To start things off I recently opened three canning jars I vacuumed pack in March of 2010 one with dehydrated bell peppers and one with dehydrated Roma Tomatoes and the third was mixed Bell Peppers and Onion. All rehydrated well and made great chilli and spaghetti. I also used some of the tomatoes and Mixed Peppers to make Fajitas. I have stopped buy and dehydrated vegtables and now do my own.
Preppers’ PING!!
Consider going to Wal-Mart for their $.88 colds and flu medications in the front of the store , as well as vitamins and first-aid supplies. (Check for expiration dates)
I’m curious if anyone here has ever used a freeze-dryer. Not a dehydrator, but an actual freeze-dryer, the kind that turns ice cream into styrofoam. The local university is auctioning one off, about the size of my regular dehydrator only the freeze-dryer weighs 90 pounds. So far nobody’s bid on it, and the opening bid is only $20.
There are some experiments I’ve been wanting to do with aerogels but didn’t have the equipment for, so this is really tempting, but at the same time I don’t have much money to spare, just the $20 I’ve set aside for seeds this year.
Mom loves freeze-dried strawberries, so I’ve been trying to talk her into going halvsies on it, but so far no dice :)
People need to force themselves to do these projects.
Survival means having to learn to do things with your hands, having to learn the root of processes, and why things have to be done in certain ways, how non-store bought food has to be handled and manipulated and processed to make it work for you.
The less mechanical and skilled with their hands someone is, then the more they need to make these things on the list, and especially if they live like a typical American who doesn’t have a heap of junk parts and raw materials out in the barn, and on their acreage.
If you are living in a pristine, uncluttered condominium or home, then now is the time to be trying these projects, while you can go to the hardware store and buy things, and deal with the (initially) wasteful learning process of learning to be a handyman.
Thanks for posting this, Kartographer. I need a little encouragement to push forward with my preps. Long, hard times to come.
P4L
I am still using some tomatoes I canned in 2009 and 2010 they are still very good! I had good harvest in those years and canned a lot.
I read through that do it yourself list and there are some good things on there. I have a fire resistant really heavy box thingy that I have important papers in and that goes with me if I have to leave the house but I copied the list on the do it yourself page to check that with what's in my box.
The candle heater is an idea for another way to stay warm. I'd buy the one they link to rather than try to do that myself.
I have bags of laundry lint to start a fire but adding wax to a glob of it is a good idea to make it burn longer so you get a good fire going.
I have two bar fire starters - the kind you strike and mega sparks come off to start the lint burning. I just have a lot of backups to start a fire and sealed metal cans of zillions of strike anywhere matches is one of them. Unless a tornado totally destroys this house and everything in it, I can start a fire. A tornado won't destroy me as I am indestructible - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I’m almost finished rotating several brands of older (2005-10) heat & eat soups out of stock, and none have gone bad. Ditto w/ cans of vegetables, fruits, stocks etc. As long as they weren’t dented, rusted and kept dry and cool, they weathered the past 2-8yrs years, just fine. FWIW...
Bump for tonight...
The Remington rifle I have is too heavy for me. A few weeks ago, I started trying to find that carbine listed above and have tried every day going to every gun seller on the web and there are absolutely none. Also, there are no hollow point bullets left for a 22. Trust me, I have searched everywhere.
Ruger made what they call a “Dealer Exclusive” and it's a pink 22 rifle just like the carbine except a bit shorter. I thought maybe no one was buying a pink rifle but there are none of them.
What I found is there is no semiautomatic rifle in any caliber, none, and there are no hollow point bullets for any of those guns. The only rifle one can find is a bolt action or break barrel as both of those take only one bullet at a time - no one is buying those.
And, there are no multi-bullet magazines. I found one 25 bullet magazine made for the Ruger 22 several days ago and bought that and it's not Ruger made but customer comments says it works fine.
In this modern age, this country has never been stripped of guns, ammo, magazines like right now. There should be jobs available in these factories as they are surely on 24 hr. work schedules to get more guns/other stuff, to the stores.
People think Hussein is going to do a number on our guns and accessories and they will disappear. A pox on Hussein and his crazy VP who would be president if Hussein died - both of these men, in my opinion, are agents of the devil.
Bump me...
I have started canning the meats that are one sale. Last week we canned chicken breasts. This week will be porkloin chops.
I bought some #10 cans of instant nonfat milk. It worked out to be $3.29 per gallon, which is cheaper than the 4 bucks it costs for fresh. So I’ll use it for cooking, and cocoa mix.
My food preps are generally the same stuff we eat on a regular basis, and on sale, keeping an eye on the use by date.I bought more rice, because I can’t grow it where I live. We don’t eat it that often, because we usually eat taters and beans or cornbread and beans, or some other combo of bread, taters, maters, and beans rather than rice.
I also read that for cooking cakes etc. You can use unflavored gelatin to replace eggs. Also read that vegans use flax seeds instead of eggs. I’ll have to read more on that.
This past week i made hand sanitizer and deodorant. tomorrow soap. next wek mouth.
bump for later
bflr