Emergency Preparedness and Self-Reliant Living

Monday, February 1, 2010

Dehydrating Experiments:

Our house smells like oranges. It is a very pleasant smell, in my opinion. For some reason, I have been getting some good deals on food lately. I keep expecting prices to be higher than they are. Bags of oranges, 2 for $5.00. Bags of onions, 2 for $4.00. Bags of potatoes, 2 for $4.00. Not wanting to pass up on a good deal, I went ahead and bought those bags of oranges, onions and potatoes. Then I had to figure out what to do with all that fresh food. It does not last forever, as we all know, and there are only two of us here. I get tired of finding rotten potatoes in the cupboard. So, I decided to start using that food dehydrator that I bought last year at Bi-Mart.

I started with the oranges. I cut them in half, cut the ends off and then sliced them at about 1/4" thick. The first bag of oranges were not very sweet, so I have decided to use them for crafts. They were still a little moist and sticky when I took them out of the dehydrator, so I let them dry overnight on cookie racks. That didn't help dry them out very much, so I got to thinking about how well the rice worked on the orange spice balls that I made before Christmas. I used a medium sized bag of rice and a cake pan; layering the orange slices with the rice. In a few days, those oranges should be very dry and ready for use in making a garland.

The second batch of oranges were sweeter, so I plan on keeping them around for snacks. I dried the ends too, and I am going to put them in my blender and grind them up to use as a spice. I bought some banana's also. I have dried bananas before, and they turned out pretty good. I put them in little jars in my refrigerator so they will last longer.

These were from the second batch.

I tasted one, it was good but a bit tart.

We'll see how the other things turn out. Dried onions should be easy, and will be so much cheaper than those in the little spice bottles that we get at the store. The potatoes will be a little trickier and more time consuming, since they need to be peeled and blanched (in the microwave) before placing in the food dehydrator.

It sounds like fun to me!

2 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 2, 2010 at 2:51 AM
Thanks for the post, we will post your "do it yourself hydroponics" article. I will post for our customers to see your articles on your blog do it yourself hydroponics
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Oregon Gifts of Comfort and JoyFebruary 12, 2010 at 9:51 AM
Well, thank you very much! I am flattered. I've just started working on this blog again, and will post as often as I can.

Kathy
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Tips:

* When a wind or snow storm is on the way and you live in the country, fill up the bathtub with water. That way, you can fill up a bucket with water and use it to flush the toilet if the electricity goes out and the pump quits working. You can also use the water from your hot tub if you have one.

* Keep an old phone (with a cord) around the house to use in case the power goes out - for when your cordless phone will not work. For other reasons, your cell phone may not work either in case of a disaster. Make sure to have a list of phone numbers written down (in addition to having them stored on speed dials).

* Stock up! Some people strive for 3 days worth of food and water, others 3 months, others 2 years. Remember, you may be asked to share with others, so start preparing now.

* Have kerosene oil lamps and lamp oil on hand. They look pretty in the home, and give good lighting when the power goes out.

* Make cheap and easy lanterns by filling a canning jar halfway up with sand and placing an emergency candle in it. You can put a lid on it for easy storage in the cupboard until it is needed.

* Keep a couple of those long lighters (used for BBQ's) in your home for lighting candles and lanterns.

* Have the number of the electric company in an easy location. Call as soon as your power goes out (using your old phone or your cell phone)... don't assume that somebody else already has. I have been the first one to call several times, and after one really bad windstorm I had to call again the next day because they thought that everybody had been taken care of, but we were not.

* If you experience a "brown-out", where the lights dim, unplug your refrigerator and freezer! We had the motor burn out of our fridge one time due to a brown-out and had to buy a whole new fridge.

* Learn about cooking with cast iron dutch ovens and how to use charcoal as a heat sorce for them. There is a link on the bottom of this page with information about this.

* Buy boxed soy and rice milk to have with your extra food supplies. They stay good for quite a while and you are not stuck with only powdered milk.

* If you have a baby in diapers, have a several dozen cloth
diapers on hand, along with diaper pins, plastic pants or diaper wraps. If you can't go to the store to buy more disposables, you can always wash and reuse the cloth ones.

* Just think about what your grandparents or great-grandparents must have done or used when thinking about emergency preparedness ... make it fun when it is not an emergency. Get creative! Share your ideas with friends, and email them to me so that I can put them on here. Thanks!