Beef Jerky

Part of being self sufficient is learning how to make your own food.  My family was lucky enough this year to get in on a special deer hunt.  There was an area a few hours from us that had a lot of fire this last summer and it pretty well burned up everything that was green.  The Fish and Game figured that 2-3,000 deer would starve to death this winter because of a lack of food.  So they did a special deer draw and my hubby and older boys lucked out  and all drew deer tags.  They went up one day and each came back with a deer that we processed and made all sorts of stuff out of(deerburger, steaks, stew meat, etc..).  One thing my hubby wanted to try was to make jerky, so he got on line and researched how to make it yourself.  We bought the seasoning and got the meat out, mixed the season with it, wrapped it up and then let it sit overnight in the fridge. This is what it looks like the next day. 

Next you take your meat and roll it out till it about 1/4" thick, it does not have to be pretty, just go for the correct thickness. I used wax paper to roll it out on and also on top of it while I was rolling the meat.  You then take that and use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut it into strips about 1 1/2". It should look something like this.

Put the strips on a cookie sheet, they can be close together!  Use a spatula to lift the meat onto the cookie sheets, it makes it much easier.

Next you put these in the oven at 250* for 2-3 hours. I did a few cookie sheets at the same time.

When the timer goes off, you want to check for moisture, there should not be much either on the meat or on the cookie sheet.

Let your jerky sit out overnight to finish drying. The next day, place it in baggies or an air tight container. This must be eaten soon(1-2 weeks) as it wont last as long as the jerky you buy in the stores. Its also a good idea to keep it in the fridge.  You can tell if its going bad because it will start getting white little spots on the jerky.

Play around with the seasonings as there are many different varieties. We have tried some that we really like and some that we will never try again, so just experiment with them and see what you like!

You can also do this on a food dehydrator, just follow the instructions for drying times.

Greek Starvation Recipes

If you have been following what has been happening in Greece, then you know its a bad situation and that we in the United States are being told that we are embarking on the same path.

One thing I learned about not having much money is that you have to get creative with food because its one of the largest expenses usually in your budget(depending of course on the number of mouths you feed). Yes, we did go on food stamps for 6 months but during that time I wanted to make the most of what I was given and be very conservative with what I had.

The other day I heard on one of our local AM radio shows Austin Hill about a cook book that recently came out in Greece called "Starvation Recipes". Fun title I know but as I did some more research on it and read the following article at the Blaze. The recipes in this book are ones that were used during the second World War, when people in Europe were quite literally starving to death and rationing everything they had as well as becoming quite creative on food.

Times were tough for them and it really got me thinking on what if that happened here or what if I had no money again and there was no food stamps, what would I do? Now I know there are other ways to get food right now besides food stamps, there are churches, food banks, etc.. But as I read on why this women created this book and especially why its selling out in Greece, it got me thinking again on why its important to be prepared and to be frugal, maybe not as extreme as this right now, but you never know do you? Also, what if it happens one day that there are no more food stamps, no more churches or food banks giving out food, what would you do to feed your family?

I also wanted to share a site that I found that is called Cooking Economy, you should really check it out! It goes along similar lines as the cookbook but not to the extreme! I really want to try some of the recipes on there, they look pretty good and I really believe it would be a good idea to know how to make some of these meals.

That said, how is your food storage?

Do you have enough food in your pantry to last your family for a little while? I will be talking more latter about how you can easily put together a 90 days worth of meals. These have been tried out, bought and tested and it wont break the bank! Did you know that most grocery stores only have enough on their shelves and in their store rooms to last for 3 days! In an emergency or a run on the stores those shelves and the store for that matter are cleared out in a matter of hours! Bottom line is to have enough food in your home to last for a little while but will touch more on that as I said latter.

See what you think about both and leave me a message!