Replies

Tijuana Pie
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound cheddar cheese, grated
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 (16 ounce) cans chili seasoned beans
1 (16 ounce) can corn, drained
1 (6 ounce) pitted olives
6 corn tortillas

Brown beef, onion, garlic in skillet. Pour off excess fat and season with salt and pepper. Wipe inside of crockpot with oil. Place a tortilla in
the bottom of the pot and spoon some of the meat mixture onto it with a little sauce and cheese. Top with another tortilla and layer on a bean, cheese and corn section. Drop in a few olives. Continue layers of filling, sauce and cheese and olives finishing with cheese and olives on top. Cover and cook at low 5-7 hours.

Recipe courtesy of MomsMenu.com
http://www.momsmenu.com

May be printed for personal and educational purposes only.
Copyright © 2004, MomsMenu.com All Rights Reserved

Baking Powder Substitute

An easy substitute for 2 tablespoons of baking powder is 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. The measurements don’t add up equally, but it works great!

Herbed-Potato Frittata

2 cups diced red potato
1 T butter
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 (8-ounce) cartons egg substitute (I used 7 eggs instead)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese

Place potato in a saucepan; add water to cover, and bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until tender; drain.

Melt butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add
potato, onions, and next 5 ingredients; saute 2 minutes. Spread
potato mixture evenly in skillet.

Pour egg substitute over potato mixture; reduce heat to medium-
low. Cook, uncovered, 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set.

Preheat broiler. Wrap handle of skillet with foil if it is not oven
proof; broil 3 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, and broil 30 seconds
or until cheese melts.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 193 cal., 5.9 g fat (2.7 g sat. fat), 19.5 g protein, 15.5
g
carbo., 1.5 g fiber, 14 mg chol., 507 mg sodium

Sweet and Sour Veggie Medley

8 small carrots, cooked
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped; cooked
7 or 8 Brussels sprouts, halved; cooked
2 T butter
2 T flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 T sugar
2 T vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Drain the veggies, reserving the carrot liquid. Add water to
measure 1 cup. Melt the butter, add the flour, salt, sugar, vinegar,
paprika and carrot stock.

Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add the veggies and cook
over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Makes 4 servings.

NOTE: I steamed all the veggies together for simplicity. The added
flavor of the onions and sprouts in the water was not overpowering
to me. Prepare yours according to your taste.

March 2, 2006
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T O D A Y ‘ S Q U O T E
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I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly,
acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all
I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand
thing. ~Agatha Christie
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T O D A Y ‘ S T I P S
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READER’S QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

We have some very neat family recipes for banana pudding
I wanted to share today, and a question on the recipe I shared
last week. Since it was an “ice day” and the kids were home
from school today I didn’t get to any other questions. A certain
6 year old insisted we have a tea party for lunch!

OLD FASHIONED BANANA PUDDING
I was just wondering in the banana pudding recipe that was in
Friday’s recipes it called for one cup of milk. Just checking to
see if that indeed is correct. It just seems like a relatively small
amount of milk. ~Betty

Looking at the other recipes— I think it’s less milk because there
are more eggs and less bananas. It should come out fine!

BARBARA’S BANANA PUDDING!
My Grandmother made the very best Banana Pudding. I believe
the recipe you gave is very close to hers, but the only thing, she
always covered it with egg white Meringue. She would make it
very fluffy, with high points and place in oven ‘till the white caps
and top were toasted, just like you do with a pie. Nothing could
beat it! Now, with 10 grandchildren of my own, I make Banana
Pudding often. I do not use this recipe, It so much easier to
use the instant pudding mix, and as my grandchildren do not
like “egg whites”, I use Cool Whip, as a layer in the pudding
and it is a hit at home, church, wherever. I make it in a huge
bowl, like a punch bowl, clear where you can see the layers of
vanilla wafers, pudding, bananas, cool whip, and repeat until
completely full, ending with the top covered in wafers. The very
best vanilla wafers come in a bag, not a box. I can find them at
IGA stores only nowadays. I hope this helps her a little. Thanks
for all the good tips and recipes, etc. ~Barbara D

SUE’S MICROWAVE SHORTCUT & RECIPE
This is the original Nabisco Vanilla Wafers Banana Pudding
recipe that I have been using for years. I converted the
cooking to the microwave years ago to save time and it is
much easier than cooking on the stove. This is the one
dessert I can make and know that there will be no leftovers.
~Sue in Kentucky

BANANA PUDDING

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs - separated
2 Tbsp. four
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 bananas
2 cups milk
Vanilla Wafers

Pudding microwave directions:
In a 4 cup glass measure, mix together sugar, and flour. Add milk,
mixing into sugar-flour mixture with a wire whisk. Cook on HIGH
for 2 minutes, stir with whisk. Continue cooking and stirring until
thick, checking every 2 minutes, about 8 minutes. Separate the
eggs putting egg yolks in small bowl and whites in medium bowl
for meringue. Add small amount of hot filling to egg yolks stirring
well, pour into filling mixing well, return to microwave and cook 1 1/2
minutes to 2 minutes on HIGH, stirring twice while cooking. Add
vanilla and butter, stir to mix and to melt butter. Line bottom of a
casserole dish with Vanilla Wafers. Pour small amount of custard
onto Vanilla Wafers, layer sliced bananas on top of custard, then
continue with layers until all custard is used. Top with meringue
made from 3 egg whites and 6 Tbsp sugar. Brown in 350 degree F.
oven for 15 minutes.

EMILY’S MOM & HER BANANA PUDDING RECIPE
My mother taught me how to make the old-fashion Banana Pudding.
I am enclosing it in case you would like to print it. I read the one
in
Fridays e-mail. This is a bit different -

3 1/2 Tablespoons all purpose flour or cornstarch ( I use cornstarch)
1 1/3 cups sugar
Dash salt
3 eggs, separated
3 cups milk ( I use 2%)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 box vanilla wafers
6 medium bananas ( really ripe)
1/4 plus 3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour (cornstarch), 1 1/3 cups sugar and salt in a heavy
saucepan. Beat the egg yolks; combine egg yolks and milk, mixing
well. Stir this into the cornstarch, salt and sugar mixture. Cook
over
medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened. Remove
from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Layer 1/3 of vanilla wafers
in
a 4 qt. baking dish. Slice 2 bananas; layer over wafers. Pour 1/3 of
the filling over the bananas. Repeat layers twice. Beat egg whites
(room temperature) until foamy. Gradually add remaining sugar, 1
tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Add 1 teaspoon
vanilla and beat until blended. Spread meringue over filling, sealing
to edge of dish. Bake at 425 degrees or 10 - 12 minutes or until
golden brown. Yields: 10 servings

This takes a bit of time - but I am very partial to the “old fashioned”
banana pudding. ~Emily from North Carolina

MORE RECIPES: Shoo Fly Pie & Apple Pandowdy
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/shoofly.html

[This reminds me of the old Bisquick ‘Impossible Pie’, recipe that I played around with for several years, works with corn meal for half the flour and freezes for instant meals..this needs a few Fennel seeds added....granny]

This pizza recipe has a crust that ‘pours’ onto the pan, and then the
topping sinks into and bakes as part of the crust! Cool, huh? The
sauce and cheese are added last. This is super easy to make, and
though we had to add some salt, it’s really yummy!

Crazy Crust Pizza

1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup all-purpose flour
Dash salt and pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (I used fresh)
1 can (8 oz) pizza sauce
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

In a skillet, brown beef; drain and set aside. In a small bowl,
combine flour, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, eggs and milk; beat
until smooth. Pour batter into a greased and floured 12-inch or 14-
inch pizza pan. Spoon beef, onion and mushrooms over batter.
Bake at 425 F for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven. Top with
pizza sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven
and bake 10-15 minutes longer.

Makes 4-6 servings.

NOTE: I used a 15-inch pan, and used a 15-oz can of pizza sauce,
and extra cheese. Consider that if you use a larger pan.

I’m back from Africa!

Joe and I have just returned from our sixth trip to Africa. This
time we visited Namibia and South Africa. In Ongava game reserve next
to Etosha National Park in Namibia, we had a most unusual and wonderful
experience, together with our guide, Kapona Jesaya, we tracked on foot
a
family of Square-Lipped Rhinoceros. I created a new How to Draw a
Rhino
Video which has some footage of this most wonderful photo safari. The
link to the new video is:
http://www.janbrett.com/video/how_to_draw_a_rhinoceros.htm

Other great Africa Videos:

~ How to Draw a Lion
http://www.janbrett.com/video/how_to_draw_a_lion.htm

~ How to Draw a Rare African Okapi
http://www.janbrett.com/video/how_to_draw_an_okapi.htm

~ An African Safari
http://www.janbrett.com/video/honey...honey...lion.htm

~ How to Draw an Elephant
http://www.janbrett.com/video/how_to_draw_an_elephant.htm

~ Dots and Stripes How to Draw a Zebra and a Guinea Fowl
http://www.janbrett.com/video/dots_and_stripes.htm

~ Download, Printout and Create your own African Mural
http://janbrett.com/mural_hhl/honey_honey_lion_mural.htm

It’s a pleasure to be in touch.

Sincerely,

Jan Brett

Read all about Jan Brett’s books and get the best bookstore prices -
http://www.janbrett.com/bookstores/hedgies_lets_go_shopping.htm

This message was sent by Jan Brett,

SALMONELLA LITCHFIELD, MELON - NORTH AMERICA ex HONDURAS: ALERT
***************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

[1] USA
Date: Sat 22 Mar 2008
Source: US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) News, press release
[edited]
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01808.html

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an import alert
regarding entry of cantaloupe from Agropecuaria Montelibano, a
Honduran grower and packer, because, based on current information,
fruit from this company appears to be associated with a _Salmonella
[enterica_ serotype] Litchfield outbreak in the USA and Canada. The
import alert advises FDA field offices that all cantaloupes shipped
to the United States by this company are to be detained.

In addition, the FDA has contacted importers about this action and is
advising USA grocers, food service operators, and produce processors
to remove from their stock any cantaloupes from this company. The FDA
also advises consumers who have recently bought cantaloupes to check
with the place of purchase to determine if the fruit came from this
specific grower and packer. If so, consumers should throw away the
cantaloupes.

To date, the FDA has received reports of 50 illnesses in 16 states
and 9 illnesses in Canada linked to the consumption of cantaloupes.
No deaths have been reported; however, 14 people have been
hospitalized. The [US] states are Arizona, California, Colorado,
Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The FDA is taking this preventive measure while the agency continues
to investigate this outbreak in cooperation with the CDC (US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention) and state partners. Such
intervention is a key component of FDA’s Food Protection Plan.

The FDA recommends that consumers take the following steps to reduce
the risk of contracting _Salmonella_ or other foodborne illnesses
from cantaloupes:

- purchase cantaloupes that are not bruised or damaged. If buying
fresh-cut cantaloupe, be sure it is refrigerated or surrounded by ice.
- after purchase, refrigerate cantaloupes promptly.
- wash hands with hot, soapy water before and after handling fresh
cantaloupes.
- scrub whole cantaloupes by using a clean produce brush and cool tap
water immediately before eating. Don’t use soap or detergents.
- use clean cutting surfaces and utensils when cutting cantaloupes.
Wash cutting boards, countertops, dishes, and utensils with hot water
and soap between the preparation of raw meat, poultry, or seafood and
the preparation of cantaloupe.
- if there happens to be a bruised or damaged area on a cantaloupe,
cut away those parts before eating it.
- leftover cut cantaloupe should be discarded if left at room
temperature for more than 2 hours.
- use a cooler with ice or use ice gel packs when transporting or
storing cantaloupes outdoors.

—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org

******
[2] Canada
Date: Sat 22 Mar 2008
Source: The Canadian Press [edited]
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvKuz1Y0G2jFlf8RjLg3ECLqLVIw

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed Honduran grown
cantaloupes are being voluntarily recalled after a continent-wide
salmonella outbreak.

The recall followed a warning earlier Saturday [22 Mar 2008] from the
USA FDA about the outbreak, which CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection
Agency) said has sickened 9 people in 5 provinces and 50 people in 16
USA states.

“We’ve been investigating this for a while now,” agency spokesman
Garfield Balsom told The Canadian Press Saturday night [22 Mar 2008].
“There’s been some co-operation between USA officials and Canadian
officials in trying to identify any commonalities regarding this
salmonella. But unfortunately up until yesterday [21 Mar 2008] with
regard to the traceback, there’s been nothing identified.”

The affected melons (from Agropecuaria Montelibano) were distributed
in Canada by Federated Co-Op in all western provinces, the 3
territories, and northwestern Ontario, and Canada Safeway stores in
BC (British Columbia) only.

The Canadian illnesses occurred between 19 Jan 2008 and 22 Feb 2008
and are reported in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick.

Balsom said the type of bacteria involved in the cantaloupes case is
_S. [enterica_ serotype] Litchfield, although officials haven’t been
able to prove conclusively that this is what caused the illnesses.

“There have been no reported illnesses that we’ve identified
associated with this particular strain of salmonella. However,
illnesses take a while to get through the system and get typed.”

He notes that while no cases have cropped up in Canada later than 22
Feb 2008, there have been cases reported after that date in the USA.

There have been no extreme cases of illness among the 9 reported in
Canada, Balsom stressed. He said people become infected by simply
handling the outside of the fruit. “Because the surface of the
product is contaminated, that is transferred to the consumer
unfortunately,” he said.

The CFIA investigation is continuing, Balsom stated, adding it’s
possible other distributors or retailers may have received
cantaloupes from the growers, and other new cases of illness could
arise.

—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
promed@promedmail.org

[Even if the rind of the melon is not handled, cutting into the melon
will introduce the pathogen into the edible part. The imported melons
are likely to have been contaminated in the field from contaminated
irrigation water. ProMED-mail Rapporteur submitted a similar posting.
- Mod.LL

The US states, Canadian provinces, and Honduras can be located on the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map at
http://www.healthmap.org/promed
- CopyEd.MJ]

[from the other thread, it was nice that MHGin TN posted his recipe in the middle, now we have all 3]

ORANGE FREEZER SHERBET

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
———— —————— ————————————————
Master Recipe
2 cups milk and 1 cup cream or 3 cups rich milk
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 tbl lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Heat 1 cup milk. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
Add other
ingredients.
Use freezing mixture of 1 part salt to 4 to 6 parts
ice. Turn
crank freezer slowly.
After freezing, remove dasher. Pack freezer with more
ice and
salt. Let sherbet stand an hour or more to ripen.
Makes about 3
pints.

Variations:
Lemon Sherbet: In master recipe, omit orange juice.
Use 1 cup lemon
juice and 1/2 cup water.

Pineapple Sherbet: In master recipe, substitute 1 cup
drained
crushed pineapple for 1/2 cup orange juice.

Source: Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking
1959
Formatted by ckpenner77@...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 1257 Calories;
1g Fat (0.5%
calories from fat); 4g Protein; 331g Carbohydrate; 3g
Dietary Fiber;
0mg Cholesterol; 544mg Sodium. Exchanges: 6 Fruit; 17
Other
Carbohydrates.

[you may be able to see the archives, full of basic
“make a mix” recipes...granny]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Makeamix/messages

To: nw_arizona_granny; Tennessee Nana;
conservativegramma; colorcountry; greyfoxx39; restornu
Yes! Goodie, a recipe! I have a new invention I’m
pushing of late: Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pudding
(or pie, if you put it in a readimade crust). Real
easy to make, great dessert.

1 package Banana Cream Pie Jello Instant pudding
2 cups vanilla flavored yogurt
2 sliced up Bananas, 1/8 inch thick slices (bathed in
1 tblspn non-alcohol Margarita mix for the lemon
juice)
1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup Cool Whip, thawed but still cold (stir the
peanut butter and cool whip together just before
assembling the pudding)
8 to 10 Crispy Shortbread cookies crumbled up in
chunks

Get everything out on the counter and the bananas
sliced and juiced. Whisk the yogurt and pudding mix
for a minute, pour in the bananas and cookie chunks,
fold in the peanut butter and cool whip, chill with
plastic wrap on the surface to prevent a ‘skin’.
3,970 posted on 03/22/2008 7:07:49 PM PDT by MHGinTN
(Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be
convinced when they are deceived.)

Quick Vanilla Ice Cream????
pint size zip-lock bag
gallon size zip-lock bag
½ C Milk (cold)
1 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. salt
ice(crushed is best)(keep in freezer till ready to put
in bag)

Put milk, sugar, and vanilla in pint size bag.
Fill gallon size bag half full with ice and salt and
put small bag in
large bag.
Shake for 5 minutes Serve immediatly
**NOTE** MAKE SURE THE BAG IS SEALED PROPERLY OR YOU
MIGHT GET A BIG
MESS!!!

[And to add my note, I would use a sealed jar and then
the bag of ice, or as we did when kids, the jar of
milk twirled in a bucket of salted ice.......if there
are enough kids, it will freeze..granny]

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/campbell67.html

Get out of debt,
stay out of debt

By Darlene Campbell

Decades ago it was advised of young high school graduates to deposit a set amount of money into the bank each month, and when they retired they would be millionaires. Unfortunately, that philosophy fell by the wayside after World War II. Today it is not unusual for young graduates to receive credit card applications by mail starting them on the road to indebtedness, not the road to wealth.

If you are in debt now, you should be working to clear all indebtedness during the next year. We did it, and you can, too. We paid off credit card debt and doctor bills. We paid off the car and made double payments on the mortgage principle of our home with the intent of paying that off, too. But as the future began to look uncertain, we changed plans and sold our mortgaged home and obtained enough money from the equity to pay cash for a smaller home. Both my husband and I have even quit our jobs since having no debt means we need less income. We are not old enough for retirement and do not collect disability, retirement income, or welfare. Instead we have simply freed ourselves of debt and can now pursue other interests and earn sufficient money doing practically nothing.

We have enough money to eat, pay utilities, and put gas in two vehicles. I freeze a lot of food, and what we do not grow we purchase on sale. Most of our income comes from selling at flea markets and over the Internet.

Knowing how much you owe and how much you earn is not going to get you out of debt. You must learn to do with less, stop buying on credit, downsize what you already own, and eventually you will be debt free. Sounds easy enough, but most people find this is the most difficult part of getting out of debt. They don’t want to stop spending. Most people struggle to have more, not less.
Where do you spend?

It is necessary to organize your financial records, then develop a plan for paying off creditors. Gather the following records: your most recent pay stub, most recent bank statement, your checkbook, and all current credit card bills, medical bills, utility bills, insurance premiums, children’s allowance, pet care, installment loans, newspaper subscription, cable TV, transportation, etc.
Here, John is going over a worksheet to establish priorities and set deadlines
Here, John is going over a worksheet to establish priorities and set deadlines

With these items in front of you, enter your income on the top line of a sheet of paper. This is your worksheet. List every known monthly expense, from the kids’ allowance to the mortgage payment, and add it up with a calculator. When you finish you will see how much you earn and where the bulk of your money is spent. On the same worksheet, list out-of-pocket or miscellaneous expenses—all those little expenses down to the smallest item such as a coffee break, hamburger, purchase of a key ring, or cigarette lighter. Pay close attention to these small expenditures because they add up to a significant sum on a monthly basis, and are almost always wasteful.

continued and it is worth reading, several useful ideas.

[Have you tried for jelly?]

Gather rose hips for health

By Gail Butler

Vitamin C-rich rose hips can be found in dried form in most health food stores, but why not gather your own? You’ll save money and you’ll know where they came from and the conditions in which they grew. Furthermore, you’ll be adding to your own self-sufficiency by locating and gathering a nutrient-dense food source to nourish yourself and your family.

Growing along the main irrigation canal in the small farming community where I live are hedgerows of wild roses. In spring they produce lovely pink blossoms. As the petals fade, a green hip, or hypanthium, begins to swell at each blossom’s base. From mid-September into October when they are fully red and ripe, and before frost tinges their foliage with autumn color making the hips harder to see, I gather bagfuls for making soup, wine, syrup, jelly, and tea.

Most wild roses will have four- or five-petal blossoms that are either white, yellow, or pink. Five-petal pink blossoms cover the wild roses in my area in spring.
Most wild roses will have four- or five-petal blossoms that are either white, yellow, or pink. Five-petal pink blossoms cover the wild roses in my area in spring.

If you live, as I do, in a temperature zone that’s too cold to grow citrus fruit, rose hips are an excellent alternative food source of Vitamin C. All roses are edible, but we are most familiar with the rose’s tasty cousins—fruits such as plums, apples, blackberries, and raspberries—all of which have small, rose-like white or pink flowers before setting fruit. A rose hip is merely the fruit of the rose plant.

Unlike their popular fruiting cousins, rose hips don’t have much flesh beneath their skins. Instead, they are filled with tiny seeds covered with silky hairs. The skin of the hip, often tasting like an apple, is where most of the food value and nutrition lies.

Nutritional powerhouses

Known mostly for beauty in the garden and as a floral declaration of love, roses don’t usually come to mind when we think of either food or nutrition. Yet, all parts of the rose, and especially the hips, are storehouses of Vitamin C and other important nutrients.

Compare the nutritional content of oranges to rose hips and you will find that rose hips contain 25 percent more iron, 20 to 40 percent more Vitamin C (depending upon variety), 25 times the Vitamin A, and 28 percent more calcium.

Dry rose hips on an old cookie sheet for a couple of weeks until completely dry. When ready to store, they should be darker than their fresh counterparts, hard, and semi-wrinkley.
Dry rose hips on an old cookie sheet for a couple of weeks until completely dry. When ready to store, they should be darker than their fresh counterparts, hard, and semi-wrinkley.

In addition, rose hips are a rich source of bioflavanoids, pectin, Vitamin E, selenium, manganese, and the B-complex vitamins. Rose hips also contain trace amounts of magnesium, potassium, sulfur and silicon.

Finding and gathering rose hips

Wild roses grow throughout the world. There are literally thousands of varieties worldwide and most have been part of the human diet. In fact, it is difficult to find an area of the world or a temperature zone—barring parts of the Antarctic and the Sahara Desert—where wild roses don’t grow.

We can also look to our own gardens. The domesticated roses we find there are rich in nutrients. Look for Rosa rugosa that develops many large, bright red hips that look and taste like small apples. Rugosa roses are found in most nurseries and plant catalogs. Rosa gallica, a native of the Middle East no longer found in the wild but available from nurseries and plant catalogs, is a favored old garden rose. It will grace your garden with beauty and scent and your table with nutritious foods and beverages. Even the well-loved “hybrid tea” roses produce edible hips, although not as prolifically as their wild and semi-domesticated garden cousins.

Rose hip tea is a tasty, nutritious beverage that can be made from fresh or dried hips. This cup was made from freshly gathered wild rose hips.
Rose hip tea is a tasty, nutritious beverage that can be made from fresh or dried hips. This cup was made from freshly gathered wild rose hips.

Many enthusiastic gardeners never see the development of colorful hips because as soon as blossoms fade they are snipped off to tidy up the garden. Blossoms must be left on the plant to naturally fade and fall for hips to develop.

The most abundant source of Vitamin C-rich rose hips is from wild hedgerows and thickets. Here hips can be gathered in ample quantities for cooking and storing. You’d have to grow a vast number of garden-variety roses to get a sufficient quantity of hips for use all year long. As most roses have thorns, gloves are helpful although not essential when gathering hips.

Rose hips as food

Once you locate your rose hip source there still remains the question of turning them into something we deem not only edible, but tasty too. Rose hips can be made into a variety of appetizing, healthy dishes. Turned into jelly, syrup, and wine, they make delightful gifts.

Rose hips may be used fresh or dried. To dry them, discard any with discoloration then rinse in cold water, pat dry, and spread on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. It takes a couple of weeks for them to dry. They will be darker in color, hard, and semi-wrinkly. Rub off any stems or remaining blossom ends. Pour them into jars for storage in a dark pantry or cupboard.

One of my favorite ways to use rose hips is to brew them into tea. For tea they may be used fresh or dried. For fresh brewing, steep a tablespoon or two of clean hips in a cup of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Sweeten with honey and enjoy. To make a tea of dried hips, use only two teaspoons to one cup of boiling water and steep for 10 to 15 minutes.

My favorite syrup for pancakes, waffles, and vanilla ice cream is made from freshly gathered rose hips. Rinse and pat dry the hips and place them in a saucepan. Barely cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool and strain the mixture, pressing the liquid off the hips gently with the back of a spoon, being careful not to break them open and release the seeds. If this happens, merely strain the seeds out. The resulting liquid may be frozen in batches for future use in soup or jelly, or turned into tasty syrup. The solids left over from straining can be fed to chickens or tossed onto the compost pile.

In late summer, rose hips ripen to bright red and are ready for gathering.
In late summer, rose hips ripen to bright red and are ready for gathering.

To make rose hip syrup, add one part honey to two parts of the heated, strained liquid. Stir to dissolve the honey and refrigerate. After refrigeration, the syrup will thicken slightly. Rose hip syrup will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Reheat the syrup for use on pancakes and waffles. Use it warm or cold to top vanilla ice cream.

Heated syrup may be canned by pouring it into hot, sterile jars and processing in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. For every 1,000 feet above an elevation of 5,000 feet, add one minute to the processing time.

For a refreshing spring tonic punch, simmer rhubarb in rose hip syrup until soft. Strain and adjust sweetening as needed. Chill, and pour over ice for a refreshing, healthful libation to clear out the winter cobwebs. Add a sprig of fresh spearmint or lemon balm as garnish. Rose hip syrup may be used to sweeten and flavor herbal or black teas, as well.

A favorite dish of the Swedish is rose hip soup. They literally consume rose hips by the tons each year. To make approximately four servings you’ll need:

3 cups of freshly made or thawed unsweetened rose hip liquid
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. corn starch
4 Tbsp. sour cream or yogurt as a garnish
minced mint

In a saucepan, heat the liquid and add the honey and lemon juice. Remove ½ cup of the heated mixture. Into this, whisk the cornstarch until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture back into the pan and bring to a high simmer, stirring, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Add a dollop of sour cream or yogurt to each serving, topping with minced fresh mint, if desired.

If you make your own wine, the following recipe for rose hip wine is one of the healthiest and most lovely in color. You’ll need:

After a hard frost, autumn color makes the hips harder to see.
After a hard frost, autumn color makes the hips harder to see.

4 pounds of fresh rose hips
3 pounds of sugar
1 gallon boiling water
1 tsp. black tea
1 tsp. baker’s or wine yeast

Rinse and drain the hips. Place them in a primary fermenting vessel such as a clean food-grade plastic bucket that has a tight-fitting lid. Pour in one gallon of boiling water. Add the teaspoon of tea and all the sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture sit tightly covered for 24 hours. Add one teaspoon of baker’s or wine yeast and let the mixture ferment for seven days, covered, stirring once per day with a clean spoon.

Strain off the rose hips and pour the liquid into a one-gallon glass jug (an old wine jug works great) and fit with a fermentation lock or balloon. If you use a balloon, be sure to release the gases occasionally or it will burst. Place the jug in a warm spot until fermentation ceases. Siphon (rack) the liquid off of the yeast solids into a clean glass jug and refit with the fermentation lock or balloon.

Racking will usually reactivate fermentation for a short time. When fermentation ceases completely for several weeks, siphon the wine into clean wine bottles. Cork the bottles securely or use wine bottles with screw-on tops and store in a cool spot for six months or longer. There will usually be a glass or two of wine left after bottling. This you can enjoy right away.

Precautions

Wherever you gather rose hips, be sure they have not been treated with herbicides or pesticides. If wild roses grow on your property or you gather from your garden roses, you can manage them to your satisfaction.

Wild roses, despite their beauty and usefulness as perimeter plantings, food, and wildlife habitats, are considered by many to be a nuisance. They do spread by suckering, and a single plant will become a thicket eventually. If you have enough property to sustain several thickets where they can grow without interfering with your other operations, you will have an ample source of nutritious hips to nourish yourself and your family throughout the year.

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Read More Food & Recipes Articles

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/shaffer58.html

Food Drying

By Marcella Shaffer

[Has plans and info for building simple one tray dryers]

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/larsen86.html

Herb boxes from fence boards

By Maggie Larsen

[Neat Idea, salable to people, empty or planted.

Could be made from the free pallets.

granny]

http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/bugout.htm

Chapter 2: Bug out or Batten Down?

* Should you Stay or Go?
* The Evacuation Plan
* Where to Go
o The Ultimate Survival Retreat
o Caching Goods
* How to Get There
o Route Planning
o What to Bring With You

Should you Stay or Go?

Based on the previous section, you should have a good idea of the potential survival situations you might be facing. Now the question is whether to stay and face them or move to another — hopefully safer — location.

We all have a strong desire to protect what’s ours. Regardless of whether you own the largest house in the neighborhood or rent a ramshackle shack, home is where the heart is, not to mention all the rest of your stuff! And Captain Dave knows you’ve worked long and hard to accumulate that stuff, so abandoning it and running for safety may stick in your craw.

Thankfully, there are times when saying at home makes the most sense. If you can wait out the storm, ignore the heavy snow, batten down the hatches against civil unrest or otherwise stay at home during an emergency situation without endangering yourself, it may be your best bet. There are many advantages to staying home in a survival situation, if you can safely do so:

* The food in your refrigerator and pantry can supplement your survival stash (see the next chapter).
* If you loose power, you can quickly cook much of your food and monitor the temperature of your freezer (frozen food will usually keep at least 24 hours).
* You’ll have more time to improve your home’s chances of survival (move items to high ground, put plywood over windows, etc.)
* It offers shelter against most elements.
* You’ll have access to all your clothing, bedding and other comforts.
* You won’t suffer from boredom as much as you might in a shelter.
* You can protect your stuff from looters.

Of course, there’s a downside as well:

* You could be putting yourself in unnecessary, life-threatening danger. (The fire, flood, hurricane, riot, etc. might be worse than anticipated. We’ve all seen TV coverage of people clinging to their roofs as the house washes down stream.)
* If you decided to evacuate later, it may be too late.
* Without heat, electricity, hot water or other services, home just isn’t the same.
* There is no sense of community, unless other neighbors or members of your local survival group stay home, too. You may feel cut off and alone.
* If a mandatory evacuation has been ordered, you may be prosecuted by local authorities (although this rarely happens).

No matter how much you wish to stay at home, there are times when evacuation is the only choice. These include a nuclear, chemical or biological event as well as any impending disaster that is likely to destroy your home. For example:

* If the warning sirens on that nearby chemical plant go off at 3 a.m., you have no choice but to don your gas masks, grab your bug out bag and drive the opposite direction as quickly as possible.
* If you’re beach-front home is directly in the path of a Force 3 hurricane, staying put might show a surplus of guts, but deficit of brains.
* Likewise the time you spend, garden hose in hand, trying to fend off a raging fire that has already burnt out six neighbors might be better spent salvaging your valuables and items with sentimental value.

So, if the survival situations you outlined in the previous section shows several emergency situations requiring evacuation, you’ll need to put together a plan:

The Evacuation Plan

There are several important elements to your evacuation plan:

* Where to go
* How to get there
* What to bring with you

Where to Go

Sure, you can head to the nearest shelter, but if sitting on cots at the local high school gymnasium or National Guard Armory was your first choice, you probably wouldn’t be reading this.

You need a safe house or survival retreat in a location where the current crisis will not threaten you. The easiest way to set up a safe house is to coordinate with a friend or family member located between 100 and 150 miles away, preferably in a different setting. For example:

* If you’re in the inner city, they should be in a rural area or at least a smaller town, preferably not the suburbs of your city
* If you’re near the coast, they should be inland
* If you’re near a flood plain, the safe house should be on higher ground.

Following these guidelines, you can be relatively sure of several things:

* Whatever disaster you are facing should not affect them, and vice versa. This allows you to trade off, so when they are facing a survival situation, your home can be their safe house.
* You’ll be running towards something, not just away from danger.
* You can get there on one tank of gas, even if there is a great deal of traffic (During the Hurricane Opal evacuation in 1995, it was not unusual for a 100 mile trip on the interstate to take four hours).
* You won’t be turned away at the inn (Hotel rooms are quickly filled, and often at inflated prices).

If you plan in advance, you can leave a few changes of old clothes, a toiletries kit, necessary prescription drugs, ammunition, some MREs or anything else you might need at the safe house. This will make your evacuation easier.

While many will find that a friend or relative’s house is the easiest and most cost-effective safe house, the ultimate safe house or survival retreat would be a second residence located in a very rural location. During normal times, this survival retreat can double as your vacation home, hunting lodge or weekend getaway destination. But when the flag goes up, you can evacuate to a safe house fully stocked with everything you need for self sufficiency.

Captain Dave’s ultimate survival retreat would be:

* Well off the beaten track, ideally reachable by a single dirt road. This seclusion will offer you a good bit of protection. For example, you can cut a large tree down across the road to help eliminate unwanted guests.
* Not too ostentatious, so that it doesn’t draw a lot of talk from locals and become a target for vandalism. Nothing wrong with a solid one-room cabin with a sleeping loft.
* Near a spring, well, stream or other natural source of water.
* Equipped with at least one fireplace or wood stove for cooking and heat.
* Within 10 to 20 miles of a village or small town where you can go (by foot, if necessary) for additional supplies, news and other contact with the outside world, should the emergency stretch into months or longer.
* Have enough arable land for growing your own vegetables and other crops.
* Near a natural, easily harvestable food source (usually wildlife for hunting or fishing).
* Provisioned with enough food to keep your family safe for at least three months, preferably a year.
* Provisioned with tools necessary for long-term self sufficiency, should it become necessary.
* Stocked with enough weapons and ammunition to defend it from small groups of marauding invaders, should it come to that.

If you are worried about caching goods in a unattended house, where they could be stolen, you can cache a supply nearby. While most caches are buried in hidden locations, a simple solution to this dilemma is to rent a commercial storage unit in a town close to your retreat. This has several advantages:

* As long as you have access to the facility 24 hours a day (one of those outside storage areas where you use your own lock is best) you can get to your supplies when necessary.
* It will be much easier to make a few trips to and from the nearby storage facility and your safe house than carry everything with you from home.
* It’s easier to check on the status and add materials to this type of cache than one buried in a secluded location.
* In a worst case scenario, you can hoof it to the storage area, spend the night inside and hike back the next day with a full backpack.

Of course, for the ultimate protection, a buried or other hidden cache is hard to beat. The is especially true for the long-term storage of ammunition and weapons that are or may one day be considered illegal. Here are some specifics on establishing this type of a cache.

How to Get to Your Safe House

Whichever option you’ve chosen for your safe house, the best way to get there is by car. It’s convenient (most of us have them), offers some protection, is relatively fast and allows us to carry much more gear than on foot or bicycle.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with taking a train to a safe house in a nearby city. Captain Dave is partial to boats, and even a bus beats walking, but for most, the car is our escape vehicle of choice.

While everyone chooses a car that fits their lifestyle and budget, a large four-wheel drive vehicle is the best bet for evacuating to your safe house. The bigger, heavier the vehicle is, the better. Not only do larger vehicles have greater ground clearance and the ability to ford higher waterways, they offer the most protection and carry the most gear. They also offer you and your passengers better protection in a fender-bender. When the entire city seems to be running from an impending disaster, you don’t want to be stuck on the side of the road because of minor accident.

Four-wheel drive is critical if you need to go off-road to avoid accidents, road blocks or other evacuation-related snafus.

So, since an army surplus army truck is probably out of the question, a large four-wheel drive pick-up with a cap may be the best bug out vehicle available. But the fact is, whatever vehicle (or vehicles) you have at hand is the best bet.

And the old saw about never letting your car’s gas tank get below half makes a lot of sense. Captain Dave also recommends keeping a couple of five gallon tanks of gas on hand “for emergencies.” Even if you use it to fill your tank, carry it with you (strapped to the roof, perhaps) because you never know when you might find more. If you are very serious, you can have a second tank installed in your truck.

And while we’re on the subject of cars, make sure your is is good mechanical condition.

Taking the High Road

One of the most critical factors is route planning. You should have memorized several routes to your safe house or survival retreat and have maps on hand so you can identify alternate routes around accidents or other problem areas. The routes should include:

The fastest, most direct route.

This will be your first choice when you are getting out early, before the crowds. If you’re smart enough to beat the rush, predict an upcoming disruption, or just feel like being far away from any federal buildings on every April 19, you can take your main route.

A back road route.

This may be your best bet when the interstates are clogged with lines of cars all trying to leave “ground zero.” Sure, it would normally take longer, but it in this situation, it may be your best bet.

An indirect route.

There may be a time when you need to get away, but don’t want anyone to know where you’re going. There may come a day when it make sense to go north 200 miles out of your way to end up 150 miles east of your destination. This is also the route to choose if you have reason to believe you may be followed.

What to Bring With You

Captain Dave keeps a bug-out bag in the closet. A bug-out bag is the first — and possibly only — thing you grab when you’re bailing out. When the fire alarm is going off, for example, grab the kids, the bug-out bags and get out.

Bags, you say? Yes, bags. Each member of the family should have his or her own bug out bag.

What should you include in your bug-out bag? Ask 100 people, and you’ll get 100 answers, but here’s what Captain Dave suggests:

Must Haves Nice to Have
At least $500 in cash, including plenty of small bills for incidentals and change for phone calls. (When the power is out, many stores can’t use their cash registers and insist on either exact change or to the closest dollar.) Traveler checks. Gold or silver coins. Dimes, quarters and half-dollars minted before 1965 contain 90 percent silver. A gold Maple Leaf or other large coin may be too big for day-to-day transactions, but smaller gold coins are available.
Spare or duplicate credit cards with plenty of credit available. A bank card for local and national ATMs. (This assumes the electricity is not out.)
A few spare checks and anything that could be used for ID if you do not have your wallet with you. A duplicate drivers license.
A spare set of keys, including car, house, safe-house/survival retreat, storage facility, safe deposit box, etc. You can stash a spare set in your vehicle for emergencies.
A change of clothes, preferably durable heavy-weight clothes that can stand up to abuse. A season-appropriate jacket and other outer gear, such as gloves and hat. Clothes suitable for layering (T-shirt, flannel shirt, etc.).
A pair of old, comfortable, already-broken-in shoes that still have some good miles left in them. A couple pairs of extra socks and at least one change of underwear.
At least a quart of water per person. Juice boxes or pouches.
A few MREs or other easily transportable food items, including some quick snack foods.
Prescription or over-the-counter drugs you rely on. Unfilled prescriptions you can take to a pharmacy anywhere to be filled.
A spare pare of eyeglasses (perhaps your old prescription) and/or contacts and solutions. A duplicate of your standard opthamalic eye-wear and/or a few pairs of daily or extended-wear contacts.
A basic first aid kit, including bandages, an ace-type bandage, aspirin or other analgesic, first-aid cream, alcohol pads, etc. A more advanced first aid kit, including sutures, antibiotics, pain killers, etc.
A phone book listing all important numbers, including friends, family, neighbors, work, school, doctor, insurance, etc. A cellular phone and/or CB radio.
A good work knife and/or Swiss army-type knife. A Leatherman survival tool.
For those so inclined, a basic pistol, such as a revolver chambered for .357 or .38 special, and at least 50 rounds of ammunition. Loaded speedloaders or magazines and a comfortable belt and holster.

Now that you know where to go, how to get there and what to bring when you leave in a hurry, you can take a look at long-term survival planning. The next chapter covers the three basics of any survival plan: Water, food and shelter.

http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/food.htm

Chapter 3: Preparing Your Basic Survival Stash

* Food Storage
* Water Storage and Purification
* Survival Shelters

If you’ve given any thought to survival, you know the big three — food, water and shelter — are the foundation of any long-term survival plan. If you prepare to provide these three items for yourself and loved ones, you’re farther ahead than probably 90 percent of the public.

Many would say water is the most important of the three, but we’ll address them in the order above: Food, water and shelter.

Food Storage

You may be able to survive a few weeks or even a month without food, but why would you want to? Without food, you will become weak, susceptible to illnesses, dizzy and unable to perform survival-related tasks. Sure, water may be more critical to short-term survival, but it’s much easier for even the unskilled survivalist to find water in the wild (the safety and purity of the water is another story, but we’ll tackle that next).

This section will deal with several key areas:

* How much food do you need?
o Why so much food?
o Using and storing traditional, commercial foods
* Rotating foods
o Baking items
* Special “survivalist” foods
* Home-made survival foods
* Hunting and gathering in the wild

How Much Food do you Need?

Here’s the short answer: You can never have too much food stored away for hard times.

How much is the minimum for you and your potential survival situation is an answer you’ll have to come up with after reviewing the table you developed in Chapter 1. (You did do that exercise, didn’t you?)

Will three days of food be enough, as many suggest? Or do you need a year’s worth? Captain Dave can’t tell you what’s best in your situation, but he suggests that two weeks or more is the minimum for anyone in any potential survival situation. One to three months? Now you’re talking. A year? Let’s hope you never need it. A year may be excessive for most, but hey, better safe than sorry (have you heard that one before?) If you’re wondering how you can afford a month’s worth of food, see Chapter 7.

Why should you stock up on so much food if the worst you’re planning to prepare for is a heavy winter storm? Several reasons:

* It may take a while for store shelves to be replenished. Think back to the heavy storms that hit the East Coast in the winter of 1995-96. 30 inches in cities such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia shut the city down for more than a week. And the trucks carrying supplies were stranded on the side of an interstate highway somewhere in the midwest.

* You may be asked to feed friends or neighbors. Think how you’d feel if on the sixth day of the storm you and your family were enjoying a delicious, rich, beef stew while poor old Mrs. Frugal next door was down to a used tea bag and the bread crusts she usually gives the birds? Or what if friends were visiting for the weekend and unable to return home because of the inclement weather, earthquake or other emergency?

* Food rarely goes down in price. What you buy now will be an investment in the future. If you shop carefully over time (see Chapter 7) , you can lay in stores of goods on sale or at warehouse club prices.

* You will be protected from price gouging. Do you really think the last load of milk and bread into the store before the storm hits will be discounted? Shelves are often cleared out right before a blizzard or hurricane is set to hit. And food isn’t the only item likely to be in short supply; one grocery chain reported that when storm warnings went out, they sold more rolls of toilet paper than there were people in the city. Batteries, bottled water, candles and other staples are also going to be in short supply (see the next chapter for more on non-food survival items).

* You will be prepared for a crippling blow to our food supply system. As I write this, many are predicting our food supply is tottering on its last legs. Whether its a drought (like we saw in 1996 in Texas and Oklahoma), a wheat blight, the destruction of traditional honey bees necessary for crop fertilization or simply the world’s exploding population, they will tell you our food system is falling apart. Captain Dave will let you make up your own mind, but wouldn’t a few hundred pounds of red winter wheat and other grains sealed in 5 gallon buckets make you feel better?

Let’s say you decide to start small and plan to stock up a week’s worth of food for your family. While the “survivalist” foods such as MRE’s are a great supplement, you should be able to get by for this short a time (a week or two) on the traditional, commercial foods in your larder.

This existing food reserve should not include food in your refrigerator or freezer because you cannot count on those items remaining edible for more than a day (fridge) or three (freezer), at most. So half a cow or deer in the freezer is great, but you may have to cook, smoke and/or can it on short notice, should the power be out for a long time.

A quick examination of your cupboards and cabinets will tell you how much you need to add to ensure you have enough food for a week. If you have a few packages of pasta, some cans of vegetables, a box of crackers and a jar of peanut butter, you’re halfway there. But if you have a habit of dropping by the deli every time you’re hungry, or shopping for the evening meal on your way home from work (as many single, urban dwellers do), you’ll need to change your habits and stock up.

A detailed list of suggestions and food storage information is available in the Food Storage FAQ but you should generally buy canned (including items in jars) or dried foods. Review our list of commercial food items and their suggested storage times when making up your personal list but keep in mind your family’s eating habits, likes and dislikes. Also, remember that you may not have access to a microwave and other modern conveniences, so pick food items and packaging that can be prepared on a single burner of a camp stove or even over an open fire.

Rotation Systems

The main difference between the commercially prepared foods you buy in the grocery store and the specially prepared “survival” foods is the shelf storage. You can’t store grocery store items for five to ten years, as you can with specially freeze-dried or sealed foods packed in nitrogen or vacuum sealed. As a result, if you go with a larder full of grocery items, you can’t develop your food stash and walk away. You need to rotate your stock, either on an ongoing basis or every two to three months. This will ensure you have fresh food (if you can consider canned and dry food “fresh”) and do not waste your food and money.

There are many systems for rotating your stock:

* Captain Dave finds the easiest is to put newly purchase foods at the rear of the shelf, thus ensuring the oldest food, which will have made it’s way to the front, will be consumed first.

* You can also number food packages with consecutive numbers (a “one” the first time you bring home spaghetti sauce, a “two” the next, etc.) and eat those with the lowest number first.

* If you store your survival stash in a special location, you’ll need to physically remove and replace 20 to 25 percent of it every two months (thus ensuring nothing sits for more than eight or 10 months). The materials you remove should be placed in your kitchen for immediate consumption.

As a general rule, traditional canned foods should be consumed within a year. For cans with expiration dates, such as Campbell’s soups, you may find you have 18 months or two years before they expire. But for cans without a date, or with a code that consumers can’t translate, mark them with the date purchased and make sure you eat them before a year passes.

Generally, canned foods will not “go bad” over time, unless the can is punctured. But the food will loose its taste, the texture will deteriorate, and the nutritional value drops significantly over time.

If you find you have a case of canned peas, for example, that are nine or 10 months old, simply donate the to a soup kitchen, Boy Scout food drive or similar charity. This will keep them from being wasted and give you a tax deductible donation.

Baking

Simple raw materials for baking, such as flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, oil and shortening, can be assets in a survival situation. With these staple items, you can make everything from pancakes or rolls to breading fresh fish.

For those looking for a simpler answer, mixes for muffins, corn bread and pancakes mean you do not need to add eggs or measure ingredients. These ready-made or pre-mixed ingredients can be a boon. Of course, you may need a Dutch oven or griddle for that stove or fireplace.

For long-term survival storage, honey stores for years and can replace sugar in recipes. Rather than storing flour or meal, purchase the raw grain and a hand mill. Then you can mill your own flour whenever necessary. Red winter wheat, golden wheat, corn and other grains can be purchased in 45-pound lots packed in nitrogen-packed bags and shipped in large plastic pails.

Survival Foods

Storing two to four weeks of “commercial” food isn’t too difficult. But when you get beyond that, you really need to look at specialized foods prepared specifically for long-term storage. These generally fall into several categories:

* Vacuum-packed dried and freeze-dried foods
* Nitrogen packed grains and legumes
* Specially prepared and sealed foods such as MRE’s (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) with a five-to-ten year shelf life

All offer one main advantage: long storage life. Some, such as MRE’s and packages sold to backpackers, are complete meals. This is handy and convenient, but they tend to be expensive on a per-meal basis. Others, such as #10 cans (about a gallon) of dried items, are usually ingredients which can be used to prepare a full meal. These ingredients include everything from macaroni elbows or carrot slices to powdered milk or butter flavor. Your best bet is a combination of both full-meal entrees and bulk items.

As the name implies, MRE’s are ideal for a quick, nutritious, easy-to-prepare meal. They are convenient to carry in the car, on a trip or on a hike. They have very long shelf lives (which can be extended by placing a case or two in your spare refrigerator). On the downside, they are very expensive on a per-meal basis and they do not provide as much roughage as you need. (This can lead to digestive problems if you plan to live on them for more than a week or two.)

Large canned goods, on the other hand, are difficult to transport. But if you’re stocking up your survival retreat (see chapter 2) or planning to batten down the hatches and stay at home, the large canned goods are easy to store and can keep you well-fed for months. While individual cans can be purchased, most popular are sets of multiple items. These are designed to provide a specific number of calories per day (they’ll recommend 1,800 per day, but you’ll probably want more) for a set period of time, often three months, six months or a year. Remember, however, if you have four people in your family or survival group, purchasing a one-year supply of food will only equate to three months worth for the family.

Captain Dave recommends purchasing the largest set of these canned, dried foods your budget can handle. Then supplement the set with items tailored to you and your family or survival group. Also, MREs and MRE entrees are excellent supplements, because prepared sets of #10 cans are primarily vegetables, pasta and grains, while MRE entrees are usually meat-based.

You may also want to add a few special items, such as hard candy or deserts, to reward yourself or for quick energy. That’s one area where MREs and MRE deserts can be a great supplemental item. It’s pretty tough to store pound cake or brownies for several years, but the MRE makers have managed it. They also offer crackers and peanut butter, bread and some great side dishes.

While we’re on the topic of supplements, don’t forget to add vitamins and mineral supplements. Fruits, green vegetables and other items rich in vitamin C and other nutrients may be scarce, so a good multi-vitamin is well worth the space it takes up in your stash.

NOTE: Since the guide was written, Captain Dave has started selling long-term survival foods and other related supplies. If you are interested, please visit our Survival Shop.

Home Made Survival Foods

There’s nothing like a cellar full of canned goods you grew and put up. From spaghetti sauce to your own jam, canning goods is a tradition that will come in mighty handy in a survival situation.

But Captain Dave doesn’t pretend to be an expert. Whenever you’re dealing with canning fruits, vegetables or meats, its important to follow the latest specifics from the true experts. (OK, so maybe government isn’t all bad.) See our list of links for canners and others looking to preserve food.

You can also dry, vacuum-pack and otherwise prepare food for storage. Vacuum pumps are available commercially or can be constructed in your own home. You can use them to seal dried food in mason jars and other containers.

When packing foods for storage, you want to eliminate oxygen (which is why a vacuum is so good). Bugs, such as weevils, and other organisms that can destroy your food need the oxygen to live, just as we do. That’s why commercial companies who prepare survival food pack grains, cereals, pasta, beans and other food in nitrogen-filled containers. You can accomplish a similar packaging yourself by using dried ice.

Simply take the 10 pounds of noodles (or 25 pounds of rice or other dried food) you picked up from the warehouse and put them in an appropriately sized plastic bucket with a lid that can create a good seal. The add several chunks of dried ice. As it sublimates, your bucket will fill with carbon dioxide, which will displace all or most of the oxygen (since carbon dioxide is heavier, the oxygen should rise to the top and out of the bucket). Place the lid on the bucket, but don’t seal it all the way until you think the dry ice has completely turned to gas. This is a fine line, since you want to seal it before oxygen starts leaking back into the bucket. Remember, as soon as you open the bucket, whoosh! the air will rush back in.

Hunting and Gathering in the Wild

Image this scenario:

A small nuclear conflict erupts in the Middle East destroying several countries and much of the world’s oil supply. Airbursts knock out more than half of the world’s satellite communications systems. Due to favorable weather conditions and plain dumb luck, fall-out over the United States is not life threatening — as it is in part of Europe, Japan and the Far East — and the EMP damage to our electronic systems is minimal. However life as we know it is disrupted as fuel prices reach $10 and then $20 per gallon.

Fruits and vegetables grown in Florida and California can’t reach markets in other states. Corn and wheat crops are abundant, but farmers don’t have the fuel to run harvesters. And those that do, fill their silos, but the grain can’t reach the market. Store shelves are emptied in two days of panicked buying that sees a five-pound bag of flour go from $1.69 to $8.99.

The economy goes into a tailspin, and inflation reaches 300 percent in the first two weeks. You’re lucky you still have a job, but you wonder how on earth you’ll get there without the car.

The president tries to regain control of the country, by releasing stocks of food and oil, but it’s just a drop in the bucket. In a measure of how bad things have become, he declares marshal law and nationalizes all oil, refineries and oil reserves. Suddenly, Uncle Sam is the only gas station on the block, and they’re not pumping for anybody, no matter how much silver you cross their palms with. Riots break out in seventeen major cities and the national guard has to be called out. LA burns (again) as does Philadelphia. There’s a national curfew and trouble makers are hauled off to camps. 60 Minutes runs a story on these concentration camps, which nobody ever admitted were in existence, but they experience technical difficulties and the broadcast is cut off in the middle of the story. FEMA becomes a four letter word.

Suddenly, the two weeks of food in your larder looks frighteningly small. You wish you had more room on your credit card, but then, smart merchants are only accepting cash. You can’t wait for the few tomato plants and cucumbers you have growing in the back yard to bear. But you know it won’t be enough. Winter is coming, and the papers say the utilities can’t guarantee there will be enough gas or electric to heat peoples’ homes.

Maybe it’s time to look to nature to help feed you. That’s great if you are a farmer or have five or more acres of tillable land. But if not, or if it’s too late to plant crops, that means a return to hunting, trapping and gathering.

If you can identify wild plants that can supplement your existing diet, good for you. If not, better go out and buy a few guide books right away. Get ones with pictures, you’ll need them. Just hope everyone else doesn’t have the same idea, or berry bushes and apple trees will be stripped clean in seconds.

Captain Dave has eaten all sorts of wild plants, from salad greens he probably would have tromped over on any other day to wild mushrooms to the heads of milkweeds (properly prepared, of course). Its not his first choice, but its better than tightening the belt.

Captain Dave supports hunting as a great American past time, an important tool in game management and a terrific source to supplement your traditional menu during these good times. But will it be enough to put food on the table during a survival situation? Don’t count on it.

If you’re a hunter, you know how crowded it usually is on opening day. Could you imagine what the local patch of forest would be like if everyone’s dinner depended on hunting? How quickly would we strip this continent of all edible game? Planning on fishing? So are all your neighbors.

There are some areas of the country where the ratio of people to wildlife will still support sustenance hunting. But for most of us, that’s not the case. You may be able to supplement your food supply with some game, but don’t count on it.

What does Captain Dave recommend you do if the above scenario comes to play?

* At the first hint of trouble and rising prices, visit the local food warehouse and grocery stores and buy as much as you can afford. Get the 50 pound bags of rice and the 25 pound bags of flour. Use your credit cards and part of your emergency cash stash, if necessary.

* Hunker down at home and protect what is yours.

* Keep a low profile and avoid contact with others, except fellow members of your survival group. Avoid trouble and confrontations.

* Hope that within six months the country will have recovered or at least stabilized. If not, the population will probably be a lot smaller when winter is over.

Food Storage and Preservation Links

Food Storage FAQ

This tome is a complete guide to storing food for survival needs. It is much more in depth than the above information. Available in both html for on-screen viewing or as a downloadable file.

Rec.Food.Preserving and Rec.Food.Preserving FAQ

The place to ask questions and learn more about home-preserved foods. According to their charter: Rec.food.preserving is a newsgroup devoted to the discussion of recipes, equipment, and techniques of food preservation. Current food preservation techniques that rightly should be discussed in this forum include canning, freezing, dehydration, pickling, smoking, salting, distilling, and potting. Foodstuffs are defined as produce (both fruits and vegetables), meat, fish, dairy products, culinary and medicinal herbs. Discussions should be limited to home-grown or home-preserved foods.

Here are a few more. The site’s name generally says it all:

Home Canning Tips

Captain Dave’s Survival Shop

Grain Supply Update... By Geri Guidetti

Walton Feed’s Self Reliance Pages

This might be a good time to offer a couple of hints that I learned the hard way.

A Mormon friend was moving out of state and asked if I wanted to come and get her very out of date storage food for the animals and chickens........I came home with a pickup load of it, her entire stash, that she had allowed to “get too old”, it was the old gas packed type of canning and it stinks when you open it.

A month later, I was too sick to hold a job and it was not long until I was opening cans for me.......some were bad, others fine.

I learned to open the can and then let it breathe for a day or two, easy if you put a paper towel over the top.

I also learned to put a pinch of baking soda in it while cooking, to sweeten it.

There were many cans of wheat, that had a 50 % sprout rate when I made sprouts with it, keep in mind that after years in the house, they had been parked in a shed, no cooling in the Arizona heat.

My grandmother always added a teaspoon of sugar to her canned vegetables, said it made them taste sweeter.

This is the same wonderful little Scots lady, that when I asked her how to make cornbread, told me:

“First you buy a box of Cinch CornBread mix”.

http://www.nodoom.com/chapter15to16.html#15

Chapter 15

The Biological Threat

“Mere months before the attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America out of its slumber, millions listened to and preferred to believe, those who told them that they need not rouse themselves, and that all will be well if only they continue to do all the pleasant and profitable and comfortable things they would like to do best.”
- Walter Lippmann

The first recorded instance of biological warfare goes back to 1348 and 1349. The Tartars used catapults to hurl the bodies of black plague victims (yersenia pestis) over the walls into the city of Caffa in the Ukraine. The black plague eventually spread from this city to Europe where it killed one third to one half of EuropeÕs population. Bubonic plague has killed hundreds of millions of people during the span of recorded history. In 1754 American colonists intentionally distributed blankets from people infected with smallpox to the Indians. Due to their lack of immunity, the resulting smallpox epidemic killed 90% of the Indians exposed. Over the next 100 years the epidemic continued to move westward and facilitated the expansion of European populations on the North American continent. The Spaniards likewise brought smallpox and measles to Mexico and South America. The total death toll to Native Americans by white man’s diseases is estimated to have been about 75 million. It was the white man’s diseases more than his technological edge that caused the decimation of the indigenous populations on the North and South American continents.

The Japanese had an extensive biological warfare research program during World War II. Evidence indicates that the Japanese used biological warfare in China against the nationalist forces there.

Chapter 16

Chemical Warfare

Chemical warfare is the use of poison gases and other toxic chemicals in time of war to kill or incapacitate an enemy. Modern nerve gases and chemical warfare agents are a by-product of insecticide research. They are composed of organic chemicals known as organophosphorus compounds that inhibit the production of cholinesterase. These chemicals are widely used for insect control and in higher concentrations they are lethal to mammals.

The Historical Use of Chemical Warfare

Chemical warfare was used extensively during World War I. In 1935, Italy used chemical warfare agents and caused nearly 15,000 casualties in its war against Ethiopia. The Japanese used chemical weapons in their war against the Chinese just prior to World War II. Since 1945, chemical weapons were used in Yemen in 1962, Red China in 1969, Cambodia in 1978 by the Vietnamese, North Vietnam in 1979 to repel the Chinese, Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war starting in 1980, the Soviets in Afghanistan from 1981 to 1990 and in the Ethiopian-Eritrean Civil War by the Soviet bloc forces starting in 1978.

The U.S. used CS and CN tear gas and a hallucinogenic called BZ during the Vietnam War and in Laos in 1975. In its war with Iran, Iraq used mustard gas and the nerve gas agents GA and Tabun. In 1986 Libya used chemical agents against Chadian troops.

Chemical aerial bombs, rockets and artillery shells are inexpensive to produce. Small and efficient processing plants can turn out chemical weapons by the ton.

Effects

Chemical agents usually cause burns, asphyxiation and neurological damage. Symptoms resulting from the exposure to chemical agents include sweating, tearing, excessive salivation, difficulty in breathing, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, convulsion and death.

The psychological effect of chemical agents on troops in the battlefield has proven to have a greater effect than the actual physical danger of the chemical weapon itself. Much of a chemical wea pon’s effectiveness lies in the panic and disorientation it produces in unprotected soldiers and civilians.

Desert Storm and Chemical Warfare

There were rumors circulating after Desert Storm that some U.S. troops had encountered a new type of chemical war gas which penetrated or compromised the current military-issue activated carbon N.B.C. air filters and masks. This chemical agent is purported to be a strain of hydrogen cyanide called, Prussian Blue. It is further alleged that it was developed in the U.S. by a company called Product Ingredient Technology (P.I.T.) of Boca Raton, Florida. This P.I.T. plant was financed and constructed by a Dr. Barbouti of Ishan Barbouti International (I.B.I.) who also built the Pharma-150 chemical-biological complex at Rabta, Libya. P.I.T. exported Prussian Blue to Iraq a year or so before the Persian Gulf War.

An informant, Peter Kawaja, who tried to alert the federal government about P.I.T. was raided in 1990 by eight heavily armed federal agents who removed evidence, tapes and documents not only implicating the involvement of foreign agents but also high ranking U.S. government officials. The evidence has been sealed by a federal magistrate under the guise of “national security.”

The Ongoing Russian Chemical Weapons Program

The Soviet war machine places a high priority on the use of chemical warfare agents. As much as 30 percent of the Soviet Union’s arsenal is related to chemical warfare.

The October 27, 1992 edition of the Washington Post had an article which gave some new insight into the Soviet chemical warfare program: “A scientist who objected to what he calls Russia’s ongoing development of chemical weapons has been jailed for allegedly revealing state secrets. The arrested scientist, Vil Mirzayanov, had earlier stated in an article appearing in the Moscow News that Russia has been pursuing research on a new, more toxic chemical weapon.” This is a nerve gas called Novichok which is five times as deadly as conventional nerve gases. It is purported that 40,000 tons of Novichok is enough to kill all human life on earth. This alleged development runs counter to the public statements of President Yeltsin, who has urged a global ban on such chemical armaments. According to the Washington Post article, this new Russian chemical weapon is “more toxic than anything in the U.S. arsenal. The new weapon was tested in early 1992 in Uzbekistan.”

What compounds the seriousness of this development is the fact that the Soviet military strategy relies heavily on the use of chemical warfare agents

Tactical Use and Limitations

The use of chemical warfare is limited by the excessive bulk of the chemical agents. This restricts the size of the area which chemical agents can be applied to. Weather, wind and the practical limitations of dispersal would generally limit chemical weapons to use against concentrated targets as opposed to large geographical areas. Chemical weapons can be very effective against troop concentrations, military facilities, fortifications and highly populated areas. Chemical agents do not pose much of a threat to a geographically dispersed civilian population.

Having chemical weapons in a nation’s stockpile deters the enemy from using its weapons on that nation. The United States has unilaterally destroyed much of its chemical weapons stockpile, which has weakened the deterrent factor in recent years.

Known Chemical Warfare Agents

NERVE AGENTS

Tabun (GA) - cholinesterase inhibitor

Sarin (GB) - cholinesterase inhibitor

Soman (GD) - cholinesterase inhibitor

GP - cholinesterase inhibitor

Thickened Soman (GD or VR-55) - cholinesterase inhibitor (U.S.S.R.)

Thickened Soman (VX) - cholinesterase inhibitor (U.S.)

Yellow Rain - Unknown compound that causes bleeding and rapid death. May include mycotoxins produced by the genus Fusarium fungi.

Black Rain - Unknown compound that causes instant death; used by U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan.

Novichok - Recently developed choline sterase inhibitor (U.S.S.R.). May affect human genes and thus damage could be genetically transmitted to offspring.

BLISTER AGENTS

Ethyldichlorarsine (ED) - blister agent

Lewisite (L) - irritates nasal passages, causes skin and membrane burns,
poisonous.

Mustard (H, HID, HS) - causes skin and membrane inflammation, blindness

Phosgene Oxime (CX) - destroys skin and membrane tissue

BLOOD AGENTS

A blood agent is absorbed into the body through the lungs where it is then picked up by the blood and carried to the rest of the body.

Arsine Trihydride (SA) - causes gasping and choking, asphyxiation

Cyangen Chloride (CK) - causes convulsions, asphyxiation

Hydrogen Cyanide (AC) - causes convulsions, gasping, choking, asphyxiation

Hydrogen Cyanide (PB) Penetrates current issue U.S. military gas masks. Allegedly used against U.S. forces by Iraq during Persian Gulf War. Causes convulsions, gasping, choking, asphyxiation

CHOKING AGENTS

Chlorpicrin (PS.) - causes severe coughing, lung edema, choking, asphyxiation

Chlorine (CL) - causes severe coughing, choking, skin and membrane burns, asphyxiation

Phosgene (CG) - causes severe coughing, choking, asphyxiation

TEAR GASES

Tear gases cause eyes to smart and tear and irritate nerves in mucous membranes including nose, mouth, throat and airway.

Brombenzylcyanide (CA) - long acting

Chloracetophenone (CN) - short acting

Chloracetophenone in Chlorpicrin (CS)

Dibenz (CR)

NAUSEA GASES

Adamsite (DM) - arsenic compound, causes sneezing, nausea and depression

Diphenylchlorarsine (DA) - causes sneezing, nausea and depression

OTHER

Buzz (13Z) - Hallucinogenic LSD derivative (U.S.)

Blue X - Unknown composition. Incapacitating variously estimated for 1-2 and 8-12 hours (U.S.S.R.)

Protecting Yourself from Chemical Warfare Agents

The only way to protect yourself from chemical agents such as nerve gases, CN, mustard gas and others when you are outside in the open is the use of a protective suit and a military grade activated carbon gas mask. The suit has to be airtight, and the mask must fit snugly and filter all air through canisters of chemicals that deactivate the chemical agent being used.

These suits and masks are used for hazardous materials handling and can be obtained from safety supply companies. The military has special chemically impregnated suits which are very expensive and difficult to obtain. When worn, these suits are hot, claustrophobic and clumsy. It is hard to manipulate equipment or to walk or run. Exertion produces more body heat, which increases the discomfort. Visibility is limited by the lens openings on the face of the gas masks which also tend to steam up. Hearing is reduced by the thick material of the hood.

The clumsy handicap which this protective equipment creates was verified by military experience in combat training exercises where soldiers had to wear chemical protection equipment. The obstructed vision resulted in poor visual target indemnification and 25 percent casualties to “friendly fire.”

Airtight shelters with the right carbon air filtration filters are the best protection. Maintaining a positive air pressure inside the shelter, slightly above normal pressure, insures that chemical agents will not leak into the shelter.

Breathe No Evil, by Stephen Quail and Duncan Long, is probably the most comprehensive book on the subject of chemical and biological agents available to civilians today. This book can be obtained from Safe-Trek Publishing, 90 Safe-Trek Place, Bozeman, MT 59715, (800) 424- 7870.

History of Biological Warfare

The first recorded instance of biological warfare goes back to the 1300s. The Mongol army used catapults to hurl the bodies of plague victims over the walls into the city of Caffa in the Ukraine. The plague eventually spread from this city to Europe where it killed one third to one half of Europe’s population. The early New England colonists intentionally distributed blankets from people infected with smallpox to the Indians. The white man’s diseases, more than his technological edge, resulted in the decimation of the indigenous populations of the North and South American
continents.

The Japanese had an extensive biological warfare research program during World War II. Evidence indicates that the Japanese used biological warfare in China against the nationalist forces there.

Plagues are not something strictly relegated to the ancient past. The influenza of 1918 killed over 20 million people throughout the world, including vast numbers in the United States.

Global Government and Biological Warfare

Dangerous new organisms have been produced in laboratories and at least one has been released upon an unsuspecting and defenseless world. There is substantial evidence indicating that AIDS is the direct and intentional product of the global government’s population control program. It is well documented that the outbreak of AIDS was caused by the U.N. World Health Organization’s immunization of central Africans with a contaminated smallpox vaccine. Every person who was immunized developed AIDS. The origin and spread of AIDS has nothing to do with green monkeys. AIDS is a synthetically created virus.

It was discovered that between 1976 and 1985 some of the oral polio vaccines in the United States were made from a virus which was grown on the kidney tissues of African green monkeys. This resulted in the contamination of the vaccines with simian retroviruses. These retroviruses were found to cause leukemia and cancerous tumors in laboratory animals.

We are periodically seeing new reports of strange diseases and viruses appearing out of nowhere. The real possibility exists that some of these are perhaps being created and intentionally released into the world as part of the global population reduction scheme.

Gulf War Bio Warfare

Research done by Drs. Garth and Nancy Nicolson of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer center resulted in the discovery of micoplasma incognitus as the cause of Gulf War syndrome. Normal laboratory blood tests do not detect micoplasma incognitus. The only way to detect this micoplasma is to use a sensitive genetic marker analysis. Even with this method it is still difficult to detect because it is found mainly inside the cells and not in body fluids like a conventional bacteria.

Micoplasma incognitus causes chronic fatigue, recurring fever, night sweats, joint pain, stomach upsets, stomach cramps, headaches, skin rashes, heart pain, kidney pain, thyroid problems, and in extreme cases, autoimmune-like disorders. The effects of micoplasma incognitus are suppressed by the antibiotic doxycycline but it does not cure the underlying disease.

The big question is how did such a wide spectrum of U.S. service personnel, including some who never left the U.S., contract micoplasma?

Almost all military personnel who participated in the Gulf War were inoculated with one or more mysterious vaccines. The standard F.D.A. approval sequence for this vaccine, as determined by the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, was bypassed. The DOD could legitimately give these drugs as an “Investigational New Drug,” but only after informing a person of the potential risks and benefits, and giving them the freedom to choose whether or not to participate.

Interviews of Persian Gulf War veterans indicates that immunizations were mandatory and were given without informing personnel of the risks involved. In some cases individuals were ordered under threat of court martial not to discuss the vaccinations they received with anyone including their physicians.

Persian Gulf War veterans were administered botulism toxoid, pyridostigmine and in some cases anthrax vaccine. One survey indicated that as much as 90 percent of the veterans have suffered illness since serving in the Gulf war, and as many as 10,000 have died as a result. Interestingly enough 700,000 service-related immunization records have inexplicably disappeared and now blood samples from some sick veterans are showing traces of a compound called squalene, a component of an experimental HIV immunization.

Starting in December of 1997, the U.S. Department of Defense started inoculating all members of the armed forces with anthrax vaccine. Tests have determined that this vaccine is only marginally safe and that it provides little or no protection from airborne anthrax, Airborne anthrax is the only form of anthrax which can be effectively used in bio-warfare.

Conclusion

The bioengineering of new viruses and the subsequent creation of incurable diseases poses a significant threat to life on this planet. Evidence would indicate their creation and application is part of a global population reduction program.

Required reading on this subject is the book, Emerging Viruses – AIDS & Ebola by Dr. Leonard Horowitz, (800) 336-9266, Web
http://www.tetrahedron.org/horowitz.htm

Information on Gulf War Sickness can be obtained from Captain Joyce Riley of the American Gulf War Veterans Association, (800) 231-7531, E-mail gulfwar@flash.net Web http://www.gulfwarvets.com/links.htm