Food & Water Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Knowledge Weighs Nothing

How To Grow Garlic From A ’50 Cent’ Supermarket Garlic Bulb

Ok, this is fairly simple, but it always surprises me how many people don’t know this, and also how many people don’t do it…

Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow, as long as they don’t sit in soggy, wet ground, they rarely have any problems. Garlic does take a fair while to grow, but this is countered by the fact you can grow a year’s worth of garlic in around a meter square. Also once cropped and dried, garlic will keep for up to ten months.

Literally a dollar or two, and 10 minutes planting once a year, will provide a whole year’s worth of garlic! Also, you’ll never need to re-buy garlic bulbs to plant, as you can replant some of last years crop.

If possible, I recommend that you purchase organic garlic bulbs (to plant) from the market or supermarket. If you can’t afford to buy organic garlic, don’t beat yourself up. Just get the regular garlic you can afford. We have had great success growing with cheap 50-cent garlic bulbs from the supermarket.

How To Grow Garlic With Garlic From The Supermarket

Take one garlic bulb and pull off all the individual cloves. Each one of these cloves will grow into a whole new garlic bulb!
Take the separated cloves out to the garden, to where you will be planting them. Make a hole in the soil with your finger that is just a tiny bit deeper than the garlic clove is high.
Pop a garlic clove into the hole, with the pointy end of the clove pointing upwards. This is very important! If you plant the garlic cloves with the pointed ends down, they will not grow.
Now just pinch the soil in around the clove and firm in a bit. When done the top of the clove should be just below the surface of the soil.
Now repeat the process, but leave a space of around 10 cm (4 inches) between each planted garlic clove.
Water the garlic well, and now just wait for it to do its thing!

The best time to plant garlic is October/November, but you can also plant in the Spring. In fact, we have planted garlic at various different times and it usually grows pretty well, as you can pull and use garlic at any stage of its development really.

Additionally, if you ever find some store-bought garlic is starting to sprout in the cupboard, don’t throw it away, try to plant it up and see what happens…

The Four ‘Golden Rules’ For Caring For Cast Iron Cookware

Rule 1: Don’t wash cast-iron cookware like normal pots and pans.

Don’t wash cast-iron cookware like normal pots and pans. Dishwasher detergent and dish soap will remove the seasoning (oil coating) on the skillets etc, that is required for successful cooking and storage. If the seasoning is removed, food will stick to the cookware, and when stored the cast-iron will oxidize and rust.

Rule 2: Clean cast-iron cookware like this.

In most cases, a quick wipe around with some kitchen towel and cooking oil will suffice. If you do have some stuck-on food that doesn’t come off with a quick wipe – pour a cup of water in your skillet (etc), put it on the heat and let it boil for a minute or two. Remove from the heat, pour the water away and carefully wipe with some kitchen towel and oil. If the pan has still not come clean, add a handful of coarse salt and use some paper towel to rub the pan. The salt acts as a gentle abrasive that won’t damage the cast-iron.

Rule 3: Re-season after use

After you have used and or cleaned cast-iron cookware, be sure to re-season it before storage and further use. To do this – add a little oil to the cookware and use some paper towel to gently rub it around to seal and protect it. This will protect and stop the cookware from rusting in storage, and mean it is ready for use straight out of the cupboard next time.

Rule 4: Treat with care

Never use steel wool to clean cast-iron cookware, it will scratch the surface. Be very careful using metal cooking utensils too as they can also cause damage. Use wooden utensils if possible. Lastly, store your cast-iron cookware carefully. Cast-iron cookware is heavy so it is easy to chip or dent when handling and storing. Chips and dents can affect how food cooks and sears, so handle with care.

BONUS: Find Out What The Numbers & Letters On Cast-Iron Cookware Mean

You’ll either be really interested in this, or you’ll be thinking what’s the point? Actually, since you are reading this post you are likely in the ‘interested’ party category.

There is so much heritage and history wrapped up in old-cast iron cookware, old cast-iron Dutch ovens, skillets, kettles and those beautiful old cast-iron wood-burning stoves. Wouldn’t it be nice if you find out a bit more about them, when were they made, what was their original purpose etc? Well, now you can! Below is an article to the ‘Cast Iron Collector’ website that explains what all those numbers and letters on your old cast-iron cookware mean.

Find Out What The Numbers & Letters On Cast-Iron Cookware Mean

How To Make Pineapple Weed Tea (Great For Stress & Insomnia)

You have probably seen pineapple weed thousands of times but never given it a second look. It likes yards and other trampled/beaten and unkempt areas. It is very easy to identify with its pineapple-shaped yellow flower heads. Pineapple weed is actually a close relative of chamomile, and it has similar calming/sedative properties. In fact, I would say it is a more powerful sedative than chamomile.

Pineapple tea is very simple to make and it tastes great, like a sweeter slightly pineapple version of chamomile tea. It is excellent to drink when stressed to help you relax. It is also great to drink before bed to help you sleep.

How To Make Pineapple Weed Tea

You only use the flower heads to make the tea, so go out and collect around a handful (seems about the right amount for a decent sized cup). Make sure you collect from a clean and unpolluted area. Once you have your flower heads, simply put them in a cup, teapot or French press (French press works very well), cover with boiling water and let them sit and steep for 3-5 minutes. Now simply strain and drink!

Pineapple weed tea is delicious and quite sweet by itself, but it is also amazing if you add a spoonful of honey. Give it a try!

Note: I am not aware of any issues relating to drinking pineapple weed tea and medical conditions or medications, but I am not a medical expert, so just to be on the safe side, check with your doctor if you are suffering from a serious medical condition. I am sure it’s fine but better to be safe than sorry.

(Image from Wikipedia)

How To Make Your Own PVC Water Well Hand Pump

This is a great 9 part series of videos on how to make your own water well hand pump from readily available PVC plumbing parts.

If the SHTF and you need water this could be a very handy skill to know or a very handy bit of kit to have laying around. Additionally, you can never have too many common PVC plumbing pipes and common accessories stored at home. They can be useful for so many other things which they were never intended for, such as:

(Photo Credit: MeAndMother2)

10 Foods To Store That “Practically” Keep Forever

Firstly – nothing will keep forever if it is not stored correctly in the right environment. Many of these foods need to remain dry and be kept in their original unopened packaging or airtight containers.

Sugar

All kinds of sugar, whether white, brown or powdered etc, will last forever if kept dry in an airtight container. Sugar will never spoil as bacteria simply cannot grow on sugar.

Dried Beans

Dried beans were tested by Brigham Young University. They tested the long-term storage of pinto beans, and their conclusion was that pinto beans were safe to eat 32 years after they were stored in an airtight container at an ambient temperature.

Rice

White, wild, arborio and basmati rice all keep for 25+ when kept in their sealed packaging, or when stored in an airtight container. Brown rice does not store so well due to its high oil content.

Corn Starch

Kept dry in its original box with the lid on, corn starch has an indefinite shelf life. Great for thickening soups and sauces post zombie apocalypse!

Powdered Milk

When stored unopened in its original packaging, powdered milk has an indefinite shelf life. Quick tip to determine if powdered milk has spoilt – if it has started to turn yellow, it’s time to bin it.

Honey

Due to its high sugar content and antibiotic properties, honey can remain edible for 1000s of years, even when opened! Edible honey has been found in Egyptian tombs.

Hard Liquor

All distilled spirits such as vodka, rum, whisky, gin and tequila, keep forever, even in opened bottles. Their color and taste may change over time, but they are still fine to drink.

Sea Salt

Salt will never go bad if stored in a dry container and environment. It has the added benefit of being able to be used to preserve other fresh foods too.

Vinegar

Both apple cider vinegar and basic white vinegar will keep indefinitely when stored in a cool/dark cupboard. Vinegar also has countless cleaning, DIY and medical uses (see here)

Ramen Noodles

Yeah those little bricks of noodles with the flavor packets, that cost 20 cents! They have been shown to last 10+ years, kept in their original packaging. Given the price or ramen noodles, stocking up on them is a no-brainer.

Homemade Natural Bug Spray Recipe

If you purchase bug spray it will likely contain a chemical called DEET. Simply put – DEET is nasty stuff, so unless you are plagued by mosquitoes and have no other option, I would steer clear of the stuff. I accidently sprayed some DEET on a tent when camping once… It melted the material! Below is a natural, safer homemade bug spray recipe for you to try. It is very cheap and easy to make and it works well for us.

Ingredients

1 cup of boiled water (left to cool)
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
50-60 drops or peppermint essential oil (you can also try lemongrass or lavender oil too)

You will also need a spray bottle or two.

Instructions

Add all the ingredients to the spray bottle. Give it a really good shake and it’s ready to use. Simply spray on exposed skin and you are ready to go outdoors.

Notes

As it is a natural recipe it does wear off after a while, so be sure to reapply every hour or two.
Be sure to give the bottle a good shake before spraying to ensure the mixture is well mixed.
If you find the spray still smells a bit vinegary, add a few more drops of peppermint oil. You could also experiment by adding different essential oils too.

(Image from: Wikipedia)

How to Build A Simple PVC Tube Homemade Squirrel Trap

This PVC tube homemade squirrel trap is useful for getting rid of pest squirrels and also for trapping wild squirrels for food. This trap is humane, in that it doesn’t kill or harm the squirrel once caught (providing you check it regularly). It’s up to you, if it is a pest squirrel, you can either re-home it somewhere else, or you can kill it. Obviously, if you are using the trap for hunting, you’re going to kill it.

All you need for this trap is a five-six foot length of 6 inch PVC tube. You also need an end-cap or something to securely plug one end of the tube.

Once you have your length of PVC tube with the end capped off, it’s time for bait. I think it is a given that peanut butter works best; smear a little around the open end of the tube and then keep adding a little more down to around an arm’s length down the tube. I also got a slice of bread (which I covered in peanut butter) and dropped it down to the bottom of the tube.

Ok, so now we have the baited squirrel trap, it’s time to set it. Set the trap where you know there is squirrel activity. You want to set the plugged end on the ground and rest the open end against a branch etc. You don’t want the tube to be fully vertical, as the squirrel won’t go down the tube. You want to set it at around 60-70 degrees. This way the squirrel will go down after the food, but cannot escape due to the slippery surface of the inner tube.

A Few Tips

You can spray or smear some cooking oil around the inside of the tube, around an arm’s length down. This will make it doubly difficult for the squirrel to escape.
If you are planning to dispatch the squirrel, the easiest way to do this is to hold a hessian/burlap bag over the open end of the tube and simply tip the squirrel out into the bag. A heavy whack with a piece of wood etc should kill the squirrel quickly and humanely.
If you are hunting squirrel for food, make several of these homemade squirrel traps and set them in several locations.

There you go, a low cost (free if you have some PVC tube laying around), zero skill way to trap squirrels. Happy hunting!

(Photo from: Airwolfhound)

How To Make Butter From Milk At Home

A while back I did the post: Make Mozzarella From Milk In Just 30 Minutes which was extremely popular! Given that so many of you liked the idea of making cheese out of milk, I am assuming that you will also like to know how to make totally delicious butter!

This one I’ve got, as making butter from milk is easy! It’s even easier to make butter from cream, but I have said how to make butter from milk, so let’s stick with that for now.

How To Make Butter From Milk

First things first – pour one gallon of fresh full-cream milk into a container with which has a mouth wide enough for you to be able to skim the cream from the top of the milk when it forms.
Now put your container of milk into the refrigerator for 12 hours or so, overnight will do.
Next, carefully skim off the cream that has formed on the top of the milk. Once you get down through the main cream and it starts to get thinner and more milk-like, stop!
Now leave your cream (covered) out on the side, until the temperature is approximately 75 degrees and it starts to smell a bit off…
Add the cream to a large jar, making sure not to fill it more than 40% full. Put the lid on tightly and shake vigorously for between 10-30 minutes, depending on how vigorous you are! Once you start to notice a distinct separation, with the beginning of the butter clumping together within the buttermilk, slow the shaking right down, but keep going; within a minute or two, your butter should start to turn yellow.
Now strain the butter from the buttermilk through a colander (save the buttermilk for pancakes!) and rinse under the tap. Shake off as much water as possible and add the butter solids to a bowl and mix them together to form one large mass, if there is still excess water in the bowl, pour this out.
Now it’s simply up to you to add some salt to your butter (to your taste), mix it all together, put the butter to a container with a lid, refrigerate and enjoy!

There you go – you’ve turned milk into butter! As said, it is much quicker if you are already starting off with cream, but now you can pretty much make butter from either cream or milk.

Below is a great video tutorial on how to make butter from milk from — Food Farmer Earth.

How To Grow Spirulina At Home

A while back I was watching Doomsday Preppers and there was this guy, I think his name was Ryan Croft, who was growing spirulina in some tanks at home. Ryan believed that as spirulina is so nutritionally dense and complete food, he could all but feed his family with it, with a few additions (earthworms were one I believe…). BTW – duckweed is another crop to consider growing as well.

I did a little research! For those that don’t know – spirulina is a green algae that is incredibly high in protein and other nutrients. It is a full protein in that it provides the full range of essential amino acids required for health. It is also very high in iron and B vitamins. Many people suggest it is a complete food, and you could survive on just spirulina and one or two other foods to meet your nutritional needs. I’m not so sure about that. If nothing else, I don’t want to survive on algae alone!

I think growing spirulina is a good idea for preppers and folks that want to be more self-sufficient. Whilst it looks complicated, once you are set up, it’s not really. Also, you can grow a huge amount (enough to feed a family) in very little space. You do not need any outside space or land to grow spirulina. You could grow all you would need to fulfil your protein requirements in an apartment!

If you are interested in learning more about growing spirulina, the Algae Industry Magazine has written a great post detailing the equipment needed, plus instructions on how to grow spirulina.

Additionally, below is a very detailed video tutorial all about growing spirulina at home.

(Photo from Algae Industry Magazine)

Dehydrated Or Freeze-Dried Foods For Food Storage. Which is Best?

There are some pretty major differences between freeze-dried and dehydrated foods. They are both great as survival foods and emergency food storage. But, the ways they’re processed for preserving purposes are very different. There are other differences, but most of them are directly related to the preserving processes. Let’s take a look at some of the ways these two differ:

How Freeze-Drying Preserves Food

This type of food storage starts with freshly prepared products. Then, the fully cooked products are preserved during a flash-freezing process. Below are the various ways that flash freezing affects freeze-dried foods:

Moisture Contents – When foods are flash-frozen, about 95% of the moisture contents are removed. Removing so much water reduces the weight of the foods drastically. This is what makes freeze-dried products so easy to transport. Removing the moisture also compacts the foods, making them easier to store than some other types of food storage.
Reduced Weight – How does this work? Well, let’s say a 3kg chicken is flash frozen. Once the process has been completed, this same chicken now weighs only 1kg. In order to eat the products, all you have to do is rehydrate them. Simply add some water, wait for about ten minutes, and it’s time to eat.
Natural Flavors & Textures – It’s also important to note that the preserving process “freezes” both the natural flavours and textures of the foods in place. So, once you’ve dehydrated the products, you’ll find that the meals are as tasty as they were freshly cooked.
Good Nutritional Value – The preserving process also “freezes” the nutritional value of the foods in place. That means that after being flash-frozen, the products still contain the original nutritional content, vitamins, minerals, etc…
Shelf Life – Freeze-dried food products have a shelf life of 25 years.
Water Contents – According to experts, about 75% of the foods moisture content is removed during the dehydrating process. This is done using a highly sophisticated drying process.
Reduced Weight – With a large portion of the water content now gone the food weighs much less. It also becomes much compact, making it easy to store and transport. These foods may weigh a bit more than freeze-dried products, but they weigh much less than canned foods.
Shelf Life – There are various types of dehydrated food products. Each has its own shelf life. Generally, though, the shelf life of dehydrated products is between 7-10 years.

How is Dehydrated Food Processed?

Dehydrated foods generally begin as raw, uncooked foods. Then, they go into a special chamber where they go through a dehydration process.

Water Contents – According to experts, about 75% of the foods moisture content is removed during the dehydrating process. This is done using a highly sophisticated drying process.
Reduced Weight – With a large portion of the water content now gone the food weighs much less. It also becomes much compact, making it easy to store and transport. These foods may weigh a bit more than freeze-dried products, but they weigh much less than canned foods.
Shelf Life – There are various types of dehydrated food products. Each has its own shelf life. Generally, though, the shelf life of dehydrated products is between 7-10 years.

Author Bio

This article was written by Chett Wright an emergency preparedness expert.