All Things Prepping, Simple Living, Back to the Basics [Survival Today, an on going thread]

vanity | 2/26/18 | CottonBall

[CottonBall]

I’ve been missing the vast amount of information on prepping, survival, camping, simple cooking, the old ways of doing just about everything – all the things nw_arizona_granny knew so much about and shared with us, along with numerous other posters with a vast array of skills and knowledge.

We have our various related-threads here, a recipe thread, a gardening thread, and even a prepper thread. They are all great and I don’t mean to take anything away from those and the hard work their owners put in.

But I was missing a place to talk about ALL those things, to get the camaraderie that we used to have on granny’s thread.

I learned how to can on those threads! The pressure canner was not my friend, I thought, but I bought one and stared at it for a month, intimidated. Then I read the directions for another month. But with the help and encouragement of posters on granny’s threads, I jumped in and now have my very own food storage room in the basement with lovely jars of shelf-stable meats, vegetables, and fruit. When we moved, I fashioned my food storage room – and insisted upon having a basement – from what I learned on her threads. Getting started gardening was from her threads. Making my own cleaning products….the list is endless.

So I thought I would take the chance and start another comprehensive prepper thread and see how it goes. I used to have granny’s ping list since I made one of the threads for her, but alas, with numerous computer changes, I cannot find it. So please pass this onto any posters you think might be interested.

We’ll just keep it running until..whenever. Granny created a new thread at 10,000 posts or so. I do like the idea of having ONE thread to go to – because often I cannot find or keep track of the weekly threads. I won’t be posting lots of recipes or tidbits myself – to any mods concerned about the size of this thread. I’d just like a place to chat, post questions, post ideas, make new prepping friends.

Here are granny’s threads, if anyone wants to peruse them:

nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #1

nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #2

nw_arizona_granny’s Thread #3

[Nailbiter]

#589 for later

[Flaming Conservative]

I think it’s for a kind of sourdough flavor. I have since then, always added a little vinegar to bread ingredients. It possibly increases it’s shelf life.

[V K Lee]

Cayenne does sting but found that was a minor discomfort. No worse than Mecurachrome or Merthiolate (forget which caused a burning sensation when used; LOL that was years ago)
Never tried this with the turmeric

[CottonBall]

I’ll have to try adding some to my sourdough bread. My starter is remarkably unsour

[V K Lee]

The gift that keeps on giving :-) Friendship starter always brings to mind “The Little Shop of Horrors”. The living plant was always complaining: “Feed Me” “Feed Me” “Feed Me”

The starter gift was enjoyed for a time, but eventually the entire batch was used and never replaced. Years later made my own starter which actually worked out well. Then life interfered and that starter, too, became a poor neglected child. Nothing better on a winter day than fresh bread popping out of the oven.

Somewhere, in some drawer are several pages of Friendship starter recipes which will be found (hopefully).

[CottonBall]

I’m not sure I could deal with one for long, since I tend to get distracted and move on to other hobbies. It works well for me to keep my sourdough starter in a mason jar in the fridge. If I forget about it for a couple weeks, it can be revived. Keeping it at room temperature would surely lead to its demise!

But if I make some thinking about one or two time use, I can probably handle that :-) it certainly looks very versatile.

[Iron Munro]

WAX PAPER AND PROGRESS

I went through elementary school starting from the mid-1940’s.
It was a small town school for Kindergarten and grades 1-6 with 1 class of 20 or 30 kids for each grade.

In those days all the kids brought lunches in paper bags with sandwiches and other foods wrapped in wax paper (or sometimes newspaper).
Kids brought every kind of sandwich and lunch food item you can think of: PB&J, tuna, ham, egg salad, cold chicken, left-overs of all kinds.

There was no cafeteria and no refrigeration for the lunches.
There was no plastic wrap, aluminum foil or Tupperware.
No Superman lunchboxes with little plastic vacuum bottles.
Everything was wrapped in paper and kept at room temperature all morning.

Lunches were kept in the book compartment under the old style combination desk/chair until lunch time.
Then we ate lunch in the same seat in the same classroom where we spent the rest of the day.

After lunch we cleaned up and threw the trash away but kept the paper bag to bring home for mom to reuse and reuse again.
Then we had an outside recess period in the school playground.
The playground was just a lot with a set of swings and a big metal slide.
The swings were always busy but the slide didn’t get very much use.
The surface got so dirty from the rain, dust and exposure that you couldn’t really slide down it.

Then one day one of the kids discovered that you could clean and polish the slide surface with wax paper and make it as slick as goose grease.

After that we all saved our wax paper from lunch and would swarm all over that slide, rubbing and polishing like mad with left over sandwich wrappers.

Then we would sit on a piece of left over wax paper and shoot down that slide like we were shot from a gun.

When I got out of high school the same swing set and slide were still there in the old elementary school playground.
But they had a new building addition with a cafeteria and no one brought sandwiches wrapped in wax paper to polish the slide with.

[Melian]

Sounds amazing... Will try it!

[CottonBall]

Those sound like delightful times, thank you for sharing.

I remember watching the Waltons once and being surprised that John boy had his sandwiches wrapped in folded wax paper. I didn’t realize at the time that that was all that was available!

everything was kept at room temperature and still everyone survived? I imagine that!

Pretty neat about the wax paper usage. Those were the days when children were allowed to be inventive. I bet you even created your own games on the playground, not needing expensive video games to be entertained with!

[Mears]

“I remember watching the Waltons once and being surprised that John boy had his sandwiches wrapped in folded wax paper. I didn’t realize at the time that that was all that was available!”

---

I love wax paper.

I used it for my kidslunches back in the 60s and 70s——never plastic bags——and I still use it.

I detest plastic sandwich bags.

.

.

[CottonBall]

oops I should’ve warned everyone about not using an enameled cast iron pan for the no knead bread! Although the New York Times recipe suggests it, it can ruin your pan. Those pans don’t do well at high heat in the oven. The interior tends to get those minute cracks that looks so ugly In the white or off-white enamel. I learned this the hard way :-(

I would either use a regular cast-iron Dutch oven or in the absence of that, I have used A pie pan with parchment paper in the bottom and then I cover it loosely with foil. It worked pretty well! The loaf rose so well that the foil rose up and separated from the pie pan. So don’t crimp it underneath the pan edges. And then peel the foil off carefully after baking.

[CottonBall]

I sliced my finger up last week using one of those super sharp Japanese knives to cut up a cardboard box. Yeah, what was I thinking?

It was a jagged cut and wasn’t healing well. So I made a paste with turmeric powder, put it on it, and within two days I could go without a Band-Aid. After that it healed really quick.

[V K Lee]

The starter here in Texas was named “Herman” (unable to remember the man eating plant’s name in “Little Shop....”

Found some Herman recipes in one drawer for different goodies and will post later. Time for bed at the moment. In the meantime, try these sites for different Herman variety breads and such:
ALL RECIPES - Herman Pancakes
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17214/herman-pancakes/

YUMMLY - dinner rolls, coffeecake, doughnuts, cinnamon rolls,
https://www.yummly.com/recipes/herman-sourdough

[Aliska]

One I saved a long time ago:

http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2013/04/no-knead-crusty-artisan-bread.html

This one looks great, looks like that foccacia I used to buy a lot at the store that had lots of grated Asiago cheese scattered on the top. Called them and talked to a baker. Said they just put the cheese on B4 baking, no special treatment to get it kind of bubbly looking. It's shaped long, wider and flatter.

http://www.bearnakedfood.com/2015/12/16/no-knead-crusty-artisan-bread/

For the ones that look the best go to google images and put in no-knead crusty artisan bread

I don't know if I would like all whole wheat bread but it's like you said, the berries keep and easier to store than white flour. Think I'd like at least 2/3 whole wheat and 1/3 white at the least though. The white look more appetizing to me but whole wheat is a lot better nutritionally.

If I ever remember to get some fresh, quick rise yeast, I would love to try it.

You sound busy! Tnx for the ping.

[CottonBall]

Audrey II

you got me wondering so i had to google it ;)

[V K Lee]

Used cayenne on a burn which blistered and broke. Middle finger close to the joint on hand. This was last week. Today it feels as good as new. LOL almost forgotten it, it worked so well.

Researched cayenne and it’s positive results for heart conditions.
http://vkool.com/how-to-get-rid-of-plaque-in-arteries/

https://jonbarron.org/heart-health-program-learn-how-reverse-heart-disease-problems-naturally

http://www.wellnessnova.com/2016/05/9-ways-cayenne-pepper-heals-you/

[CottonBall]

I bought a cayenne salve a while ago from Dr. Christophers. It was supposed to be good for pain and deep tissue issues.

But I think the cayenne tincture had a lot more uses, it was good for healing, and like you said heart attacks also. Interesting.

[CottonBall]

You know, I hadn’t thought about it until I saw your post. Plastics, and especially heating food in plastics, is possibly adding chemicals to our food. So wouldn’t plastic bags and plastic wrap be the same? I’ll bet waxed paper doesn’t have those same issues.

What kind of things do you use wax paper for. I am probably not appreciating it as much as I should. I did compare the prices once, and per square inch it is cheaper than either foil or plastic wrap.

[CottonBall]

Those look good, nice and Holly!

I love the idea of putting the asiago on top. I’m sure that makes it a lot more appealing, and fancy looking. And tasty of course. I’ll have to remember that trick.

Looks like the second loaf has the cheese mixed in it. I would like to try that, along with some jalapeño slices. When we were in California we went to Schat’s bakery, and they had the best jalapeño cheese bread! I’m probably spelling the name of the bakery wrong. Anyway people came from miles around to buy their bread. I tried to replicate it but never got it right. It’s been so long ago I don’t remember what it was like, so anything I make will be good enough, right?

[CottonBall]

Here’s a picture of some little no-knead baguettes that I made. The recipe was real similar to the ones I posted, except at the end you just roll them into oblong shapes. And of course slashing the “ears” is important, see how much they spread? And then the little edges of them get nice and crusty.

The pictures I posted previously came from the Internet. These are actually my own! I was like a proud mama, and had to take pictures :-)

It was cooked on the lid of a lodge combo unit. For the first 20 minutes you keep the bottom part of the combo unit on top of it, and that creates the right environment for it to rise, have steam, all that good stuff. In the last 10 minutes you take the cover of So it will brown.. Everything is at about 500° so be super careful. See how brown that parchment paper got?





Click on the pictures to enlarge them. If anyone’s interested I will post the recipe. I got it off of YouTube, so I had to write the directions down as I was watching. They are tiny, as you can tell that they are sitting on just a 10 inch lid. But I thought I might be able to figure out how to make a large sized French baguette using the same recipe.