Clay pot refrigeration

SHTF Survival: Clay Pot Refrigeration
by Tess Pennington
Have you ever wondered what our ancestors did without refrigeration? How were they able to prevent their food from spoiling? Some of our ancient civilizations did in fact have refrigeration and used simple items they had on hand to create it.
The zeer, or clay pot refrigeration keeps food cool (icy cold) without electricity by using evaporative cooling. Essentially, a porous outer earthenware pot, lined with wet sand, contains an inner pot (which can be glazed to prevent penetration by the liquid) within which the food is placed. The evaporation of the outer liquid draws heat from the inner pot.
In a short or long-term disaster where power is out, knowing essential skills on how to prevent foods from spoiling will help you survive longer and stay healthier. Further, having this simple device can also help you have a diverse diet during a disaster and prolong food fatigue. The best part is that making this device is incredibly cheap, very effective, and doesn’t require any electricity, which is perfect for those disasters where the power is affected and you have no fuel to power your generators.
All that is needed to create a clay pot refrigerator is two terra cotta pots, one larger than the other, as well as some sand, water, and cloth. To make the “fridge”, you just put one pot inside the other, and fill up the spaces with wet sand, which keeps the inside of the pots cold. You will also need to put a wet towel over the top to keep the warm air and light from getting in.

Free prep items at Walgreens this week!

I was reading recently about things that are in great demand after a natural disaster.  One was over the counter pain medicine, & another was eye drops.  I hadn't thought about eye drops!  But you can get both those things free after register rewards at Walgreens this week.  Grab an ad when you go in the store, they're on the back page.  Can't beat free!

Earthquake info

http://ussc.utah.gov/publications/roots_earthquake.pdf
There's some great earthquake prep info in this free ebook.  The first part is Utah specific, but the preparedness info applies to everyone who may live near an earthquake.

Cool survival book!

I bought this book for $10 at Recreation Outlet & picked up another for a Christmas present.  Now that I've had time to look through it, I wish I'd bought more at that price!  This is a very comprehensive guide.  It has photos with all the instructions, which I much prefer over vague drawings.  It covers wilderness & urban areas.  The sections are Bushcraft, Shelter, Fire, Water, Food, Tools, Self defense urban, home survival, surviving on the move, surviving terrorism, surviving nature, first aid.  Lots of it you could save for reference (such as tanning a hide, building an igloo), & others you'd want to learn ahead of time (such as self defense, securing your home, how to escape when bound).  This book was WELL worth the price!!

Solar Chocolate chip cookies in a jar

Based on the principle of canning bread in the solar oven, (see Sept post), I decided to try chocolate chip cookies as well.  I'd already cooked chocolate chip cookies in both my solar ovens (see July post).  This time I baked them in the jar.  Obviously I could have filled the jar more...I wasn't sure how much they would poof up.
They didn't slide out of the jar as easily as the french bread I did this way (Sept post).  But that may be because I didn't grease the jar well enough.  But these tasted GOOD.  As with most things I'd tried canning this way, a slight bit on the dry side.  But not enough to stop us eating them!  You could also let them warm in the sun for a while & get the chocolate chips melty again.  Even in normal times, it would be fun to have some of these already made for whenever you wanted cookies.  In a food storage situation, these would be heavenly!

solar cinnamon rolls

I was wondering how my favorite cinnamon roll recipe would work in the solar oven.  These are a kind of sticky bun; I got the recipe from my grandmother, & I make them twice a year.  I didn't want to risk too many, so I put these 3 in my Global Sun oven.  Worked great!  The taste was maybe slightly different, but you'd only notice if you'd just eaten one out of the regular oven (which I had).  They even browned on top which surprised me.  I left them in for about an hour (forgot they were there!), but they seemed to be just right.

Great deal on Tattler reusable canning lids!

You can see my original post on these lids at
http://singlemompreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/07/reusable-canning-lids.html

For the next 3 days at http://www.markdown.com/ you can get a package with 100 regular mouth rings & lids, & 100 wide mouth rings & lids for $85.75, & the price includes shipping.  This is a 40% discount & a great way to try out these lids!  And you can purchase up to 5 packages a person.

Here's their instructions on using them:
http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/howtheywork.aspx

egg brush

When I got chickens, I'd heard of egg brushes to wash the eggs.  I kind of figured that was unnecessary, & spent the first year washing them by hand.  But once in a while there was one that was more soiled, & I hated to just throw it away.  But you can't really "scrub" eggs by hand without breaking them.  So I bought one of these when I needed a bit more to get to free shipping on amazon.  I love it.  It cleans the eggs in a jiffy & is so easy!  I should have listened in the first place!

oven gloves for solar oven

While testing "canning" bread from the solar oven, I discovered it was tricky to do with regular hot pan holders.  Trying to get the reusable canning lid on, & then the ring, & holding the jars.  Tricky!  So I decided to try some of these.  They're awesome!  A bit big on my little hands, but still way better.  I can manipulate things with the solar oven so much better.  And I've never had my hands start to feel too hot.  I'm really glad I got these.

manual egg beater

On one of the lists of "things to have", I noticed a manual egg beater.  I had tried to whip cream with just a whisk once, but quickly lost patience & got out my mixer.  So I bought this one, based on the amazon reviews.  It works great!  Almost as fast as an electric mixer & easy to use.  I'm glad to have this for all that shelf stable whipping cream!

Solar Oven Creme Brulee

I made this from a crock pot creme brulee recipe.  It wasn't quite the best I've had, but better than a lot I'd paid $5 for at a restaurant.  It was quite tasty!  It was easier to get it to cook right than any stove top ones I've tried.  And made entirely out of my food storage (stored eggs from chickens, see post in July on how to do that), thanks to shelf stable whipping cream (see previous posts).  How cool is it to be able to have creme brulee, with no electricity & living off your food storage?!

--2 cups heavy cream

--5 egg yolks

--1/2 cup sugar (baker's or fine sugar is better so the granules disappear)

--1 T good vanilla

--1/4 cup raw sugar (for topping, add later, I used regular)

--whip the 5 egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl

--slowly add the cream and baking sugar while mixing

--add the vanilla

Pour into ramekins.  Put in larger dish, & fill that 1/2 way up sides of ramekins with water.  I cooked them for about 2 1/2 hours in the SOS oven.  You can put sugar on top & brown with torch (or on broil in the oven) if desired.

MMMMmmmm!

Case lot sale at Smith's

If you have a Smith's near you, they have a caselot sale starting tomorrow!  It's an unusual time of year for one but take advantage of it!  If nothing else, at least go get a case of Ramen noodles for $3!  It has 24 meals!
Lots of other good deals too!

Almost free solar rice krispie treats!

 I decided to try melting marshmallows for rice krispie treats in the solar oven.  It was really nice!  It took about a half an hour, but they melted evenly, didn't burn & I didn't have to stand there & stir them.  Tasty!

Since I'd gotten the rice krispies free with a sale, & the marshmallows with a coupon for $.25, & took no energy to cook, these were almost free!

Free batteries

Office Depot has 8 pack for AA or AAA Energizer batteries for $7.49 each.  Get back that same amount on your rewards card to spend later.  They also have a lot of other free stuff too.  The "bankers boxes" can be great for storing prep items in.  Limit 2 of each item per day.  Good in store or online!

New Years Preparedness resolution

I love how many people I know have preparedness for their New Years resolution.  That's one that even if you don't do perfectly, anything will make a big difference later!  So give that a thought!  Go on a Dollar Store prep shopping spree:  http://singlemompreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/07/preparedness-items-at-dollar-store.html  Start the $10 a week prep plan:  http://singlemompreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/10/start-your-food-storage-for-5-10-week.html    Get some chicken & can it (on sale at Kohlers this week for $1.69 lb for breasts).  Get some free batteries every time they're available.   Do something every few days, or at least every week, & you'll be amazed at how quickly it starts to add up!