Tip for Preppies

Photo By SmartBoyDesigns

Salt. Many folks have stockpiled some salt in their prepper food lockers, hopefully iodized because iodine is SO important to health, and we get it from so few foods. However, just yesterday I discovered the iodine added to salt is fragile and dissipates rapidly, which means if the salt is more than a few months old, the iodine has virtually vanished.

This is equally important for those with thyroid problems who need the iodine, aqnd those at risk of goiter problems in the absence of iodine. Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation. The USDA recommends a minimum of 150 mcg of iodine per day for both men and women. 

Iodine was added to salt around 1924, at the request of government initiatives, due to the growing need for regulation of iodine deficiency disorders. In the 1920′s era in the United States, the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest region of the country experienced high incidences of goiter (a common thyroid-malfunction-based condition). This was because their soil levels were extremely low in iodine, and people weren’t eating iodine rich foods .

To be on the safe and healthy side, I suggest adding some dried kelp to your storage locker. Dried seaweeds are a good source of iodine as well as many trace minerals, and is often salty enough to use in place of salt, or with a lesser amount of salt.

I have several quart jars of seaweeds in my pantry, notably kombu (kelp), hiziki, dulse, nori (in sheets) and Wakame. Probably that's not enough to have in storage, and I live far from the coast where seaweed is easily harvested.

1 tablespoon of Kelp contains about 2000/mcg of iodine, 1 tablespoon of Arame contains about 730/mcg of iodine, 1 tablespoon of Hiziki contains about 780/mcg of iodine, 1 one inch piece of Kombu contains about 1450/mcg of iodine, 1 tablespoon of Wakame contains about 80/mcg of iodine. I recommend sprinkling them in soups or on salads.

If you have eaten a California Roll, you have eaten the seaweed called Nori. 

Nori Sheet by psd

Oarweed by La.Catholiquehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/lacatholique/6118562625/

 

Here is a whole big thicket of oarweed kombu. In OR, no license is required for personal seaweed harvesting, although there is a limit of 10 lbs per person. For WA, you must obtain a license through the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. It's also important to check for closures or other health risks prior to harvesting. See this site for contacts for WA state. http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/shellfish_seaweed_rules.html

Kelp Drying in the sun, by garycycles3

I happen to like Dulse a lot; it makes a slightly sweet rather than salty snack just by itself. I am out of it, and I couldn't find a decent free photo on the internet to use here. Dulse is one of the red algaes, whereas kelp is considered a brown algae.

There are many edible seaweeds. Check out Edible Seaweed here.

How to prepare and cook seaweed.

Canning Bacon

I had no clue bacon could be canned! However, I found the process several places online and decided to try it. It would be nice to have bacon available in an extended power outage instead of it spoiling in the freezer from no power!

Bacon (raw or partially cooked) can be canned by laying the strips on parchment paper, covering them with a second piece of paper, rolling it tightly and packing it into a jar.  If the bacon is longer than the jar you’re using, you can cut the strips in half to make them shorter, or fold the whole thing over before you roll it.

I used raw bacon and natural unbleached parchment paper, so you can't actually see the bacon through the paper in the photo above. Sorry I didn't take any photos of the process, but there are photos in the links below. Those 3 jars above contain about half a pound in each jar, my trial run. The next batch will be strips cut in half, to fit in wide-mouth pint jars.

Here are some links to check out. The first link below, and the maple syrup link, both have good photos of the process, and I like that they use food grade parchment paper, not brown paper bags others used that may contain chemicals.

Canning Bacon Links
http://texascookin.blogspot.com/2012/08/putting-up-canned-bacon.html
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/gay127.html
http://www.rural-revolution.com/2011/01/canning-bacon.html
http://akhomesteaders.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=foodcache&action=display&thread=289

Maple Syrup or Tabasco flavored Bacon

RuralSpin read and tried the various ways online to can bacon, finding fault with most of them. She details what she didn't like, and then she experimented to come up with her own hybrid version. She says, "You can consider other flavorings for your bacon besides just maple syrup or Tabasco sauce, including brown sugar, chili powder, cayenne pepper, dried thyme, dried basil, cinnamon, or a mixture. For dried herbs and spices, just sprinkle them liberally over your bacon before rolling." 

One of the best lunches away from home that I've had in years was Shrimp and Cheese Grits. The generous garnish over the whole dish included hickory-smoked bacon laced with maple syrup. I think I could make that bacon with RuralSpin's technique, so I'm trying her method next!

Dehydrating Spinach, Strawberries

I will have an abundance of spinach growing in the garden soon, probably more than I can ever eat while it is fresh. In the meantime, I bought a pound of fresh spinach at the Farmer's Market for a recipe I didn't get around to making before the spinach would have gone bad.

Since I'd rather not depend on my freezer any more than I need to, I decided to dehydrate the spinach and store it in a jar on the pantry shelf. Spinach dries quickly and easily, although mine was still very wet from washing the grit out. It took 2-3 hours at 120ºF. (Gotta get a solar dryer built this year!) It really did not loose the bright green color, that's just a poor photo and bad lighting.


Dried spinach can be used in soups and stews all winter. Add it to tomato sauce, or scrambled eggs. You could pulverize it and add for nutritional value to almost any liquid, especially something like V-8 juice.

I put a piece in some water to rehydrate, just to see what it night be like texture-wise to use as leaf spinach in recipes later. I think it would be just fine; it was supple and not fragile at all. For sure I'll use it in a spinach lasagna!

I ended up with a quart jar packed pretty tight with dehydrated spinach. I might make more if I have an abundance of spinach in the garden. 

I have also been dehydrating strawberries, since the local berries are in season now... and cheap. Believe it or not, that pint jar above holds what was a pound and a half of fresh berries! I cut them to just a tad over a ¼" thick; the dried berries are well under ⅛" thick. Man, did they smell delightful as they were in the dehydrator!

Disaster Preparedness in the wake of Tsunamis

The current world news about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan hits home about the importance of having a food and water supply AT HOME. (Assuming one still has a home.) It's been about a day and a half since the disaster first struck, and the top concern after life and death is the already extreme shortage of food and water. Can you imagine what it will be like in a week?

With the collapse of a nuclear reactor and the explosion at the nuclear site, folks nearby are being evacuated. However, those farther away are being advised to stay inside in case of radiation fallout, yet few have any food or water supply to enable survival inside for very long. There are reports of hundreds of people outside grocery stores, drug stores and petrol stations. With roads in shambles, no electricity in many places, and few communication devices working, it will take time to get supplies to those people. Probably as long if not longer than the fiasco in New Orleans following Katrina.

This has put a kink in my own long-time preparedness: the location of many of my supplies. About half the food and most of the water I have stored is in my root cellar, which is a separate building from the house. In the event of a nuclear disaster, it could be unsafe to go outside to collect anything from that building. I have a spring for an alternate water supply, and some filters (or build a fire to boil water), but if it is unsafe to go outside, I'd be mighty thirsty quite soon.

It's something to think about. How prepared are you for an immediate and unexpected disaster?

Quasi-Baking on a Wood Stove in Power Outage

During our recent several-day power outage, I cooked and heated water for coffee on my wood stove, something I have done many times before. Usually I have cooked soups and stews, but generally not much more than that. Coffee is easy since I use an old Chemex pot every day anyway and it makes great coffee! All you need is boiling water to pour over the ground coffee in the filter paper.

One of the power-less days I decided I wanted a baked sweet potato. I was getting bored with hot soups/stews!  I wrapped 2 sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and put them on the hot cast iron stove top. (Ignore the nasty pot on the left; I keep water in it to add humidity to the room, and it has a mineral build-up from our hard water.) After a few minutes, though, I decided I would probably get potatoes cooked on one side where they touched the stove, or cooked unevenly even if I rolled them over occasionally.

I don't have a Dutch Oven that I might be able to bake in, so I improvised, creating a contained heated space by inverting a disposable aluminum container over the potatoes. I stuck the instant-read thermometer between the 'taters and stove top; the temp read 350ºF. Hey, it's not rocket science... but I was hungry and it worked!

Hindsight says I should have checked the temp in the enclosed air space around the potatoes, but I didn't think of it at the time. The potatoes baked just fine, although they were steamy from being in the foil. I had wrapped them only because the stove is sooty and it's hard to clean a HOT stove. I also didn't time baking the potatoes; it was difficult to read my wristwatch in dim light, and frankly I didn't much care at the time. I squeezed the potatoes occasionally, and took them off when they felt soft. 

There were 2 long thin spots along the bottom of the potatoes where they sat on the cast iron, and those places were just very slightly browned but not hard and dried out. I slathered on some butter, and YUM!

Since I am still without the oven on my electric kitchen range, I want to see if I can actually bake a cake or muffins on the wood stove, without anything more than some kind of cover to contain heat around the pans.I have a Le Creuset 7 quart French Oven on my Wish List!

Update: The above was written before Christmas. Since then, my sister has had a repairman come and fix the electric oven on the kitchen range. So, I again have an oven for convenience. BUT I still need to learn to bake on a wood stove for eventual power shortages and outages. 


Baking on a wood stove may not sound like a big deal, but if you've never tried it, how do you learn? Another option for baking is a solar oven... easy to make, and use on sunny days... but I'm not thrilled with the idea of using one on a snowy, windy day in the dead of winter. That will be a summer project!

Keeping Potatoes

 Photo from Jason Doucette's photostream

I keep potatoes all winter and into spring in my root cellar, buried in straw. The standard tips for storing potatoes are storing them out of light, having good air circulation, and optimal temps of 42-55ºF and high humidity so they don't dry out. Potatoes should not be washed before storing, and they should be allowed to cure for 2-3 days in a cool place to harden the fragile skins.

Check carefully for blemishes and soft spots, or damage from digging. Use those right away (or discard) instead of storing. Store in paper bags but not plastic bags so they can breathe. (As I said, I bury mine in straw.) Potatoes exposed to light will develop a green tint which make the potatoes bitter, and eating a lot of green potatoes at one time is potentially toxic.

Potatoes will enter a period of dormancy, and research has shown temperatures of 42-50ºF extends dormancy the longest although that varies somewhat with variety. The colder temps, however, will cause the potato starch to turn to sugar, and those potatoes if fried will be dark. Do not store potatoes next to onions or fruit, which produce hormones and gasses that will spoil both crops.

I always lose a few from rot, probably from a blemish I overlooked when storing them. But, by the time spring rolls around and the temps are warming, the remaining potatoes always start to sprout, even in the absence of light.

Recently I read on The Old Foodie a notion she took from old ship's logs (logged 200 or more years ago). It seems the potatoes stored on ships for the long voyage from England to Australia didn't fare well. One log said if you drop the fresh potatoes in boiling water for a minute or so, then chill immediately, it 'cooks' the eyes just enough that the potato will not use it's energy to sprout, and will keep better on the long journey.

I'm curious to see if it really works, so I think I will experiment with a few potatoes this winter. I always have an abundance from my garden. The only thing is for me to remember that the potatoes I dip have to be set aside so I don't try to use them in spring as seed potatoes!

Storing Foods for Emergencies

Part of my pantry in progress, Fall 2008

For many years I have kept a goodly amount of foods in my pantry in case of an emergency. (I have been through too many hurricanes and ice storms not to!) However, with my change in diet, the bulk of what I have on hand isn't what I now eat... although in a crisis, it's better than nothing. I have enough cereal grains, pasta and legumes to feed a family of four for 3+ months but I don't eat those anymore.

I do have many jars of home-canned meats and soup stocks, and now a small freezer full of meats. If there's no power for a few days the freezer contents will spoil unless it's below freezing outside and I can secure those foods in a shed, so that's iffy storage. I also have plenty of home-canned vegetables, but the starchy ones like corn are not on my "good for me" list.

I've been looking into what I can store in my pantry at cool room temperatures which will meet my current nutritional needs. One thing for sure, is to can more meat, fish and fowl. I can also make pemmican; it isn't difficult at all, and lasts up to 20 years on the shelf. I can convert some butter into ghee, another easy-to-do task. Properly stored ghee is good up to 10 years. I need to increase my store of saturated fats... coconut oil, lard and tallow. And more olive oil in light-proof tins.

One biggie I want to try is storing eggs. A common method was storing eggs in water-glass. Other methods were eggs stored in a combination of salt and bran, eggs dipped in tallow or wax and covered with flour or bran, and eggs stored in lard.

Eggs will keep in water-glass for about 6-9 months. Even when I have my own chickens for eggs, there will be a period of non-production every year when they moult, so I'd be without eggs even if there is no crisis. I have read many procedures for storing eggs, and water-glass looks like something for me to try. Eggs have been as successfully stored in lard but that takes a LOT of lard. I may try it anyway with maybe a dozen or so eggs just to see. Actually, it may be just as cheap to use lard; water-glass (silicate of soda) costs around $40 a gallon I think, and you dilute it with water 10:1.

None of those measures will work if the eggs are not fresh, and if they have been washed. Eggs fresh from the chicken are coated in a substance that seals the egg air-tight, which is why farmers can store a few eggs (to be used in a week or so) in a basket on a kitchen counter.

I know you can scramble eggs, dehydrate them, then grind them into a powder. I think that would be good to have on hand as a nutritional supplement to add protein to other foods in a crisis, but doesn't appeal to me for breakfast!

Confit preparation is something else I want to try. We all are familiar with fruit confit (stored in sugar), better known as candied fruit. Meat confit (stored in fat) originated as a means of preserving meats without refrigeration. Traditional meat for a confit included waterfowl such as goose and duck, plus turkey and pork, but other meats are also used.

Curing meats, and smoking meat, fish and cheese is something else I want to learn. Plus, I intend to try a greater variety iof naturally fermented foods this fall.

As I play around with each of these methods of storing foods, I will post them, with photos.

Do you have a garden?

This is a quick, unplanned post... I read just this morning some statistics about the increasing prices of food in the last year. The data is from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics' Producer Price List for March 2010, and the data (by month) spans a whole year. Here's a break-down:

Fresh and dry vegetables, up 56.1%
Fresh Fruits and melons, up 28.8%
Eggs for fresh use, up 33.6%
Pork, up 19.1%
Beef and veal, up 10.7%
Dairy products, up 9.7%

There are now 39.4 million Americans on Food Stamps, up 22.4% from one year ago. The US Government is now paying out more to Americans in benefits that it collects in taxes.

(Rising food and gasoline prices accounted to 58% of February's year-over-year increase in retail sales. Maybe the economy is recovering less than posted due to just price increases??)

I am glad I have a garden started, and plenty of seeds. Sure wish I already had the chickens I plan, and a milking goat or two.

BTW, The UAE (United Arab Emirates) cabinet on Sunday approved a plan to build up three-month stocks of rice, flour and other staples to boost food security following the European travel chaos that disrupted supplies. It is always good to be prepared because you never know when something unforeseen will strike.

Styptic Pencil, Handy to Have!

Back in the days when shaving was done with a razor blade rather than an electric shaver, every medicine chest held a styptic pencil. I hadn't thought of them in years until today when a friend's dog had a foot pad bleeding. Now that I've remembered them, I need to get a couple for my medicine box. I have compresses (bandages) for more profuse bleeding, but the pencils sure would be handy for smaller cuts and nicks.

If you aren't familiar with styptic pencils, they are a stick of compound you put on a cut that causes the bleeding to stop. The common ones are usually anhydrous aluminum sulfate (alum) or titanium dioxide, and they cause the blood vessels to contract (think pucker!) which slows or stops the bleeding. You can see a picture of one here.

If you own a cat or dog and cut their nails, you probably have a styptic powder on hand in the event you clip a nail too closely, causing bleeding. It would be good to have a styptic pencil on hand for your own cuts.

Styptic pencils are very cheap. Amazon carries one for under $2; they don't go bad as far as I remember, so I think I'll get several.

Making Mozzarella in the absence of good milk

Photo from RBerteig's photostream

I happened to see the newsletter from New England Cheese Making Supply about their move to larger quarters, and in the newsletter was a link to making Mozzarella from Instant Nonfat Dry Milk, and Cream.

I read through it, and then more about milk in general, and think I will try this since, so far I have no source for Real Milk... and it looks easy! She (Ricki, the Cheese Queen!) uses Carnation brand instant nonfat dry milk although she says other brands also work. I'd just want to be sure it wasn't imported from China. The cream she uses can be ultra-pasteurized (good thing, because that's all my grocer carries anymore) since the calcium and proteins are already in the dry milk. In her process, she gives you a choice of her 30 minute system using microwave cycles, or the traditional method of whey or hot water for stretching. Since I believe microwaves are hazardous to food, I'll be using the traditional method.

I'll even take some pictures although the pictures of her process explain it very well. (I don't promise to post mine!)

It occurs to me that this recipe would be handy for Preppers since an abundance of dry milk is usually among the stores. Using some of it for fresh mozzarella could be a nice change if things get really tough.

Root Cellar Catastrophe

Well there I was, strutting about the yard in my shirtsleeves today just because I could... we finally had some sunshine!!! ... and then catastrophe!

Yesterday I noticed a fair amount of water running down the side of the driveway and across the walkway, and I assumed it was the melting snow since the yard slopes UP to the hill in back. Partially, it really is/was snow-melt. But this afternoon I went to the root cellar to fetch some potatoes and onions, and found the water flowing out over the threshold. Opening the door, I saw water about 10" deep inside, and the pump from the spring chugging merrily along...

Of course, the electric panel box for the pump is IN that room, which meant wading over to the panel and hoping there were no live wires in the water! I checked the main panel box inside our house, and there's no breaker for the root cellar; it is powered directly from the main outside the house. I wonder what dunce installed that??

The inspector must have missed that in the Home Inspection when my sister bought this house 4 years ago. At any rate, it needs a safety breaker at the pole, so I'll have to get an electrician out here. Meanwhile, I did get the power off to the pump.

Hopefully it will drain in the next day or two, before it freezes again and I have a mini ice rink in there. My boxes of winter vegetables stored on the floor are ruined; potatoes, onions, shallots and lots of garlic. I may be able to salvage some of the garlic to plant in April but I sure wouldn't eat any of it. I don't know what else I had stored on the floor; the bale of loose straw I had around some of the stuff on the floor obscures it in a soggy mess now.

Fortunately, the plumbing is exposed (behind all the cardboard food bins rather than inside the walls), and I should be able to fix the split pipe(s) myself. The pumped spring water is only used for the garden anyway, so repairs can wait for warm weather.

I really lament the loss of the food, though, and the resulting mess. My other BIG concern is my 2 Harsch Fermenting Crocks, which are sitting on the floor in the back. It looks like there is water in the moat on their rims, which means the water must have been pretty high earlier. (My crocks are the 2 gallon size, which now sell for around $120 each, plus shipping... and they aren't lightweight.)

The moral of the story is: Just because the pipes didn't freeze and burst over the last 3 winters doesn't mean they can't, or won't!

It reminds me of a funny story though. Years ago when I lived in Boone, I had a friend who was a potter that lived in a remote cabin with her boyfriend. One winter they closed the cabin, left the spring-fed sink tap halfway open so it wouldn't freeze, and went to upstate New York for 2+ months. Well, the sink tap did not freeze... but the sink drain did! When they returned, they found the floor about 6" thick with crystal-clear ice. She said the oriental rugs under the ice had a very surreal look...

Roasted Chestnuts

Well, I roasted a bunch of the chestnut hoard Buster gave me, and most of the first batch got moldy before I could get them peeled and processed. I suppose I didn't roast them long enough to fully dry out the nutmeats.

Here's another batch. Those suckers are hard to peel even with the "X's" put in the shell before roasting. I think they will go in the freezer for a project on another day later in winter.

Meanwhile, thanks for all who posted about my friend Buster's son. Today is Day 16 or 17 in a coma and on life support. They almost lost him at least twice, perhaps 3 times this past week, and had to do CPR once. Finally he seems to be stabilizing, and he is now on dialysis. They hope (if there's some small improvements in his stability) to put in a Trache tube next week and get the ventilator tubing out of his mouth. I don't know about the feeding tube.