The prepared category is for all things to help you and I become more self-sufficient that don’t involve animals and plants. This could include a home storage program, emergency preparedness, emergency planning resources, off-grid skill building and more.
Don’t let the apple harvest rot in your pantry! Here’s a tutorial for healthy DIY apple chips in the dehydrator. BONUS, a free excerpt from our book, The Do It Yourself Homestead, on how to turn apple scraps into healthy apple vinegar.
Continue reading “Dried Apple Chips and Light Apple Vinegar”
If you end up with a lot of fresh table grapes that you’d like to deal with quickly so they don’t spoil, read on! Here are three quick ways to preserve grapes in order of time consumption and hassle for the busy homesteader and DIYer.
You’ve heard of Once a Month Meals, right? Well, here’s a schedule for Once a Month Meals – the Home Canning version! Here are twelve store-bought items you will water-bath and pressure can at home this year. One food each month. No stress, a modest time investment, lots of healthy meal planning at home. Continue reading “Once a Month Meals: Home Canning Schedule”
It was pretty much the worst Thanksgiving ever. My boar gored my leg, the kids got lice for the first time, the sink wouldn’t stop leaking and the fireplace broke. Like a cherry on top, the washing machine decided to follow suit. Here’s how we survived hand washing clothes for three months. Continue reading “When the Washing Machine Breaks: Hand Washing Clothes”
Are you a new canner and need all the advice you can get? Worried about which canning jars to use and which lids are the best? From canning jars to equipment to recipes, here’s a great round up of newbie canning information. Continue reading “Canning Jars and Other Newbie Canning Tips”
I am constantly on the prowl for 72 hour kit and backpacking food that’s healthy or, at least, healthier. Here are a few ideas for healthify your hiking and backpacking foods, as well as your 72 hour kit food preps. Continue reading “Healthier 72 Hour Kit and Backpacking Food”
Bake lasagna in your solar oven for an energy-free dinner option. Here are simple tricks for baking lasagna – or any casserole – in your solar oven.
Do you have a podcast or Kindle book in your queue on the topic of emergency preparedness and it’s been there for months, waiting for you to peruse it? Do things just keep coming up and you never quite get to making that emergency kit you know you’re supposed to have in your car? Emergency preparedness is a difficult topic for some but I’m convinced that people are only uncomfortable with it because they’re not as prepared as they could be for the emergencies. Let’s stop worry and start working! To that end, here are a few ideas to help with emergency preparedness for families. Continue reading “Emergency Preparedness for Families”
Use your solar oven as a food dehydrator to make apple chips. Food dehydrators can be noisy and cost money to operate. Use your silent solar oven as a free-to-use food dehydrator and save money preserving the apple harvest. Plus, you can do small batches all throughout the year to always have healthy snacks on hand. Continue reading “Solar Oven Food Dehydrator: Making Apple Chips”
So, this month we’re celebrating National Preparedness month and we’re going to share a few of the off-grid cooking methods we’ve been practicing this summer. I am NOT an expert in this DIY stuff, just so ya know! Growing up, I went “camping” every year with my family but we always went to a KOA Kampground…at the beach. So, does that actually count? Anyway, one of my favorite off grid cooking options is definitely my solar oven. So, here we are sharing an easy, peasy solar oven recipe: Budget Chicken Dinner. Continue reading “Solar Oven Recipe: Budget Chicken Dinner”