My New Vortex Hand Crank Blender

I got a new Vortex Blender for my birthday this year. I will admit I was very excited to get it. That is, until I used it.

I read all the reviews I could find on this product so I thought I had a good understanding of what to expect. Some of the reviews said the blender leaked from its base, around the blades.There is an O ring in the base to prevent leaks. I didn't know before I saw the blender, but I now know it is a design flaw.  The O ring isn't sized correctly. I really don't understand why the makers of the blender don't fix it, but that is a subject for another day.

So having known that this thing has problems leaking, you may be thinking "Why did you buy it?" Well, there were a lot of reviews that said it didn't leak. There will always be a few defective products made (it is the nature of the production process), even with a good design. I thought that is what some of these people experienced.

In my line of business, I am constantly forced to adapt to unworkable situations with what are called 'workarounds'. A workaround is a procedure or process you can use to bypass the defect in the tool or 'system'. Sometimes you must get really creative to get a workaround to be successful in a business process! I put my business experience to work on my blender design flaw and I found a workaround that, for the present moment, appears to be working. 

Let me show you my new blender. Here are all the pieces, right out of the box and bags.

It was easy to set up.  It doesn't take more than a minute to set up or break down.

I wanted this blender to make smoothies. (Shaking the mixture in a closed container doesn't cut it when you are trying to make a fruit smoothie.) I do have other plans for its use, but this is the primary one. 

Put everything in the blender...

And turn the crank.

There are two speeds, slow and 'fast'. The fast speed isn't really fast but it is faster than the slow speed. I would call it about even with the 'mix'  or 'blend' setting on an electric blender. ('Puree' speed isn't available here!)

Pour into a cup and enjoy!

 I didn't realize the base was leaking until I went to pour the smoothie into a cup. A few drops of the smoothie dripped on the counter. It wasn't a bad leak, it was just a few drops. I washed out the blender and turned it upside down to dry. More drips appeared from the base plate. I tried to get in between the blender and the base plate with a paper towel to dry it off, but it didn't work. The paper towel soaked up the water, but it still continued to seep out from the base plate. Again, not a lot but enough to be an annoyance. 

While I was trying to decide if I should send the blender back, I came up with the workaround. Let me explain what I think caused it to leak in the first place. I made the smoothie with kefir milk. I poured the milk into the blender and went to get the strawberries that I picked from the garden. That is when Molly came in to see me and tell me she needed attention. (She currently has an infected ear and is on antibiotics.) It was time for her dinner and medication and she was tired of waiting! So, I turned my attention to her. I left the milk in the blender and put the blender in the refrigerator. When I was finished with Molly, I went back to the blender and made the smoothie. The milk sat in the blender for about 20 minutes total. Plenty of time for it to slip under the O ring and leak out of the bottom.

So the first process change I made was to not let the liquid sit in the blender for too long. (An idiotic notion for a $100 blender, I admit!) The next change I made was to add all the powder ingredients (if there are any in the smoothie) first. Since I usually add a teaspoon or two of stevia to the smoothie mix anyway, I now do it first. Then the fruit, then add the milk last. Quickly turn the crank and get it blended. Immediately pour into cups. My smoothie recipe makes enough for two. If my husband happens to be traveling for work the next time I use the blender, I am going to need to put the extra smoothie into a different container and store in the refrigerator.

I have made smoothies a few times now and the workaround appears to be a successful fix. The question I must ask myself now: "Is the workaround worth it for a blender that my husband paid almost $100 for, or should I send it back?"

I haven't decided what to do yet. I won't use it anymore unless I decide to keep it. The problem is, I can't buy an alternative. There isn't another manufacturer for this product, and an alternative brand isn't available. I fully understand that a hand crank blender isn't a product in high demand by the general public. 

At this moment in time, what I can say is that unless you are a hard core, off-the-grid homesteader, I recommend you skip this product and stick with your electric blender.

December 2013 Update: I have decided to keep my blender. The workaround has been quite successful and I have not experienced any additional leaking from the bottom. Still, it is a real pain in the butt to have to do this for a $100 blender. Therefore, I CANNOT recommend this product for purchase. Maybe someday, someone will make a hand crank blender that really works!

Top Five Food Processing Tools for The Non-Electric Kitchen

As part of the series, 10 Things You Need to Know How To Do Before You Lose Electricity, I gave the top five non-electric kitchen tools I use on a daily or almost daily basis. You can see that post here. These kitchen tools are critical to be able to function in a kitchen when there isn't any electricity, but they are not the only tools you will need to put food on the table. So, in this post I will show you the top five non-electric food processing tools I use. If, like me, you don't purchase many processed foods, these non-electric appliances are key for you to be able to feed your family when there isn't any electricity.

While using non-electric appliances is extremely important to the way I live, not buying processed foods is also important to me. When you process your own foods, you cut costs, preservatives, and any extra ingredients you may not like or want in your foods! It is healthier, cheaper and doesn't use electricity: a win - win - win in my book! So, here is my list of the top five food processing tools needed for a non-electric kitchen!


#5: Atlas Manual Pasta Extruder Regina

As part of my food storage program, I store whole wheat berries. As long as I have whole wheat stored, I have the ability to turn it into whatever I want: breads, pasta or pies! One of the things I do most with whole wheat berries is to turn it into pasta. To do that, I have the Atlas Manual Pasta Extruder Regina (Santa gave it to me). It is super easy to use and super easy to clean!

This machine makes five different kinds of macaroni:  rigatoni, maccheroni, maccheroncini, bucatini and fusilli.  My favorite is maccheroni pasta because it looks like standard elbow macaroni with ridges. That is what I am making in the picture below.

You can see more about how this tools works in this post, here. Contrary to some reviews I have read online, I don't have any problems turning the hand crank. The key to easy use is the correct water to flour ratio.


#4: Victorio Food Strainer

This tools is critical for making tomato sauce or applesauce quickly and easily! Before I bought one, I used to cut the tomatoes in half, heat them to boiling and then run them through a food mill. Using a food mill was a time consuming process! With the Victorio Food Strainer, it is possible for me to make a gallon of tomato sauce in five minutes! You can see another post on how to do that here.

This tool isn't just good for tomatoes and apples, you can get an accessory kit that works on berries, pumpkins, salsa, grapes, and other fruits with large seeds! I would not be able to can half as much spaghetti sauce as I do if I didn't have this tool!

#3: Victorio Apple Peeler

While I only use this tool continuously on a seasonal basis, I would not be able to process nearly as many apples every year without it! Not only does it core, peel and slice an apple in about 10 seconds, it will peel potatoes just as fast! (To use it for potatoes, you must remove the corer/slicer blade). Before I bought this, I was limited to canning one or two bushels of apples during the fall season. Now, I can do many more. In addition, peeling and coring apples by hand was hard on my arthritic fingers. They would ache for days after I finished canning. Not so anymore! I will never be without this tool again!

It comes with two different base designs, a clamp or a suction base. The one I have has a suction base. I like it because you can put it anywhere, no need to be anchored to the end of a table or counter.


#2: Yogotherm Yogurt Maker

I use this at least a few times each month. Not only does it make yogurt, it also makes cream cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and anything else requiring a culture. However, I must tell you that it really isn't a necessary tool if you have a warm spot in your kitchen you can place the cultured food while the bacteria are working. A word of caution though, it must be a consistently warm spot, able to stay at the correct temperature the culture needs to perform its work. (Yogurt, sour cream, buttermilk and cream cheese all require different temperatures.) I don't have a consistently warm spot that will stay at the correct temperature, so I bought a Yogotherm yogurt maker. It is so easy and convenient! It stays at the correct temperature no matter where I put it in the house!. It is very inexpensive to purchase!. It has an inner container, styrofoam lining and the outer container. That's it. You can see how it works in a post on making yogurt, here.

I make my own dairy products using a Yogotherm so I don't have to eat any artificial ingredients or  preservatives. It doesn't take a lot of effort or time to make your own when you use a Yogotherm! And, everything tastes much better!


#1 Wondermill  Wonder Junior, Deluxe Grain Mill

Without this grain mill, I would end up eating all my wheat berries as a gruel. While they taste OK as a gruel, I have no desire to eat it every day at every meal! (Besides, if you ever had to eat it that way every day, food fatigue would set in very quickly.)  You could grind your wheat like the Indians did, smashing it between two rocks. However, that isn't a very efficient use of your time and effort. This mill is a bit pricey. I had to save up to get mine. There are cheaper hand mills out there, but they don't last. I have owned a few of the cheaper ones - they all ended up breaking! I have owned the Wonder Junior for about four years now and I have not had any problems with it! It works every time I need it to!

What I like best about this mill is it can grind wet foods as well as dry. Things like peanuts (or other oily seeds), flax, coffee, and cloves! I even read an article where someone used it to grind his own cocoa powder from cocoa beans! It is fast and easy to use. You can set it from a very coarse grind (needed for cracked oat groats) to very, very fine (needed for pastry flour).

In addition to using it for wheat, barley, oats, durum wheat, and peanuts, I also have used it to grind dehydrated chili peppers for insecticide! (For a little powder, I use a mortar and pestle; for a lot of powder, I use the Wondermill Junior.)

The Wondermill Junior is the most important food processing tool I have in my kitchen! With the ability to grind your own flour, a world of different foods opens up to you! You can turn those berries into many different speciality flours to make anything you can think of! You can see how to make some common speciality flours in this post, here. The best benefit is, making your own speciality flours is much cheaper then buying it from the store!

As I have said before, when the power goes out, it is my goal to not even notice! I don't plan to miss a beat in my kitchen, with or without electricity!

Cooking with Food Storage: Turkey Noodle Skillet Meal

This is a meal out of The Gourmet Food Storage Handbook written by my friend Chef Tess! Turkey Noodle Skillet Meal is on page 54 of the book.  (Link to the book at the bottom of this post.) This post is my interpretation of Stephanie's recipe.

I made it a bit different from the directions in the book. I didn't use any heat source to simmer the pan. I did something different instead:

• Boiled water using my kelly kettle (You can see here how to do that.)
• Insulated the pot using a variation of the Hot Box. (You can see here how cooking with a hot box works.)

Here is the recipe as it is listed on page 54. My changes are next to each ingredient:

2 cups noodles (I used two different kinds of noodles because that is what I had leftover.)

1/2 cup freezed-dried vegetable mix (I used carrots and broccoli because that is what I had opened.)

1/3 cup cheese sauce powder (I used 1/2 cup.)

1/3 cup powdered milk 

1/4 cup powdered butter

1 cup freezed-dried turkey chunks

1/2 cup freezed-dried mushrooms (Since my husband doesn't like mushrooms, I didn't have any so this was omitted.)

1 TBS dehydrated onions

1 tsp Italian seasoning (I only glanced at this and I thought it said 1 TBS so that is what I added!)

3 1/2 cups water

Even though the recipe says it is a 'skillet' dinner, I added all the dry ingredients to a saucepan. 

Then I went outside to get the boiling water from the Kelly Kettle and added it all at once, stirred briefly and covered.

If you are not using the stove to heat the pan to boiling, this next step is critical. Immediately cover the pan with an insulating cover. I used towels. I didn't bother to go get my hot box because I was in the middle of a work project. I just used two big beach towels.

Stephanie's instructions say, once the water is boiling, turn down the heat and simmer 10 - 12 minutes. I checked mine at 12 minutes but the noodles were not ready. So, I stirred it, replaced the cover and rewrapped the pot with the towels. Total time I let mine sit was 30 minutes. It was still nice and hot when I served it.

I thought the turkey and cheese sauce tasted wonderful! However, when I make it again, I will change the vegetables to something else. My husband said he didn't care for the freezed-dried broccoli. I must agree that peas and carrots would have been a better choice. My husband still managed to eat it anyway with some parmesan cheese on top!

I think this recipe is a winner! I am going to make up some 'Meals in a Jar' with the rest of the turkey next week!

Cooking with Food Storage: Make Your Own Sour Cream

Sour Cream is one of those things I just can't live without! In my opinion, it is required when eating a baked potato or taco salad. I also use it a lot in baking, it goes in cheesecake and apple pies, among other things!

Since I consider it so critical of an ingredient, I need a way to have it without refrigeration (should a time come when I don't have the choice of refrigeration). That means I need to be able to make it myself. It is quite easy to do if you have some shelf stable half & half.  Lots of different company make it.

Well, the bad news is, I didn't have any! So, what to do? Think outside the box! You can make sour cream with canned cream!

I used Nestle Table Cream. I got it at the big box store in the international section. When using canned cream, the final product doesn't taste exactly like fresh sour cream. It is quite good, just a bit different. On a side note, if you used shelf stable half & half, the final product does taste just like fresh sour cream.

To allow the sour cream culture to work, you will need to heat the cream to 86 degrees. No need to turn on the stove top, this is easily done in the Sun Oven! It is truly cooking without electricity as well as cooking with food storage. I used the dark casserole dish shown in the picture above. Start by preheating the Sun Oven for a few minutes.

When the Sun Oven is at about 300-350 degrees, you can put the cream in. The Sun Oven doesn't have to be at any certain temperature to do this because the cream is only staying in there for a few minutes.

I checked it at 15 minutes time and it was at 95 degrees. If I checked it at 10 minutes, it probably would have been just about perfect. No problem, I just let it cool a bit on the counter.

When it was at 86 degrees, I added the sour cream culture. Just sprinkle it on top and let it hydrate for two minutes.

Then, stir it in well. Cover and place in a thermos-like container. I used my Yogotherm.

Let it sit for 6 to 12 hours. When using fresh cream or shelf stable cream, I usually let mine sit for about 6 hours. However, since this is canned cream, it needs to sit a bit longer to develop the tangy flavor. I left this for 10 hours.

When finished, you have sour cream!

I should add here that I don't use canned cream every time I want to make sour cream. I don't even use shelf stable cream all the time. If someone is going to the grocery store the week I need the sour cream, (we do not go to the grocery store on a weekly basis at our house)  fresh cream will be on the grocery list and I make sour cream with that. If I am busy with work that week, sour cream will go on the grocery list and I will use store bought. 

This sour cream will be used as an ingredient in some mini apple pies I am making. You can see how to make mini apple pies with food storage here. My point is you can cook with and have gourmet foods even if you don't have access to fresh ingredients if you just think outside the box!

Home Made Chicken Stock

I know when most people need chicken stock or chicken broth, they reach for a can or carton that they purchased at the store. What I don't understand is why. It is so incredibly easy to make! And superior (in both taste and nutrition) to what you can find in the store.

Let me show you how to make it!

I started with a small chicken. I was cooking it for Molly. It was a beautiful sunny day so I put it in the Sun Oven.  

Once the chicken was cooked and used in the recipe I have for her, all I had left was the chicken carcass. This is what you use to make the stock. Don't just use the bones though, use everything that you have left over: skin, leftover meat, neck, gizzards, everything! Put it in a pot and cover with water. Only add enough water to cover the bones. If it is a small chicken, you can freeze the bones until you have another and then cook them both together. Sometimes I do that when I am busy. 

You can also add any leftover vegetables you may have. I use carrot tops, the ends of green beans, peas (if I have them), and parsley. You can add any spices or other herbs you would like as well. Next time you chop up some vegetables for dinner, save the discards and put them in the freezer. When you go to make a batch of chicken stock, use all the discards you have saved. To help get all the nutrients out of the bones, add a couple tablespoons of vinegar as well.

This is where I differ with some other directions you may find on the Internet. I have read that you should bring the pot to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer. I don't like my chicken stock to boil, it turns cloudy and you get this icky foam that you need to skim off. To keep the chicken stock clear (like the store bought stuff), simmer it on low. A crock pot works really well here. You can simmer it all night while you sleep!

You can also put it in the Sun Oven. In my opinion, the Sun Oven slow cooks better than a crock pot (and it doesn't use electricity!) I use the inside piece of my crock pot and the cover and put it in the Sun Oven. This doesn't even need me to turn the oven every 30 minutes to redirect it at the sun. Slow cook means I can turn the oven every 2 hours or so. In the summer, I can point the oven where the mid-day sun will be and leave it there all day.  I let mine stay in the Sun Oven for a total of about 8 hours. 

When it is done, use a colander to separate the bones, vegetables and anything else you added to the pot. You can discard them now. What you have left is the best chicken stock you have ever tasted! This stuff doesn't last long at my house! 

You can freeze it or can it if you would like. Next time you cook, reach for the homemade stock instead of store bought. Not only will you notice the taste difference in your meal, but you also won't be getting any artificial ingredients in your food - just good wholesome nutrition.

What a cool idea it is to make something so good tasting (and good for you) from things that would have gone into the trash!

 Now that is being frugal!

Kefir

Have you ever tried kefir? All the information I read about it says it is a super food.  For example, here is a paragraph from The National Kefir Association:

"Research shows that Kefir has a wide range of stellar health benefits. Its seven to ten probiotic cultures, combined with essential vitamins and nutrients, work to improve your body from the inside out, helping jump start your digestion, control your weight and fight the flu."

My response to this is "yeah, right!" It sounds like the claims made by 'snake oil salesmen' of yesteryear. So, while I don't really believe in these miracle claims, I do have it and drink it. I purchased mine from here but I bet if you search the Internet, you can find other suppliers.

Why do I drink it? Because in my opinion, it really is a nice yogurt substitute. It doesn't quite taste like yogurt, it has more of a sour taste. However, when mixed with other ingredients, I can't tell the difference between it and yogurt.  AND even better, it doesn't require energy of any kind to produce. You don't have to heat it up to a certain temperature or incubate it to get it to culture like you do with yogurt.  

It is super easy to make!

All the directions I have read said that It is best to start with fresh milk. You should not use ultra-pasteurized milk (like powdered milk and shelf stable milk or cream). They are supposed to starve the kefir grains. However, I have found that both shelf stable milk and shelf stable cream work just fine. While I have only used shelf stable dairy a few times, my kefir grains don't appear to be dysfunctional in any way because of it. Still, I don't think it is a good idea to slowly kill them either. So, overall it think it is best to keep the use of ultra-pasteurized dairy to a minimum. You can use ice cold milk right out of the refrigerator. From what I read, many people make it with raw milk.

Pour the milk into a non-metal container. I use a pint canning jar.

Add the kefir grains. Now, this can be a bit tricky because first you need to fish them out of the cultured milk from yesterday. It works best if you get a small strainer. Pour the kefir into the strainer over a clean bowl or container.

Stir the kefir in the strainer as you look for the kefir grains. 

The first few weeks, it took a very long time to find them. But, after a while you will be able to spot the grains quickly. I promise! It doesn't take more than a few minutes for me to find them now. Here is a picture of a kefir grain.

Continue removing all the grains from yesterday's batch. You can just drop them into the fresh milk container. Cover the container with something breathable. You want air to get in but bugs to stay out. I use a paper towel with a rubber band. Let it sit on the counter 12 - 24 hours.  I usually let mine sit for 24 hours.

Next morning you will have kefir. It looks like this when you take the cover off. You can notice some of the kefir grains at the top of the jar. 

We drink it in fruit smoothies for breakfast. Blend it with some fruit (freezed-dried fruit works really well) and a teaspoon or two of stevia and you have a great smoothie! Since the kefir is created with room temperature milk, you may want to refrigerate your smoothie or add ice to make it cold. We drink ours at room temperature.

Let me also add here it takes four to seven days before new grains will start to culture milk.  Be sure to follow the directions on the package to properly re-hydrate the kefir grains. Once up and going, the grains can be used indefinitely.

If you don't want to make kefir every day, you can place your container in the refrigerator. That will slow down and may even stop the culture.  You can also dry the grains for more long term storage, up to six months.

I believe kefir offers an exceptional substitute to yogurt or sour cream when you are baking. It is so easy and convenient to make and your homemade kefir doesn't have any emulsifiers or other unwanted ingredients like you can find in the store bought versions.

It seems to me a perfect option if you are trying to reduce your dependence on electricity. All you need is a source of fresh milk!

I may try my hand at baking with kefir. I have been collecting recipes for baked goods that look appealing. When I do, I will be sure to post the results here!

What Do You Do With the Cold Food When the Power Goes Out?

This is another post in support of Emergency Preparedness Month here in the US. In addition to all the other emergencies that can occur, hurricane season is well upon us in this part of the world.  In the northern hemisphere, winter is around the corner. At some point one of these events (or something similar) will result in massive power outages that will affect thousands of people . Are you prepared to deal with a long term power outage? If the electricity is off for a few days (or longer) what will you do with the food in your refrigerator and/or freezer? 

I bet almost everyone has food in their freezer. If you only have a few items, you can probably eat them during your power outage and not lose any of the money you've spent on the food. If you have a very large freezer or a stand alone freezer that is full, you risk losing all your food unless you have a plan to deal with it when the power goes out. This post is designed to give you some ideas on how to minimize your potential food losses.

• When the power first goes off, be sure to keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Unopened, your refrigerator/freezer will keep your food colder, longer than if you keep opening the doors. If possible, wrap the entire refrigerator or freezer in blankets to keep the cold in. I will admit this is easier for smaller units than the larger ones.
• Use alternative sources to refrigerate/freeze your food. This is easy to do if it is winter outside. Anything that is in the freezer can be buried in the snow in your back yard to keep it frozen. You can also use the cold weather for a refrigerator.  Put the milk, butter and cheese in an ice chest and put that outside too. The ice chest will help protect the items inside from freezing, yet they will still remain cold. Don't forget to protect any food outside from animals (domestic or wild) that might live in your area. If you'd prefer to keep your food inside, you can always pack snow in gallon size plastic bags, put those bags in the ice chest and keep the chest inside the house with you. In the summer, if the power outage area is small, and you have friends who still have electricity, take the critical stuff to their house.
• Get in the habit of filling jugs with water and placing them in the freezer as space allows.  This is especially important in summer. It is a standard practice at our house. When the power is out, a full freezer will stay colder longer than a half empty one. Also, you can place those frozen jugs of water in the refrigerator to turn it into an ice box like your great-grandmother most likely used. This will give you some additional time to implement Plan B. My Plan B is a massive canning effort so the food won't go to waste. As an extra bonus, those jugs will provide you some nice cold water to drink when it thaws!
• Do you know that you can make ice in the summer with a Sun Oven?  I admit I haven't tried this yet. The idea is to use radiational cooling at night to make the ice. I read this from a research paper posted on a BYU website a few years ago. Point the Sun Oven at a clear section of the sky - no trees or other objects in the way. Place the water in the Sun Oven and leave it overnight. Check on it very early in the morning - like 4:00 am. Depending on the size of the water container, the water should be frozen or have a layer of ice on it and the rest of the water should be very cold.  I am definitely going to have to try this sometime. It may add another tool to my emergency preparedness plans.

In addition to the practical tips above, I have a few 'unconventional' ideas in my emergency plans to keep things cool. I plan on using these ideas if the power is out for a very long time - a few weeks or longer.

• Dig a hole and bury your ice chest as a temporary cool storage area. Dig a rectangular hole just big enough for the ice chest. The entire chest should be under ground. Line the hole with some garbage bags or heavy duty plastic to keep the dirt out of the chest. Back fill with dirt if necessary to close any voids - you won't be removing the ice chest until the power comes back on. When the ice chest is closed, cover the top of it with a plastic tarp and hay, straw or other mulch to keep it cool. This idea is more like 'root cellar' cool not refrigerator cold. So in that sense, it won't keep leftovers from last night's dinner. It will work for short term storage for things like eggs (cover them with mineral oil first!) cheeses, and other foods that do well at 55 degrees. Don't dig your hole in a sunny area. The north side of a building works best for this idea (in the northern hemisphere)  - you want it in the shade full time. Also if possible, dig the hole under cover so when it rains, the hole doesn't fill with water.
• Make a zeer pot.  A zeer pot is an idea from Africa. It's used to keep vegetables cool in the hot dry African climate. Here is a link on how to make one.  You can search the Internet for more information on zeer pots - there is a lot of info out there. I have seen YouTube videos on these as well.  I made one a few years ago and I can tell you for a fact they work. The only trick needed here in the humid southeast US is to keep the pot inside the house or garage - not outside. Mine cooled down to 50 degrees in the middle of the summer while the pot was in my garage. Again, this is to keep things cool not cold.  It won't work for leftovers from dinner.
• Do you have access to a stream or river?  If so, you can do what our ancestors did and that was to submerge food in the stream to keep it cold.  This works especially well if you have access to a spring or spring fed stream where the water can be very cold.  If not, it will still be colder then the outside temperature.  Additionally, don't forget that the water in the bottom of the stream will be colder than the water at the top. Be sure to wrap the food well and place it in plastic containers so it does not get wet. You don't want the food to come in contact with non-treated water that can make you sick.

These are just some ideas I have in my emergency plans for when the power goes out at my house. I consider these ideas a 'first line of defense'.  I also have plans to can as much of the meat as possible in the first 3 or 4 days if the outage is expected to last a long time. 

Some of you may be thinking "Why don't you just can the meat now and save yourself the trouble later?" The answer is simple. While we do eat meat I have canned, it is not my most favorite method of preserving meat.  I don't enjoy the flavor. I consider the taste/texture 'okay' -  I will eat canned meat if I have to and on occasion when I am cooking with food storage I do choose to eat it.  Still, I do not eat it everyday. I will save the massive canning effort for when I have to do it.

Here are some other ideas on food safety when the power goes out from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC). What do you need to know when the power goes out?

What are your plans to deal with your frozen foods in a power outage?

Cooking without Electricity: Alternative Fuels

This is the last post in the series on Cooking without Electricity. We have spent 10 weeks exploring some inexpensive ways you can cook food when you don't have access to electricity. Although some of the ideas require purchasing products (like the Sun Oven), most cooking techniques use items you will probably find around your house or yard.

Today's post will provide some novel ideas on how you can create fuel for cooking when you don't have anything else.  No charcoal or propane? How about wood?  Any camping fuel?  No? No worries!  You can make a fairly long lasting fuel with paper! 

A common way of making fuel with paper is to use newspaper.  If you don't have a lot of newspaper, any paper will do.  Paper is something most everyone has in the house somewhere.  What about junk mail? Everyone has extra junk mail they don't want! Your kids also have notebook paper for school and you probably have extra paper for your printer in a closet somewhere. Now, I don't recommend using notebook or printer paper on a routine basis because of its expense; however, it will do in a pinch.

The first idea comes from a blog post I read a few years ago.  I have tried this and it works!   Homemade firewood  I have a stack of rolled newspaper logs stored in my garage now.  (They are in a large Tupperware tub.)  I have used them in my fireplace. I think it would also work well in an outdoor fire pit.  My experience is each newspaper roll burns in about 15 minutes. You can see how I made them here.

Another idea is to make some fire bricks. You can see how to do that in this YouTube video. Here is the link:  Fire Pellets.  In the YouTube video, this man shows how to use a metal caulking gun to make fuel pellets. I used a cookie press to make mine. I wrote about it in another post. You can see that here. The best part is you can use things like paper, leaves, animal dung (from animals that don't eat meat), grass clippings or sawdust.  Whatever you have on hand!  I used shredded paper.  It is a great way to use up junk mail.

I was also reading some survival blogs a while back and came across this slide show.  It shows how you can make sawdust and paper fuel briquettes without any fancy molds.  You can use a 2L soda bottle or even just packing it together with your hands. It also covers other items that can be used, such as leaves and grass. 

I hope this post has given you some ideas on how you can make you own cooking fuel with just the items you can find in your neighborhood! 

If you liked this post, you may also like other posts in the Cooking without Electricity series:

• Cook Your Food with a Kelly Kettle
• Cook Your Food in a Steam Pit
• Cook Your Food in a Hot Box
• Cook with a Number 10 Can Stove
• Using Non-Electric Appliances
• Make Some Campfire Charcoal
• Make a Dakota Fire Hole to Cook In
• Cook Your Food in a Cardboard Box
• Cook Your Food in a Sun Oven

Cooking without Electricity: Cook with a Kelly Kettle

This is the ninth post in the series Cooking without Electricity. As you've seen in past posts, I try to look for methods of cooking that don't cost a lot money and that are available to anyone on a moment's notice should the electricity go out unexpectedly.  Today's post covers cooking with a Kelly Kettle. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way you could make it yourself.

I purchased my Kelly Kettle (and the two support pieces) to help augment my ability to cook when we go camping.  However, it has turned out to be a great helper right here at home. It is now a valuable piece of equipment I will depend on if the electricity ever goes out.

Let's start with a review of what I purchased. 

I purchased the basic Kelly Kettle with a Kelly Kettle Cook Set and a Kelly Kettle Pot Support.  I purchased it on sale from Emergency Essentials.  They now have a video on their page showing a demonstration on how to use it. 

Full disclosure, I don't get any form of compensation from Emergency Essentials, I am just a satisfied customer.  I have been ordering from them for over three years.

The innovation behind the Kelly Kettle is it will quickly boil water with very little fuel.  The kettle holds 1 1/2 litters (it is made in Ireland) and will boil water in just a few minutes.  It works great for heating water which can be used for either cooking or purification for drinking, if needed.

I must say I really like the Kelly Kettle cook set.  It has two different pots with a removable handle and a grill to use on the base of the Kelly Kettle. Here is a picture of the cook set with the Kelly Kettle base.

Today, I used the Kelly Kettle to boil water and heat a can of beans for dinner.  I used the pot support to cook the beans at the same time I boiled the water.  The first thing to do is get the beans.

When I first opened the cook set, I thought the pans were quite small.  However, as you can see here, the pot held the entire can of beans and I think it would have held another one if it were needed.

Next, I set up the base of the kettle on my back patio.  Since this requires starting a fire, I placed the pot on my cement block, with a cookie sheet underneath it.  I used Fired Up! as the fire starter. I also added a few pieces of wood.  I pulled these pieces off of some of the wood in my wood pile.  Notice, it isn't much.  For safety sake, be sure to follow all instructions enclosed with the Kelly Kettle.

I lit the fire and placed the kettle on top of it.  (Of course, I filled the kettle with water first.)
Then I placed the pot support on top of the kettle and added my pot of beans.

I tried to get a picture of the flames in the base of the pot, but unfortunately, you can't see them. I can say that I got boiling water in about 5 to 6 minutes and hot baked beans in about 7 minutes.  I had more than enough fuel.  In fact, I think I had too much.  I could have emptied the water into another container and boiled some more without adding any more fuel.  In addition, the water stayed hot for quite some time.  I went back to check on the water after we finished dinner and it was still quite hot.

The primary advantages of the kettle are that it heats quickly and it won't use much fuel.  That can come in very handy.  Additional advantages are that it is light weight and easy to carry when camping. Although it is great for camping, it works just as well in the back yard!  If you would like to see a more detailed demonstration on its use, click on the Emergency Essentials link above.


If you liked this post, you may also like other posts in the Cooking without Electricity series:

• Cook With Alternative Fuels
• Cook Your Food in a Steam Pit
• Cook Your Food in a Hot Box
• Cook with a Number 10 Can Stove
• Using Non-Electric Appliances
• Make Some Campfire Charcoal
• Make a Dakota Fire Hole to Cook In
• Cook Your Food in a Cardboard Box
• Cook Your Food in a Sun Oven

Cooking without Electricity: Cook in a Steam Pit

This is the eighth post in the series on Cooking without Electricity.  I first learned about this method of cooking last year.  Unfortunately, in my neighborhood, I would not be able to build this unless we were in the middle of a long term power outage.  I have written notes about this cooking method in my emergency binder so I can refer to it if/when I need it.

One of the reasons I really like this method of cooking is if you were ever out in the middle of nowhere, without any tools, you could still cook your food.  All you would need to do is scrounge up what you needed: a few sticks and a few rocks.  Cooking in a steam pit is a slow cooking method. It doesn't require you to monitor the meal through the entire cooking process. If need be, you can walk away and take care of other business. Come back in a few hours and your food is done! 

I like the two following references I found about this cooking method. They both give the general idea of how it is done but they use slightly different materials.  Varying the materials used gives you some flexibility if you ever needed to build a steam pit and it allows you to use what you can find locally in your area.

The first method is amazing to me because it doesn't even require a shovel to dig the hole!   You just gather some large sticks and dig a hole with them. Before covering the pit with dirt, the people in the video did use a tarp to protect the food. This is a YouTube video. 

Cooking in a Steam Pit


The second method is slightly different from the first.  The couple presenting this method of cooking didn't remove the fire embers but placed aluminum foil over everything, put in the food, covered the food with additional aluminum foil and then just covered everything with dirt.

Stone Fire Pit Oven


I would so love to try cooking some pulled pork or stew beef with this method!  There are some quartz stones in the common areas of my neighborhood that I have my eye on...


If you liked this post, you may also like other posts in the Cooking without Electricity series:

• Cook with Alternative Fuels
• Cook with a Kelly Kettle
• Cook Your Food in a Hot Box
• Cook with a Number 10 Can Stove
• Using Non-Electric Appliances
• Make Some Campfire Charcoal
• Make a Dakota Fire Hole to Cook In
• Cook Your Food in a Cardboard Box
• Cook Your Food in a Sun Oven

Cooking without Electricity (Almost): Cooking with a Hot Box

 This is the seventh post in the series Cooking without Electricity.  I hope you are enjoying the series and gathering ideas on how to cook if you find yourself without electricity. The post for today is an idea I use all the time - I believe it can save you money in the long run!

There are other names for this cooking method on the Internet: Hay Box, Wonder Box, and Fireless Cooking.  I first learned about this idea on the Food Storage and Survival blog.  You can read the original blog post here.   In this post, Angela (the writer),  uses a special insulation cover that she made.  I printed the instructions she gave with every intent to make my own.  Well, that never happened - life got in the way!  So, this post is my interpretation of how to use a Hot Box without the pretty hand sewn insulation cover. 

This method is perfect to use with recipes that say:  'heat to boiling, reduce heat, and simmer for X minutes.'  How you heat to the point of boiling is your choice.  If you don't have any electricity, you can heat to boiling on your grill using propane or charcoal.  If you are just trying to save on your electric bill, you can use your stove top.

Today, I am using the Hot Box to make meals for my little angel.  Unfortunately, she is allergic to life.  Constant rashes, ear infections, a constantly runny nose, and very itchy feet make me feel so sorry for her that I wish I could help more.  She is allergic to grass, trees, bugs, cats, dogs, and all types of mold.  Everything we have plenty of here in the south!  She also can't eat 'normal' food.  She does much better when I cook for her.  Here is a picture of the princess. Her name is Molly.

I got this recipe from a nutritionist. (Yes, there are dog nutritionists - and they are very expensive!)  And for anyone wondering, she also gets allergy shots.

The first step to making a Hot Box is to find a cardboard box that is big enough to hold your pot.  You don't want a tight fitting box - be sure it is quite a bit bigger then the pot.  I used a standard size moving box. After you've found an appropriate box,  line the bottom of the box with old towels. 

You want at least 3 to 4 inches of towels in the bottom of the box.  This cooking method won't work if the box isn't well insulated.  Don't skimp on the towels.  You can also use old tee shirts, rags, blankets or what ever you have.  It doesn't have to be towels.

Prepare your recipe and heat to boiling. At the point in the recipe when it says to cover the pot and turn the heat down to simmer, cover your pot and place it in the cardboard box.  I removed the pot cover for the picture.

This picture shows the frozen green beans and squash from the garden that I added while the water was heating up.  The carrots are dehydrated.  I got them at the LDS Cannery. There are pumpkin pieces in there too.  I used Seminole pumpkins that I grew last year.  They were cut fresh (Seminole pumpkins store very well). The rice and turkey are at the bottom of the pot.  The rice and carrots were just added a few seconds before placing the pot in the box.

Add additional towels and blankets and such to the sides of the box.  You are going to insulate up to the top of the pot and then place about four inches of additional insulation over the top of the pot.  Here is mine when I was finished.

It is not necessary to fill the box to the top with insulation if your box is really big.  All you need is to do is cover the top of the pot with about four inches of the insulation medium you are using. 

Let the food simmer in the box.  The rice is usually done in about 45 minutes but I let mine stay 1 1/2 hours because I went out to work in the garden for a while. 

This is what it looked like when I took the cover off.

Be careful!  The pot will be extremely hot!  I burnt my arm taking the pot out of the box.  At this point Molly was very hungry, but the food was too hot to eat.  I put some in a bowl and let it cool a bit.

There are a few things to watch for when using this cooking method:

• This works best if you size your pot appropriate to the recipe.  The pot should be full.  If there is a lot of air space in the pot, you lose some of the insulation value.
• Pack the insulation medium in tightly.  Don't leave a lot of air pockets around the pot.
• Don't peek at the food! Every time you open up the box and remove some of the insulation, heat escapes.  You lose some of the cooking power when that happens.

If your recipe states to simmer the food for only a few minutes (say about 10 minutes), you can also just cover the pot and turn the heat completely off while leaving the pot on the stove top.  I have a ceramic stove top and this idea works wonders!  Routinely, I turn the stove top off early no matter what I am cooking.  The ceramic cooking surface always holds the heat and it is a great way to save electricity. 

If you have a gas cook top you are not going to get as much mileage from this technique.  However, I bet it will save you money over the long run if you turn the burner off 30 seconds to 1 minute early each time you cook something.

Using the hot box to cook is so easy!  In addition to printing and placing these instructions in your food storage binder, try this cooking method out now - you will be very pleased with the results!


If you liked this post, you may also like other posts in the Cooking without Electricity series:

• Cook with Alternative Fuels
• Cook Your Food with a Kelly Kettle
• Cook Your Food in a Steam Pit
• Cook with a Number 10 Can Stove
• Using Non-Electric Appliances 
• Make Some Campfire Charcoal
• Make a Dakota Fire Hole to Cook In
• Cook Your Food in a Cardboard Box
• Cook Your Food in a Sun Oven