prep_in_Germany - Member

Plants with Saponins

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Posted April 7, 2024

Reply to: Recipes for cooking with only non-perishable food Posted November 5, 2022

Sorry for not replying earlier, but thanks for your input! I think it makes more sense to store salt+spices relative to the quantities of other foods, and plan to order more soon and package them into mylar bags. A couple of additional food storage-based (and also travel-friendly) recipes: Tuna and rice: Cook some rice, add tuna, salt, dried dill, and powdered onion Tuna mashed potato patties: Prepare a package of instant mashed potatoes (~2 cups worth), by adding onion powder, salt, and boiling water (if you have dehydrated milk you could add some of that too). Mix in an egg (fresh or dehydrated+more water, black pepper, and a can of tuna fish, and fry in a bit of oil. Potatoes, beans, and olives: Prepare instant mashed potatoes, and eat with canned kidney beans and canned olives. Hardly a recipe, but tastes pretty good (to me), and is convenient as travel food since it’s fine to keep it out of the fridge for a while. I think that instant mashed potatoes and dehydrated eggs are really useful items to keep in food storage, since they taste good, are foods we’re used to eating, and don’t require much time and energy to prepare.

Reply to: Recipes for cooking with only non-perishable food Posted October 9, 2022

I’m also in favor of the idea of a “The Prepared” crowd-source cookbook! I’d also like to see some recommendations of how much spices one should store per pound of beans or lentils. What apps or methods do some of you use for storing your recipes? I like the Paprika app for storing mine, since I can edit the ones I grab from websites and they’re stored offline on my phone, but I’d like to hear what other people use. One comment regarding rice is that I just learned that for indian-flavored meals, you can cook your rice with some whole cardamom pods, coriander, and black pepper, and it’s a lot more delicious when it already has some flavor. My current favorite only-food-storage recipe is sourdough pita bread. It takes some practice and to get it to turn into a real pita, but when you succeed you have a great pocket that you can fill up with whatever you have, or just use as a wrap, and it’s a bit crunchy in the center and chewy on the edges. It’s not as energy-efficient as cooking several large loaves of bread in an oven, but if I had to use alternative energy sources it would be easier to cook in a fry pan on a camping stove than try to set up an outdoor oven.

Reply to: Boil water alert – Washing your hands Posted August 30, 2022

If you have someone to help you wash, then a small garden watering can works pretty well, and it’s possible to wash hands with a very small amount of water. I’ve been thinking that it would also be possible to mount a hook to the wall or make a PVC pipe stand and use a cord and a foot pedal you could push to pull down a string and tilt the watering can for hands-free operation, but haven’t made one yet. We also use 10l water jugs with a dispenser attachment; these are easy to lift up to a counter, but we think that the watering can is more water-efficient.

Reply to: Let’s make the ultimate emergency reference guide for a bug out bag Posted June 11, 2022

Thanks for starting off this thread! Regarding personal information to include, I’d like to add that I made a some laminated credit-card sized cards for my husband and myself that we carry in our wallets. One side has each other’s phone numbers so that if one of us has an accident, people will be able to contact the other spouse quickly. The other side has phone numbers for a couple of additional family members, police and fire/ambulance numbers (I live in Europe and there are different numbers; I’ve memorized them now but hadn’t earlier), a number for texting the police, the non-emergency police number, the poison control number, and the number for blocking debit/credit cards. Plus if my phone battery dies and I can’t remember his number, I’d be able to still call him from someone else’s phone. For BOB purposes I’d also want to include other contact info for utility companies and other numbers that people already mentioned. I’d also include the IMEI numbers for our phones in case they are stolen, which wouldn’t be that useful in a major emergency but it’s s good to have it written down someplace. For general knowledge, I’d agree with what people already suggested: water purification, information/diagrams for making two types of tarp shelters, a couple of knots, navigation techniques, treating shock+ bleeds, how to check if someone had a stroke or heart attack, and relevant radio frequencies (for those with amateur radios). I’d agree that information about useful plants would be nice, but mainly if the plants are easy to find and recognize locally, e.g. dandelions and wild blackberries.

Reply to: Light weight backpacking gear and techniques Posted June 10, 2022

If you or someone else has a 1/2 sheet size emergency reference guide, could you share it please? I’d be interested in seeing it.