Dry Canning

[NH Homesteader]

Everyone needs an excuse to go to Ireland!

 

[sumi]

It's well worth a visit! This place is amazing. Beautiful towns, cities, countryside, people… Cheap flights on some of the Irish Airlines too, just saying

 

[NH Homesteader]

Um my husband is afraid to go to Ireland because he won't ever want to come home! He's Irish (and quite red headed) and I'm Scottish so once we get there... I know we'll love it!

 

[sumi]

Oh, there is plenty space to stay here! I think a lot of people came here and ended up staying. I know a lady from S.A. that did.

 

[rodeogirl]

I'm laughing because I think MOST people can figure out how to grow food within 25 years. just sayin' .... we are talking SHTF, not living on Mars, right?

Hey didn't you watch the movie "the Martin" it only took him a few days to figure out how to grow potatoes on mars. That's a lot less time than its going to take me to teach one of my friends to garden.

 

[lcertuche]

For years we thought we were German but only found out a couple of years ago our name was originally O'Ruairc. Apparently our name was Germanized (Is that a word?) when migrated to Germany.

 

[GettysburgGarden]

We dry can and do steel cut oats, pasta, white rice, beans, and such. I was reading and wanted to share an off grid tip: Harbor freight makes a Brake Bleeder and Vacuum Pump Kit for 25 dollars, if you search for a coupon you should be able to leave the store for it for $20. You can use the same large mouth FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer FCARWJAH-000 Wide-Mouth Jar Kit with Regular Sealer and Accessory Hose, White. We get the jars at Tractor Supply Co. the costs of the Ball Wide Mouth Half-Gallon Jar, Pack of 6. If someone knows of a cheaper $ let me know. We buy bulk.. and we buy at dollar general and get the $5 coupon if we buy $25.00. We get the white rice there as an example, and then FREEZE it for 4 days, then let thaw, and then dry-can with two Oxy-Sorb 60-300cc. With a brake bleeder your lids do not come off! Freezing the rice kills some larvae eggs if they were to exist and is simply recommended for some grains. But between bulk and bargain coupon hunting, getting the 5 off for $25.. well the jars of course can be used for like real cooking and real foods and is a fraction of the costs of "prepper food". In a basement in the dark with an average temp of 54-60 you are looking 20 year life shelf for the rice. Glass keeps off rodents, water, humidity.. etc.. I highly recommend keeping couple gallons of rice on hand. When we see Mason jars at yard sales, etc.. we know the prices, we also keep a lid and ring in the kitchen and use other jars that also have the same threads.. oysters as an example in the mid Atlantic have that thread count. blah.. blah.. blah.. blah, I'm new.. but I have had to literally pry off the lids when you put 20lbs of vacuum on a new lid, if you got rubber.. you get a seal.. we use new lids out of habit, but.. keep the old ones in the garage. We are very careful shoppers and cost conscientious, you can get into a genuine long-term prep for very inexpensive and certainly allot less than pre packaged prepper food which if you read the bucket can all be dry-canned.

 

[sumi]

Good info, thanks!

 

[Britesea]

Great idea @GettysburgGarden although I read somewhere that freezing doesn't kill the eggs, but it does kill anything that has hatched. After all, that is how they survive winter to hatch in the spring! If you add some oxygen absorbers to the container of rice, however, the lack of oxygen will prevent the eggs from hatching.

DH mentions that you can also use that Vacuum Pump kit to make a small milker for goats....

 

[Chic Rustler]

We dry can and do steel cut oats, pasta, white rice, beans, and such. I was reading and wanted to share an off grid tip: Harbor freight makes a Brake Bleeder and Vacuum Pump Kit for 25 dollars, if you search for a coupon you should be able to leave the store for it for $20. You can use the same large mouth FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer FCARWJAH-000 Wide-Mouth Jar Kit with Regular Sealer and Accessory Hose, White. We get the jars at Tractor Supply Co. the costs of the Ball Wide Mouth Half-Gallon Jar, Pack of 6. If someone knows of a cheaper $ let me know. We buy bulk.. and we buy at dollar general and get the $5 coupon if we buy $25.00. We get the white rice there as an example, and then FREEZE it for 4 days, then let thaw, and then dry-can with two Oxy-Sorb 60-300cc. With a brake bleeder your lids do not come off! Freezing the rice kills some larvae eggs if they were to exist and is simply recommended for some grains. But between bulk and bargain coupon hunting, getting the 5 off for $25.. well the jars of course can be used for like real cooking and real foods and is a fraction of the costs of "prepper food". In a basement in the dark with an average temp of 54-60 you are looking 20 year life shelf for the rice. Glass keeps off rodents, water, humidity.. etc.. I highly recommend keeping couple gallons of rice on hand. When we see Mason jars at yard sales, etc.. we know the prices, we also keep a lid and ring in the kitchen and use other jars that also have the same threads.. oysters as an example in the mid Atlantic have that thread count. blah.. blah.. blah.. blah, I'm new.. but I have had to literally pry off the lids when you put 20lbs of vacuum on a new lid, if you got rubber.. you get a seal.. we use new lids out of habit, but.. keep the old ones in the garage. We are very careful shoppers and cost conscientious, you can get into a genuine long-term prep for very inexpensive and certainly allot less than pre packaged prepper food which if you read the bucket can all be dry-canned.

We use alot of mhlar bags are o2 absorbers at my place. We buy in bulk too and it really saves in the long run. Speaking of that we need to make a trip to sams and get 50 lbs of pintos pretty soon.