I have been doing a few new things. I have been learning to put food in jars and preserve it.
OK. Wait. Don't click the X just yet.
I have been trying to make as many low sodium meals as possible, which has meant eliminating a lot of canned items from the store.
After the insanity of actually reading the labels of the items marked "low sodium" and creating a list of ones that were within our needs.... I began to cook everything from basic ingredients. Actual vegetables and meats.
This solved our sodium issues, but then there were other issues. Generally, the recipes that worked created more than three or four servings.
So now we either had to deal with leftovers or find another solution.
Since so many of my recipes had ingredients in common, I began cooking one day per week and dividing everything into four serving sizes and freezing.
Ahhhh.. This has worked rather well. I had been creating four main meals and of each batch, I was able to divided those into three or four containers. Add an impromtu roast or soup during the week and my freezer was becoming well stocked.
I then realized that I was paying money every month to freeze these items. I have a large upright freezer dedicated to this.
Hmmmm.... I wondered if there was a way for me to use just the freezer space in my refrigerator.
Well, not with my current methods of preparing for the week. My current methods were making me happy. We had a selection of twenty different meals in the freezer. We rarely eat the same thing twice in a month as I continue to make new items.
I also happened to grow a larger garden this year. There were a couple of weeks that produced more harvest than we could eat. We gave some away and then I decided to begin a new project. I would learn to "can" my own salsa, soups and whatever else I could learn.
Now, I have since become pretty good at canning. I have made beef vegetable soups, two types of salsa, chicken vegetable soup, bean soup, apple butter and strawberry lemonade concentrate.
If you are familiar with canning, you realize that I have done both water bath canning and pressure canning. Knowing both methods is pretty important.
In my search for canning recipes and information, time and again I see links to "prepper" sites.
When I posted a picture of some of my successes on a social networking site, I was asked if I was a "prepper".
BAHAHAHAHAHA! Okay, so I am not a prepper.
I have written about this before. If by prepper, you mean that I could survive a week without going to the grocery store, then the truthful answer is "yes". If instead, you are talking about the SHTF and other terminology that seems to include field medical kits, bug out bags and other such items, then "no", I certainly am not.
No need to break into my house unless you are looking for a half jar of peanut butter.
But seriously, I noticed a theme. There is a LOT of focus on food storage.
So, let me take a moment to explain a few things. Food spoils. Whether it is preserved or not, sealed or not, frozen or not...it all eventually spoils.
It is not okay to tell your readers that home canned meats can be edible for five years. The tested information suggests using within one year and heating to a boiling point for a specified amount of time before consuming.
It is not okay to tell people to fill every cubic foot of space with foods. You do not know how much space that family may have. My point is that I have seen photos of people with their "stockpile" containing 30 or 50 bottles of ketchup and mustard.
Why would I point out condiments? Check the best by dates. I know, I know, I would have thought mustard would last a century or so. I was shocked to find that mustard needs to be consumed much more quickly. The dates I have seen have been within a year of the purchase date. Hmmmmm.
Well, surely that canned chicken and tuna from the store will last forever. Again, please check the dates. It doesn't last as long as you think.
It is irresponsible to tell me that if the SHTF and I have no access to decent medical care that I should eat foods that are well past the dates that are considered acceptable.
It is also irresponsible to tell me to stockpile antibiotics. First of all, the antibiotics on your list are by prescription only. A doctor only prescribes them if you need them. So are you also telling me to skip my meds now so that I can take them after their "best by" dates also?
The posts that make me really want to scream are the ones about how we need military field surgical kits. Right. MRSA hasn't taken enough people, we should have folks cutting each other up and sewing each other back together.
Perhaps I just truly underestimate how bad things will be and for how long. Perhaps I just have not seen the light.
I am prepared for what would be considered minor issues. Three days without power, five days of icy roads inhibiting my trek to the grocery store, seven days of tornado chaos. I am prepared for those events because we have survived them here.
I am not prepared for global collapse of any kind.
I grow a garden and am very aware that it is purely for my own joy. I do not grow enough food to call my family "sustainable". In fact, now that I have learned to preserve meals and foods, I am absolutely baffled at how my grandmother was able to grow and store enough foods to feed her family entirely. She only purchased sugar, salt and spices for years. Everything else came from her land and her hands. If we had to eat my preserved foods every day, once each day, we would have enough food for 41 days.
Oh, I may not have a year's worth of food stored, but today I went through my emergency cabinet. (I go thru it occasionally to make sure we have what we need in case of a tornado or major ice storm.) In that cabinet is an oil lamp, a box of candles, a few boxes of matches, a weather radio, a leatherman tool, and a flashlight. Apparently, my primary concern is darkness.
I have been through several emergencies both here and overseas. I live in an area with a fantastic infrastructure so I have never been without power for more than three days. (That includes the May 99 tornado.) I do not anticipate having to survive for long without electricity. I also do not anticipate surviving for a long time without access to food.
I am sure all things are possible. I am also sure that I will not be feeding questionable foods to my children. Not now. Not ever.
I will continue my methods. I have read a lot of the survival blogs, but they seem to lose sight of some basic science. This generation was not taught to be survivalists. My theory is that this generation was taught to fix things. My theory also states that this generation will figure things out quickly and make things better so that I do not have to resort to a camp stove and purification tablets to keep my family alive.
Oh, I guess if I am wrong, I better hope that we are caught at a time when I have done things to excess... I am known for purchasing THREE of the five gallon water bottles for my dispenser just because it is a hassle and I don't like going very often.
I make large recipes so that I can continue my habit of not doing any major cooking during the week. Hmmmm... Perhaps we could make it a little longer if you count the rice and noodles and ....
As long as I do not find myself crossing the line. I do not want to find anyone in my home hiding cans of food under their beds or in their closets.
I do not want to see a 5 gallon bucket of salt, ever.
I'm just doing what I do. Experimenting to see if I can find more ways to do things in my own home. I am not telling you that you should learn to pressure can soups, because honestly, the first time I did it, it scared the beans outta me. If we owned a metal trashcan, I would have used the lid as a shield as I approached the stove. I was that scared.
I am also not going to tell you to throw away your 50 bottles of mustard. Just think about it. If you do not use that much, don't buy that much. If you are not careful to rotate your stock, please don't keep long term storage. Expiration dates are printed on them for a reason. Suggested storage times are there for a reason with home canned goods. It's not arbitrary. Those dates were given after testing.
Food poisoning is not only not fun, it can be deadly. Be careful what you are teaching others about food safety.
Please do not do surgery on yourself.
Ahhhhhh... the preppers will just argue with me anyways.... I'm going to look at a few more recipes now.
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