We've been very busy this month with prepping-related projects.
- Hubby Dear and I cleaned and organized our storage room. It had collected a lot of odds and ends and, frankly, it was becoming a bit of a dump. I inventoried our long-term food storage and came up with a long list of items I need to buy. We've used some things that we need to replace. According to the food storage calculators, our family now consists of four adults and two children (children 7 and up are "adults" for food storage purposes), which means that I also need to increase the amount of food we store in general.
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Once we cleared out the clutter, it became apparent that we had used A LOT
of our food storage and never replaced it.
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| We also have a lot of canned goods that need to be eaten and restocked. Rotate, rotate, rotate! |
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We still have some of the onions we grew last year left. They are stored in cheap pantyhose, which works
pretty well to keep them fresh and mold-free. You'll notice that a few of them have sprouted, though! |
- Because of some health concerns that I have, I started following a Paleo diet back in December. I no longer eat grains, legumes, dairy, refined sugars, or refined fats. In other words, I can't eat most of our food storage! I hope that this way of eating will help resolve some of the problems I have as a result of chronic inflammation in my body, but it does provide a challenge to store food that meets the criteria of my diet. I'm brainstorming a list of Paleo-friendly foods to add to our storage and this is what I've come up with so far: sprouting seeds, canned coconut milk, coconut oil, lard, nuts in the shell, and canned tuna and salmon. Anyone else out there who is both Paleo and a prepper? I'm curious to see how you handle this dilemma.
- As I was organizing my storage room, I decided that my vintage, 1940s-era water bath canner had finally bit the dust. It is just too rusty and decrepit to use any more. Identical products on Amazon.com had very poor reviews - I guess they don't make granite ware like they used to - so I invested in a Victorio Stainless Steel Multi Use Canner. This product can be used as either a water bath canner or steam canner and seems really sturdy. I've never steam canned before - have any of you?
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| RIP, vintage water bath canner. You gave me (and others) years of good service. |
- Hubby Dear and I ordered our seeds for the spring and bought the components of our DIY seed starting set-up. I am excited to share with you our plans for the year in an upcoming post. It won't be long before we'll be sowing broccoli, cauliflower, and kale indoors.
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| Seeds, glorious seeds! So much promise is inside these packets. |
- Some friends of ours are downsizing due to job loss and health challenges. We bought a generator and some other homesteading paraphernalia from them, which served to help both of our families out.
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| Our "new" 5500 W generator. |
I did the math, and this generator will run one of our refrigerators and the furnace fan and that's it. It is definitely not a total solution to a long-term power outage, but it is a start. Now I need to stockpile some gas tanks, gasoline, and Sta-Bil.
Have you been celebrating "Prep-uary" at your house? Tell me what you've accomplished so far in 2013. :)
Keeping A Family Cow,
and The Backyard Goat: An Introductory Guide to Keeping and Enjoying Pet Goats.
Posts
For challenges with inflammation, I highly recommend checking out greensmoothiegirl.com. She travels the world doing research and lectures and has been key in solving several health concerns in my family. You can find one of her classes that she gave in Hawaii on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteFirst the Amish make a drink called switchel that may help the inflammation since it is made with raw honey,apple cider vinegar, black strap molasses and I think ginger? All of these have several health benefits and I say it never hurts to try. I have noticed that with natural remedies they can take a little longer to feel the effects, but many work. Also the rain tanks that we have came from my husband's shop they had biodegradeable mineral based something in them. We pressure washed them out really well and had no problems with any residue or anything. so if you have a machine shop or factory in your area maybe you could get one or two. for my Prepuary so far I stocked up on 20 packs of Stayfree that I got free with coupons, planned my garden on paper and I am expanding it this year and traded my aunt who has a nursery a bunch of Glade products for a couple blueberry bushes to plant this year and I also got the ten pounds of chicken legs for dog food and a ham for later since it was 99 cents a pound. Whew! I'm tired! I have steam canned before with no problems, but I didn't have a special steamer to do it. You'll have success I'm sure! Good luck!
Vicky S.
I will be interested to hear what you learn about changing you food storage. I am facing a similar issue after learning I am Gluten and Soy intolerant. So much food! I have purchased Quinoa and chia in bulk, but that's as far as I've gotten. At least I will have protein!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Red
My prepuary is off to a slow start due to the flu! I do have a flu/cold preps available however the kids had gotten into the 7-up over Christmas break!!! Being a teacher of 6 yr olds and being amune to SO many germs, never did I think I would get the flu or be down for 2 weeks. I can't tell you how important those preps were for me.
ReplyDeleteSo, I need to restock meds and soda. I did place an order for the LDS cannery of beans, milk and dried vegetables. We too have eaten a bunch of preps (which is good) and need to get through some canned goods. I still look though the grocery section and stock up on what is on sale. Of course sales aren't what they used to be. Before I might have spent $10 and gotten a 15-20 cans of something, now I am lucky to get 10.
Thank you for this site. I LOVE it and check it every few days! Hope you are doing better now that you have some answers about your health!
Doug Kaufmann, from "Know The Cause" TV program, has an anti-inflammatory diet I have been following. His diet looks similar to Paleo. I have been looking for ideas to keep me on track should we have to totally rely on our food storage, I will be interested in what you come up with.
ReplyDeleteI have added amaranth to my food storage to use in place of oatmeal for breakfast. I add apples, cinnamon, pecans and a few drops of stevia to it. Shelf Reliance has #10 cans of amaranth availabe for purchase. They also have quinoa. I tried it once with apples and cinnamon for breakfast but the taste is not compatable with my taste buds. Perhaps I would use it if I could find a few good recipes.
Elana has lots of Paleo recipes and a new Paleo recipe book coming out soon, are you familiar with her? You can find her here: http://www.elanaspantry.com/
You may be glad you have milk, flour and other items in your food storage that you no longer eat, it could be used for bartering should things get bad. I won't hesitate for a minute to eat rice or pasta if that is all that is left, a good reason to get the body strong and healthy now.
The next project on my prep list is to start my very first square foot garden. I purchased the frames for two 4x6 boxes. Wish I had purchased at least two more boxes, they have already gone up $10 per box.
Have you thought of getting a solar generator? That was my last purchase. It's small but it would keep the refrigerator running, or wash load of clothes with it or light the lamps.
Thank you for all your work here, it's greatly appreciated. Jana