With so many different methods and techniques preserving your own food can feel overwhelming. This guide will help you get started so you can choose the right methods for your food preservation goals.
Whether you’re an experienced prepper, new prepper, or not even into prepping, you’ve probably heard that some people dehydrate foods. Maybe you know why it’s important to know which foods you can dehydrate and you’ve finally decided to give it a try. But in case you aren’t aware of all the great reasons to dehydrate ... Read more
My very thoughtful Husband bought a bag of masa harina , (aff link) opened it and used it to make dinner shortly after I bought a new bag o...
Pemmican itself is a basic recipe, but it takes knowledge of what makes it great to make a recipe that will last. And that recipe is 3 lb. Bisson and...
Hurdling is a combination of more than one food preservation technique. The idea is to create a series of hurdles for microorganisms.
Are you looking for the food dehydrator recipes? This is the ultimate list of dehydrated food recipes and resources! Whether you are a beginner or experienced at dehydrating, this list is for you!
Homestead meat curing uses traditional methods to add flavor and preserve meat. if you raise meat, it's a great skill to add to your homesteading skillset!
Acorn is probably one of the most overlooked survival foods. Here is how to prepare acorns for consumption and use them in recipes.
Learn how salt preserves meat and how you can safely cure your own meat at home to preserve it and get that delicious cured taste.
Welcome! One of the old forms of food preservation is fermenting and curing meat. It's also one of the tastiest in artisan salamis, pepperoni, aged cheeses, and of course, bacon, just to name a few. Not
Four dozen dehydrated eggs in a quart jar A few years ago I started dehydrating my extra eggs over the spring, summer, and fall. The main reason I did this was because from about November until March our chickens don't lay eggs up here in the cold north, with our short winter days. We didn't like having to eat store-bought eggs during the months our chickens got their break from laying. In the summer we gave eggs away to everyone we could push them off onto, and it seemed a shame to give away so many eggs, then have to pay to buy them in the winter, as well as buying feed for the chickens during those months too. We live off-grid with solar electric power, so putting lights in the chicken coop isn't an option. Winters are cloudy and the days are short, so we have to conserve electricity during those months. Dehydrated eggs have the disadvantage that you have to use them as scrambled eggs. That means no fried eggs in the winter, but lots of really good and creative omelettes! They can also be used in baking. I use one tablespoon whole dried egg to 1 tablespoon water, to make one reconstituted egg. You can also separate the eggs and dry the whites and yolks separately. If you like to bake things that call for egg whites, or to make meringue, you can use the dried whites. The dried yolks can be reconstituted and cooked for eating, or used in baking. My Nesco dehydrator came with one plastic liner for making fruit leather. I use it when I dehydrate eggs and I line the other trays with wax paper. I cut the hole out in the middle so it would sit on the tray, and trimmed the edges with extra so I could bend it up and form a lip around the edge so the egg wouldn't run off the trays. I'm careful with the wax paper and re-use it for several batches before having to cut fresh wax paper. Each of these trays holds four eggs. If you have a different dehydrator you can experiment to see how many it holds. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them until the yolks and whites are evenly mixed, if you're dehydrating whole eggs. With the lined dehydrator tray sitting on the dehydrator, so you won't have to move it after filling the tray, carefully pour egg onto the tray. Move the bowl around the tray and pour until you have a good covering. You can use a spoon to further spread it. You don't want it too thick or it'll take a long time to dry. I poured mine about the thickness of a plain chocolate candy bar. Try to spread it evenly so that you don't have part of the tray finished before the thicker parts. It won't be perfect, but take a few minutes to spread it as evenly as you can. This is partway through the drying process. You can see the 'skin' forming on top. Set your dehydrator to the hottest setting, if you have a temperature control on it. Mine is 135 degrees. You can dry eggs in the oven on a low setting, but use the absolute lowest temperature setting your oven has. You don't want to cook the egg, you just want to dry it. If you live in a dry climate you can air-dry the eggs. Watch them closely and pour them thinly on the trays. I tried flipping mine partway through once and it was a messy disaster. It takes my dehydrator about 8 hours to dry four trays of eggs. When they're done I lift the wax paper off the dehdrator tray and I turn it upside-down over a cake pan. The dried eggs should peel off without leaving a mess on the wax paper, other than a few crumbs. If it's still wet and slimey, put it back on the dehydrator tray and dry it longer. When they're crumbled in the pan they resemble cornflakes. I broke them into crumbles, then spooned them into the blender to make egg powder. The finished egg powder is in the bowl. I later started just packing the crumbles into a jar and crushing them down with a wooden pestle from a mortar and pestle set I have. When reconstituted, it works just about as well as 'powdering' it in the blender. It doesn't make a dry powder. It makes a somewhat-greasy powder. If you have trouble reconstituting it try using different temperatures of water. It will look grainy when it's reconstituted, but when you cook it, as either scrambled eggs or omelettes, it comes out with an even texture and a bit spongy rather than fluffy. The taste is the same as fresh eggs. We take it camping, so I put some in a ziplock bag for that purpose. This bag in the picture traveled with me on a 1,100 mile bicycle trip in spring and early summer 2010. Dumped straight out of the trays and before further crumbling the dried eggs look like peanut brittle without the peanuts. The majority of our dried eggs are packed tightly into glass jars and stored in our dark, cool root cellar. Most summers I dehydrated around 24 dozen to store for winter use. It's been a big savings and a great way to have 'home-grown' eggs over the winter. If you have comments or questions, please leave them below or email me at: [email protected] Susan
Sticky little jewels bursting with sweet and tart flavor! Delicious as a snack, in salads, cakes and in savory dishes too!
7-minute video showing how to make vinegar using a mother, triggering fermentation in order to turn different liquids into separate types of vinegar. A couple of months ago, I started a batch of vi…
This article focuses on the food storage lessons that could be learned from WWII. During this time resources were limited and people had to struggle along with the soldiers. That is a decidedly different look than war fighting in the modern age.
Long before refrigerators, people stored their food using time-tested methods like larders, root cellars, canning, drying, and smoking.
What happens when you can’t rely on the fridge for the preservation of food? Most households have a refrigerator that does an excellent job at storing food. Stuff like meat is one of the most common food items among them. And it’s one of the first to get spoiled if not preserved properly. So let’s ... Read more
Pemmican is a long-lasting food source for survival. Learn how to make pemmican at home with simple ingredients and easy steps.
Stocking a frugal real food pantry saves time & money! Learn how to stock a pantry on a budget & basic pantry staples/ingredients every kitchen should have.
Once you find out how simple it is to dehydrate mushrooms, you'll want to make lots to have on hand to add to a variety of different recipes.
There's no need to buy store-bought pectin when you can make it from apple peels. Here is a tutorial from someone who religiously saves apple peels and cores!
Citrus fruits are a great natural pectin source for home canning, and many "no added pectin" recipes actually add natural citrus pectin in the form of lemon juice. While citrus juice has a good bit
For centuries, pemmican was the ultimate survival food. But is there any reason we would want to eat it today? Yes! And here's the recipe.
In this article, we’ll talk about ten foods that will easily last for over ten years. Then, we’ll look at why you should store this food.
Learn how to make lard for your own cooking and baking. You will be able to provide your family with a healthy, nutritious fat for a few dollars.
These pioneer recipes are simple. Even though they were prepared from scratch, they're easy to make and taste amazing.
Ajvar is a delightful Balkan condiment. Made from freshly roasted red peppers and eggplant, it's a versatile spread or dip served with meat, bread, or vegetables.
Rationing tips were plentiful during WWII. Here are twenty vintage pointers that might help you, too, if you ever find yourself in a pinch.
From canning to smoking we give you 9 amazing ways to store meat without a fridge. Don't let your meat go bad, check it out today!
Just about everyone loves sweet, smoky ham and crispy bacon, but not everyone is thrilled about meats cured with sodium nitrate. Although this substance is natural, it may cause problems for some people. Fortunately, it's easy to make your own curing salt without nitrates.
Let's open our pantry today, shall we? Ground Ginger that so many of use in our cooking is actually a rhizome of the Ginger Plant (but we still know it as
Interested in learning how to make vinegar from scratch? This tutorial will pave the way and give you confidence to take the first step!
For centuries, pemmican was the ultimate survival food. But is there any reason we would want to eat it today? Yes! And here's the recipe.
What's pemmican? If you're concerned about storage of your family's long-term food supply, learn about making pemmican with wild game meat.
I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but the lower shelves in my kitchen cupboards are dedicated to self serve 'toddler food' - Costco sized portions of safe and not completely unhealthy snacks that my older two kids can help themselves to without me having to help them reach, open or pour out the food. Which let me tell you, has been so helpful since we've had our third baby. It makes me feel a little guilty letting them wander the house and help themselves to their snacks, but I'm not a perfect parent, especially when the baby needs me. But wouldn't I
This recipe for pine bark bread comes from Sweden and uses the outer bark of a pine tree ground into a fine flour. The resulting bread is more like what most people would consider crackers.
A pig is a large animal, capable of providing meat for a family for the better part of a year properly preserved. These days, we freeze most of our meat to keep it from spoiling,
Learning how to render tallow is a time-honored skill which will enable you to make your own soaps and candles. It's easier than you think!
Learn how to make white vinegar and apple cider vinegar from scratch! You’ll never run out of this staple again once you’ve perfected these easy recipes.
Following a collapse one of the hardest things to make or find will certainly be enough fat to cook foods and fulfill your dietary needs.
How to Process Acorns and Make Acorn Flour: In this instructable I will show you how to process acorns and make acorn flour. You will learn how to prepare acorns to eat. Acorns are a very abundant food source but it seems few people know that they can be eaten. I have talked to several people…
Many preppers love to eat meat, but they usually store it in a refrigerator or freezer. What are they going to do if the power goes out?
Hardtack is a survival food that can sit on the shelves for years. Check out the 5 easy steps to making your own hardtack.
In…
Homemade boullion cubes made with veggies, garlic, bits of meat, and broth add the perfect flavor to all your favorite recipes! These taste so much better than store-bought, with no artificial ingredients like MSG.
Acorns are an abundant wild food source around the world, and a single tree can produce more than 2,000 pounds of nuts. Rich in calories and micronutrients, eating acorns was once a part of l…
What's pemmican? If you're concerned about storage of your family's long-term food supply, learn about making pemmican with wild game meat.