-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS May Giveaway ***Canik METE SFX***
What did you do to prep today?
- Thread starter FrugalFannie
- Start date
Experimented with a new (for me) idea of a bug out food box... a wine box (which I have an abundance of at work), filled with canned and dry goods of meals for two for a week. The separators keep cans and liter bottles of grains in place nicely. I haven't bought any of the MREs or pre-packaged foods yet as I'd like to see how much I can store of things I already eat regularly. The boxes can be dated and rotated for eating in or tossed in the car quickly to bug out for short-term (hurricanes, blizzards, etc). Also great with my space limitations at home.
Other thoughts that came up during this planning:
-pack quinoa instead of rice: lighter weight, higher nutrient value, cooks faster than rice=less fuel used
-wheatgrass powder: I usually put in smoothies, but can be added to just about any meal; 1 scoop = approx 5 servings of veges
Other thoughts that came up during this planning:
-pack quinoa instead of rice: lighter weight, higher nutrient value, cooks faster than rice=less fuel used
-wheatgrass powder: I usually put in smoothies, but can be added to just about any meal; 1 scoop = approx 5 servings of veges
The "13 skills" challenge web site from Jack Spirko, of The Survival Podcast, went online. I went to 13skills.com and entered the 13 skills that I hope to learn/improve during 2013. I think this is a terrific idea and I'm looking forward to hopefully completing them all. Skills I'm hoping to do range from learning more fire starting methods, to raising chickens.
Wife and I baked our first no knead bread today. (First, not including "beer bread"... I tried that once only to realize I don't actually like beer.) It came out very well. Used dutch oven and the 4 basic ingredients. This is better than the "fast" regular way of making bread... I don't care for all that kneading and how picky it is and ending up with a brick. No brick this time. And, no cheating by using bread machine.
Beer bread recipes work really well with flavored seltzer waters!
Thanks for posting that site! I signed up last night and committed to my 13 (which also includes fire starting). No room for chickens at my place, but I used to fish as a kid and want to re-learn fishing and fish cleaning basics. We used to do fresh water and deep sea fishing, the main rule being "you caught it, you clean it"
![[thumbsup]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/044.gif "Thumbs Up [thumbsup]")
I had an omelet for lunch today, does that count? Actually, it was more of an egg scramble by the time I was done cooking it.
Eggs were from my own chickens
Spam (mmm, spam) from my stores
Onions, hanging in wife's old lingerie in basement, grown in my garden this past summer
Cooked on my woodstove.
Wood, mostly from my property but also scavenged from the storms past few years. Occasionally I will buy some if timing/priced right. Mostly hand split by me although I borrow my neighbors splitter sometimes. I probably have about 10+ cord at the moment.
I cut the Spam into cubes and browned that up first to also use the oil from that to grease the pan. Then browned up the onions a little, added the eggs, etc. Tasty.
I realize I probably don't need to rotate the Spam, but for Spam I make an exception just to be sure![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
. And before anyone says 'lingerie, you're doing it wrong', I am aware. No on says we can't rotate that too.
I cook on the woodstove as much as possible. Next I want to learn to bake bread on it. Anyone do this? I am thinking of making an oven to fit on top or maybe just start with a camp oven. Be interested to hear anyone's experience with this.
Eggs were from my own chickens
Spam (mmm, spam) from my stores
Onions, hanging in wife's old lingerie in basement, grown in my garden this past summer
Cooked on my woodstove.
Wood, mostly from my property but also scavenged from the storms past few years. Occasionally I will buy some if timing/priced right. Mostly hand split by me although I borrow my neighbors splitter sometimes. I probably have about 10+ cord at the moment.
I cut the Spam into cubes and browned that up first to also use the oil from that to grease the pan. Then browned up the onions a little, added the eggs, etc. Tasty.
I realize I probably don't need to rotate the Spam, but for Spam I make an exception just to be sure
. And before anyone says 'lingerie, you're doing it wrong', I am aware. No on says we can't rotate that too.I cook on the woodstove as much as possible. Next I want to learn to bake bread on it. Anyone do this? I am thinking of making an oven to fit on top or maybe just start with a camp oven. Be interested to hear anyone's experience with this.
A very productive weekend for me (yeah, retail-worker "weekends" are a bummer sometimes)... I got a batch of All-Purpose Healing Salve finished and put into various bug-out, bug-in, emergency bags. Decanted some Immunity tincture and Elderberry tincture, and made the first batch of elderberry syrup for the season. Also picked up a few small odds-n-ends for the emergency bags as well.
Still not sure what those "gigs" were in the first posts, but I am curious.
I might move some firewood around tomorrow, as well as start up the snowblower and put ice scrapers in the cars and windshield washer anti-freeze.
I might move some firewood around tomorrow, as well as start up the snowblower and put ice scrapers in the cars and windshield washer anti-freeze.
Have cooked on a wood stove, but haven't made bread. Maybe a search for 'pan-bread' recipes? I know you can do cornbread in a cast iron pan.
I made bread in a dutch oven in my oven. But I was wondering what would happen if I put the dutch oven on a stove or other heat source. Would it work? A low tech way to make bread could be useful... My preps don't include baking capability when the grid is done.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
My preps don't include baking either, and since I'm not much of a bread eater, that's not a problem (though I may grab some Trader Joe's cornbread mix - awesome stuff and goes great with chili!) I would think a dutch oven on the stove would work... maybe line the bottom with parchment and grease well to avoide burning the bottom? Might be worth a test run!
FrugalFannie
NES Member
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
Twigg
NES Member
Ten pints of pork loin and ten pints of beef taking turns in the canner today. Pantry now being stacked two high !
Also two good sized pork roasts vacuume sealed going into the freezer.
Also two good sized pork roasts vacuume sealed going into the freezer.
I'd be curious how that goes. There's a company called Shelf Reliance that sells nice-looking stuff to help with storage. They're a bit costly though, more than I can justify. Something home made could be good for us though.
SteelShooter
NES Member
I got the Shelf Reliance, there were several instructions on how to make a home made one, but I decided the time investment was not worth it.
I got two of these
http://www.costco.com/Shelf-Reliance-Harvest-Food-Rotation-System.product.11233458.html#BVRRWidgetID
We have an EU3000is at work, but today we tested whether we could run the servers:
On a EU2000i Companion, and ran it for an hour to so we could gather data on fuel consumption.
On a EU2000i Companion, and ran it for an hour to so we could gather data on fuel consumption.
Picked up some more ammo this past weekend.. As of the FIFO rack I may have to purchase one after the holidays not a bad price.. Let me know how it works out when you get it up and stocked.. Pics?? If you got them..! 
Hiltonizer
Banned
We have a built in pantry, made a few FIFO containers out of cardboard to put in it, I prefer that as they're more mobile and you can customize the size to shit you buy.
SteelShooter
NES Member
Picked up some more ammo this past weekend.. As of the FIFO rack I may have to purchase one after the holidays not a bad price.. Let me know how it works out when you get it up and stocked.. Pics?? If you got them..!
They worked out great after we got the spacing figured out. I have mostly cans of everyday eats as opposed to long storage #10 cans and things like that, although I do have some of those as well. They are definitely not space savers, I could store more cans in the same space but where I'm actually using the food daily it's the best option.
P-14
NES Member
Installed two water alarms in the basement.
Experimented with some alternative fire starting skills (part of what I'm doing on 13skills.com). Using Aurora fire starter, cotton balls and milkweed ignite easily. I was dismayed that I couldn't get birch bark or dead pine needles to take a spark. Any ideas?
I first tried the birch bark as-is, and that was hopeless. I then shredded it into tiny pieces with a knife. It still wouldn't light. It burns easily once another flame touches it, but the spark wasn't working.
My pine needles were perhaps not dry enough? They were dead in my driveway. They felt dry, but maybe not.
Experimented with some alternative fire starting skills (part of what I'm doing on 13skills.com). Using Aurora fire starter, cotton balls and milkweed ignite easily. I was dismayed that I couldn't get birch bark or dead pine needles to take a spark. Any ideas?
I first tried the birch bark as-is, and that was hopeless. I then shredded it into tiny pieces with a knife. It still wouldn't light. It burns easily once another flame touches it, but the spark wasn't working.
My pine needles were perhaps not dry enough? They were dead in my driveway. They felt dry, but maybe not.
Spent yesterday ( had to work today ) getting a crapload of 1x8x18ft rough cut spruce delivered to my house , where I cut the stuff into various bundles , working from a list I've been carrying , to finish weatherproofing the new addition to my Bug Out Cabin in SW Maine.
No power up there , and can't get a vehicle within 500 yards , so doing the cutting here is much faster.
When I am done , hopefully before it gets snowed in , I'll have a 2 room cabin ... at least a "room & a half."
No power up there , and can't get a vehicle within 500 yards , so doing the cutting here is much faster.
When I am done , hopefully before it gets snowed in , I'll have a 2 room cabin ... at least a "room & a half."
