Viruses and the Barter Economy

Just a quick post today.  My computer has some crazy virus, so it's out of commission until we have our computer guy come cast some tech-geek-magic spell on it and hopefully it will be happy and work again.  In the meantime, I almost had to go to the library to use their computer to post this, but I'm using my sweet friend's computer instead.  Hopefully the virus is not contagious--I washed my hands before coming over just to be sure ;).

(Yes, I had anti-virus software on, no, it apparently did not do it's job very well, and yes, I have almost everything backed up.)

And now to the part of the post that has to do with preparedness.  We pay for our computer work with salsa.  I love the barter economy.  That is all.

I will post again when I can, but if you don't hear from me for a bit, now you know why.

Oh yeah, and while you're here, don't forget to enter the giveaway for an emergency radio!

Got Old Oil in the Utah or Southern Idaho Area?

Want to donate some to a study on food storage oils at BYU?  I love food storage experiments, so you know I'm letting them have some of my old stuff.  If you'd like to help out the oil study, see the details here.  They are looking for vegetable oils that have been in food storage 6 months to 5 years.  Right now my oldest oil in storage is only 2 1/2 years old.  Bummer.  I've had older stuff before I would have loved to donate.  Anyway, contact Ann Saunders at BYU if you've got some old oil they can experiment on. :)

Plum Jam (Cooked Version)

Okay, I'm missing summer.  We've had a good bout of snow lately and while the sledding has been fun, warm would be nice.  So in honor of all the snow, here's another flashback to summer post.  Plum Jam.  Cooked jams are not too difficult and a little bit of fruit can actually make more jam than you might think.  And one of the best parts about making jam is that you can make "variations on the theme" jams that you'll never find in a store, like cherry-strawberry or plum-pineapple or peach-jalepeno (hubby's personal favorite).  So in this post we'll talk about making jam from plums, but the general process applies to making cooked jam out of almost any fruit.

I'm using the recipe out of the MCP pectin box, other recipes may vary on ingredient amounts. You'll need:
plums (5 3/4 cups chopped)
sugar (8 1/2 cups)
lemon juice (1/2 cup)
pectin (I like MCP, but any boxed pectin works)
jars (pint or half pint are good)
lids and rings
water bath canner

Step 1: Wash your plums.  I got these plums from a friend who got them from a friend of hers who had too many on their tree, but then my friend picked too many of those so I got a box of them.  They're kind of funny looking plums--not the kind you get in the store.  They are harder, very purple/blue on the outside, very green on the inside, and kind of oblong shaped.  Any plums work.

Step 2: Pit and chop the plums.  Cut the plums in half to get the pits out.  I used my scary food processor to do the chopping.

Step 3:  Put the chopped plums in a pot with the lemon juice and heat it up.  Doesn't look very "plum" colored does it?  As you heat, the color bleeds from the skins and it all turns a nice plum color.  About this time is also good to get your water in your canner and start heating that up.  You'll also want to put all your lids in a little pot of water and heat them up a little.

Step 4: In a separate bowl, measure all the sugar.

Step 5: Once the sugar is ready, add the pectin to the pot of hot fruit and mix it in.  Don't add the sugar yet.  You can also add just a dab of butter or margarine to the pot (about 1/2 tsp.)  This will reduce the foaming that happens when you cook the jam and make a better looking jam.  Why it works, I do not know.  Canning magic.

Step 6: Bring the fruit mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly (this is why you want your sugar already measured).

Step 7:  Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil.  Once you hit the full rolling boil, start your timer and let it boil for 4 minutes.  See?  Nicely plum colored now. :)

Step 8:  After four minutes, remove the jam from the heat, skim any foam, and scoop it into the jars.  Wipe the rims and put your hot lids on.  Put the jars in the canner and process for 10 minutes.  Make sure the water is 1-2 inches over the lids of the jars, add more water if you need to, then wait to start the canning time until it's boiling.

After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the canner and put them on a rack to cool.  I use the ultra cool upside down oven rack with the opposite end supported by a plate.

Label and put them away.  Jam of any kind makes great gifts or can quickly go with a loaf of bread or rolls to a potluck or family in need--a lot of these went out at Christmas this last year.  The last round I did, I didn't have enough plums so I opened a can of crushed pineapple and used that to make up the fruit volume.  That's my standby when I don't have enough fruit to finish a batch of jam, so we've had peach/pineapple, strawberry/pineapple, apricot/pineapple, and now plum/pineapple jam.  They're all good.

Homemade Survival Bars Question

I had a question from a reader on my Homemade Survival Bar post:

Is there something you can substitute for the jello that would be organic to use for flavoring? I plan to go with stevia and honey rather than the sugar, as stevia will hold up longer and it is much better for the ol' bod.

I'm opening this one up to my readers.  I really don't know.  Any suggestions for an organic Jell-o substitute in the Survival Bar recipe?  Post in the comments.  Thanks!

Emergency Radio Giveaway from Campingsurvival.com

Today we have another fun giveaway sponsored by campingsurvival.com!

In an emergency, it's nice to know what's going on.  If you're stuck in your house with the power out and a blizzard raging and the power company knew they'd have power restored to your area within two days, wouldn't you want to know?  But if your power is out, how can you get news reports about your situation?  There are always choices to make during and after an emergency, and knowledge about what's going on can help tremendously in the making of those decisions.  And so today, for one lucky reader, we have an emergency radio to give away that does NOT require being plugged into a wall to work!  These radios are a fantastic addition to your emergency kit or your car kit or just to have in your preparedness stash.

Here's the specs:

This Kaito KA009R Emergency Solar Windup Radio features: 

• AM/FM, Shortwave 1-4, TV Ch.2-13, NOAA Weather Band & Aviation Band
• 4-Way Powered: AC Adapter (included) / DC / Solar / Hand Crank
• 3.5 mm cell phone charger output jack with adapters compatible with all major brands cell phones
• 1 Year Manufacturer's warranty

Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 5.5 inches ; 13.9 ounces

Stay prepared and informed with the KA009R from KAITO. If the power goes out and batteries aren't available, the KA009 can function for up to an hour with only two minutes of hand cranking or an hour's exposure under direct sunlight Its built-in generator means that even in the most desperate situations, you'll still have access to local news and information--as well as to news from around the world. This radio is a newly released and improved version of Kaito's widely acclaimed emergency radio KA009, it has all the nice features that a KA009 can offer, plus it comes with six different adapters for charging cell phones, so you can use the radio to power up your cell phone to make important phone calls when the battery is out. The unit's 10-band tuning receives AM, FM, SW 1-4, TV 1/2, weather and aviation stations. AM:525 ------1700KHz; FM:88 ------108 MHz; WEATHER Band: 162.40 - 162.55 MHz; TV1:Channel 2 - 6; TV2:Channel 7- 13; Air Band (Aviation): 118 - 137 MHz; 4 Continuous short wave 4.00 to 26MHz (Covers most of the world stations). Accessories include AC/DC adapter, cell l phone charging adapters, Earphones, Soft Antenna included and User manual.

So here's the instructions to sign up for this giveaway.  You are welcome to leave a comment on this post, but it won't count toward the giveaway. :)  To enter, you'll need to fill out the form.

For your first entry, put your name and email in the form.  This is required for entry in the giveaway.  If you don't want to put your real name in the name slot, I guess that's okay, put whatever you like to be called in that space.  Signing up for this giveaway will also sign you up for campingsurvival.com's monthly email newsletter that highlights their new products, sales, etc.  Really a useful bit of information, and it's only once a month.  You email won't go anywhere else.  Promise.

Additional entries are available for the following:

1. Become a follower of Adventures in Self Reliance (you know my posts are worth reading!)
2. Follow Adventures in Self Reliance in a feed reader (or by email feed subscription)
3. Share this giveaway via a post on your blog (make sure to link to the giveaway and leave the link to your post in the form)
4. Twitter a link to this giveaway (include @momof3angels in your tweet and put your twitter username in the form)
5. Share this giveaway by some other method like facebook or email your friends

The giveaway will end on Tuesday, February 2nd at 11:59 pm and the winner will be contacted for their shipping information.  Good luck!

Waxing Cheese Update

Had to use some of the waxed cheese from storage the other day and thought I'd update the cheese waxing post.  Here's some thoughts on the waxing cheese experiment:

This was my first attempt at waxing cheese.  It worked pretty well.  To do it again, I'd skip the strings and just dip half the cheese block at a time.  The strings made it too easy for air to get in.  I might also get cheese wax if it were available somewhere (which it isn't around here, but I could probably order some).  Cheese wax has the advantage of being thicker and more flexible than parafin wax.  After waxing my cheese I put it carefully in a small box so it would not get bumped which could break the more brittle (but less expensive and more readily available) parafin wax I had coated it with.  I started with store brand mild cheddar cheese as I was told the cheese would age on the shelf.  Here is the same cheese earlier today (approx 1 year + 3 months spent waxed in the non-climate-controlled food room):

It is still edible and did not go moldy on me.  However, it aged more than a little.  This stuff is so sharp I about can't eat it.  If you like super sharp cheese, this is the way to get it.  I think the dog might get most of mine though.  The cheese had gotten drier and more crumbly and liquid separated and was inside the wax so when I cut the cheese open quite a bit of liquid came out.  You can kind of see the texture of the cheese in this next picture.

About 6 months ago I also purchased a block of Tillamook Colby cheese.  I'm not a cheese expert, but colby is pretty darn mild.  It was in the shrink wrap wrapper, so I put it right on the shelf as it was.  (Sorry I didn't get a picture of this before I opened it, I needed it for dinner the other night and didn't want to hunt down my camera).

It "expired" last September.

This block was only about 6 months from purchase (why I did not sharpie the date on it when I bought it I do not know) and had been in my uncooled food room since it came home with me.  The first thing I noticed was it had changed shape.  It used to be squarish on the ends and it settled into a squatty loaf.

The second thing I noticed was that instead of having the wrapping tight against the cheese, there was "air" in the package.  I'm assuming this was some kind of gasses released by the aging cheese because if it was air, the cheese would have molded long ago.  When I got it opened I noticed some minor separation of something on the side of the cheese, but overall the cheese was still a good texture and easy to slice and work with.

It was still quite sharp.  Not nearly as sharp as the year + old cheese, but borderline too sharp for just eating (at least for me).  I did use it for our homemade mac n cheese and it worked out fine.  I could taste the difference, but nobody else made any mention of it tasting bad (and believe me, my kids are not shy about telling me when they don't like something).  We'll eat the rest of this loaf.

So now the moral of the story.  Waxing cheese works.  Buying Tillamook shrinkwrapped cheese and storing it on a shelf works.  However, the cheese ages a lot faster than I thought it would.  I'd only reasonably store the cheese I would use within 4-6 months for better flavor.  Learning to make cheese would be a good thing.

The Mom Tool: Leatherman Squirt P4 Review

In my front pocket every day (well, except when I'm wearing a dress) is a handy dandy little tool.  It looks like this:

It's a Leatherman Squirt P4--a little "fits in your pocket or hooks to your keychain" style leatherman (only 2 1/4 inches long total) with the whole gamut of useful tools like pliers, wirecutters, file, knife, screwdrivers, awl. Heavy duty Leatherman-quality tool in a compact size.  I've had mine for about 3 years and put it through a lot of abuse and it's still in great shape (except for the finish that got banged up when I tried to use it as a hammer once--just go get a hammer if you need one, this tool isn't a very good hammer).

Serious mom usefulness for cutting the dumb little ties that hold price tags on, filing the rough spot off your kids' coat zipper so they'll zip their coat up all the way, cutting boxes open and slicing apples in the car, unscrewing battery compartments, and untying the bouquet of balloons that the kids just asked you to tie together (no, I didn't just cut all the balloons with the knife like I wanted to do, I actually used the pliers to untie them).

The blade could stand to be a little bigger (it's only 1 1/2 inches long), but then it would be a regular leatherman and you'd have to carry it in a sheath on your belt which belt I do not wear or in your purse which is already heavy enough and if you're like me it gets forgotten at the house far too often. This little baby goes in your POCKET so it rarely isn't with me. And it comes in Gray, blue, red, or pink. I could seriously be a leatherman salesgirl just for this tool. :)

They have a scissor version (the Squirt S4) and an electrical version (the Squirt E4) with wire strippers, but I wouldn't give up my pliers for scissors especially when the pliers have the wirecutters which cut most things I need to cut and I'd rarely use wire strippers either. So you see, it is an amazingly useful little tool every mom needs. And I suppose it would still be useful if you're not a mom, I just call it my mom tool because it so often is used in my mom duties. Yep, you need one. ;)

The Difference Between Instant and Non-Instant or Regular Powdered Milk and a Question for my Readers

Make sure you get to the question at the bottom of this post even if you don't want to read about powdered milk :)

I had a comment on the powdered milk post about the difference between instant and non-instant powdered milk.  There are two basic kinds of powdered milks, instant and non-instant or "regular".  They are processed a little differently so the end products are not the same.

You can tell the difference in the texture.  I dropped a small spoonful of each on some dark paper so you could see the difference.  Non-instant on the left, Store Brand instant on the right.  Some instant powdered milks look more "flaky", this one's "grainy", but the non-instant is definitely "powdery".

Instant powdered milk dissolves faster in water than the non-instant which is why it is called "instant" powdered milk.  It can mix easily in cold water and you have milk relatively quickly.  Instant also tends to taste more like real milk.  It is usually more expensive than the non-instant (although not always), and easier to find.  It takes more instant milk powder than non-instant to make the same volume of milk.  (see chart below)  Instant powdered milk:

Non-instant powdered milk is available at the LDS Church's cannery and probably other places as well, I just haven't looked around for it because I get it at the cannery.  It is powdery and clumps easily.  It is best mixed into warm water with a blender or a whisk and then allowed to cool overnight in the refrigerator before drinking.  It does have a distinctive flavor to it that is not quite like real milk.  I normally use the non-instant milk because it is less expensive and I don't use it to make "milk", I use it in baking.  I do have a few cans of instant milk for making milk to drink that would taste better if I need to.  Non-instant powdered milk:

Here's a quick chart for reconstituting powdered milk so you can see the difference in amounts needed of instant and non-instant:

Milk Desired and Amount of Water	Instant Dry Milk	Non-Instant or Regular Dry Milk
1/4 C.	1 T.	3/4 T.
1/3 C.	1 1/2 T.	1 1/4 T.
1/2 C.	2 T.	1 1/2 T.
2/3 C.	3 T.	2 1/2 T.
1 C.	1/4 C.	3 T.
1 pint	1/2 C.	1/3 C.
1 quart	1 C.	3/4 C.
1/2 gallon	2 C.	1 1/2 C.
1 gallon	4 C.	3 C.

And now the question for you: Do you have powdered milk? If yes, what kind/brand and have you tasted it? If you have tasted it, did you like it?

Okay, I guess that could count as three questions . . . Let me know your answers in the comments. :)

Getting Preparedness Gear on the Cheap

You all know I'm cheap.  I do not like spending money and rarely buy anything new.  In the wake of the free canning jar episode, I thought I'd let you all in on some other methods of finding canning supplies without paying an arm and a leg, then I thought, heck, I've gotten gear outside of canning stuff using these sources also, so even though this post started with sources for canning supplies, it's grown to sources for preparedness gear in general.  And now, after following my thought process for a good three sentences, the moment you've all been waiting for . . . some of my favorite sources for preparedness gear on the cheap:

1. Yard Sales, Estate Sales, Moving Sales, Farm Auctions, etc.  The estate/moving/farm sales are especially productive as folks really want to unload volume and usually aren't that concerned at making a ton of money doing it.  Sometimes people don't know what they have and are willing to sell good gear for cheap.  I've picked up quite a few bargains at yard sales including a large water bath canner, volcano stove, reloading press and dies, snow boots, meat slicer, tools, and firearms.  Really, a great source.  I try to go without my kids since they are yard sale junkies also and always want to bring home a stuffed animal or book or lava lamp (yes, I've come home from yardsales with the kids with all three of those before).  Do not feel obligated to buy something just because someone's having a yard sale.  This can get you into spending too much on yard sale day.  Make sure it's something you need and will use.  It's okay to leave a yard sale without buying anything if there's nothing there you need.

1 1/2.  Thrift stores.  This is usually a good place to get canning jars in Utah anyway.  A little harder to find them during canning season, though.  Also I've found pretty good prices on candles and you can always have a few more of those in the storage.  Thrift stores go along the lines of yard sales--there's a lot of stuff there and you can end up spending more than you planned on stuff you don't really need if you don't stay focused.  Thrift stores usually collect from local people, so in better neighborhoods you will find better goods at the thrift store.  Our "local" thrift store is mostly recycled Kmart stuff, so I don't usually find much there for preparedness.  Also, the gear will be used so if it runs on electricity (like some kitchen gadgets) make sure to check it out in the store before you buy it.


2.  Freecycle or Craigslist or other local advertising method.  Put a "wanted" ad in these types of services and see what kind of response you get.  In our little area there is a half hour program every morning on the radio where you can call in to sell, barter, and trade items and that could be a resource as well if you're looking for something in particular.  Posting flyers at your post office or other community message board works as well.

3.  Work, church, other social contacts.  When they've asked for announcements at church, I've gotten up and said I needed pint canning jars or whatever and have usually gotten a response from somebody with too many jars or someone willing to trade something for jars.  The good part of this system is it is often free.  You could use this for learning something--"does anybody know how to knit? I'd really like to learn."  You can offer to trade services or other goods for whatever you're looking for, or you can offer to pay them as well.

4.  Word of mouth.  This kind of goes along with number 3, but includes just talking with whoever.  You know, "what have you been up to?" "Well, I've been canning a bunch of stuff from the garden this week."  Then if those people ever come across a stash of cherry trees that need picked or empty jars or whatever they don't have a need for, they know who cans that would appreciate any excess.

5.  Relatives.  I got my pressure canner and some jars from my Grandma when she quit canning in her old age and I've already got dibs on my mom's noodle maker ;)  Most people do get to the point in their lives where they won't be using that rifle as much or growing and canning a ginormous garden.  Let them know what you're up to and when they don't need their gear, you might get some of it. :)

6.  Ask for it.  We used to have a better paying job than we do now and bought ourselves some fantastic prep gear for our birthdays and Christmas.  Santa might bring you something you need or you could get it for your birthday or Mother's day or whatever.  If it's a big ticket item, maybe your family could all give you gift certificates to the store that sells the thing you want, or cash donations is good also.  I've seriously considered the collection deal for Christmas so I could afford the gift I really wanted, but didn't think of it until it was too late.  But it's a good idea anyway.


What has worked for you?

Making Canned Milk Products from Powdered Milk

Back when I started storing food I stocked up on some canned milk products like evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk.  I've found they don't store very long--the expiration date on the can is pretty much all they're good for and I don't use them often enough to rotate through them quick enough.  So check out my post over on Utah Preppers for some information on making evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk from powdered milk.  Powdered milk stores way longer than canned milks (I'm currently using powdered milk canned in 1998 and it's fine), so making it from powdered is the route I'll be taking from now on for my canned milk needs.

Herb Seed Winner and Other Stuff

Planning a giveaway ending on Christmas Eve you know I'm not going to be notifying you Christmas day if you're the winner, but I actually did notify the winner about a week ago and I'm just now getting around to posting it.  The winner of the Culinary Herb Seeds in a Can is Brooke M.!  Congratulations to Brooke and may you have a fantastic time with your herb garden :)

M.D. Creekmore from The Survivalist Blog has written a new ebook called “It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)”.  It's only 29 pages (and some of those are shelf life charts).  It covers the basics of survival planning including water, food, weapons, medical and more.  Plus it's free to download.  Now, I've had an alternate opinion expressed in the comments about this e-book and the link it refers to makes some valid points.  However, I will leave the link to the e-book up as there is quite a lot of useful information in it--just use common sense and get second or third opinions or do your own testing on everything you read before you risk your life on it.  Yes, that even includes what I write on this blog.

In other news of the week, I learned that if you forget to put the salt in your bread it doesn't taste nearly as good.  Only 4 1/2 loaves to go before I get to make more bread. :)

I've got a couple new prep things added to my new year goals.  I want to find out more about the CERT program and maybe take their training and also get ham radio licensed.  Should be fun.  What are you wanting to accomplish this year?