Posted on 07/05/2010 8:27:04 AM PDT by ChocChipCookie
When I'm nervous, I tend to can food. In the last two days I've canned 33 pints of mixed vegetables and 14 quarts of chicken breasts.
Because, you see, I expect the bleep to hit the fan within a year, possibly less. Mother hen that I am, I want to gather my chicks close and protect them. The frustrating thing is, those of us with concerns about the economy can't help but wonder how much of it is orchestrated. Whatever the cause, things appear to be spiraling out of control. So I'm doing the only thing I can do, and that's to prepare for hard times.
Of course, most people aren't preparing. History is full of people who ignored warning signs and put their heads in the sand (and their rumps in the air). These are the folks who derive great amusement at us who prepare, smugly calling us conspiracy nuts or lunatics. Then they'll calmly inform us of their contingency plans: "Well, we'll just come live with you if things get tough."
These are the Grasshoppers of society, and I've written about them before. These are the people who still have their jobs and homes, but seem incapable or unwilling to look beyond the shallow concerns of everyday life to read the headlines or see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon.
This attitude makes Ants very, very nervous.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Another thing I’ve been thinking is that suppose you are NOT at home when/if something terrible happens. Suppose you’re out of town and can’t get home for an extended period of time? We all assume that our home is our permanent base. But I can envision scenarios in which our homes are unoccupied and all of that preparedness will be for nought—except the looters and squatters.
I’ll leave that up to them. They know better than I how they have been treated by my sister and her spouse.
No it’s not realistic. This whole survival thing is a sick fantasy where people get to play God in their own heads. It’s a fantasy world where your grudges get to dig latrines for a few of your beans. Your own sister? I don’t agree with my brother’s lifestyle but I would never cast him out to perish.
She will die with her Rolex and you will die with your bitterness. I’d rather have that Rolex on Judgment Day.
If Oakland explodes in flames, I won’t need an extra bag of rice in the Appalachian hills. You want survival? Try it with no house like we do.
http://www.trailjournals.com/index.cfm
And then there are those of us who are literally in the sand, 7,000 miles from home, therefore finding it somewhat difficult to prepare for something we don't even really know is going to happen.
We're not all "Grasshoppers," you know.
My dad seems to equate prepping with hoarding disorder. Makes it very hard sometimes to protect things from his “cleaning”. But my land is safe (after one or two arguments and some rather territorial displays on my part), so I plant lots and lots of seeds.
I’m hoping to add a few outbuildings this year, the house will have to wait until I save enough for the permits. But, I know the town board is willing to make exceptions during difficult times, and they are all preppers themselves, so if things hit the fan I’m pretty sure the permits won’t be a problem. I’d just like to have something there before then.
I usually roast or simmer mine first until they are falling off the bone, then pack hot into pint (or smaller, I use half-pints and 1/4-pints a lot) jars, adding broth or water and leaving 1 inch headspace. Process in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for at least 75 minutes (meats will not be harmed by processing longer).
If you google “canning chicken” you’ll find more detailed directions.
Be careful with spices if you do this. Sage turns bitter, and other spices are magnified. I made the mistake once of adding a tiny piece of bay leaf to some beef I was canning. That one half-pint jar could have flavored 5 gallons of stew! Better to just use salt, and season it the rest of the way when you open it.
There’s a blogger, Jackie Clay, who often tests her storage techniques for the long-term. She’s opened jars of meat 10-15 years after she canned them and they were still good. As long as they were processed correctly, the seal stays intact, and they weren’t frozen or stored in direct sunlight, they can keep indefinitely.
(Still, rotate them for freshness)
and this for starters.
The University of Ill has some very good pages of storage items and shelf life of home canned food. Enjoy
“As long as they were processed correctly, the seal stays intact, and they weren’t frozen or stored in direct sunlight, they can keep indefinitely.”
Next question;
How can you tell when it goes bad?
smell?
color?
don’t really want to do a “taste test” and get sick ;-)
BTW Thanks to all!
I’m getting some very valuable info.
Found a great Youtube video canning chicken.
Bought a pressure vessel a few months ago, just been a little “chicken” to start the process. But this info is certainly helping!
Seriously? I think you’re reading a bit too much into my comment. Or maybe it’s because I just finished reading “One Second After” and realize just how hard things could become. There will be no easy answers, home or not.
Out of curiosity, how do you feel about people who choose not to work and expect a handout from you and me in the form of taxes? I don’t see that as any different from what is described in this article.
I like this article, and I like her blog. Thanks for the ping!
Things won’t be hard. You folks just fantasize about hard times where you hold your relatives off at gunpoint until they admit you were right. How small.
Some of us actually DO have relatives that will be shot on sight because they would be violating a restraining order.
What’s really disturbing is that there are people out there that area aware of the warning signs and what to do, but don’t want to take action.
Either they think that it’s just NOT going to happen OR they don’t want to think about it happening.
They don’t want to learn from history, but they have to realize that most assuredly there were people in the past in places like pre-WWII Germany who thought the very same way.
Psychologically speaking, it’s called “Normalcy Bias”.
My big question is: How do we overcome that Bias?
How do we convince people (in our own families in some cases) of the need to prepare?
The majority of these same clowns who aren’t prepared for a catastrophe are the same clowns that will spend thousands of dollars a year going to sporting events. They’re the same people who for the last 35 years know nothing of politics or what is going on around them, but can quote statistics all day from the NBA and the NFL.
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