I keep my eye out for old cookbooks when I go to thrift stores or garage sales. They are part of the books we keep on hand for reference material and for other reasons too. And by “old,” I mean cookbooks from the early 1980s or earlier. 7 Reasons to buy old cookbooks 1. Cooking without a microwave Microwaves didn’t become household items until the mid-1970s, according to the IEEE Global History Network. If the power ever goes out for any …
Hurrah, the holidays are here! Apart from decorating the house, shopping, wrapping, school concerts, cards to send off and caroling to do, dinner still needs to be made. Whether it is just a busy night in the middle of the week or for a holiday meal, food storage can make life a bit easier. Besides, who wouldn’t like a little more time hanging out under the mistletoe? Most families have traditional dishes unique to their family culture. Look for …
Need More Mistletoe Time? Try These Food Storage Holiday Recipes Read More »
Most food storage products purchased from food storage companies are pretty much the same all across the board. Foods like wheat and freeze-fried fruit are all very similar no matter what brand you choose to buy. Other products, and dairy products in particular, are not that way so much. They vary from company to company, and since food storage companies are changing their recipes all the time, a can of something like butter powder or dried milk that you bought four …
I love the holiday shopping season and seeing piles of food bargains at the grocery store. It seems they pop up earlier every year. Here in Texas at my favorite Kroger’s, I noticed holiday foods on sale before Halloween! This is the time of year when grocery stores begin prominently displaying all types of food typically used in holiday cooking and baking. I’m sure these displays have caught your attention, but have you ever looked at them through the eyes …
With all of the disasters that have happened lately, many families have been without electricity, and experiencing the joys of cooking and serving meals to their families in spite of the challenges. Others have electricity but not a full kitchen to work in. Their homes may be safe enough to live in, but without electricity, they can’t use some of the appliances in the kitchen. I asked my Facebook readers to share their experiences and advice about setting up an …
Prepper to Prepper: How to Set Up An Emergency Kitchen Read More »
How long can you go without craving a hot, homemade meal, if you have been eating only cold rations and snacks? If you’ve ever been without power for more than just a couple of days, eating cold ravioli or tuna out of the can gets really old, really fast. Most survival minded people realize, better than most, that it doesn’t take much to disrupt the flow of electricity we depend on for cooking. A natural disaster or freak weather event …
There is nothing better than ending a cool winter day than with a bowl of something cooked in a crock pot. In our home, we adore our crock pots, all four of them. There is always one on the counter top ready to go. The soups and stews are always a big hit, and a really good crock pot recipe book is worth its weight in gold. Lately, we have been branching out and using our crock pot for more …
The story of my DIY Fresnel lens began three years ago when I lost my house and all its contents in a fire. It started around 4:00 a.m. when my daughter got up and fluffed her job uniform in the dryer. We had no idea the dryer would short out and burn through a gas line. Later that same morning, I woke up and smelled smoke. It looked a bit hazy in the house, and it smelled acrid to me, so I woke …
Admit it, you have been thinking about it. Off the grid living. Late at night, at the end of a long day, you have pictured your life off grid. Images of Little House on the Prairie come to mind. Maybe you ponder becoming a long bearded man living in the mountains, content to be a hermit. You are not alone in your thoughts, as more people are choosing an off grid lifestyle. Some are able to escape the noisy concrete …
Living Off the Grid, (or Close to it) Urban Style Read More »
I’d be willing to bet that most of you reading this have at least made s’mores, perhaps even heated up a hot dog or two, around a campfire. Fun stuff, no doubt about it. But, there’s a whole lot more involved if you need to make an actual meal over an open flame. One of the first things that goes away in a disaster is usually electricity. If you have an electric stove top, you won’t be using it for …
