Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Recipes Links for Basic cooking ingridents

This is a list of basic recipes for basic cooking, if you have a printer it would be good to print out your favorites:

Rice: 

Pecan Rice Click Here
Rice Pancakes Click Here
Beans & Rice Click Here
Chicken & Rice Click Here 
Fried Rice Click Here 


Depression Rice:
Chop up five slices of bacon and one large onion into small pieces. Dump it in a cast iron frying pan. Now, you want to stir this over medium heat till you have caramelized the onion. Even let the tips burn just a little. The onions an
d bacon will be a brown color.

Then add one can or pint jar of tomatoes. Then add a little salt and pepper. Let it simmer on a low flame for 10 minutes.

Now, cook up a pot of rice and dump it into the tomato and onion mixture in the frying pan. Stir till mixed good. The trick for the flavor is getting the onions to just a stage before they start to burn.


Meatloaf Rice:

1 cup rice
1 cup peanuts crushed
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients together. Bake in a loaf pan for 30 minutes or until loaf is good and set.


How to store Rice: Good to print out
 http://www.frugalupstate.com/frugal-living/readers-question-storing-rice-and-bulk-goods/

Eggs:

Thirty Egg Dishes Click Here 
Egg Casserole Click Here 
Deviled Eggs Click Here
Egg in a hole Click Here
Scotch Eggs Click Here
Bee's Egg smoothy Click Here
Great Depression Egg drop soup Click Here
Fritata Click Here
French Toast Click Here 
Banana Egg smoothy Click Here 
Omelet Spring Click Here 

Oatmeal: 

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread Click Here 
Oatmeal Pancakes Click Here 
Another Oatmeal Pancake Click Here
Oatmeal wheat bread Click Here 
Herb Oatmeal bread  Click Here
Survival bread Click Here
Maple Oatmeal scones Click Here
Grandpa Hubbard Oatmeal Click Here
My fav Peanut butter granola Click Here 
Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats in the Crockpot Click Here 
Using oatmeal for a filler in meatloaf video Click Here 
Depression Oatmeal cookies w/bacon drippings Click Here  
Cinnamon Oatmeal Cake Click Here


Different ways to store Oats: Good to print out http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/2012/11/storing-oats-and-their-differences.html 



10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Store Oats
By STEPHANIE DAYLE - Sun Dec 02, 8:01 am

And eat them too!
Oats are one of those storage foods people LOVE to ignore. I can't even get my own husband to eat them. Since we both came from rural areas and grew up with the same self-reliant and frugal values, I couldn't understand this. I love oats! Why would anyone not like oats? Soon I learned it wasn't just him, but mostly everyone else I ran into. I am convinced that most people who don't like oats are running into one of two main problems. They never had them prepared correctly to begin with; and/or they just don't know what to do with them other than make oatmeal. I am going to solve these problems with you today. Oats are an extremely valuable item to put in your food stores and an incredibly healthy addition to your diet and here's why:

1. Oats Store Exceedingly Well: Oats, especially in their slightly modified form of groats, and steel-cut oats - will last a LONG, LONG time and still deliver life-sustaining nutrition. How long? Studies performed at BYU have shown oats to still deliver "life-sustaining nutrition" for over 30 years if stored correctly. Click here to see an article on Dry Canning - which would be the only way to safely store them long-term. Even the more processed form of Rolled Oats or Traditional Oats will store 20+ years if stored correctly, Provident Living's website claims 30 years. However, processing oats shortens their storage life, so the more processed they are, the shorter their shelf life.

2. Oats Can be Easily Prepared Without Power: A supply of rolled oats can be prepared in many different ways. The most common and easy way, is to boil them. This can be accomplished easily by setting your oats in water and a hint of lemon juice or vinegar overnight to soak (This makes them easier to digest and they will cook up so much nicer for you), the next morning your pre-soaked old-fashioned oats will cook up as easily as quick oats, this also saves on fuel for cooking. For the slow cooking of steel-cut oats or even rolled oats you can use a Dutch Oven with an ample supply of water. Place in a bed of coals, use charcoal briquettes, or use a kitchen oven on top of your wood stove. The sealing lid of the Dutch Oven locks in moisture and prevents the oatmeal from drying out. Or like in Scottish Haggis, it can be stuffed inside of various meats and used as a binder or stuffing. They can also be enjoyed as a drink that has been around for ages and the nice thing about the drink is that you still get many of the health benefits from the oats. You can also use oats to make your own granola as a snack or travel food (again you can do this with your Dutch Oven if need be click here to see an article on Choosing and Seasoning a Dutch Oven). Lastly, oats in the form of whole oats (with the hulls intact) can be sprouted in a matter of 3 days or so and eaten as lovely nutrient rich sprouts.
Sweet Cinnamon Oak Drink • 1 C Old Fashioned Rolled Oats • 1 (4-inch) Cinnamon Stick, Broken into Chunks • 4 C Water • Sugar or Honey to taste In a large pitcher, soak the oats, cinnamon and water for a minimum of one hour, preferably three. Blend the mixture (remove the cinnamon stick) in a blender. Strain and sweeten to taste. Serve well-chilled or over ice. Slow Cooker Oat Meal from Food Network's Good Eats • 1 cup steel-cut oats • 1 cup dried cranberries • 1 cup dried figs (or fruit of your choice) • 4 cups water • 1/2 cup half-and-half In a slow cooker (or Dutch Oven), combine all ingredients and set to low heat. Cover and let cook for 8 to 9 hours (mine looked pretty good after 4 hours but I would not have hesitated to cook them longer) stir them to check for burning or drying and add more water if needed. If you are using a slow cooker (electric crock pot) method it works best if started before you go to bed. This way your oatmeal will be finished by morning.

3. Oats are Higher in Protein Than Wheat or Rice: Oat protein is 16.9 g to that of even Brown Rice at 7.94 g. Oat protein is almost equal to soy protein, which research has shown is equal to meat, milk, and egg protein (a bonus for those of us who don't like soy). The protein content of the different forms of oats ranges from 12 to 24%, the highest among cereals making oats an excellent choice to store as a survival food for times when other sources of protein are scarce.

4. Oats Make You Feel Fuller Longer: Oats contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness. Staying fuller longer could come in handy when food is scarce.

5. Oats Will Help Control Blood Sugar and Cholesterol: Oats contain complex carbohydrates which help stabilize blood sugar and the before mentioned soluble fiber slows the absorption of glucose. The soluble fiber in oats has also been proven to lower bad cholesterol (LDL) by essentially taking it out with trash as it moves through and out of your system so to speak. Oats could be one of your only tools in treating someone with high cholesterol in a prolonged emergency when they do not have access to their statin drugs and oats could be one of many dietary tools for helping to manage blood sugar levels (assuming you don't smother the oats in sugar).

6. Oats Can be Used as a Meat Expander: During the depression, many families added oats to their meat when grinding and cooking it to make it go further and to keep everyone fuller a little longer. A favorite place to add oats was and still is to meat loaves as oats tend to take on the flavor of whatever they are cooked with.

7. Oats Can be Grown Where Wheat Cannot: Oats are grown in temperate regions. They have a lower summer heat requirement and greater tolerance of rain than other cereals such as wheat, rye or barley. They could be grown in areas with cool, wet summers, such as the Northwest. As an example to their hardiness, they are being grown successfully in Iceland. Oats also do not require weeding as they usually choke out most weeds. Whole oats can be planted as seeds.


8. Oats Can be Ground Into Flour: Groats are a good choice for flour making, but you can also use old-fashioned rolled oats. Rolled oats can be turned into oat flour with a strong food processor while groats will require a grain mill. Oat flour adds the health benefit of oats to any baked good. Oat flour, if coming from a wheat-free facility, can also help fill the holes in a gluten-free diet. If wheat becomes more scarce, oat flour may become its substitute.

9. Oats are Inexpensive and Versatile: Beside all the uses you've read about so far, left over oatmeal can be made into a simple homemade oat bread. Click here to view the recipe. Not only does this save money, but it adds nutrition and depth of flavor to your bread. Oats are relatively inexpensive due to their use as livestock feed and their unpopularity as people food. When compared to other high protein grains, oats are rather inexpensive making it an important choice for food storage. Now is a good time to stock up on oats.

10. Oats Can Double as an Animal Feed: Complex carbohydrates, in oats, have been providing energy to livestock for a very long time. Horses were the reason humans started cultivating oats. They can be fed to horses, cows, dogs (in the form of oatmeal), chickens, goats, sheep and almost every other farm animal.

5 main types of oats and why it matters! Whole Oats - These oats are usually straight from the field and still have a hull. You usually can only get these from a feed or farm supply store. Unless you have the means to remove the hull I would not recommend getting them unless you want them as
animal feed or as seed - if you do buy them and want to use them as food, make sure they have not been treated with any kind of chemicals or poison. Groats - These are oats with the hull removed, but are still difficult to come by. they can be found in co-ops and health food stores. They take a very long time to cook up, and remain hard and unpleasant to eat - BUT they are excellent if you want to grind them into flour with your home grain mill. You could also run them through your steel burrs if you have them on your grain mill, on a course grind and make your own version of steel-cut oats, which makes a very nice porridge. These are fairly difficult to grind without practice however, so another option would be if you have a roller mill or roller mill attachment for your meat grinder or KitchenAid, you can make your own old-fashioned rolled oats from groats. Steel Cut Oats - These are oats that have been cut by steel blades into small pieces. They cook up finer and quicker than groats to make a nice porridge, and many people say that flavor from steel-cut oats is better than the old-fashioned rolled oat porridge we know as "oatmeal." They are also known as Irish Oats or Pinhead Oats. Cooking time on Steel cut oats is 35-60 minutes if not longer. Rolled Oats or Old Fashioned Oats - Are a processed version of groats. They are groats that have been steamed and rolled flat to speed up cooking time to around 10-15 minutes in boiling water. Quick Oats - Once again these are groats that have been steamed, but they have been rolled even thinner to decrease cooking time even more to 3-5 minutes in boiling water. Once oats are processed to this extreme they start losing some of their nutritional value as the processing methods begin to damage the soluble fiber within the oats. Instant Oats- these are oats, usually quick oats, that have been pre-cooked and then dehydrated. You only need to add hot water to these oats for a finished product. They do not store well at all and are the least nutritious of all the different forms of oats, but they still have a well deserved spot in your Bug Out Bag, or your 72 hour kit. Flavored Quaker Instant Oatmeal is this type of oats.

And let's not forget about oatmeal cookies!! While not vital to survival they sure are good and would serve as a nice easy

Powdered milk:

Hillbilly house wife recipes with powdered milk Click Here 
 



 

Basic First aid Bag

This is a list to consider to put in your BOG or to keep at home:

First aide Basics (To have in BOG in car or on you)
  1. Surgical masks to prevent infection should also be in all first aid kits.
  2. Band-Aids & Butterfly Bandages
  3. Over the counter medications (OTC) that should be included are non-aspirin pain reliever, anti-inflammatory,
  4. Vomiting and diarrhea medications and throat lozenges. A basic first aid guide, available through the American Red Cross, could be included as well.
  5. Antibiotic Ointment or Antiseptic towelets
  6. Burn ointment
  7. Gauze pads or rolls
  8. Iodine or similar prep pads
  9. Medical Adhesive tape
  10. Antibiotic ointment
  11. Smelling salts or ammonia inhalants
  12. Thermometer
  13. Tweezers, scissors
  14. Rubber gloves
  15. Emergency space blanket
  16. Candle if you live in cold climates
  17. Emergency phone numbers, including contact information for your family doctor and pediatrician, local emergency services, emergency road service providers and the regional poison control center
  18. Stethoscope (walmart should have them)
  19. Syringes (check feed stores, vet offices, not sure if pharmacies will sell though)

Extra to have on hand:
  1. shoestrings or light rope for fashioning slings & tying splits together
  2. waterproof matches to light a fire for boiling water or making hot beverages to ward off hypothermia
  3. a triangular piece of muslin for making slings or infant carriers
  4. Large Ziploc baggies, which can be used to store items until needed, provide ice bags, water containers and protective covers for injured. Baggies can also be used to provide insulation to keep your feet warm and dry preventing frostbite.
  5. Saline nose drops to clear stuffy noses for small children
  6. Small mirror
  7. Vitamins
  8. Instant food, soup packages, drink mixes
  9. Snake bite poison extractor
  10. Tweezers safety pins
  11. Aloe cream for sun burns
  12. Eye drops
  13. Duct tape
  14. Petroleum jelly or other lubricant
  15. Soap or instant hand sanitizer
  16. Life straw to clean water or water tablets to clean the water.
  17. Sun screen
  18. Vitamins if you don't have food then you need at least vitamins to keep you going

Extra Stuff to have at home in first aid kit
  1. Rubbing Alcohol for sterilization and Hydrogen Peroxide
  2. Calamine lotion
  3. Betadine
  4. Good scissors for cutting
  5. Forceps & Scalpels
  6. Hemostats
  7. Sterrile sutures, in several s
  8. Special bandages, such as conforming, trauma and field dressings
  9. izes
  10. Wound probe
10.  Mouth to mouth shield
11.  Instant hot and cold pack
12.  Prep & eye pads
13.  Cotton balls
14.  Dental tools
15.  Books on dentistry and medical
16.  Antihistamine & Decongestant plus cold meds
17.  Rehydration fluids, such as Pedialyte, to rehydrate children
18.  A package of tongue depressors for checking sore throats on children
19.  Colloidal silver
20.  Splint materials
21.  Turkey baster or other bulb suction device for flushing out wounds
22.  Syringe, medicine cup or spoon

Basic Bug out Bag

Picked this up online from a friend it has some good tips to get you started on having a Bug out bag or if your making a "Get home bag"

Here are the 7 basic types of gear you will need for your Bug Out Bag, customize it to fit your personal needs:

1. Water
It should go without saying that water is a survival basic for any situation. In a survival situation water quickly becomes the most precious commodity.
1 Liter per day per person is really the bare minimum. So your 3 day Bug Out Bag should have at least 3 liters of water.
To expand your capability or survive longer than a couple of days you will need a water purification system. This can be as simple as boiling water and iodine tablets, or a serious water filter.
You can use a Collapsible Water Bottle for extra storage.
Make water collection easier with a Backpacking Bucket.
Use Coffee Filters to extend the life of your water filtration system.
Check out the links doc for ideas on "Water"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenpreppers/doc/188135084635098/
Life straw would be good to have. It will filter water from any kind of water hole, its not heavy and easy to carry.
2. Food
Backpack Meals
For a 3 Day Bug Out Bag Backpack Meals and Energy Bars can be sufficient. Back pack meals are freeze dried meals that you just add boiling water to. They are light weight and last a long time.
Check out the links doc for ideas on how to prep for "Food"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenpreppers/doc/188135084635098/
3. Clothing
Your Bug Out Bag clothes should be similar to what you would pack for a weekend backpacking trip.
A pair of sturdy boots or shoes
A pair of long pants (preferably not blue jeans)
2 Pairs of socks (preferably not cotton)
2 Shirts (Maybe 1 long sleeve and 1 short sleeve for layering)
A Jacket that is both warm and protection from rain
Warm long underwear of some kind
A hat
A Bandana (Many Uses for a Bandana)
Be sure to plan for the weather in your area: Do You have Seasonal Clothes in Your Bug Out Bag
4. Shelter
If you are going to survive for 3 days you are going to need protection from the elements and a warm dry place to sleep. You need at least:
Some type of tent or tarp and a way to set it up
A ground tarp for underneath your shelter to stay dry or a sleeping pad (Never underestimate the importance of this)
Some type of Bedroll, preferably a good sleeping bag.
5. First Aid Kit
Trying to cover everything you need in your Bug Out Bag First Aid Kit is another article entirely to itself, probably several more. I won’t try to cover it because I would surely leave something out.
What I will do is recommend that you build your own First Aid Kit instead of buying one of those prepackaged first aid kits that claim to have 1001 things to get you through any emergency. While some are ok, in my experience these types of kits are usually filled with a lot of stuff you are unlikely to need and not enough of the things you will probably need a lot of.
Plus, building your own first aid kit gives you an intimate knowledge of what it contains and how to use it. How many people buy one of those pre-made set ups and just assume they are prepared because there’s so much crap in it there must be what I need? Bad Idea.
First Aid Gear: Have a Sawyer Extractor for Poisonous Snake Bites
6. Basic Gear
Basic Gear sounds repetitive but it is my category for the things you absolutely cannot live without but don’t really fit well into another category. Many survivalists will not like this list because it is not exhaustive by any means, but again I will say: It will be enough to get you by for a couple of days.
Rain Gear – at least 2 ways to stay dry in the rain. Poncho and Coat are good coupled with your Tent/Shelter
small binoculars.
Fire – A bare minimum of 3 different ways to make fire.
You’re also going to need something to cut your firewood and a knife uses too much energy long term: Choose the Best Survival Chainsaw
Cooking – Bare minimum here is a small pot/large cup to boil water in for both drinking and freeze dried meals. A small backpacking stove and fuel are better.
Light – At least 2 dependable flashlights and a backup set of batteries for each.
Survival Knife – The most used and most versatile tool in your Bug Out Bag is your survival knife.
7. Weapons
The fact of the matter is you are might be dealing with a “Without Rule of Law” situation, or close to it, and people are likely to do crazy things. Being prepared to defend yourself is part of the survivalist mindset.
Obviously a firearm of some sort is best for this. (Though not in all situations) I will not go into specifics about what type of gun you should bring because that is hotly debated and really a personal choice. Take what is comfortable to you.
Outside of guns your survival knife could be used as weapon if you had to. Also something as simple as a big walking stick or club can be a strong deterrent for some bad guys. It’s all about giving yourself options.

How to save money on Prepping

I am always trying to figure out ways to save money, this also goes for Prepping. This is one of the first things I tell a prepper first getting started when they are so overwhelmed on trying to buy stuff for their preps.

Please add stuff that will benefit people starting out that have a tight budget or have no money for prepping.

1. Inventory: Take inventory of what you already have including all camping stuff/garage stuff you will be surprised at what you already have, or at grandma's house.

2. Useless stuff: Sell things you havent used in over a year. Facebook has many flea market pages in your local commnunites if you don't have one start one its free! Sell & buy the stuff you really need for prepping.

3. Freebies: Check out freebie sites like http://www.freecycle.org/ or www.craigslist.com in the "free section" got to check this constantly, stuff goes fast. Ask local bakery for their containers most will give away for free, they use these can be used for your food storage.

4. Buying used items: Become expert flea market hunters, yard sales, re-sale shops like good will & Salvation army, Army surplus stores, research on itmes b4 committing to buy so you know you get a good deal.

5. Dollar items: Now a days there is so many dollar stores out there, consider stock piling with Dollar items for your prepping.

6. Couponing: Go to sites like www.couponmom.com ask neighbors, friends for their coupons, join coupon clubs, you can get a lot of stuff for free or join sample groups like here on facebook https://www.facebook.com/ThatFreebieSite?sk=wall yes it does work.
7. There is a program called "Amazon prime" that is popular w/the preppers you pay a yrly fee $79 cheaper w/students (you can share w/family members) but then you get free shipping on all your prime items w/2 day service. It eventually pays for itself, very helpful on getting items to you when the shelfs R bare in your local area from a future natural disaster coming like a hurricane, plus you can have things delivered to your elderly/disabled parent in another state straight to their door step as long as UPS is running. Food, water, generator, no matter what the size it will be free shipping with prime products.

8. Information/knowledge: is sometimes worth more then stuff, so check out books at your local library on prepping, If they dont have it most will do interlibrary loans w/other libraries.

9. Skills: Offer to volunteer to work at a local farm in gardening & butchering. Don't know where your farms are try www.localharvest.org Take classes (Sewing, crocheting, hide tanning, welding, etc...that will make you valuable, most communities offer some of them free or for very min fee.

9. Keep a tidy house: that may sound funny to prep for but if your lights go out for a few days or longer how are you going wash clothes? Keep things disinfected? Your family needs clean clothes. You need a clean prep area to prepare you food; otherwise you have a risk of getting sick.

10. Barter your skills: Learn the art of bartering it will help if SHTF or exchange extra stuff you have for prepping stuff. There has also been a lot of barter groups popping up, check out your area.

11. Gardening: Start now on learning to garden by seeds, don't try to learn when you can't afford mistakes....even someone that lives in an apartment can do container gardening. Look in our Link section under "Apartment prepping" https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenpreppers/doc/188135084635098/

12. Keep a Prep Folder: If you have a printer or can get cheap copies somewhere keep a Prep Folder, there is so many useful information out there on Prepping on the internet that can be printed out, you never know if you can have access to your computer again best to have it on paper.

13. Have a plan for emergenys: Do you know where your going to meet for emergency's if communication is down? Do your kids know where to meet you if in school should they stay there or go someplace? Do they know what to do at home if alone & something happens, which gas lines to turn off? What to do with fridge if Electric goes out & you can't get to them in a few days? So many questions, have a plan now b4 its too late.

14. Meeting Preppers: Meet other preppers in your community. Try facebook or even meetup.com and look for preppers with similar interest. If you dont have any near you, try forming your own group or just go with clubs/meetups that might be similar, Camping clubs, gardening clubs, CB or Ham radio clubs canning/cooking clubs.

15. Buying extra: Start buying one or two extra items each time you buy things you normally use. For instance if you usually buy 4 green bean cans for your family each week for payday try to pick up one more for your prep. "A little at a time" 

16  Elderly: The elderly are a wealth of information if you don't know of an elderly person in your family go to an old folks home to visit take a recorder or notebook & interview a few of them to see how they lived in harder days.

17. Free health fairs: Go to local free health fairs not only could you get sometimes free exams you could also get a free goodie bag with medical supplys.