Thursday, February 12, 2009

In the research phase

Well, I haven't got that much to write about at the moment, but I am in the middle of researching a couple of things that I want to have/know for emergency purposes. Once I have more info, or even a purchase (gotta love those :) I will post about it. Here are my current areas of interest:

--I want/need to get an oil/kerosene lamp. We now have more flashlights, but I really would like a good lantern or lamp (one of the decisions), and have looked on ebay. Found out that I don't know much about wicks and wick lengths. Found out that I would like to have extra of whatever wick I would need. Found out that prices vary greatly on ebay. And found out that I just need a lot more information before I can buy something of this nature and/or write a helpful post on this subject, so this paragraph is all that I have for now....

--If I'm not mistaken, I have written about the terrible sticker shock I experience in the cereal aisle at insert any store name here, unless there is some kind of wonderful low-price sale on cereal intended to draw you in in the hopes that you will buy a ton of other stuff. So far have survived by stocking up on 10/$10 boxes (those were the days) and more lately more expensive "good" deals, but have decided that I just need to bite the bullet and find at least a couple of breakfast recipes that:

--use as few ingredients as possible...

--- use ingredients that would be ones that I already have or am planning to have in storage, or would be ingredients that are not too expensive but have a relatively long shelf life and which I would feel good about storing...

-- could be variations on the old standards---oatmeal, breads, some kind of rice dish that could be eaten for breakfast, etc. ...

--are really easy, so that a person such as myself would not be frightened into procrastination upon seeing the recipe...

Unfortunately, I have not found what I am looking for yet, or you would be reading more success stories (with links) or failure stories (without links) right now. Sorry that it's not more informative at the moment, but I'm working on it. Would welcome suggestions, ideas, etc., if you're willing to share....

10 comments:

HermitJim said...

Hey Marie...go over to a site called "EndTimesReport.com" run by a man named Miles Stairs. He has a great deal of information about lamps, wicks, oil vs. other types, fuel...just all kinds. He and his wife are living the lifestyle for a long time now!

Hope that helps...

Kristen said...

I, too, have given up on the cereal thing. I have been making pancakes from scratch for a while, but this last week decided to see how many food storage items I could sneak into the recipe. I used powdered eggs and milk and not only did no one know the diffence, the pancakes turned out exactly as if I'd used fresh. I have been making more muffins and oatmeal dishes, too. I recently found a rice pudding recipe that you cut into squares. I will be trying it next week and posting it if it's a keeper. Around here, cereal has become the treat meal instead of the norm. It's probably better for us that way, too.

Stephanie in AR said...

Rice cereal - just cold left over rice with some sugar and milk. Want it hot like from the store - use your food processor or mixer to grind it down. I've found good recipes looking in older cookbooks -from 1960s & older. People still expected to eat at home but didn't necessarily want to spend all day cooking. You might also check "The Little House Cookbook" the author re-created the recipes mentioned in the Little House books as a project to share with her daughter. She shares history and recipes in modern measure & such. At least it will help get the wheels spinning.

Marie said...

HermitJim--I checked out that site, and will have to go back to learn more--it looks like it is full of information. Thanks for the link and for your comment!

Kristen--I don't have powdered eggs at this point, but pancakes seem like a good place for my powdered milk--I'm looking forward to the rice pudding recipe if it works out. With the cereal thing, we try to pick out the healthiest and most filling of cereals usually, but even so, I think it would be much better to do things from scratch...thanks for your comment!

Stephanie--Thanks very much for the suggestions--I'll have to look at more older cookbooks. I bought what I think was a county cookbook one time, and have been looking for it--it even had a recipe for cooking muskrat, if I recall right. I love looking at cookbooks where people send the recipes in, because that means it is likely that people make them regularly, so they should be doable--at least I hope.... :) Thanks for your comment!

Anonymous said...

Oatmeal - old fashioned and bought in bulk - is a cheap, filling & quick to cook. For 2 I use 2 cups water, stir in 1 cup oats and 1/4 cup dry milk, bring to boil while stirring several times, reduce heat, cook for 4 minutes more while stirring a few times.

I eat it with cinnamon & brown sugar, hubby adds raisins. Keeps us filled till lunch, about 4 1/2 - 5 hours later.

Also, check out Hillybilly Housewife's website - good, cheap, easy recipes. Bellen

Marie said...

Bellen--Thanks very much for the recipe and the suggestion to check out the breakfast recipes on Hillbilly Housewife. I've been concentrating on the bread recipes and dinner recipes over there, and should have checked that out earlier--thanks for your comment!

Anonymous said...

We went on our monthly grocery shopping trip yesterday and Nver before I have I noticed such price increases as with cereal products. I don't know how young people with lots of kids make it. I am sorta glad ours are grown and gone..We go to a huge grocery store 70 miles from home to get good prices. It costs us 6 gallons of gas but is well worth it. We get much more return that cost of the gas.

Good post Marie. By the way It seems we have gone from the dead of winter to spring in a week. I am not sure it is good thing.

Oh one last thing, February is my month to rotate the water storage in the house under the basement stairs. It is a good idea to change it out...
Carl In Wisconsin

Anonymous said...

Here are a couple of cheap, healthy breakfast ideas: heat up a corn tortilla in the microwave or on a hot griddle and spread with some peanut butter and slice of banana, fold and eat; mix cooked lentils & brown rice in a bowl, season as desired; mix some fresh berries or any combination of fruit (chopped apples are good) with some nuts, a spoonful of greek yogurt, a spoonful grape nuts, season with vanilla and cinnamon; make a large pot of grits and eat a bowl with butter & milk, or with maple flavoring, or with cocoa. Chill plain leftover grits for tomorrow's breakfast: slice and grill grit "cakes" on a hot griddle and eat like pancakes with butter and/or maple syrup; make muesli: mix dry oatmeal with a combination of dried fruit, dried dates, nuts and misc. cereal flakes and eat with yogurt or milk.

Anonymous said...

Oatmeal is what I fix most often, but sometimes I'll cook other grains, like cornmeal (for fried mush), amaranth, couscous, or rice (rice is usually leftover from the night before, with a little cinnamon, sugar, milk, and maybe raisins added).

For a change, or if I'll be traveling, I make oatmeal cookies, or Apple & Cheese Pleasers (recipe below). They're delicious, and might be incentive, in and of themselves, to dry grated apples, instead of slices. (Disclaimer: I haven't tried making them with dried apple, but it seems like it would work well if the apple were soaked and drained before adding.)

Apple and Cheese Pleasers

3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup cheddar or cheese, shredded (4 oz. brick)
1 cup grated apple (cored first)
optional: 3/4 cup raisins (boil raisins & let cool before adding)

Combine flour, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Stir in oats, cheese, raisins and apple.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 375F degree oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

--Mossytoes

Marie said...

Carl--The cereal prices are just amazingly high, at least in my opinion. I'm glad you have a good place to shop, although the distance would be annoying. However, once you go, you automatically have a month's supply on hand, so that's pretty smart shopping... :)
It's still kinda deep freeze cold here--didn't wear my gloves one night and found out from my husband that the reason that was kind of painful was because windchill was -3. Hope your warmer temperatures don't cause flooding--it would be kind of a mess around here if there were a sudden thaw.
I think that it was something in one of your comments that prompted us to recently change out the water in our barrels, so hopefully we're good on that for a while. Thanks as always for your comment--they are always appreciated!

Anonymous--Thanks for all the great ideas! I haven't done much with grits, but gritcakes sound like they would definitely be worth trying. Peanut butter and bananas are also quite popular around here... thanks so much for your comment!

Mossytoes--The Apple and Cheese Pleasers sounds like my kind of recipe--thanks for sending it. Looks like I need to broaden my horizons in terms of grains--I usually just use rice (thanks for that breakfast idea as well) but I should learn more about the couscous, etc. Thank you very much for all the ideas!