Preparation on a budget

[MSP "Sarge"]

Very interseting topic Von. Phil this would be a good topic to continue with.


Gary

[larryp]

Don't know about other areas but the local Wal-mart has been having some pretty good deals on canning supplies right now. Remember the cheapest and safest food is that you grow yourself. Even town dwellers can devote a small patch of yard to vegetables instead of another flower bed. Remember the WWII victroy gardens? I've even managed to convince the wife that growing food is a better use of labor and yard space than flower beds that waste space.

[PA PATRIOT]

Gardens are a nice, cheap way of growing veggies for canning/jarring, add a few fruit trees and your really in business. Keeping a garden the proper size to cover your needs but not large enough to make it a target for the unprepared requires a little planning. Some veggies are better then others for canning/jarring and one has to know the correct preparation method which allows maximum bacterial safety and storage life. Reading a book may give one the basics but nothing beats mentoring under a long time canner to learn all the tricks of the trade.

[PA PATRIOT]

Some Canning/Jarring Websites,

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay53.html

http://www.canningusa.com

http://www.food.com/bb/viewforum.zsp?f=24

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f94/

http://www.make-stuff.com/cooking/canning_basics.html

There are plenty more out there!

[PA PATRIOT]

I store a few extra 20lb bags of BBQ charcoal for cooking if the gas or my propane is ever interrupted or depleted. Aldi's food stores have discounted there BBQ charcoal inventory to $1.99 for a 16.6lb bag which I was told is manufactured by Kingsford. I can state that this is quality charcoal as i have used several bags this summer a lone.

http://www.aldifoods.com

[HES]

Question, what is the shelf life of charcoal? Figure keeping it in a Florida garage.

[HETZ1313]

charcoal should be good for ever keeped dry I would think.

[mlk18]

Even town dwellers can devote a small patch of yard to vegetables instead of another flower bed.

As a town dweller without the time to get a real garden going (yet) I threw up some hooks on the patio and set up some of those goofy upside down planters. Was pulling in cherry tomatoes and strawberries left and right. I was actually impressed. May add a few other items next spring. Bought the Topsy-Turvys at the end of last season from Walmart, they were around 75% off ($4-5 ea). This would be a great option for apartment dwellers with a patio or deck.

[streaker69]

There is a lot of really good information in this thread. I've already learned stuff that I had never thought of before. I especially liked the method for preserving dried pasta.

I did find something while looking on the website that sells the gamma lids that I bought today and tested out.

On this page about halfway down there's the Tilia Jar Sealers. I picked up both sizes today at Bass ProShops for $10 each. I tested them both and they really do seal well, with one caveat. The regular mouth one will not seal on a jar that doesn't have the large glass ring around the bottom of the threads. I saw comments at one place that someone was having trouble with the regular mouth sealing.

Food saver also sells the canisters, but those can be rather pricey, cheapest I found was $20 at Target. Better solution would be to use canning jars. Ball still makes the 1/2 gallon wide mouth mason jar that you can use with the food saver vacuum sealer. Six jars cost around $11.00 and can be mail ordered or if you're in an area like mine, can be picked up at grocery stores or small town hardware/houseware stores.

You can reseal the jars very easily as long as you don't bend them when you break the vacuum, so some care needs to be taken when opening the jar. If you want to be sure that the seal doesn't get broken during storage, you can use the bands that come with the jars to hold the lid on.

[PA PATRIOT]

Question, what is the shelf life of charcoal? Figure keeping it in a Florida garage.

As long as charcoal is dry up off the floor there is no shelve life as far as Kingsford charcoal company is concerned. Now Moisture content inside charcoal can rise in very humid conditions but the only affect it will have would be a slower start when trying to ignite it. I like charcoal as by its self it produces very little smoke and one can use as little as needed to get the cooking job done. I ended up buying 40 bags placing each in a doubled dollar store trash bag and storing them in the outdoor shed until I split it up between my home and bug out location. Total investment was $86.40 (w/tax) for 664lbs of charcoal, not bad since it will basically last forever when properly stored.