Finally Garden Veggies! Preparedness 6.0 - Calories vs Nutrition, September Is National Preparedness Month!

 

Finally Garden Veggies!

With our late start (due to crazy weather) and then HOT crazy weather our veggies took a beating. We have finally cooled down into the 80s and so things are settling in. All the watering paid off! I harvested one lemon cucumber a week or so ago. Tonight we got two wonderful tomatoes, two slicing cucumbers, several pickling cukes and a medium sized zucchini! The tomato plants are really loaded and there's some paste tomatoes that are orange, almost ready. Will go out into the garden today and trim back a little bit of the foliage to help the tomatoes get riper faster.  We're still getting eggs, apples are not quite ready for Labor Day weekend I think. I will be doing peaches instead for canning. Because it's been so busy on the weekends so I decided to freeze the peaches until I could can a bunch of them. So that's the plan!

Preparedness 6.0 - Calories vs Nutrition/ What I Bought This Week-

There's lots of preparedness foods, like freeze dried, out there. Some are pre-mixed foods, some are single food, like fruits, veggies and proteins. I started looking at ingredients, reviews and taste tests. Here's a few things I noticed right out of the gate: lots of lots of empty calories, lots of dairy based products, white flour and a lot of salt. Obviously there's a difference between starving to death because you don't have anything to eat versus maintaining your health. If you're in a real emergency situation if you're really active you need plenty of protein/crabs and calories. One of the things I saw was a few different brands that specialize in freeze dried foods that have one ingredient. For instance freeze dried chicken chunks. Big difference between that and a chicken flavored casserole meal with white rice, salt chicken flavoring and dairy. With the chicken chunks you can make all kinds of different meals! So if you're looking for different foods to store for true preparedness, whether freeze-dried, dehydrated, or canned,  check the label and think about what you're buying. Dave and I are pretty allergic to most Dairy. I can eat a small amount with a meal but if I overdo it I really pay for it with major acid reflux. If Dave eats too much Dairy he also has some issues but they're different. So I was good to realize what your options are. There's also taste, good review here-  

Glad I haven't bought  any ReadyWise!

What I Bought This Week-

Two books, used on eBay, both by the same author- 

and 

I used to follow Wendy's old blog (now defunct) wanted to read her books. I found her new blog Milkingsquirrels.blogspot.com  Great stuff! Nice interview with her here Failuremag.com

A little inspiration-

Went back to Grocery Outlet and bought some more unbleached King Arthur self-rising flour. I also found some other organic unbleached flour. Bought some organic spelt berries for grinding for a different kind of flour, two more containers of crunchy peanut butter to stash and some cocoa powder! I won't survive the apocalypse without chocolate! The great thing about cocoa powder as you can use it for almost anything, baking, hot chocolate, Etc. Bittersweet chocolate chips, great for baking in the winter, a big loaf of a whole grain rustic Artisan 1/2 price. Got a nice box of cans of fat-free refried pinto beans, some more canned sliced carrots. I bought a new steam canner, one with a thermostat. The other one I have worked perfect, but you have to sit and wait for a steam plume to start your time. I thought this would be more efficient. There's quite a few University Extension office's that recommends steam canning. I've also done water bath canning but it's a lot simpler, not so much water with steam canning. There still seems to be quite a few canning jars in stock locally, just zero lids. Also got extra cat food! Anya has a sensitive tummy, has to eat super soft food/pate.  

September Is National Preparedness Month-

With Louisiana being hit by another hurricane, Ida, good reminder you just never know when things can happen. Food, water, meds, basics are really critical, as well as being able to get info. When cell towers go down good to have a hand crank radio! 

Link here Ready.gov and here Redcross.org , there's tons of site online for lots of info, don't forget your pets!