Posted on 06/29/2010 2:53:52 PM PDT by Kartographer
Hi there, djf.
You recently posted a thread about pressure cookers.
Do you happen to know if it was in that thread that I recently read here on FR, that a way to SAFELY keep cooked food was . . . . . something like . . . . . when finished eating the meal, heat all the leftovers HOT, very very HOT in a pressure cooker and then remove from the heat; open up at the next meal and eat your leftovers.
Somebody recently posted something like this, and I can't recall where I read it. They explained that when the pressure cooker used in this way, that the SEAL was so strong, that there'd be no way for bacteria to invade & thrive.
Ring a bell?????
I guess my point regarding leaving is...where would one go if you don’t have land you own somewhere else? Why would any other area welcome you? If SHTF everyone would be hoarding. If there’s enough government force active out there to confiscate, then one would also have to assume, things haven’t fallen apart completely.
I’m between 35 and 45 minutes drive time to either Baltimore or Wash DC. There’s enough suburbia between us and the city, to loot and act as a buffer, plus no major roads. But thanks, I will take a look at that site.
I’d recommend keeping cans of refried beans, they come in fat free and regular, as well as mild and spicy, and various choices of beans. Even non-bean lovers in my family like them.
I'm not sure how many people you are feeding, but for emergency rations we'd never use more than one-eighth cup of tunafish, (that is equivalent to 2 tablespoons) per person.
To make positive that each person was getting this portion the 1/8th cup would be placed UNCOOKED straight from the can into each person's bowl, letting whatever HOT food was accompanying it be dumped on top of the room temperature tuna.
If there is no electricity, in the winter freezing cold temperatures out of doors would keep food from spoiling; however, if it's summer I have read some descriptions of how people have gone to the coolest corner of their basement and set up a metal tray of water on the concrete floor, and then placed airtight SMALL baggies of the cooked leftovers in the water, weighing them down so that they are fully submerged.
This is an attempt at an EASY "refrigeration" -- but obviously wouldn't work in HOT areas of the USA.
I'd never use this method for overnight, but there might be some times during emergencies when you must store food for a couple few hours --- and don't have access to a cold running stream anywhere nearby in which to submerge it.
Ummm.. no.
My questions about canning have been primarily focused on one thing:
avoiding botulism.
I mean the canning part is easy. It’s the heating and sterilizing part that scares me. I canned a bunch of spinach and onions and have had the stuff in the fridge, but I still get spooked.
I wonder how much vinegar you need to get the acidity far enough up to be safe?
If anyone knows about handling the botulism topic, let me know!
I added two sections to my Preparedness Manual
One tiled ‘One Hour Meltdown’ and the other ‘An Event at My Grocery Store’
New Manual available at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?tyoktknynnl
good info but I live in Tampa. We get 2-3 days a hear where its close to freezing. We don’t have basements either.
Which pretty much excludes things like mayonnaise as once you open the jar its cooked.
Canning is not hard, you can get the info you need at the store when you buy the canning jars. Keeping safe is all about cleaning the jars, using proper temps, and getting a good seal on the jar.
We canned all the time when I was a kid. I remember being very very young and checking jars to see if the top popped when you pushed on them. If the top doesn’t pop when you push on it then its safe.
botulism expels gas when it consumes the contents. This creates pressure inside the container causing it to bulge.
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‘I guess my point regarding leaving is...where would one go if you don’t have land you own somewhere else? “
Very very good question. The general consensus is to try and figure out your options BEFORE something happens. Having a clear plan and destination is the goal.
As opposed to staying in your house until its no longer possible and then bugging out on foot without any plan.
‘Asians have maintained health on white rice for many generations, besideswhich populations following a rice based diet don’t seem to have the obesity problems of the Western Wheat Eaters. “
its important to note that asian rice is different than most rice you buy in the supermarket. American producers tend to process the rice too much. Asian rice is much much better tasting and has more nutrients.
bump
Neither of us care for them. We do keep cans of cooked pinto, red beans and chili sauced beans, though. I use them for everything from salads to quick meals to eeking out the last of any bean dish that is down to less than 2 servings.
I keep canned and dried garbanzo beans around, as well, but neither of us is much of a hummus fan. I think, like with the refried beans, it is a texture thing.
My grandmother used to take cold cooked garbanzos and fry them in chicken fat, salt them heavily and they were put out for a snack. Tasty, if you just ate a few, but really heavy in the stomach if you overindulged, and terrible for the blood pressure, since she added so much salt. I add them, cooked and cooled, to soups and salads. We do like 3&4-bean salad. Marinated garbanzos are a good addition to most salads, including some pasta salads.
I keep single serving baked beans around for my husband. Again, I haven’t found a recipe for them that I really like. This bean aversion is why I have been experimenting with them. They are a good survival food.
Hubby has gout, so we have to be as careful with beans and dried peas as with meats. I will make sure we have a couple of vegetarian meals before and after a bean meal and that he has his Alipurinol handy, maybe even taking an extra dose. Keeping an extra 3 month supply of Alipurinol handy, along with other gout remedies that aren’t prescription, is another part of our preparations. Same with his BP meds. His doc is helpful, prescribing a higher dosage that can be split in two and telling him aside that he can take 1/2 pills. That way, when he still has half a script left, he can refill without the pharmacy demanding a new script or MD approval. Doc believes in staying prepared, too.
What part of "But it’s still more than a couple cans a beans."....tripped you up?
Ok, yeah bean texture is hard to avoid if it’s something you don’t care for. However, if you’re looking for vegetarian stuff, I know the 7th day adventists make various faux-meats under the worthington/loma linda brand, and it’s all canned. It doesn’t taste bad, just a lot of it is high in fat and sodium.
Problem is, most of that is soy or pea-based. Soy is also full of purines. We also have to limit mushrooms. It is a lousy condition and difficult to manage without a lot of experience.
Vegetarian for us is cheese or egg dishes or a loaded baked potato with only a half piece of bacon on his. I make tomato vegetable soup with barley, using onion, corn and tomatoes. Also, I stock dried corn and make a baked corn casserole with chilies and cheese. Noodle kugel (cooked broad noodles with sour cream and jam that is baked) is another main dish for us. Cheese pizza with red and green peppers for evenings when he works late is ok. Tomato and carmelized onion pie or tomato soup and grilled cheese, again for a quick, late meal. Mexican lasagna (tortilla or enchilada stack) w/o meat, but with a meat-flavored red sauce is also good for him. It has the flavor without very many purines.
Luckily, he can eat meat (often white meat chicken) and legumes, but we just take care not to load him up on those and he makes sure to drink lots of water and cherry juice and avoid HFCS. We usually have a large green salad almost every night. He can tell by low-level symptoms if he has had too many purines and then we just eliminate them and he adds extra Alipurinol until the *tingles* are gone.
Once gout hits, it can be a 2 week painful experience, so we really try hard to avoid it getting to that point. Once the uric acid is irritating the joints, the medication only makes it worse, so avoidance and moderation is key.
That sounds terrible, I hope he gets better. Can he eat wheat gluten? It’s pretty easy to make homemade Seitan, which I always think is pricey in the stores. You can probably search for good recipes. Although it requires a bit of water to rinse away the wheat from the gluten, I think if one could store flour it certainly can be a tasty alternative.
Crisco can’t go bad because it was rancid oil to start with then they denatured it further by reacting hydrogen gas with it until it solidified. The question to ask yourself is “do I really want to put that in my body if I don’t absolutely have to?”
If you want oils with long shelf life, stick to the natural, saturated fats. Even then, 10 years is a loooong time.
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