MSG and Soy "Free" Freeze - Dried Foods - NOT!

This is starting to get to me.  So many companies are claiming their foods contain "No MSG", yet when I look, there is frequently MSG ingredients listed.  It's really ticking me off.

Making Mistakes and Planning

After our longest experience with a power outage, I made a big mistake:  I bought without thinking.  A few examples:

Why I like B.O.B.s (on a Budget)

No, I don't mean "battery operated boyfriend".   The usual term, for those who "prep", is "bug out bags".

12-21-12 and the Mayan Calendar

A lot of discussion has been going around about this date and the Mayan calendar.  Even Mayan descendants disagree on how to interpret it.  I was channel surfing and as I hit one channel, I heard something about it, so I stopped to see what it was.

Unexpected Things

Power outages aren't the only thing people stock up for.  Other reasons include possible job loss, sickness, the economy, and the zombie apocalypse.

My main reason began with power outages.  Now, as I watch the prices in my area, I'm a bit concerned about the economy.   I hadn't really thought of any other reasons "important".

Lessons Through Power Outages: Lesson #6 - Lights

I think this goes without saying: without power, there aren't any lights.

Lessons Through Power Outages: Lesson #5 - Sanitation

Let's talk dirty for a bit.

Lessons From Hurricane Sandy

A friend sent the following letters to me.  I copied and pasted it from the email (hence the white lines). This has been floating around the internet. I did not write it.  I don't know who did.  I can't find the original source or copy.  All I've heard is it's from someone in New Jersey.  There is a picture between the two versions.  I don't know if that's the writer or just a stock photo from somewhere.   If anyone knows who wrote this, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.   Thanks.   I agree with so much of this especially #36 and 37 on the last version.

There are two letters.  I don't know which is the original, but both have good points.

Lessons Through Power Outages: Lesson #4 - Food

  When the ice storm hit - I discovered my nice oven cooked meals I had planned for us did absolutely no good.  My range was electric. I frantically went through the house trying to find anything the kids could eat, or I could hopefully make somehow.   I found:

Lessons Through Power Outages: Lesson #3 - Heat

Heat.

Such a simple word, yet it holds a lot of meaning especially to those who don't have it when they need it.

Lessons Through Power Outages: Lesson #2 - Cooking

The ice storm taught me several important lessons one of which is to have alternate cooking options in a power outage.  During those 3 fateful days and nights, sun was rare, so a solar oven wouldn't have helped at all, though I do plan on buying one anyhow, because I have no doubt it will come in handy.

Preparing on a Tight Budget

A Nor'easter warning has gone out.  Maybe for you it's a hurricane.  We've gotten both.  If your entire town goes down for a few days - can  you survive? Think about it.  Right now - your power is gone.  What do you wish you had bought or done?

Lessons Through Power Outages: Lesson #1 - Water

Growing up in a city outside of Chicago I never had to worry much about losing power.  Don't get me wrong.  We did lose power, but it was usually restored within 12 hours or so.  We had running water and a gas stove/oven (the kind you could light with a match), so there wasn't much discomfort for us. In our area, the only danger might be snow or a tornado.  Rarely did we get tornado warnings, and though snow was a yearly occurrence, power outages didn't happen much.  Honestly, I don't remember us losing power much at all.

Thoughts

I barely got any tomatoes from my plants even though I ended up with a slight longer gardening season due to milder weather.  Granted, I only planted two as an experiment, but when I used to garden in one of our old house I'd get tons.    The carrots did better than I expected as did the radishes.  My main problem is the trees that are blocking the sun.   One of the only solutions that will work is to cut them down; the other is to move the kids' playsets to another area and use the middle of the yard for a raised bed garden.  This also involves moving the dogs bathroom area.   I have a few months to think on this, but another major problem is I don't know if I'm still going to be in this house.  Right now, my future is a little uncertain.

For now I will move my thoughts to the inside of the house.  I may also switch to writing this on my main blog.

Starting Point

The other blog got me to thinking: Where exactly is the starting point for being self-sufficient?  For survival?

For each family, the starting point will be different.  Someone who already grows their own food, and cans it, will be far ahead of the game and will start at a different point than someone who is just starting out like myself.

So, where do I start?  What do I need for my family?

This is a bit tricky, because I can't have excitotoxins and my daughter can't have soy.   In an emergency, we would both eat small amounts of it in order to survive, but not enough of it to cause massive reactions.  I had two helpings of KFC and, on top of other food I'd eaten, it almost killed me.  We will also not eat pork or shellfish due to our beliefs.

Obviously, our needs will be different than a family without food issues.  So, where do I start?  First, I need to set my priorities.  What do we need to survive?

The major things we need, and I will write about, are:

Shelter
Heat
Food
Water
Cooking
First-Aid
Hunting items

The other things we need are:

Barter items
Clothing
Cleaning items to prevent disease
Comfort things like "treat" food, a game that can be brought out when cabin fever sets in, something to lift morale.

I also need to think and decide whether or not I want to keep animals like chickens, rabbits (for meat) and/or goats.  They come with their own problems like needing to stock up on feed and medical supplies.  

Some obviously have a higher priority than others.  The key for anyone is to identify the areas they or they're family need in order to survive.  Someone in the country will have different priorities than someone in the city.   Someone with a lot of disposable cash will have more options that someone who is struggling with the day-to-day aspects of surviving.     You need to identify priorities for your family.

Blogs That Bind

While checking Facebook, because my mom and daughter seem to send messages through it and not the phone, I noticed a friend posted a link to her friend's new survival/food storage blog.  I'm always on the look out for new info, so I headed on over.  What I landed on was a big advertisement for buying freeze-dried foods.

Compound Bow

I've been researching compound bows.  I don't know anything about bows at all.  At first, I wanted a crossbow, but my Marine son suggested I start off with a compound since it would be easier and less costly.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Or, in my case, Attack of the Killer Blight.  One plant is dead.  The second one is going.  I was only able to harvest 3 tomatoes off the blighted plant.   I've gotten 6 off the other one.  Unfortunately, the growing season here is coming to a close.

Untested Mosquito Trap

A friend posted this to her FB.  I have not tried it yet, but with the mosquitoes we get around here - I'm going to.  I just need to scrounge a 2-liter bottle. 

Ants

Living in Maine seems to come with ant problems.  One day I'll take a picture of our lawn.  I won't let people go barefoot, because the front is literally wall-to-wall small ant hills.  

First Tomato

My poor Boxer has been sick, so I have been busy with him.   Nothing has gotten done - still.  *sigh*

Sun and Pots

When I put the tomato plants out back, the area I put them in was getting 6-8 hours of sun.  Unfortunately, I forgot that we rotate fairly quickly in our state.  The plants are now getting only 3 hours of sun.  I need to move them to the middle of the yard.

The problem?  One of the terra cotta pots is cracked down one side.  I'm afraid it will split when I move the pot.

The solution?  Duct tape, of course.

A Simple Thing: Kennel

    The idea seemed so easy.  Grow veggies, redo the house, use less, make more from scratch (which is also needed for my health), etc.  But this weird thing called life keeps interfering.

So Far

I've been really busy with family things, so I haven't been able to do much.  Today we called a "lazy day" which we all needed after the past few weeks.  I do have update pictures.

:(

My radishes bolted.  No, they didn't jump from the container and go running off into the night.  They did, however, grow tall and didn't bulb out other than 4 of them.  It hasn't been warm, so i don't know why they did it.  I've looked it up online and all the growing conditions were met.

It makes me a bit concerned about the carrots.

Wood Stove

At the current rate of rain each day (making it unsafe to do the chimney check), no over time on the paychecks, and being caught up with others things - I'm thinking the wood stove may not happen this year.   It's only June, so I haven't completely written it off, but with so much coming up financially it doesn't look like it will happen.

We'll see.  :)

Updated photos of the container experiments:

New Addition

We have a new addition to the family.  My daughter adopted her and will take her when she moves out:

Clean and Organized

Those are two words that do not apply to me.  I hate cleaning.  I am totally unorganized.   However, preparedness and self-sufficiency do seem to require both.  Granted they are good habits to acquire.

The two posts prior to this have a whitish background behind the words, because I copied and pasted them from my other blog.  Just so you know.  :)

The Disaster Preparedness Handbook

I finally got to read one of the other books I bought: The Disaster Preparedness Handbook by Arthur T. Bradley

Overall, it has a lot of information. It takes a more realistic approach to disaster preparedness than "doomsday" type books which is what I was looking for.  It has practice scenarios for events like losing power, blizzards, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.  Since I live in a rural area that loses power if my dog sneezes, this was more important to me than solar flares.

The format is very user-friendly.  The book is divided into categories like food, water, heat/cooling which is helpful.  In each category, the author lists many options suited for a variety of situations.   He also goes into more information about each category.  In Food, he also lists the types of food poisonings that can happen, how to store your food, and how to figure out how much food you need.

One thing I noticed is Mr. Bradley stresses the importance of cleanliness and the possible illnesses that can occur in long-term "survival" situations.  This is the first time I've read anyone pointing this out to readers.   He even included a first aid chapter which tells how to treat various injuries/illnesses. 

The only con I've found so far is that Mr. Buckley seems to be a fan of the USDA.  He advocates following their new food pyramid/guidelines.   It is a bit outdated since the USDA now uses the plate chart.  Either way, I personally don't believe in their recommendations, but ignoring that, he has some helpful tips.

I will be keeping this book in my library.  2 down; 3 to go.

Food Storage 101

I ordered several books on self-sufficiency, food storage, and gardening.

The first one I read was Peggy Layton's "Food Storage 101". 

Cons:

If I hadn't already partially researched it on the internet, it might have been an okay book.  However, I did research first, so the book was a bit redundant for me.  Normally, I listen to the reviews I read, but I wanted to give it a shot.  It literally is the basics.  I'm honestly not sure it was worth the $9.20. I also had a couple of other issues with it:

1) Mrs. Layton seems to be a Mormon based on her comments about church which isn't a problem for me.  That she uses a Noah's Ark poem and says "God bless..." may be a problem for others. 

What is a problem for me is someone who has a "B.S. in Home Economics with a minor in Food Science and Nutrition" has problems with spelling and simple grammar.  That's saying a lot, because my grammar sucks.  I can only assume Mrs. Layton didn't have an editor.   When I first read that food "will parish" I had to stop and reread it.   Every spelling mistake made me stop and reread a sentence.

I love to misuse commas.  In this blog I write like I speak.  My commas tend to be placed where I actually pause when speaking. However, when writing a story I try to actually use grammar rules and double-check the spelling.   (I also overuse the word "actually" in daily writing.  I also like "literally".  I am an equal opportunity word over-user.)

2) Contradictory information is found in a couple of places.  For instance, in one chapter she states that plastic milk bottles will start to break down in about 6 months.  In another place she says after a year.  So which is it? 

I don't reuse plastic milk jugs, so it doesn't apply to me.  However, some people do and I'm sure they'd like accurate info on it.  Consistency and accuracy, please.

3) Half the book is composed of charts for you to use.  Have you ever tried to scan a small book and then enlarge a chart so it can be useful?   If it had been larger and in a ring binder I could see it being helpful to some.  Honestly, a spiral bound notebook is fine for what she wants people to use it for, plus those who can use any pc word program can easily make their own charts. 

4)  Half the book - no kidding - is composed of charts and forms.  Half... the ... book..


Pros:

1) What I did like about it was the simple wood pattern for making a self-feeding shelf for your cans.   However, I'm pretty sure there are plans on the internet. 

2) She insists on your family not changing their eating habits in an emergency.  Most people don't realize that you can make your family and yourself sick by doing this.  In a time of crisis, that won't help anyone.   A common phrase I've seen in several books is "Store what you eat; eat what you store."   You should be eating and rotating your food supply on a constant basis. 

Having a freeze-dried food is fine, but living on it constantly will make you sick if you're not used to it.  She does advocate using a bit on a regular basis, so it's not a shock to your system if you end up in a situation where you need to eat a lot of it.

3) The lists in the charts are okay.  If nothing else, she might have thought of something I'd forget.

4) Emergency meal planning is another thing she lists for people to do.  I never even thought of that.  Having meals planned out would be helpful in a power outage like we normally get.  Usually I run around thinking, "Aw, heck.  What do we have again?"  If I had a meal plan already set, then I wouldn't have that issue. 

 If I'm also eating what I store and storing what I eat, then I should already have meal plans in effect.  I don't, because I tend to fly by the seat of my pants and what we feel like eating. 

For the first-timer who hasn't a clue about food storage and keeping a food supply, this book would probably be helpful for them.  For me, it was a waste of money.  I will probably resell it or give it to one of my kids that are out on their own.

It looks like the strawberry seeds were dead.  I'll look into buying new plants instead.  I've inspected every bit of the dirt and nothing is showing.

The radishes are doing well.  The picture loaded upside down. I'm not sure why. 

One tomato plant is flowering yellow!  I've been sick and unable to get to the store to buy the pots/wood I needed to replant them.  I'm hoping to get out there tomorrow.  

The first carrots are coming up.  I thought I'd planted them too soon, but apparently they're hardy little suckers. 

I haven't been able to get anything else done or read much.  I'll need to copy and paste a couple of posts from my other blog.  They concern a couple of books I've read about food storage and preparedness. 

Some thing went digging in my radishes.  It was not very deep and not after the radishes themselves.   It was in between the radishes and was maybe 1 inch wide and 3 inches long.  It might have been 1/2-1 inch deep.

No idea what it was or why it did it.

I See Radishes!

I see radishes coming up!  Unfortunately, no carrots.  I'm not sure if they're okay or not.  I need to go do a bit of research to see if the frost killed them or if they're just being slow.

One tomato plant has two flowers starting, so I figured I'd repot it - since it finally stopped raining.  Today was the only sunny day for the past 7 days, and it looks like rain is forecasted for the rest of the week.   My two plants so far:

The one on the left is beginning to flower.   I went to replant it and my youngest son had a bit of an accident with the pot:

No, he didn't drop it.  Apparently the bottom was rotten, came out and dumped the dirt.  Thanks to his quick thinking most of the dirt is still in the pot.    I think this is a sign I should do a square foot garden of tomatoes.  Or maybe I just want to do one.

At least the radishes are doing well!

Frozen Radishes?

I'm a bit concerned.  The temperatures around here dropped to freezing several nights in a row, and I'm wondering if my radishes and carrots froze.   I hope not.  it wouldn't be very nice if my first attempt failed because they got frosty.   I brought the tomatoes inside at night.  It's been raining, and I haven't been able to put them in containers yet.

While driving my son to work, we passed a house that had HUGE heads of lettuce all ready to be picked.  My jaw dropped.  They had a small garden that was maybe 6x6.  I almost wanted to stop and ask them how they did it, but my son would've been late for work.   Out of the corner of my eye, I saw they had a second small plot going.  On the way home, I slowed down a bit and took a better gander at it.

I wonder if they're home during the day.  I'd love to pick their brains for information.   I know I can find it online, but they live near me.  They obviously know what they're doing for my area.

What About Heat?

    If I lost power for over a week in winter we'd be in serious trouble and/or dying of cold.   I have small emergency heaters and a large portable K-1 heater we use in outages, but with the cost of fuel it's getting to the point I need alternative heat sources.  The house is set up for a wood stove.  There are air returns and heat grates on each floor.  I am surrounded by trees.  The choice seems a bit obvious.

    However, money is an issue.  I can only move in stages.  First I need to clean the basement out so I can get to the chimney, then I need the chimney inspected.  I'm almost positive it will need repair.  That will be the third step.   Finding an affordable wood stove that will heat the entire house is going to be the hardest part.

   

What Would You Do?

  If you lost power right now for 24 hours how would you do?  Most of us would be okay for 24 hours.  What if you lost power for a week?  Two weeks?  A month?  I would be okay for, maybe, a week.

   After watching a few more episodes of the show "Doomsday Preppers", I began to think about what would happen if a disaster struck.  I've lived up and down the eastern seaboard.   I'm no stranger to hurricanes or snowstorms.     I've been evacuated from a hurricane in South Carolina.   I've lived through hurricanes and severe storms in other areas.   I've lost power to an ice storm for 3 days here.   I was lucky.  Others in our area lost it for two - three weeks.

    However, now things are a bit different.  I no longer have my couponed food stockpile to fall back on.  I have a well.  Without electricity, I don't have water. I live in an area where winter lasts for months.  Growing season is very short.

    I had to ask myself:  If I lost power, right now, for today or a week how would I do?  I have enough food and water on hand for a week.  I'd be okay.  If I lost it for a week it would be hard, but we'd survive.  If I lost it for over a week we'd be in trouble.   It's common knowledge that most grocery stores and warehouses only have enough supplies for 3-7 days. It's also common for areas around me to lose power for weeks during bad weather.

   I've seen how people, who have lived here their whole lives, freak out when a storm is coming.  I was surprised.  They're Mainers.  They should be used to this by now but many aren't.   The stores are mobbed.  Generators disappear from the shelves.  Water supplies are decimated.   I guess it's not fair to say this state only.  We've seen it in every state we've lived in, and we have been guilty of doing it as well.

    After our first year here, and being unable to find water for the kids in an emergency,  I always keep two cases of water on hand, though we've never needed more than one.  We rotate them out every few months, before the plastic bottles start to really break down.  That first year, with upset thirsty children, was a definite lesson I don't want to repeat.  Thankfully, we found water at a gas station of all places.   But - what if we hadn't?

That thought alone is a constant reminder to keep water on hand.  I have two cases, but I want to store at least four.    My current goal is to make sure we have back-up food and water for a month.
 

Square Foot Gardening

I was going through my bookshelves and found a book about square foot gardening.  I completely forgot about it after I bought it years ago.

I will be reading it to see if I can implement it.  It might be easier than container gardening.  Or I'll do both.  We'll see.

The Food Journey

     I used to be an extreme couponer.  I would walk out of the grocery store saving 50-70% off of my food bill.  I had a food stockpile that gave me a sense of security.  Power outage?  No problem.  I had plenty of food to see us through it for several weeks - until my daughter and I couldn't eat it anymore.    My couponing came to a grinding halt.  

    Everything was boxed, canned and/or processed.   Some of the cans weren't too bad like the vegetables and a few of the fruits.  However, the rest was no longer edible for us.  I had to give almost my entire stockpile to my eldest daughter and her family.  My large supply of food had dwindled to almost nothing.  After getting sick from eating a can of generic brand corn, I realized I had to switch to organic foods. I discovered a hard fact: there are little to no coupons for organic foods.

    A few weeks ago, I discovered that Monsanto is lobbying against labeling GMO products, and that some organics may begin containing them if they don't already.  This is a huge health issue for me.  I began to realize that in order to stay healthy, I was going to have to start growing my own food.  But, I live on 1/2 an acre completely surrounded by trees.  Over 40% is covered in trees and brush. When all the trees and brush have bloomed, I get little to no sun in my yard.   I don't have the money to have it removed.  Doing it myself would be very difficult.  Some of the trees are easily 25+ feet tall.

    I have started exploring the possibility of container gardening.  My first experiments are radishes and carrots (pic below).  The place that gets the best sun is my small side deck.   I have two window box planters.  I planted radishes in one, even though I don't eat them, and carrots in the other.  I wanted to experiment with it, and I know several people who will eat the radishes.  The window boxes are plastic, because they were for flowers last year, so hopefully nothing will leach into the veggies.  I will try to replace them with natural wood or terra cotta before next year.

 

   

     I bought two Heirloom tomato plants, so I can harvest the seeds and use them next year.  I haven't decided where to put them yet.  I am watching where the sun lands in my backyard.  My husband refuses to let me put anything out front where several small patches get almost full sun.

    We have wild raspberries in the backyard, but they are in awkward areas.  I don't know if I can transplant them.  I hesitate, because I assume they're growing where it works for them.  I also don't know how to take care of them, but plan on web searching that.

   I found a strawberry kit, but I'm not sure how old is it.  It was hidden on a shelf.  I planted it today, so if I don't see anything within a week or two I'll buy plants.  We are strawberry lovers here.  However, to begin with, I think I should concentrate on the one thing I use most: tomatoes.

  Salsa, chili, spaghetti sauce, tacos, pizza, salads... I use tomatoes almost on a daily basis. The two plants I bought are two different types of heirlooms.  I am going to try to get a few more plants when I can.  First, I need to see where they will do best.   I also need to protect them from wildlife.

   This is going to be one heck of a learning experience.



 

And so it begins

    If anyone had asked me a year ago if I would ever "prepare" or move to a more self-sufficient lifestyle, my answer would have been an emphatic, "No!".   Then I discovered why I was so sick all the time.  I discovered why my youngest daughter was sick so much.   I discovered what we were eating and what companies were doing with our food supply.  

    Our food bill tripled.  My electric bill was out of control.  I live in Maine.  K-1 heating oil is sky rocketing.  I spent over $1500 this past winter.  It was a mild winter!  And that was just to heat the basement!  The rest of the house is electric. Gas prices are going higher than I ever thought they could go.  Unfortunately, our pay did not keep up.  Within 12 months, my income is going to drop to an all-time low due to a divorce.  I began panicking.

    How am I going to keep my kids and I healthy?  I have to buy organic food.  I have to eat as naturally as possible.  There is no choice.  My daughter can't have soy at all.   Cheap meat makes us sick.  Walmart ground beef, the cheapest around here, makes us sicker than anything.  (Hellooo, pink slime.) How am I going to pay the bills?  What happens if a car breaks down?  There isn't enough money to go around now.  What will happen in the future?  

What? Me - a worrier?  Nah.  Okay, maybe a little.

    I rarely watch T.V.  I usually have it as background noise, because I don't like it too quiet.  One night while stressing and thinking I zoned out in front of it.   All of the above questions were running rampant in my brain like hyperactive preschoolers. Something caught my attention.  I'm not sure what.  I focused on the show.   I needed a distraction from my worrying, and it was definitely a distraction!  

   Bunkers, bug-out locations, guns, freeze-dried foods, stockpiles, polar shifts, EMPs, solar flares, collapsing economy...   I'm not sure how many times I picked my jaw up from the floor.   My first reaction?  These people are nuts! 

   Then someone mentioned electrical outages.  That caught my attention.  I lose power if the dog sneezes too hard or a squirrel farts.  We get power surges, because the electrical needs updating.  I am literally surrounded by trees.  Some are very tall pine trees that love to dance in strong winds. A tree fell and took out the neighbor's power to his house. Having a long-term power outage isn't that far off the map for me.    

    It got me to thinking...