Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
The Best Way to Clean Seasoned Baking Sheets (I Tested 5 Methods!) | The Kitchn
Let’s Talk About 5-Gallon Buckets
1. Dry foods are best: rice, beans, wheat. Foods high in moisture or oils are not recommended for storage in buckets.
2. Make sure your bucket is food safe. Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 are safe for food. Other numbers can be used to store cleaning products or other chemicals.
3. Properly stored food in buckets can last for many years, but you should STILL rotate it.
4. Garages and sheds are NOT ideal for food storage. IF that’s the only space you have, you MUST rotate more often.
5. Yes, you DO need oxygen absorbers. You need 2000 CC of absorbers for a 5 gallon bucket.
6. You should clean and sanitize all new buckets. Wash thoroughly to remove any dust, dirt, or other debris.
7. Make sure your lid has a tight seal.
8. Don’t stack the buckets too high or they will crack the lids of the buckets on the bottom.
9. Label everything.
10. Recommended weight per bucket is 25 pounds.
11. Try to keep your buckets up off the ground. Even elevated 1 inch allows the bucket to maintain a more stable temperature.
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
** I wanted to report on my experiment with covering the celery. So yes, the celery was actually much fatter (more like the store). BUT….. when I cut the paper away, the bottom of the celery was crawling with earwigs and roly polies! Eww eww eww. Interestingly enough, there was no damage to the celery, but they were creepy. So, needless to say, I have not replaced the paper.
** Experiment #2, trying to catch whatever is eating the tomatoes. I set out four mouse traps, and caught nothing. I don’t think it’s a mouse. I suspect it’s a squirrel. Sometimes it just opens the mesh bags and gets to the tomato. Sometimes it gets to the tomato and leaves the open mesh bag still hanging from the plant. Although not everything, I’ve probably lost 5-6 nice sized tomatoes. I try to grab them as soon as they begin to turn red. But this critter is eating the green ones as well. Angie recommended some heavy duty steel traps, but admitted that the squirrel in her garden can outsmart them and even destroy them! I think my next option is just to wrap some bird netting around and around and around.
LONG TERM STORAGE: garlic
This was the first year I actually grew and harvested garlic. I’d give myself a B. A lot of my bulbs were kind of small. I had a few big ones. I planted them about the end of January. By June, they were dying, so I pulled them up. Next year, plant more!
But, in the meantime, you can get granulated garlic at the grocery store.
Of course, you can get garlic on Amazon. This will last you a long, long time for about $25.
The problem is I LOVE the smell of fresh garlic, so I don’t rotate and use the granulated garlic as often as I should. Check out the bulk section at Winco. I keep mine in a pint jar. When it’s rehydrated, it smells and tastes like fresh.
SHORT TERM STORAGE: vegetable oil, olive oil
I just opened a jar (yes, a glass jar) of olive oil that I bought in 2012! Thirteen years old. Smells and tastes like new. On the other hand, I’ve opened vegetable oil a few years old that smells rancid. The difference? Not sure–artificial chemicals? Anyway, I usually use olive oil when I’m cooking, and I use vegetable oil for frying tortillas or corn dogs. Olive oil is a little more expensive–but not much these days!
Crisco will definitely be rancid after 2-3 years. It lasts longer in a cool place, but I’m not sure my house “has” a cool place in the summer!
Don’t throw the rancid shortening or oil away. You can use it to make candles!
I read somewhere that in war-torn Germany, shortening was in short supply and became very valuable. This is a definite must for your supply shelf.
72 HOUR KITS: a good knife
I’ll admit, I do NOT have a good knife in my bag. They are not unreasonably expensive. I just need to get one.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES
Dr. Mom Chicken Noodle Soup
from The Prepper’s Cookbook by Tess Pennington
2 cans chicken broth or 4 c. hot water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cans chunk chicken or 1 pint canned chicken
2 TB dried garlic or 6 cloves garlic minced
2 TB dried minced onion, or 1 whole onion chopped
2 TB dried parsley
1 TB oregano
Combine and simmer 1-2 hours.
1 can peas and carrots drained
1/2 package egg noodles (I like to use fettuccini broken in 2 inch lengths) Add and bring to a boil. Cook until noodles are tender and done.
* Note: I like to add 1/4-1/2 tsp turmeric for coloring
Vegetable Beef and Barley Soup
1 lb ground beef, 1 c. dehydrated beef, or 12 oz. dried beef
1 12-oz can V8 or tomato juice
1 can peas and carrots undrained
1 can whole kernel corn undrained
1 can green beans undrained
1 can white or red kidney beans undrained
1/2 c. uncooked pearl barley
2 bay leaves
1 TB dried minced garlic
1 TB dried onion flakes
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
If you are using dehydrated beef, rehydrate in water for 30 min. before adding to a large pot. If you are using ground beef, brown in a skillet and drain.
Combine beef with all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce to a low simmer and cook for 2 hours covered, until the beef is completely cooked and the barley is tender.
Taco Soup
2 c. dehydrated beef or 1 lb. fresh ground beef, cooked and drained
1 onion chopped
1 can kidney or black beans
1 can pinto beans
2 (28 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilis
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1-2 c. water
Simmer over medium heat, covered, for 30 min.
Marti Shelley
