Simply recipe. I use eggs, mayo, mustard & pickle relish. All which I have stored. Look how nice these eggs look. Stored in October 2012.
Need to learn more on storing eggs? Click here: Stored Eggs With Mineral Oil
Friday, October 11, 2013
Deviled Eggs
I think in honor of World Egg Day (October 11th) we will have deviled eggs for dinner.
Simply recipe. I use eggs, mayo, mustard & pickle relish. All which I have stored. Look how nice these eggs look. Stored in October 2012.
Need to learn more on storing eggs? Click here: Stored Eggs With Mineral Oil
Simply recipe. I use eggs, mayo, mustard & pickle relish. All which I have stored. Look how nice these eggs look. Stored in October 2012.
Need to learn more on storing eggs? Click here: Stored Eggs With Mineral Oil
How to Pressure Can Hamburgers...
Zaycon's 93/7 super lean ground beef events are now going on around the country. I thought I would share how easy it is to pressure can hamburgers.
Beginners note: All canned meat must be pressure canned (not in a pressure cooker). If you don't have a pressure canner, now is the time to start saving (there is a link at the bottom that leads to my personal recommendations).
Took a 10 lb. chub. Sliced it into 40 slices (makes 1/4 lb. burgers), Make sure the meat is chilled, makes for easier slicing.
TIP: Trying to find something to form the burgers with that would fit in my jars...I used the ring for the wide mouth canning jar. I used wide mouth canning jars. Trust me on that one. The patties fit in the jar really well. Once I discovered using the ring, it has made the process so much easier. You simply use the amount that squishes into the ring itself.
(This is an old photo, NOT Zaycon's awesome meat)
First you could simply check your canning guide that came with your pressure canner. It should have a chart included.
Or you could read this article:
Attitude, Altitude and Aptitude
I participate in the Amazon Associates program where I receive a small commission for purchases made through my recommendations. The cost is the same for you. I only recommend products I personally use. Your purchase is really appreciated, as it helps allows me to continue to write. Thank you.
Beginners note: All canned meat must be pressure canned (not in a pressure cooker). If you don't have a pressure canner, now is the time to start saving (there is a link at the bottom that leads to my personal recommendations).
Took a 10 lb. chub. Sliced it into 40 slices (makes 1/4 lb. burgers), Make sure the meat is chilled, makes for easier slicing.
TIP: Trying to find something to form the burgers with that would fit in my jars...I used the ring for the wide mouth canning jar. I used wide mouth canning jars. Trust me on that one. The patties fit in the jar really well. Once I discovered using the ring, it has made the process so much easier. You simply use the amount that squishes into the ring itself.
You don't have to do patties. you could simply brown up the hamburger and proceed from there.
Cooked them up, they don't have to be completely done. In fact, I would now, probably only cook them to medium rare. They will be cooking for at least 75 more minutes when you pressure can them.
Edited: When I initially canned the hamburger I added a little of the fat and then water the bottom line of the screw part of the jar. Now I simply add the cooked patties to the jars, removing as much fat a possible, no water - then pressure can.
Edited: When I initially canned the hamburger I added a little of the fat and then water the bottom line of the screw part of the jar. Now I simply add the cooked patties to the jars, removing as much fat a possible, no water - then pressure can.
You may add seasoning. In fact I encourage it. Pressure canning tend to take some of the flavor out in the process. I am still experimenting with adding spices. I tend to keep is simple, so that I am able to use the meat for several recipes.
Wiped the rims down with vinegar on a towel.
Put on the clean sterilized lids and tighten them "finger tight". To accurately achieve "finger tight", simply place on the lid and ring & them let go of the jar. Turn & tighten the lid, until the jar is spinning on the counter. Then tighten a little bit more.
Wiped the rims down with vinegar on a towel.
Put on the clean sterilized lids and tighten them "finger tight". To accurately achieve "finger tight", simply place on the lid and ring & them let go of the jar. Turn & tighten the lid, until the jar is spinning on the counter. Then tighten a little bit more.
(This is an old photo, NOT Zaycon's awesome meat)
Then I pressure canned the pints at 10# for 75 minutes. I was able to get 4 patties in each pint jar.
The pounds of pressure you use for pressure canning is based on the altitude of where you live. If you live above 1000 feet elevation you will need to adjust the pounds of pressure.First you could simply check your canning guide that came with your pressure canner. It should have a chart included.
Or you could read this article:
Attitude, Altitude and Aptitude
The average shelf life depends on how well you store the jars. If they are kept in a cool (at least below 72 degrees), dark, dry location they will last years.
Now, if you are a prepper, do you have a second set of canning utensils? May it is time to get your second set and other parts for your Presto.
I participate in the Amazon Associates program where I receive a small commission for purchases made through my recommendations. The cost is the same for you. I only recommend products I personally use. Your purchase is really appreciated, as it helps allows me to continue to write. Thank you.
Pressure canners & supplies...
When you are canning low acid foods, such as meat you need to use a pressure canner, NOT a pressure cooker. There is a difference.
I started with a 16 qrt Presto Pressure Canner. Mine doesn't have a pressure gauge.
NOTE: When deciding which size to purchase, always measure the distance from the surface of your stove to whatever may be hanging over your stove top! And buy the largest that will fit. Check the dimensions in the products description before buying.
I know several people that have gotten their pressure canner, only to find out it won't fit on their stove top. Talk about a very sad moment.
After buying my first pressure canner, I started saving for my All-American pressure canner. This time, I was looking for a size large enough to "double stack" (two layers of canning jars) my jars for larger canning jobs.
One of the things I really like about the All-American is that it is sturdier & far less replacement parts to replace.
Then start looking into buying extra supplies and parts for your canner. Remember one is none, two is one...
In other words, if something does happen (stuff hits he fan) and you don't have back up parts, you probably will not be able to can anymore. So, stock up on additional rubber gaskets, gauges, regulators, canning racks & utensils.
I started with a 16 qrt Presto Pressure Canner. Mine doesn't have a pressure gauge.
NOTE: When deciding which size to purchase, always measure the distance from the surface of your stove to whatever may be hanging over your stove top! And buy the largest that will fit. Check the dimensions in the products description before buying.
I know several people that have gotten their pressure canner, only to find out it won't fit on their stove top. Talk about a very sad moment.
DISCLAIMER:: I tend to promote the same products all the time. At this point I have decided to monetize these referrals via Amazon. They remain at the same cost to you, but I will start to receive a % of the sale. I promise that I will only link products that I personally have purchased & used & I will work at making sure each item qualifies for "free shipping" with a $25 purchase.
After buying my first pressure canner, I started saving for my All-American pressure canner. This time, I was looking for a size large enough to "double stack" (two layers of canning jars) my jars for larger canning jobs.
One of the things I really like about the All-American is that it is sturdier & far less replacement parts to replace.
Then start looking into buying extra supplies and parts for your canner. Remember one is none, two is one...
In other words, if something does happen (stuff hits he fan) and you don't have back up parts, you probably will not be able to can anymore. So, stock up on additional rubber gaskets, gauges, regulators, canning racks & utensils.
Sweet Potato Treats for Furbabies...
Plus, the great bonus on this is; that if you need some sweet potatoes for dinner you could rehydrate the treats.
This is so simple. First, I slice the sweet potatoes: about a half inch slice and cut in half if needed.
I parboil (cooked until just soft) the sweet potatoes.
After they cooled, I squash them flat (skin and all) on a cutting board. Then place them on the dehydrator trays.
Set the temperature for 125 degrees and let them roll, until the are crisp.
Just a couple extra tips:
I actually have both a Presto Dehydrator and an Excalibur 9 tray Dehydrator.
1) I mostly use my Presto for smelly foods, which I make Mr. Perky take to the garage. One of the neat things about the Presto is that you can purchase and add more trays that expands your capacity greatly.
2) The other items I have on hand and use frequently is the fruit roll up trays. But I use them in my Excalibur. The trays are thin, round, without holes in them and I actually have 8 & they just slide onto the Excalibur trays. Super helpful when you are doing liquid type dehydrating.
What I do here is simply share our preparedness journey. If you liked this post we would love it if you joined our Perky Prepping Gramma community on Facebook, comment or share. Plus it would just make my day.
I actually have both a Presto Dehydrator and an Excalibur 9 tray Dehydrator.
1) I mostly use my Presto for smelly foods, which I make Mr. Perky take to the garage. One of the neat things about the Presto is that you can purchase and add more trays that expands your capacity greatly.
2) The other items I have on hand and use frequently is the fruit roll up trays. But I use them in my Excalibur. The trays are thin, round, without holes in them and I actually have 8 & they just slide onto the Excalibur trays. Super helpful when you are doing liquid type dehydrating.
What I do here is simply share our preparedness journey. If you liked this post we would love it if you joined our Perky Prepping Gramma community on Facebook, comment or share. Plus it would just make my day.
Your
order is so very appreciated, because anything ordered through my
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Food Saver Attachment Basics
We have had multiple discussions about the Food Saver as a great tool for vacuum sealing storage, particularly in canning jars. When you purchase your Food Saver you need to insure that it has an “accessory port”.
When I first started canning, I hoarded my canning jars, since I had so few. I didn't have a stash from years of canning or handed down to me.
Realistically I have found that canning jars are a VERY cost effective & efficient way to store food. Even buying them new they only cost a little over a dollar a jar.
We use our Food Saver Attachments frequently. You can find the attachments for sale on amazon.com for under $10 each. I recommend getting both the wide mouth and regular mouth attachment. Remember, if you spend over $25 (of eligible labeled items, they ship for free). See the links below.
This is photo album on facebook that goes over the simple basics of using a Food Saver for dry storage. Using the air port.
Kellene Bishop from Preparedness Pro has a wonderful instruction video,
TIPS:
If you are having difficulty getting a seal, try placing two lids on top, then the attachment. It will only seal the bottom lid.
If you are doing a powder type product, you can either place in individual plastic bags OR add a small coffee filter on the top of the jar to stop the fine powder from being sucked up into the tubing.
Feel free to add our own personal tips here or on Facebook & I will edit this post so we will now have a centralized location to refer people too, who are having questions.
Another tip from Tammy Milasmom: "Try taking out the Food Saver attachment's gasket and then reinstalling it. I have to do that constantly to get it to work."
I tend to promote the same products every time. At this point I have decided to monetize these referrals via Amazon. They remain at the same cost to you, but I will receive a % of the sale. I promise that I will only link products that I personally have purchased & used. .
This is the Food Saver that we use.
This is one that is less expensive
These are the Attachment lids:
When I first started canning, I hoarded my canning jars, since I had so few. I didn't have a stash from years of canning or handed down to me.
Realistically I have found that canning jars are a VERY cost effective & efficient way to store food. Even buying them new they only cost a little over a dollar a jar.
We use our Food Saver Attachments frequently. You can find the attachments for sale on amazon.com for under $10 each. I recommend getting both the wide mouth and regular mouth attachment. Remember, if you spend over $25 (of eligible labeled items, they ship for free). See the links below.
Kellene Bishop from Preparedness Pro has a wonderful instruction video,
TIPS:
If you are having difficulty getting a seal, try placing two lids on top, then the attachment. It will only seal the bottom lid.
If you are doing a powder type product, you can either place in individual plastic bags OR add a small coffee filter on the top of the jar to stop the fine powder from being sucked up into the tubing.
Feel free to add our own personal tips here or on Facebook & I will edit this post so we will now have a centralized location to refer people too, who are having questions.
Another tip from Tammy Milasmom: "Try taking out the Food Saver attachment's gasket and then reinstalling it. I have to do that constantly to get it to work."
I tend to promote the same products every time. At this point I have decided to monetize these referrals via Amazon. They remain at the same cost to you, but I will receive a % of the sale. I promise that I will only link products that I personally have purchased & used. .
This is the Food Saver that we use.
This is one that is less expensive
These are the Attachment lids:
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Three young inspirations...
So these are my 3 little ones. The one on the left is the youngest He is holding his favorite bunny. He knows this bunny will be harvested here in the next 2 weeks. They have learned it is ok to love something and realize that it needs to be utilized as food as well.The middle one is one of the twins (she is a girl not boy). She is holding one of our New Zealand bunnies that was born a few weeks ago. She will not be harvested but saved to breed. We named her Grumpy bunny. My middle son is on the right. He is the other twin. He is holding a black Astrolorp (sp). This is not our chicken. We are babysitting for friends of ours and the kids fell in love with those chickens. I don't know if you can see her or not but our goat spice is in the back ground. She is sick. She has anemia from worms so we are pumping her full of iron and medicine.- My oldest is 18. He has no interest. Although I talk about what I am doing and teach him every opportunity I get. I'm sure he is sinking in the things I say. He sees me canning, gardening and taking care of animals. We have failed to have him practice shooting. He has been taught but no practice. That's kinda like not being taught as I don't know if he can still load and shoot.My youngest boys 9 and 11 participate frequently with canning, gardening and animal care as well as harvesting our animals for food. They love to participate. We raise meat rabbits and our first harvest was tough. When the bunnies were born the kids knew they were not to be pets as we will eat them. They still named a few of their favorites. Come harvest day the kids retrieved their favorite bunny and held it until it was time.
My 9 year old boy said he wanted to kill his own bunny. Kids now days need to learn the cycle of life. Parents are not allowing their kids to experience this. Such a shame. (wussification of American) One day we had a stray dog on our property and my 9 year old went and got the gun for me, loaded it and asked if he could shoot the dog. Of course I said no I did not want him to steal my glory. It was only a pellet gun to harm him. We did not kill him. What you don't understand is I don't know how to load a gun. I can shoot but that's about as far as I go. I have failed in that practice as well. I REALLY NEED TO PRACTICE!But my other 11 year old girl is all about gardening, canning, baking, farming, guns etc She is my go to girl when I need something done. She will do it. She always inspects the animals and updates me on their condition. For example she grabbed our rooster, Dr. Eggman (he he cute name) one day and brought him in to show me had had lost some feathers and his chest was red. She just jumps right in and takes over. I do a lot of teaching will all my kids because I tell them someday mommy and daddy may not be here and y'all will need to take over.
- This is the notorious Dr. Eggman. My oldest son named him. He looks mean in this picture. He has attacked my daughter a couple times but it was because she had a dangling dress on and I guess he felt threatened. He is a good man of the house. He protects those hens very well.
My oldest 15 year old daughter....well lets just say she is too busy with makeup and hair etc etc, I do teach her as well. They just don't know I'm teaching them. I try to find every opportunity to sneak in an educational series. Homeschooling my 3 youngest has been a God send as they have learned more about daily life as well as school. It is a daily conscientious decision to try to teach them something every day. Whether they know it or not. I hope that I am being a role model for them- Sooo the long winded moral to the story is, teach your kids as you prep. They will retains some info.
- Blessings'
- Oh, I'm canning my Zaycon chicken now!!!P.S.We all need to learn how to clean,load and shoot a gun. DH and I just talked about this today. We will be going up to the country to tackle this feat. Our wonderful pastor has a cabin in the woods so we can go there. We are super blessed to have our wonderful church family. Tear. I will send you a picture when they get done with their chores. Blessings
Friday, October 4, 2013
Making the decision to start prepping is the first step & the second step...
Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
When you read you begin with A, B, C.
When you prep you begin with "use 1, buy 2 (or more)".
When I started, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know there were other people doing this, I was clueless. I simply started with my goal to "put stuff back in case".
For me,one of the most important things I feel I did was I made a comprehensive list of what I used everyday, starting from the first thing in the morning.
Toilet paper, water, OTC's, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant...
1. The next time I bought toilet paper, I bought two (really big) packages.
2.. I started with getting some gallons of water for $1 and setting them aside.
3. I already utilized Walmart.com for shopping (I don't like to shop at all). So I would put things in my cart online times two (OTCs, soap, etc.). On payday, I would place the order & have them ship the order (over $45, they ship most things for free).
For the things on the list, I started dating bottles and such with a sharpie to see how long they lasted for us. It helped me estimate how many I would need for a six month supply, 1 years supply, etc.
I found that deodorant last about 6+ weeks for me. So, right now I have about 2 years of deodorant stored.
4. I started to do the same thing with food. Boxes of cereal, cans of tuna, cans of chicken,
If you are completely a newbie & haven't made that decision to get started, please take that first step & make that decision do. There are many here that can attest to how their "preparations have literally saved the day". Don't wait until it is too late.
Come out of the closet & state so on the facebook page; that you are really ready to take the second step...commit to buying two of everything you use as you stock up.
Remember we are all here to help out.
When you read you begin with A, B, C.
When you prep you begin with "use 1, buy 2 (or more)".
When I started, I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know there were other people doing this, I was clueless. I simply started with my goal to "put stuff back in case".
For me,one of the most important things I feel I did was I made a comprehensive list of what I used everyday, starting from the first thing in the morning.
Toilet paper, water, OTC's, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant...
1. The next time I bought toilet paper, I bought two (really big) packages.
2.. I started with getting some gallons of water for $1 and setting them aside.
3. I already utilized Walmart.com for shopping (I don't like to shop at all). So I would put things in my cart online times two (OTCs, soap, etc.). On payday, I would place the order & have them ship the order (over $45, they ship most things for free).
I found that deodorant last about 6+ weeks for me. So, right now I have about 2 years of deodorant stored.
4. I started to do the same thing with food. Boxes of cereal, cans of tuna, cans of chicken,
If you are completely a newbie & haven't made that decision to get started, please take that first step & make that decision do. There are many here that can attest to how their "preparations have literally saved the day". Don't wait until it is too late.
Come out of the closet & state so on the facebook page; that you are really ready to take the second step...commit to buying two of everything you use as you stock up.
Remember we are all here to help out.
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