Mother

We used sill insulation to weave in and out of our glass jars when we were traveling in the Motorhome. It is a thin foam that is fairly cheap )cheaper than bubble wrap) and comes in large rolls about four inches wide. You will find it in building supply stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot. It is used to insulate between the sill on a house and the walls set on those ‘sills’.

So this is what I’ve found so far…. I have been finding it difficult to figure out the cost of food each week. If I use the receipt totals it figure out about $75 a week for the two of us but that total also includes non grocery items as well as stock up items that may have been on sale. Then there is the food items I use from our pantry that I no longer have the price for so don’t have an amount. Even things like baking soda or salt or other condiments come from our pantry. We live our preps and buy mostly to replenish them as they are used. I hesitate to try to lower that cost as it would be at the expense of our preps. Like others, we have also been trying to use the older supplies, especially those in the freezers and extra refrigerator I use to store grain and flour. I have not been replacing those as I hope to shut down at least one of the three freezers and one or two of the four refrigerators. Way too many for just the two of us now. I try to follow an AIP (Autoimmune Protocol or Autoimmune Paleo) diet and that calls for quite a bit of fresh and frozen produce. I buy what is on sale and use one extra refrigerator to store those. Because of this challenge though I have found that sometimes it’s cheaper to buy frozen, on sale, and it’s also easier. The problem I have with that is fresh or frozen, either one, they are not good candidates for long term or disaster storage. The diet plays havoc with my prepping. Canned, even home canned which I no longer am able to do, doesn’t always work with this diet but I do store them. An AIP certified coach is trying to find the scientific data on using dehydrated foods with the diet. That might be one option.

MT3T, I am finding the same thing. I’m taking tips from you and am trying to come up with menus that stick to a budget. I put a few items in my Amazon and my local grocery carts and each time I go to put another in one or more of the first ones have gone up in price. So I’ve had to revise my budget to include for that. I need to speed up my ordering to take advantage of the lower prices….

I hope you have a super day.

Virginia, thank you. It’s rather fun celebrating my birthday several times without getting older! It’s even more fun to know people care.

Thank you, Darlene. I’ve called Mrs. S home for a whole lot of years and the members are like family.

Thank you, Snowmom. Cake and ice cream,

Ambergris, You might want to forego the adventures for a while and just hide out!!!

Momo, I had that very same thought!

Jeepers, have you thought about riting down the story of the ants, bonnets, pottery nd things and putting them inside or someho attaching them to the object? DH’s mom did that as well as kept records and pictures of the item in a book. She had dementia and couldn’t tell them herself but it was such fun for us to go through her things and read the stories. History, even yours, can form the future. I love the instruments and how you display them. I always wanted a Zither. Do you have music sheets to place under the strings?

Thank you all for your birthday wishes. I had a very quiet day but will have family coming tomorrow or Sunday to celebrate my birthday and Christmas. Illness and weather got in the way of both. Oh, and thanks for the cake and flowers and balloons and the music. Mrs S is such a fun family.

I love that room and that table is beautiful. I belong to a Facebook blog set up by friends of mine. It is called Marc and Linda’s Amish Blog. We have a growing Amish community here and the blog is intended to help people understand the Amish lifestyle. They often have pictures and articles about the Amish, some from Pennsylvania, some from Ohio, some from elsewhere. The pictures of the interiors of Amish homes is a lot like your dining room. The exception is the hats and bonnets are not used as wall decor but are usually on hooks or on a shelf. I really like your decor. Will you be near any Amish communities in Indiana? DH and I have traveled to a few there, in Illinois, and in Iowa and are pleased we have a growing community of Amish in our neck of the woods. They already have a small order only Home bakery and a small bulk food store though I haven’t been to either. I’m told I might be able to order some bulk foods and have them picked up but they don’t have a list of available foods yet. Someday perhaps. Thanks for the pictures. I like your new home.

Nice, Annarchy,

It is but the heat comes from inside the food instead of from the pot itself. If you do a search for thermal cooker or ‘wonderbag’ recipes you can use them for your home made insulated ‘haybox’ cooker. There are hundreds of them.

Mt_R, the insulating material should fit snuggly around the Dutch with no air space or the temperature won’t hold well enough. You aren’t making an oven but an insulated cooker. I use a quilt that I loosely stuff into the cooler and nestle the pan into it. I leave plenty to cover the top of the pan so it’s insulated all around. Nestled in the quilt or blanket or straw or whatever it won’t hurt the cooler. Plus, do not try to cook a whole roast that way. At least the first time until you see how your cooker works. Cut it in bite sized pieces so it all gets thoroughly hot before putting it in the cooler. Instead of pot roast you will be making pot roast stew. I use liquid in mine for the initial 8-10 minute boil and then allow at least five hours in the cooker before I check it. Don’t check it much before then unless you plan to reheat it each time If it doesn’t appear done bring it back to a boil for another ten minutes and place it back in the cooker to finish. When it’s done I like to put it on the stove top to bring back to a boil to make a quick gravy. Let us know how it turns out.

Euphrasyne, I agree. It’s a good idea to learn to substitute items ahead of time so there isn’t that learning curve when you least need it. It’s also a good idea to have a copy of substitutes to refer to. It’s hard telling what would or could be rationed. Like you, I hope it’s not a dollar amount though in some ways that could be better. Then we’d at least have choices. I suspect it will more likely be a Combination of shortages and the lack of funds to buy groceries with. Kind of like we had during the pandemic. ….. We probably should practice and prepare for both.

MT3B, I believe it is a great challenge and it isn’t inconceivable that we could have rationing. I have been trying to get an idea of what we spend on groceries a week. At first it seemed like a whole lot more than that but then I remembered that part of my grocery money was for household goods,

When we camped we often cooked oatmeal overnight by digging hole beside the fire pit where the ground was hot from the evening fire. It was just the size of our Dutch oven. The oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts, and sugar were mixed ahead of time and brought along in recipe sized bags. You just dump it into the Dutch with water, bring it to a boil, out the lid on and place it in the hole. I covered the pot with aluminum foil or something to keep the dirt from getting o the lid and then filled in the hole with soil or ashes. Perfectly cooked breakfast oatmeal in the morning. You can do that with a supper meal too. Make sure the ground around the fire is warmed, or if you use the oatmeal hole put coals in it to make sure it’s hot. Place a pot of stew or soup into it, cover it, and by supper it’s cooked. By the way, these and the hay box cooking are old chuckwagon and trail cooking methods.

I bumped a few oldies just to get us all thinking. I love these old posts. So much info. LS, you really don’t need hay or straw to make an insulated cooker. A cardboard box would work but A Cooler makes a good one, even a styrofoam one as long as you fill it with something to nestle the pot into that will keep the contents hot. Quilts, blankets, quilt batting, insulation, and etc. insulated, thermal, or hay box cooking works best with more liquid foods as they need to be boiling hot when placed in the cooker. To make sure your food is safe be sure to cut it in bite sized pieces and bring it to a boil and boil a few minutes. I usually don’t leave the food in the cooker more than six hours if there’s meat. If it’s not done I simply bring it to a boil again and replace it for a Couple more hours. I love oatmeal made in them or in a wide mouthed thermos. I use rolled oats, chopped up apples or dates or raisins and/or nuts, bring it to a boil, and place In the Cooker overnight. Perfectly cooked the next morning.

I occasionally used them camping for the topping on top of a cobbler. Fruit on the bottom, sprinkle the mix in the top and dot it all over with butter. Bake until golden brown. I’ve used them to make ‘cake mixes’ for the kids easy bake ovens and I would imagine you could make individual microwave mug cakes with them. You wouldn’t have a big cake to use up that way. If you can do waffles with them you could also do pancakes. And of course there are the cookies. I’m sure you could use them as the flour part of quick breads (Sorry Euphrasyne, I didn’t see your post) and perhaps even yeast breads. Baked donuts, maybe even fried ones or Dumplings on fruit. You might need to add regular flour in some uses as cake mix flour is usually finer.

The container meals do not store as long but they are convenient for when cooking is not an option. The containers are usually freezer to microwave. I figured in a power outage I could transfer them to tins to be heated in my Dutch oven on the wood stove.

That cutting board sure helps.

That is so true. We always seem to be reading His map and trying to see His path for us. Good thing He knows where we are going. Safe journey, Jeepers.

Jeepers. 👍. I was pretty sure you wouldn’t leave it to chance. By the way, I love the vision of God being your copilot.