Hi Everyone,
NOTES:
** I watched this video about 40 uses for hydrogen peroxide. They include everything from washing pesticides off your fruits and vegetables, to taking oil stains off garage floors. Peroxide can remove mold from walls and plant leaves, help remove rust, and increase germination rates in seeds. Grandpa’s 40 Hydrogen Peroxide Hacks that will BLOW YOUR MIND & MAKE LIFE EASIER!!!
** Are you following your “Get Prepared” plan? Don’t just store food. You are going to have to eat that food. Be sure to store spices, salt, baking supplies, and other things that will make the food edible!
a) find recipes your family likes and stock up on those things:
b) stock up on basic long term food and learn how to cook it
c) invest in freeze dried or dehydrated foods. Just get a can a week, or every month. Some of the things I bought are freeze dried celery, dehydrated onions, other freeze dried vegetables, tomato powder, things like that. You can get along nicely without anything fancy. Just decide and get started.
** There are a couple of places where people are homesteading and living off the grid, right in downtown Los Angeles. Here is one of them: LA ecovillage: self-reliance in car-free urban homestead – *faircompanies
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
If anyone is still interested in gardening during the winter, check this out: Winter Gardening Checklist Zones 9-11 | Kellogg Garden Organics™
Still growing: carrots, onions, beets.
Epic Gardening is a gardening show from San Diego. His entire yard is all garden. He has some really great videos showing how to grow anything, how to preserve what you grow, and how to deal with insects and other diseases. He’s great. epic gardening
THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: milk
4 pounds/person/month
This is 2 1/2 pouches or l can Nido (which is 3.8 lbs)
When my son was on a church mission in New Zealand, we sent him several boxes of cold cereal for Christmas. In the Tongan culture, what’s yours is also mine. In fact, they have an unkind word for those who won’t share which translates to: He who eats at night. LOL
So he decided to drink all the milk, so they wouldn’t eat his cereal. When he got back that night, all the cereal was gone. They had eaten it with Coke instead of milk.
Cold cereal just does not store well. The expiration date is usually 9-12 months, and from experience, I can tell you that anything beyond this date tastes stale. Yuck.
So, yes, you can keep several boxes on hand, BUT you MUST rotate them or you’ll end up throwing them away.
Oatmeal will last much longer. My favorite hot cereal is Cream of Wheat.
You’ll want milk for cereal, and for tomato soup. We also use milk for pancakes, waffles, no-bake cookies, biscuits, rolls, and many other things.
You can buy milk in pouches at the Home Storage Center. $7.50 per pouch
I mentioned before that I bought this in 2013 at the grocery store (look where the baby food is). (not sure but I think it’s about $15??) The large can makes 53 1-cup servings. That’s a little over 1 1/2 c. per day. You can see that families would need much more than that.
You can see the date 6/13. I opened it last week and it tastes fine! And, as promised, I mixed up a quart and added it to our open half-full gallon of milk and no one noticed!
This is instant milk, not non-instant. Non-instant is what you get at the Home Storage Center. Instant milk mixes with just a spoon and a glass of cold water. Non-instant requires a blender, or vigorous mixing with a wire whisk.
MISC. PURCHASE: toilet paper
Time to invest in another month’s worth. Store it in the garage. Get a big black tub and store it outside. Put it in the top of or back of the closet. Just get 1-2 extra each time you shop this week.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
This is my go-to guide for cooking with powdered milk.
You can get it here: There’s a Cow in the Kitchen: A Guide to Cooking with Powdered Milk: Nelson, Virginia D.: 9780966028485: Amazon.com: Books
I bought it years and years ago when it was only $3-4. Virginia had come to a women’s church meeting, and I was so poor, my neighbor and I chipped in and split the cost so we could take turns using the book. LOL
There is a lot of information about nonfat dry milk itself, then about 40 pages of recipes – including smoothies, soups, pancakes, sweetened condensed milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, ice cream, fudgsicles, and main dishes.
Here are three recipes from her book.
Easy Cheesecake
If you have cream cheese, use this one.
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. non-instant dry milk powder
(If you are using instant milk powder, use 1 1/3 c.)
In a blender, place 1/2 c. warm water.
With the motor running, and the sugar and milk mixture.
1/4 c. lemon or orange juice – add to the blender
1 c. softened cream cheese
If you don’t have cream cheese, use this one:
In a blender, place 1 c. water
In a small bowl mix
3/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. non-instant milk or 2 2/3 c. instant milk
With the motor running, add the milk and sugar to the water.
1/2 c. lemon juice – add
Pour the filling into a graham cracker crust. Homemade Graham Cracker Crust – Southern Bite
Top with fresh or frozen fruit if desired. Cool in the refrigerator.
Egg Nog
3 eggs (washed eggs without any cracks – eggs from the store are already washed)
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. non-instant powdered milk (if using instant, a shy 1 c.)
1 TB rum flavoring (I usually use vanilla)
In a blender, mix until foamy. Chill before serving.
My note: This stuff tastes like a vanilla malt. It’s delicious!
Quick Chicken or Beef Vegetable soup
2 c. chicken or beef broth – bring to a boil
1/2 c. noodles, or 1 package ramen noodles
1 10-oz package of frozen mixed vegetables
(You can dehydrate these SO easily! Just spread them frozen on the trays and dry away. If you want to use them in the soup, rehydrate with hot water for 20 min or so)
Add noodles and vegetables to boiling broth and cook until tender. (Got any leftover meat? Add that too.)
Meanwhile, mix 1 c hot water, 2/3 c. non instant milk powder (1 c. instant), and 1 TB flour. (I like to put it in a small jar and shake, shake, shake)
Add the flour mix to the hot noodles when they are finished to thicken the soup. Cook until thick, about 1 min.
Marti Shelley
