What Did You Prep This Week

Hey, Denob:

Sorry about my little rant. It was a long day yesterday, my daughter had gallbladder removal surgery.

Anyways, I noticed you bought (to para-phrase) non-zip freezer bags that work well in the food saver.
Really? Any brand? Is this the kind of food saver that melts the plastic to seal?
I had a vacuum sealer years ago (lost it in the divorce), but as I recall it required 'special bags.'
If I can just pick up bags while at the grocery store then I could get a food saver from Value Village, Sally Ann, or St. Vincent de Paul.

Don't worry about the rant...this is the place for it.
As for the bags, I bought Glad brand. The non zipper bags seem to be getting harder to find, but I scored them at Dollarama for $1.25 per pack.
They work very well with my old Decosonic....not the best unit I know, but it sucks & seals...so therefore, it works. I like to use smaller sized bags...medium for my family of 6 to freeze a meal worth of veggies. Just blanch, bag, & seal. Take out a bag a day for dinner and heat in boiling water to desired tenderness. Worked for years for my parents and works well for me too. You could use this method for meats or everything else that you buy in family packs and want to divide up.

London Drugs had a real good deal on Brita Water Filters: 5 for $20. (I already have quite a few stashed away. The jugs can be got for cheap at Value Village or just about any 2nd hand store, it's the filters that cost.)

Got a good start to making an inventory list of my food preps. I'm not a whiz at the computer, but I really like 'Tables', and the 'sorting' feature.

Bought some more frozen corn niblets to dehydrate. Country Grocer had it on for a decent price. (Nothing's getting any cheaper)

Zellers has bed raisers on sale this week, a set of 4 for $8. (To provide extra-extra storage under the bed.) (For the kind of bed that sits on a metal frame with wheels.)

Rescued another square white plastic pail, with lid, from the recycle bin at work. Originally had 4 kg of beef soup base in, but it washed up completely odour-free.

During my days off I went to Value Village and found a Decosonic food saver, had a roll of plastic, too. (If I'm not mistaken it is the same brand that I lost in the divorce. lol.)

Also found another replacement, a clear acrylic bottle with markings and measurements for 5 different salad dressings: Asian Vinaigrette, Caesar Salad Dressing, Dijon Vinaigrette, Creamy Vinaigrette, and Jackies Vinaigrette. (Have I mentioned that I am lazy? This way I don't actually have to look up a recipe.)

The Country Grocer bulk section is pretty good, got some more oatmeal, and more millet. Millet is good, and not as expensive as quinoa and canahua.

Went to the Warehouse Store and got Lentils: 2kg of red and 2kg of green, at 4.99 ea. Lentils are good, lots of fibre. Also got dried Basil, 170g for 1.99, also some more Oxo beef flavouring packets.

Have I mentioned that my whole SHTF dinner survival will be about Soups and some kind of fried pancake/bread? No baking involved. Just trying to KISS,(Keep It Simple Sweetie). Have I mentioned that I'm lazy? Breakfast will be oatmeal, cream of wheat, or oatmeal. Got lots of that... 🙄 The previously mentioned salad dressings will be for any foraged dandelion greens I can find.

I made jam, but i have a feeling it wont last very long in this house unless i hid it. my beets are just about the right size to jar, so maybe this weekend.

Denob, thanks for reminding me about the 2" x 3" snack ziplocs...they will be great for packing barter items in like the pool shock and the coffee.

Stored 10 litres of bottled water - received 2 telescopic impact batons that I had ordered, which are legal to have in Canada as long as you don't conceal them - Great to use as a "weapon of opportunity"

I'm laughing a little..here in Kentucky, we can carry a weapon(gun) too...if we don't conceal it!!!

Went to Lifestyles Market, for $25 I got

500g of minced TVP (texturized vegetable protein),
dehydrated veggie flakes,
dried mixed beans,
mung beans, and
canahua (similar to quinoa, but slightly higher protein, and less fat).

I do know one thing---I will be learning a lot from you guys from Canada....like what is mung beans, and canahua???

Hi JayJay, welcome to Canadian Preppers. We're kind of the Clark Kent to your Superman.

Here is a website that gives you a bit of info about Canahua: http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2010/09/canahua-quinoas-cousin.html

Mung Beans are small green beans that when sprouted are usually the kind you'll find in stirfry. Alfalfa sprouts are usually the finer, more delicate ones you'll see in salads and sandwiches. Sprouts are real powerhouses of nutrition. Wikipedia has a good article, shows how to sprout, too.

I have discovered since I got more committed to prepping that I am a bit of a hippy. A really lazy hippy. Or maybe that just what storing all this quinoa, canahua, mung beans, rice, barley, engevita yeast, kelp powder, and spices, etc. makes me feel like. I just want stuff I can boil in a pot of water and is good enough to eat. I'm not really fond of cooking. Plus more elaborate cooking requires more elaborate alternative methods of cooking (like an oven) when the shtf. I figure I can manage to boil water to make soups, oatmeal, tea and coffee. And fry pancakes or bannock.

I agree--boiling water will be the 'thing' of preparing meals..my thoughts when storing my stuff..

I eat lots of stir fry---got it in storage for later( aldi's here has it canned--not frozen)and you know I have rice and chicken in a can---so I probably ate Mung beans.

I sprouted broccoli and ate it and it was great...just very expensive snack considering the cost of seeds here.

Thanks for the info--gonna check out canahua now.

This week, I finished my first aid kit. I based it around some of the premade kits designed for back country travel where you may not have access to medical professionals in a reasonable period of time and have to keep yourself and your buddies patched up. It contains everything from tensor bandages and bandaids to SAM splints (look em up, they're kinda neat) and suture kits.

The kit has it's own bag, but all of the supplies (with the exception of the bigger splint, shears, gloves and wound compresses) are stuffed into three wide mouth 1 litre nalgene water bottles labelled "Dressings" "Drugs" "Everything else". I know everything else isn't a great name, but I can't think what to call the one that has tweezers, scalpel, suture kit, tensor bandage, swabs, mouth guard etc in it.

I also bought my first canner and canning cookbook this week, and am considering what to do for a simple 'first project'. I plan on just using grocery store veggies until I'm comfortable with the process and then next fall, I'll put in a bigger order from the local farmers market and do some wholesale storing.

So, for those that know their way around a canner (water bath, the pressure cooker is still on my 'to get' list) what should be first? Tomatoes, pickles, pickled garlic? I'm trying to avoid jams and jellies for now.

Aphrael,
I would start with tomatoes. These are probably the easiest to do and you will use them more than pickles. Keep doing tomatoes to get your practice. DO NOT process other veggies in a water bath canner. Fruit is also pretty easy such as peaches & pears. You can download two different canning books from my podcast blog at denobpprn.blogspot.com. They give great step by step instructions and explain canning in great detail.

Saw a garage sale on the way home from work, so I stopped in to take a look. Got 4 dozed 750ml and 1 dozen 1l canning jars for $22.00. Not dirt cheap, but at least half the price of the cheapest brand in the store, and these are either Ball or Bernardin. Too bad they didn't have a canner!

Saw a garage sale on the way home from work, so I stopped in to take a look. Got 4 dozed 750ml and 1 dozen 1l canning jars for $22.00. Not dirt cheap, but at least half the price of the cheapest brand in the store, and these are either Ball or Bernardin. Too bad they didn't have a canner!

Do you have an Ace Hardware near?? They have pint jars on sale...I'm not familiar with your chains there.

Peaches and tomatoes are great to start canning. They are fairly easy to process and you'll see the jars lined up on your shelves quickly. I began canning because of salsa but it's a lot more work than peaches or tomatoes. With the pressure canner I did green beans from the garden and then moved on to other foods from there. Ask around you might find a neighbour who will get you started.

Foxglove