ironchop
07-22-2014, 11:39 AM
So Billy Golightly mentioned the Paleo Diet in another thread and I had to go look it up because I`m, frankly, an info junkie. One lookup on Wikipedia and I`m fourteen pages sideways of the original topic in under twenty minutes. It`s gotta be the ADD....SAIL! (lol). But I found out what it was and got together with the wife and decided to try and implement this in our own lives. There were a few logistical issues to be worked out in order to do it correctly.
anyway, The wife and I have actually been looking at our grocery bill a lot more lately and noticing that junk, processed crap isn`t much less expensive than fresh food these days and we both have the spare tire to demonstrate our "diet prowess" so processed crap has to go for good because it`s killing us slowly but surely. Some folks would be surprised to know how/ what goes into their food and how toxic this crap can be even though it tastes "good as hell". Some may also be surprised that a large majority of certain veggies (like tomatoes) come from farms in Mexico.
Now I grew up on a farm and we fed ourselves...meaning, the grocery store was only for mustard, salt, sugar, Coca-Cola, Fruit Loops, Jolly ranchers, and bologna sandwiches.....everything else we produced ourselves OR we traded other local farmers our stuff for theirs. We canned, froze, and dried all sorts of meat and veggies back then but it got to be so cheap to just buy it already processed and, not to mention, less work so those things my parents taught me soon fell out of favor. I won`t get into the whole GMO or Organic or Whole food arguments because that's a huge issue all on its own but the wife and I decided to try our hand at growing some of our own food and buying from local growers for the rest but we were going to process our own stuff no matter what we grew or what we bought. The end goal being to live much as I did growing up. Growing and trading food for the most part while staying away from stuff whose origin we know nothing about or whose methods of preservation we know nothing about.
Originally, I thought my wife would balk at the work involved because my current state of Apathy and outright Sedentarianism has led me to "remember" canning as being a whole lot of work. She was on board so we got together (Hot Wife and I) with Hot Sis in Law whom was also on board and we bought one pressure cooker, a water bath container, assorted 'tools and gadgets', racks, 4 cases of Ball jars with lids and rings, and a Ball Blue Book (THE Bible of canning/ preserving food).....Now I`m NO cook. So My wife took care of the instructions (men don`t do instructions) which is why it turned out correctly the first time and I didn`t strip all the bolts on the pressure cooker while trying to assemble it or tear the skin off my scarred and elderly knuckles.....hahaha just kidding.
So we picked up some Veggies at the Farm Market locally (we have three different ones here in BG KY and TONS of roadside stands everywhere). Got some bush beans ('green beans'), some flat beans whose name I don`t recall, three dozen ears sweet corn, three varieties of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, Squash, eggplant, cukes, and blackberries. It was a bit of work but not bad for a lazy Sunday in the air-conditioned house.
The sweet corn I shucked and trimmed the ends off and we decided to freeze the corn. Trimmed, washed, de-silked, blanched for ten minutes I think, rapidly cooled and filled 9 quart size Ziploc bags with the equivalent of two one pint cans (which is what we normally eat in one meal) in each bag. 18 cans worth for about one hour work. Not too bad. they were 3 bux a dozen for the corn so we will call it a $10 investment counting the bag and other incidentals for 18 cans worth. Regardless of the economic impact, we KNOW where this corn came from and we KNOW how it was packed. Priceless.
The flat beans (whatever she said the variety name was) I took and trimmed off the ends, cut into 2 inch pcs, washed, blanched for 8 minutes (may be a misquote) and I decide to dry this batch (about 3lbs worth of beans) in a new dehydrator I snatched at Wally-hole while I was buying canning salt. It took six hours to dry these beans but a 3lb sack dried into about two thirds of a Ziploc sandwich bag in size....Space saver! All you have to do is drop these in a pot of water on the stove and they plump right back up full size. Our plan with the dehydrator is to make 'packets' of dried veggies for soups and whatnot so all we have to do is drop in the packet contents, heat, and stir....instant soup. We also wan to make jerky, dried fish, and make a bunch of snack packs of trail mix by drying fruit on it. I love dried fruit but tend to shy away from fresh a bit because I prefer dried (yeah, I`m odd)
So in between the freezing and drying, Hot wife was canning green beans. About 5lbs made 5 quarts of canned beans. Last night we tackled all those tomatoes and we canned 6 quarts of homemade salsa. We did use package spices and other pre-dried store bought ingredients and next go around we have decided to use all our own or to purchase all the spices locally so I`m saying we partially 'cheated' with the salsa.
We didn`t actually work very hard and we didn`t really spend an undue amount of time even though she was a rookie and I was relearning stuff from the 70s and 80s. We both decided afterward that it`s been TOTALLY worth the effort and expense. Next season we hope to be harvesting almost all our own veggies for preservation. We had talked about 'garden first, canning second' but decided to do the converse and nail down the canning skills first so that we weren`t taking a chance of wasting good food we grew figuring out how to keep it from spoiling. I suggest others do the same.
Later this week we will tackle the peppers and can a bunch of potatoes. We are still in the 'Learning Stage' and we have found more than one way to streamline the operation and even make it more of a communal effort. The more friends, family, or neighbors you get involved the more help you have. It is a lot of equipment to buy, clean, and setup so it makes sense to go in together and share the work and expense.
Like I said it`s a small step but it`s definitely in the right direction.
SO, does anyone else dabble in this or ?
anyway, The wife and I have actually been looking at our grocery bill a lot more lately and noticing that junk, processed crap isn`t much less expensive than fresh food these days and we both have the spare tire to demonstrate our "diet prowess" so processed crap has to go for good because it`s killing us slowly but surely. Some folks would be surprised to know how/ what goes into their food and how toxic this crap can be even though it tastes "good as hell". Some may also be surprised that a large majority of certain veggies (like tomatoes) come from farms in Mexico.
Now I grew up on a farm and we fed ourselves...meaning, the grocery store was only for mustard, salt, sugar, Coca-Cola, Fruit Loops, Jolly ranchers, and bologna sandwiches.....everything else we produced ourselves OR we traded other local farmers our stuff for theirs. We canned, froze, and dried all sorts of meat and veggies back then but it got to be so cheap to just buy it already processed and, not to mention, less work so those things my parents taught me soon fell out of favor. I won`t get into the whole GMO or Organic or Whole food arguments because that's a huge issue all on its own but the wife and I decided to try our hand at growing some of our own food and buying from local growers for the rest but we were going to process our own stuff no matter what we grew or what we bought. The end goal being to live much as I did growing up. Growing and trading food for the most part while staying away from stuff whose origin we know nothing about or whose methods of preservation we know nothing about.
Originally, I thought my wife would balk at the work involved because my current state of Apathy and outright Sedentarianism has led me to "remember" canning as being a whole lot of work. She was on board so we got together (Hot Wife and I) with Hot Sis in Law whom was also on board and we bought one pressure cooker, a water bath container, assorted 'tools and gadgets', racks, 4 cases of Ball jars with lids and rings, and a Ball Blue Book (THE Bible of canning/ preserving food).....Now I`m NO cook. So My wife took care of the instructions (men don`t do instructions) which is why it turned out correctly the first time and I didn`t strip all the bolts on the pressure cooker while trying to assemble it or tear the skin off my scarred and elderly knuckles.....hahaha just kidding.
So we picked up some Veggies at the Farm Market locally (we have three different ones here in BG KY and TONS of roadside stands everywhere). Got some bush beans ('green beans'), some flat beans whose name I don`t recall, three dozen ears sweet corn, three varieties of peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, Squash, eggplant, cukes, and blackberries. It was a bit of work but not bad for a lazy Sunday in the air-conditioned house.
The sweet corn I shucked and trimmed the ends off and we decided to freeze the corn. Trimmed, washed, de-silked, blanched for ten minutes I think, rapidly cooled and filled 9 quart size Ziploc bags with the equivalent of two one pint cans (which is what we normally eat in one meal) in each bag. 18 cans worth for about one hour work. Not too bad. they were 3 bux a dozen for the corn so we will call it a $10 investment counting the bag and other incidentals for 18 cans worth. Regardless of the economic impact, we KNOW where this corn came from and we KNOW how it was packed. Priceless.
The flat beans (whatever she said the variety name was) I took and trimmed off the ends, cut into 2 inch pcs, washed, blanched for 8 minutes (may be a misquote) and I decide to dry this batch (about 3lbs worth of beans) in a new dehydrator I snatched at Wally-hole while I was buying canning salt. It took six hours to dry these beans but a 3lb sack dried into about two thirds of a Ziploc sandwich bag in size....Space saver! All you have to do is drop these in a pot of water on the stove and they plump right back up full size. Our plan with the dehydrator is to make 'packets' of dried veggies for soups and whatnot so all we have to do is drop in the packet contents, heat, and stir....instant soup. We also wan to make jerky, dried fish, and make a bunch of snack packs of trail mix by drying fruit on it. I love dried fruit but tend to shy away from fresh a bit because I prefer dried (yeah, I`m odd)
So in between the freezing and drying, Hot wife was canning green beans. About 5lbs made 5 quarts of canned beans. Last night we tackled all those tomatoes and we canned 6 quarts of homemade salsa. We did use package spices and other pre-dried store bought ingredients and next go around we have decided to use all our own or to purchase all the spices locally so I`m saying we partially 'cheated' with the salsa.
We didn`t actually work very hard and we didn`t really spend an undue amount of time even though she was a rookie and I was relearning stuff from the 70s and 80s. We both decided afterward that it`s been TOTALLY worth the effort and expense. Next season we hope to be harvesting almost all our own veggies for preservation. We had talked about 'garden first, canning second' but decided to do the converse and nail down the canning skills first so that we weren`t taking a chance of wasting good food we grew figuring out how to keep it from spoiling. I suggest others do the same.
Later this week we will tackle the peppers and can a bunch of potatoes. We are still in the 'Learning Stage' and we have found more than one way to streamline the operation and even make it more of a communal effort. The more friends, family, or neighbors you get involved the more help you have. It is a lot of equipment to buy, clean, and setup so it makes sense to go in together and share the work and expense.
Like I said it`s a small step but it`s definitely in the right direction.
SO, does anyone else dabble in this or ?