THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Cappella · 22 May 2018 at 6:52PM

We’ve just managed for 3 weeks during the kitchen and bathroom upheaval without a fridge freezer, but during that time we ate very little meat, and though I do have a meat safe I cooked it the day I bought it, and only kept it in the meatsafe until the following day when we finished it off. I kept the meatsave in the coolest darkest part of the pantry.
Cheese, fruit and veg were also stored in our north facing pantry (cupboard under the stairs, it’s half the length of the house and shelved)They kept well, and the only problem I had was keeping milk fresh for longer than 48 hours. In the end I had a brainwave and stored it on bricks in an old enamel lidded bread bin filled with cold watering placed between our shed wall and next doors fence as that area never gets any sun.
It was doable because we had the cool indoor pantry, but it did give me serious pause for thought both regarding longer term storage and regarding the way I actually use my freezer. We are not within walking distance of any shops selling fresh produce and I realise that I am relying on my freezer a bit too much to store meat, fish and dairy. Not sure what the answer is but am looking ways round it.:)

[Deleted User] · 22 May 2018 at 7:47PM

Once you have cooked meat/fish and leftovers a very good way to use them up that lets you keep them in a cool place is old fashioned 'potting'. The meat/fish is pounded with seasoning and appropriate flavourings to a soft spreadable consistency and packed into sterile jars then clarified butter is poured over it to a depth of about 1/2" (having made certain that there are no holes or air pockets in the pounded produce that might lead to bacterial spoilage. The butter seals airtight and allows the potted goods to be kept for up to a week in the cool larder or up to 2 weeks in a fridge/cooler. It means you don't waste cooked food that might not otherwise keep.

mardatha · 22 May 2018 at 7:48PM

I'm the same Cappella. I hate relying on the freezer as we can get long powercuts here. The back of the house outside the kitchen door, faces north and is always cool so I could do something there re butter & milk, but not sure if I'd feel safe leaving meat outside. Stupid thing is that when we moved in here 30 yrs ago there was a pantry right there at the back door, complete with mesh window and thick concrete shelves.. we knocked it out as we needed the room for.... the fridge freezer!! lol.
Edited - that sounds do-able and sensible MrsL

[Deleted User] · 22 May 2018 at 7:52PM

MAR sometimes meat safes were hung up from the ceiling of the lean to if you had one or even hung up on the side of the house to keep them out of reach of animals and get better air flow round them. Even read that they were hung from a high branch on a tree and left to swing in the wind in the shade.

fuddle · 22 May 2018 at 9:23PM

Horsetail on my plot too. I felt sick to my stomach when I saw a spore head and now it's daily war picking them before they're going to a few inches high. They're all over the site but don't encroach on the fertile grass fields behind. Many of the plots are barron, neglected pigeon establishments so I'm always going to be fighting it back but once I got my head round having it, I realise their roots go so far down they don't compete with my crops and I can live with it.

Rookie error of the newbie allotmenteer - my onions started to go to seed. The it's a case of lifting as I need onions and see if I can cut round the uninvited guest in the centre. It's been 3 at night and 20's by day and I didn't keep up with the level of watering they needed.

Also I've had 'help' from my plot neighbour (some might know him as Mr Pea Seedling. We had words, and now we're friends and he couldn't be more helpful.. Read on ho hum) he took off all my suckers from my tomatoes for me. I What he didn't know was I am growing determinate cherry Tom's and what he took off were the makings of my bush tomato that only grow about 2-3ft tall. I have flowers on the top and look to be on course for about 30fruits on each plant but my harvest is likely to be down drastically. Gutted and annoyed really.:(

[Deleted User] · 22 May 2018 at 9:31PM

AnimalTribe wrote: »

The only problem I've had over the last 5 years is retrieving rabbits from it when they haven't been killed outright.

Do you mean dispatching the wounded ones?

Karmacat · 22 May 2018 at 9:52PM

We didn't have a fridge until I was about 8 years old, and we never had a freezer while I lived at home. I only got a freezer when I moved here in 2010, just an ice box before that. Even now, about half the freezer is used for seeds and nuts, to stop bulk buys from going rancid.

There's a lot of different ways to keep things cool, it's interesting - I think we'd need a bit of all of them, to be honest.

[Deleted User] · 23 May 2018 at 8:11AM

FUDDLE you can process and freeze onions if you've got room in the freezer for them, just remove the flower stem from the middle, and process the rest as you would normally, I find freezing chopped onion on a paper lined flat baking tray is the easiest way to keep them 'free flowing' and when they're fully frozen tip them into a zip-lock bag and they can be taken out by the handful when you want onion for a dish you're cooking. You can keep adding to the bag in the freezer as the odd onion goes up to seed too so no need to waste anything.

dND · 23 May 2018 at 8:44AM

[QUOTEwe'll have to bottle fruit, dry veg and salt/brine/pickle whatever is preservable and make jam! [/QUOTE]

I've been thinking about this for a while MrsLW, what would we use for sugar - can you make jam with honey? I'm guessing with no electricity the home beet sugar production would stop and we'd be unlikly to be able to import cane sugar. I know that there are some honey cookbooks out there and I have my hive ready to bring back to the UK with me when I sell here

[Deleted User] · 23 May 2018 at 8:51AM

Yes you can but I think it doesn't set well, you can also preserve fruit in honey in sealable jars but I've not tried that. I think berries are what works best and I think (worth checking though) that you don't cook the fruit but just fill a jar with fresh berries and pour in runny honey to cover it all. An expensive way to extend your store cupboard with honey prices what they are today though eh?

You can make honey marmalade, I've eaten that and it's really nice and you can make honey fudge and use honey to replace sugar in cooking but I've found baked goods often 'catch' before they're fully done in the oven and don't really know why. Any ideas???

If you have your own bees and a private supply of honey you'll be quids in!!!

A thought just popped in (Oh NOOOOOO I can hear you all say) that another way of preserving fruit would be in a sweetened honey vinegar which would not only give you the fruit which is piquant and nice with cold meat but also the vinegar which can be diluted and used as a cordial to make a soft cold drink or hot winter drink which helps with the 'sniffles' again no waste, woohoo!

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THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

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