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After that last blog, I did get to the house of the sister of my ex-neighbor in time to be helpful. And, so, I helped. The work was rather quick and simple, if the stairs, turns, and the need to duck because of low ceilings made the process more interesting. Afterward we went out shooting. My rifle began to action stiffly, so I put her up. His pistol had a problem as well. It ended up being a good shoot anyway. It has been several weeks since we have been out shooting. On my drive to drop him off, we stopped at the store and he bought some things he needed. Initially I was not going to purchase anything. I remembered reading, somewhere in survival blog, about using a trick (I think using cold water and storing the milk 18 hours in the fridge or other cold or cooler spot) and an add (canned condensed milk) together with powdered milk to develop a better, or what they termed more like a "regular" milk taste. I am dubious, but should one be reduced to powdered milk, it is worth a shot. The author also suggested powdered milk could be used to make cheese! Anyway, after we completed the shopping, I drove him to his place, helped get his stuff in, and then headed home.
Really, it was a good day. I did a lot of work, a little business, helped a bit, and had some fun. What is not to like.
I checked my glucose level, in spite of having eaten 6 hours ago or so, having had a regular soda a few hours ago, having eaten at McDonalds and Burger King (with super sized double 1/4 pound (or whopper) meal deals, with the supersized Coca Colas), and having eaten three steaks last night, it was only 186. You know, I think someone does not understand a thing about diabetes. I am not saying I do, I am saying many who say they do simply cannot. Oh, and at lunch, I added regular sugar to my coffee, 3 packs for each of my two cups, plus double shots of creamer. And my new glasses came today. Vision had been blurry, but I was chalking that up to humidity. Wearing the new glasses, I can change that theory. My eyes did not improve one little bit, they improved a ton! And more, my vision is correctable to beyond 20/15 or is it the other way around? In spite of being quite blind and myopic is it? Go figure.
Tomorrow I cannot say what will really end up being done. I will go to bed early tonight, or try. I will set my alarm. And I have some plans. The LEO trainer needs a call. I would like to visit the Church, poking around about this and that. Perhaps getting my next load ready for the storage unit. And, I do not know. Other stuff. My brain is in retreat and my body is a bit sore, all in good ways.
I hate hotdogs, mostly. And bologna. I do not know why, and I have tried to find a way to like them. It is not the ingredients which trouble me. It all sounds good to me, and I do not mind watching them mix the stuff. Something about the taste. It is the taste sensation equivalent to the sound of fingernails scratching a chalkboard (or for me, metal scraping teeth or the opposite). Still, I bought some. I am not sure if I am trying to deprive myself, if I am trying to strengthen my resolve to survive by getting used to things I do not like, or if I am just off it a bit. Okay, give me a buy on the last and we can negotiate the rest. Well, they are boiling as I write. I will then fry them and enjoy it as I may. Who knows, maybe I will even watch baseball someday. Well, considering how much hotdogs and such cost as such events, it spoils my already lackluster appetite, which does that project no good at all.
I have got to eat and then crash. So tired.
Good night, hopefully.
The author also suggested powdered milk could be used to make cheese!
ReplyDeleteQuite so. My mom has recently made cheese from powdered milk. What she concocted was a sort of pepperjack, but the texture and flavor was somewhere between mozzarella and parmesan--dry-ish, stiff but chewy, with a pleasant cheesy taste leaning toward parmesan-ish (plus the pepper flavor). There may be other recipes that result in different cheese. But the one thing you need together with the powdered milk is a supply of rennet.
As for making powdered milk taste more like real milk, one important factor is the use of powdered *whole* milk. The stuff you get in grocery stores in the boxes is powdered skim milk. You can get powdered whole milk from several storage food places packed in #10 cans. Mom tried it on me without me noticing the difference. After she told me I could discern that it wasn't fresh, but it didn't jump out at me with that typical powdered milk flavor.
Ah, okay. I will have to get her recipe! And, yes, it was powdered skim milk. Generally, powdered milk is wretched. I will work with this, anyway, and see what I come up with. The deal is, make it with hot water and add a can of condensed milk up to the gallon mark, then let cool overnight.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you gave me the warning. I might have tasted it and hated it, then discounted the whole notion (or just accepted it as a price of survival). I did note that powdered milk is more expensive, compared to standard dairy case milk. At least what I bought was about 1 1/2 times the price per 'gallon'. Of course, the value of storable milk is not lost on me, or that the processing is probably not a minor feet.
I will have to check into the cans of powdered whole milk, too. I am loosely familiar with rennet from early attempts at cheese making with fresh milk. However, at least with fresh milk, you can make something between a ricotta and cottage cheese with nothing added. Some herbs or spices (black pepper being a very good starter option, along with plenty of salt whatever else is added... though the salt may be a PART of the recipe, not an option). I did not search like a sleuth, but from my minor work at finding rennet, I came up empty in the Iowa City area. Which surprised me with as many cottage food industry and artistic food offerings in the area. I fear that much more here, though with SLC just a bit away, I might not be completely out of luck. Or I may be pleasantly surprised, finding rennet on the shelves. Food is weird, region-wise.
Hmm, the problem with dry milk, of any sort, is storage. I am sure desiccants and sealing might help, but they are only rated at about six months storage (for skim or buttermilk) and less for whole powdered milk (which seems to need to be refrigerated, at least after opening).
ReplyDeleteIt does not look like a good long term item. Still, it might be good to level down or carry one through a brief period. Goats, ewes, or cattle might be better, but then there would also need to be animal husbandry and a lot of other issues to make even that sustainable.
When they (survival) people don't run me in over my head, I do! Ha! Well, I'm just thinking here. Oh, and powdered whole milk seems hard to find. I have found a very few and rather expensive sites which offer it, I will check with Sam's Club, and all, but...
I am really racking up bookmarks. If I ever get some of this down, I might have to make a side blog just for that, and maybe cooking.
Hm hum hoom...hrm. I may be mistaken then. Perhaps I am confusing "regular" powdered milk and "instant" powdered milk. I will have to ask dear old Mum this weekend what it was she sprung on me then. Whatever it was, she got it from a survival foods supplier and it came in a can.
ReplyDeleteIn #10 cans, the powdered milk products have significantly more than 6 months shelf life (before opening).
Yes, powdered milk (and non-fat plus regular versus instant) lasts 12 to 18 months. But not if it is instant, which lasts 6 to 12 months. And whole seems to last a shorter time. It seems you can freeze the powdered milk, of regular type anyway, to make it last longer. But in a TEOTWAWKI, there will be no freezer.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is something called Nido, which seems like the same simply whole instant milk, which also seems to last more like 6 months to a year or more. I guess in the one year scenario it might work. But not in our high heat, even with a fruit cellar, unless you really want to DIG.
This has been, and continues to be, a difficult topic to nail down. Oh, about the Nido, avoid that which is made in Mexico, and China if it makes it. Though I have been having trouble nailing down where any particular seller says their goods come from (probably because they buy it from any source, the cheaper the better after availability is accounted for).
A lot of work for such a small thing. Might just get 3 or 4 goats or something. Ha! I am curious about what your Mom says though.
Now, one question I have is, even if you have enough for a year or three, how practical, even with two shooters, is it to think it could be kept. In Utah, with many stocking up, the risk could be a bit lighter from neighbors, give or take. But out on my own, especially single, I would be an extremely easy mark. I do have to sleep if nothing else. I'm just thinking out of the out of the box way. Or, back in the box, I am not sure how to classify that. I know the risk from neighbors might come from socialist intent of the starving through the government (mayor, police, even a mob). I'm just working things out. There are troubles to overcome in every scenario. Livestock would be particularly vulnerable, even dogs could be considered food by ravaging SLC zombies.
A cautionary note: if you think too hard about worst case scenarios, you will come to realize most of it is futile unless you belong to a good-sized, well-organized survival-oriented group. And even then...
ReplyDelete"Worst-case" may never come to be. There are lesser SHTF scenarios where law enforcement remains viable for a time, and in a breakdown situation you may find it possible to join with like-minded people for defensive and support purposes. For example, some of those others who have prepared and could use the help of a good shooter to secure their homestead.
You have to start somewhere, and start small to make it manageable. It sounds like you're in danger of getting into "overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude" range. Back away from the precipice and focus on what you can handle today. Make mental notes for those chasms ahead, but don't let them overwhelm today's productive steps.
Regarding milk, per the Nestle site, Nido has a 24 month shelf life. But in a hard crunch milk can be dispensed with entirely until things settle down, without seriously jeapordizing your health. A more storable supplement is calcium/magnesium tablets. You can lay up a year's worth of supplements for a fraction of the cost of powdered milk. The protein you need can come from grain and legume sources. Goats are a good solution for later, once you have other things settled first.
You've got to focus on short-term survival steps first, and once you've got your ducks in a row, you can begin to extend your capabilities for the longer term.
I will ask Mom tomorrow what she fed me.
Oh, no worries. I am not at all overwhelmed. I do go very far in thinking quickly, it is sort of based on calculus. Remember when both numerator and denominator go to zero, and you need to find out which goes to zero first to determine if the formula is viable? Yeah, but also note, even if it is not viable in that form, there may still be an answer from the left or right, or in other ways? Yeah, my thinking works that way. Consider it academic rather than emotional, in this case.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I have learned in my life, even when everything fails and the worst possible scenario comes into play... you don't always die. Ha! I can't seem to die when I try! I will give up when I am dead. Probably. I actually do believe I can function for a bit even while technically dead, and for the right reasons, would give it my best effort. Bleeding out, or with a ruptured heart or liver, you still have 3 to 5 minutes if you can stave off shock. And, I can stave off shock. Severing of the spinal cord, as long as it is below the 6th vertebra, one might still be able to have some upper body function. Hey, it is how I think. Or, more, how I am.
Just curious.
Well I am most disconcerted. She gave me an "instant powdered milk" product that apparently is so much better than the stuff to be had in the regular grocery stores that I did not notice the difference. I am quite surprised.
ReplyDeleteFor you there is good news--this product has a twenty year shelf life. It is packed in nitrogen in #10 cans and can be had here: Provident Pantry Instant Nonfat Dried Milk. The reviews at this site confirm my experience with it.
Hmmm, well, okay. Do you normally drink skim milk then? Or, I should ask, what type of milk do you drink? I drink whole milk, only. Yeah, yeah, lactose... diabetes... those freak medics don't know their ass from their head half the time. Sorry, but I'm a bit miffed at them, and have proven them wrong on half the things they fear monger me with. Nannies in white coats, all of them, and wrong nannies.
ReplyDeleteWhup...
Anyway, if you don't drink skim, that doesn't make sense unless she doubles or triples the dose and/or adds a can of evaporated or condensed milk (or both).
But thanks! I will check that out. Well, I have checked it out, I'm just digging for more for my scoop.
Half and half actually. No seriously. I put it in coffee, put it on cereal, sometimes drink it straight. I don't drink much milk anymore but when I do it has to be whole milk. I detest the taste of skim.
ReplyDeleteMixed according to the directions, she told me at the time. I will see if she can mix up some more for a critical taste-test. It requires mixing with warm water and then chilling for a certain time.
Ah, then your tastes run right along where mine do. I go anywhere from whole whipping cream to whole milk, as I simply cannot handle less. (I also getting this nagging feeling that even 2% has been stripped of anything valuable, nutritionally. (One of the funny things is that many who drink, and demand others drink, skim milk are the very ones who complain about them stripping white rice, some oats, wheat, and other stuff of a friggen germ. Ha! (I jest a bit here, but... not really. They have been stripping rice since Confucius, not a modern way to 'steal the poor man's food and keep him down by the corporate! friggin hippies) (While I got used to it, by force, as I kid, I always despised it and plotted it's demise. Then, one night, it happened. I had just graduated, and... The rest of the story... well... here!)
ReplyDelete