Pantry list help please

If anyone here has any garden questions, post them and I'll run them by my wife, she is known as "The Garden Lady" around the little village where we live.

 

How do I grow citrus in the frigid north.... just kidding. I've got problems with cabbage worms... specifically the looper, Trichoplusia ni. Nasty little lepidopteran that devours cole crops making them look like Swiss cheese. Row covers appear to be the best solution since using a biological control isn't practical however I'm having difficulty determining which ones to go with. Every time I think I've found a reliable testimony... a little digging results in me discovering the blogger was compensated for their rave product review by being "gifted" with the row cover brand they're raving about. I'm really starting to get a bad taste in my mouth for most bloggers. I'd like a row cover that will last beyond 3 seasons... preferably longer... that can be disassembled easily and stored for the winter. I think a quonset style would work best but I'm open to any style.

 

Yeah, those damn cabbage moths got my cabbage real good this past summer. Really pissed me off. My grandfather always used cheesecloth with a raised bed to cover his leafy greens. Seemed to work pretty well for him. I'm going to give it a try this year.

To the OP - you have a very impressive start. Just keep doing what you are doing and then fill in a few things as you see fit along the way. One item I'd recomend is a good manual can opener along with a backup.

Remember, eat what you store, store what you eat.

 

Try really hard to get an ID on the species of cabbage worm you have.... know thy foe so you can better understand its lifecycle. If you can't ID it yourself and know how to add a photo.... I'll try my best helping you. I'm not saying I'll get you a positive ID but I'll probably be able to get it to the genus at least if your photo is decent enough which is a help. Depending on the species.... there could be a cost effective biocontrol out there. I'm more familiar with integrated pest management protocols for invasives but I'm coming up to speed on edibles. For me, my pest is the looper so I'm going to run with row covers for my cole crops based on its lifecycle. Here's where I went wrong and maybe you've got an idea to help me. I bought 1" pvc and tried to make my own frame out of it. The pvc broke when I tried to arch it over a raised veggie bed. Surprised the heck out of me when it broke. I thought it was just a fluke so I tried another one and it broke too. I guess the pvc doesn't like being bent into pretzel configurations.... just kidding.... all I was trying to do was arch it to provide head space for brussels sprouts. I've seen other folk use pvc so I'm either doing something really wrong or I bought the wrong brand of pvc. I'm the original poster... I'm pretty sure that's what OP means, right? I created that list by spending hours and hours reading threads here and following links to pantry articles. I actually have updated my list and as soon as I have time.... I'll pick up my notes and edit the 1st post with additions in case anyone else is in need of suggestions. I do have a manual can opener!!! That's on another list I created from reading threads here. I'm whittling away at my lists every time I have to go shopping.

 

i love it when i help someone.

 

Thanks, If I get them this year I'll let you know. As far as I know they are the common green ones that are about an inch long and come from the white moths, that I used to think were cute.
I tried using sevin on the cabbage plants but didn't want to poison myself so I just gave up and pulled them.

 

Be careful using Sevin dust on any crops as it will kill the bees that you need to pollinate your crops...

 

INRICK> Yes!!! You were a big help. I've got pasta in the freezer right now.
Diddy>I'm so glad to hear you ditched the Sevin. Its use isn't worth the ecological trade offs... one of which was mentioned by Witch Doctor. Please do get me a photo if you can.

adding> updated my pantry list in very 1st post.

 

I wouldn't discourage anyone from buying a vacuum sealer. I love mine, and use it frequently. But, you don't need one to seal rice and beans in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. The oxy pack absorbs the oxygen, and the rest - largely nitrogen - is inert. Earth's atmosphere is roughly 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and then just traces of other gases - mainly argon and CO2 which are also inert. So, you don't need to pull a vacuum in order to get nitro-packed food.

In fact, many dry foods including beans and rice have sharp points, and pulling a complete vacuum can puncture the mylar bag from within. Even the partial vacuum created by an oxy pack can do that, unless you use thick mylar. I recommend 5 mils or thicker on the bags, and only the partial vacuum created by the oxy pack. Then, put the mylar bags in plastic buckets to protect them from accidental puncture and chewing rodents. That's been foolproof for me.

 

I love the convenience afforded by an electric vacuum sealer. I found a brand that appeared to meet my needs but it was a commercial brand and definitely cost prohibitive so I decided to forgo the purchase in favor of using an iron set to wool... a straw and lung power for the time being. I learned you are correct, "you don't need one to seal rice and beans in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber." Buying one sometime down the road is definitely of interest to me especially if I could find one used but for now I'm trying my best to prioritize purchases while staring at 500 mason jars that no electric vacuum sealer can suck air out of. For where I am right now with finances... it made more sense bumping up the purchase of a manual

Pump and Seal food saver vacuum sealer is better than Tilia FoodSaver over the purchase of a vacuum sealer. [/FONT]Reality was home-use vacuum sealers in my price-range don't appear to seal mylar well and sealers specifically for mylar don't vacuum out the air.

 

Anyone try Diatomaceous Earth for pest control? Really buggers up crawlers on my veggies, and it is 100% safe and organic!

 

Diatomaceous Earth is a great product!!! Love it and I've used it and will use it again. It definitely has its place. Coupla things though.... it's not target specific so it's gonna take down some beneficials and it's not a silver pest bullet either because it might not be effective against the pest responsible for the actual damage.... many pests are vulnerable to DE because of their anatomy and physiology but.... many aren't vulnerable so they'll continue doing their "thang" in our gardens no matter how much DE we apply. Bear in mind when using non-target pesticides....whether they're organic or not.... there's usually unintended consequences we'll have to deal with. Many a gardener has learned the hard way how pest parasites can be extremely vulnerable to DE. Destroy a pest's parasite without destroying the pest and..... that pest does a parasite-free happy dance throughout our whole garden.

 

Equilibrium, My wife and I believe in the store what you eat and eat what you store school. First thing we did was clean and organize our pantry. Then I had her save her grocery list for several month.

After that we decided how long we wanted to prep for. We started at 3 months, then went to 6 months, etc., we are now close to a year.

Being from S. Louisiana red beans, ( that kidney beans to you Yankee types) are a staple for us. We also keep pinto and black beans, just to name a few. Beans of any kind get bland without meat. We stock Dak hams for that purpose. They are little 1 lb hams that don't require refrigeration till opened, and have a healthy shelf life. We use 2 cups of rice to 1 lb of beans, cooking the rice separately. That should do well for 4 people.

Since it just the 2 of us, we chose 3 1/2 gal buckets with Gamma lids. Each bucket holds about 25 lbs of beans, and a little more in the rice. I don't use mylar for most of the dried food storage. I use food grade buckets, and add desiccant packs, to keep them dry.

I hope this helps.

 

I'm in like week #? I started when ever it was I joined here. We got a personal wake up call the week before I joined so lifted ourselves out of shock and now I'm doing my best learning how to become more self-reliant (I just learned how to use a snow blower and I already know how to shovel snow) but can't help feeling like a fish out of water at times. I'm a pretty clean and organized person.... I've moved beyond the "need-a-defibrillator" stage from creating lists and I've many a time survived bits of ham sneaked into omelets and split pea soup so ya.... you're comments about the 3.5 gallon buckets and Dak hams and what you and your wife are storing are fantastic. Baby steps for me.... baby steps while gathering enough information to make informed decisions while working within a strict budget. Ironically.... when the boys were growing up we used to ask them what they learned at school and what questions they'd asked during their day when we had dinner.... now my husband asks me the same questions. Here's what I learned today.... there's a powdered butter I'm adding to my pantry list, Emergency Essentials - Be Prepared Emergency Preparedness Food Storage

We love butter and canning it won't preserve it beyond 6 months.

 

I'm glad my comments helped. I promise you that you are not the first or only person to prep on a budget. Do a little at a time. Do have a plan and a priority list.

AS far and butter goes, have you looked into canned butter. I got mine from MRE depot through a group buy on another forum. Also look for a "butter boat". It uses water evaporation to keep butter soft and safe.

We love butter also, and usually buy in 4 lb packs at Sam's and freeze what in not being used at the time. But I do have some canned butter in storage for "emergencies".

 

check online and in the papers for coupons that might help cut costs on your preps... but don't buy things that you have copupons for if you won't use them or if they can't be used for barter in the future...

 

Wolfgang> Ohhhhh.... maybe I won't add the powdered butter to my list. What's the shelf life of the canned butter and can you give me a link to it please?
Witch Doctor> We don't get a newspaper anymore. I stopped the service beginning of the year. I put a stop to the 2 magazine subscriptions we received too... I misplace my reading glasses all the time and found my arms weren't long enough to read without them and there's no way to increase the font size like there is on a computer. I'm not a tv watcher since I'm pretty deaf and nobody else really watches much except the History Channel or some of the Science channels.... sometimes the weather channel. Cable didn't used to have ads and pop ups on it and they're covering up my CC so what's the point of watching tv if they're covering up what folk are saying so those stupid premium channels they bundled into our "package" are going next which gives me another $30 a month. I'm looking at ditching our land line too. That would be another $20 a month but... I'm having reservations about getting rid of it with all this talk of kill switches.
I'm trying to get around no coupons by taking my list with me in my purse. I only buy what's on sale in fresh produce for my dehydrator and then figure out what money's left over and look to my list. If there's something on my list that's on sale.... I buy that 1st otherwise I look to a bulk purchase of something else on my list. I'm finding it all goes on sale sooner or later.

 

Equilibrium, it simple www.mredepot.com The brand of butter I bought is "RED FEATHER" It use to be exclusive to mredepot, but I hear they are branching out. So you might try a search for that also.

At another forum they did some major group buys with MREDepot. At the end some of the guys complained of dented cans. All I can say is I've never had a problem with them.

Almost forgot, They claim at least a 10 year shelf life IIRC.

 

There is a fix for this... most stores that sell papers only have to send the banner back to the paper to get credit for the unsold papers... some stores will give you the coupons if you as for them especially if you use them in their store....

 

Wolfgang> gotcha, Best Prices Storable Foods Shopping Cart powered by digiSHOP :: Shopping Cart Software & EcommerceReal Canned Butter - case. No shipping charges on a case of 24.
Witch Doctor> I didn't know that so I would've never thought of it. I've noticed not all coupons were for heavily processed Kraft type food and sometimes I found 2 for 1 coupons of things I really used so thanks for mentioning that.