Guest Post: Ready Nutrition

I've been following Ready Nutrition for a couple of weeks now after seeing an interesting post on how to become prepared over 52 weeks. Then they had a contest. Write a blog post, they said, and if we feature it you'll be entered to win! So I wrote. And mine happens to be one of the first ones to be posted! So I'm very excited. I wrote about preparing for storms and about the Rule of Threes. Have a peek over at the article and see what you think.

Protein - it's good for you!

TVP - Textured Vegetable Protein

Prices are going up. The price of just about everything is going up, and will continue to go up. The price of meat, however, is going to move a lot faster than most other things. For those of us who are omnivores, that gets a bit scary. What do you eat when you can't afford to eat beef, chicken, turkey or pork?

Since the price of meat started going up about two years ago, we've been slowly cutting down on the amount of it that we eat. It used to be (and yes, you'll be shocked) that we would sit down as a family of three adults and two small children, and eat 2.5 lbs of meat easily along with a variety of vegetables and grains. This is no longer the case.

Generally speaking, I allot 2-2.5 lbs of meat for dinner now. That feeds four adults, one older teen, and two seven-year-olds, plus leftovers most nights. That's a much healthier ratio of meat to "other stuff" at our table.

TVP repackaged

Still, finding 2 lbs of meat that we can afford to purchase for our family is becoming more and more difficult. The cheapest of ground beef (that I'll buy, and I'm guaranteed is not pink slime or worse) is currently $2.99/lb. Chicken legs with backs can be found for $0.79/lb but I have to drive to get them. I can pick up whole chickens for $0.99/lb, which is what we seem to end up doing most times. Breasts are easily $3.99/lb. Beef is anywhere from $3.99 to $16.99/lb depending on the cut. Pork is in the middle, ranging from $4.99 to $8.99/lb. Turkey is usually a bit more expensive than chicken, except around Thanksgiving. Right now, we're getting turkey at $0.49/lb, and I'm going to be filling the freezer with as much as we can afford.

When I'm cooking something made with ground or finely cut meat, I often substitute half of the meat for TVP, or textured vegetable protein. TVP is a meat substitute that is made from defatted soy beans. It doesn't have any flavor to it, and will easily pick up the flavor of whatever you are cooking. It's a dehydrated product, and requires about five minutes of soaking in broth or water before cooking with it.

The best things about TVP are that it is inexpensive (under $3.00 a bag) and a little goes a long way. A 10oz bag of Bob's Red Mill TVP will last weeks worth of meals. I mix it up with water and then sauté it in a tiny bit of butter and bacon fat for flavor. Sometimes I'll rehydrate it in broth to give it flavor of its own. I discovered that TVP rehydrated in water and then cooked in fresh bacon fat until it's crispy tastes almost like bacon bits (certainly more so than the "artificial" bacon bits you get at the store!).

When I make meatloaf or meatballs or spaghetti sauce or chili, I now use half or 1/3 ground beef and the rest TVP. The family can't tell the difference, and they get just as much protein (and less bad fats) as they would if I used all meat. For those who are on a restricted fat diet, TVP can be a real help.

A scant quarter cup of TVP makes an amount that is about equivalent to a pound of ground meat in both bulk and amount of protein. Use it in place of any ground meat, or in conjunction with it. I find that if I mix in a little real meat with the TVP it makes the flavor perfect. It's dehydrated, so it's incredibly light and stores in a small space.

Stored in the OJ bottle

When I buy my TVP, it comes in a plastic bag with the label on it. I don't like keeping stuff in bags, because they can be chewed on by mice, popped open accidentally, and once they've been opened for use you can never quite get them closed tight enough. I re-package my TVP into vacuum sealed baggies or into hard plastic containers. It just so happened that this week when I was re-packing the TVP, I happened to have an empty, clean, dry orange juice bottle that is squarish. It took two full bags of TVP plus a bit (the remainder went into a jar by the stove which I dip into frequently). It was easy to pour in, easier to close, and I no longer have to be concerned about children or rodents.

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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Prepping 101

Learning new skills

Yesterday, the kids were off school. In our area of New England, they get the day off on Election day. So do most teachers. This means that we were all at home yesterday, enjoying some well-deserved time together. We took down a couple of trees, bucked them, and brought them over for splitting. We loaded up wood for the house (there's our first winter storm on the way), and brought much of it inside. We had delicious food for each of our meals, and Halloween candy (and popcorn) for snacks. Voting took almost no time at all, and was a pleasant experience. All in all, it was a pretty good day. 

We also watched a movie together. We decided to watch The Day After Tomorrow with Dennis Quaid. I chose this movie because I wanted to see what the kids would think of the choices made by the various people in the story. We didn't watch the movie all the way through, but instead stopped at several points throughout, having discussions and answering the children's questions.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

Our kids just turned seven last week. They're in first grade. They've grown up in a fairly middle class family with an interest in sustainable living, and with many loving and caring adults (and younger people) around them. They're also incredibly smart, and they've grown up being rewarded for thinking "outside the box." I wanted to see how they'd stack up against others in a survival situation, at least via talking points.

Cooking stew at the campsite

The first thing we discussed was "global warming," a theme throughout the movie. We talked about climate change versus global warming, and why we work with the former and not the latter in our family. We talked a bit about Hurricane (tropical storm, tropical depression) Sandy, and how scientists have said that the warmth of the water on the coast helped make the storm much larger than it might otherwise have been. We also explained that the movie was completely fictional, but that climate change is real and that Sandy and her storm surges and flooding was quite real as well.

I think that part of the lesson was over their heads a bit. Though they asked some good questions, I suspect much of what was said is going to be "in one ear and out the other" as they say. I don't blame them, considering that's also true for most adults.

When we began to see the storms rising in the movie, our girl flipped out. There were tourists taking photographs of the developing funnel and she was literally screaming, "That's a tornado, you dummies, get out of there!" We had to pause because she was so upset that people could be so stupid. Our boy, being autistic, was more constrained on the issue, but he also seemed upset that people would just stand there as a giant destructive thing started coming for them.

We talked, also, about whether it was safe to be in a car or house during a hurricane or other natural disaster. We asked the kids what they'd do if they were on their own for some reason, with no grown ups around, and saw (or heard) that a storm was on the way. Their answers were gratifying. Despite never being taught directly, they had picked up some pretty decent strategies.

Her first sewing project

The girl child immediately said that in some storms it was okay to be in a car, but that she'd rather be in the house. Both children said they'd head for the basement if they knew a hurricane or tornado was on the way, and that they'd go to the very back where the heavy brick walls are, and crouch there. They said they'd take flashlights, too. Since that was the most correct answer, I was extremely pleased.

Later in the movie, when the snow started falling, we paused again. Once we all had popcorn and drinks, we asked the children what the most important thing is in a winter storm. There was a bit of guidance involved, but they eventually got to the correct answer: shelter.

They listened to the climatologist explain the (pseudo)science behind the storm cells ravaging North America, and when some of the people decided to go out and try to walk in the snow (presumably to escape to somewhere warmer, although I've no idea where they thought they'd go on foot) they both gasped. We were told emphatically that it was stupid to leave perfectly good shelter with lots of burnable things in it (the characters were in a library). Yay, team kids!

Our boy, ready for anything

When we were all done with the movie, we sat together as a family and had a long discussion about what the most important things are in an emergency, and what that means to them personally. They've heard us talk about the Rule of Threes numerous times, and got to see it put into action during our talk.

The Rule of Threes states you can live for:

• three minutes without air
• three hours without shelter
• three days without water
• three weeks without food
• and three months without hope.

Major first aid is beyond our little ones,  but they have bandaids and such in their packs. Shelter is something we spent a lot of time on, because we wanted them to understand just what shelter is. Shelter is your car or house, or a tent, but it's also a bivy sack, a tarp held up with paracord, a log cabin, a lean-to made out of branches, warm clothing (both inner and outer), and much more. We covered everything from having extra socks to using space blankets. Since both kids have had the experience of sleeping in their daddy's bivy sack (and the boy did so in the middle of a rain storm where he was basically in a huge puddle in the bottom of the tent, and still quite warm and dry), they were able to use that experience to expand on the other things.

Water was the most interesting topic that we went over, in my opinion. Both kids came up with fantastic outside-the-box ideas for where to find water. The boy pointed out that the ice in the fridge and freezer can be melted and used for drinking water, something I admitted to him that I hadn't even thought of myself! Then our little princess, who wears pink and doesn't like to get dirty, sported a disgusted face and started to giggle. With a bit of coaxing (and assurances she wouldn't get in trouble), she noted that the toilet is full of water. Bingo! I could have hugged them both into little piles of love at that moment.

Canned summer harvest

Food they know way too much about, having been involved in the canning and drying and otherwise storing of our harvest and purchases. Hope, too, they're fine with. They know that books are precious friends, that board games and card games are a ton of fun, and that little projects like cross stitch and quilting and the like are also a lot of fun to engage in.

Our children passed the Prepping 101 test with flying colors. They understand the mentality of putting away food for lean times. They are very aware that home grown food tastes better. They know that we care for them, but we also expect them to care for themselves and be responsible children. They might give a bit of lip while sitting around the house (yeah, okay, sometimes a LOT of lip) but in an emergency they're pretty darn good.

In the process of our family day together, our kids learned valuable lessons. They taught us, too, that they're hearing a lot more of our talk than we thought. We found out that they not only have some pretty fantastic ideas, but that they're not bound by the standard thoughts held by most people (how many people do you know that would think to drink the water out of the back of the toilet in an emergency?).

I hope they never have to deal with an emergency like Sandy or Katrina. I hope they live their whole lives with nothing more upsetting than a lost election, and the usual sibling rivalry. I also am comfortable knowing that they are aware of what needs to be done if we're not that lucky.

What things do you teach your children about? Do they know what to do in an emergency? Are you willing to teach them some elements of preparing for emergencies of various kinds? Why or why not?

Learning at the Freehold

The girl shows off her corn

There is a lot to be said about the public school system here in our corner of New Hampshire. I've been incredibly pleased with it since we moved here last October. The twins have been truly challenged, have learned a lot, and yet have not been the least alienated from their peers. This speaks to me of good differentiation and good teaching habits.

However! Just because the kids are getting a great public school education doesn't mean they don't have stuff to learn at home. There's just so much for them to learn here. We may not be teaching the staid and solid original three - readin', writin' and 'rithmatic - but almost everything we do has something to do with one of those or a plethora of other subjects of great importance.

Reading is a daily habit in our home. Every one of us reads, and we read both for pleasure and for education. The kids have some fun books (high on the list right now are Captain Underpants, the Redwall series, and Harry Potter of course) and some books that are meant to challenge their reading abilities. They're well ahead of their peers, and we believe this is because we've pretty much read to them every day since they were born.

Writing is a new thing for our munchkins, but they've taken to it with gusto. One of their favorite things lately is to get online and open up IM and chat with one of the adults. At the moment their ability to type long messages is fairly low, but it gets better with each attempt. They also create little books and glue or tape or tie them together and give them as gifts (having already learned that books are always well received). They are working on handwriting, both printing and script.

Arithmetic is a subject they practice every day, several times a day. Whether they're eyeballing the size of something, estimating the amount of milk needed for their cup, or figuring out the fractions in slicing pizza, they are always using math.

Those are just the "school" subjects, though. Our kids are always out and about. They climb trees, allowing them to commune with nature. They find nests and discover hungry, blind baby birds. They help in the garden, learning both where their food comes from, and what is and isn't edible. They enjoy baking, wood working, music and dance, and hundreds of other subjects that we provide during our daily living.

They also learn how to teach. Watching the little miss in the above video, you can see how she enjoys sharing her knowledge with others. She wants everyone to understand the joy she finds in twirlie birds and maple trees. She is patient, and well spoken, and it makes me thoroughly proud.

How many opportunities do most children get to teach others? Few, if any. It's a shame, too, because numerous studies have told us that teaching is a great way to learn. If we'd just give our kids the opportunities and get out of their way, they'd soar to heights beyond our reckoning.

This is not meant to be a slam on the public school they're in, though. They are doing very well there, and have many friends. I'll admit, I'm proud that their friends tend to be the other "smart kids" in the school, but no matter who they're friends with, I'm still happy. You can see the girl in this last video dancing with her old Zumba teacher. We ran across them today, dancing in the local drugstore at the grand opening sale. She jumped right in, not the least bit self conscious that there were adults galore, all staring. She knew what to do, and did it with a zest for life that teaches me something new every single day.

What do your kids teach you?

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site!
 
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