Home gardening offers ways to trim grocery costs [Survival Today, an on going thread]

Dallas News.com ^ | March 14th, 2008 | DEAN FOSDICK

[nw_arizona_granny]

Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick

Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.

At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."

Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.

A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."

[snipped]

She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.

"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."

[Eaker]

He says that one quarter can of spam will give enough strength to keep going for one day.

I would recommend eating the peanut butter first so that you will have the strength to choke down the spam!

; < )

[nw_arizona_granny]

The cutting doesn’t phase me but it freaks my daughters out, they always leave too.<<<

Other than the smell, I do not cut much with a knife, I have double vision, have had it always.

Besides Bill spoiled me, he took care of all those types of distasteful jobs.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I am not a sissy and have cleaned far more animal pens than he ever did.

After he was gone, I discovered that I really was afraid that I would cut myself.

Now, I do what I have to and cook lots of things in big pieces.

I do not know at what age we should introduce killing to the kids......I knew if we were to have meat, it had to be killed and did my share.

I choose to not eat goat meat, as they tell me it tastes like deer and I do not like deer meat, so did not try goat meat.

And we had a freezer full of beef and pork, so did not need it.

Now, I do not have to worry, I won’t be hunting in this life, but I might tell someone where the deer and burro come for water.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I would recommend eating the peanut butter first so that you will have the strength to choke down the spam!<<<

Laughing, as you and pgalt will agree.

He suggested that Spam should be fed to my cats.

I like it on a prospecting trip, cooked over the camp fire, with a can of pork and beans and fire blackened coffee pot that tastes like wood smoke, that is good memories to me.

[metmom]

I’ve heard marigolds are useful for keeping rabbits away. They don’t like the smell or something.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I will test it and see how it cooks up, assuming it looks ok.

It is sealed.

My stove has died and I am looking at crockpot and breadmachine as a way of life, as moving in another is impossible and I don’t want to mess with it and can’t do much anyway.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thank you for finding the information on rhubarb, something like that might work here for horseradish.

Here is Arizona.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I’ve heard marigolds are useful for keeping rabbits away.<<<

Maybe in an area, that has a choice of plants, here they just show up for all 3 meals.

The only thing that has ever worked to chase the rabbits away, was the Dashhound, Snoopy.

I had turned my last few rabbits loose for the summer, and was enjoying having them come to watch me milk and share in the goat food, it did not take Snoopy long to learn that they were
‘family’, and he ignored them.

But we had many a laugh, watching Snoopy run as fast as he could, right past the tame rabbits, to chase a wild one that was as big as he was.

Years ago, it was suggested that you plant empty whiskey bottles, at an angle, so the wind will whistle as it passes the mouth.....again, it only worked to upset Bill, he did not think they added to the fresh garden look, and wanted them to go back to the dump where I found them.

[PGalt]

This first post, on my first ever thread...

Thanks for the ping to Eaker's spam comment. LOL!

I read some of the posts on this thread earlier today, granny.

You're awesome granny! Thanks for everything that you do.

Thanks to every contributor to this thread.

life

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks to every contributor to this thread.<<<

Yes, those who are posting here are special people, you included.

I hope you are going to be joining in, there is much you know that I do not and others may not.

Any suggestions for those who need jobs and are not finding them?

I rather liked the idea that I found yesterday for using old free pallets and making the bird houses to sell to gift shops and craft stores.

The other, called for old fence boards, to make a planter box.

The pallets would work.

And I can hear Bill now, “can’t you find a project that does not involve me doing most of the work?”

It was orbit time if I said “I only need you for a few minutes”, he swore that meant at least 2 weeks of hard work.

But on Mothers day, he did any dumb thing that I dreamed up, shelves in all the windows, for my plants, you name it.

Men, are an important part of life.

Suggestions?

[metmom]

That’s interesting with the bottles. Did it work?

[MaxMax]

I took this and the other Photo's this afternoon, of my new garden.
And since I just received my new (Kodak Z712 IS) I saw
no need to wait too break it in. /Salute

Two Zucchini plants in one, they will produce more using less space, called a super plant

Pole Beans are nice around the pool fence, mixed with moonflowers,
I'm planting 60 this year for green beans, and dried beans

King Dent Corn, Corn?, yea I know. Everyone tells me it's not worth it.
Well,, it is when you're the one growing it :-)

I hope you and others enjoy the pictures, Granny. God Bless.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.castbullet.com/cooking/beerb.htm

[Different and my recipe uses butter in it, looks good in the photo, and if you have not tried making it, it takes 2 or 3 minutes and is good. I do not put my beer in the refrig, so it is ready for cooking and not already drank....use beer in place of buttermilk in pancakes and for real flavor in cooking roasts...granny]

Dutch Oven
Beer Bread
by

Phil Mahan

(Click thumbnails for full size photos. Use your browser’s “Back” button to return.)

When camping in remote areas, one of the things you seem to run out of first is bread!

This is an easy camp bread to make, and it’s mighty good. This recipe will work in an 8 inch, 10 inch or 12 inch Camp style Dutch Oven. If using store bought charcoal and a 12 inch DO, the coal count is 15 coals on top of the lid and 8 coals on the bottom.

Ready for mixing
Ready for mixing.
You need:

3 cups self-rising flour
3 tbl sugar
1 tbl dried onion flakes
1 12oz beer—Miller, Bud, etc., no dark beers

If you want your beer bread with a Texas Twist please add:

1/4 tsp dried crushed chili flakes
1/8 tsp dried granulated garlic

Ready for the Dutch oven
Ready to put in the Dutch oven
The trick to making good beer bread or biscuits is don’t mess with that dough anymore than you have to! The more you knead a quick bread dough, the more hard that baked bread or biscuit is going to get.

Mix all dry stuff.
Pour in beer.
Mix up and lay on work surface.
Knead just a little to form a dough ball.
Flatten it out and place in a well greased Dutch Oven.
Place oven in coals.

Cooked in a Dutch oven
Looking down into a 12 inch Dutch oven at a cooked loaf of beer bread.
1/3 coals on bottom, 2/3 coals on top.
Bake about 15 to 25 minutes.
Check after the first 10 min or so.
When nice and brown on top, remove and knock on the bottom of loaf.
If it says THUNK it’s done.

This is a note to the folks that are new to the art of baking in the coals in a Dutch Oven. As you most likely know, cooking time, especially in baking, varies a lot in coal cooking, but don’t let the idea of baking bread or biscuits in a Dutch Oven in the coals throw you! It ain’t rocket science! In fact it’s not science at all! It’s an art! In fact, until just recently, DO cooking and baking was almost a lost art! DO cooking used to be pretty much limited to some folks that liked the old time ways (like Da Cap’n) and the Boy and Girl Scouts—the Scouts never left that Dutch Oven! They knew exactly what it could do and used it!

The only thing iffy about DO baking is the time you need to get that baking done. The main reason that baking time can’t be nailed down is because of the fuel you use. Even when using store bought charcoal, the heat that charcoal puts out will vary with the brands of charcoal you use (some burn hotter than others).

When you get to campfire coal cooking, using firewood, we really have a problem! Now out here in the Big Thicket where I live, I use red oak for my firewood. The reason is I got bunches of it falling on the ground all the time—dead fall!

I ain’t about to go to the store and buy a $10 sack of charcoal with my hard earned money when I got cords of red oak on the ground waiting to get picked up. Red oak burns with a good heat, and I can time stuff pretty good because I cook and bake with it a lot.

Cooked in a Dutch oven
Ready for butter!
Now if you live near a pine forest, maybe got a lot of mesquite, or maybe western cedar, you have some fine fire wood for DO cooking—but each of these woods burn different and produce different amounts of heat! So the best way to learn is to give it a try! It will not take long before you know exactly how long it’s gonna be before you got bread or biscuits!

Copyright 2001 by Phil Mahan
Cooking With Da Cap’n

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.castbullet.com/cooking/yeastb.htm

Cap’s Lazy Man Yeast Biscuits
by

Phil Mahan

Yeast biscuits!

Here’s a biscuit recipe that Grandpa forgot to tell you about, and it uses baking mix!

These biscuits come out so light and fluffy, ya gotta be careful they don’t float out of that Dutch oven when you take off the lid!

4 1/2 cups biscuit baking mix (any kind)
3 tbl white sugar
4 tsp dry (1 packet) baker’s yeast
1 1/3 cups warm milk (not hot, about body temp)

* Mix all the dry stuff up, pour in the milk, stir til dough starts to thicken

* Lay out on floured surface and start to gently knead the dough (dough will be wet and sticky) add more baking mix as you knead, til dough is non-sticky

* Knead gently a total of about 20 times

* Pat (do not roll) dough out about 1/2 inch thick, cut out biscuits with a 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter, or an empty pork and beans can

* Place biscuits in lightly greased baking pan or Dutch Oven, cover with a cloth and let rise til double (about 1 1/2 hours)

* Bake at 400 American degrees til golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes

* Serve!

This recipe will make about 14 to 16 good sized biscuits, cut the recipe in half for smaller groups.

For Sourdough Fans

If you would like sourdough biscuits:

* Reduce the milk by 1 cup

* Reduce the biscuit mix by 1 cup

* Add 1 1/4 cups sourdough starter

* Add 2 tbl dry skim milk powder

Follow the recipe as written, do not forget the Baker’s yeast, rising times and baking times remain the same.

Copyright 2007 by Phil Mahan
Cooking With Da Cap’n

[JDoutrider]

Great!

When my Wife and I come down Kingman way (not sure it will be this year)I should give you a heads up!

BTW when you figure out what Bread Machine is the best for you, let me know Please! I’m thinking of getting one myself!

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.castbullet.com/cooking/mam.htm

[Not exactly survival food, but I could survive on it, maybe even if it were venison..has photos and it should do fine in a crockpot....granny]

Matagorda
Matambre
by

Phil Mahan

Howdy folks!

I don’t know about you, but I love to cook dishes from different parts of the world. I do this at home, and also when I’m camping. This dish is a matambre, which has its roots in Argentina. Matambre is a stuffed rolled beef steak, and it was cooked as a camp and travel food back in the old days. The word matambre means kill hunger and this dish does just what it says it will! It’s a very tasty dish, especially when served over steamed rice topped with some of the stock and meat juices from the bottom of the Dutch oven.

The dry spices can be adjusted to your taste. I have written this recipe spiced fairly mild; my wife and I lean real heavy on the garlic. If you would like to use fresh garlic and parsley, that’s fine!

Cap’s Matagorda Matambre

* 3, 1 pound each round steaks—beaten flat with a meat hammer

* 3 large carrots—made into peelings (keep peeling ‘til carrots are gone)

* 1/2 large head cabbage—thin sliced (cut across top of the cabbage head)

* 6 big green onions—chopped (tops and all)

* 1 1/2 tsp dried granulated garlic

* 1 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

* 6 tsp dried parsley flakes

* 1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt (I like Lawry’s)

* some cotton string (butcher string)

* 2 cups rich beef stock

* light sprinkle of Cajun spice (I like Tony’s)

Click thumbnails for full size Javascript popup photos.

Click for full size popup photo
Round steak flattened and spiced.

For each 1 pound round steak: pound the steak good and flat.

Sprinkle on 1/2 tsp garlic bits (equals 2 garlic cloves), 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp seasoning salt, 2 tsp dried parsley flakes. Pat this into the meat real good.

Click for full size popup photo
Layering the vegetables.

Layer 1/3 of the chopped green onions on top of the meat.
Layer 1/3 of the carrot peelings on top of that.
Layer 1/3 the thin sliced cabbage on top of that.
Gently roll the filled round steak into a roll (like a jelly roll).

Click for full size popup photo
Rolled and tied.

Cut some butcher string and tie the steak roll on both ends and in the middle.

Now repeat this for the other two steaks.

Click for full size popup photo
Inside the Dutch oven.

Place a trivet inside a Camp Dutch oven (12 inch or better).

Place the 3 rolled steaks on top of the trivet.

Gently pour the beef stock into Dutch oven, then lightly sprinkle the Cajun spice over everything.

Click for full size popup photo
Cooking!

Place in medium coals (350 American degrees) and bake/cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Note! Do not throw away all that wonderful juice in the bottom of the Dutch oven! It makes a great gravy, sauce, or soup/chili stock!

Click for full size popup photo
Let’s eat!

Remove and slice into rounds and serve! Goes extremely well with a dollop of creamed horse radish.

Copyright 2002 by Phil Mahan
Cooking With Da Cap’n

[nw_arizona_granny]

That’s interesting with the bottles. Did it work?<<<

It might in a different area, I did not allow for the fact that the Kingman area is famous for always having a wind blowing.

So, it was kinda “so what, I’ve heard it before”.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Wonderful photos, I can almost smell the dirt.

King Dent corn, is that the one that grows so tall and has several ears on it? What we call field corn, for the hogs?

If so, it can be eaten, soak it well and bbq it, serve it with Tobasco sauce and it is good, I ate it in San Luis, Mexico, he was making it in the parking lot of the grocery store.

Or buy a good grinder and make your own cornmeal.

Of course, you could find a flat granite type rock and a smaller one and pound and grind it in that manner.

The 2 way squash is interesting, keep us posted on how it grows.

The only bean that grows for me here, is the asparagus or sometimes called the yard long bean.

I discovered that if I pinched off the end of the bean, instead of pinching the stem, they will keep flowering and bearing until it gets cold. The flowers are in the same cluster, not making new clusters, many people would pull the entire cluster off, it was an ‘by accident I discovered tricks”, which I then find everyone else has know for many years.

What are the 4 blue things with the corn? They make the photo come alive.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Magic Chef from Walmart.

Mine is about 8 years old, basic and does all I want it to do.

I used it almost daily until my wonderful sister came to help, when I got too sick to keep up, and it has taken me 2 years to find the parts she washed and did not put them “where I had them”.

She is a lovely wonderful person, but does not “put things” like I do....LOL

I am almost to the point of firing it up.

She was here last week and left store bread that needs used up.

I noticed that when I was making my own bread, I ate more, now, well I forget to eat, or nothing tempts me to be hungry.

Check the garage sales, people are always upgrading, you might find one real cheap, as they were only 30 or 40 dollars, when I bought mine.

My instruction book has jelly recipes, made in the bread machine and a bunch of settings that I don’t mess with, average is good enough for most things and yes I play around with different kinds.

The one thing to be thinking about, is the shape of the loaf, I do not have a problem with a square loaf, but my daughter in law would rarely use hers, and then only if she could take the dough and put it in a regular pan, to cook in the oven.

In the bread groups, some people were not happy with the more pricey machines that had a loaf style pan and the paddle in the middle.

Three or so years ago, I wanted to have a back up machine, so tried to get another like I have and it was no longer stocked, so did the research and bought a Sunbeam at Walmart for maybe $10. more, under $50. I am sure. It is still in the box, so don’t have an opinion.

Check Walmart.com [I think] and see if they have one on sale or discontinued.

I have other things to think about, than spending a lot of time learning how to program a bread machine.

You will like Kingman.

I haven’t been able to deal with company for a couple years, but am feeling a little stronger, who knows, what the future brings.

It is always fun to talk to friends.

[varina davis]

I swear by Oster/Sunbeam bread makers. Wouldn’t have any other brand. Can sometimes be found on ebay.

[nw_arizona_granny]

http://www.castbullet.com/makeit/hobo.htm

[Has photos, this is easy]

A 2¢ Hobo Stove
Copyright 2003 by Junior Doughty

Click for full size popup photo Check out my very efficient hobo stove made from a Wal-Mart coffee can and a junk pile 8” x 8” piece of expanded metal. I estimate the cost of electricity used by my Dremel® tool at 2¢ for the maybe one minute it took me to cut the expanded metal. Thus the entire stove cost me 2¢.

On the left of the photo see an empty coffee can and the original large piece of expanded metal. On the right of the photo see the hobo stove filled with sticks I gathered from my front yard. In the full size photo note a turned under web point on all four sides of the grill. They keep the grill from sliding off the top of the can.

Also in the full size photo note one of the four holes punched in the bottom side of the stove can by an old style beer opener, a “church key” we called them. Four holes allow the proper air intake for simmer-cooking. You can punch more holes and get more heat, but your wood will burn much faster.

Click for full size popup photo Here’s the stove in the process of frying sausage for my breakfast. If you need a hot fire for frying, fill the stove with sticks as you see in the top photo, and when they burn down add more. But for just simmering or for grilling a steak, etc., one can full of sticks is plenty. This 2¢ stove is perfect for one person.

The evening before I took these photos, I simmered on the hobo stove what I call “Hobo Beans”:

Ingredients:

* 1 tablespoon oil.
* 2 slices bacon.
* 12 or so thin slices of link sausage.
* 1 16 oz can of “Ready To Eat” beans. I used Blue Runner® giant limas.
* 1 dash pepper to taste.
* 1 dash salt to taste.

With the tablespoon of oil in a sauce pan (or in another coffee can) on the hobo stove, fry the 2 slices of bacon almost done, then add the 12 or so thin slices of link sausage. Fry until the bacon is crisp and the sausage slices are brown. (I fried the bacon earlier.) Crumble the bacon. Add the canned beans and simmer a while. Then taste and add pepper and salt if needed. Simmer for at least 30 minutes total, then eat.

You’ll be surprised how good this simple recipe tastes. And the energy to cook it cost the price of one squirt of charcoal starter and one match. Save even more money and skip the charcoal starter.