Prep Genrl Weekly prep thread Dec. 27- Jan 2nd, 2021

[ivantherussian03]

Hunting is going well. Skinning is slower. We’re able to travel farther and cover more ground.

decieded to clean house room by room. I am always amazed at the dirty water coming out of the rug.

even took my young one skiing again. We are studying math like crazy, making good progress.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

I've a frozen turkey defrosting in the fridge. Whatever the family doesn't devour I'm planning on canning up ASAP. I made and froze some vegetable enriched turkey bone broth at Thanksgiving. That should make for a tastier and more nutritious end product.

Canning isn't hard but it can be tedious and require up front planning for a better and safer result.

 

[nomifyle]

I've a frozen turkey defrosting in the fridge. Whatever the family doesn't devour I'm planning on canning up ASAP. I made and froze some vegetable enriched turkey bone broth at Thanksgiving. That should make for a tastier and more nutritious end product.

Canning isn't hard but it can be tedious and require up front planning for a better and safer result.

I agree that canning isn't hard, but tedious is an understatement for me. Since I have very little experience with canning its just totally exhausting and then I'm afraid to eat what I canned.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[20Gauge]

We canned 3 pints of lemon jelly and the basta*ds didn't set as they should have. 1st time using low sugar pectin.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I agree that canning isn't hard, but tedious is an understatement for me. Since I have very little experience with canning its just totally exhausting and then I'm afraid to eat what I canned.

God is good all the time

Judy

I water bath can everything, except meat. I'm not afraid to eat anything I can, but I am horrified of a pressure canner. Once you've had one to blow on you, you would be afraid of them, too. Had it happen twice. It's a wonder nobody was hurt!

 

[Old Gray Mare]

I water bath can everything, except meat. I'm not afraid to eat anything I can, but I am horrified of a pressure canner. Once you've had one to blow on you, you would be afraid of them, too. Had it happen twice. It's a wonder nobody was hurt!

Mine has a safety cork on it. If the pressure gets too high its supposed to blow out instead of the canner.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Not a big thing but decided to get travel pack size OTC meds for the Get Home Bags. Imodium this time. Imagine trying to do a long hike with a bad case of the high stepping trots?

Also want to add Aleve, Benadryl and Pepto in tablet form.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Mine has a safety cork on it. If the pressure gets too high its supposed to blow out instead of the canner.

Me and my mom were using her pressure canner to can deer stew on one of the occasions. I don't know if it had all the safety features on it or not. IIRC, something got stuck, and it blew. Second occasion was the same, but with a new canner. She got rid of it, and swore she would never have another one. I swore the same, and to this day, I have one, but it's never been taken out of the box it came in. Probably needs all new parts, since it's been in that box for 20 years, at least.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Me and my mom were using her pressure canner to can deer stew on one of the occasions. I don't know if it had all the safety features on it or not. IIRC, something got stuck, and it blew. Second occasion was the same, but with a new canner. She got rid of it, and swore she would never have another one. I swore the same, and to this day, I have one, but it's never been taken out of the box it came in. Probably needs all new parts, since it's been in that box for 20 years, at least.

I always keep a broom straw or a piece of thin stiff wire and an oven mit close to the canner. I've had jars break in the canner. The wire or straw is to unclog the steam vent if it gets clogged and the oven mit is to protect my hand from the steam when I do.

Hasn't happened yet. I watch the pressure gage on my canner under pressure like a hawk. The canner is not left unattended. If an emergency happens while canning I turn off the heat. I'd rather start the canning process from the start than leave the pressure canner on the heat unattended.

 

[hiwall]

Canners do blow up but the risk is quite low.
Water heaters blow up too and yet everyone has one of those in the house and they never check the safety valve.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Canners do blow up but the risk is quite low.
Water heaters blow up too and yet everyone has one of those in the house and they never check the safety valve.

After it happening twice, I'm not taking a chance of it happening again. I'm satisfied with water bath canning, and have two chest freezers full of meat, plus what I have stored in cans from the grocery store. Also, plenty of gas stored to run both generators in a power outage.

I save my canning jars and lids for vacuum packed items, jellies/ jams, and garden veggies.

 

[20Gauge]

Canners do blow up but the risk is quite low.
Water heaters blow up too and yet everyone has one of those in the house and they never check the safety valve.

I check all three safety valves each time we use the pressure canner.

 

[Marseydoats]

Canners do blow up but the risk is quite low.
Water heaters blow up too and yet everyone has one of those in the house and they never check the safety valve.

I make dh check the hot water heater safety valves at least once a year.Which infuriates him because the stupid thing is in my closet. This house was designed by an idiot.

 

[hiwall]

After it happening twice, I'm not taking a chance of it happening again. I'm satisfied with water bath canning, and have two chest freezers full of meat, plus what I have stored in cans from the grocery store. Also, plenty of gas stored to run both generators in a power outage.

I save my canning jars and lids for vacuum packed items, jellies/ jams, and garden veggies.

Hey, I'm with yah on this. We do not own a pressure canner though wife does some water bath canning.

 

[briches]

You’ve reassured me why canning is not for me! I have an instapot a friend gave me. I haven’t used that either. I need to decide to use it or sell .... I’m leaning on selling it.

 

[nomifyle]

I've added something different, for me anyway, to my pantry. Artichoke Hearts, walmart brand with really good reviews. My only experience with artichoke is stuffed artichokes when I lived in New Orleans. So very good. Now to figure out what to do with them.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I've added something different, for me anyway, to my pantry. Artichoke Hearts, walmart brand with really good reviews. My. only experience with artichoke is stuffed artichokes when I lived in New Orleans. So very good. Now to figure out what to do with them.

God is good all the time

Judy

I've never tasted an artichoke. I wouldn't know what to do with it, either.

 

[briches]

I've never tasted an artichoke. I wouldn't know what to do with it, either.

I love artichokes! They are a rare treat for me on pizza or in a salad.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I love artichokes! They are a rare treat for me on pizza or in a salad.

Is there anything that you can compare the taste to?

 

[nomifyle]

Is there anything that you can compare the taste to?

When a fresh one is stuffed an Italian seasoned breading is used, you pull a leaf off and scrap it with your teeth and eat what is scraped off, its delish.

As for the hearts I have no clue, will have to try it on pizza or in a salad.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[spinner]

I use the canned hearts to make an unstuffed artichoke casserole. I just make a bread crumb stuffing with parmesan, garlic, herbs and olive oil the same as any stuffing for fresh artichokes. I drain the hearts and toss them with the stuffing mixture then put them into an oiled baking dish in a single layer and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Watch them so the stuffing doesn't get too brown. You can add mushrooms or anything else that takes your fancy, but DH and I like them simple.

 

[nomifyle]

I use the canned hearts to make an unstuffed artichoke casserole. I just make a bread crumb stuffing with parmesan, garlic, herbs and olive oil the same as any stuffing for fresh artichokes. I drain the hearts and toss them with the stuffing mixture then put them into an oiled baking dish in a single layer and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Watch them so the stuffing doesn't get too brown. You can add mushrooms or anything else that takes your fancy, but DH and I like them simple.

My problem with making this wonderful sound dish is that I would love it but DH would not and I'd end up eating the whole thing. Although I will be giving this a try.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[aviax2]

I’ve only had canned artichokes and that was in a spinach artichoke dip one of my daughters use to make. It’s been so long I can’t even remember if I liked it LOL!

 

[briches]

Is there anything that you can compare the taste to?

Not really. Canned don’t have a strong taste .... for me gives a “Mediterranean feel” to a dish. On pizza great with black olives and feta.
I know that’s not really helpful ....

I haven’t had fresh in decades but remember doing the same as mentioned above - baking with Parm cheese and butter on the “leaves” (is that what they are) and scraping with my teeth.

 

[ReneeT]

No doubt. We got a Presto. Not top of the line, but we now have 2 so we can rock them both at the same time and improve our use of time. What was taking several hours can now be done in about half the time. That plus having a 2nd set of parts means we are never totally down and can still always can. So a big win.

"Not top of the line..." Don't downplay your Presto canner The Presto canners are good little workhorses! I like my All American canner, but my 40 years+ wedding gift Presto canner is still rocking along and I couldn't begin to guess at the number of jars that have gone through it. It's worn out several sets of gaskets/over pressure plugs, and had a new gauge installed a few years back when the other one was a bit corroded. I have other Presto and Mirro canners that are just as tough. You were very wise to buy 2 of the same type in order to be able to part one out in a bad situation!

 

[ReneeT]

I'm going to have to ask for help again - could someone please start the thread tomorrow morning? It's a three day work weekend starting tonight, and if it's anything like my last shift I won't be sane (or un-profane ) enough to get it started, let alone start it on time! Thanks!!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Not really. Canned don’t have a strong taste .... for me gives a “Mediterranean feel” to a dish. On pizza great with black olives and feta.
I know that’s not really helpful ....

I haven’t had fresh in decades but remember doing the same as mentioned above - baking with Parm cheese and butter on the “leaves” (is that what they are) and scraping with my teeth.

If I ever get a chance to try one somewhere, I'll give it a try. It's not something I would buy to use myself, though. They look weird, LOL. I know Cary wouldn't even try them. He sees them in jars, and says they look gross. If something looks gross to him, you can forget him eating it.

 

[Digger]

Well, the mattress adventure is finally over. We ended up with a fourth one and it seems to be working for us. The ones that can be rolled up and shipped in a box were not sturdy enough for my heavy weight husband. The one that works for us arrived at the store in mattress form not rolled up. It is firmer than I wanted, but not uncomfortable. And dear hubby does not have to climb up out of a hole to get up in the mornings. Just an FYI if a mattress is in your near future. It is hard to find weight bearing info for mattresses. Many had memory foam with cooling jell. But the 2 we tried still seemed hot. They might have felt worse in the summer. I am glad that is over for a few years.

Hubby bought a new gun. He likes it and thinks it would be good for me. But I have 2 that I like already. I will shoot it but it can stay as his gun.

We ordered some nice wooden restaurant chairs. They should be here in another week or two. They are coming on a freight truck. My chairs are old. I got them out of my parents barn, painted, and restrung the seats with twine. We have used them over 30 years. They need a lot of TLC and some glue in the joints. Neither one of us wanted to take on the job of redoing them at the moment.

My daughter in law said her dad called to tell her a Mountain lion was stalking around her sheep pen. That is kind of scary. Our state animal population has really gotten big. When I was growing up, seeing a deer was a real treat because there were so few. We came home the other night and over a dozen deer were bedded down in our hay field. Bears are becoming a real problem for bee keepers too. Now throw mountain lions into the mix.

 

[briches]

Just wanted to mention to everyone here how much I always enjoy this weekly thread. Thanks all.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We went to Tractor Supply, yesterday. We got a new tire for the garden wagon, new inner tubes for our tiller tires, new chain saw blades, and more doggies treats. All of these items are for storage for the future, except the doggie treats. Hopefully, this coming spring, we'll be able to get a whole new wagon, but this tire will be used, until then, and then taken off, and put in storage. We also got two more 5 gal food grade buckets with gamma lids.

I packed 4 more 5 lb bags of cornmeal and 4 more 5 lb bags of flour into the buckets with O2 absorbers this morning. 4 5 lb bags fits perfectly into 1 5 gallon bucket. I need about 6-8 more buckets, and that will empty out all the cornmeal and flour that I've stored in my freezers. Yeah, I have a lot.

Seeing how empty town was, yesterday, we decided while out and about to go ahead, and do our grocery shopping. Dollar General was practically empty of people. Got stocked up for another two weeks, and bought more food for storage, all at Dollar General. Store was fully stocked, and had a few isles blocked, because of stock that hadn't been put on the shelves yet. Cary also filled my car up with gas while we were there. It's the cheapest around in our area.

 

[nomifyle]

The four new gas cans that I ordered came, DH asked me why and I said just because. Now to get them filled. I'm going to finish filling up my propane tank next week with the stimulus money, the balance of it will go in the bank of sealy.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

The four new gas cans that I ordered came, DH asked me why and I said just because. Now to get them filled. I'm going to finish filling up my propane tank next week with the stimulus money, the balance of it will go in the bank of sealy.

God is good all the time

Judy

Cary has several gallons of gas stored, but I'm afraid to store too much in advance, because of it going bad. When he empties one, he fills it back up. He always rotates it, too. He tells me that he puts Stabil or something in it, but I still worry about it.

 

[coloradohermit]

I had to go the WM for one thing (I hate that), so I did some looking around. They did have some canning jars, so I got a box of pints. I used to do all my canning in quarts, but with DH gone, pints are a much better size for servings for just me. I've got lots of quarts and if the shit hits the fan they will get used. But canning isn't on the to-do list today. Undecorating the tree and getting Christmas put away is today's job.

 

[nomifyle]

Cary has several gallons of gas stored, but I'm afraid to store too much in advance, because of it going bad. When he empties one, he fills it back up. He always rotates it, too. He tells me that he puts Stabil or something in it, but I still worry about it.

DH rotates it through our vehicles and he refills the cans when he gets his INR checked at the VA once a month. I'd rather not let any stay empty for very long, but he has a hard head. We have other things besides the vehicles that use gas. I think he had 7 cans before I bought the 4 new ones. When we got married I had 6-6 gallon cans and he didn't like that size so he burned them (go figure) when I wasn't paying attention. Actually we never get gas in our vehicles anymore at the gas station, just keep them filled up from the gas cans.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

DH rotates it through our vehicles and he refills the cans when he gets his INR checked at the VA once a month. I'd rather not let any stay empty for very long, but he has a hard head. We have other things besides the vehicles that use gas. I think he had 7 cans before I bought the 4 new ones. When we got married I had 6-6 gallon cans and he didn't like that size so he burned them (go figure) when I wasn't paying attention. Actually we never get gas in our vehicles anymore at the gas station, just keep them filled up from the gas cans.

God is good all the time

Judy

I think Cary rotates through all of our gas cans in a year's time, so it's not too old. Maybe, I'm worrying for no reason. We don't use the stored gas in our vehicles, though. Never let both vehicles get past half a tank, before we fill up again.

In a grid down situation, all stored gas will be to run our generators and other essential items like his chain saws and garden tiller.

 

[ginnie6]

Well my prepping is off in a new direction. Freeze drying! We didn't expect it till later in the month but it came and dh got it set up and running. Did our practice bread run and then some fruit. Getting ready to do a load of mushrooms that were on clearance. And reading through this thread I realized that I no longer have a get home bag. So time to start working on that!

 

[Slydersan]

Question for all. We just sealed 20 80oz jars with O2 absorbers. How long does it normally take for the button to get depressed? A day ? A week? An Hour?

Thanks for the information!!

I put some flour in half gallon mason jars a few months back, and used 3 O2 absorbers each (per the recommendation of the pamphlet that came with them) and they "pinged" within 45 minutes. I had to be super careful to wipe any excess flour off the rim of the jar, cuz it got everywhere. But they all "sealed" and were still that way when I moved them to their final home this past weekend.

And just as a bonus, a normal 5 lb bag of flour filled 2 half gallon jars.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I've been putting 3 O2 absorbers to my 5 gallon buckets. Is that enough, or do I need to back, and put more? I'm storing flour and cornmeal in them. Each 5 lb. bag is put into a freezer storage bag with an O2 absorber, before placing in the buckets. Then I add 3 to each bucket.

 

[nomifyle]

I've been putting 3 O2 absorbers to my 5 gallon buckets. Is that enough, or do I need to back, and put more? I'm storing flour and cornmeal in them. Each 5 lb. bag is put into a freezer storage bag with an O2 absorber, before placing in the buckets. Then I add 3 to each bucket.

I use 2- 2000 cc absorbers in my five gallon buckets, it depends on the size of your o2s. I also use lots of bay leaf in everything I store.

And just as a bonus, a normal 5 lb bag of flour filled 2 half gallon jars, thanks that's good to know.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I use 2- 2000 cc absorbers in my five gallon buckets, it depends on the size of your o2s. I also use lots of bay leaf in everything I store.

And just as a bonus, a normal 5 lb bag of flour filled 2 half gallon jars, thanks that's good to know.

God is good all the time

Judy

I'm only using 300cc absorbers, and use 3 per 5 gal bucket. Maybe, I do need to go back, and put more in?

Where can I find half gallon jars besides Walmart? I would never order them online, because of breakage.