Mother

I am beginning to plan my gardens, not nearly as ambitious as yours, Necie. Or even as in the past.  Mostly container gardening this year.  My focus will be on herbs mainly. I am replacing/restocking my medicinal herb garden and have plans to move wild herbs closer to the house for easier harvesting.  I will be putting in some vegetables. Probably mostly for fresh eating, tomatoes , peppers, cukes, a zucchini or two and some snow or sugar pod peas.  I had such good luck with planting the ends and tops of veggies last year and this winter that I’ll continue to do that for greens. If let grow most of them will flower and seed but the fresh greens are really good. I’ve been cutting celery inside all winter from the root end of one celery plant. It’s more like cutting celery than regular but just as good tasting and free. I’ve cut three or four meals from a bok choy root growing in the top of the aquarium but it finally decided to flower.  
 

6 hours ago, Ambergris said:

One of the people bottling meat (pork, as I recall) crammed it in and/or used a lot of fatty bits in various segments,

This makes sense when you couple it with keeping it in the refrigerator. This would be similar to the old fashioned ‘larding’ that is still used in places where home butchering is prominent.  In the past, freshly butchered meat was fried until well done, then layered with lard in big crocks and stored in the unheated cellar.  Before consuming the meat was refried again or boiled well.  Cooking that meat with fatty pieces, three days in a row and then refrigerating, could give you a similar product. The fat would come to the top and seal the meat as well as the lid used. 
 

Thinking this through I believe I’d need more proof too or I’d use it only as a last resort if new lids were no longer available, like in a SHTF situation. 

I’m not advocating this method.  It seems risky to me but I do know that a Lot of countries use traditional preservation methods and have a lot less food poisoning from all sectors than we have here.  Most of these methods are for their local produce though and might be different in this country.  I would want some info on honsafe, in general, this is.
 

Actually, there is very little food poisoning from home canned foods in this country than from commercial products so we must be doing something right.  I, personally would err on the safe side.   Some of what I’m reading about it says it’s not as effective as an autoclave but then, neither is our canners.  It does seem this method is purposely allowing the spores to grow so they can turn into the bacteria so in turn be killed in subsequent boiling.  
 

It might be something we could use for sanitation or sterilization purposes in a survival situation though. That’s why I said it was interesting . 

We have tried the frozen root vegetables that are meant to be roasted.  Pic Sweet brand I believe???  Some have parsnips in the mix, some beets but mostly they are sweet potato, winter squash, regular potatoes, and carrots.  They are pricey unless on sale but we like them and they are easy to dump on a sheet pan and roast with a little olive oil.  I routinely freeze root veggies though. I partially cook or steam them before hand as that makes them faster to prepare. I freeze winter squash, sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, beets, parsnips, and etc.  I don’t think they freeze as long as other veggies but they are a quick addition to a meal without the work at that time.   I usually prep extra fresh roots when I do cook them and put them in the freezer but I have been known to take a couple hours and do a bigger freeze session.  I’ve even started to cut them in smaller sizes and make up my own sheet pan veggies for the freezer.  Much cheaper. 
 

That said, root veggies keep months in the refrigerator and I prefer them over the frozen ones.  Plus, if we lose electricity they will still keep a long time unlike the frozen ones.  
 

I had to look this up.  I’ve read about and even tried some of the preserving processes from other countries and a lot of the old time means but I had not heard of tyndallization.  The description I read says to boil (100°c = 212°f) the product for various times, (mostly 20 minutes to 45 minutes, it seems to vary depending on who’s describing it) once a day for three days, and holding the product at 37°c (98.6°f) in between.  I haven’t taken time to find particulars, such as is that IN the jars?  
 

The process seems to be aimed at killing the bacteria and also the spores that would multiply in the cooler temps. The bacteria would be killed with the first boiling and I’m guessing by the time the third boiling is done the spores are also wiped out.  That does sound logical to me.  
 

I wonder why particularly in India.   Something you might have to take into account is the same things we do here, the amount of acid in a food, is this done with meat and dense vegetables?  Are they doing something specific besides that we might not do?  They are probably not preserving beef as isn’t that considered sacred there so what meat might they be using if it IS used for meat that is.  
 

I find this very  interesting.

I have used a couple different apps to track our finances. Years ago I used Money. My online banking gives me the ability to go through and give my spending different categories.  I use them all for a while, long enough to set a reasonable budget if I factor in price raises but they do get time consuming.  My monthly household supply budget includes food and supplies from the grocery stores, what household supplies and foods I get from Amazon and a few other online places I order.  I try to exclude home furnishings, repairs, and other one time buys as they go into a different category of spending.  This does, however contain any daily, weekly, or monthly items we use on an ongoing basis so includes replenishing our preps.  I roughly add those things up each month, three months, six months, and a year.  As our income comes in monthly I make the budget for that.  
 

When I raised a large percentage of our own food the ‘daily life’ budget was very low.  It was easy to see the budget raise as I was able to do less and less.  I compensated somewhat by producing more easily grown foods like microgreens and sprouts. Before the pandemic I was able to keep our daily life budget less than $350. That included paper products, cleaning supplies, office supplies,, seeds and garden supplies, and etc. as well as food. During the pandemic that cost raised to closer to $500 but that price also included the money for gas I gave to DD for shopping for us.  During that time both DH and myself became more disabled and unable to drive or do many of the things we used to and had to hire others to do things we no longer could but I put that cost in a separate classification too.  Now, with the higher cost of almost everything from medications to insurance premiums and especially food, we are using our pantry, freezer, and other foods at an alarming rate and feel the need to replace them.  Most of what we get now comes shipped or delivered and I’m finding it difficult to shop the local sales, which I always did in the past.  Being unable to grow and can foods and not having access to bulk foods as I used to, I’m trying to find ways to save on the budget every where I can.  
 

This month I started to tabulate the costs of food separately from the other supplies.  I’ve also been taking a close look at what we do eat and assessing them individually for ways I CAN save on them.  I actually have been able to save through frugality and our overall daily life budget has been staying under $400 a month but there are many things not being replaced that should be.  I know because of my allergies and restricted diet it won’t be easy but there must be a way, even for a wheelchair bound disabled senior citizen and a cognitively and physically impaired senior citizen husband.  I like a challenge but I find I am constantly having to do a reality check on our abilities.  
 

MT3B, thanks for posting this challenge. It has given me the impetus to challenge myself and your assessment helps me to be cautious in my own solutions. 

I know people who make award winning chili with chocolate in it.  That seems almost as unlikely as having it with Spam.  I am seriously allergic to chocolate and would be I. Serious trouble if someone hid chocolate in a food.  At least this is visible!  My family loves chocolate covered bacon.  

MT3B, do you have an estimate of the cost per week if you include the staples you used?   And what about the raise in price for those staples since you bought them?   Besides learning about food fatigue do you have a dollar figure for the real cost of food for the two of you each week? 
 

Your challenge made me think about our own costs.  I’m having difficulties separating the food costs from the other supply costs to figure out strictly what it costs us to eat.  We get venison from the GS and the occasional rabbit, squirrel, and etc and have no idea how to price those. Also some of the veggies and fruit in the freezer were from our garden or land or were sprouts and microgreens we grew inside.  Replacement of staples is also difficult to figure the cost. 
 

Ummm, is this supposed to be Candy?  Or a protein snack? I suppose it’s kind of like chocolate covered bacon?  
 

I really hope someone tries this and lets us know …..why! 

You so rarely find canned rutabagas.  Margaret Holmes brand makes them and you can find them at Amazon but they are $5 a can and are a bit mushy for my taste.  I have never canned them myself because I have difficulties growing them though turnips grow beautifully.  Most of what we find here in the stores are waxed but the ones I just got were not.  I’m not sure how long they will keep but I got eight of them and plan to cook some for the freezer.  At $.99 a pound I would have bought more but DD bought all they had. 
 

We love them cooked and mashed with turnips and butter.  The orange and white looks so bright and the taste is quite different than either alone. 

I’m not sure what the general price is but DD just picked up some amazingly priced turnips, rutabagas, parsnips, and sweet potatoes at Krogers. (Also cabbage, cauliflower, and bok choy were very reasonable.)  I store sweet potatoes in a cool room but store the others in a refrigerator and they keep for weeks, no processing needed.  I also keep kohlrabi and carrots that way but they weren’t on sale.  For about $40 dollars I got enough root veggies to last the two of us two months or more.   You got to love a DD who knows what we eat and finds the bargains for us.  

I’ve grown potatoes a lot of different ways, including plastic tubs, raised beds, hay bales, grow towers, and right in bags of soil.  There’s work involved with potatoes, period.  But one of the ways I used the most was to loosen the soil in an area, laying the cut potatoes fairly closely on the soil and covering it all with a deep layer of straw.  As the potatoes grew I did sometimes add more straw loosely around the plants if it looked thin but it’s a lot easier than hilling soil.  Once the plants get big enough they kind of overlap and shade any potatoes that might peek through the straw.  When it comes time to harvest it’s a matter of raking the straw and plants aside and picking up potatoes.  Some will be down in the soil but not usually too deeply.  
 

Momo, I have been where you are but I have a couple back ups.  I have a travel scooter that we bought used but it was still over $700.  It can be disassembled to fit in a vehicle. It is small and low to the ground but it really helps when my wheelchair needs repairs.   I also have a very old electric scooter we bought at a flea market years ago. It’s old and not real good in the house but it’s wheels.  I keep them all charged and ready to use just in case.  I have a manual wheelchair but it belonged to my MIL and is very small, too small for me,  but I probably could use it if needed.  
 

I rarely leave the property but I do love to get out of the house and be able to enjoy the nice weather.  I can get to my deck with the walker and both my mobility scooters and my wheelchair can be easily used on the shallow ramp DGS built onto the deck.  I was totally house bound for weeks with the deep snow we had recently. And that was the pits!!  So am sending you hugs and hopes your wheels are repaired soon.  

Don’t forget, if you make aprons for mom and daughter you might consider matching aprons for the Barbie dolls too. I have seen a bicycle tire made into a wonderful wall shelves for matchbox cars.  Our grandsons are talking about using a rubber motorcycle tire to make one for DH to hold some of his smaller Motorcycles that he collects.  He has hundreds. 

Jeepers, if you make a quilt for DGS, could it be one with pockets for toys or books or games.  Or maybe snacks LOL.  Or what about a quilted wall hanging.  It could be of something he especially enjoys, like cars or horses, or???   
 

We have had many Christmases where ALL the gifts were hand made. My whole family is into home made.  There was everything from hand made soaps, lotions and other personal products, to foods, to personal recipe books, to filled baskets, to home made mixes, to doll houses, manufactured items like jewelry boxes, knife and utensil holders, and even a beautiful desk.  (my brother made that for me one year).  There was all kinds of hand made game boards.  Checkers, chess, parcheesi, and some even made up games. 
 

One financially tough year we decided that all gifts be made from cardboard boxes.  Some were fun, some usable, some were beautiful works of art shadow boxes.  There were wagons and cradles and cardboard kitchens, garages, and doll houses and furniture for the kids.  There was storage boxes covered with material or painted, picture frames, puzzles and puzzle boards, yarn and string dispensers, even a cupboard complete with curtain door.  
 

My MIL used to take blown out eggs and decorate them in fascinating ways.  She used a Dremel tool to cut them so she could put tiny hinges on them so they would open. Then she would make little scenes inside and decorate the outside.  She out them in stands or out feet in them,  she even made jewelry with egg shells.  
 

I’m looking forward to this thread. I bet there will be lots of ideas. 
 

It’s kind of fun being a trend before it’s a trend!  

((((((((((Euphrasyne))))))))))

I like Frank Loyd’s Wright too and am fortunate enough to live near some of his homes.  Eclectic is good.  I never could annoy my kids though.  They were just as eclectic if not more so.  We had a wonderful time while they were growing up and they are such interesting adults.  

I hadn’t heard the term but it is certainly not new.  I have been into cottagecore since I was in my early teens if not before.  Thanks for the info, Ambergris.  

CAT!  A birthday??  And we missed it???   Well we will just have to celebrate again today!!!  
 

 🍕🎂🍨🍦🍗🍿🧋🍾🍷☕️🎁🎈🎉

 I hope you had a wonderful day .  

Happy birthday, Kappy!  Enjoy your stroll.  

Oh noooooooo,  please don’t stay any too long if you can help it……. 

That really does explain the why’s as well as the how’s.  Great find.  Thanks.

36 minutes ago, Littlesister said:

Packing up canned food in a way the jars won't break will be a challenge,

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.