Keeping Spices Organized

They all laugh at me, I guess I deserve it. Yes, I have an excel sheet in my spice cupboard that lists all my spices and the corresponding tub posted inside my cabinet.

One list is in alphabetic order:
Cinnamon Container #
Dill Weed Container #
Dry Mustard Container #
Garlic Container # (you get the idea)

The next list is in tub order

Container 1
list of spices

Container 2
list of spices

ETC.

Each bottle has a number on the top.
Each tub has a number on the end facing out.

I know where to find my spices and where they should be returned.

Believe me, the rest of the house isn't so organized. I'd better start.

Solutions for Vacuum Sealing Dehydrated Foods

As an update from Foodsaver:

Some dry foods have the potential to puncture FoodSaver bags.

For these items, you may:

1. Use FoodSaver Canisters or mason jars
2. Use a paper towel as padding for dried foods with a puncture potential when using FoodSaver Bags.

Since the point was to have lightweight meals I can store at work, I hope the paper towels work.

FoodsaverLink

Great Ideas Sometimes Fail

UPDATE: From Foodsaver

Some dry foods have the potential to puncture FoodSaver bags.

For these items, you may:

1. Use FoodSaver Canisters or mason jars
2. Use a paper towel as padding for dried foods with a puncture potential when using FoodSaver Bags.

Since the point was to have lightweight meals I can store at work, I hope the paper towels work.


Original Post
I had this super idea for making some emergency packets of food to keep at work as part of my preparedness challenge. I am fortunate to be in a building that has a full service cafeteria in addition to various snack machines; however, should there be a disaster that prevented us from leaving the office, we have 400 people in our buildings, and that doesn't count the other tenants. How long would the supply of food really last, especially without refrigeration?

Our offices, and even every cubicle, are furnished with a wardrobe. Half of this is a closet with a hanger rod for coats or extra clothes. The other side has two deep shelves plus three file drawers below, all can be locked up. I have seen these shelves looking more like Kroger than an office, everything from soup, bread, candy and sodas. Why not stock it with a few days worth of full meals that needed no refrigeration, at least enough to keep you from starving.

The dehydrated food we've been preparing sounded like a good idea to me, my own homemade MREs using our dehydrator and vacuum sealer. I took a couple pieces of beef jerky (purchased only for demo purposes. I can't trust that this commercially prepared product is safe to vacuum seal). Then I layered the bag with dehydrated potatoes, green peppers, cucumbers and zucchini, topping it off with a couple of dried orange slices for a sweet treat. Light weight, cheap and will last for a very long time.

It worked perfectly- see how pretty it is? --------Was------A few hours later I picked up the bag and everything shifted- the seal had broken when the sharp edges of the dried vegetables pierced the bag. Drat!

This isn't over yet- it is still a great idea. Even our CERT trainer said we need provisions at work, and a change or two of clothes. I've e-mailed Foodsaver, the maker of the bags, to find out how best to proceed. I'm sure there is a solution, perhaps wrapping the vegetables with another material before using the sealer.

If you all have any experience with this, please let me know!

The ABCs of Me- Blogger Tag

Sparing Change has tagged us all- her blog reads "This past weekend, Frugal Babe posted the ABC's of herself. There were some facts that I did not know about her and I've been following her for years!I thought it would be fun to post the ABC's of me in case anyone is interested to learn more about me."


A – Age. 52
B – Bed Size. King
C – Chore I dislike. Ironing.
D – Dogs. Not right now- lots of cats though.
E – Essential start to my day. Coffee- and reading blogs
F – Favorite Colors. Blue
G – Gold or silver? Silver
H – Height. I’m 5’3″
I – Instruments I play(ed). I can plunk around at the piano, Brimhall, easy stuff. I have a dulcimer which anyone can play and a bowed psaltery that needs tuning.
J – Job title. I am out of the Credit Dept but my title is Supply Chain Specialist- Suncare which revolves around cost mitigation. I’m sort of a hybrid: financial/sales/supply chain related activities.
K – Kids. Two
L – Live. We live on 5 acres in Missouri not too far from Six Flags St. Louis.
M - Money tip I like best. Visit flea markets
N – Never plan to… count on the government to solve your problems, do it yourself.
O – Overnight hospital stays. Maternity
P - Pet Peeves. When people don’t use their turn signals and grocery baggers that don’t understand how to properly fill a sack. (Did they never help their moms carry in groceries?)
Q - Quote from a movie. “Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin' for, worth fightin' for, worth dyin' for, because it's the only thing that lasts. Gone with the Wind
[Or in my youth: It’s just a jump to the left . . . . . (RHPS)]
R – Righty or Lefty Righty
S - Siblings. None.
T - Time I wake up. 4 AM
U – Underwear. Yes, always. Never coordinated with anything else.
V - Vegetables I don’t like. Asparagus, brussel sprouts
W – What makes me run late. This darned blogging! LOL.
X – X-rays I’ve had. Knee, head, foot
Y – Yummy food I make. Lasagna
Z – Zoo animals I like. Seals, bears, giraffe.

Do you have a blog? If you do, consider yourself tagged!- Leave a comment with your link so we can read about you!

It's Here, It's Here!

Look what I got in the mail today! I won this and I've been looking forward to it and here it is. Thank you SO much, Sparing Change for sending me the Nana sign. My granddaughter will be with me this weekend so I'll make sure to hang it in her room! (This photos is really off her blog, just for speed in uploading).

You all should hop over to her site and see the Christmas series she has going. Every week there is a homemade gift idea and we all know that those are the really special gifts, not that I would turn down one of those Excalibur dehydrators, but getting back to reality, this week's candles would be a hit!

Dehydrated Potato and Green Pepper Recipe

Here it is, you all asked for it- my dehydrated potato dish. I followed the recipe from Real Food for Real People below, using all dried ingredients, except the butter and onions but then I added my own ingredients too. I like these cheesy.

2 Tbsp. Nonfat Dry Milk
2 Tbsp. Flour
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 tsp. Onion Powder or 1 Tbsp. Crushed Dried Onions
(I omitted this since I used fresh onions)
1/8 tsp. Black Pepper
3 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
2-3/4 cups boiling Water
3 C dehydrated potato slices

onions to taste
dried green pepper pieces to taste
grated cheddar to taste

Pour the potatoes into a medium size ungreased casserole and sprinkle the sauce mix on top. Dot with butter; stir in the boiling water. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes or until tender. If you are cooking something else at a lower temperature in your oven, adjust the baking time; at 350 degrees bake 40 to 45 minutes; at 325 degrees bake 50 to 55 minutes.

I started out with a medium dish, poured in the potatoes and crunched up some green peppers for a little extra flavor, additionally, adding some onions left over from my husband's chili pot he was preparing.

Next I mixed all the dry ingredients. I chose to use all dried ingredients (except the butter & onions) since we're supposed to be learning to live on our preparedness foods. I assume we may be making our own butter or bartering for it someday.

Sprinkle the dry ingredients all over and add the pats of butter.

Stir in the boiling water, mix it up well. My potatoes started to re hydrate right away.

I baked it for just a little over half an hour, in my normal oven rather than the convection oven. I tested for tenderness and it was perfect. I'll bet they would also be good with some of my husband's chili plopped on top! I also prepared more zucchini bread- with a little shredded cucumber added. We'll have a nice dinner or two out of this.

I think it's important that we not only prepare, but that we practice. One day we may wake up and find, in the blink of an eye, that our world has changed be it from natural disasters, financial collapse, etc. Those of us that have practiced will have a greater confidence level. So regardless of why you are preparing, test it and make sure you find out everything that can go wrong and then test it again.

I hope you will also share your recipes with me and I wish you all good eating!

Weird Wasp Behavior

Weird Wasp Behavior- CLICK to Enlarge

The wasps have been behaving strangely this year, perhaps due to our wild temperature swings? When it hit over 100, they surrounded our doors and windows, trying to cool themselves on the glass or from what little air might be leaking out from cracks.

Yesterday, we went next door to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. Later, I walked back home to get some yummy frozen soft pretzels and spicy cheese for snacks. When I approached the garage door keypad, a guardian wasp flew over and sat on my forearm, wings spread as they do when giving a warning.

This is odd, I'm thinking. Red wasps are aggressive but we really have no problem with them, in fact, I think sometimes they like us since I make sure to give them drinks on the hot days. They love to sit on the hostas as I dampen their leaves or fly through the sprinklers on hot days.

Well, he (she?) didn't actually DO anything, just sat there until I shook it off. Then I looked up and saw about 50-80 of them plastered to the glass around the light, huddling for warmth. The temperature has dropped from 104 last week down to the 60s yesterday. I carefully punched in the code and made my way into the garage and through the house, grabbed the pretzels and cheese and off I went, punching in the code to close the door.

Oops! Forgot the pretzel salt. I have to do this again, but all was well. So . . . this time I grabbed the opener from the car, just in case.

Today, after church, they are still here but waking up and starting to fly off. I should have taken the photo yesterday but I wasn't really thinking that clearly with so many wasps staring me down! Strange wasp behavior indeed!

Pretty Little Orange

Does it get any prettier than this?

This is an example of my recently dehydrated oranges, although I thought I lost the whole batch after a voice message received at work. It seems the rains set in and my carpenter husband's day was cut short. Summarized: The oranges are great, I might eat all of them before you get home!

NO, no, no! I haven't even seen them yet! This is my fruit hating, all meat and potatoes husband. Eating my oranges? These must be really, super good.

And they are! And beautifully translucent.

More on dehydrating later after I try to re hydrate and cook with my peppers and potatoes!

A Honey of a Deal

In the next town there is a little corner produce stand, one that started a couple of years ago in the parking lot of a tiny repair shop just off the exit ramp in Eureka at Hwy 44. No one thought much about it, they would just be there for the summer, especially since it's within a mile of two supermarkets. Now newly expanded to the old gas station, Nina's Produce is doing quite well, in fact there are times the parking lot is full. I was lucky to be taking a vacation day so I could scoot in there in the middle of the day and I had the place almost to myself.

I walked past the giant mums, around the watermelons, bypassed the tomato "seconds" and into the makeshift store where I was greeted by endless jars of jams, jellies, honey with and without the comb, locally made tri color tortilla chips, soup mixes and much, much more.

I have been looking for some local honey, not the "who knows what's in it" type imported from other countries. There were the small bear squeeze bottles, cute as a button, but per ounce price was much higher than purchasing the larger jar. I thought about the pretty jar with the honey comb in it but again, I got more honey this way. Maybe another time, because it is so pretty.

I also picked up some bags of mixed peppers, yellow, orange and green which were three or four for a dollar. They were in good shape but not the picture perfect green pepper all shiny and glistening that you see in your local supermarket. I went ahead and got a couple more at 2 for $1 as well. I had enough to seed and slice up seven layers in the dehydrator.

I purchased an entire bag of navel oranges too. I think I will dry some but a couple may not be pretty enough to dry. I just might have to eat those! (LOL)

It was a good thing that their debit card machine was down and I had to work with cash or else who knows what else may have hitched a ride home with me. I'm thinking it might be some type of jelly, something I've never had. Corn Cob jelly perhaps? Maybe gooseberry jelly? Or, and this is more likely, pumpkin butter or apple butter. It's about that time!

I'll leave you with a photo of my coleus, blooms exploding skyward-

Dehydrating a 10 lb Bag of Potatoes

Potatoes are a survival food, one high in in vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein, all with zero grams of fat. They are easy to grow and produce a high yield even in poor soil. One year we grew them on our deck using only trash bags filled with soil. This year however, we concentrated on tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini which is why we purchased a 10 lb sack of potatoes for dehydrating.

We used our Nesco stackable dehydrator with about 10 layers, allowing the potatoes to dry overnight. We peeled and par steamed the potatoes so they would not darken while dehydrating. Then sliced them- you should check your dehydrator's instructions to see how thick to slice them- placing them in a single layer on each of the 10 trays. The heat was set at 125 degrees and allowed to run overnight. This morning we had layers of nicely dried potatoes. See how pretty they are, beautifully translucent. I placed a two cup measuring cup next to the bowl to give you an idea of how they reduce.

We were just short of 10 lbs, taking out about four to six potatoes for both dinner and some homemade chips. You can also peel them with an apple peeler and then lightly flour the peels, placing them into hot oil. When removed, season to preference: salt or garlic, cajun seasoning or pepper- your choice. They are delicious.


I am not certain how much we saved doing this ourselves; however, based on what I pay for a small box of dehydrated au gratins, I think we may be ahead of the game. We will make up our own recipes plus they are easy to store, transport if we go camping or need some quick emergency food. The dehydrators are so easy I might pick up another bag so I can double my stash.

photo link