Marti’s Corner – 99

Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

     *  My worst-case scenario is that I’m out of town, and there is a disaster, and I have to walk home.  Each week, I spend one day in San Diego.  I know there is NO WAY I am going to walk home from San Diego in high heels.  So, I keep a pair of tennis shoes in the car – both cars, actually.  I tuck them in with the spare tire.  I did not buy NEW shoes for that purpose, but when I DID get new tennis shoes, I put the old ones in the car.  Just a suggestion.

     *  AND, it wouldn’t hurt to put an extra pair of socks in your 72-hour kit.  Boy scouts know that you should put on dry socks at night.

     *  Just a note from someone working in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Home Storage Center:  “I’m serving a Service Mission at our Bishops Storehouse and know that we haven’t had baking powder for many months, just not available. I was told by the manager that SLC (Salt Lake City) doesn’t even have any, so if you find it in the grocery stores, you might want to get some for storage.”

    *  I watched another City Prepping video last week.  Kris mentioned that aluminum has been hard to get.  Somehow production got behind during COVID and has a hard time catching up.  He said that we might find shortages of canned goods because of it but that fresh foods could still be plentiful.  You should seriously consider having some way to preserve food.   I suggest starting with a dehydrator.  I have mushrooms in my dehydrator right now.  (I bought some for a salad and don’t want to waste the leftovers.)  I also suggest a canner.  Water-bath canners are pretty cheap (under $25) and can be used to can tomatoes and fruit.  Pressure canners can range from $100-$500. 

23 Quart Pressure Canner Cooker for Canning & Cooker with Gauge Steaming Rack Auto Lock Handle for Stewing Pressure Cooking.  This is similar to the one I have at $134.  I’ve had mine since the ’70s!!!!  With a pressure canner, you can preserve vegetables that are on sale and meat that goes on sale.  Just a few weeks ago, the chicken was $1.79 for boneless, skinless breasts, and I canned up about 20 pints!

There are lots of videos about using a pressure canner.  If you live in So. Cal, I will come to your house and help you learn!!!

GARDEN HAPPENINGS

**  Have you noticed an increase in the cost of lettuce?  I guess the market has been hit because of lettuce disease and bad weather.   I don’t buy lettuce anymore, so this doesn’t affect me. I can’t believe how easy it is to grow.  Almost foolproof!  I bought a “greens” class:  Leafy Greens Container Garden Course – THE LIVING FARM  $49.  If you watch, these classes sometimes go on sale.  I think I paid about $35.  Anyway, here is what I learned:

These lettuce beds are sitting on my patio table in the backyard.  They have holes in the bottom and are up on blocks so that the water will drain.  I’m growing bib lettuce, red lettuce, and green lettuce.  Do you see the empty container?  I planted this container about 2 weeks ago, and the baby plants are just coming up.  I try to rotate the containers so that I always have lettuce.  You can see the plastic tub in the front on the left is falling apart.  I find that each tub only lasts about a year.  The sun and elements make the plastic very brittle.  

I mix fertilizer in the beds each time I plant, and I don’t worry about it while they are growing.  I battle aphids and spray for them each week, whether I see them or not.  Pretty much–if the sun is shining–you have aphids!!!  In the warm weather, I have to watch for those little white butterflies because they lay green worms that really like lettuce.  I probably don’t need 7 tubs of lettuce.  I usually end up sharing a gallon bag of lettuce with whoever knocks on my door the day I pick it.  

Six weeks.  Plant now and harvest in about 6 weeks.  Then you can continue to harvest for another 8-12 weeks, depending on the weather.  It’s such a bargain!  And fresh lettuce has WAAAAAY more nutrients than store-bought iceberg lettuce (which is mostly water!).  

AND lettuce doesn’t mind the occasional freeze.  It just bounces right back!!!

THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: pasta

THIS WEEK – until Wednesday… Albertsons has American Beauty Pasta for $1.00 each.  That’s a pretty good deal, and I haven’t seen it that low in a while.  Pasta will last for several years.  You can put it in an airtight container with oxygen absorbers.  You can put it in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers and then just iron the bags closed.  You can vacuum seal the pasta in its original packaging.  I just snip a very tiny hole in the package so that the air can be vacuumed out.  I made a dish last week that called for 4 c. cooked pasta and suggested that 2 c. uncooked pasta would be about the equivalent.  I used 2 heaping c. pasta, and I ended up with at least 8 c. pasta!!!!  I used 4 c. for the recipe and the rest the next night with some homemade alfredo sauce.  

MISC: propane

Do you have a BBQ that uses propane?  Now is the time to refill any tanks you may have used this summer.  Also, THIS is a really handy thing:  Mr. Heater New F242100 Tank Top Propane 15k Btu Infrared Heater

With the price of natural gas going sky high, we have been using this downstairs in the family room.  We turn off the heat to the whole house and use this.  It heats the entire downstairs!!!  If you keep an eye out and occasionally look at the Estate Sales in your area, you can pick up propane tanks for pretty cheap.

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Spaghetti Sauce

For YEARS I just bought spaghetti sauce like 99.9% of the world!  But…. then I found this recipe, and I have used it ever since.  It makes a ton of sauce, so I freeze the rest in zip-lock bags.  I tried canning it once, and I didn’t like the texture, so I just don’t anymore.  I will confess that I canned it, meat and all, and maybe that was the problem.  Maybe canning the sauce WITHOUT the meat would work.

All the fresh vegetables called for I substitute with dehydrated veggies: carrots, onion, and green pepper.  Add whatever meat you want.  I like the combination of ground beef and sausage.  

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. sausage
    Brown and drain.
1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes undrained.  If I’m out of these, I use diced tomatoes and just blend them a little with an immersion blender.
1 med green pepper, chopped
1 med onion chopped
1 c. chopped carrots
1 c. water
1 8-oz. can of tomato sauce
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 TB brown sugar
1 TB Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
     Slow cook for 8-10 hr. on low OR simmer for 2-3 hr.  You want to make sure the dehydrated vegetables are completely rehydrated and look fresh!!!

Stroganoff
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained  (I like to use my canned ground beef for this)
1 clove minced garlic (remember, you can get dehydrated garlic.  Just use a small bowl to reconstitute by filling it with water and letting the garlic sit in there for 15-20 min.)
1/2 onion diced – you can also use dehydrated onion here
    Saute onion and garlic with beef.
1 TB flour – add and mix
1 can Consume Soup – add  (You could also use beef broth)
1 tsp salt
1 TB paprika
dash cayenne pepper – We are NOT spicy lovers here, so consider this optional
1/2 c. sour cream – Stir in until thick.  Simmer 10 min.  

Serve over noodles.

For the sour cream… you can get this.  

That makes it a totally self-sufficient meal!!!

Chicken Tetrazzini
2 1/2 lb. chicken, cut in pieces and browned.  I just use canned chicken
1 jar mushrooms  I use dehydrated mushrooms
1 16-oz jar alfredo sauce.
     Interesting story:  I just opened a jar of Alfredo Sauce from 2013.  Yep…10 years old.  It looked good.  It was disgusting!  LOL
1/4 c. chicken broth
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
   Simmer for 1-2 hours or cook in a slow cooker for 5-6 hours.
Cook 10 oz. linguini.  Drain.
Stir 2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
Top with chopped parsley.  (Sometimes I have this, and sometimes not.)

—

Marti