Saving Money as Prices Increase

[Oaktree]

Never heard of pressure canning...

Grandma would pour alcohol on top of her preserves, light it and screw the lid on at the Right time.

Hospital Autoclaves can be free or close to it...

Had several perfect older models sent out as scrap because they lack computer telemetry documentation with only basic disk recording...

How would a hospital autoclave be used.

Years ago legend has it the hospitals Autoclaves we're used for a fund raiser spaghetti feed... way before my time.

Had to Google autoclave, never heard of it before. What's it used for in a hospital? Sterilizing surgical implements?
For food preservation, would you use it like a pressure canner, with the food already in jars or would you use it to process food, then package it a different way?

Surprised you'd never heard of pressure canning. I'd always thought it was a fairly well known method of preserving.

 

[Oaktree]

Apparently, cancelling new car orders isn't a big deal as some with orders pending and pushed back found other options at no penalty?

Going back to gas lines and rationing would change dynamics drastically but seems public is resigned to higher prices as long as product is available?

Given the backlog of orders for new vehicles, seems like for every customer who cancels an order there'll be 10 ready to snarf it up.

Hopefully, it doesn't come to gas lines. More likely everyone will crab about the prices, some will ditch perfectly good vehicles for econoboxes that they'll get rid of once prices come back down.

 

[ultrarunner]

Autoclaves are the backbone of modern hospitals and couldn't function without as bulk of sterile processing done by steam...

For steam sensitive items we have gas chamber sterilization and chemical immersion...

Steam Chamber is either gravity or pre-vac where the cycle draws a vacuum...

Hospitals have steam boilers with piped steam lines, steam traps and return lines.

Clinics may use self contained Autoclaves with electric steam boiler... takes a lot of power but effective.

One of my piped steam installs...

 

[5030]

Hopefully, it doesn't come to gas lines.

I don't believe it will. The powers to be will jack the price up so high that driving will become only for necessity. I've already been conserving with my 40+mpg buggy.

 

[5030]

On canning, we do both pressure and water (boiling) bath and we don't can meat at all, We layer it in lard in the root cellar. Same with carrots but instead of lard, we use sand. taters are hung in mesh sacks from the joists. So are onions. I only grow and store reds. Whites and yellows won't keep over the winter/

 

[Oaktree]

Same with carrots but instead of lard, we use sand. taters are hung in mesh sacks from the joists. So are onions. I only grow and store reds. Whites and yellows won't keep over the winter/

I do the same with carrots. I store potatoes in 5 gal buckets with lids. Reds, whites, russets...all store well for me.
Can't get onions to grow for the life of me. All foliage, no bulb.

 

[5030]

I do the same with carrots. I store potatoes in 5 gal buckets with lids. Reds, whites, russets...all store well for me.
Can't get onions to grow for the life of me. All foliage, no bulb.

Buy onion sets and plant them about 5" apart and when the tuber foliage gets up a couple inches, snip the tops off and don't ever hill them, just let them grow above the soil if the want to.

I hang my spuds in mesh laundry bags to let the air circulate around them and I keep it dark in the root cellar unless I'm in the to get something. Spuds have to be stored in the dark, or they will sprout and turn green. In the spring any left over ones that are sprouting, I'll cut them and let them calouse over and replant them and get more spuds.

Just got my Jung seed catalog. We have had excellent luck with Jung over the years so we stick with them. This year especially will require a large garden. Food prices are stupid high,

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Never heard of pressure canning...

Grandma would pour alcohol on top of her preserves, light it and screw the lid on at the Right time.

Hospital Autoclaves can be free or close to it...

Had several perfect older models sent out as scrap because they lack computer telemetry documentation with only basic disk recording...

How would a hospital autoclave be used.

Years ago legend has it the hospitals Autoclaves we're used for a fund raiser spaghetti feed... way before my time.

To pressure can a quart of meat, processing time is 1.5 hours at 10 PSI steam. You use an autoclave because you can load 20 or 30 quart jars into a large one. It speeds things up. Even so, my friend had to do several runs of half pints to can an 80 lb. tuna, and his autoclave was huge. A dinky Dr.'s office autoclave would be worthless. That's why a freezer is so convenient. You can wrap meat and freeze it, done. To can meat, you have to cut it into pieces small enough to fit into the jar, then process it.

If you are going to get into pressure canning, buy the biggest you can afford. Your weekly schedule will thank you. Being able to run 28 pints at a pop really speeds things up.

 

[ultrarunner]

Thank you for the explanation...

Rehabbing older homes I would inevitably find mason or ball jars and sometimes dozens of them but rarely anymore as the old timers pass away.

 

[5030]

Thank you for the explanation...

Rehabbing older homes I would inevitably find mason or ball jars and sometimes dozens of them but rarely anymore as the old timers pass away.

My wife is still using old blue Ball jars, We empty the contents, wash them and store them until needed again. Only thing we do is check the sealing area around the top. If it feels smooth and unbroken they are good to reuse.

I have to get my fermenting crocks out of the root cellar in a couple months and get them ready to make kraut. Won't grown my own cabbage anymore. I can get all I want in green and red from one of the truck farmers I know down the road. I trade a hamper for a couple jars of pickled beets. A hamper of cabbage is close to 75 pounds. Get my melons from him too.

I see Harsch went out of business or at least I cannot find them on the net anymore. I have 3 of their crocks with their 'gutter] around the edges. That way you fill it with water and it lest the fermenting gas escape but lets no air in so no Kalm produced on the top of the fermenting Kraut. Best fermenting crocks ever made.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Airlines are already reducing future capacity. Well, it was a good 12 months since the last crisis.

 

[kenmac]

with HB meat @ 6.00 (todays price) I'll have two steers to be processed in a few months.

 

[oosik]

I buy chicken in bulk. Two forty pound boxes - $2.69/pound. I have to cut it up - bag it - put in the freezer. I get skinless - boneless chickens.

 

[Hay Dude]

In these times, I look to the local Amish and Mennonite community for food. They dont rely much on diesel. The food is grown just a few miles away, so there isnt much transportation cost. Its not typically frozen, either. Their food is usually not grown with chemical fertilizers, so high fertilizer prices are not much of an issue in their pricing structure. The dont take advantage of people, either.

Look around and see if you have a local produce farmer. Most are being regulated out of existence, but there are still some out there.

 

[Oaktree]

Buy onion sets and plant them about 5" apart and when the tuber foliage gets up a couple inches, snip the tops off and don't ever hill them, just let them grow above the soil if the want to.

I hang my spuds in mesh laundry bags to let the air circulate around them and I keep it dark in the root cellar unless I'm in the to get something. Spuds have to be stored in the dark, or they will sprout and turn green. In the spring any left over ones that are sprouting, I'll cut them and let them calouse over and replant them and get more spuds.

Just got my Jung seed catalog. We have had excellent luck with Jung over the years so we stick with them. This year especially will require a large garden. Food prices are stupid high,

I'll have to give that a try with the onions. I do the same as you with any leftover potatoes, haven't bought seed potatoes in years.

Yeah, shop early for seeds. Gotta feeling it's gonna be like 2020 all over again with everything sold out by planting time.

Glad I stocked up on canning jar lids last year...

If you are going to get into pressure canning, buy the biggest you can afford. Your weekly schedule will thank you. Being able to run 28 pints at a pop really speeds things up.

Depends on how much you can. It's just me and the wife, I doubt we put of 28 pints of any one thing in a season, and that's spread out over a couple months.

Rehabbing older homes I would inevitably find mason or ball jars and sometimes dozens of them but rarely anymore as the old timers pass away.

Seems to be a renewed interest in it these days.
That having been said, even growing up in the 60s, I don't recall a lot of people into canning. My parents did, but few if any of my friends' parents even had gardens.

I buy chicken in bulk. Two forty pound boxes - $2.69/pound. I have to cut it up - bag it - put in the freezer. I get skinless - boneless chickens.

Doesn't seem like much of a bargain given the size of the boxes. Up until the last year or so, you could get boneless thighs/breasts for that at the supermarket.
How are they packaged? You'd think in those quantities freezer burn would be a problem unless you eat a LOT of chicken.

 

[oosik]

There are two "colonies" of Hutterites about 55 miles NW of me here. They are into LARGE acreage wheat farming. They grow their own food but not for sale to public.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I've been more careful about planning town trips. I was never big on a 30 mile round trip for a loaf of bread, but now I work hard to make each trip multi-purpose. Yesterday I dropped off used motor oil for recycling, hit the co-op for feed, picked up some cash at the bank, prescriptions at the pharmacy, and did some grocery shopping. Then I paid $70 to fill the tank with gas. I screwed up big time, because here comes spring, and I need tractor diesel.

 

[Hay Dude]

Gold already up $200/oz since 2022.
I bet it hits $3,000/oz this year and over $5,000 once the riots begin

2020 riots will look like a Macys New Years day parade compared to whats coming….

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If you want to cure your own hams, this is some reading matter from one of the old Joy Of Cooking books. This is from the 1964 edition. You may have to download the scans to read them.

 

[newbury]

I buy chicken in bulk. Two forty pound boxes - $2.69/pound. I have to cut it up - bag it - put in the freezer. I get skinless - boneless chickens.

Chicken prices must be a very local item. I've been buying frozen, skinless, boneless breasts for $1.99 or LESS per pound in Alexandria , Va. since we got back to Va. last July. Wegmans is my local store and always seems to have them and I buy about one family pack every 10 days.