SKS-FILES FORUM
Miscellaneous => Miscellaneous => Camping and Survival => Topic started by: Dannyboy53 on December 08, 2015, 12:15:10 PM
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A hint at what Mary & I have done to prepare for most scenarios. Easily done in just a few hours a day for a couple of days a week.
Preserved & non-perishable foods
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Food and medical supplies
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Ammo (5000 rds 7.62X39, 2000 rds of .357Mag, .45ACP, .380ACP, .30-30, .270 & 12 gauge) Also 1100 rds .22 LR
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We have stocked these items from the Survival/Preparation list posted here: http://sks-files.com/index.php?topic=342.0 Those coming on-board with SKS-Files since last October, check out our list if you haven't done so before now.
Mary has been canning vegetables, fruit, and meat for some time and we have a considerable amount put away. With what we have done so far, Mary and I could survive approx a year. We recently got a food dehydrator and will be putting up dried fruit as well as making jerky.
People have asked us "how much is enough"? I don't think there is a good answer to that question other than in this case it's better to have too much than not enough, our preparations NEVER stop!
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I know where I'm going when shtf. :o
Very nice Danny! thumb1
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I know where I'm going when shtf. :o
Very nice Danny! thumb1
Thanks, and you're welcome here. Just bring some guns & clothes!
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Thought I would add a couple of more things. I spoke of the food drier, ours has six shelves but more can be bought and added if desired. It's pretty much set, load and forget and I think, depending on what you are drying it will take several hours to all day or night.
(http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh618/smithdblueDannyboy53/Odds%20and%20ends/Food%20drier_zpsw68nspgj.jpg)
Here is a photo of a neat idea Mary ran across and passed on to me a few days ago. Great idea for storing canned goods! I haven't got around to build it yet but as you can see it will save a lot of floor space. One or more can be built and installed in the house, garage, etc and it can be built as small or large as is needed. I don't have any plans, only this photo but it's pretty simple.
(http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh618/smithdblueDannyboy53/Odds%20and%20ends/Can%20storage_zpshvfo4vge.jpg)
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We have a dehydrate device similar to yours, but not quit as fancy.
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Excellent Danny!
With the food that Mary cans, how soon do you start rotating it? By that I mean is there a certain deadline that exists where you would simply dump the contents instead of trying to eat them?
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Hi RM, Mary says if you keep the jars in a controlled temperature area the shelf life is about 2.5 to 3 years. Of course she dates her jar lids with a sharpie.
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Awesome Danny Good work buddy. thumb1
A lil extra here and there, really adds up over time. Really digging the can storage, think I'll try to build one when I can salvage some scrap that fits the bill. I've run outta room myself and stacked boxes don't make for favorable rotation. Have you given any thought to different off site storage? I'm with ya on the never stop prepping, it gets to be a daily part of life. Me and my lil clan have passed the "could lock the door and not have to leave"point of over a year. :)
I've just started really getting into drying different foods and Pineapple has become a favorite ( fresh or canned works great and are both a lil different). Do you have any tips for deer jerky? Gonna try some this weekend if you or Mary have any recipes to share.
Home canned foods are well worth the time and trouble for any 1 who doesn't. I grew up with 'em and heard many a story from my parents, that they wouldn't have made it through a few winters without it. 2.5-3 years is a good rule of thumb for sure and once you start, its easy to have cans around that long. For non-acidic foods I go to around 5 years and even push 6-7 if its there.
Now I'm not suggesting this but to put a lil perspective on how well a properly keep can "could" last...My mom found an unintentional stash of pressure cooked navy beans. We didn't tell any1 how old they were and enjoyed them greatly with some corn bread and green beans. Lets just say 2000 was a great year for navy beans :o Not so much as an egg fart :)) The oldest can of deer meat I've eaten was 6 years old. Sunlight, heat and humidity are what to keep in check.
I've started collecting Food ration bars lately. Shelf life of 5 years and portable. 2400 calories per pack and weigh in a a lil over a pound but....their about 5 bucks a piece. Not cheap but man are they handy, A full day of food for me and my lil 1's or about 3 days of "on the go" food for just me. Great for hiking, camping, and boating.
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Thanks for adding in hippie! Floor space is at a premium around here also so I am going to build that can rack soon. Sorry about the deer jerky, I have never made any so I have no tips to pass along. But I have some friends in Arkansas that have made Venison jerky and as soon as I can catch up with them (truck drivers) I'll find out how they do it and pass it along here. Fish is another thing I want to try, gotta look into doing that!
Making jerky can be done in the oven however it ties up the oven for a day or so and usually the little momma don't like that. Well for that matter neither does poppa when he cant get his biscuits!
Shelf life is a lot longer as you point out for many things, I just gave the average life for most stuff. It really depends on what you preserve and how it's stored.
I'm going to look into these food bars you mentioned hippie, sounds like something to keep around for a quick meal or when on the move or whatever.
Thanks again for your input hippie, I look forward to your ideas!
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Between my father and I we make around 100 lbs of whole muscle deer jerky in the dehydrator. We mainly use the large muscle from the hind quarters of the deer. I don't have a special recipe or anything, I got a little booklet from a local smoke shop years ago, and they also sell the liquid marinade that you can mix with all sorts of different flavors.
I usually do 5-15 lbs at a time depending on how much time I have, and this will usually yield about half of what you started with (EX. 5lbs -2.5lbs, 10lbs-5lbs, etc...) I take the frozen whole muscle from the freezer and let it defrost about half way, it is much easier to cut when it is half frozen. I slice them in to 1/4 to 3/8 pieces (doesn't have to be exact the thicker will just take longer to finish) and put them in a large bowl with a lid.
I then dump all the marinade and seasoning into the bowl, mix it up real good and let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours.
The next night I lay them all out on the trays of the dehydrator, set the temp at med-high, and forget it. I have found if you set it on high the meat ends up being tougher. I am a fan of the low and slow method. After a few hours I check through the trays and move them around and sort out the thinner pieces that might be done already.
Once it is finished I store them in ziploc bags.
Here is a similar method I found online that has a recipe.
http://www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com/articles/best_tasting_venison_jerky.htm (http://www.free-deer-hunting-tips.com/articles/best_tasting_venison_jerky.htm)
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Good info BB and thanks, Mary was taking notes with this one!!
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Never had deer jerkey... Whats it taste like!?!? cry1
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Neat stuff Hippie & Danny. We can lots of salsas, non-meat sauces, jellies, jams, and pickled things. We've never gotten into canning anything containing meat or anything non-acidic and have never pressure canned before either. I was mainly curious as to how those kept and from all the responses it seems as well if not better than what we do! My wife really doesn't enjoy gravy at all, and while I and the lil' one would probably love it, she's simply not going to can something she doesn't 100% enjoy ???
We try to rotate things such that nothing ever gets much more than 3 years old, but things get lost in the cupboards and found many years later. If the color is off, the consistency is wrong, there are bubbles, or any type of growth, it gets chucked immediately. If the color is ok, it gets opened and smelled. If the smell is off, it gets chucked immediately. If the smell is ok, I usually opt for a taste just to see how it's kept up. That's about as far as I've gone though because I'm not going to risk getting wretchedly sick over a jar of homemade tomato sauce made in 2007. :)
In hard times when there might not be another jar until next season (or ever), you can bet that if it's even semi-edible we'll do our darnedest to utilize it. thumb1
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Is that canned corn? Lol. You know that stuff dont digest? rofl
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Running-man you folks already have a leg up on canning then! Your method of testing is pretty much what we use...eyeball test...smell test...then invite a neighbor over to taste it! ;)
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Is that canned corn? Lol. You know that stuff don't digest? rofl
Nope, only the pulp inside, not the hull. Several foods that are like that, black pepper is another I can think of off the top of my head. It has zero nutritional value, only flavoring!
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If the color is off, the consistency is wrong, there are bubbles, or any type of growth, it gets chucked immediately. If the color is ok, it gets opened and smelled. If the smell is off, it gets chucked immediately. If the smell is ok, I usually opt for a taste just to see how it's kept up. That's about as far as I've gone though because I'm not going to risk getting wretchedly sick over a jar of homemade tomato sauce made in 2007. :)
In hard times when there might not be another jar until next season (or ever), you can bet that if it's even semi-edible we'll do our darnedest to utilize it. thumb1
Under a desperate survival situation where you simply couldn't afford to throw out a suspect canned item, the main thing with canned goods that show bubbles (hydrogen and carbon dioxide gas) or bulging cans/lids (gas pressure), especially in protein rich products where Clostridium botulinum thrives is to cook thoroughly to inactivate the neurotoxic, paralyzing botulinum toxin (a protein). Even after cooking, never feed suspect items to small children, since the extremely heat tolerant spores of Clostridium species can survive even boiling temperatures and can grow in the intestine and subsequently produce the toxin. The latter is not a concern for adults unless they're severely immune compromised.
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Never had deer jerkey... Whats it taste like!?!? cry1
:o That right there has to be remedied! When I make another batch or have some given to me...expect a package in the mail man.
bbush, A 100 pounds....that lasts what 2 maybe 3 weeks? rofl rofl j/k Jerky is made for saving but dang it goes sooooooo quick in my house. I'm cool with low and slow also, How long does your jerky take? and have you noticed much difference if your trays are over loaded or would you suggest lots of space and less meat at 1 time? Have you ever tried ground deer jerky? It was my absolute fav growing up and I'm getting my aunt to teach me this year. You use a press to make flat sticks and its softer....Yum. Plus I kinda....already ground a whole deer minus the loins already :)) But since loin steaks have a tendancy to sit in my freezer, I was thinking of jerky'n some and grinding the rest up with pure bacon fat for hamburger steaks. ( I mixed in whole hog sausage and bacon with the rest of the deer this year. I've found that every year I have steaks the next year but...never have burger left, so just went with grinding the whole dang thing this year rofl )
Danny I usually like to go cheap but when I saw the ration bars in the camping section of my local wally world...I had to try 'em. I pick up 1 or 2 a month and have quite a few already. Their high in protien, fat, carbs....basically good all around for meal replacement and a full belly with added vitamins as well.
For any1 wanting to get into pressure canning meat...Whole pork loins are a great place to start. Hit the sales right and you can pick up whole pork loins at less than $1.99 a pound at 8-12 pound avg. Trim the fat and cube the meat and fat into 1" cubes. Fill pint jars 3/4 full with lean meat cubes then add 'bout 3 cubes fat + 1/4 tsp salt. Then follow blue book or pressure canners time/pressure chart and BAM Instant "pulled pork" BBQ at the pop of the top anytime you want it. Its very tender and tastes great just heated up right out of the can. Even makes a great pork and dumplings.
If you've never seen canned deer meat...it looks odd in the jar. But don't let how it looks fool ya, Its fantastic and goes from a muddy red color to perfectly brown in the pan/pot. ( saying this because I've known people to be a lil grossed out when 1st seeing it and tossing out perfectly good meat.)
Thanks for the info Phos thumb1 Great to know.
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Never had deer jerkey... Whats it taste like!?!? cry1
:o That right there has to be remedied! When I make another batch or have some given to me...expect a package in the mail man.
bbush, A 100 pounds....that lasts what 2 maybe 3 weeks? rofl rofl j/k Jerky is made for saving but dang it goes sooooooo quick in my house. I'm cool with low and slow also, How long does your jerky take? and have you noticed much difference if your trays are over loaded or would you suggest lots of space and less meat at 1 time? Have you ever tried ground deer jerky? It was my absolute fav growing up and I'm getting my aunt to teach me this year. You use a press to make flat sticks and its softer....Yum. Plus I kinda....already ground a whole deer minus the loins already :)) But since loin steaks have a tendancy to sit in my freezer, I was thinking of jerky'n some and grinding the rest up with pure bacon fat for hamburger steaks. ( I mixed in whole hog sausage and bacon with the rest of the deer this year. I've found that every year I have steaks the next year but...never have burger left, so just went with grinding the whole dang thing this year rofl )
I don't think deer jerky taste any different than beef jerky. I'll send you some LC if I don't eat it all first.
AH- No it doesn't stick around very long. I have to hide it from myself to make it last more than a couple days. :)
I usually start the dehydrator after work so 6PM or so and leave it run for several hours on med/high. As I sort through and flip pieces over while I am still awake. If the jerky bends instead of tears I leave it on longer. Depending on how big of batch I make, I will turn it down to low and leave it run over night. Checking it first thing in the morning 4AM, and it is usually finished up. Again checking if it bends. I would say it usually takes 8-10 hours.
I usually load the tray as full as I can get it, with most of the pieces touching each other, but not overlapping. As the meat starts to dry out, there will be gaps in between the pieces and I will start combining the trays. Not sure if it is necessary, but it is just what I do. Even though most people say you don't need to I also rotate the trays top to bottom throughout the whole process. It seems to ensure the majority of the meat gets done at the same time. If I cut a few pieces to thick I will leave them on 1 or 2 of the last trays longer.
I will make the ground jerky once I run out of whole muscle. I pretty much follow the same process as the whole muscle jerky. Defrost a few pounds of ground deer, mix in the marinade and let it sit for 24 hours. Then I use a jerky gun, which basically looks like a caulking gun, but for meat. Since the trays are round, I just start in the center and spin the tray around until it is completely full. I like the ground deer jerky, but I eat it way to fast.
Over the years with most of the butcher shops closing in the small towns around my home town, my dad has purchased all of the equipment to process the deer ourselves. During/after deer season his shop turns into our own little butcher shop.
We turn the back straps into tenderized deer steaks. (My favorite)
As mentioned before we use all of the whole muscles from the rear quarters for jerky.
We debone/defat/deslimy stuff the rest of the meat and coarse grind it. We then decide how much breakfast sausage, bratwurst, hamburger patties, and ground burger we are going to have and weigh them out into separate totes. Then stick them back in the walk in cooler until we are ready to work on them.
For the breakfast sausage we buy pork butts, and debone them and coarse grind them. We then mix it 50/50 with coarse ground deer, and fine grind them into 1 lb packages, and freeze.
Depending on what flavor of bratwurst we make some call for mixing the deer with beef or pork. The ones that call for beef we will buy 70/30 beef in 10lb tubes from the local grocery store, the pork ones we use the same pork butts as the breakfast sausage. The seasoning packets are usually for 30lbs so we mix 15lbs deer 15lbs pork or beef and fine grind it. We then use a sausage stuffer, and put them into natural hog casings. We separate them out into meal size portions, wrap in plastic, freezer paper, and freeze. This year we made 30lbs each of Italian, German, and Chorizo.
There is a little contraption that attaches to the sausage stuffer that allows you to make 1/4 pound hamburger patties. For standard hamburger patties we mix the ground deer 50/50 with ground beef, fine grind them and run them through the stuffer. We put a piece of wax paper between each patty, and put three patties per package. We then wrap them in plastic, freezer paper and freeze.
We have added Jalapeno pieces from the garden to them also which turns out pretty tasty if you like a little heat.
We also make bacon burger patties, where we buy 10lb boxes of bacon ends from the grocery store, coarse grind, mix 50/50 with ground deer, fine grind and run through the stuffer.
Whatever is left of ground deer we mix 50/50 with ground beef, fine grind, and put them in 1lb packages and freeze.
If you've never seen canned deer meat...it looks odd in the jar. But don't let how it looks fool ya, Its fantastic and goes from a muddy red color to perfectly brown in the pan/pot. ( saying this because I've known people to be a lil grossed out when 1st seeing it and tossing out perfectly good meat.)
We didn't can any deer this year, but we have in the past. I agree it looks a little funky after it has been canned. My favorite thing to do with canned deer is dump it into a pan on the stove on low heat, mix in BBQ sauce and it is basically a BBQ Beef sandwich. Pretty tasty.
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Sounds like I may have to not temp the flavor demons like RM dont wanna feed the mosinitus. rofl
I thought deer would taste different then cow..... :-\
Wait... Is mosinitus directly related to eating deer jerky?? :o
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Hippie that's what I was thinking..."I usually like to go cheap"...and it's too expensive to stock up a room full of it. But it sounds like a good thing to have when on the move or for a quick meal as I said before. We buy meat at a Save a Lot grocery in Lake City near here, much cheaper than anywhere else.
Mary uses one of those pressure canning cookers and those things are the best thing since sliced bread! She is using it this morning to seal up in jars our first batch of beef jerky which turned out real good. We are both a little bummed out because we can't get the food saver vacuum sealer to work! I really wanted to seal them up in bags.
I have never tried jerking pork, sounds like it would be nasty even though I love pork! But I guess I'll try that next. Mary has used her pressure canner to put up pork, beef, bacon, vegetables, fruit and we'll can whatever else we can think of!
We believe times are going to get to be very hard in the future, possibly not too far off. It's never too late to start getting ready.
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Sounds like I may have to not temp the flavor demons like RM dont wanna feed the mosinitus. rofl
I thought deer would taste different then cow..... :-\
Wait... Is mosinitus directly related to eating deer jerky?? :o
Well....I'm not gonna say it is...but...come to think of it....I may need RM's addy as well rofl Now I've heard Reindeer jerky is a given. It'll have you digging through every LGS and pawnshop in the country. :))
Think of good deer as Grass fed, organic, very lean beef. IMO the fat of any animal is what will start throwing different flavor profiles and with jerky....you go lean, lean, lean. I've had real gamey deer given to me in the past and I would assume it might transfer to jerky, but don't know for sure. What bbush said about debone/defat/and deslimeing the meat is key. I even go as far as "bleeding" the meat in ice water/ salt water if it hasn't had a chance to hang. Every1 has a different method and some deer will be gamier than others ( Like a buck at height of the rut) I go a tad OCD with trimming.
Bbush....That answered my questions perfectly. Thanks man thumb1 Some great info there. Sounds like you got going on, what I'm trying to get to. Man would I love to try making some Brawts. Come to think of it, moms got a jerky caulking gun like you mentioned. Think I'll give it a try this year.
Danny, you'll like this ...I've involved my lil 1's in the meat processing every year since they were still in diapers. People think that it might "traumatize" the lil 1's but its quite the opposite. I've found that its not till 1 gets older and is taught that, that is "gross". My kids were very curious and happy to be a part of the food making process. Heck my cousins kids were flabergasted that fast food burgers came from cows and not from deer. rofl With non-meat processing...the more lil hands stringing green beans, the better chuckles1 I always joke with my kids that, 1 of the reasons I had 'em was to get around all those pesky child labor laws. chuckles1 chuckles1
Yep Danny, Its never to late to start. Even being pricey, I still stock up on the ration bars for the reasons you mentioned. Think of 'em as a highly nutritious granola bar that will last and last. Their vacumed sealed in a type of foil. Water proof and very toteable.
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Thanks to hippie, phosphorus and BB for lots of danged good info!
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Hippie that's one of the reasons our grand kids say they like coming over, getting involved in so many interesting things like you do with your kids! We ride horses, fish, target shoot...geez, the list goes on and on!
They are learning things that may be useful to them one day but the most important thing is we are creating some great memories for them!
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Oh yeah gotta teach the next generations these things or it will disappear. You hit the nail on the head with creating memories with the lil 1's. thumb1 30 years from now...they wont remember what I-phone or different app they had but...they most certainly will remember that fishing/camping trip or how dad/grandad taught them how to make a log cabin or teepee fire. My 7 year old was grinning ear to ear talking to his maw-maw and paw-paw about how he showed the older kids in his scout group how to restart a fire that every1 there said was out. He did it with a lil kindling and a 3 ft section of metal pipe.
I always joke about how being dirt poor would be a step up and how I have a 30 yr loan on a pot to pi.....well you know the old saying rofl rofl But memories cost next to nothing and will mean the world to the young'uns. :)
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Sounds like I may have to not temp the flavor demons like RM dont wanna feed the mosinitus. rofl
I thought deer would taste different then cow..... :-\
Wait... Is mosinitus directly related to eating deer jerky?? :o
Well....I'm not gonna say it is...but...come to think of it....I may need RM's addy as well rofl Now I've heard Reindeer jerky is a given. It'll have you digging through every LGS and pawnshop in the country. :))
Think of good deer as Grass fed, organic, very lean beef. IMO the fat of any animal is what will start throwing different flavor profiles and with jerky....you go lean, lean, lean. I've had real gamey deer given to me in the past and I would assume it might transfer to jerky, but don't know for sure. What bbush said about debone/defat/and deslimeing the meat is key. I even go as far as "bleeding" the meat in ice water/ salt water if it hasn't had a chance to hang. Every1 has a different method and some deer will be gamier than others ( Like a buck at height of the rut) I go a tad OCD with trimming.
AH - I have to agree with you 100% on deer vs beef taste. We are very OCD when we are processing deer, and a lot the gamey taste does come from the fat, unlike beef where it adds a good flavor. I have used the "grass fed, organic beef" term to several deer meat haters over the years. My biggest battle is with my girlfriend on this topic. Her ex used to deer hunt, and they would run a deer, shoot it, let it ride around in the back of the truck for hours and then drop it off at the locker plant. Then have it thrown in with the rest of the deer that where harvested much of the same way. When they got their meat back from the locker they would over cook all of it, and **** it was gamey.
I field dress my deer minutes after it has been shot. Several times I have shot a deer at first light, jump out of my stand, gut it, wedge something in its ribs to cool it down and get back in my stand. After an hour or so the deer are back under my stand. I have shot deer hours apart from the same stand. When my hunt is over I flush any remaining blood from the deer and load it in the truck. We then hang them in a walk in cooler until we are ready to process them. It is really all in how you handle the meat after you have harvested it.
My GF will eat deer now, and actually will request it when I am grilling. I have to hide all the jerky from her too!
The only reason we add the beef to our ground deer is for the fat. Otherwise it is to lean and won't stay together if you try to make a hamburger patty.
Bbush....That answered my questions perfectly. Thanks man thumb1 Some great info there. Sounds like you got going on, what I'm trying to get to. Man would I love to try making some Brawts. Come to think of it, moms got a jerky caulking gun like you mentioned. Think I'll give it a try this year.
I am very thankful my dad has picked up all of this equipment over the years, and shown me how to use it. We usually process 4-6 deer a year and have gotten pretty good at it.
The brawts are time consuming, but are pretty tasty.
This is similar to the stuffer we use, but I believe ours is 10lbs.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/hunting/food-processing/sausage-making|/pc/104791680/c/104723280/sc/104552280/cabela-s-5-lb-sausage-stuffer-with-steel-gear/1968590.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FN%3D1117843 (http://www.cabelas.com/product/hunting/food-processing/sausage-making|/pc/104791680/c/104723280/sc/104552280/cabela-s-5-lb-sausage-stuffer-with-steel-gear/1968590.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse.cmd%3FN%3D1117843)
Here is the kits, that come with the seasoning and cases.
http://www.himtnjerky.com/Sausage-Kits/ (http://www.himtnjerky.com/Sausage-Kits/)
Danny, you'll like this ...I've involved my lil 1's in the meat processing every year since they were still in diapers. People think that it might "traumatize" the lil 1's but its quite the opposite. I've found that its not till 1 gets older and is taught that, that is "gross". My kids were very curious and happy to be a part of the food making process. Heck my cousins kids were flabergasted that fast food burgers came from cows and not from deer. rofl With non-meat processing...the more lil hands stringing green beans, the better chuckles1 I always joke with my kids that, 1 of the reasons I had 'em was to get around all those pesky child labor laws. chuckles1 chuckles1
I've helped my father and late grandfather process deer for as long as I can remember. It is probably why I still deer hunt today and choose to process my own instead of take it to a locker plant. I rarely have any straight beef in my freezer, and prefer deer. My 8 year old nephew has helped us the last 3 years, and really enjoys it. As he gets older he really is a big help, and is picking up on the process very well. My sister says the only downfall is he wants to wear nothing but camo, and won't quit talking about when he gets to shoot his first deer.
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Thanks for the links BB. Until about two yrs ago we were taking in 2-3 deer a season but haven't since then. What venison we have had this past year was provided by our daughters & sons in law! Now that I have my worst health issues behind me I hope to change that.
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This is the seasoning we are using and it is really good. I haven't tried making my own but maybe in the future. I picked this up at the Save a Lot grocery in Heber Springs, Arkansas and I saw it in the one here in Lake City Florida. I'm sure one could pick it up most anywhere. One package will do 15 lbs of meat.
(http://i1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh618/smithdblueDannyboy53/Odds%20and%20ends/Jerky%20cure_zps18ovorsu.jpg)
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When reading around for recipes, That brand of cure was mentioned often and favorably. I'm looking for a cure to use in my ground deer jerky soon, might have to give it a try.
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Hippie we really like it, it has a good rich flavor without being overpowering or too strong.
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I've used that brand before also, and it turned out great. You can usually find several different flavors by them at nearly any grocery store around town.