Here is the update on the online school drama. Antonia has been excepted into an online school. Good! Now we have to figure out a system where she can do her work and in peace. Meaning very little barking from Sarge and no interruptions from the cat. As you will see here that isn’t easy. Toward the of the video, she jumped up on the coffee table where I was recording. So yeah, that is going to take some doing.
Turkey Meatloaf
This meatloaf is from the turkey we prepped last week. There was one egg, half-cup bread crumbs (doesn’t have to be anything fancy), and salt/pepper.
Tuesday I finally made a meatloaf from that prepping session a week ago.
What I added:
Tbsp of taco seasoning (whatever you have)
Topping:
½ c ketchup
½ tsp of mustard
¼ tsp of taco seasoning
Mix the tablespoon of taco seasoning into the meat. Place in a pan for cooking. I used a cast iron pan because I love the crust meatloaf gets from it. Mix topping together and add salt/pepper if you (and your family) like. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Add cheese in the last five minutes if you and your family desire.
Grocery Run
This wasn’t the video I had planned for yesterday. Actually, I hadn’t planned it till tomorrow. Life of a content creator right. Some of the aisles looked good. Some not so good. The Rubbermaid aisle looked worst than the day after Christmas sales.
The cleaning supplies were bare.
SHTF and Homesteading Library Essential Books
These are just some books I recommend for your SHTF and Homesteading Library. Keep in mind these are books if you are going to get you had better do it NOW! I currently don’t have the ability to homestead.
*You don’t have to get the exact books I choose. But consider getting the subject matter.*
Homesteading Book
The one I choose is Back To Basics by Reader’s Digest. This book has everything you need to know to start rebuilding your life and possibly a homestead. From choosing land (you might want to do this now while you can) to butchering, gardening, and even recipes from across the nation. I don’t remember how much it cost but I do remember I got it from Amazon.
Survival
For this, I got The Official U.S. Army Survival Guide. Okay for those of you who are new here my late father served in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He was a first Generation Green Beret which is why when I saw this book it brought back so many memories of conversations with him. It has a lot of great information from what animals and plants are poisonous to which ones are safe. More of it tells you how to look at a leaf and be able to tell. It tells how to set and brace a broken bone. I got it from Amazon for $20.
Cookbooks
Have a variety of these. This is so important. It will help relieve food fatigue. This simply is when you have the same thing over and over. You get sick of it. So have a nice variety of cookbooks or binders with favorites.
Baking Books
Again it can help with food fatigue. Having a variety of bread books especially is important. We need to learn how to make a sourdough starter is going to be essential.
King Arther’s Baking School Cookbook. Awesome!
Canning CookBooks
Here are my selections:
Georgia Varozza has two I love because they are the only ones I currently have of hers.
- Amish Canning Cookbook. Awesome book to start learning from.
- The Homestead Canning Cookbook. Again awesome work.
Ball’s The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. Each section has charts to do simply canning projects like pages 112 to 114 is guidelines for canning fruit. There are about four of these in various sections.
USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning from the National Center for Home Food Preservation book. I don’t trust the government one bit. There have been so many canners like Liesa Sutton who swear by this book. Since I do value her opinion as an experienced canner along with Linda from Linda’s Pantry, Angie from Angie’s Pantry, and Heather from The Kneady Homesteader. These are different ladies from different perspectives. They have been honest about recommending books in the past.
The Unofficial All-American Canner Cookbook by Sandra May. This book is a must-have for pressure canning. You don’t have to have an All-American Canner. I have a presto and the recipes work just fine.
The last book I recommend is The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest by Carol W. Constenbader. This is the Mike Tyson of books. She included everything from canning to dehydrating. Even how to build a dehydrator. Got a cellar, she’s got you covered.
Other Books
The Ultimate Healthy Dehydrator Cookbook by Pamela Ellgen. An awesome book she has this genre covered from A to Z.
Fermenting Food Step By Step by Adam Elabd. This is awesome. He covered every aspect from diary to condiments. Great information.
An Act of Random Kindness
This morning after watching Adam Marfoogle at MFN, he talked about a young boy who took his earnings from a lemonade stand and donated 22,000 in supplies to single moms in the form of diapers and wipes.
After checking out the article myself I couldn’t believe this. 11-year-old Cartier Carey really did do this. The fact a kid this young did such an act of kindness says a lot about his upbringing. Last year he launched a campaign to help the homeless in his area by handing out care packages to them. The fact this kid as young as he is doing more to help people in his community then the adults says an astounding amount for the adults in his life.
People often say they live their lives as Christ would yet they don’t show nearly the generosity he has. No, they are about themselves at the end of the day. This kid is the real deal. I can only hope he will continue on this path of random acts of kindness.
Source:
Boy Donates 22,000 Diapers To Single Moms Using Funds From His Lemonade Stand https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/boy-donated-22000-diapers-to-moms-as-his-summer-project/
Four Died From COVID-19 at Smithfield
I am going to have to go into the political aspect here I don’t want to because I started Scratch Kitchen as a creative release. I can do things here without the political aspect. 4 employees of Smithfield died from COVID-19. Smithfield is owned by a China-based company. Now let’s look at the fact if they were owned by an American company there wouldn’t be any fines. Think about this, Tyson is owned by an American there were no fines for ill workers. JB Meats is owned by two Brazilian brothers who have served time for fraud. They had people get ill, no fines for either company. Nothing. Tyson is opening clinics for their employees. Companies in the 1950s had these clinics. They were a product of Upton Sinclair’s book Into The Jungle about how the immigrants were treated and how American children were treated by companies in packing districts in Chicago. They have gone for years. Thanks to the government. Now they are being brought back and we are supposed to pat them on the back for doing the right thing. NO! Now a Central Arkansas meat processing plant has been told they can no longer process deer for hunters in the area. Keep in mind these hunters are substance hunters. Not sport hunters. They hunt for what they need for winter for their families. No, they can’t use a source they have used for years. Let’s look closer at this. Over the last year, we have seen a push toward plant-based protein, that is for us to be eating, Now we’ve had a pandemic which disrupted our food chain. So now we have plants putting clinics back in their places, Smithfield a Chinese owned company getting fines for deaths, and meat plants being told what they can and can’t process.
Sources:
Gibson, K. (2020). 4 meat workers at a Smithfield plant died from COVID-19 — the feds fined the company $13,494. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/4-smithfield-workers-died-sioux-falls-osha-fined-13494/
King, A. (2020). Central AR meat processing company no longer accepting deer. https://www.kark.com/news/local-news/central-ar-meat-processing-company-no-longer-accepting-deer/
TYSONS TO OPEN CLINICS AT SOME PLANTS. https://shoredailynews.com/uncategorized/tysons-to-open-clinics-at-some-plants/
Meal Prep
Ground Meat for Meatballs or Meatloaf
For this, we took three pounds of ground turkey and divided it up. I got a decent deal on it so I got it. In the meat, there is a half cup of breadcrumbs, one egg, salt, and pepper. Any other seasonings can be added when it’s time to use the meat.
I like this process because it cuts the work down by half and all I have to do is season meat and move on. I have been watching Jamerille Stewart and Amy Maryon for over a year. I don’t cook on their level. But the ideas they use can be used by anyone. Take one day a month and prep the meat for the intended use. Then once week prep things like veggies and fruit for snacking. This also keeps your expenses down. How? Because you have done most of the prep work once a month for your meals, then you just have to get fresh produce when you can for each week. You spend less on eating out. That is where the real expense is, fast food. And it’s not really that good. Wendy’s has a 50 chicken nugget pack now. We went to Kroger for Antonia’s snacks for the weekend shifts. She wanted chicken and biscuits. Their dining room doesn’t open till 9 am. That is when she brought it to my attention. At that point, I am thinking put that 50 pack into six piece bags, and there are some snacks. Below will be the basic directions I followed. Oh, you don’t have to wait two days before you put the meat into one bag.
Easy Freezer Meal Meatballs
Weekly Kroger Walk Through
This week’s walk through Kroger was disappointing, to say the least.
There were only two boxes of jars for jam. No lids. There were 25 lb bags of sugar. Next time you go to the store please pay attention to how the shelves are stocked. How many jars are between the front jar and the back of the shelf. Kroger actually got two new items one was the seasonings I showed in the video and the other was precut chicken which was pre-cooked. It was expensive so I moved on. The new coolers have doors on them now. Why new? Why not wait for another year or why took them so long? We need to start paying attention there are major changes coming.
I hope y’all will take time to watch Sergei’s video links I have included below. Even if you only watch the ones about how his parents use to shop at the grocery stores. You are going to see a similarity to what we are seeing.
Yes! Being prepared to survive anything on your own is important. Having your soul ready for Christ’s return is equally important.
USHANKA SHOW
Soviet Food https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNq3y0OU1_BaxMgxorSdkKfDrRM6kiaYU
SHTF Pantry Staples
Here are our pantry staples. They are based on what we buy frequently and use all the time. Pantry staples are different for every family. Don’t feel like you have to organize your pantries like mine or anyone else’s.
Dry and Canned Goods:
Instant potatoes – This is the most versatile product in our pantry. They can be used to thicken soups or in bread to give a moister bread.
Rice – We have rice at least twice a week. My daughter is part Mexican therefore we go through rice quickly.
Beans – Again, this is something we use a lot. I can them myself and we have them and we buy them commercially canned. When we can get them cheap enough organic we will. We also keep dehydrated beans.
Flour – During the winter I do a lot of baking. It helps to warm the house and get bread or whatever I need to put in the freezer for the summer. I mainly buy All-Purpose flour. I don’t really buy cake or bread flour.
Sugar – I keep a variety of sugars around. Powdered, brown, and regular sugar. I also keep Molasses and dark/light corn syrup.
Baking Powder – This is probably the only single task item I keep on hand.
Baking Soda – This is a baking workhorse. It helps in baking and deodorizing your home. Also cleaning.
Salt – I don’t buy iodized salt. It can’t be used in canning so there’s no point in wasting my money on it. I only buy salts that can be used in canning.
Pepper – I only buy black pepper.
Seasonings – I use a variety of seasonings.
Tomatoes – This is something we try to keep on hand in a variety of packaging.
Cereal – I have hit the motherload of cereal. We have enough to last two years. Also, we have cooking cereals like oatmeal, Farina, and Farro.
Milk – I have dried milk and shelf-stable milk. That you can get in the Cereal aisle of Kroger.
Freezer:
Veggies – We try to keep a variety of them around.
Fruit – Again we try to keep a variety around.
Meat – There are certain meats we keep in the freezer.
Big Announcement: 30 Days of Preparedness Collaboration Prepper Potpourri https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCVZDlOVugI
Pantry Meal
Dress Up a Hamburg Helper
I know it’s been a while since we have done a meal like this. Thre are more people using food banks than ever. People getting in line for banks that don’t open till three in the afternoon yet they are getting in line at six am. This is going to get more frequent as the year goes by. If you are new here’s how it works. I take three or four items I currently have that you would get from a food bank. Then we combine them to make a meal that will be delicious and feeling for every member of your house. So here we go…
The Hamburg Helper I chose was Cheesey Enchilada. I opted to use home-canned chicken. Hamburg helper is something that food banks across the country often get donated to them. Along with canned beans, corn. As a matter of fact the corn I used for this video is a can I was given by a local church last December with ham, and other items.
Take a pound of meat you have on hand. Whatever it be as long as it is either a half a pound to a pound. Of course, if you have to double this. Brown the meat off if it’s not already cooked. As we go through the year I do suspect we will start seeing precooked frozen meats and canned meats at banks. I have already had this experience. A couple of months ago a friend gave me pork for tacos that were frozen and cooked. This is where having a southwest, taco, or enchilada helper in your box. Of course, you can use the store brand if that is what you have. What I added, was a can of corn, pinto beans, and tomatoes with chilies. It was so good. The chilies added a nice bite and the corn had a sweetness to it.
If you do this meal please share what you add and what you change. Let’s help each other and inspire each other.
Betty Crooker
https://www.bettycrocker.com/products/helper
Welcome to Scratch Kitchen! 