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The head of Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (BBK), Ralph Tiesler, has warned citizens to prepare for short-term power outages, particularly in January and February, and to stock up on rations in advance.

“We have to assume that there will be blackouts this winter. By that, I mean a regional and temporary interruption in the power supply. The cause will not only be energy shortages, but also the targeted, temporary shutdown of the networks by the operators, with the aim of protecting the networks and not endangering the overall supply,” Tiesler told the news outlet Welt am Sonntag, adding that local authorities in several German municipalities are preparing for the possibility of blackouts, and have developed ‘precise plans’ that include procuring emergency generators to support the system.

That said, some municipalities are not prepared – and despite German gas storage facilities being near capacity, experts don’t think the stockpile will be enough to last the country through the winter due to a lack of new supply from Russia.

“We expect short-term blackouts rather than long-lasting, large-scale blackouts. But good preparation is important for that, too,” Tiesler added.

What to do? Stock up…

“Primarily water, several crates, and canned food. That would be enough for ten days. That’s what my agency recommends… Our message is: prepare in the first place. Be prepared for possible crises, don’t assume that everything will be readily available all the time,” Tiesler stated, adding that residents should also purchase battery-powered radios and candles.

Germany’s energy woes stem from a drop in gas supplies from Russia, after an ill-advised scheme to shut off their nuclear power plants. The flow of gas was cut off much earlier than expected over Ukraine-related sanctions, as well as explosions in September which rendered the Nord Stream 1 pipeline inoperable.

Marti’s Corner – 55

March 7, 2022

Marti’s Corner – 55

NOTES:

* I thought I’d share some gardening adventures. I planted tomatoes on Jan 5, and have been babying them along. They are still small. But the tips of the leaves are turning yellow. Sometimes that means they need to be fed. So I thought I would “pot-up” and feed at the same time.

By contrast, here are the tomatoes I bought at Lowe’s last week. Makes ME wish I had a greenhouse! Lowe's Tomato plants

Again, why bother with planting your own? For one reason, you have access to better variety. For another reason, the Lowe’s plants are about $5 each, which can be pricey if you are doing several plants (my goal is 12 tomato plants this year). By the first of April, you won’t be able to tell the difference.

We still have cold nights ahead. In fact, we are expecting freezing temps this week. So, don’t plant “warm” plants outside yet, unless you are prepared to cover them on cold nights.

* What’s the difference between storing something in a #10 can, or a Mylar bag, or in a jar? They all have advantages. The #10 cans are easy to stack and store. Most items you buy online will come this way. We “used” to be able to do this canning at home, but unfortunately, you can no longer get the empty cans and lids. Especially now. Even the church is having trouble getting the raw materials for the cans, or so I heard. Plus, there are some things I don’t like to store in the cans. I don’t like how the flour or the oats smell after being in the cans for long periods. Some say you can get rid of that smell, but I was never able to do that.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To Create A Root Cellar On Your Property

February 26, 2022

How To Create A Root Cellar On Your Property

If you have a basement or even room under your house, you can create a root cellar to store food! The trick is going to be making it work with what you have, and all of us are in different situations when it comes to our home setup.

Technically, a root cellar is any storage location that uses the natural cooling, insulating, and humidifying properties of the earth to store food. Whether you stock a root cellar with your own homegrown produce or the bounty from local farmers’ market, it’s a time-tested storage method and could come in handy if we lose power for a long period of time.

Before we had refrigeration (a refrigerator in our homes), an underground root cellar was an essential and effective way to store carrots, turnips, beets, parsnips, potatoes, onions, and other root vegetables that were grown in our gardens. Today, root cellars have made a comeback to keep food from freezing during the winter and keep food cool during the summer to prevent spoilage. A root cellar is also the perfect place to store jars of canned or pickled vegetables, canned meats, and the bulbs or rhizomes of perennial flowers as well. A secondary use for the root cellar is as a place to store wine, beer, or other homemade alcoholic beverages. You could also store any alcohol you intend to use for bartering or first aid during a SHTF situation in your root cellar.

How To Start Your Root Cellar

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 49

January 17, 2022

Marti’s Corner – 49

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* And…….just like that…….it’s cold. Okay, it’s not Indiana cold, just California cold. Even though we’ve had frost on the lawn, my tomatoes have not died yet. I have maybe 2 dozen green tomatoes and I’m just hoping they will ripen (at least blush so I can bring them inside). I got ONE zucchini, and ONE yellow squash, so we are having them for dinner in a recipe I made up. I call it Andrew-ala-Toni because it was my son’s favorite dish when he was little. The recipe is below.

* My peaches that I canned back in 2016 are looking sad. But I didn’t want to just throw them away. So into the blender, they went (after I drained most of the water). I didn’t need to add any sweetener because I used a medium syrup when I canned them. I blended them up, spread them on sheets for the dehydrator, and in they went. This is my second batch. The fruit leather from the first batch is really good!!! I’m including it in all my Christmas boxes for my kids. What child doesn’t like fruit leather? Now the jars are freed up for other things.

* I want to share that I finally made a successful batch of almond Roca! I’ve tried several times and could never get it right. This year, I found the winning recipe (see below). I’ve made three batches so far. Chocolate chips are on sale at Winco for less than $2

* My lettuce is flourishing! In fact, it’s time for me to pull out the lettuce that is bolting and plant 2 new tubs. It takes 4-5 weeks before you can harvest the lettuce.

* Thank you to Paul Diffley for sending me this link: 5 Imported Foods From China You Should Avoid

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To Pressure Can Your Garden Kale

January 4, 2022

How To Pressure Can Your Garden Kale

Every year we plant kale in both our greenhouse and our garden. We choose red Russian kale because it is cold hearty and grows fast! We eat it in a salad every night during the summer and when it starts to cool off, we save it!

Kale is great for us because it can withstand a pretty decent frost before it starts to go limp and die off. I cut our kale on November 20 from outside and the greenhouse and it was still crisp. We don’t like food, especially nutrition-packed greens, to go to waste, so we can do everything we can. It’s surprisingly easy and really good!

Red Russian Kale – A Powerful Punch of Protein and Antioxidants

First, we can kale for two reasons, one because we love it and two because we can! But kale is great for you and if your kids grow up eating it, they won’t have an aversion to it when it’s in a salad. In fact, it’s often called a “superfood” and it’s incredibly easy to grow even in cooler climates. A single serving (one cup) contains more than a day’s worth of vitamin A requirement, which is important for eye health and immune function. It is also full of vitamins K, C, and B6 as well as manganese, copper, calcium, and magnesium. A can of cooked kale has a mere 32 calories, 2.2g of dietary fiber, 2.3g of protein, 2.55mg of iron, and 198.90 mg of calcium.

How To Pressure Can Kale

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Taco Meat Freeze-Dried: 25 Years Shelf-Life

December 22, 2021

Taco Meat Freeze-Dried: 25 Years Shelf-Life

Freeze Dryer Meals Ready to Eat: Taco Meat (MREs)

“I wish I was full of tacos instead of emotions.” –Unknown.

25 Year Old Tacos Having a meal ready to go in just 5-minutes with just the addition of a bit of water is an obvious game-changer. You don’t even need water for this one. You could crunch on it right out of the bag if you had to. Whether you are amidst a disaster or on the road fleeing to a safer location, freeze-dried foods provide a super lightweight meal ready to eat. Even if you just rehydrate a meal in 5-minutes instead of spending an hour or more cooking it after work, you save time, money, and you get better nutrients by eating food you made yourself instead of snacks pressed and fried off an assembly line.

Continuing our adventure into freeze-drying, here we will cook up some taco meat. You can rehydrate pounds of this with just a little hot water. You can eat it straight out of the bag, add it on top of chips or salad, or throw it in a flour tortilla or lettuce leaf. I like this recipe because, with a few ingredients, it is incredibly flavorful and reminds me of the food I ate growing up. That home-cooked feel in a mylar bag, that’s what it is all about. It’s delicious and high enough in protein and iron to keep you moving under the worst of conditions. This is also one of the best, cheap, and easy things I’ve made in the freeze-dryer. I highly recommend this.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

What To Square Away For The Upcoming Winter

December 19, 2021

What To Square Away For The Upcoming Winter

Extreme winter storms have the capacity to knock a home off the grid for a given amount of time. Have a plan for any situation, and maintain a diverse supply of survival foods so you are ready for anything this upcoming winter.

Building an emergency pantry is one of those lifelines that takes time, financial resources, and planning to make it fully functional. Ideally, you will want to store shelf-stable foods that your family normally consumes, as well as find foods that are multi-dynamic and serve many purposes.

So, what does a well-stocked food pantry look like? In a previous article on how to stock a prepper pantry, Tess Pennington wrote, “Over the years, I have made recommendations for the best types of foods to put in your pantry, how to save on emergency food stores by learning how to can and dehydrate your own food sources, as well as providing the best rules to go by when creating an emergency food pantry. Ideally, you want the food you put in those coveted pantry spots to be versatile and serve many uses. I like to start with shelf-stable basics like wheat berries, rice, an assortment of beans, dry milk powder, peanut butter, drink mixes, etc., and then add on to my pantry with home canned and dehydrated foods. This creates layers of different types of short and long-term food stores and gives me more functionality in my pantry…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How To Make Emergency Ration Bars (DIY)

November 27, 2021

How To Make Emergency Ration Bars (DIY)

Sometimes you only need some ration bars to get you through a short disaster. A high-calorie, nutrient-dense bar can provide you with sugars, proteins, and carbohydrates to keep you moving and keep you alive. The problem with many bars is that you don’t know what they are putting in them. The other problem is that they can focus on nutrition so much that they taste as good as wet cardboard. While having some granola bars in your inventory is great, when you make a batch of bars yourself, you will find that they taste better, and you know exactly what kind of nutrients and calories you are taking into your body. These are calorically-dense bars that will fuel you up through any disaster.

Let’s get one thing clear. I am not much of a baker. I have had more than my share of failures trying to develop a good-tasting calorie-dense bar. I can make an occasional loaf of bread and maybe some cookies, and I can cook just about anything else in the world, but baking just isn’t my thing. Sometimes, the trash can is the only place for some of my baking experiments. Failed baking projects With that in mind, this is my latest calorically and nutrient-dense bar. It might not be the best, but it tastes good and has the calories you would need after a disaster to sustain you. Here we will make a calorically dense, nutritious emergency ration bar with a decent shelf-life. I will take it a step further in this video and take moisture readings from one I left out overnight, one that I dehydrated, and one that I freeze-dried. From this, we can try and determine shelf-life. There are many recipes online for emergency ration bars, and I have tried many. Let’s do this…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Do-It-Yourself Freeze-dried MREs

November 19, 2021

Do-It-Yourself Freeze-dried MREs

Make Your Own MREs: Freeze-Dried Chili Mac

While I like to have a range of freeze-dried foods on hand, I may not have time to prep a meal in an emergency. That may result in my having to chew on rehydrated carrot chips or crunchy corn washed down with swigs of water, but having my Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) can be a huge nutritionally complex advantage. First, I know what’s in it, so I know it’s good for me. Second, my body had already processed some of this same food when I first made it, so I’m not shocking my system at a time when I need as stable of physiology as possible. Third, I have a meal ready to eat anytime I don’t know what to have for dinner on a particular night. And, though there are many other reasons I could probably go into, like the fact that the food has a shelf-life of upwards of 25 years, a huge reason is its cost savings. Food prices aren’t going down, so when I cook in bulk today and set it aside, I am essentially putting food in an interest-bearing savings account of sorts. The ten dollars I might spend today on food will be worth even more five years from now, and after a disaster, it will be priceless.

In this video, I’ll make and freeze-dry classic Chili Mac. To rehydrate, just add hot water, and you’re eating a home-cooked meal while the disaster rages outside. Throughout this series on the Harvest Right Freeze-Dryer, I’ll give you a few pro-tips based on lessons I have learned and one technical fact per video….

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 40

October 30, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 40

* So I decided to follow my own advice and can some vegetables this week. I bought 20 pounds of potatoes for $6 and then went here: Canning Potatoes Last time I canned potatoes, I did NOT soak them first to get the starch out. When I opened them, I had to rinse them really well to use them. PLUS, after about 6 years, they have “grayed” somewhat. I have to kind of sort them and discard the gray pieces. This week’s final tally: 20 pounds of potatoes = 33-pint jars.

* AND I dehydrated some corn. It was $1.39 at Winco. (prices are climbing!!) This was all sparked by a recipe I found for Wild Rice and Vegetable soup. I’ve included the recipe below. Add meat if you want. But I’m thinking I’ll make some “Mylar Meals” and give them to my kids for Christmas. The recipe says it serves 6-8 (that will work for all my kids) and it only uses 1 TB of corn, carrots, etc. So the 5 pounds of corn that I dehydrated should work. LOL

* My garden is still producing. The cooler temps are allowing the plants to set fruit again. My lettuce is growing again. Here is an October guide for zones 9-10. October Garden Checklist Zones 9-10 | Kellogg Garden Organics™

* THIS week is the Great California ShakeOut. The official event will happen on Thursday, October 21, at 10:21. Your church or school may choose to have their drill on another day, but it will be sometime around then. Be SURE to talk to your family members about what to do when there is a real emergency.

* Paul Diffley shared this link with me. He says they still have stock. He asked for a discount and they gave him 10% off his second order…

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

6 Just-Add-Water Meals That Belong In Your Prepper Pantry

October 19, 2021

6 Just-Add-Water Meals That Belong In Your Prepper Pantry

When we are faced with dramatic emergency situations, convenience can help keep us calm and eliminate some of the added stress that’s inevitable during a crisis. That’s why convenience is one of the basic rules to creating a solid emergency food pantry.

Many busy moms know that boxed dinners can be a time saver when you are in a pinch. Having some pre-packaged items or just-add-water meals during emergency scenarios will help you begin acclimating yourself to cooking in a grid-down scenario as well as can help provide some comfort at the same time. Keep in mind, however, that those pre-packaged meals are most often not as nutritious as other meals, but you will need to weigh your options in times of crisis. Sometimes, beating the stress is simply more important. Another thing to watch for is making sure you are keeping dietary restrictions in mind. For example, if you or a member of your family have celiac disease, you would want to avoid anything not specifically labeled “gluten-free.”

But if you just want some quick “just add water meals” to store in case the grid goes down, or worse, these are all excellent options. Plus, you could easily buy these in bulk either at the grocery store or on Amazon!

Hamburger helper – This can be turned into a soup, especially if you have some beef bouillon on hand! It isn’t half bad either! Just add a lot of water, and some additional beef bouillon to flavor the water, and viola! Hamburger helper soup!

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

2 Ways to Preserve Leafy Greens From Your Veggie Garden

October 19, 2021

2 Ways to Preserve Leafy Greens From Your Veggie Garden

In my experience, leafy greens are among the easiest kinds of veggies to grow. But they don’t keep for very long and after you’ve given basketfuls of them to your friends and eaten stir-fried leafy greens, leafy greens in soups, in stews, and added to salads, and they’re still coming, what do you do with them next?

Below is a basket of produce from our modular veggie garden. I’ve lost count of how many of these I’ve brought to the kitchen or given as return gifts to friends in exchange for music lessons, fruit, preserves, and general good-will.

But lately I’m finding that I even have more green leaves than I can reasonably give away. Here are two ideas for preserving leafy greens when this happens to you. The first is a bit of an experiment. The second is a tried and true favourite in my kitchen.

The experiment: can you make sauerkraut with green cabbages that haven’t formed heads?

There are quite a number of cabbages like this one in the garden that haven’t had time to form heads yet and are starting to get a bit chewed by caterpillars. We’ve been eating the outer leaves from them for a while but yesterday I decided to harvest some whole cabbages and use them to make ‘kraut, even though they haven’t headed yet.

Because:

I’m not certain they will head at all; our hot, dry weather is approaching and they may not have time to form heads before they think about going to seed.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 37

October 8, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 37

* Here is the email I got from USU Extension this week:

PLAN

Meet with your family or household and discuss the disasters that are most likely to occur.
Review basic actions for each situation and decide on a family meeting place.
Decide how you’ll contact each other if separated.

PREPARE

Make an inventory of your home.
Show all family members where to shut off the utilities.
Assemble an emergency preparedness kit. Instructions can be found here.
Compile a list of emergency contacts.
Identify the best evacuation routes from the house.

PRACTICE

Choose a regular time to practice your plan.
Conduct a practice run of evacuation routes, and evaluate any changes that need to be made.
Examine your emergency preparedness kit and replace items that have expired or are no longer viable.
Practice cooking a meal using electricity-free methods.

This list is not comprehensive, but it is a good place to begin. Check out more emergency preparedness tips here.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Milk
Milk - Powdered Milk

Milk is available from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints here: Nonfat Dry Milk | United States Store. You do NOT have to be a member of the church to purchase any of the food they offer. Each pouch makes 32 servings. 12 pouches = $66. Or about $11 per pouch. $11 for 2 gallons of milk is NOT cheaper than fresh. But the shelf life is listed at 20 years! I checked with Emergency Essentials. They have a #10 can for $19.99. It makes about 36 servings (slightly more). That’s an $8 difference in the price PER POUCH! Plus, I don’t think the Church charges shipping. (I could be wrong about that). You MUST buy by the case.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Marti’s Corner – 35

September 25, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 35

Marti's Corner at City Prepping Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* More reasons to stock up. And Now It’s Oats
* Time to feed your garden again. I use a vegetable fertilizer with mycorrhizae fungi. I just buy it at Lowe’s. I like Kellogg’s brand, NOT this one, but similar. Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato Fertilizer. In addition to the fertilizer, I give them some nitrogen (DO NOT feed the beans). Either compost or worm castings. I usually do the worm castings. You should be feeding at least once a month.
* If you’ve kept your plants alive through the heat, they should start to produce again. Some things like the beets, beans, and cucumbers, I just started over. It’s like a “do-over”.
* EVERY week, as you shop, you should be thinking, “If I have to hunker down again for a month, can I do it?”

LONG TERM FOCUS: Milk
Milk - Powdered Milk

There are two types of powdered milk. There is instant powdered milk, and non-instant. She mixes her milk in a blender. 2 c. hot water + 1 heaping cup of powdered milk. Mix in blender. Pour into a milk jug, then add an additional 8 cups of water. Mixing Powdered Milk – YouTube

Instant milk is more expensive. But you can just stir it into cold water with a spoon, no heavy mixing is needed. Also, it takes more.

Here is a blind taste test: 8 Best Powdered Milk Brands: Taste Test RESULTS! But remember he does not include Emergency Essentials, or Honeyville or any other large Emergency Food Company.

I have always mixed my non-instant milk in a blender. It creates a ton of foam on top. Just let it sit and it will calm down. Best results come from letting it sit overnight in the fridge. It is NOT cost efficient. It is cheaper to buy fresh milk. And you should try to rotate it, or just be prepared to buy new milk every 3-5 years.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Autumn Raspberry Harvest

September 11, 2021

The Autumn Raspberry Harvest

Preserving food is not just ‘cooking’; preserving food requires that you think about the future. Hence why growing and preserving food can be a window into planning a new future.

‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’,
Part 4 Podcast:

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Consumerism isolates & disconnects: The media hypes the desire for this lifestyle, while we struggle to obtain the cash to buy it; and in this process its hyper-individualism turns our focus inwards, isolating us from other people and the natural world.

From climate change to resource depletion, the systems which underpin that lifestyle are failing (though if you are in the ‘precariat’, arguably that happened twenty years ago). Finding a solution to the trap of affluence, or of state-dependent poverty, requires the same practical response:
Opening-up to new habitual methods for living.

“It’s a connection thing…”

This post started out as a simple idea: To document how I tend, pick, store, and use the raspberries that grow in the garden. It’s a thing I do as part of daily life. It’s not a chore that needs doing; it’s a release from the ‘dead’ energy of consumerism, to engage instead with the positive, natural, life-giving energies of own-made food.

OK then, it’s not that simple! Thing is, preserving food is not cooking! It requires that you think about your future. This is about raspberries, but it could equally be about seed sprouting, growing lettuce in boxes, or foraging (which is what the next post will cover).

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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Marti’s Corner – 55

‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’, Part 4 Podcast:

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‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’,
Part 4 Podcast:

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(use section number as a hotkey to jump to it, and ‘0’ to jump back to the bookmarks list).