00

As in, the back of our garage is now full of aspen wood for the winter. It's a good feeling--and thankfully, not a bad smell, because as my husband was pointing out yesterday, even the vehicle we were riding in smells like aspen wood....

We didn't get it in at the season's lowest price, although we did call earlier this summer and got no call back. However, we called back much later, and ended up getting it at $10 above that price/cord, which was still $25 less/cord than I remember us paying last year. Still an expense, but it did cut our utility bill last year, and it helps clear out dead wood wherever the gentleman acquires it, so hopefully it's a good deal for all.

We now have a bunch of canned meat and reusable canning materials sitting in our store room, thanks to my best source (Mom). And hence more peace of mind when it comes to my 3-month supply when it comes to the protein part of it. Still need more supplies/variety, but little by little the shelves fill up....

Unless, of course, you are actually using your storage, which we have been doing, and hence need to stock up on some of the supplies when/if they go on sale. That's definitely one of the advantages of having storage--the ability to wait for a better price. Hoping that happens for, oh, say, Dinty Moore Stew sometime soon.... :) We don't have shepherd's pie (the recipe for which I mentioned with some other recipes here) that often, but it's pretty popular and very very very easy.

I have had my eye on some other recipes recently that I will hopefully get to soon--usually making mention of my intention to do so provides additional motivation to do it sooner. Too bad the lip on our woodstove is disappointingly small--will have to also look at different alternative ways to actually cook our food while we keep warm to the smell of aspen.... :)

Eight years later

2009-09-11T23:05:00.003-06:00

When it comes to September 11, it never seems like words are enough.

On September 11, 2001, my husband came home from work specifically to put out our flag before we even knew who was responsible for the terrible attacks on that day.

This year, a child who is too young to remember September 11, 2001 helped my husband display our flag. We are teaching our children what the meaning of remembering September 11th is all about.

We will never forget.

One of those one-day sale specials...oh, yeah, that's today

2009-09-07T14:11:00.004-06:00

Received an e-mail from my best source (Mom) yesterday that there is a one-day sale today at Hancock Fabrics where a bunch of stuff is on sale for really good prices. She sends out Emergency Prep e-mails to a group of people, and she is down in Utah, but there was one thing that caught my eye, that made me find out if we had a Hancock Fabrics near enough to merit a visit, and then go find out if that particular store was having the same sale. Those who read this blog regularly may be surprised to learn what that special was....

A Janome Sew-Mini for $39.99, which is regularly priced at $59.99.

And guess what? I now own one, along with some brand-new scissors that were also on sale at a spectacular price. I figured, what could I do with sewing if I had no scissors? I actually almost didn't buy them, but there you go, and I wouldn't have looked twice if they hadn't been on sale. (Sticker shock is an ugly thing...)

For those who don't know, to say that I don't like sewing and that I have issues with it would be pretty much a massive understatement. I haven't sewn for years, but it's one of those skills that would be really really helpful in emergency situations, as well as just plain old useful to be able to do, so I have decided to try it again....

For those who decide to go in search of a Janome Sew Mini, (please call your particular store and see if they have it if you have any questions about it--gotta hate a wild-goose chase) may I share something that I learned from my brief but profitable experience there this morning:

--Janome is not pronounced Janome with a long o, silent e (or n-e-m-e-s-i-s, if your feelings about sewing are akin to mine) but rather Janomeeeeee. I found this out when I asked if they had any left, and the staff person who was helping me asked another employee about it. Nothing like showing and not telling---glad she was nice enough not to act like she didn't know what I was talking about.....

Anyway, I still have the sewing machine that my mother-in-law was kind enough to give me nigh these many years ago. There is a manual with it, so I may try working with it, if it still works, one of these days. However, if I am going to mess around with a sewing machine and potentially cause damage, I figure it's better to do so with a bargain-priced machine.

To those of you who are already accomplished sewers, I tip my hat. (Well, I would if I had one, but you get the idea.) I am seriously impressed. I'm just glad that sewing machines can't read, and I may be able to convince this sewing machine to be my f-r-i-e-n-d, instead of that other thing I spelled out earlier.... :)

Don't let "Dorito dogs" happen to you....

2009-09-05T20:36:00.003-06:00

Well, at least not unexpectedly....

My husband went camping on Friday a distance from home with our children that would be old enough to enjoy the experience. The experience was enjoyed, though not entirely without its glitches...

The good:

---Those who have been reading this blog for awhile may remember that we purchased a tent last year for emergency purposes. This was the first time it had been used outside of our backyard, and reportedly everything went well.

The not-as-good:

--My husband left home without the hot dogs they had been planning to cook over a campfire. Hence, there were hot dog buns, Doritos, juiceboxes, and the makings for s'mores. But no actual hotdogs. What to do?

Well, in this instance, there were "Dorito dogs" for supper. My children liked them a lot, actually, so taste and appetite fatigue don't figure much into this particular experience. Nutrition does (please don't tell me what's actually in hot dogs--I like them and don't really want to know... :) in terms of protein, though I figure one night of "Dorito dogs" isn't going to hurt anyone, and we don't eat that many hot dogs around here anyway--they are more of a campout treat. What really struck me was the thought, what have I forgotten in terms of food storage?

I know what I need more of, (stored fruit comes to mind) but is there anything I just have actually forgotten about, that would lead to some really weird substitutions if I didn't have it long-term? Doritos aren't a long-term storage item for us, but if we had some in storage they would be a comfort food, and we do have some comfort foods in storage, though there is probably room for improvement in that area as well. (Could there ever be enough comfort foods in storage? :)

Is there anything you have forgotten about? Personally, I think it's time for me to check the store room....

Things are tough all over...

2009-09-01T08:16:00.005-06:00

Apparently even in the schools.

Was surprised recently to find out that there was a request for donations on top of regular school fees. I know that the people in schools work really hard with fundraisers, etc., to get "extra" money, but I don't recall ever having a straight-out request for donations sent home. Granted, at this point the "extra" money being requested was not a requirement, but a bit disheartening all the same.

And money needed for any other use doesn't go into food storage/emergency preparation supplies...

On a related subject, there is a collection going on to gather supplies for children who may not have been able to acquire everything they need for school. Since I knew about this beforehand, I was able to get some extra "generally-needed-in-just-about-every-class" supplies for said collection at the really cheap back-to-school sales. Now to get the stuff to one of the announced collection sites before the collection ends this week. Things can be tough all over, but when we help where we can, things can be a little easier...

How does your garden grow?

2009-08-29T14:51:00.003-06:00

Well, as for ours, it's a bit of a slow go, but today we had:

--Some corn on the cob, which was the same kind of anemic as the stalks that it grew on, but what there was of it was tasty. Just little ears this year. Some of the stalks grew but forgot/refused to produce ears, so a little disappointing. Ah, well, hoping for better results next year...

--Some green beans straight from the garden patch. They were pretty tasty, and there are still some left, so no complaints here.

The potatoes are not yet ready, but they are easily the most-anticipated crop this year, at least for me. One of the children mentioned the pumpkins--I rarely pay attention to them because they do pretty well all by themselves every year--but I will have to go check out how they are doing. Raspberry season is basically over, which is always sad, but the bushes did a great job of producing this year.

Lamenting the fact that the cord to the computer is having a problem, and thus we are unable to put pictures up currently, but hopefully we will have that figured out soon. My posting numbers have been anemic lately, but hopefully I will get back in the habit of doing new (to me) food storage/emergency preparedness things sometime soon so there will be something to post about... hope all is well with everyone, and that all of your gardens are putting out a huge harvest!

Corn on the cob would have been nice...

2009-08-22T13:19:00.006-06:00

But if you want corn on the cob, you have to get to the farmer's market in our community earlier than we did today. We did manage to get some blueberries and peaches, though. There was also flavored honey available, and we were given a bottle of the raspberry variety. So it was a good day to buy locally--but then again, isn't it always? :)

In other food storage news, I got a call from my best source (Mom) earlier this week, and apparently there is a great sale on meat at Macey's this week. Unfortunately, we don't have a Macey's grocery store in our vicinity, so she made me an offer I didn't want to refuse--she offered to can some for me. If you live in Utah, (I don't know how widespread Macey's grocery stores are) you might want to give your local store a call and ask about their meat prices. If memory serves, beef (of some roast variety) was $1.79/lb at that point, and chicken was $1.49/lb. It is my understanding that the beef sale is over, but the chicken sale continues....

So, she's going to do/has done all the work, and we are going to pay for the meat and canning supplies. This is absolutely a great deal for us, and will increase our meat storage (at this point mostly consisting of canned chicken, and Spam) in a wonderful way. (I just realized that we do have some tuna, but that is not my favorite canned meat...) I have been using my food storage supplies in my current meal rotations, so more storage is even more appreciated.

So, a huge thanks goes out to my best source. We were talking about the meat prices, and a question came up: Why is the meat so inexpensive? This was not the frozen variety, but the fresh, boneless, skinless variety of chicken. The idea was brought up that maybe they are killing the chickens in large numbers because they can't afford to feed them. You gotta love low prices, but sometimes the reasons behind them could be worse than paying a little more...

In non-food storage news, I've been stocking up on extra school supplies at the really inexpensive prices that come along this time of year. I'm thinking if/when there is a quarantine due to a flu pandemic, a new box of crayons may raise morale a little bit when no one is allowed to go anywhere--and pens, pencils, papers, etc. are always helpful, quarantine or not.

Personally, I'm planning to use my Fred Meyer coupon from last Sunday's paper (expires today) that has canned vegetables at 3/$1.00. Limit 6, but 6 beats none. :) Just hope there are 6 cans there---procrastination is really not a pretty thing....

A challenge, and fuel preparedness

2009-08-07T16:16:00.005-06:00

Already mentioned this on my other blog, but there is a Food Challenge over at Preparedness Pro. Started on the 1st of this month, and runs all month long, and is basically a challenge to stop shopping for necessities for a 2 week period. Just in case you are interested, the clock's a-tickin....

We went out recently into the wilderness (alright, it was a campground, with a firepit, but it was aways away from home, and wilderness sounds so much better when you're telling a story :) and cooked an outdoor meal. It was prompted by a requirement for an organization that one of my children is participating in, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Since it was sort of short notice, I ended up going to the local national chainstore for supplies. Some of the things I learned from this experience:

--Buying campout supplies on short notice, when everyone else is out buying similar items for campouts/reunions/ insert weekend activity of your choice here is not my idea of a good time. Would definitely not want to be out trying to gather supplies in an actual emergency situation. Already knew that, but having a real-life reminder can be a really good thing...

---My husband and child planned the meal (the child was involved in the planning as part of the requirement being fulfilled) and I took the list. One of the items on the list was charcoal briquets. I spent time wandering around the store looking for charcoal in places I thought it was likely to be, or for an employee to supply me with such information, before I found someone who informed me it was in the home and garden section. If you have to wait until the last minute to purchase items, (it would be wonderful to purchase all of your emergency items in one shopping trip, but one's expenses don't always permit such a shopping trip) you would do well to know where the items are located and at least take care of that portion of the mad rush....

---Know ahead of time which kind of fuel you will be needing for heat, cooking, etc. When we got to the campout location, my husband took out some wood (left over from our last winter's wood storage) and left the charcoal in the car. I asked him why charcoal had been on the list, and he said that it was in case the cooking facilities at the campground required charcoal, and not wood. Since it was just basically a firepit, we used the wood. So know ahead of time what you will be using for your purposes, or just plan for every and anything....

*Bug spray would have been handy. The mosquitos only really seemed to be interested in me, however...
**Glad we carried in water to put the fire out.

So now we have charcoal, which we really should have had before. Need to get some more in, just for variety and options if/when it's needed. Cooking out can be fun if it's planned, so I guess it can be fun to cook out even in an emergency if we do the planning now, and not so much on short notice....

Procrastination does not pay, or the importance of using an emergency notebook

2009-08-03T10:02:00.004-06:00

Well, I could post about the paprika/cream of chicken soup/canned chicken recipe that I made last Tuesday, I think it was. Or I could talk about the importance of printing out /and or writing down recipes/info/tips that you find on the internet when you find them.

Oh, right. My procrastination doesn't leave me much choice, because the recipe that I made last Tuesday, I think it was, was on a blog that when I went to go find it this morning had been removed. And I don't think I ever printed it out because that recipe was posted in like June, and it was going to be there forever, right?

The blog was The Emergency Preparedness Bug, (sorry I can't link to it because it is no longer there) and the recipe was easy to make. It was more appreciated by the adults than the kids in the family. They liked it well enough, however, that we would try it a couple more times to see if it would be more appreciated with further exposure--those who have read my earlier posts may remember that rice and beans were not wildly appreciated when we first introduced them, and we eat them regularly now...

The good news is that the recipe was adapted from a Campbell's recipe that the author had linked to, so if I look hard enough I may be able to salvage something from it--I just loved the adaptation on the blog. Pictures and everything. I didn't use peppers, but I would have put the recipe in my notebook as it was posted, if I had written it down....

Ah, Preparedness Bug, I miss you. Please avoid the mistake I have made, and write and/or place printed copies of pertinent information in a notebook. If you haven't started one, I highly recommend it. You may need a written copy of whatever information you are seeking because of power outage, evacuation, or hey, someone just might close down their blog...

What a difference a week makes....

Following a long tradition...

2009-07-27T13:19:00.002-06:00

on my blog of having people leave great comments, as well as just plain old linking to other people's blogs when they post wonderful preparedness information, I present the following:

A huge thank you to Stephanie in AR, from over at Sooner or Later, for leaving this link from Down to Earth about making oil lamps in a comment on my last post. That looks like something I could do, and will probably try it soon. An oil lamp has been on my list of "things to have for emergency preparation" for a while now, and if I can do it like this, it will be crossed off a lot sooner. If you are interested in making your own oil lamp, you should check that link out....

Well, things are growing in the garden---the corn, as my husband says, looks "anemic" in terms of height, and in comparison to some corn fields we saw over the weekend, but hopefully we'll get something more out of the crop this year. The potatoes look like they are doing alright, but having no comparison because it is our first time growing them, we will just have to see. The beans look like they are doing well, and the pumpkins, a family favorite, appear to be on track. Time to think about late season planting, if memory serves--and to actually plant whatever we decide on very, very, soon....

Hope everyone is having a great summer--and that if you have a garden, that it's growing well!

Fair is fair...

2009-07-22T15:51:00.002-06:00

Long-time readers of my blog may recall when I wrote this post on how companies were shrinking amounts of food in their packaging but keeping the price the same. Just found this article where at least some companies are increasing the amounts of food but keeping the price the same. Gotta love more instead of less...

Even though I don't know many (if any) people who consider Doritos survival food, being able to stretch your "normal" food budget may also lead to stretching the amount you are able to spend on your food storage. I wrote about less for your money, so writing about more for your money only seems fair--and as they say, fair is fair.... :)

Gotta love alternate uses...

2009-07-20T09:48:00.005-06:00

I have oil olive in my food storage because it is my understanding that it's good for you, and can last a nice long time. So it is already one of my staples, and makes my rice and beans taste better. What I love, though, is finding that one of the things I am already using in one way could potentially be used in other ways, because making life easier is not always just about the food...

Found this article on multiple uses of olive oil, and from there went on to read this article on multiple uses for vinegar. Have to admit that I was more interested in the article on the vinegar, and need to get some in actual storage because I already use a lot of it for cleaning, and it doesn't stay on the shelf very long....

The comments on both of these articles are also intriguing (um, yeah, there are sooo many that I did not read all of them for both articles, and by the time I have written this, there may well be even more) and in at least one instance, a commenter speaks against one of the uses listed and offers an alternative. Makes for interesting reading, and if they actually work, you gotta love alternatives for things you already have in storage when there's an emergency. Some of these pointers will most likely find their way into my emergency notebook, with the hope that they won't ever be needed in an emergency....

Some tips are so good...

2009-07-16T09:25:00.002-06:00

That they deserve their own post. A huge thank you to Kristen, from over at Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker, left this comment on my last post about frybread:

"Anyway, make sure you keep your oil consistently hot while making it and it won't seem as greasy. Put a kernel of popcorn in the oil and when it pops, it's hot enough. Continue to put kernels in periodically if you are frying on the stove and don't have a handy electric appliance."

I didn't have a consistent heat, (although the oil was obviously hot) because I switched it from higher to lower temperatures as I cooked when I thought the temperature was off in some way. Hope I can use this information to my advantage the next time I try frybread--I do think that extra oil in the bread was a problem....

Thanks again, Kristen! I highly recommend her site because it is full of great recipes and she makes cooking look easier than I generally think it will be--gotta love easier...

Variety in the bread thing

2009-07-15T09:32:00.002-06:00

For some reason when I was talking to a couple of friends recently, the subject of fry bread came up. I had fry bread with chili a long, long, time ago, but it was so good that I remember it still....so I was interested in knowing how to make it. What I learned from this conversation was that you could just take regular bread dough, after it has risen, and instead of baking it in a loaf, just pull off balls of it, stretch them thin, and deep fry it. If I were to do this, I would be using this recipe, which I would give very high ratings for ease and success of outcome.

Ok, there are at least two problems (for me) with this. One, I am of the mind that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, so why would I want to potentially mess up a perfectly good loaf that is ready to go into the oven for an experiment that may or may not work out? And two, I had never deep-fried anything in my recollection. So the possibility of it not working out was actually pretty high.

So I went to a cookbook and found a recipe specifically for this sort of adventure. Powdered milk was involved (yay, dairy group!) and other non-yeast items that would be available in a food-storage only scenario. No rising, no waiting. So I heated the oil.

The plus side was that nothing caught on fire. The not so plus side is that I do not have a natural talent for making fry bread. The bread came out edible (and at least once in pieces) and was served with chili. Mixed reviews, but pre--ttty sure they would have been higher if the bread had come out lighter and less grease-laden. Practice, practice, practice, as they say. And since this was first attempted in a non-food-storage-only situation, we had some chips on hand as a backup. (Canned chili is one of our 3-month storage items (that we still need to get more of) and sometimes we just put it on top of corn chips with cheese and olives for a main dish. Since I made the frybread, the chips are on hand for another day....)

Gotta love a bread adventure that doesn't burst into flames and leaves tortilla chips in its wake. :) Hey, if you have any tips, would love to hear them--recipes and information are always welcome...