Category Archives: Food

Dehydrator

Posted by on November 29, 2011 Comments Off on Dehydrator

I love our new dehydrator Nesco American Harvest FD-1018P 1000 Watt Food Dehydrator Kit.Since we received it we made 2 batches of beef jerky and currently have our second batch of fruit leather drying.

We decided on this model for a few reasons:

  • Made in the USA
  • 8 trays
  • 8 fruit leather trays
  • 8 sticky/small food screens
  • Price
These are only some of the reasons we went with this model, these are just some of the highlights.
This is a special edition model, it comes with 8 trays and screens.  The standard model Nesco Gardenmaster FD-1010 only has 4 trays and costs almost as much as the FD-1018P, so it was pretty much a no-brainer.   I considered the next model up Nesco GARDENMASTER FD-1020, but this unit doesn’t have the potential capacity.  I would however recommend getting a timer, my second batch of jerky was a bit over dried since I had to leave it running overnight.

Now an electric dehydrator isn’t ideal for a post apocalyptic world but, won’t be a total loss.  If you have one and have experience using it you will have the knowledge to dehydrate and what to dehydrate.  You can use the trays for other dehydrating methods.  You can ask the Prepwife, I don’t make purchases very lightly, I spent a good amount of time researching the pros and cons of this unit before deciding on this particular dehydrator: Nesco American Harvest FD-1018P 1000 Watt Food Dehydrator Kit.  I could keep writing on this topic for a while.  I am going to wrap it up for now. We will revisit this topic multiple times.  It is an important one for preparedness…

the Survivalguy

Peanut butter

Posted by on November 8, 2011 Comments Off on Peanut butter

Peanut butter is a wonderful thing.  It tastes great, and it’s packed with protein.  We go through a considerable amount of it in our house.  So when we heard the news of peanut butter prices going up, we weren’t too happy.  On the up side our local Wegmans will be keeping their price through the end of the year.

Prices for peanut butter are going up 20-40%, varying by brand.

Peanut butter prices going up

This is just another in a long line of rising food costs.  When the cost of foods started rising the manufactures did it in a covert manner.  Most made the packages smaller while keeping the prices the same.

‘Till next time,
the SurvivalGuy

 

Plain Granola Recipe

Posted by on February 4, 2011 3 comments

A few weeks ago, I was eating some granola for a snack.  I got thinking about it and wanted to make my own.  So I started looking for a recipe for plain granola.  This proved to be a little more challenging.  Most of the recipe’s I found included nuts.  I wanted just plain granola, I can add fruit and nuts as I want.   The first recipe we found was lacking, I actually think whoever posted it, may have left something out or had the measurements wrong.  It turned out dry and had almost no flavor, not what we were looking for.    So we found another recipe.  I made a batch of the new recipe.  This one was better and more of what we were looking for.  I have since made several batches (we have been eating it daily for snacking).  I have adjusted the recipe to our liking and the end result is below.

CAMPFIRESHOP.com – Plain Granola  Recipe
Kitchen items needed for preparation:

  1. Two Mixing Bowls
  2. Measuring Cup
  3. Measuring spoon
  4. Cookie Sheet
  5. Parchment Paper or Non-Stick Spray

Ingredients:

  • 2 Cups rolled oats (Old fashioned)
  • 1/2 – 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 3 Tbs Vegetable oil
  • 1/4 Cup honey
  • 1/4 Cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure Vanilla extract

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly spray with non-stick spray to keep ingredients from sticking to the cookie sheet pan.
  2. Toss the oats with cinnamon in a big bowl.
  3. In the other bowl, combine oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Blend together with a whisk.
  4. Drizzle honey, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla mixture over the oats mixture, mix until the oats combination is covered with the honey mixture (you may find using your hands works well).
  5. Spread the mixture onto the lined cookie sheet. It’s okay to leave a few clumps so that it resembles granola that you purchase at grocery or health food stores.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Use a spatula (preferably metal) to take granola from the pan. Once cooled, pour into a storage container, and mix in raisins or any other additions you would like in your granola. Seal the container with its lid, and store in a cool dry place for up to two weeks.

** If you allow it to cool on the pan you will have more granola clumps

** The recipe calls for 1/2-1 teaspoon of cinnamon.  I use 1/2, this gives it a light cinnamon taste without being to strong.

This is a simple recipe to make plain granola at home for a fraction of the cost you pay at the grocery store.