Prep Genrl "A Year Without the Grocery Store"

[SouthernBreeze]

Promoted from time to time as a “new” home canning technique, “oven canning” is actually an old technique. It has been around since at least the 1920s — and it has been discredited and advised against since the 1940s.

All I can say is that if Summerthyme has trusted this method for years, I trust her judgement. For me, this method works great on nuts and crackers, but would absolutely not use it with other foods.

 

[John Deere Girl]

Powdered milk is so fabulous!! I published just last week an entire book on the topic on Amazon.

While there are several tricks to making regular reconstituted powdered milk more palatable, there is so much more to do with it.

Yogurt, Greek yogurt, cream cheese, no-bake cheesecakes.
Magic Mix (powdered milk, flour, and butter or coconut oil) to make cream soups, puddings, banana cream pie, custards, hamburger helper, gravy, macaroni n cheese
SOS Mix (powdered milk, cornstarch, seasonings) to make cream soups, hamburger helper, gravy, lots of other soups, macaroni n cheese
Horchata
Emergency baby formula
Syrups
Convenience mixes
Cottage cheese
Instant oatmeal
Breakfast cereals
and even dog food

And you don't have to buy my book. Recipes for everything are on my blog for free.

I really like your blog!

 

[John Deere Girl]

All I can say is that if Summerthyme has trusted this method for years, I trust her judgement. For me, this method works great on nuts and crackers, but would absolutely not use it with other foods.

My grandmother and my mom used the oven to can tomatoes, but I water bath can tomatoes. I also oven can nuts like Summerthyme has talked about, and I trust her advice too.

 

[nomifyle]

I've vacuum sealed a lot of nuts recently, but am realizing that they need to be dry oven canned. someone please tell me how to do it.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I've vacuum sealed a lot of nuts recently, but am realizing that they need to be dry oven canned. someone please tell me how to do it.

Judy, this is how I do it. Others may use a different method.

Heat oven to 300*. Spread nuts out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Heat in oven for 20 mins. While they are hot, fill sterilized jars and seal with sealing lids and rings. Put back in oven for 15 mins. I turn my oven off and let the jars cool in the oven. They seal every time.

 

[summerthyme]

Judy, this is how I do it. Others may use a different method.

Heat oven to 300*. Spread nuts out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Heat in oven for 20 mins. While they are hot, fill sterilized jars and seal with sealing lids and rings. Put back in oven for 15 mins. I turn my oven off and let the jars cool in the oven. They seal every time.

Yep... I don't understand the scare warning that it somehow speeds/increases rancidity! The preheating removes any excess moisture (helps with freshness as well as eliminating any possible risk of botulism... nuts are low acid, and in theory, might possibly have enough moisture to let botulism spores break dormancy and produce toxin) and should eliminate any possible potential salmonella issue.

I tried plain vacuum sealing them, but with little success.

I wonder how, exactly, they process and pack the commercial vacuum sealed nuts?

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Yep... I don't understand the scare warning that it somehow speeds/increases rancidity! The preheating removes any excess moisture (helps with freshness as well as eliminating any possible risk of botulism... nuts are low acid, and in theory, might possibly have enough moisture to let botulism spores break dormancy and produce toxin) and should eliminate any possible potential salmonella issue.

I tried plain vacuum sealing them, but with little success.

I wonder how, exactly, they process and pack the commercial vacuum sealed nuts?

Summerthyme

We have a huge pecan tree in our backyard, so we have lots of pecans. I've always frozen them in gallon freezer bags, until I found this canning method. I figured it was the same process used in commercial canning. I have some that are 2 years old, and they are still sealed and look just like they did the day I canned them.

 

[Kathy in FL]

As I remember this book, I think their reasons for needing to live the way they did is because of some financial pressures they came under.

Correction, her current website mentions none of this so maybe it is someone that used the book.

About Karen - Are You Prepared, Mama?

Who is Karen Morris? She's a . . . Christian. Wife. Homeschooling Mom. Prepper. Author. Blogger. Aspiring Gardener. Reluctant Kitchen Engineer. How did our family get into preparedness? Preparedness isn't just a stockpile. It isn't just "beans, bullets, and band-aids." Preparedness is a...

areyoupreparedmama.com

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Since we're on the subject of oven canning, I thought I would go ahead and post my method for canning crackers if anyone is interested. Use wide mouth jars for these. Any type of cracker.

Heat oven to 250*. Spread a single layer of crackers on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. While crackers are still hot, place in jars with sealing lids and rings. Put back in oven for 20 minutes. Turn off oven and let jars cool in oven.

 

[nomifyle]

Yep... I don't understand the scare warning that it somehow speeds/increases rancidity! The preheating removes any excess moisture (helps with freshness as well as eliminating any possible risk of botulism... nuts are low acid, and in theory, might possibly have enough moisture to let botulism spores break dormancy and produce toxin) and should eliminate any possible potential salmonella issue.

I tried plain vacuum sealing them, but with little success.

I wonder how, exactly, they process and pack the commercial vacuum sealed nuts?

Summerthyme

I'm so glad this topic came up because we have vacuum sealed several packages this winter. I'll have to bring them in from the cabin and get them oven sealed.

do you do crackers the same way, I have been vacuum sealing mine. LOL you already answered this, thanks.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

Judy, this is how I do it. Others may use a different method.

Heat oven to 300*. Spread nuts out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Heat in oven for 20 mins. While they are hot, fill sterilized jars and seal with sealing lids and rings. Put back in oven for 15 mins. I turn my oven off and let the jars cool in the oven. They seal every time.

I am going to have to try this.

The food bank just gave me 6 pounds pf walnuts and 0 pounds of whole almonds.

 

[Kewpie]

You hit the nail on the head! Our diet is the same as yours.

Glad I’m not the only one! I know if the ish ever hits the fan all bets are off and I’m just going to want all the fats/carbs/calories and won’t care about keeping my girlish figure. But it’s almost like maintaining 3 different types of pantries. My short term storage and things that we eat regularly I try to keep about a months worth. I still have a tween son, and I regularly cook for larger groups of friends and am able to rotate through various more traditional storage items (dehydrated hash browns, pasta, flour, regular sugar), and then I have my vault with really long term storage. I crack something open every once in awhile to make sure it’s still good, play with it in various ways. But that’s the worst case scenario stuff.

 

[Kewpie]

Powdered milk is so fabulous!! I published just last week an entire book on the topic on Amazon.

While there are several tricks to making regular reconstituted powdered milk more palatable, there is so much more to do with it.

Yogurt, Greek yogurt, cream cheese, no-bake cheesecakes.
Magic Mix (powdered milk, flour, and butter or coconut oil) to make cream soups, puddings, banana cream pie, custards, hamburger helper, gravy, macaroni n cheese
SOS Mix (powdered milk, cornstarch, seasonings) to make cream soups, hamburger helper, gravy, lots of other soups, macaroni n cheese
Horchata
Emergency baby formula
Syrups
Convenience mixes
Cottage cheese
Instant oatmeal
Breakfast cereals
and even dog food

And you don't have to buy my book. Recipes for everything are on my blog for free.

Your blog looks so helpful, and I’ve only just perused the food section! Who am I kidding, I like to eat, the food section is always the most important section to me.

Do you have a link to your Amazon book? I’d love to check it out.

 

[school marm]

Your blog looks so helpful, and I’ve only just perused the food section! Who am I kidding, I like to eat, the food section is always the most important section to me.

Do you have a link to your Amazon book? I’d love to check it out.

Hi Kewpie,

There is a link to the book in my signature line (I think that's what it's called) below my response here. But some people have those turned off (don't know how they do it) so that they don't see the sig lines and can thus scroll through the pages here on TB2K faster. If that is the case for you, here is a link for you.

Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Cafe

While I think I did a pretty good job on it and feel it has really valuable information, you don't have to buy the book. Everything is on the blog for free. If printing the info yourself saves you some money that you can spend on other preps, I'm good with that. In my books, I try to remove the blog-gy kind of stuff that most people don't really need, though I do retain some of my thought processes. Maybe it will help others think of solutions to their own food storage problems. The book is just nicely organized in a hard copy with all the info on powdered milk in one spot. And I include reviews of what the family members thought of various recipes. You'll know if everybody loved a particular recipe, or if the picky eaters didn't, or like in the case of powdered milk taste tests, everybody had different favorites. (That was really surprising to me.) Sorry, I think I've written more than I should have. I'll stop now. Thanks for asking!

 

[nomifyle]

Hi Kewpie,

There is a link to the book in my signature line (I think that's what it's called) below my response here. But some people have those turned off (don't know how they do it) so that they don't see the sig lines and can thus scroll through the pages here on TB2K faster. If that is the case for you, here is a link for you.

Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Cafe

While I think I did a pretty good job on it and feel it has really valuable information, you don't have to buy the book. Everything is on the blog for free. If printing the info yourself saves you some money that you can spend on other preps, I'm good with that. In my books, I try to remove the blog-gy kind of stuff that most people don't really need, though I do retain some of my thought processes. Maybe it will help others think of solutions to their own food storage problems. The book is just nicely organized in a hard copy with all the info on powdered milk in one spot. And I include reviews of what the family members thought of various recipes. You'll know if everybody loved a particular recipe, or if the picky eaters didn't, or like in the case of powdered milk taste tests, everybody had different favorites. (That was really surprising to me.) Sorry, I think I've written more than I should have. I'll stop now. Thanks for asking!

I just ordered the kindle version, I'm sure I will enjoy it and later I may order the print book, I'm always looking for new ideas or a reminder of old ideas.

 

[anna43]

I vacuum seal nuts and then store in the freezer with great success.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Powdered milk is so fabulous!! I published just last week an entire book on the topic on Amazon.

While there are several tricks to making regular reconstituted powdered milk more palatable, there is so much more to do with it.

Yogurt, Greek yogurt, cream cheese, no-bake cheesecakes.
Magic Mix (powdered milk, flour, and butter or coconut oil) to make cream soups, puddings, banana cream pie, custards, hamburger helper, gravy, macaroni n cheese
SOS Mix (powdered milk, cornstarch, seasonings) to make cream soups, hamburger helper, gravy, lots of other soups, macaroni n cheese
Horchata
Emergency baby formula
Syrups
Convenience mixes
Cottage cheese
Instant oatmeal
Breakfast cereals
and even dog food

And you don't have to buy my book. Recipes for everything are on my blog for free.

Just went to a grocery store this morning that caters to Hispanic and Caribbean diets. Picked up two more cans of long storage cheese ... more expensive than I did it last time but still cheaper per ounce than buying it online ... and several instant drinks that most people on here probably don't know about or drink regularly. I'm not talking about teas I'm talking about things like horchata, a wide variety of aqua frescas in flavors you don't normally see in white European type grocery stores, cornstarch drink mixes in various flavors, zuko instant peach iced tea, instant atole including a walnut flavor I've never tried before, and that doesn't even cover the canned and bottled drinks

Klass Mexican Drink Mix - Aguas Frescas - Lemonade - Licuados - Gelatin - Atole

Buy Klass Drink Mix from Mexico - Aguas Frescas, Licuados, Gelatin and Atole instant Mexican Drink Mixes at MexGrocer.com, a nationwide online grocery store for authentic Mexican food and recipes.

www.mexgrocer.com

Klass Atole Walnut flavor (Pack of 6)

Klass Atole Nuez - Walnut (Pack of 6)

www.mexgrocer.com

There are a lot of instant bean type stuff and I found something I tried tonight that are really good ... instant butternut squash (mashed like potatoes). They also had instant purple potatoes and instant potatoes with spinach mixed in. They were Badia brand.

It gives me lots of idea of how to use our freeze drier.

 

[nomifyle]

Just went to a grocery store this morning that caters to Hispanic and Caribbean diets. Picked up two more cans of long storage cheese ... more expensive than I did it last time but still cheaper per ounce than buying it online ... and several instant drinks that most people on here probably don't know about or drink regularly. I'm not talking about teas I'm talking about things like horchata, a wide variety of aqua frescas in flavors you don't normally see in white European type grocery stores, cornstarch drink mixes in various flavors, zuko instant peach iced tea, instant atole including a walnut flavor I've never tried before, and that doesn't even cover the canned and bottled drinks

Klass Mexican Drink Mix - Aguas Frescas - Lemonade - Licuados - Gelatin - Atole

Buy Klass Drink Mix from Mexico - Aguas Frescas, Licuados, Gelatin and Atole instant Mexican Drink Mixes at MexGrocer.com, a nationwide online grocery store for authentic Mexican food and recipes.

www.mexgrocer.com

Klass Atole Walnut flavor (Pack of 6)

Klass Atole Nuez - Walnut (Pack of 6)

www.mexgrocer.com

There are a lot of instant bean type stuff and I found something I tried tonight that are really good ... instant butternut squash (mashed like potatoes). They also had instant purple potatoes and instant potatoes with spinach mixed in. They were Badia brand.

It gives me lots of idea of how to use our freeze drier.

Sad that there are no stores like that any where near me.

 

[anna43]

Regarding peanut butter, when my d-i-l had an infected open sore after surgery the wound clinic doctor she would never heal if she didn't improve nutrition. She is anorexic amongst many other issues. He suggested peanut butter. He told her to grab a jar and a spoon and eat it. She chose celery and apples dipped in peanut butter. He said it was a very nutritious food so I figure it is perfect for SHTF pantries.

On various storage methods of foods. My opinion is to use only those that are proven to be safe. You do not want to sicken your family in a SHTF situation. Actually, you don't want to sicken your family in ANY situation!! This is definitely a rather be safe than sorry situation.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

Hi Kewpie,

There is a link to the book in my signature line (I think that's what it's called) below my response here. But some people have those turned off (don't know how they do it) so that they don't see the sig lines and can thus scroll through the pages here on TB2K faster. If that is the case for you, here is a link for you.

Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Cafe

While I think I did a pretty good job on it and feel it has really valuable information, you don't have to buy the book. Everything is on the blog for free. If printing the info yourself saves you some money that you can spend on other preps, I'm good with that. In my books, I try to remove the blog-gy kind of stuff that most people don't really need, though I do retain some of my thought processes. Maybe it will help others think of solutions to their own food storage problems. The book is just nicely organized in a hard copy with all the info on powdered milk in one spot. And I include reviews of what the family members thought of various recipes. You'll know if everybody loved a particular recipe, or if the picky eaters didn't, or like in the case of powdered milk taste tests, everybody had different favorites. (That was really surprising to me.) Sorry, I think I've written more than I should have. I'll stop now. Thanks for asking!

My brother bought the powdered milk book for me (for my birthday), and next month, I figure on buying the first aid book.

The information on School Marm’s blog is great, but if the net goes down or power is out, her blog is gone.

Having the book helps insure against my losing this valuable information at just the time when I most need it.

 

[hiwall]

The information on School Marm’s blog is great,

Bolded this because it is so true.

but if the net goes down or power is out, her blog is gone.

It is easy to copy and paste her blog. I do that a lot. But yes, do buy the book too.