Living off your preps.
 

So this week I am doing a test run on my preps. (mostly because I am flat broke, :rofl:) And I have found my holes. I need more dehydrated fruits and veggies, and more meats, soap, and laundry soap. But my home canned cheese abd butter tastes great. Now might be the time to check what you have and stock up on what you don't. Seems like things are getting mightly crazy out there.

Re: Living off your preps.
 

They are indeed - good advice !!

Re: Living off your preps.
 

Test-driving all the Preps is a good idea even when not flat broke. Find out what works...what tastes good...and [ahem] what doesn't. Years ago some nitrogen-packed food storage stuff turned out to be bogus. It happens.
:smile:

Re: Living off your preps.
 

Things are indeed getting crazy. We are filling in holes too. Happily, some of our stored foods are things we especially like anyway. But there are more things I want to add.

Canning cheese and ghee is a great idea. Fats are a problem area in general. I knew ghee could be canned but had no idea cheddar could be. (And getting sharper over time too!) How long have you kept it?

Re: Living off your preps.
 

We have kept ours for 3 years. We eat it faster than I can make it so it it rotated pretty quickly.

Re: Living off your preps.
 

:banana: Preps ?

Still got a ton of stuff left over from Y2K....

Between September 1999 and December 30th 1999 I spent close to ten grand on enough long term storeable food to last four people five years.

Seems grocery prices have inflated so much in the last five years I actually came out wayyyyy........ahead in the long run.Now the same items would cost me fifteen grand,maybe more.

Wife thought I went insane in 1999...........now she complains because she had to actually start buying rice and beans last week..........almost six years..... Sheeesh........never happy.

Thanks for reminding me..........need to check some old stock.

Still got about fifty gallons of virgin olive oil............that stuff lasts a couple hundred years.........no,I'm not joking........called the manufacturer in Italy.........he said store in a dark cool place.........probably last three hundred years minimum.........

Re: Living off your preps.
 

Can I join your club.

Food and faith are more valuable than all the PMs in the world.

Re: Living off your preps.
 

I've had to live off my preps in the past, so I have a pretty good idea of which holes to watch out for now! With freeze-drieds/dehydrated, the big thing most people seem to overlook is the serving size. A half cup serving is pretty small.

Re: Living off your preps.
 

Can you do seeds and hanging baskets instead of freeze dried fruits and veggies? Renewable and more stable, and yummy! Beans are too easy to grow.

Re: Living off your preps.
 

Thanks, goddess. Cheese is popular here too, and a major staple. Is it hard to can? And how does the canning change it? I read your ad and if it keeps getting sharper it must still be 'alive' and wholesome.

Since you are marketing it you might not want to share the information. I do not want to send my physical address to anyone who associates me with this forum. But I will check whether our post office box place can accept packages. I might order some from you (in cooler weather.) The white cheddar is especially attractive. No added color. But I would still like to learn to make it ourselves.

River Rat, some say olive oil lasts like that, but I have had it go rancid in a year or 2 in small glass bottles. (It is a warm climate here. But then so are Italy and Greece. So I cannot figure out where I am going wrong. I might need a root cellar. We stopped climate controlling the whole place years ago and just cool or heat the room we are in, which means storage has mitigated but not fully cool or heated space. It never freezes and is more like 80 when it is 95 outside, but that is not 'cool'.) Is there some special way to select the packaging, like the metal jugs?

I'm considering adding on a small lined pit chest type mini root cellar in the privacy fenced back yard. It would be good for root crops too, though they store pretty well just unharvested till wanted here.

Right now for fat I have extra butter in fridge and freezer, but I certainly need a better solution than that.