STORAGE AND OTHER GOODIES.....

I know that many of you that come to read and comment have already organised much of your storage needs, and some are slowly getting there as time and finances allow, so I thought I would touch base again on how we are going here in our little homestead.

With ours I started with the list I found a couple of years ago..."100 things to vanish" if the "SHTF". Choosing from there for our family needs made storage much easier initially, less intimidating when there was such a mammoth task ahead. Be aware that not everything on that list will be what you require, just take from it as you will, add a few extras that you feel you wont want but would be good to trade:)

From there I moved to foods. This weekend was spent doing what I call nibblies - those good for you, and delicious little items you can munch on when hunger strikes.......bananas and apples this time, next weekend I am planning on doing a few others.

Drying the fruit preserves it so that it can be stored in airtight containers year-round, the process brings out the sugars and flavors while keeping most (not all) of the nutritional benefits of the fruit. You will notice I haven't dipped my bananas, some do, I prefer them natural, the brownish colour doesn't bother me or have any effect on the flavour.

There is some controversy over just how good dried foods are for you when many of the water soluble vitamins and minerals vanish in the drying process (Vit B, C and potassium for example), however I would argue that if you are nibbling on fruit that is out of season, you are at least getting some vit/min content and some great fibre/roughage! Eat it fresh when it is in season and its a win/win :)

In addition of course, they have a shelf life of up to a year and take up little shelf space in your cabinets. The photo above is dozens upon dozens of bananas. When you're ready to eat them, it's as simple as taking the lid off the jar/tin/and enjoying them straight from the container, far better than that great slab of chocolate cake or bag of lollies:)

Many times I wonder if you and I will ever see the "SHTF" time, or if it will happen in our childrens or grandchildren's time. Do you have the same thoughts? After much consideration I have decided that it nothing happens in our time we will have an easy retirement and have left a hell of a lot of goodies for the kids, either way it's a win/win don't you think?

The garden is in Winter mode, nothing much happening other than planting, mainly out in the front garden, which has had little done to it other than killing off the lawn as soon as we got here lol. Lots of natives and cottage garden plants means it will be low maintenance and water friendly.

Hope your weekend is a good one!