EmeraldCat

Thank you all! The meat in these recipes is not jerky; it’s stuff like chili macaroni with home-dehyrated ground beef or Turkey, or chicken rice with home-dehydrated chicken. I wasn’t sure about the safety of dehydrated meat because I have canned meat, and you have to be SO careful with the canning process — it made me wonder if bacteria could grow on the meat while dehydrating it. The thermometer graphic was helpful. It seems that if you dehydrate meat at about 145 degrees, it would be safe? For now I’ll stick to the meatless recipes, but since y’all said it’s safe to dehydrate lean meat, I may get the courage to branch out!

Hello, everyone! My husband and I are starting to get back into camping and backpacking, and I have been researching and preparing dehydrated meals for their ease while we're out in the woods. Some of the meals call for dehydrating meats at home -- including ground beef or turkey, chicken, and even things like shrimp. Is this safe? I have only dehydrated fruit and vegetables up until now, including a tasty vegan chili macaroni. I don't dehydrate rice at home because I'm scared of that bacteria that grows in rice -- I just use packaged Instant Rice. Dehydrating meat at home seems a little fishy to me, but if it's okay I'll make some of the meals that call for it. Thank you so much for any wisdom you are willing to share! :)

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions! I did soak the beans overnight, then for most of the next day, changing the water once. They still would not cook. I even tried pressure cooking them -- it took almost three hours at high pressure to get them to a state resembling soft enough to eat, but they were still grainy in a very unpleasant way and extremely bitter. They were also a weird dark color. I threw them away, which was sad because they were supposed to be for Thanksgiving dinner. They were simply inedible. I've tried using baking soda with them and that doesn't work either. I feel really bad because I have 75 pounds of these beans! Maybe I'll try the flour idea. I do have a great grinder that I have ground beans in before. I'm wondering if they'll give that strange bitter taste to whatever I put them in, though...it would be worth a try. Mother, when you ground them, what did you add the flour to? Did it change the texture of whatever you were baking?

I have beans that have been in buckets since 2020. I guess I’m bad at prepping because I didn’t put them in Mylar or anything — they’ve just been in the buckets. I’ve been trying to cook them up to rotate through them, and I had wanted to can up one of the buckets, but they are HARD! I soak them, I boil them, I put them in the Instant Pot — nothing cooks these beans. And they’re bitter. So…do I have to toss them? When I replace them, is there anything I can do to make them last longer? I’m trying to figure out what could have caused this, and the only thing I can think of is that when we moved cross country, those beans were sitting in a VERY hot moving truck trailer for about three weeks total. Could the heat have toughened the beans?

Jeepers, have you tried Phenergan? It often works like a charm for people who can’t tolerate Zofran or who don’t get much effect from it. It will make you very sleepy, but I the last time I had stomach flu it was the only think that knocked back my nausea. I’d be very interested to know more about getting medications from overseas — if that’s something we can discuss!

Hello everyone, and thank you for your prayers! I appreciate them SO much. The procedure itself went okay and as far as I can tell, everything looked good. The doctor wants me to have surgery for my gallbladder, and my anti-anesthesia self is saying NOPE to that right now. I get really sick with anesthesia. I was really upset because I was assured that they would give me an anti-emetic before the colonoscopy. The doctor literally argued with me for several minutes about it, then pushed the sedative while I was trying to talk to him and knocked me out. He had said he’d give me Zofran (reluctantly), but I don’t think he did because I was VERY nauseous the whole way home and almost threw up in my husband’s car. Being emetophobic, that isn’t very fun. It discourages and angers me when doctors literally refuse to listen to us about our bodies. We live in them and we know them best! I had some unexpected issues from the prep and procedure so I took last week easy. Now my house is a mess and we have no bread! Today is a gray, cold, rainy day, so it’s a perfect day to get caught up on housework. Vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the kitchen, maybe doing laundry…I’m still trying to figure out if it’s okay to do laundry on septic while it’s raining…we usually only do two loads a day to avoid overfilling the tank, so maybe one load today? I’m also going to grind some wheat and bake some homemade bread. I made sourdough biscuits last night for supper and they are long gone! On a happy note, DH and I went to a church for the first time yesterday and we both really liked it! Everyone seemed very friendly and there are a lot of Bible studies and connection groups. Tonight they are having a Christmas jazz concert. My husband is flying out of town for work today, but I may go by myself. We’ll see! I’ll shut up now! I hope that you all have an AMAZING day!

Y’all, I’m getting a colonoscopy and upper gi thing (forget what that one’s called) today. In the facility now and waiting…and waiting… I’m very nervous as I hate any sort of anesthesia. I’d appreciate any prayers I can get! I hate medical stuff so much.

This morning I decided to spend some time picking up and bagging the leaves and pine needles we’d raked up into piles. “Some time” turned into an entire day— from 10:30 to 5! I took a few short breaks, and my kids came out to help their Mama, and we got a LOT done. We burned some and bagged a ton. But now I’m very sore and very stiff!!! I guess I’m not as young as I used to be. It still feels good to have accomplished what we did!

I learned the value of turkey bones from my Dad. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, he put the bones in a bag and over the next couple of days, he would make the most remarkable turkey-rice soup. It was a wonderful tradition. I've made it too, but it never tastes like my Papa's. Now that he's passed on, I know I'll never have his soup again. It hurts my heart. Sometimes it's the little things that make you realize all the ways in which you can miss a person you love.

Mt. Rider, I'm so sorry you fell like that! Ow ow ow ow! Hitting any of your facial bones is bad, but there is such a thin layer of skin over your occipital bones. No protection at all. I hope it feels better quickly. Today I went shopping and I have to leave in a minute to pick up my daughter from work. I have to get some stuff organized around the house. I have a little plastic shoebox of seeds going...got them organized into categories, bagged each stack in zippered sandwich bags, and put them in the box. I have to work out some sort of seed goal list. Right now I'm concentrating on vegetable seeds, but I also realize that I need knowledge. For example, I have never grown a tomato plant from seed before; I have always purchased the little baby plants from the nursery. I need to learn about my new region's planting zones, too. We are going to build garden beds and get them filled with soil and fertilized; I want to be ready to GO GO GO when spring gets here! I'm hoping to get enough of a harvest to have my canner and dehydrator busy. I hope you all are having a great day. Anybody getting their plan of attack ready for Thanksgiving?

I’ve never been to one, but I’m sure your event is going to be wonderful! What a fun thing for the ladies to do.

Y’all, I have been in a MAJOR nesting mood! I’ve barely been on my phone or computer other than doing my daughter’s lesson plan for next week. I’ve spent the last few days planning a shopping list that will get us closer to our 6-month goal on our food, re-organizing my major pantry, and moving stuff around the house. I also got in a cooking mood last night and made sourdough biscuits, homemade tortillas, chicken taco meat, and rice and beans. Half the biscuits were in my family’s bellies before dinner (LOL, there went my goal of biscuits and gravy for breakfast this morning!). I don’t know what put me in this nesting mode — the cold weather, maybe? The prepping videos I’ve been listening to on YouTube? All I know is my brain is going “Be ready, be ready, keep going…” I’m listening to it!

We have a rather off Thanksgiving tradition that we will continue this year. Neither of my kids is fond of Turkey, and one just wouldn’t eat it when he was younger. So we decided a while back, “Why cook a Turkey if half of us don’t like it?” Our Thanksgiving tradition is to have either Mexican or Italian for a big feast. I usually make Mexican food, as it’s our family’s favorite. I make enchiladas, fresh salsa, homemade refried beans, Mexican rice, and whatever else I feel like throwing together. Then, I’ll have a nice dessert. This year we’re having my in-laws over for the first time (we just moved closer to them), so they’ll get to see how we do things! I love hearing about everyone’s holiday traditions. The holidays are so fun.

Quick question! I know that you cannot re-use the lids after processing them for canning. I recently froze several jars of broth and am now using them. Is it safe to use a mason jar lid after it’s been in the freezer? I plan on canning up some pinto beans soon and I don’t want to use the temporarily frozen lids if it would not be safe to do so. Thanks!

I hope it's okay for me to share a link here! When I was teaching, I cooked once a month and made multiple freezer meals. All I had to do was take one out the night before I wanted to use it and put it in the fridge to defrost. The next day either I or one of my kids could just pop it into the oven (or, if it was a slow cooker meal, I'd pop it in the cooker before leaving for work). It made life much, much easier. I got most of my freezer meal recipes from https://largefamilytable.com. The woman who runs the site is named Jamerrill Stewart, and she has a YouTube channel too (under her name). Her recipes were very good and froze well. Since I don't have NINE kids, I always halved her recipes, which usually gave me two pans or bags of whatever I was using. Each pan/bag would easily feed my family of four, which includes two very hungry teenagers.

Jeepers, I think I saw turkey breasts at our local Aldi...I can't be absolutely sure, but I seem to remember thinking that I hadn't seen them anywhere else. I've been pondering purchasing a turkey while they're plentiful, but we normally don't have turkey for Thanksgiving (we have a different tradition)...and my kids always comment that it's too dry! I'm trying to get motivated today. I'm behind on my housework and I need to get some organizing done. I seem to be trending lower on my mood the last few days and I'm hoping that my BP disorder isn't starting a swing toward depression. It wouldn't be abnormal this time of year. When that happens, it saps all of my energy and I just have too much to do right now. I talked to my Mom yesterday. She lives in an assisted living center several states away from us. I brought up my concerns about potential civil unrest (is it okay for me to say that?) and what seems to be a looming diesel shortage, and I encouraged her to stock up on grocery basics. Even though they have food three meals a day in their dining room, she still sometimes cooks. She said that lately they have been having the same few meals over and over, which confirms my worries about the facility's supply provider getting them what they need. She said that she would start stocking up (she gets Wal Mart delivery). I also told her to stock up on cases of bottled water. You just can't be too careful. I hope all y'all are having a great day. Happy Friday to you!

I remember in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book “The Long Winter,” Ma ground wheat in one of those little coffee grinders. It took her hours, and it made the bread dense, but she did get it ground. It’s not ideal, but y’all at least have something that could be pressed into use in an emergency!

I have a NutriMill and it is amazing! I have ground wheat berries, popcorn for cornmeal, and even beans in that thing. I got it way back in...I think 2008? And it is still going strong. I cannot recommend it enough. However, it is dependent upon electricity and draws a LOT of power. I've been meaning to research hand-powered grain mills for a few days now. I've been thinking a lot about potential situations where my lovely NutraMill could become simply a hunk of plastic that doesn't do anything. I would like to have the ability to grind wheat if we're ever in a situation where the electricity is out.

Today…I am tired. Stupid me got on YouTube on my phone last night and watched a video about nuclear war that usually would not have bothered me. Guess what? Right before bed, it gave me anxiety. Took a long time to fall asleep. I got up at normal time anyway so I can sleep better tonight. DH and I went to Sam’s and got some stuff we needed. I came home and trimmed/bagged the chicken I got. Briefly considered canning it tomorrow and ultimately decided to wait. I still need to get my daughter’s lesson plans together for next week. Now we’re back in the car running errands. I already can’t wait for bedtime!

You all have such great perspectives! I’m glad y’all have shared them with me. Hi, Jeepers! Thanks so much. It’s nice to meet you! Y’all have reminded me to get back into my dehydrating game. We moved over the summer and I’ll tell y’all, it knocked me off my game. I’m feeling pressed to work hard on preparing right now, though!

Euphrasyne — I am so very sorry to hear about your father. It is so hard to lose your dad. I’m sorry that you were not able to talk with him for so long — but I know that did not change the love you had for him. My prayers are with you.

Mother, thank you so much for the suggestion! Our local stores only have pumpkin and other fall seeds for sale right now. Do you know any good online sources for seeds? I will look into this. It can be part of our prep budget.

I'm really grateful for your replies! I had similar concerns about the price. We need to purchase a generator now that we live in tornado country. Our neighbors told us about a huge storm that came through in 2011 that spawned multiple tornadoes; everyone's power was out for over a week. When I think of what that would do to the meat I have stored in our freezer, I practically get hives! We have two teenagers, and even though I try to make about two vegetarian meals a week to save money, we still go through quite a bit of meat. I think that a generator needs to take priority right now...maybe I can set aside a cash fund for a freeze dryer down the road -- if the world hasn't gone completely crazy by then.

I went on a walk with my dog this morning before the rain as well, Snapshotmiki! I'm looking forward to some MUCH needed precipitation. I started a detailed food storage list yesterday with a goal of six months for my family of four. Some of what we need we already have, thank goodness; I would be very worried if I had to start from scratch right now. This list will allow me to find and prioritize the holes in our food storage so that I can fill in what is most important first. Today I also want to plan out our gardens -- a "disguised" one with mixed ornamentals and food in the front yard where we get full sun, and straight food gardens in the back where we have partial shade. I watched a video about a potential food shortage in 2023 which was very concerning to me yesterday evening. It got me on high alert for getting set up to grow our own food. In that vein, we also plan on getting our chicks in the spring. I have never raised chickens before, so I have a lot of research to do on that front. No better time than a rainy day to do that! Have a good day, everyone!

Hello, ladies! I was thinking about potentially investing in a freeze dryer (not a dehydrator -- I already have one of those), and although I knew that the prices would be hefty, I definitely got sticker shock at what I found. A medium freeze dryer is around $2600, before tax and all of the delivery add-ons. I know the benefits of freeze drying, but I am not sure I can justify that price for one piece of equipment. We try to be frugal in our preparation, and this seems like a lot of money to spend on a single-purpose item. I would love to ask you all what you think. Does anybody have a freeze dryer that they use? If anyone has decided it's not a wise purchase, can you share your thoughts with me about why you made that decision? I would be very grateful for any thoughts you may be willing to share.