Food Prices, Shortages & Inflation - The Trash Index

[freemotion]

Yes, I had hoped to be canning by now, but as always, something comes up. I do have the water bath canner, but no pressure canner yet, but there is still plenty that I can do...HOWEVER, I just planted the goodies to can this year berries for jams and jellies), so it's going to be a year or more before I have enough to can

Learn to pressure can NOW so you'll be ready! Ya know those pork and beans Denise mentioned? You can make 6-7 pints for about $3 in dry beans and salt pork if you buy at the regular grocery store. I get organic black beans through a co-op for around $1.50 per lb, bought 25# at a time. I used to buy the salt pork but now have my own, but even purchased, it comes out to less than 50 cents per pint. The purchased cans are not a pint, generally. So now I spend a little more on the beans and less on the pork and have organic beans with pork for a fraction of the price. Yummier, too. Gourmet!

Right now you can get Costco-size cans of tomatoes and make your own spaghetti and pizza sauces and can put "reduced for quick sale" or bulk purchased ground meat in the spaghetti sauce if you pressure can. I also canned up a bunch of 50 cents a pound turkey a couple falls ago....we made several trips to several stores during that sale and ended up with around 20 birds, if memory serves me, all around 22 lbs or so. I made over 300 jars of catfood, too. Whew. And lots of quarts of turkey breast chunks that were used mostly for turkey salad sandwiches the next summer and a few meals with the addition of home-canned cream of mushroom soup.

Oh, yeah, you can can your own broths made from cheap bones (chicken backs are 59 cents a pound here) and also make that wonderful cream of mushroom soup that is a good base for crockpot recipes or skillet suppers or braising meat in the Dutch oven.

 

[abifae]

A pressure canner is on my wish list.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Home canned broth is the best. You are in control of what goes into it and it tastes sooo much better too. Not all salty. Even if I don't have the time to watch the pressure canner for 90 minutes I still make broth and freeze it. I always plan on canning it another time, but we usually use it up before I have a chance to can it

I also dehydrate as much as I can. It takes up less space and the plastic bags won't break in an earthquake. We store our glass jars of canned food on low shelves, mostly with sliding doors. Some are on shelves with no doors. Then I also store some of them in a big plastic bin on the floor of the enclosed back porch, part of our emergency kit.
Breakage of the canning jars, is one reason I like to make sure I have canned goods on hand, that are in metal cans. I would hate to loose all my food in a really bad earthquake, especially since that would be a time we would need it most!!!

So as much as I hate storing food in plastic, I do store about 1/2 of it in a plastic container of some sort. I just make sure it is food grade.

I cannot imagine living on $400 a month, if we didn't have so much stocked up already and our mini farm. In many ways we live better than many of our friends who make much more money.

 

[Boogity]

freemotion wrote: The two guys that helped us send last year's pigs to freezer camp (ok, not "helped," they did it for us) have a business where they either do this stuff for you (they also put in and maintain veg gardens, build outdoor ovens, paint murals, etc) or do it WITH you while teaching you.....and the client is invited to participate as much or as little as they want. Brilliant. I'm raising a pig for them this year in exchange for their services. Don't forget to "store up" some good connections and be very familiar with bartering.

Ha! Just this past Saturday while sitting in traffic going to the NASCAR race I was talking to my two grandsons about just that same thing. Both boys are starting their second year of college this fall and they are having a terrible time finding work this summer. One is a lifeguard and works about 32 hr. a week and the other is delivering office supplies for 24 to 32 hr. per week. Both at minimum wage for part time workers. I think that's $7.25/hr.

I was telling them to try to think outside the box a little and try to develop something on their own. We discussed putting in and maintaining gardens. We talked about mowing lawns too but there is so much cut-throat competition and so many other guys trying to eek out a living with that. We talked about brush mowing, fence installation and maintenance (many farmers around here put up and take down electric fences several times a year), barn painting, and other local type odd jobs. We discussed the need for equipment for each endeavor and both boys immediately said they would just use their dad's or their grandpa's (me) stuff. I told them that is probably not a good idea and that they could use our stuff to get started but borrowing tools and equipment is no way to run a business.

Both boys have been hunters since they were 12 when they were allowed to shoot a gun or bow. Both are very good at cleaning and butchering game. So I'll mention that part to them and maybe they could learn to dress cows, pigs, goats, sheep as well as wild game.

One good thing about those two boys is that they are not afraid of hard work and long hours. Although they were raised in the suburbs they both worked as farmhands all through high school.

 

[Damummis]

I just saw where Pres. Obama said he can not guarantee Social Security checks for August if they don't come to a budget agreement.
My heart sank. How many people live on that stipends alone? I think I am overwhelmed. :/

 

[abifae]

Well, part of politics is proving you won't bend over for the other side. They have that threat most years because they cannot agree on the budget. I do, however, have enough to cover rent should my roommate's disability suddenly end. And then I'll pay the month ahead and move in with Auntie. We already have a plan. We just weren't assuming it would be in August

 

[Wifezilla]

Both are very good at cleaning and butchering game. So I'll mention that part to them and maybe they could learn to dress cows, pigs, goats, sheep as well as wild game.

I know a LOT of people who are raising poultry but don't have the knowledge or ability to butcher extra roos and drakes. In my case, I CAN do it, but it takes time I don't have and I am not that good at it. Last drake I butchered looked like I used a weed whacker to pluck it I would gladly pay to have young lads like that take care of the sausage fest I have out in my grow out pen.

 

[rebecca100]

On the chance that SS checks DIDN'T go out next month, the hottest month of the year in most of the US, can you imagine the chaos and deaths that would cause? I don't think they could allow that to happen. I live in a poor area and for at least a third of the people I know that is their only source of income. Scary thought.

 

[ORChick]

Home canned broth is the best. You are in control of what goes into it and it tastes sooo much better too. Not all salty. Even if I don't have the time to watch the pressure canner for 90 minutes I still make broth and freeze it. I always plan on canning it another time, but we usually use it up before I have a chance to can it

I also dehydrate as much as I can. It takes up less space and the plastic bags won't break in an earthquake. We store our glass jars of canned food on low shelves, mostly with sliding doors. Some are on shelves with no doors. Then I also store some of them in a big plastic bin on the floor of the enclosed back porch, part of our emergency kit.
Breakage of the canning jars, is one reason I like to make sure I have canned goods on hand, that are in metal cans. I would hate to loose all my food in a really bad earthquake, especially since that would be a time we would need it most!!!

So as much as I hate storing food in plastic, I do store about 1/2 of it in a plastic container of some sort. I just make sure it is food grade.

I cannot imagine living on $400 a month, if we didn't have so much stocked up already and our mini farm. In many ways we live better than many of our friends who make much more money.

FD, are you talking about canning broth here, or canning meat? According to the Ball Blue Book broth/stock only requires 20 min/pint, or 25 min/quart - though it does need 90 minutes if there is meat in it. One of the deciding factors that finally caused me to buy a pressure canner earlier this year was to can stock, and get it out of the freezer. But now I need to find more shelf space

 

[BarredBuff]

On the chance that SS checks DIDN'T go out next month, the hottest month of the year in most of the US, can you imagine the chaos and deaths that would cause? I don't think they could allow that to happen. I live in a poor area and for at least a third of the people I know that is their only source of income. Scary thought.

x2