Store It Foods

Is that your standard operating procedure?  If it is, then it may be time to give that a second thought.  Is that seal replaceable?  Is there anything else wrong with your pressure cooker?  Is it too large, too small, or lacking in some other respect?

If it is only a part that is causing your problems, why not save some money and replace only the part?  Yes, parts for older appliances may be unavailable, but don’t assume they are unavailable.  Check to see if there is a source of parts for older pressure cookers.  The same advice applies for blenders, apple peelers, sauce makers, grain mills, etc., etc.  Online searches are easy to undertake, and may provide you with positive results.

On the other hand, don’t bother with parts when it is cheaper to buy new.  Unfortunately, that is sometimes the case, and you also need to be aware of that possibility.

There are many reasons that you might want to establish some sort of a food storage program in your home.  One of the prime reasons behind long term food storage, of course, is to be prepared for an emergency.

Emergencies, however, are often accompanied by power failure.  Should that happen, and should that power failure be of long duration, the foods that you will likely want to use first would be those contained within the refrigerator or freezer. 

No Power = No Freezer = Food Spoilage

Unfortunately, no power can also equal no stove.  So what do you do then?  You probably do not want to eat those steaks raw.  Uncooked chicken is not likely to be too palatable, and is certainly not the safest way to consume it.

This is likely where you want to have access to a barbecue or table top grill of some kind.  If electrical elements will not work, then an alternate fuel source suddenly becomes a necessity, and an alternate fuel source is to be found in propane or charcoal fueled barbecues, or butane powered grills. 

Do take precautions.  In inclement weather, especially if you are experiencing the frigid temperatures of winter, it might be tempting to do that cooking indoors.  That, however, is not really a good idea.  Dangerous fumes can be generated that are quickly dissipated outside, but are likely to accumulate inside, especially in the modern air-tight home.

It may also be advisable to do a little experimenting with that camp stove or barbecue.  Before the need really arises, become familiar with the best flame levels, cooking times, and so on.  By doing so, when an emergency really does arise, you are prepared in that regard as well.

It’s all part of emergency preparedness.

Here’s an innovative idea from Ball.How many a time have you opened a jar of peaches or something else you have canned at home, used what you needed, and then transferred the remainder into some sort of a plastic container for storing the leftovers in your refrigerator?  That’s probably something that we have all done.

Now Ball has introduced plastic storage lids for regular or wide mouth jars that can be used with that now opened canning jar so that it can be used for that refrigerated storage.  Now we need not concern ourselves with transferring contents from one container to another.

It may not be a big thing, but it can be a bit of a time saver, and may even save a little bit on expense as well.

If you feel that no salad or sandwich would be complete without the addition of fresh, crisp, green lettuce, you’re probably also aware that there is no other way to use this delicious vegetabale except in that fresh state.  You cannot can lettuce, you cannot freeze lettuce, and you cannot dehydrate lettuce and expect to be able to later add it to salad or sandwich.  It just doesn’t work that way.

So what do you do in the event of labor problems, transporation difficulties, or poor crops that cause prices to skyrocket and availability to become almost nil?  Would that justify investing in something like the AeroGarden that would allow you to grow your own lettuce in your own home or apartment on a year round basis?

And what about things like creamery fresh butter, or fresh, whole milk?  Would their absence from the grocery store create major problems for you and your family?  Do you have on hand a supply of powdered milk that would do in a pinch, a brand that you have tested and tried and found to be acceptable in taste and texture?

What would happen if weather or other troubles leave you without electricity for a week or maybe two?  What would happen with your freezer full of meat and vegetables?  How would you cook?  What would you eat?  Do you have the space and resources available to keep a generator on hand to power some of those vital appliances in the face of such emergencies?  Do you can?  Do you dehydrate?  Could you use such foods?

If you have never considered such questions, the time to do so is before that emergency situation arises.  And once you have asked those questions the time to come up with answers should also be before that emergency situation arises. 

In other words, it is probably too late to do much about emergency preparedness in the midst of one.

One of the big advantages of preserving your own foods, whether it be through canning, dehydrating or freezing, is that you have total control over what is being preserved.  The same holds true for the meals made using those foods.  If you don’t want certain additives, you don’t use them.  If allergies exist to certain foods, you don’t include them.

It’s a health choice.

If we’re going to be so health conscious, however, we should extend that consciousness to the methods we use in preserving those foods. 

To can certain foods, we should be using a pressure canner.  Are we doing that?  Are seals being checked on those canned goods?  When handling foods to be dehydrated or frozen, have counter tops, equipment, and even hands been kept clean?  Are dehydrator trays being properly cleaned after use?  Are foods being properly rotated?

In other words, is that health consciousness being extended to all aspects of food preservation and use? It’s worth considering.

If you are thinking emergency survival, don’t forget the family dog.  That advice applies not only to the basics, but also to the little extras. 

Yes, you’ll need something to carry food and water, and, yes, you’ll want something into which you can place that food and water.   Some pet owners fabricate their own dog kits.  They may even go so far as to sew and stitch doggie backpacks.  Whether you do that, or prefer the convenience of purchasing something designed to assist in your animal’s emergency preparedness, don’t forget those extras.

How about a leash?  A ball or favorite toy might make for a useful insert.  Is medicine needed?  Would your dog be happier and easier to control if it had a piece of rawhide upon which it could chew. You may not need much, but those little things could make a big difference.

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for Cream of Mushroom Soup made right in your own kitchen from your own fresh ingredients. 

Easy Mushroom Soup

Serve 2-3
Preparation and cooking time: less than 1/2 hour

Ingredients:

2 tbp Butter
2 cloves Chopped garlic (optional)
3 3/4 cup Chopped/sliced mushroom
2 tbp Plain flour
1 c Water
1/2 c Milk
1/2 c Evaporated milk
Dash of white pepper (optional)
Salt
Parsley/ Marjoram for garnish (optional)

* Change water with chicken stock and milk with cream for better flavour.

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan over a medium heat and saute garlic and mushroom until soft. Add plain flour and mix it in until no lumps can be seen.
2. Add water/ stock slowly and stir it into the mushroom mixture. Keep stiring to ensure the mixture is lump free and heat it until it thickens and starts bubbling.
3. Add milk and evaporate milk/ cream and stir it in. Heat it until it is just about to boil. Add pepper and salt to taste.
4. Garnish with herbs just before serving.

The recipe shown above is reproduced from a Wordpress blog, butlerwoman.wordpress.com, that contains this and many other delicious recipes.

If you wished to use food storage items, you could, of course, substitute reconstituted dehydrated mushrooms for the fresh mushrooms, and garlic powder for the garlic cloves. You might even want to introduce your own variants.  In any case, you control what goes into it.

Having said that, though, it must be admitted that there is more time and work involved here than would be needed in plucking a can of mushroom soup from your cupboard, adding water and quickly heating it on your stovetop.  The can of soup probably makes for a relatively nutritious meal, but you would likely lose some of the heartiness of homemade.

An often ignored fact is that you would also lose control of the ingredients that go into the making of that soup.

Here’s a sampling of what you will likely find in that canned soup of yours:

Ingredients: Water, Mushrooms, Enriched Wheat flour, Cream, Corn Starch, Canola Oil, Salt, Modified Milk Product (Modified Milk Ingredients, Modified Palm Oil, Cream, Soy Protein Isolate), Modified Corn Starch, Sugar, Momosodium Glutamate, Coloring, Yeast Extract, Spice, Spice Extract, Garlic Powder.

So there you have it — a little “food” for thought.  Whether or not you are using fresh mushrooms or your own, home dehydrated mushrooms, or some other type of soup altogether, there is often a lot to be said for home made, even though it might take a litte more time and trouble.

If you are planning on purchasing a new pressure canner it is logical to assume that buying a bigger canner will speed up the process by allowing you to can more at a time.  Be careful with such assumptions.

These units, of course, can be used for both canning and pressure cooking.  Such a dual purpose appliance can be wonderful, but check out both sizes and capacities.  In other words, with some models you will find that you can increase the quantities of food going into the pressure cooker, but as a pressure canner the smaller sized unit will only hold 7 quart jars, while the the larger sized model will still only hold 7 quart jars.  It may, however, fit more pint jars than the smaller canner, but will you be using pint jars?

Yes, studying it out before the purchase can be a good idea.  Bigger is better if bigger has some advantages for you, but you need to determine if that is really the case.

Some researchers are surprised to find that Recessionary times do not necessarily lead to unhealthier lifestyles.  The common assumption is that as fitness club memberships drop off due to financial restraints, and as dining out switches to fast food outlets from fine dining establishments for similar reasons, that health suffers. 

The picture is of an overweight population that is growing rapidly in numbers due to loss of active lifestyles, and a switch to diets increasingly devoted to fatty, greasy, salt laden foods.  With obesity, of course, come health concerns. 

However, obesity need not necessarily be the result of financially induced lifestyle changes.  Walking, jogging and playing sports with friends do not require a health club or a personal trainer.   Saving money by cutting back on expensive restauants does not mean you have to increase your patronage of “burger joints.”  You might instead eat more at home.  And if you choose to eat more at home you do not necessarily have to choose fatty, greasy, salt laden foods. 

The choice, of course, is yours.  If you can’t afford to go out as much as you once did, you could choose to “veg out” in front of the TV.  On the other hand, you might also choose to take longer walks with the dog, tackle some of that oft procrastianted yard work, take up gardening, or do more with the kids.  Instead of pasta for all major meals, you might want to experiment with more fruits and vegetables.  Dig out that old pressure cooker and try out that recipe for fish chowder.  Start canning your own garden produce.

There are lots of choices, and one of those choices is the choosing of a healthier lifestyle.  That is what is surprising those aforementioned researchers.  Many people are doing just that.   For those of us who are striving to cope with Recessionary times, that is a choice that we can make as well.  If you are sitting, watching another of those reruns on TV while digging into your 5th bag of potato chips, you might want to give that some very serious consideration.

Would you like to make use of a surefire method of losing weight?  You can eat all you want, yet keep those pounds off.  Eat, eat, eat and lose fat.  The secret?  Sanitized tape worms.

“Ridiculous!” you say?  Well, yes it is ridiculous.  Who is their right mind would make use of an intestinal parasite in an effort to control weight?  Doctors and nutritionists would certainly turn a huge thumbs down on the idea, and undoubtedly just about everyone would agree with them.  Yet, at one time, there were those who tried this method, and, as an ad from the early 1900’s shows, there were suppliers of tape worms who met this demand as they successfully advertised their product.

We can smile now as we wonder about the gullibility of our ancestors, but that is because we know better. 

It is important, of course, to know better, not only about the dangers of tape worms, but about other health related matters.  Research continually provides information relating to previously unknown hazards.

This includes canning methods.  These days more and more people are rediscovering the value of home canning.  Preserving food saves us money, and when money is tight, that is a wise thing to do.  Consequently, old canners are being dusted off and old canning handbooks are being brought to light for perhaps the first time in years.

That’s good, but that’s also bad, for some of those old canning methods have been found to be unsafe.  Canning the way your grandmother did may not necessarily prove to be harmful, but it might be.  Consequently, it might be wise to ignore some of those old instructions and to research what have been proven to be safer methods of canning.

It just might save us some pain and regret, and would help to eliminate the possibility of our children and grandchildren looking back in wonderment at our canning foolishness.