Homesteading Questions and Tips

[igorsMistress]

Great thread idea!

I freeze and dehydrate a lot, mostly because I don't have time to can and don't have a lot of storage space. Vacuum sealers and oxygen absorbers come in handy.

I use a sun oven frequently. It's fantastic for soups, stews, chili, etc. As long as there's clear sky temp doesn't matter, although wind can be a problem. It can be used for bread, but the bread doesn't brown like in a regular oven.

We store water, but I'm looking to expand that.

I buy my flour in a plastic resealable bag, but sugar is stored in 5 gallon food grade buckets.

My biggest concerns are a power outage, job loss, or prices going so high that many things are simply unaffordable. Fuel costs and minimum wage hikes are already hitting my pocket book.

We have go bags and items stored in them. I also keep a good stash of Clif bars, jerky and other dehydrated items to throw in should the need arise to leave our home.

There's a backpacking site I found many years ago that has a lot of diy meals you can pack in freezer bags and reconstitute on the trail. We fish a lot and I use some of those ideas for our meals when it's cold. These are the options I've chosen instead of mre's and such for our go bags. They would come in handy at home without power as well and no cooking smells.

For animal food, I keep enough on hand at all times to feed my chickens for 2 months. If in 2 months time the electricity hasn't been restored we have bigger problems and the chickens will be eaten and we'll leave with the dogs. Dogs have a 3 months supply of food.

 

[Elsveta641]

One thing I just thought of to keep an eye on if you're stocking up on dried foods is moths. Not sure they are actual moths, but I'm talking about those little jerks that infest rice and flour etc. They start as little rice sized bugs and grow to be little moth like creatures that are tan colored. Your grains and pasta etc needs to be stored in an air tight container. Those bugs will chew through plastic bags, we use large tin bins with tight fitting lids. I've also still been known to eat pasta or rice with those things in it, but I hate wasting food and am kind of a slob so it doesn't bother me much. Or bug me much I should say haha

 

[BigBlueHen53]

One thing I just thought of to keep an eye on if you're stocking up on dried foods is moths. Not sure they are actual moths, but I'm talking about those little jerks that infest rice and flour etc. They start as little rice sized bugs and grow to be little moth like creatures that are tan colored. Your grains and pasta etc needs to be stored in an air tight container. Those bugs will chew through plastic bags, we use large tin bins with tight fitting lids. I've also still been known to eat pasta or rice with those things in it, but I hate wasting food and am kind of a slob so it doesn't bother me much. Or bug me much I should say haha

Sound like weevils. And they don't get IN your grains, the eggs are already in there, they just hatch over time and if conditions are right. That's my understanding anyway. So I keep my rice, dried beans and whole-grain flour in ziploc bags in the freezer so the little buggers don't hatch out! Have never had a problem with them since I started that process.

 

[Elsveta641]

Sound like weevils. And they don't get IN your grains, the eggs are already in there, they just hatch over time and if conditions are right. That's my understanding anyway. So I keep my rice, dried beans and whole-grain flour in ziploc bags in the freezer so the little buggers don't hatch out! Have never had a problem with them since I started that process.

I get my bulk grain and pasta at Walmart, those guys must be infested with weevils. I just assumed it was happening here. Maybe their warehouse has them and that's where they get in
Also had it happen with HyVee store products, but this is Iowa we have a lot of crop pests

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

I get my bulk grain and pasta at Walmart, those guys must be infested with weevils. I just assumed it was happening here. Maybe their warehouse has them and that's where they get in
Also had it happen with HyVee store products, but this is Iowa we have a lot of crop pests

I think they are everywhere, but most people don't store it long enough to see what emerges.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I just assume all grain has it. I have encountered it in every state I have ever lived in, and regardless of what store it was purchased at.

 

[Elsveta641]

I wonder if they have any nutritional value?

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

I wonder if they have any nutritional value?

 

[hispoptart]

Sound like weevils. And they don't get IN your grains, the eggs are already in there, they just hatch over time and if conditions are right. That's my understanding anyway. So I keep my rice, dried beans and whole-grain flour in ziploc bags in the freezer so the little buggers don't hatch out! Have never had a problem with them since I started that process.

That's my understanding also, but I was told that if you put the things in the freezer for a week, that will kill the eggs and nothing will hatch. That's why I buy my flour in the winter so I can put it in the freezing garage. Kind of hard to place 25lb bags of flour in my actual freezer LOL. So far it has worked for me.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

That's my understanding also, but I was told that if you put the things in the freezer for a week, that will kill the eggs and nothing will hatch. That's why I buy my flour in the winter so I can put it in the freezing garage. Kind of hard to place 25lb bags of flour in my actual freezer LOL. So far it has worked for me.

Hmm, good thought.
We've been looking into bulk storage and supplies like flour so that I only have to store a Tupperware tub worth in pantry at a time (but I go through it, about 5 pounds per week easy so need a real bulk supply.) I COULD store in basement in 5gal buckets with something like gamma lids, but your winter garage thinking sounds better to me.
My mum's kitchen always had moth attacks when I was a kid. She too had to change how things were stored and how much she bought at any one time. She never knew to freeze things first, but I'm certainly no stranger to it. Knock on wood, I've never had them infest my kitchens of my adult life.