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

CottonBall

[CottonBall]

This is an ongoing thread – meaning come back to chat, post information, or ask questions any time. Hopefully the thread won’t stagnate and I’ll do better at posting weekly (or bi-weekly) topics than I have in the past. (anyone willing to post a topic now and then we'll be highly praised and appreciated).

We are in for some bumpy rides, and prepping can only help. If for peace of mind, if nothing else. We have a wonderful gardening thread and a current-events survival/prepping thread, and hopefully this one can piggyback off of those, maybe having a longer discussion about certain topics or … whatever. It's your thread, do what you like with it! (civilly, of course)

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

[Diana in Wisconsin]

So, are you telling us to 'stick a fork in it' CB? LOL! :)

I have always used Ball or Kerr canning jars. I've had exactly ONE jar fail in decades, so I'm sticking with what works.

I DO save any 'pretty' commercial jars I happen to come across and use those for Freezer Jams that I'm going to give as gifts. They're pretty abundant at my local Thrift Shops, too, and Dollar Tree usually has some interesting jars for cheap.

When I can find any 'Bonne Maman' jars, I grab them! So pretty!

And if you're trying to stop using plastic food containers and switching over to glass, those screw-on lids for Mason jars are great. Yes, they're plastic, but they're not touching your food and they are convenient. Check Walmart or Amazon.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

This woman has a great summary of all kinds of lids for canning:

https://www.simplycanning.com/canning-jar-lids/

[CottonBall]

Have you heard of the Consumer Goods Cartel?
(hat tip to Ms.Behavin) ...

Think you’re buying from all these different companies when you shop at the store?

...

You’re really buying from the same 11 companies aisle after aisle:


So just a few companies have control of our entire food supply, scary

https://wltreport.com/2024/02/18/survey-says-do-you-know-who-owns-annies/

[LilFarmer]

CB - thanks for this detailed research! My grandmother and MIL always reused jelly jars to can jelly. I have always stuck to the ball jars but its good to know there are some options.

I do reuse glass jars often for things like spices, dried foods and beans, I just don’t can them.

Iron - Great reminder. Also, don’t take those jars out of the hot water too soon either! Whether pressure canning or water bath, I started leaving my jars in there until the water was room temp. I get a lot less breakage

[metmom]

VT has historically been. It was the first in the country.

There are maps of carry laws over the decades and how they have changed. I’m not sure how to find that one, but it is very interesting.

[bgill]

Cut the tv cable
Eat at home, rarely go out
Cook at home from scratch
Look up simple recipes
Don’t waste any leftovers
Wear an apron to save staining clothes
Eat more greens, meat is expensive
Drink water
Make coffee at home
Learn baking skills, don’t purchase
Eat more filling food – beans, lentils, potatoes, corn
Substitute ingredients with those on hand
Reuse, recycle old containers
Buy in bulk but only what you can eat – freeze, fridge pickles, peserves or home can
Home garden, herbs on the windowsill
Preserve food
Bake bread – only if less expensive than store bought, thin sliced cheaper than buns
Learn to diy home improvements, car maintenance,and repairs.
Full pantry – don’t make extra trips to store
Unit price – store brands usually better priced, don’t rely on store unit price
Downsize property
Use reusable cloth products – not paper towels
Exercise at home
Learn to sew, mend clothing, save notions, recyle, reuse, don’t throw out
Line dry laundry
Raise a/c temp, lower heat
Empty tubes of toothpaste and rinse out food containers, etc.
Use scrap paper
Remove light bulbs from multi lights
Free entertainment
Use cash to eliminate over use of credit cards and today’s card fees
Delay purchases - you forget you wanted/needed it.. Save for purchase.
Cut hair at home
Eliminate clutter but don’t throw out what can be reused, recycled, repurposed or given away.
Give handmade gifts
Swap or barter items
Shop thrift and second hand
Invest in classic clothing, not fads
Try natural remedies
Public library, online free books and movies
Be content with what you have
Don’t buy scented candles
You don’t need a warehouse of cosmetics or nails
Keep lawn watered and mowed so it isn’t taken over by weeds or gets snakey. Mow over autumn leaves. Don’t bag cuttings or leaves as that’s free fertilizer.

***

How much food goes into the trash? That is money in the trash. Even with today’s prices, people can budget meals for each family member to $5/day without ever eating beans and rice or pasta but good meat and veg sides.

Never ever throw out anything that can be eaten or repurposed. Mend clothing rather than tossing it. Lose weight (calorie deficit is the best and no cost diet) to fit into your already bought and paid for clothes and no one on that tight a budget ever needs that oh so cute pair of new shoes or scented candles or more beauty products. Youtube has appliance repair videos so learn to fix it yourself. Never eat out!!!

Use lids or saucers instead of wasting foil and plastic wrap.

Never drain canned veg down the sink as that is “free” veg stock. Freeze it in repurposed containers and you’ll never have to buy stock again. Same with meat stock by freezing the cooked liquids and boiling the bones. Same with the liquid off fruit which can be turned into ice cream topping or top a bit on homemade pie/cookie dough or make popcicles or add to tea or koolaid. Veg or meat liquids can replace milk in gravy - and make it from scratch rather than buying gravy/mix. Use those liquids instead of water to cooking rice and pasta to get extra nutrients.

Fry/bake chicken skins for chicharones. When making chicken and dumplings, use the boiled skins, mashed with a fork or fingers, as the fat in dumplings. Save bacon grease and freeze any leftover bacon slices. Freeze all meat fats. Use the drippings to flavor another dish or add some fat to make gravy.

Make as much as possible from scratch. Dozens of batches of homemade yogurt is a no brainer which can be incubated in the oven in a quart jar (no lid in the oven) with only the purchase of a small container of store bought with live cultures and your batches chained. Yogurt can be used as a sub for milk/cream in everything and drained for a baked a cheese cake. Add a bit of powdered jello mix before incubating for flavoring.

An exception to the make from scratch rule currently is store brand cheap bread is more cost effective than homemade. OTOH, do make specialty breads from scratch if it fits in the budget - 6 Schlotzsky original sandwiches can be made at home for the price of 1 at the drive thru. Make the no kneed easy as nothing buns and bake in little 6” pyrex pie plates or those little corningware sauce pans to make it look like the real thing or bake it in whatever size/shape pan you already have and cut it into portions to serve. There are recipes for every restaurant online so there is no need to ever waste a week’s pay on fast food or going out.

Veg liquids can be frozen any which combination or separated for special recipes. Pea liquid may be too strong flavorwise for much more than one draining into a large freezer container for soup so freeze it separate for the liquid in pea soup which, of course, you saved a ham bone, too. Beet liquid can be frozen by itself and used in borsch soup or baking a chocolate cake or to turn white cakes and homemade flour tortillas and Easter eggs pink. You can make an entire batch of flour tortillas or Asian wraps for the cost of a couple store bought ones (ignore any recipe calling for baking powder because these are “flat” breads, duh). OK, maybe not save liquid from sauerkraut. Uses for leftover pickle juice are popcicles/snow cone for the kids, add a cup or more to a crockpot roast pork with onion, or if you’re out of pickles and need to flavor a potato salad, pickle some refrigerator cukes or vegs, or use as a sub for vinegar in homemade drain cleaner (yeah, down the drain!).

Remember to cut blossom end off cukes when canning as the enzimes will cause limp pickles. Add a couple grape or oak leaves to jar to help make crispy.

Rinse out cans and bottles to get every last bit of food out. Save the dregs of condiment bottles in fridge to rinse and use in a dish. Heat jelly or gelled items to pour out easier.

When making more coffee the same day, continue using the same filter and add a wee bit less new grounds to the old grounds.

Save every teeny little spoon of leftovers. At the end of the week, clean out the fridge for a whole extra family meal and top a homemade pizza dough with leftovers or stuff them inside homemade dough for empanadas or dumplings or a soup or casserole or stir fry. Put the last bit of meat into a food processor and add mayo, pickles and onions to make a sandwich spread. Don’t let anything rot in the fridge, use it or freeze it. Rotate the pantry but if there are loooong expired items (expiration dates don’t mean much to anyone but the company) in the pantry, set them on the counter so they’re in your face to use immediately.

When making jelly, get as much pulp off seeds and skins and use leftover pulp to make butters.

Zest all citrus for free zest. Let dry on a saucer on kitchen counter and store in old spice jars.

Save and dry produce seeds on a saucer on kitchen counter and store in paper envelopes. Freeze if possible. Roast pumpkin seeds for a snack.

Grow a “kitchen garbage” garden and herbs on sunny windowsill. Ask friends for herb cuttings.

If a potato has a green area, cut off that part, let is scab over and plant.

When slicing onions, cut off all the edible bits around the stem and root. If an onion goes bad, plant it. Run paper dry onion skins through processor and store in large recycled spice containers for use in dishes.

Save and freeze the stems and skins of produce to use in broths.

Make cheaper substitutions of ingredients when cooking. Use water instead of milk. Cut the sugar in half. Fluffy pancakes only require baking soda and no eggs or fruit to make them fluffy. Tortillas are flat breads so ignore baking soda found in many of today’s recipes = flour, water, fat.

Ask neighbors for the drops of fruit or nut trees. Get off your backside (me!) and pick all from your own trees. Preserve them. Sell or trade.

[bgill]

No need to buy yogurt starter. Next time you’re cutting up a hot or sweet pepper, freeze the stems and caps. Pull any of the flesh off. Use 6, ymmv, stems and caps per quart of heated/cooled milk product and incubate as usual.

I’ve gone through various methods of incubation and settled on the oven. Heat it on the very lowest temp for 60 seconds and turn off. Put a qt canning jar in without the lid. Turn the oven on the lowest temp. and count to 60 maybe twice and turn it off throughout the incubation. It gels up nicely in 6 hours so less time than other methods I’ve used and has very very little whey. If you need to use the oven, just put the jar back in once it’s cooled down so easy peasy. Regular store bought milk, whipping cream (!), powdered, etc. works.

The first batch will taste slightly of the pepper but the chains will taste like plain yogurt. I like the jalapeno taste over the bell pepper. The first batch can be frozen in ice trays and used as starters so those future batches won’t taste of pepper. Or use that first batch in a veggie dip or drain (very little whey with the oven method) to use as the cream cheese in a savory cheese cake.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Interesting! Thanks for the input. Still deciding which ‘whey’ I’m going to go with making yogurt. ;)

[bgill]

I HAVE to have a washing machine at home. Many years ago, I was nearly abducted in a laundromat by a man and woman. Never again. The future Mr. b bought me a little friend. After that, I did the laundry in the sink or took it to a wash and fold until I moved to a place that had washer/dryer hook ups.

[bgill]

which leaves us our winner…. Hinsdale County, Colorado

Good to know. Now everyone and their cousin will be moving there so that's off my list. Think I'll stay where I am even though it's now been found, too.

[bgill]

You don’t remember glass mayo jars? You must be young. I remember my cousin once dropped the spoon in the mayo jar and it hit the bottom causing the entire bottom to break around the base. Weird.

He was the one who got married young and called everyone crying because they were starving. Someone went over and found they had a chicken in the freezer but neither of them knew what to do with it, smh.

We had a neighbor, a retired Navy guy (claimed he was an admiral - not, and would hang the flag upside down), who’s wife asked my grandpa how to cut up a chicken. He told her to draw and quarter it. That’s exactly what she did. She drew it on a paper and quartered it with lines. Grandpa, the nicest man ever, said he’d be right over. He just propped the drawing up, studied it and proceeded to cut up the chicken for her. Stupid doesn’t consider age. Young and old can be stupid.

[bgill]

I used to have a 100+ page (not a typo) list of all the companies on my ban list. Would sometimes paste here. Obviously it got too long and I don’t shop much anywhere so when it died with an old computer, well, bye.

Since there is only Wally World and HEB in the whole county, I’m going to one stop shop at Walmart. Not happy with HEB for a million and one reasons. Aside from them shorting orders and not refunding, the current ick is they do a lot of their store brand manufacturing in Mexico. Not that everyone else does too but it’s front and center with them.

[bgill]

I had to learn to cook very young. My grandmother would let me use up her oldest canned jellies and preserves in cookies. Oh my, tomato preserves were the best! Betty Crocker’s Filled Cookies recipe is perfect. Cut 2 rounds (top and bottom) and put a spoon of preserves in between. They’re much better than pop tarts and not so sweet. Great for grab and go breakfasts or snacks.

1/2 C shortening
1 C sugar
2 eggs
2 T cream (water)
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 C flour
1/4 t soda (use baking powder)
1.2 t salt

chill, roll out, cut into shapes (circle or square), fill and top with another piece of dough and seal edges. Jelly will leak out but preserves and fruit butters do better.

Bake 400 (350) for 8-10 minutes.

[LilFarmer]

Yum! Thanks for that recipe!

[CottonBall]

That is a beautiful jar, I love the red and white checkered pattern on the lid.

I collect pretty jars also, they’re very festive to have around filled with whatever I find.

[CottonBall]

Very interesting, thanks for the link. She also had some links to other pages about canning jars.

“Classico Jars they are nice and thick; they seem just as heavy, if not heavier, than Mason jars. But the company says, “No, do not reuse these for home canning.” Bummer…but this is what they say on their website. Just saying…

This is what she said about using pasta sauce jars:

“Can I reuse the Classico® jar for home canning?
No. A coating is applied at the glass plant to reduce scratching and scuffing. If scratched, the jar becomes weaker at this point and can more easily break. This would increase the risk of the jar breaking when used for canning. Also, the lighter weight of our current jar could make it unsafe for home canning. Classico FAQ”

[CottonBall]

I’m still going through your posts of treasures, wonderful advice. It reminds me so much of what granny would post. ;(

Mind if I copy it and use it as a topic one week?

[CottonBall]

Use lids or saucers instead of wasting foil and plastic wrap.

Use reusable cloth products – not paper towels

Never drain canned veg down the sink as that is “free” veg stock

Exercise at home

Remember to cut blossom end off cukes when canning as the enzimes will cause limp pickles. Add a couple grape or oak leaves to jar to help make crispy.

Zest all citrus for free zest. Let dry on a saucer on kitchen counter and store in old spice jars.

_____________________

So many bits of wisdom! The above are my favorites. Some of them I didn’t know, like about cucumbers. I’ve had to throw out a lot of my canned pickles and I just have given up.

Lids or saucers to cover food items, what a great idea.

I had to laugh about the exercising one. I have a friend in California that pays to go to exercise class, and also pays people to come clean her house and take care of the lawn. I figure I get free exercise by cleaning my own house. Plus I don’t have anybody messing with my stuff and I get the pleasure of knowing I did it myself.

[CottonBall]

“F**k around & find out”: Truckers warn loads to NYC will be rejected starting Monday after Trump verdict
(h/t metmon)

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4218499/posts

Besides New York City, truckers on X call for drivers to boycott liberal cities.

We should all be prepping anyway, but if you are in a large liberal City and especially nyc, you can’t start soon enough.

[bgill]

People messing with my stuff is the only reason I get off my backside and do chores. Shampooing the carpet tomorrow, ugh.