general

by

Review: Wise Company Creamy Pasta and Vegtable Rotini

For the most part, I prefer to have my diet consist of whole foods and ingredients that I can use to create my own meals.  That’s what I do on a daily basis.  I don’t use a lot of packaged and convenience foods like canned soups, hamburger helper and the like.  I occasionally use frozen meals, especially really challenging stuff like Chinese foods (potstickers!), but even that’s fairly infrequent.

So of course when it comes long term food storage, I don’t want to make the bulk of it from MREs, freeze fried meals and the like.  It’s not the way we eat.  But.  There may be times when being able to rip open a package and est it as is, or only add water, let it sit, and eat are the only real options.  To that end, I have been looking at some of the companies that frequently market to backpackers and for LTS, like mountain house, wise company, Augason farms, and so on.  The problem is, I don’t care to buy big buckets of multiple servings unless I can try it first and see if my family can exist on it in a pinch!

Wise Company kindly sent me a sample, and they chose Creamy Pasta and Vegtable Rotini.

img_1425

You heat water to boiling, add the contents (I dumped them in a bowl so you could see it), cover and let sit 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

img_1427

After following those directions, the peas were still crunchy in the middle, the zucchini bits very chewy, and the pasta edibly soft, but more al dente than I would like.  The first bite or two were ok.  Not delicious, but ok.  Probably more than acceptable if you are a more common user of processed foods than I. The sauce reminded me of Lipton Cream of Chicken Cup o Soup.  That is, something I only ever have eaten when I’m sick, or the power is out and mom needed an instant meal. But edible.

It cooled off very quickly, and that’s when I couldn’t eat it anymore.  The creamy sauce got quite viscous, almost like it had okra slime in it.  And frankly, well, it looked like gobs of saliva dropping off the spoon.  Yuk yuk yuk.

I think that a tomato based sauced product might be a better option. So I need to find the smallest package options from different companies for my taste tests.

by

Vote for …

img_1423Have you noticed that this election season that something is missing?  I have seen very few bumper stickers and almost no yard signs dealing with the presidential race.  There are some corners that practically bristle with posts and campaign requests, most years.  I’ve seen a few for local/state office (although it still seems low) and for state measures, but I can’t recall one Clinton/Trump bumper sticker or yard sign.

At first I thought well, maybe everyone is too afraid to proclaim thier support for HRC or Trump, out of concern that they might get vandalized or ridiculed.  Or maybe, more people are like me, completely apathetic with no strong feelings, except disgust, for both major presidential candidates.  Of course, it could be more innocuous; maybe campaigns aren’t spending money on that kind of advertising this year, relying on digital media to get thier message out there.  I’m probably the last person in the US who doesn’t follow twitter.  (I hate twitter.  Are we all so stupid that we can’t comprehend more than 255 characters anymore?  It’s nothing but sound bites and I hate it).

 

by

The final measure

In the end, I got about 12 cups of sprouts from my 1/4 salad mix seeds.

img_1419

A nice dressing for these sprouts is:

1/4 cup minced onion (I used scallion, from my CSA box)
1/2 cup tomatoes, seeded and diced (I used a late harvest heirloom tomato)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herb (I used basil, but you could use almost any)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar (rice wine vinegar would be nice too I think, or mirin.  A more mild vinegar anyway; I think cider or balsamic would overwhelm the delicate sprout flavor)
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

I whisked all the liquids together, added the seasonings, whisked again, then mixed in the onion and tomatoes.  I don’t like plain sprout salad, but I put my dressed sprouts on a bed of other greens (arugula is a good with my seed mix, which has arugula sprouts, but whatever works).  I had some more avocado and added a few slices.  Nice, light, healthy and tasty salad.

FYI, the PeakFresh bag my sprouts are in is awesome.  I got mine from sproutpeople although I’m sure there are other sources, and likely less expensive.  I’ve been using them about a month now.  The produce in my CSA box comes loose, and I bag it up in these, and I’ve been very impressed with the longevity of the produce it provides. They somehow move the ethylene gas out of the bag slowing down the ripening (aging) process.

by

The little and not so little things

Just before bed yesterday I noticed a sore spot along my jawline, just under my left ear.  When I woke up, there was an almond sized lump and a little internet research made it clear that self diagnosing this could be a real problem.  There’s a lot of things that it could be.  The prime candidates are infected saliva glands or lymph nodes, but there’s a number of other possibilities, from minor to super scary.  Even given the most likely, I would need antibiotics so I pulled up my insurance app and made an appointment for this afternoon.

By the time I left for the appointment, my almond was a shell-on walnut size.  It’s sore as hell, and if you touch it, it’s sheer misery.  Even my doc can’t be sure what it is apparently.  I’ve got no fever, which you’d expect with an infection.  But it is hot to the touch, and sometimes with diabetes, the body responds oddly.  So I was prescribed augmentin.

It does make you think – in a disaster situation, how do you deal with something like this?   I went right to the doctor but you can search google images for infected jawline lymph node for some really scary, disgusting pictures of what can happen if you don’t have treatment.

My son had a lump on his face that turned out to be a central giant cell granuloma.  It didn’t respond to treatment and the tumor had to be removed, along with most of his upper jaw, and everything up to the bottom of his eye orbit on the left side of his face.  It went from a tiny bump to the size of a grapefruit in a few weeks.  He will eventually need extensive reconstructive surgery and implants.  At the moment he has a denture like appliance to give him a chewing surface – and it needs regular refitting as he grows.  He’s only 12.

img_0040I have genetically terrible teeth.  I have about 6 natural teeth left in my mouth.  I have some implants but need 8 more to support as many teeth as I need; I just need 30k to spare to get it done.  Just.   In the meantime I have upper dentures. Like some old lady.  Barely a week ago, one tooth broke off under the gum line and it had to be extracted. I couldn’t eat or drink; even lukewarm water touching that tooth (lower jaw too so gravity was an issue) was beyond excruciating.

It was probably the worst pain in my life, even more than the spinal I needed for an emergency c-section when my daughter was in distress.  That was painful, and scary.  She had the cord around her neck; without that surgical intervention …

In a SHTF scenario, all three of us would be dead, and no amount of prepping could protect us from that.

I have type 2 diabetes (well, not really, but it’s easier to say that than explain why my problem really is.  I have high blood sugars so it’s close enough.)  I’m fortunate to not be insulin dependent, but I could be working a lot harder to lose the extra weight and get my blood sugars under control.

My son and I both wear glasses.  My prescription changes every year by a lot.  And my blood sugar fluctuations – well, it’s a problem for my vision.  What happens when those glasses break? Or the prescription changes?

My husband had lasik years ago, but before that his vision was worse than mine.  My daughter isn’t in glasses yet, but given her genes, it’s just a matter of time.

In the face of these things, it can make you think, what’s the point?  No matter how much time, energy and money I put into preparing for the bad and the worse, no matter how much “insurance” I manage to put in place; some things just can’t be prepared for, so why prepare at all?

I can’t really think that way though.  If there’s an emergency situation, and my family fails because we didn’t have the basics I could’ve provided, that would be on me.  That’s not OK.

So back to the beginning here.  I’ve read that some folks stock fish antibiotics.  Supposedly, it’s the same stuff.  It makes me uncomfortable. I would never resort to such a thing in the normal.  But then I look at my issue today.  If a simple course of antibiotics is the solution, and the alternative is pain, abscess, rupture, wouldn’t you take the chance?

Theres a very thorough discussion on fish antibiotics over at Top Survival Preps.

by

Eat the fruits of your labor

Seeds sprouted in my Easy sprouter aren’t as green as I would like, but perfectly edible.  Would certainly be a quick, easy and low maintenance way to get some fresh food into your diet if the SHTF and you’re surviving on LTS.

In the meantime, after my experiment, I need to eat some of these sprouts up.  Little quarter cup of my mix has resulted in several cups of sprouts.

This morning I threw in a couple extra eggs while scrambling them for the kids’ breakfast.  Then I topped mine with a big handful of sprouts and a small green zebra tomato, cut into slices, then cut in half to make half circles.

I think I’ll pick up some goat cheese so I can make a yumm-o omelette.

Sprout & Avocado Omelette

6 eggs
1⁄2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 avocado (ripe, peeled and sliced into strips)
1⁄2 cup sprouts (delicate salad mix type)
3 ounces goat cheese (thinly siced or crumbled)
4 tablespoons butter or ghee

In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs and cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat 4 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in the egg mixture.  When the egg mixture is half way through cooking, spread the goat cheese on one half of the omelet, and spread the slice avocado on top of the goat cheese, and on top of the goat cheese, spread the sprouts. (I don’t love avocado cooked myself, I’d rather add them at the end). Flip the ungarnished half of the omelet over the half with the ingredients, and continue cooking to your liking.  Cut the omelet in half and serve.

by

My black thumb and I

The pea shoots look terrible. Pretty sure it’s just density and it’s not that I can’t grow something.  I hope anyway.  I wonder if pea seeds of different varieties can be different enough sizes that mine are that much larger than the video I watched.

I also wonder now that I’m having crowding issues — when he did 1 1/2 cups for a 10×20 tray if that was measured after soaking, which would make a big difference.  Obviously I didn’t think so, but I just can’t account for the discrepancy otherwise .

Even my new batch seem like they will be too crowded again.  And that was 1/2 cup before soaking for 10×10.

img_4480 img_4482

My sprouts look and taste good.

img_4479This is French Garden mix from Sprout People and includes Clover, Arugula, Cress, Radish, Fenugreek, Dill. More expensive than a basic seed but I wanted a tasty mix for my first foray into sprouts.  I used an Easy Sprouter but it is basically like doing it in a mason jar. This just has an inner cup with holes like a strainer in the bottom which makes draining it super easy. Having done it though, I don’t think it has that much advantage over a mason jar with an easy to remove and replace sprouting lid.

I started with 1/4 cup seed mix in my sprouter and set it to soak for 8 hours (important, with a salad mix. Too long and it will go anaerobic, too little and they won’t sprout well).  Drained well, kinda tapped it so seeds were climbing the sides and spread out a bit, and then left it 24 hours with a vented lid. After that I fill the cup and soak 5-15 minutes twice a day, using a chopstick to fluff it up and break up the solid mass. Re-drain, until as dry as possible, repeating. The sprouts eventually produce a leaf, shedding a hull, and the cup keeps getting fuller.  It’s ready to eat now. It’s a lot of sprouts for just me.  Hope the kids like it in their salad at least.

I like the flavor. It’s not too grassy, which is how I recall “sprouts” (they were probably alfalfa).

by

Wrapping up the weekend

Pretty good day.  Went to the NW Sustainable Preparedness Expo.  Attended some nice seminars, chatted with some friendly people, sampled LTS storage foods, learned about a bunch of topics, and brought home a few trinkets and a bunch of brochures.  I didn’t have a lot of money to spend or I probably would have come home with a car full.

img_1405 This was a good listen on beekeeping from the folks at Bee Thinking.

img_1407

Jere of You Can Survive with a graph of recorded natural disasters over the past 100 years. Can the incredible climb in frequency solely be from better ability to learn of and record them in the latter years?  Or are we doing something to cause them to increase in frequency? Scary thought.

While there, I received a reposnse from a craigslist inquiry.  A complete water bath canning system, used only once, more jars (probably 50ish more, bringing me up to about 200), tools, lids, rings, preserving books, jar labels,  even unopened bags of canning salt, at only 25$.  A nice older couple, downsizing as they move into a condo in a 55+ community.  After I left the expo I picked this up.

I keep looking for a good camp stove, pressure canner, dehydrator, and vacuum sealer on Craig’s list.  Not from some expensive resaler but from some kind soul with more fortitude than myself (good will over the effort of Craigslist, baby) putting unneeded items out there for a few bucks. Maybe I’ll get lucky!

by

Favorite Prepper Sites?

Browsing and googling and jumping from site is to site is most common for me when I am looking for specific information on any topic.  This leads me all over and while I’ve bookmarked a few blogs and information sites on preparedness and homesteading; I am not really spending a lot of time following specific pages and youtube channels.  It’s about the TIME; I just don’t have hours to sit and read and watch with the regularity I would like.  In a way though, I feel like I should make this fit.  It’s almost a prep itself.  Without local support, maybe online is where I need to find my community right now.  Connect with like minded people.  Actually follow a blog/vlog regularly enough to get invested.

There are a few youtube channels that I try to catch up on every few days.  Right now I especially am enjoying MichiganSnowPony.

I check Modern Survival Blog every day.  Typically its just one post each day on various preparedness subjects, and the community of comment leavers often have a lot of good information to supplement the article.  My favorite is the “What Did You Do for Your Preparedness This Week” posted weekly on Saturday.  If I ever had a readership, I would definitely want a post like that.  I look forward to the updates from regular posters and getting ideas for preps that I hadn’t considered.

In the search for that community, I have checkout out a few forums like American Preppers Network and The Survivalist Boards.  One isn’t busy enough, the other is too busy.  And I am not sure they are MY peeps.  I am far too liberal for lots of the vocal posters there.

I don’t know how much faith to put in such things, but online quizzes I have taken peg me as a “Young Outsider” (funny, since I am hardly young), but the description does rather fit me, aside from the age thing.

“This relatively young, largely independent group holds a mix of conservative and liberal views. And while more lean toward the Republican Party than the Democratic Party, Young Outsiders express unfavorable opinions of both major parties. They are skeptical of activist government; a substantial majority views government as wasteful and inefficient. Yet they diverge from the other conservative typology groups  in their strong support for the environment and many liberal social policies.”  youngoutsidersAnd myself, I am in the 33% of “Young Outsiders” that lean more democrat than republican.  Shrug.

polit

Well, that ended up going somewhere I didn’t plan.  Hah.  Just like my life ;)  Mostly I wonder if there are blogs or youtube channels and forums and online chats with people more like me.  I can’t be the only moderately liberal person in the world who thinks being prepared is a good idea?