Spice of Life

Spices and herbs play such an important part of our lives.

Beyond just seasoning our foods, some have medicinal values which I will not go into since making any claims of health benefits will get you in trouble with the FDA, sad but true, so I just want you to look into them on your own and see how beneficial herbs are.

I will try to stick with flavors here even though I would love to direct you to sites like http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/herbvit.htm and http://www.advance-health.com/fourthievesvinegar.html

which will bare disclaimers as they should.

I started cooking with herbs more after I started growing them in my garden and because of my garden I became a better cook. Tarragon is chicken's friend! Basil, parsley, lemon balm, mint, dill, oregano, rosemary, thyme and sage fresh from the garden can be a culinary dream.

Baking Soda (is better than toothpaste) and vinegar are great cleaners.

Having a big selection of spices, herbs, cooking wines, vinegars, sauces and oils will provide you with what you need to make small wild game lose a bit of that "gaminess" that turns people away so often. Raw, organic apple cider vinegar is a good thing to have on hand.

There has been so much negative talk about salt that many people are staying away from it even when they shouldn't. The truth is we need salt. I choose sea salt. Soon most people will look at salt as they do raw milk.

Garlic has medicinal properties but since I would prefer it not to be regulated by the FDA as one I can't tell you how to use it for healing .

Like Garlic, onions also have a use in the medical world. If you accidentally put a freshly cut slice of onion on a bee sting you will see what I mean, but stay away from chopped onions at a buffet style salad bar. Never let a sick person near chopped onions that you intend to eat. Do feed a sick person foods with raw onions and/or garlic.

Why? I wish I could tell you. Please try to learn about these things while you still can.

I came back to this post this morning hoping to finish it right, but I honestly can not.

I am sorry that I feel I can not freely give you information on these things that may lead you to better health, but I don't live in a land of free speech anymore. A major food contaminator (GMO) is in deep with the FDA and has been working to silence those with natural knowledge to keep their drug (pharmaceutical) making friends happy.

Okay, now I can't even talk about flavors because thinking about the restrictions has left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, there are those that want to steal what keeps us cozy. That is why I push to learn how to make things and cook things that are so easily gotten from a store. It may take longer to do and that is fine. I take pride in what I can do and they can't take that away.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dee Dee

Survival Storage 1

When storing foods you want to make sure the climate is best to prolong the shelf life of what you are storing.

I store a great deal of foods in my basement where the temperature stays below 65 degrees F most of the year. Sometimes as low as 45. I have a dehumidifier down there because we live in swampy forest land where mushrooms could sprout without spores.

In the first picture on the top shelf I have a non-electric water distiller (which I am not very fond of the fact that it was made in China as they have a different standard of stainless steel and it show signs of rust), it can be used on a woodstove, campfire or grill and supposedly can distill up to 16 gallons per day.

Next to that is a Wonder-clean laundry washer which worked fine until the plastic screw parts stripped and I had to deal with that and the rubber gasket didn't last long either. I bought a plunger type of washer and a washboard and found they do a better job.

Then I have a water filter that should be able to filter most any water, but I think I would first run it through a coffee filter, then through that and into the distiller.

Next to that is an Easy Bake oven (which I plan on turning into a dehydrator) and a food mill for processing some fruits and veggies.

On the second shelf is a non electric grain mill, meats, salad dressings, soups, bullion, misc. and some veggies.

The next shelf down is emergency candles meats, vegetables, and fruits.

Then fruit juices, coffee, condiments, oils and pickles. Below that is work gloves, pails of grains, and water.

In another area I have freeze-dried foods which include powdered milk, butter, sour cream, fruits, vegetables, meals, peanut butter and more. Water jugs filled with water for cleaning. I also have outdoor fuel lamps and fuel and some cooking stoves.

In another area I have more grains stored in canning jars, yeast, canning jars, lids and rims, instant potatoes, steamer and crock pot (not that those would work if we lose power). When the jars of grains get used up they can be used for canning other foods in.

This is just a part of my storage. I built this up slowly, usually in the summer when my energy bills are lower. I have a system to rotate what I store and I work on new recipes so that I use what I store.

I also have a smaller chest freezer that gets filled with garden goodies when things go well. This year won't be one of those years. Then again if we have a major power outage losing so much food with a larger freezer would really hurt.

I do have a fall back plan with wild foods and dehydrating/smoking foods. I have extra sugar and salt for preserving some things.

I started all of this with a very tight budget working with coupons and sales items and growing my own foods as well. 2 years ago I grew over 100 pounds of beans and 20 pounds of strawberries as well as an assortment of other foods.

I even grow foods that I don't eat but others will so that I can trade if need be.

The key is to buy what you can as cheap as you can and built your supplies as you go, keeping in mind what you use. The reason I have posted some recipes here is so that you will be encouraged to work with more items in your food storage.

Some things, like celery, are best to be purchased as freeze-dried so that they will last longer.

If you have any questions, please comment so that I can address them.

I will be adding more on storage items soon.

Believe it or not, these things can make you really cozy when the rest of the world does not feel that way.

Thank you for stopping by.

Dee Dee