EDUCATION SERIES: How Much Food Do I Store?

Some of you may be aware that I have started a new website: http://www.veganfoodstorage.org. Also a new FB page: @veganfoodstorage and a new YT channel: Vegan Foodstorage.

I'll also post videos on my Namegatherer YT channel, but I really encourage you all to come over and subscribe. I'll be posting weekly videos and how to's via FB-live (calendar is on the .org website) and welcome your participation.

Here's the first in the Education Series: How Much Food Do I Store?

https://youtu.be/FHQgpE-1Buo

GUESTPOST: Lessons learned from primitive river camping

DS17 went primitive river camping for a week. His prepper mother volunteered to outfit the group with two Kelly Kettles (one large one for the group, one small one for her son), Meals in Mylar (MIMs) for the group (packaged individually and group size) using ThriveLife freeze dried and dehydrated ingredients. For the three days they would be on river, they efficiently packed fire sticks (Kelly Kettles only need tinder to create a roaring flame). PM had DS17 bring a thermos so "his" individual meals (lunches) would be ready ahead of time vs waiting for the cooking...plus she packed group cooking utensils, instructions written on each MIM, pot for the group meals.

It was a really good reality check that 'preparing' is a lifestyle, not just something you buy and stick in a closet until "you need it in the day." Because needing it "in the day" happened on the river, and it didn't go so well. Here's DS17's story.

***
So my group arrived at the place of embarkation. We had each brought two buckets (those big supply kind you store wheat in), but found out that "two was too many." Everyone had to condense their supplies down to one bucket, and this is where the chaos began.

In the ensuing chaos, I forgot to take my personal Kelly Kettle with me in my 1 remaining bucket. This turned out to be a real problem as you'll see. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring my collapsible Coghlan camp stove and fire tablets which helped. It taught me that the saying "two is one and one is none" is definitely a real thing.

Despite the fact that my mom packed the large Kelly Kettle (green bag), fire sticks, cooking utensils in a self contained, bright orange bucket 

we managed to forget the contents of the bucket for the duration of the trip. We brought the bucket, but forgot what was in there, until literally the last day when one of the adults opened the bucket to see "what was in it." We honestly just thought with all the chaos of downsizing that somehow it had gotten left behind (the MIMs were in self contained blue buckets.)

Fortunately because my mom had packed everything in Mylar, we were able to "cook" in the mylar bags. UNfortunately, even though she had used a lot of freeze dried meals, they still required 'heat', or at least hot water, to 'cook' well. So, it was edible, and we're grateful we had them, but unheated water + freeze dried or dehydrated food = just wet food.  When we told her, my mom said, "well duh. DS17, you knew that from our living in a tent. That's why we bought the electric kettle back in the day."

We had my emergency fire tablets, and we had two small propane bottles which we managed to make last the week, but it resulted in just "barely warm" water to cook with, as you had to boil the water in a little pot, dump it in to the mylar meal, then wait to boil more water, dump that in, etc etc. Then we had to let it "steep" forever. We made a meal with the Kelly Kettle (and mylar) on the very last day....WOW. As my leader said, "we were able to accomplish in 5 minutes what it took us 1-2 hours to do each meal...and it even tasted like real food !"

Basically, that's the takeaway: you can use "just water" and rehydrate/eat freeze dried meals, but you're going to want hot water and it's going to work better by induction too.

Food issues notwithstanding, I had the opportunity to use new prep items and learn the importance of a lot of them. For example: we got solar 'pillows' last Christmas. They are the best thing ever! My mom was worried about boiled water being cooled down enough to put into a flask or camelback, so she bought me a Berkey sport bottle which worked phenomenally!

We purchased a hammock and mosquito net for this trip. The hammock was awesome, but the mosquito netting was "generic" so it was way too big for the hammock. It worked, just could have been better. I chose to bring a bivvy sack and emergency blanket (those thin silver ones) vs a sleeping bag, which turned out to be a good thing. The bivvy sack would have worked well on its own, but when the wind kicked up at night it was nice to have the emergency blanket as a wind 'barrier.'

I learned there are two absolutes in being prepared (1) check your equipment/supplies three times and (2) two is one, one is none. I also learned that adapting and applying the fruits of the Spirit stated in the Bible are vital in (what could be) an emergency situation, and in our daily lives as well. I camped all week with a boy who didn't speak English and had never done this type of camping before. 

Though the language barrier was significant, we were able to find a common avenue through cooperation and succeed where we might ordinarily have failed. We didn't communicate through words per se, but rather by example and action. Surprisingly, this proved to be more efficient than I would have expected. Memories were made, friendships were forged and trust was permanently established. 

On the Road: Meals in a "Jar"

Exciting times!

I have started making Meals in a "Jar." Both DH and DD need something quick, easy, nutritious that can be done on the go. DH does not have the ability to "cook" per se, and DD needs 100% vegan. Neither of them can have their meals in a "jar" (hence the quotes). This time around I double bagged them in sealable baggies as both of them will be going through all of it within two weeks; next time around I will do them in resealable Mylar.

Answer? Freeze dried THRIVE food to the rescue. Quick. Nutritious. Healthy. Easy to pack. Easy to store. Stays good for days/weeks/years without spoiling. DH is cooking his in a Thermos. DD on a stovetop.

Yes. I'd be happy to come to your place (if you live in NE Texas) and do a meals in a 'jar' class. How about a Meals in a Thermos class? Email me here, otherwise, bookmark this blog, and sooner or later I'll put up a youtube video on my channel.

Or you can experiment and make them yourself by buying the ingredients at TexasFreezeDried.com.

Here's what DH's looked like:

Totally nothing fancy, right? Sorry. Told you, this was last minute. You want pretty in a mason jar? Schedule a class, lol. DH was taking his on the road, in a suitcase, on a 31 hour greyhound bus ride to Indiana (not kidding.) 

I made up multiples of: beef stew, taco soup, curry chicken stew with butternut squash and peanut butter, and curried chicken with mixed vegetables and brown rice.  Because I l=o=v=e Mountain House freeze dried meals, I threw in a couple of those too.

DH called tonight to "give me a report on your meals vs Mountain House." Frankly, I was a little worried. He said he did Mountain House yesterday (after sitting in a bus for 31 hours) and mine today (after being outside in the cold all day.) The following words are his:

"Liked the MH, it was very good. Certainly like the convenience of the mylar bag. But it wasn't very filling. I looked on the back of the bag: only 200 calories! How am I supposed to survive on 200 calories? But it was good.

"I made up yours, I had the chicken with rice and vegetables. I put it in the Thermos, and put two cups of boiling water in it." (Kathryn's note: shake up the Thermos and 'cook' it on its side. That's the secret to Thermos cooking.) "I let it sit for 15 minutes. It was 'almost' done, but the chicken wasn't quite rehydrated. So I put another 1/3 cup of boiling water, shook it up a bit and let it sit for another 5 minutes...and PERFECTION! It was very filling and felt like a real meal rather than a backpacking meal" (well yeah DH, that's because it is a real homemade meal.)

"Then one of the guys saw what I was eating and wanted to know what it was so I told him and he wanted to know where he could get some and I invited him over to try some out and show him how to cook in a Thermos."

Ah, DH is becoming a prepper 😍😍and a freeze dried foodie! 

Now you might think that DH was just being "nice." Trust me, if it sucked he would have said so, not only that, but this would have become a "what I will do next time" blogpost.

But seriously, I know why he felt such a difference (or at least I have a theory.) As I said, for backpacking meals, I am brand-loyal to MH. Because I am so well acquainted with their food, I can safely assert that, when compared to the diced portions of Thrive, they are about 1/2 to 2/3 the size. Their freeze dried potato dices for example, are about 1/4 inch in diameter, whereas Thrive's is about 1/2 inch, etc etc. So it's going to 'feel' less filling because it is less filling. But I know why they do that: IMO it's because MH is focusing on getting it 'cooked through' by steeping it in a mylar pouch, whereas Thrive is focusing on feeding you real food. And cooking it in a Thermos makes that possible. In addition, Thrive's is flash frozen just after it is picked at its peak ripeness, you really can taste the difference. MH is (IMO) the best of the backpacking best...but I wouldn't say it tastes 'fresh off the vine' like Thrive's does.

Ok, so here's the rough ingredients of the chicken curry with mixed vegetables and rice (hey, I threw it together...give me a break. Next time, I'll write it down.) FD=Freeze Dried, mine is from THRIVELIFE foods.

2/3 c. THRIVE instant brown rice

2/3 c. THRIVE seasoned FD chicken dices

1/3 c. THRIVE FD peas

1/3 c. THRIVE FD corn

1 T. curry powder

2 T. THRIVE tomato powder

1 t. THRIVE onion "powder" (this was actually FD onions which had turned to powder, lol)

I think one of those pouches has 1/3 c. of THRIVE FD zucchini too, just to use it up.

So money wise, the MH pouch was $4.88 at WalMart. Totally a good deal. But the homemade Freeze Dried meal with Thrive probably ran about $2, $3 worth of ingredients? And I still have food at home.

Or I did, until I made up a bunch of vegan meal fixins' for DD. 

But that is totally another blogpost. 

Real quick, before I go, non-vegans really ought to consider getting this month's THRIVELIFE special: Home Cookin' Ground Beef pack. At only $100 for 6 meals, it is a total steal. Stay tuned as I figure out how to down size them in to meals in a 'jar.'

As always, I welcome your comments, insights, thoughts. I love hearing about your experiences with FD food, cooking with alternative methods, and just life in general.

Until next time, Bon Appetit!

North Texas Preparedness Fair

We were excited and honored to be asked to participate in the largest preparedness fair in north Texas, hosted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Plano Texas, on Saturday February 25th. It was exciting to see all the "new things," and see all of the 'old things' in action too.

We were blessed to be able to demonstrate a WonderOven, and two types of rocket stove technology: the Kelly Kettle and a homemade rocket stove made out of cinder blocks. A Kelly Kettle is awesome for boiling a gallon of water in 3-5 minutes. If you need a sustained flame for longer than that, you'll need something along the lines of the cinder block rocket stove.

So I have to tell you a story about the rocket stove made out of cinder blocks. Evidently, the Almighty knew there was SOMEONE attending that fair who really, really, really needed to see a rocket stove in action. It was miraculous that we had one. I first learned about building cinder block rocket stoves from this guy out in Arizona. If you click on that link, he's way smarter than I am and shows you how to run the blocks together. My video below just shows it after it's built. 

ANYWAY...the key middle cinder block the guy in Arizona uses, is a pretty common thing in California...so I figured Home Depot is Home Depot nation wide, right? It will be easy to come by in Texas. Yeah...not so much. By the time I'd been to like my fourth hardware place "the morning of.." and couldn't find one, I decided, 'oh well. Guess we won't be demo-ing a cinderblock rocket stove.'

Enter Gemie and Jerry M., the organizers of the event. Jerry woke up at 5 A.M. (!) with the thought that "he needed to get 4 cinder blocks, and knock a hole in the side of one of them so that Kathy can demo a rocket stove." I'm not kidding. This by the way, would be an hour before I even started looking for one, and no, I didn't call them and say "hey, not going to be able to demo."

Is that cool or WHAT?  (It's cool AND or WHAT!?!)

So here's the video of our display: https://youtu.be/BeGcIbcAJMA

I should have waited until my daughter the videographer showed up, sorry. Should have opened the lid so you could see the wonderful food we made. But I can give you the recipe! (below). I really prefer freeze dried or dehydrated food with a WonderOven because it's just  boil water, dump everything in, cover it up, and be done.

The WonderOven hyperlink in the first paragraph will take you to Joyce Pierce's website. If you buy a WonderOven from her and let her know "Kathryn" sent you, she'll give you a $5 discount. I don't make anything on the deal, but she couldn't figure out how to create a hyperlink for it directly. If you join our yahoogroup: RealFoodStorage, we have directions on how to make your own Wonderoven.

And now, the recipe. Vegan DD says she would figure out some extra spices to load into it. Maybe up the Italian seasoning or the dehydrated bell peppers or something.

Vegetable, Barley and Bean Casserole

1 c. Thrive instant red beans
2 tsp. chicken or vegetable bouillon powder
1 c. Thrive freeze dried corn
1/4 c. dehydrated onion
1/4 c. dehydrated mixed bell peppers
1/2 c. dehydrated celery, or 1 c. Thrive freeze dried celery
1/2 c. pearled barley (I used quick barley cuz that's all I had)
1/2 c. Thrive freeze dried zucchini
1/4 c. Thrive tomato powder
2 tsp. Italian seasoning

All of this will fit in a wide mouth mason jar. In a large saucepan, combine contents of the jar with 6-7 cups of water and let simmer on low heat. If using pearl barley, simmer for 35-45 minutes until barley is tender. If using quick barley, simmer for 10 minutes. If using a WonderOven, bring the water to boil. After it comes to a rolling boil, place in WonderOven, cover up and leave set for about 10-15 minutes. Most WO recipes will tell you you need to keep it boiling for 10 minutes before you off-load into the WO. I've found that not to be the case when you use freeze dried or dehydrated food.

View My Relationship

It's been an interesting few weeks. 

There's a tool on FamilySearch called "View My Relationship." You can access it on any person's main page, located about the center-top, just underneath their name and ID number.

If you click on it, you'll get one of two answers. You may get a pop up window that says "we can't find a relationship within 15 generations or you are not related to this person." This might be true, or, it's possible that no one has linked the two people together. For example, if I enter my deceased parent as an individual and don't link him to his parents, and his grandparents etc etc., there's no way for the system to know we are "related."

Most likely you're going to flip out to find the person you think is a random stranger is actually your 8th or 9th generation cousin, meaning, you share a common great grandparent, X generations back. It will also show you if you tie in via marriage.

I helped a few people at work these past few weeks do some family history. As a lark, since I was also showing them how to use FamilySearch, I hit the "View My Relationship" button, something I'd never done before. I was shocked to discover Kay and my ex were cousins (making us technically cousins-in-law), that Randall and my ex were cousins, and that I was his cousin via his mother's line, and I was also his wife's cousin.

I was flabbergasted to uncover my former boss (the job I had to quit because the guy was a jerk) and I are 10th cousins. 

Or finding out that my adopted (and deceased) daughter and I are 9th cousins through her bio-Mom's line. 

The biggest amazement of all involves my DD20. She was walking through a random cemetery one day and "heard" the name Cassie Murphy. No gravestone with that name, just "heard" the name, over and over, along with "her daughter Mamie." So she called me to ask 'how to do genealogy.' Kind of a big question, but with some detective work in census records, birth and marriage records, were actually able to find "the" Cassie Murphy she had felt impressed to find. Along with Cassie's husband Felix Lane, and her daughter Mamie.

Just completely random folk, right? 

Out of curiosity, I tapped the View My Relationship button.

You could have knocked me over with a feather to see that Felix and I are 8th cousins on my mother's side, and Cassie, a cousin in law by marriage to Felix. 

That's spooky even for me, and I'm accustomed to genealogy spooky.

It brings a whole new awesome meaning to the phrase "blessings to me and my posterity" (Gen. 17:7, Gen. 22:18 and (for those who are LDS remarks by Heber C. Kimball.))

It's starting to get anti-climactic. Now, I'm just expecting to find that I'm related to you, somehow. Like my BFF Wendi. I am of course not surprised anymore, to find out we are 6th cousins (ok, technically, my mother and her are, I'm therefore 6th cousin 1 generation down (called removed.))

It will be exciting for me to find out I'm related to you! So you should contact me and we'll find out!? And no, even if we find out we're related, you're not off the hook for doing your own family research! <grin>

Black Friday Food Storage Sale

UPDATE: I just placed my food storage order, and saved 40% overall. I'm VERY VERY happy.


SO EXCITED ! The shelving systems are 50% and the rest of the sales are great too !!!

I'm excited about the freeze dried Kale as well (found a new vegan quinoa/sweet potato/kale patty recipe  :)

http://texfreezedried.thrivelife.com/pc/event/view/id/164468

It's Election Day!

What an historic day, regardless of outcome.

Today (likely) will see the election of the first woman as President of the United States. How I wish it was a different woman, but the ayes had it. I also would have preferred the first hispanic President of the United States compared to the possibility of the first citizen-candidate (non-governing/experienced person) to become elected to the Presidency since...oh say, the founding of the Republic. But the nays carried that one too.

It would have been wonderful to elect, the first black female as President of the USA (Condeleeza Rice) but we beat her up too bad previously for her to even have considered a run. And we were too bigoted last time around to elect the first non-scandal-ed President (Romney) since....yeah, basically the founding of the Republic or this one too (Santorum.)

Whether you are for or against the particular candidates, I hope the results of apathy have taught us all a huge lesson. Far too many stayed home during the primaries on all sides, thinking their vote wouldn't matter. Florida (Bush v Gore, 537 vote delta) should have taught us that it did. Far too many will stay home today thinking all is lost.

A little levity about voting here in Texas vs California. 

So in California, home of "regulate every aspect of your life", we get a booklet courtesy of the state government, of all the candidates: national, state, county, local. Plus the propositions (proposed laws). Plus arguments for and against each of the laws. Plus candidate statements (local anyway.) Since my Pandora account is still linked to my 92647 (soCal) zip code, I've been getting bombarded with Pandora ads about the bazillion propositions on the California ballot.

Assuming that every state operates similarly, I've been asking for a "voter's guide" in my county since like, September. Everyone has looked at me like I am completely crazy and don't know what I'm talking about. At best, I finally got in front of a live body at the county registrar's office and she said, "oh we don't do that here."

I wrote it off to "I live in small county Texas."

NOPE. That would be, "I live in SMART county Texas." 

I voted early. (We don't have Vote By Mail ballots here unless you are elderly, handicapped or infirm--that part IS small county Texas). I got a paper ballot because of all the fraud stuff that's going around. In California, a national election (= higher voter turnout) sends the proposition people into hyperdrive...there's a million more props than usual.

Yeah....I'm in Texas now.

Home of:

• No statewide Props (aka, we prefer you use Common Sense to run your life, not regulations)
• TWO county propositions (junior college tax, and a road bond issue),
• Presidential candidates with multiple party candidates (four parties BTW)
• Local county candidates (about a handful with multiple parties listed)
• And the vast majority of local candidates running unopposed.

It was hilarious. No wonder everyone acted like I was nuts. Oh, and that college tax? It's doomed to failure since the wrong tax rate was printed on the ballot, but it still was allowed to proceed anyway. Not the only reason it is doomed to fail, but in CA, candidates and Prop-masters have taken wording all the way to the California Supreme Court for spelling and minor typographical errors for crying out loud, and holding up the process to boot.

Here it's like: eh. Figure it out. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions.

What a frigging concept.

Go vote.