Posted on 01/04/2013 8:22:02 PM PST by Kartographer
Weekly Preppers' Thread to post progress, good buys, DIY projects, new products, new ideas, questions.....
DO NOT RELY SOLELY ON FREEZE-DRIED FOOD.
You will continuously feel unsatisfied. It is really strange: Your belly will actually be full, but you will remain ravenous for food. There is something missing in freeze-dried food over the long haul. I found that taking supplemental vitamins helped somewhat, but the addition of a little ‘real food’ made the difference. Throwing a cooked potato, sut up, into a dish, or adding a can of beans, coupled with the taking of a vitamin, seemed to satisfy.
The first few days, before I figured this out, I would eat and eat and eat, and still remain starving. I got all the effects of not-eating (A growling stomach, diarreah, and constant hunger) even though I ate.
I constituted the meals according to the directions, so I was not remiss.
Freeze-dried food feels almost like imaginary food. I had no such experience living on MRE’s before (although you tend not to ‘eliminate’ on those MRE’s). DO NOT RELY SOLELY ON FREEZE-DRIED FOODS.
PLAN TO SUPPLEMENT!
Potatoes and Mac and Cheese would be two sides that can go far in fill the void. Also BREAD! Many restaurants specialize in excellent breads and rolls to fill dinners up before the entree and it WORKS!!
Preppers’ PING!!
If my freeze dried foods are mac & cheese, what shall I do different?
Change of diet is the problem not nessecarily what it is you are eating. We go through a ritual of gradual introduction when we change from one grass hay to another grass hay for our horses. You can kill a horse with colic by changing feed too rapidly. People have the same problem but generally not as dramatic.
I have CHEESE, REAL CHEESE stored for my MAC and CHEESE, big difference.
I was being facious about the mac & cheese. The guy said mac & cheese saved him from his (other) freeze dried fude.
I also have real cheese. I also make real cheese. It’s the change of diet that gets most people in trouble. What’s the saying, store what you eat and eat what you store.
I will get a vertical hydroponic system put together in April and see if I can grow veggies. I have a small garden area and it’s not big enough for regular veggie growing. There is also a large deck out there and that takes a large amount of the space. Going vertical will be easier for me since bending over again and again to the ground is bad news for my lower back.
I’m starting off with 10 vertical pots and if that is successful, I’ll add another 10.
I get most of my good storage food tips from FR. I’ll look into that Bega. Thanks
The gardeners among us applaud your decision. LOL
Regarding the freeze dried food, I wonder if the problem is not using enough water to rehydrate and cook it. When he eats it, if it isn’t fully rehydrated, it will pull water from his digestive tract, making him feel thirsty or empty?
Stuff I eat on a regular basis. An occasional dehydrated product here and there to break monotony is ok, but I want to eat real food not that dehydrated or freeze dried stuff.
I just finished putting up 7 quarts of chickens in the pressure cooker. That's about 14 lbs of chicken we got on sale. It will make lots of chicken and noodle soup, chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, chicken and rice casseroles to name a few.
And yes I know how to make noodles and pie crust and dumplings all made out of some of those staples that have very long storage life. Granny called this cooking from scratch, and she taught all of us how to do it. I try to rotate the canned foods out every year, but from what I have read, the meat could actually be quite tasty even after 2 or 3 years.
Tomorrow we are canning pork roast, another special at the market this week. I got in some of my food storage supplies, but I am still waiting on Mylar bags to be delivered so I can get some of the cheap rice I got on sale socked away.
I have started reviewing my new cookbook: Homade Pantry - 101 foods you can stop buying and start making. They have a recipe for wheat thins, and I have some wheat I grew that is just begging for me to try out my wheat grinder.LOL>
“The gardeners among us applaud your decision. LOL”
Well, I’m sick of hearing about your wonderful growing aptitude/ability and your wheat and your..and your..and your...- all growing.
It is my weak link and I know it. If this method works, I’ll be super glad I did it. Son Wayne will put it together for me next time he comes from London to here which is in April. It will be a good project for the two of us. I’ve already shown it to him as he is here now and he laughed. He laughs at a lot of things I do - I wonder why?
Don’t know how many people have Shoprite stores in their area; but they’re having a great sale on canned goods. Corn and green beans are 33 cents a can. Beans (black, red, white, pinto), carrots, beets and potatoes are 47 cents a can. Large cans of tomatoes (sauce, peeled, crushed, puree) are 12 for $6.48.
The best price I found was on ebay here:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/190620543161?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
I brought mine from this vendor.
King Oscar: In Olive Oil Two Layer Sardines, 3.75 oz Buy from Walmart Online $2.52 -FOUR YEAR SHELF LIFE
Nuts.com carries deydrated cheddar cheese - which is OK. The main ingredient is a dehydrated blend of cheeses, including blue cheese.
If you want recipes for it, I can provide those: Mac & Cheese, potatoes au gratin; and once you get used to using it I’m sure you’ll think of other combinations. An omelet made with powdered eggs and filled with cheddar cheese sauce...yum!
First, though, I made a mistake and bought a dozen cans of cheddar cheese mix from one of the Utah companies that make #10 cans of “food” for preppers, and was it awful! It tasted like that fake cheese Kraft uses for their Mac and Cheese boxes. In fact, the main ingredient seemed to be an additive - maltodextrin - and lots of salt. Any cheese was strictly minimal and an afterthought.
So be careful what you buy, and remember that making dehydrated cheese is possible. You can find directions online.
Something I haven’t seen mentioned here is how combining different foods that contain complimentary amino acids can boost the amount of digestible/usable protein in the food. The classic book for this approach is the book, Diet For A Small Planet. (I used it in college as I couldn’t afford to eat meat - my grocery allowance was $30 per month!)
Beans, rice, and cheese; beans, rice, and corn; both of these combinations can be the start of a great meal to which one can add vegatables, such as tomatoes and onions, and some fish, cannded chicken, beef, or ham; or add game.
I had a neighbor who was an emigre from China, and he mostly ate rice and vegatables. He was very healthy and would occasionally supplement his meals with fresh caught fish.
I’m allergic to wheat and rarely, if ever, eat bread or pasta. But I can tolerate rye, and now have a recipe to make snackerbrod, a flat, hard unleavened Scandinavian bread made of ground rye.
I’ve found a company in Utah that will ship bags of whole grain rye: Honeyville.com.
OOPS!! Honeyvillegrain.com is the correct online site name. They also have gluten-free items as well as almond flour.
http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/
He mentioned batteries cr123a.
Does anyone use these ? They are pretty expensive, and the flashlights that need these are expensive too. Not rechargeable either...
Care to share your snackerbrod reciepe? ;-)
CR123As are used in higher-end flashlights and weapons lights that have greater output (lumens) than flashlights with AA or AAA batteries.
Swedish Knackerbrod from Mama’s Kitchen
http://www.food.com/recipe/swedish-kn-ckebr-d-135097
I considered Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup as a source of dairy protein but noticed that it has only 2 grams of protein per 120 ml serving - the same as their Tomato Soup. You're right about being careful.
Freeze dried isn’t cheap either...
“He mentioned batteries cr123a. Does anyone use these ? They are pretty expensive, and the flashlights that need these are expensive too. Not rechargeable either... “
I took a quick look. Around $1.00 each (at best), and only two thirds the size of AA’s. Not much battery at 3 to 4 times the cost (at least). Also, being 3 Volt, they not directly interchangeable with 1.5 Volt batteries.
So that’s bad side. Now the good side. They are Lithium batteries, and that means a few very good things:
1) Their self-discharge is next to nothing. Put them on a shelf, come back in 10 years, and they’ll have 90% of their original charge.
2) They are lighter than alkaline batteries, maybe half of the weight. You’ll notice that right away and maybe think they’re junk. Actually that’s due to Lithium being the lightest metal in existence.
3) Lithium batteries never turn gooey. They will look (and almost work) like brand new after 10 years in a flashlight.
4) They pack a lot of energy, probably twice the energy density (by size) of alkalines.
That’s my take. I may procure a quantity of them for myself at some point in the near future.
CARDBOARD CAN ORGANIZERS at CanOrganizer.com
Available in various sizes to accomodate different sizes and quantities of cans.
Cost about $3 to $4 each in packs of four depending on size (plus shipping of course)
They come as a precut sheet of cardboard - you just fold into shape.Click for Can Organizer.com How To Assemble Video
Just to add a bit. I did some more research on the CR135A batteries. Their seems to be a wide variation in quality, but the Panasonics look very good (top tier), and here is a site that seems to have good prices on them:
http://www.batteryjunction.com/1pcencr3voph.html
A question please, we have a air compressor. Do they make nozzles so you can use them for blowers to clean off items like furnace filters?? Looking for a way to save $ they are getting pretty pricey. Thanks.
That was meant as a humorous compliment. I should have put a smiley face behind that comment so everyone would know that.
I admire your push to independent living and your tireless effort to get there. It pointed out to me it was time to figure out how to grow veggies in my rather small space. Between you and driftdiver, I’ll do the hydroponic option.
Okay, here’s some projects we’ve got going on at the Bunker:
We have two twin bread makers now. One was the one I got The Bride for early Christmas; the other fell out of the Christmas tree box when the tree was going up (The Bride found it on an AFB in Turkey).
Upshot is, we’re starting to stock up on the bread-making supplies, and The Bride is cranking out fresh loaves. The loaves keep collapsing, though; one friend suggesting adding an egg to the recipe.
We’re also going to test out a vertical tomato basket this spring. Getting more depends on the success of the first.
The chicks are getting HUGE. They’ve outgrown one box, and we rigged a brooder out of a Rubbermaid box and chicken wire, with a heat lamp. To keep the cats away, the birds are in our bedroom; makes for toasty sleeping, as the bedroom is 10-15 degrees warmer than the rest of the house.
The butter was darn good, too.
/johnny
Thank you!
Ummm. The bread collapsing is because you are using the wrong kind of flour (low protein cake flour for example) or weak yeasties. The egg won't make any difference.
I would guess weak gluten strength in the flour, without actually being there to look at it and touch it.
I make LOTS of bread. All of mine, in fact, and have for years. The only time I use milk or egg in my bread is for certain sweet breads for things like danishes or croissants.
For regular table bread, the only ingredients required are flour (high protein flour, not cake flour), water, salt, and yeast. Nothing else is required to make a good loaf. If the recipe has a zillion ingredients, it's no good. My opinion, of course. ;)
/johnny
I'll dry cure it and smoke it.
/johnny
“I wound up with some (sort of a lot) fresh pork”
Would that be a feral pig you dispatched or a pig you raised saying it was a dog to get by the city ordinance against keeping food animals?
This was a gift from a hunter. Surprise! I hope you're ready to process meat! kind of a thing.
/johnny
There’s a sale on chicken here this week. I’m getting ready to head over for some and then pressure-can them. It’ll be a first time doing it.
/johnny
I have Lithium AA bateries in my flash light.
I’ve educated myself about various weapons but I have a question - What companies make the best ammo? Ammo that is as “clean” as it can get so it doesn’t dirty up the mechanism of the gun any more than it has to. I need to know this. Thanks.
Copy that, that’s what I’m doing. :o) Thanks!
Yes, and they are common. Check your hardware store to get the right fitting for your compressor.
I’ll soon be adding a Ruger 10/22 Carbine Rifle to my “inventory” and I want clean ammo for that plus I need to know the company that makes the cleanest ammo for other weapons.
The modern stuff is much better than the older stuff used to be.
But Hoppes #9 puts everything right after a day at the range, and it doubles as a great aftershave. ;)
/johnny
I’ve read that Federal ammo is dirtier than others but I don’t know if this is true.
I really need to know what company ammo is the best.
Stick with Winchester and Remington, and you should be fine.
With the .22s, I've got a bunch of bricks of Winchester I bought years ago, and they do just fine. I also like CCI for .22LR.
Buy a 50 round box of the major brands and see how they feed in your new rifle. Go with the one that feeds the best.
/johnny
Check your stores for after-holdiay clearance. I found about 4 cans of Campbells canned gravy for 0.68 per can.
Also some canned pie filling for a couple of bucks per can
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