I ADVISE YOU TO CLICK THIS! It has begun. FOOD SHORTAGES.

Meats are on sale now because of farmers and ranchers having to reduce their herds almost completely as feeding them this winter will be far, far too expensive.

Therefore, this is the time to buy meat. I mean, right now!

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Very wise if you have the facilities to do so. Remember that canning meat requires a pressure canner. This cannot be safely done with a water-bath canner.

Freeze-drying meat would be ideal, if freeze dryers were not so expensive!

It is also a good time of year to hit your local Farmer's Market.

This Saturday I went to ours, and showed up about 15 minutes before it ended. I was able to buy bell peppers, onions, & crookneck squash for about 1/4 the asking price. I just waited until they started to load what I wanted in their trailer, and then asked them how much for all of it. They do not want to take the produce home, of course. They would rather sell it on the spot, even at a major discount.

So we have been running the Excalibur dehydrator full speed the last few days. It will take about a week to process 5 bushels.

Five bushels is a wonderful amount of food! What do you expect the volume to be when you are done dehydrating?

Very impressive planning and I am so glad for all the healthy, nutritious foods you will be enjoying when produce is long gone from any market.

A bushel of bell peppers will reduce to a little more than one quart canning jar. Sounds amazing, but it is true. Slice the pepper like you might for a stir-fry, and dehydrate. We use it year-round in stews, soups, stir-fry, etc. The flavor and smell, once dehydrated, is excellent. Most of the nutrition is retained, as well.

Another good one is thin apple slices with a dusting of cinnamon... they dehydrate into about 1/3 the size, and have a good crunch. Tastes and feels like a snack and helps you avoid things like potato chips. Delicious.

Meats are on sale now because of farmers and ranchers having to reduce their herds almost completely as feeding them this winter will be far, far too expensive.

Therefore, this is the time to buy meat. I mean, right now!

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[/quote
i’ve bought 1/2 a cow for the last three years in a row. I thought for sure this year the price would be higher but it’s the same.

Welp, I went to the store...there was a 25% off sale on ALL GROUND MEAT...but that's it...no other meat sales :(

I did notice a few items that were lacking...but the most obvious was cottage cheese!

Where they normally have 150-200 of MY TYPE of cottage cheese, they had 3.

And the cartons of eggs was more than half empty.

Food shortages are only beginning. So long as 5G is turned on, farms will either be flooded or burned out. What we've seen in the last 3.5 months will be getting worse as more 5G is tested and rolled out.

There could be nothing to eat this Thanksgiving.

Please connect 5G [which I believe to be horrible] to farm floods and fires.

Interesting! The ground meat in the two stores I where I recently purchased meat was not on sale, only whole pieces were. Curious.

Curious indeed! We have had a glut of eggs here and very low prices, and cottage cheese has been full in racks.

Eggs are cheap right now if you know where to look and I haven't had a problem with supply. Every time I've visited they had more than I wanted. Diary hasn't been priced above my means. Just saying, but it's still a good time to stock up on livestock based products. Even still finding good pork prices even in the face of China having a swine flu epidemic. Had a good sale last week on store brand supplies, got rice and dried milk for a 20% discount. Just have to be ready in the face of what's coming. Being ruthless in taking advantage of sales is what we all need to be doing right now. Don't feel bad for the vendor,just fill your shelves.

That said, I encourage you to take advantage of this relative time of plenty. If you haven't begun, look at Grandpappy's one year food supply and make plans to take advantage of sales.

[link to www.grandpappy.org (secure)]

It's gonna matter in the future.

Grandpappy rocks. Just sayin'.

How is hamburger gravel made?

Boiled and then dehydrated?

You are completely right, and your post struck me as a breath of fresh air. I am weary of preaching preaching warning warning explaining encouraging and it is such a blessing to have others be very clear about the same things, said in different ways, as you have. Thank you!!

Yes, we have to be ready to take advantage of any sales we find, to fill our pantries in preparation for inadequate availabilities and then none available. We have to have our own, under our own roofs and our own control. Planning to continue shopping as we have been is foolhardy - it won't be possible.

I made mine much smaller than the photo, hence for me it is hamburger "gravel" not "rocks". "Gravel" is easier to rinse and easier to dry.

Last Edited by Pooka on 07/30/2019 10:40 PM

Okay...

I was certainly not wanting to do this but...

It is official...


There IS a food shortage.



Go to your stores and go to your suppliers and even go to your suppliers of things that you do not want to admit to... Things are not right...



We have heat waves and weather that is not supposed to be in the area that it is predicted...

We have things happening that are not supposed to happen...

Thank you, Pooka. :)

The shelves are getting more empty....

Hey OP - or anyone with drying experience.
Do you have any tips for dehydrating your veggies and fruits? Do you use oxygen packs or just seal in a bag or jar? Do you just soak or boil water to reconstitute? How is the flavor/texture after? Do you blanch first or just dry? Do you store for several months or how quick do you use it? Do you ever find bad dehydrated food, I'm assuming it would mold or stink so it would be easy to tell?

I know I can google this, and I have. There is SO MUCH information out there, so I'd like opinions from people who actually do this and have real experience storing and preserving. I dehyrdated tomatoes and peppers a few years ago - no one was a fan, but I just threw them in soups and didn't reconstitute them first. I hope that was my problem.

PREP ITEM - Country-Time lemonade powder.

Sooner or later y'r gonna get fed up with the living conditions and decide to pour yourself a cocktail...but you wont have nuffin to mix your vodka with :(

A couple quick answers:

We have used standard canning jars, no absorbers. Lasts for years. Hand-tighten the lid. If it is a snack-type item that will be eaten soon, like weeks, we might use ziploc bags.

you can simply soak to re-constitute, but hot (or boiling) water is faster. This also tends to avoid 'mushy' texture that can happen if the food sits too long in cool or tepid water. Stirring helps in all cases.

We have done some blanching but I am not sure if it is worth the trouble.

tomato tip: dice it up, dehydrate completely, and throw it in a food processor or mortar & pestle. You will get an amazing tomato powder that is VERY potent by the scant teaspoon for soups, chilis, etc. Very flavorful and keeps for years. It is amazing to see a couple dozen big tomatoes reduced to a pint jar of beautiful red dust.

A couple quick answers:

We have used standard canning jars, no absorbers. Lasts for years. Hand-tighten the lid. If it is a snack-type item that will be eaten soon, like weeks, we might use ziploc bags.

you can simply soak to re-constitute, but hot (or boiling) water is faster. This also tends to avoid 'mushy' texture that can happen if the food sits too long in cool or tepid water. Stirring helps in all cases.

We have done some blanching but I am not sure if it is worth the trouble.

tomato tip: dice it up, dehydrate completely, and throw it in a food processor or mortar & pestle. You will get an amazing tomato powder that is VERY potent by the scant teaspoon for soups, chilis, etc. Very flavorful and keeps for years. It is amazing to see a couple dozen big tomatoes reduced to a pint jar of beautiful red dust.



Yes, exactly what I was looking for, thank you! I will give the powdered tomato trick a try too, what a great idea.

Fortunately, cottage cheese is ridiculously easy to make.

[link to housewifehowtos.com (secure)]

Basically, bring a gallon of milk (NOT ultra-pasteurized) to 190 degrees - stirring occasionally to prevent scorching/sticking.

Remove from heat and add 3/4 cup white vinegar.

Cover and let sit for 30 or so minutes.

Line a colander with double thickness cheesecloth (long enough to fold into a "bag" when ready) and place over heat resistant bowl.

When milk, vinegar mixture has cooled for 30 min, scoop the curds into the lined colander. Let drain for at least 30 min.

Gather curds in cheesecloth into a ball and run under cold water until completely cooled. Put curds in bowl and break up into small pieces.

To eat add salt (if desired) and heavy cream (milk works, too) to desired consistency.

Makes up to 2 cups and it is GOOD. Supposed to keep in fridge for a couple of weeks, but I'll never know: It's always gone before then.

Notes:
This apparently works with powdered milk as well.

I mis-read the directions and only heated the milk to 180 degrees. It worked fine, but probably wasn't as "germ-free".

Makes great lasagna, too.

Put curds in bowl and break up into small pieces.

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Now if I get me a "tuffet" I could be little miss muffet

Last Edited by Mental Case on 08/01/2019 02:17 PM

Absolutely! Because the liquid that drains down into the bowl below the colander is... whey!

Can now have my own curds and whey. But y'all can keep the spider, LOL.

I tried to kill the spider...but it got a whey :D

GROAN! But not too loudly, as that was actually a good pun!