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One Year Anniversary!
Well folks, its been one year since I started up this blog and I have to say, its been a lot of fun, a lot of headache and a lot of education.
I’m so glad that so many people have found this site and found it useful. I love seeing all the comments that you leave and the emails.
Thank you so much for reading and here’s to another year!
Last Minute Preps
So the storm is knocking at our doors and a lot of people have been asking me what they should buy TODAY because they have nothing stored.
Here’s a short list to get you started::
Bottled water – you can also fill your bath tub and any containers in case the water gets shut off or contaminated. You need 4 L per person per day. Don’t forget your animals!!
Easy food – get stuff that doesn’t need to be cooked or requires minimal preparation. Crackers, peanut butter, ready to serve soups. Try and keep away from anything that needs to be refrigerated since we never know if the power is going to go out. Again, don’t forget your pets.
Flashlights – most people have one stuck somewhere in a drawer. Get it out and get extra batteries. Keep in mind candles are not safe if there is a gas leak.
Make sure you have on hand: first aid supplies, warm clothes, basic hygiene needs, books and entertainment (especially those with children).
Dehydrating Carrots
I like to dehydrate my own vegetables. I find it is cheaper than buying the #10 cans of dehydrated vegetables. My own dehydrator is sort of lack luster. It was $30 and has large holes so I can’t dehydrate everything I would like to (saving up for a nine tray Excalibur though! ~ update: I got one and love it! You can find one here )
One of my favorite veggies to dehydrate is carrots. They are easy, get super small and I add them to a lot of different dishes (soups, stews, in the pan with roasting meats etc).
To dehydrate carrots, I first peel them and chop off the tops. I then slice them very thin ( 1/8 “) on a mandolin but I have also used a knife (doesn’t take me too long because I was a chef but could take someone with lesser knife skills all day to do the amount as thin as they should be). You need to blanch the carrots next. To do this, plunge the slices into boiling water for about a minute and take them out and put them in ice water. I usually use a metal strainer to put the carrots in the boiling water then I’m not fishing after all the little bits with a slotted spoon. I don’t normally have ice so I just rinse the slices with very cold water to stop the cooking process.
After your carrots have been blanched and cooled quickly, you arrange your carrots in a single layer on your dehydrator trays. My dehydrator has a recommended setting for vegetables (135°) so I set it and leave the carrots for a good 6-8 hours. I then test a couple of pieces of carrots by taking them off the trays, let them cool down then try to bend them. If they bend, put them back in. If they snap or crack, they’re done!
In the picture are raw sliced carrots and the dehydrated carrots. For size comparison, I’ve added an American penny.
Store in vacuum sealed mason jars in a dark place, or in mylar with an oxygen absorber for long term use.
Welcome to 2012
Happy New Year readers! I’d like to start off by thanking each and every one of you that has read my blog, it is greatly appreciated! I would also like to thank the people that have subscribed and commented, you cannot believe my shock as I got the emails that people have actually paid attention, I was, and am, flattered.
I have gotten some great reviews on my knitting post, and have had several requests for hats. I’d like to thank you, again, for the compliments.
As we enter a new year, I think it’s a great time to review and improve our preps. While I do not believe in the Mayan 2012 theory, I feel a sense of urgency to get prepared. Maybe it’s the rash of weird weather, maybe it’s the political atmosphere and the condition of the global economy but something is bugging me and I just can’t prep fast enough. I am trying to do something every day to prep. Whether it’s reading a book or a website for more information, watching how to videos via the wonderful creation of YouTube or whatever, I would like to do something each day. This isn’t a new year’s resolution because no one ever keeps those, but rather a serious intention.
Yesterday (January 1, 2012), I took inventory of what I have (and found it lacking of course). My family and I decided which foods we would like to dehydrate and have on hand, wrote a list and now we know what we’d like to grow in our gardens and what to watch for in the sales at the grocery stores and farmers markets.
I get a little bit of income from online survey sites and the like and will be using this income to purchase prep things, since I can be paid out in PayPal or Amazon gift cards. (Before I would always just get them to send me a cheque, but without a credit card, PayPal and Amazon would be convenient for buying online).
Today is a day of lists. I have made a list of things that I would like to buy tomorrow for my preps (a lot of stores still closed today), I have finalized my list of things to grow in the garden, I have made a wish list of gear I would like to have and organized it in order of priority. (I do not expect to be able to get anything of these things, but it gives me a goal to work towards and I am very goal driven).
On top of my lists, I have been knitting today as I have arranged a few trades with other preppers. I’m making them hats (the same ones from my previous knitting post) and some of them are sending me prep things that are a bit harder to come across where I live or are cheaper in the United States.
Another list I have made is a list of things I’d like to purchase in the United States. While I normally try to buy local and support independent businesses (as an independent business owner, I feel this is extremely important) but there are just some things that I can get at a ridiculously better price on the other side of the border and these days, my budget isn’t exactly huge.
Oh, and before I forget, I have also arranged to get some venison with which I will be making jerky and pemmican!! I will blog about the whole process as soon as I get my hands on that meat! (Shout out to my friend JW who is providing the deer).
I hope 2012 is a great year for everyone, but please, be prepared, and I hope I can help you learn something over the year. Cheers!
BurroakBurrow 