Storing things problems

[Tengu]

Im planning my trip and its going to be a certain distance from the shop, 12 miles round trip to be exact.

And no fridge.

Or freezer.

So I am going to have to adjust my diet.

One. Cheesewax. I find cutting the block into suitable sizes and coating it in cheesewax is a good way to curate cheese with no fridge.
Unfortunatley I have little cheese wax and getting it online is silly money. could I;

a) make my own cheesewax?

b) use a thin layer of cheesewax and top off with beeswax?

Two. Dried Veg. Not cheap. I have no dryer.

a) slice mushrooms fine and dry on a rack on the car dash in this nice weather?

b) Could any of you who do possess a dryer dry stuff for me?

 

[bearbait]

Do you have / can you borrow a vacuum sealer to prep your rations?

 

[Deleted member 56522]

Im planning my trip and its going to be a certain distance from the shop, 12 miles round trip to be exact.

And no fridge.

Or freezer.

So I am going to have to adjust my diet.

One. Cheesewax. I find cutting the block into suitable sizes and coating it in cheesewax is a good way to curate cheese with no fridge.
Unfortunatley I have little cheese wax and getting it online is silly money. could I;

a) make my own cheesewax?

b) use a thin layer of cheesewax and top off with beeswax?

Two. Dried Veg. Not cheap. I have no dryer.

a) slice mushrooms fine and dry on a rack on the car dash in this nice weather?

b) Could any of you who do possess a dryer dry stuff for me?

First, I used to camp for ~10days without a fridge and the main way to extend the life of food is to keep it somewhere cool and away form insects. The main techniques was a "hanging larder", which was a set of shelves with mesh around them hung from a tree and carefully using up food and getting new supplies every couple of days. It was probably a lot safer than eating from a student's fridge.

For cheese I used beeswax and the rind off shop bought cheeses, then I bought some (for a valentine's cheese ... a bit cheesy, but it got a laugh).

You can dry things in a normal fan** oven. I started on our previous one, just used an IR thermometer (an indispensable kitchen tool for men) and adjust to get around 50-70C (depending on the hurry) and leave the door just ajar.

Most of my drying is jerky, apple and pear. For apple and pear I cut thinly and then dip in water with "a few shakes" of lemon juice (I guess a teaspoon), but you soon know if you haven't put enough as the apple/pear start going brown. Sometimes I also add sugar or honey, as it both improves the flavour, but can also help preserve.

The jerky I make with thin slices of beef, which I soak over night in a secret recipe of salt, honey, soy and whatever else takes my fancy ... indeed, the recipe is so secret, I don't even know it myself.

I also have this infallible way of telling whether it is done ... because bits start disappearing from the shelves when I go out of the kitchen.

**it should work in a non-fan oven, but I've not tried it.

 

[Tengu]

Ill try the beeswax idea. I have plenty. It wont harm the wax anyway.

And the oven idea. Though I have no idea if Dads has a fan.

Would an air fryer do?

I just want a supply of mushrooms, peppers and onion to go with my rice or noodles.

No vac sealer, sadly.

Sudden thought. Could I bottle veg for a short term?

 

[Woody girl]

Hi Tengu, get a bag of frozen mixed veg from the store. All the hard work of prepping the veg has been done for you.
Put it on a baking sheet and dry in the oven as suggested before. Store once cool, in a glass jar. I use kilner jars, but an ordinary clean jar will do.
Make sure they have been well cleaned and are sterile.
Instant mash, and some stock cubes,
A few cans of corned beef, or canned beef or chicken, and a nice hot stew and mash is on the menu every cold and rainy day.
Fresh mushrooms dry very easily in the oven, and bags of chopped onions and peppers can be got from the freezer aisle too.
You will get most if not all of a bag of frozen veg in a jam jar. Keeps it dry at camp too , provided you replace the lid each time you use it.(yes, I've forgotten before now!)
When are you going? May be able to send you some from my stores, but I don't have much left now. Its all been eaten!

 

[Deleted member 56522]

Would an air fryer do?

I don't own, nor have ever operated an air drier, so I first checked to see what temperature can be set and the one I found said the lowest temperature is 80C. I think that is too high to preserve many vitamins, but it is low enough to prevent the brown discolouration, so it will look "dried" not "cooked".

But, you also need to let moist air escape... no idea if that is possible, and you need each piece to be separated so air can flow around it. In a big oven, I just put them on mesh trays (or even on the oven shelves direct if they are clean). But I have also put/hung them on a skewer.

Of course, in the summer, you could just put them out of a sunny day ... but fruit usually arrives in the Autumn when the weather is not ideal.

Another way to dry food is to use cat litter (before use) or even rice. The basic idea is to use the cat litter or rice to dehydrate your veg. I've not done it for veg, but I have used the disiccant to dry rose petals.

I don't know whether this works, but I would use about 10x the weight of desiccant to that of veg. The steps are as follows:

1. Get a large airtight container, big enough to hold the desiccant, (spaced out) veg and any shelves/trays.
2. Get 20x as much desiccant as veg as you plan to do at a go. Cat litter should work, but I used rice as we had a big bag.
3. heat half (or all) the cat litter or rice for at least two hours at around 120C to drive off all the moisture. What I did was to put it in the oven until the air coming out didn't mist up a cold glass. I also checked the temperature in the centre was over 100C
4. Then allow to cool in a sealed container.
5. Cut up the veg into small pieces - if it goes brown dip in water+lemon juice and allow to drip dry
6. Place the desiccant into the large airtight container, put in the shelves and veg. Leave for a day.
7. Heat the other half of desiccant, allow to cool in an air tight bag, and then replace the desiccant.
8. Repeat 7 until the veg is dry or if it isn't drying, chuck it and start again using twice as much desiccant and leaving it in the oven for twice as long to dry better.

I just want a supply of mushrooms, peppers and onion to go with my rice or noodles.

No vac sealer, sadly.

Sudden thought. Could I bottle veg for a short term?

I've bought dried mushrooms in a supermarket. I searched on ebay and easily found dried onions. So, you can easily buy some of them.

There is no reason why you couldn't boil veg and then seal it (whilst hot) in a jar - but some like potatoes will turn to mush.

You could preserve veg by putting them into vinegar/alcohol (vodka) or using Salt or Sugar (or a mix). I preserved our own strawberries & other fruits by just popping them fresh into vodka - but done that way, they are an acquired taste. I think the same would work with vinegar. I'd probably heat the veg if using sugar or salt ... there will be recipes for "jam" or "fruit preserve" and Chutney, which I'd adapt.

 

[Woody girl]

Bottled veg is not a good idea unless you have a pressure canner. They are not acidic enough , and botulism is a real threat.
You can water bath things, but veg is a no no for this method. Though chutneys jams tomatoes and a few other fruits are possible with water bath canning in kilner jars, its a bit of a minefield.
I can send you some dried peppers, mixed veg, and peas, and if I can find them, some dried onions.
It won't be much as I need to do some more soon myself, but it will do you a few meals .

 

[Toddy]

We used to just wrap the cheese up in a bit of waxed paper, and it kept fine.

Just ordinary paper brushed with wax, but I think you'd better doing it on cloth. That makes really good re-useable eco-wraps.

For dried veg the cheapest option is just a quick visit to a supermarket. Their own brand dried mash, peas, onions, and broth mix would cost you under three quid for a pack of each.
Soak the broth mix overnight and just boil it up, then let it simmer, the next day. It's great in soups and stews or it makes a kind of hearty couscous just on it's own.

 

[Deleted member 56522]

Bottled veg is not a good idea unless you have a pressure canner. They are not acidic enough , and botulism is a real threat.

As botulism can survive at any Ph above 4.5 I don't think acidity matters unless pickling. What matters is

1. Heating enough to kill the bug (for anything in contact with soil they recommend a pressure cooker)
2. Sealing it before anything can contaminate it, ideally in a way that excludes any contact with air inside the jar
3. Eating within an appropriate time (both before and after opening)
4. Checking it and not eating if it may have gone off.
5. Cooking before eating (in case it did go off heating can reduce problems)

 

[nigelp]

Nido milk powder - full fat dried milk powder that tastes like proper milk
Most veg and mushrooms will keep for a quite a few days if they are not in direct sunlight.
loads of pouch meals in the supermarket are cheap and keep fine - Sainsbury do loads of them
Loaf of bread, peanut butter and jam - great energy butties, food of champions.

 

[Robson Valley]

I've used a very good "American Harvest" food dryer for no more that 10-12 years. I wrote down what I do. Everything no more than 1/2" thick ( Roma tomato halves). 24 hours at 55C, maybe longer for stuff like ripe pears. Jerky from mince is a little bit brittle by that stage but it keeps.

Set my electric stove oven to "LOW." and crack the door 1" along the top edge is between 50C & 60C. The jerky is about the same as from the dryer. I use HI Mountain Cure and spice seasonings (Cabela's). But there's a thousand recipes.

I have a gizmo that peels, cores and slices an apple in 10 seconds. Cut in rings is really simple to put up bulk fruit. I can disengage the peeler knife so I have something to chew on all day long.

Dried fruit, more than a nibble, gives me the running green screamers every time. Not a day to forget a bog roll.

 

[daveO]

For onions you could try spring onions instead and keep them growing in a container of water. They stay alive for months like that and will put on new growth and roots. I buy them from the reduced section of the supermarket for about 10p and revive them like that.

 

[grizzlyj]

I could dehydrate stuff for you if you like to then post, I don't have what you want already stored and have never done mushrooms. Evil squeeky things.
Would cheese already waxed be ok unfridged anyway for a while? Laughing Cow triangles is ambient in some French shops, is all ok unfridged? You can buy ration pack cheese vacuum packed but that might not be recognisable as cheese to taste?
Chatting to a South African a while back they produced jerky in their SE UK house by putting wires up in their hallway
I think pressure canning requires a specific pressure for a specific time with specific recipes. Botulism is smell and sign free I believe.

 

[Tengu]

Thanks, Grizzlyj, Ill compile a list.

Ive got a lot of beeswax in return and I have been sorting out my chamois; I have 50 pieces, and that is not including the bad bits I will keep back for cars.

I think I can cope with cheese now and I will be buying some of that full fat powdered milk.

It would be a grand thing to have a dehydrator but I dont have the room

 

[SaraR]

Thanks, Grizzlyj, Ill compile a list.

Ive got a lot of beeswax in return and I have been sorting out my chamois; I have 50 pieces, and that is not including the bad bits I will keep back for cars.

I think I can cope with cheese now and I will be buying some of that full fat powdered milk.

It would be a grand thing to have a dehydrator but I dont have the room

If you eat eggs, powdered eggs are good for scrambled eggs, baking and cooking.

 

[Stew]

If you eat eggs, powdered eggs are good for scrambled eggs, baking and cooking.

Not sure that we can still get powdered eggs here?

I recall them stopping production some years back.

 

[Broch]

If you are heat-preserving low acid foods remember that 100C does not make all food long-term safe. Cists/spores can survive anything from 120C to 140C so remain viable and 'un-hatched' after heating to 100C. There are a few scientific papers that show a 'cascade' hatch after only 24 hours if the food is at 10 to 30C. So, to make food safe, you need to pressure heat to around 140C.

 

[billycoen]

Asda sell Dried Country Vegetables,made by a company called Great Scot,i think they do other stuff too.Also boil in the pouch curries by Kohinoor,3-5 minutes in boiling water,job jobbed.

 

[TeeDee]

 

[Stew]

Not sure that we can still get powdered eggs here?

I recall them stopping production some years back.

Hhhm, don’t know where I thought that from but I’m sure I remember the main producer in the uk stopping and they couldn’t be found. Seems like you can now!