THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Doveling

Sad to see in the news that the original Bramley apple tree is dying.:(

GreyQueen

Doveling wrote: »

Sad to see in the news that the original Bramley apple tree is dying.:(

I saw that, too, but it's a great age for a fruit tree. Fortunately there are lots of offspring so we won't be losing the variety, unlike some others which have disappeared from cultivation.

I have a Bramley apple in my fridge atm and I'm not afraid to use it.

princesstippytoes

Did anyone watch the Eden project on channel 4 last night? A group of individuals left in the wilds to start from scratch and survive for a year. I was a bit disappointed but it may improve. Could have done with some older folk in there and their idea of starting from scratch wasn't mine and they killed a pig for food within a few days when they have an ocean of fish in front of them! On the plus side it is filmed in my beautiful homeland of Scotland. The best scenery in the world.:beer:;)

mardatha

As well as the best country in the world :beer:

THIRZAH

princesstippytoes wrote: »

Mint sauce or mint jelly are a good way to use up a glut of mint.

I do make mint jelly but we don't have roast lamb or chops very often. There's only two of us so a leg of lamb lasts a while and DH isn't too keen on meat on the bone.

I shall try drying some mint in the airing cupboard-it's not going to cost me anything.

NewShadow

So... what preserving options do people think are the easiest and most palatable in the modern world?

Freezing is probably easiest - downside is it's not much use in a power outage.

Buying pre-tinned is likely easier than home-canning (and I assume safer as far as things like botulism are concerned) - downside would be needing to be careful what you store due to hidden salt and sugar in some products and volume of space. Plus weight I guess if on the hoof, and needing access to a tin opener

Salted *yuck*

Dehydrating is an outlay of equipment, probably practice to get it 'right'/consistent and issues maintaining quality of the preserved stuff - light, moisture and ...?

Dry goods - Bulky and heavy. Weevils in flour. Mildew.

Pickling?

NewShadow

pineapple wrote: »

Me I'm still none the wiser!:

To add to GQs link:



http://daggawalla.com/wp-content/uploads/Amarananrrhus_Pigweed_head-with-hand.jpg

(second image too big not to blow out the screen - which personally annoys me)

ETA - apparently commonly found in well-drained soil in a sunny position.

[Deleted User]

NewShadow wrote: »

Dry goods - Bulky and heavy.

Not to mention, a bad option in a water shortage.

ancientofdays

Another thing to do with lemon balm, though not exactly mse, is to line a glass bowl with sprigs of it and then put in vanilla ice cream. It looks very pretty and the taste is fantastic, you can do the same with scented geranium leaves. And possibly not too relevant to the idea of prepping unless you have a generator if there is no power for a freezer.

grandma247

Canning when done properly is safe. You have complete control as to what goes into the jars as far as salt , sugar and preservatives are concerned.

The problems come when people don't take the trouble to read about the latest, safest way to do it.

Too many people still follow Granny's way of doing things and don't realise that people did get sick from home canned foods in the past but death was attributed to stroke or flu. Spring "flu" was common but no testing was done and some now think it was food poisoning from improperly canned foods that would have been put up in the previous summer and autumn.

All the cases of botulism in home canned goods in recent years was a direct result of not using safe canning methods.

There are a lot of US university sites that have up to date tested recipes and information about safe practices. The Ball Blue book is very good and all their recipes have been tested for safety. Lakeland sell it as well as other companies online.

Some things cannot be safely canned at home and the processing in a factory is different. A variety of tinned goods are useful for storage.

Water from canned foods can be used to cook in. Someone I know always strained the water off her tinned peas and rinsed them several times before putting them in a pan with yet more water


Dehydrating is not hard to do and need not be expensive, in fact in the beginning it is cheaper than canning. It would be easy to put some dried foods in plastic bags to take in your bob. Fruit and some veg can be eaten as it is, just make sure you drink extra water.



I think it is a good idea to have a variety of methods for preserving and the foods can be combined in a recipe eg: if you are making soup and you have run out of carrots but you have some dried ones.

Flours and anything else that attracts insects can be frozen if you have the freezer space. I had trouble with barley getting little insects in it but discovered that cooking it then dehydrating it got rid of that problem (a new bag I hasten to add) and I now have instant barley for stews and soups.