Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

On the subject on smoking food for preservation, my parents' Polish enighbours have an old-fashioned tall metal locker (the kind that is 6 feet tall) in their back garden which they use as a smoker.

Perhaps there is a poster with experience of small-scale home smoking who can share some skills with us? It would be good to add the knowdledge to the repetoire.

born_blonde

I've only hot smoked more as a cooking technique than for preservation though I'm investigating building a cold smoker.

There are lots of plans online so I'm starting simple with an old metal filing cabinet and chimney pie to connect it to the wood fire. I'll report back but would also love some tips from anyone. You Tube is only useful up to a point.

Perhaps I should consider building a still - for experimental purposes only of course.

D&DD

Thanks Grandma very important point, forgot to add that about stacking,I see that on a lot of the food storage sites with jars 2 or 3 high.I only do it with my 'normal' screw tops as I usually need the space!

Does anyone do dry mixes in their stores,homemade ones I mean rather than storebought?
I suppose its more cost prohibitive here as the jars are a lot more expensive.

grandma247

I do make my own bread mixes and I use the buckets that plain yoghurt comes in and they are just the right size for one loaf. I leave the packet of yeast unopened in the top of each bucket though. They stack beautifully because the lid is recessed.

I have made my own cake and biscuit mixes too and store them in those oval plastic icecream tubs. I have my kitchen work surface stacked with ingredients at this minute to make some more mixes.

I am going to give other mixes a go.
Ratatouille made from dry veg.
Pakoras (after trying a packet mix which was good)
Bahjis both onion and veg
to name but a few.

valk_scot

born_blonde wrote: »

Perhaps I should consider building a still - for experimental purposes only of course.

You can make freezer spirits perfectly legally by freezing cider for example, taking off the frozen watery layer and being left with the more concentrated alcohol. I forget the details exactly but the US folk do it quite a lot and there are details online. So if you had a source of free apples it might be worth giving it a go?

valk_scot

grandma247 wrote: »

I do make my own bread mixes and I use the buckets that plain yoghurt comes in and they are just the right size for one loaf. I leave the packet of yeast unopened in the top of each bucket though. They stack beautifully because the lid is recessed.

That is such a good idea. We eat a lot of Lidl Greek yoghurt, is that the size of bucket you mean?

grandma247

Yes it is and I have bought some in mr s but they did not have any last week so they may be a seasonal thing in there. I think they hold 2pints?

Possession

It's a really good idea. I've made a batch of crumble mix but haven't really taken things any further and I can see it would be a real timesaver. My time isn't quite as pushed as when we had the catering business, but when/if DH gets a job I will be super busy with all the kid stuff again, he does it at the moment. Perhaps we could get together a list of possible mixes that can be made, whether they be jar/tub or in the freezer?
(Sod's law of course that I've just got rid of all the oval icecream tubs!)

medusasmummy

Possession wrote: »

It's a really good idea. I've made a batch of crumble mix but haven't really taken things any further and I can see it would be a real timesaver. My time isn't quite as pushed as when we had the catering business, but when/if DH gets a job I will be super busy with all the kid stuff again, he does it at the moment. Perhaps we could get together a list of possible mixes that can be made, whether they be jar/tub or in the freezer?
(Sod's law of course that I've just got rid of all the oval icecream tubs!)

Quick question...

will you be freezing them after mixing up?

i tried this last month with a crumble mix, (handy starter for scones too) and after 3 days it had mould growths. havent done it again since, so any tips would be appreciated

Possession

medusasmummy wrote: »

Quick question...

will you be freezing them after mixing up?

i tried this last month with a crumble mix, (handy starter for scones too) and after 3 days it had mould growths. havent done it again since, so any tips would be appreciated

Yes I made it with the fat rubbed in so I froze it in portions and can just shake it out on to the crumble and cook from frozen.