Living in a major city, I stopped using a refrigerator 10 years ago. I was decluttering, and with my decluttering eyes, realised my fridge was too big, not only that, most of what was in the fridge did not need to be refrigerated, so I sold my fridge. The emotional adjustment from letting go of that machine that represented security in our society was huge! It didn't help that friends were freaking out about my decision. I already had a balcony garden, but shopped for what I couldn't grow. In the end, I did not go shopping more often, nor did I use a cooler (wasted personal energy to try and keep that cool, and it was just replicating the refrigerator).I learnt about food preservation (fermenting, drying/dehydrating, water and pressure canning). For the fruit and vegetables I bought at the market, I learnt about the cycles of foods, i.e. which foods go bad first, how fast each one took to begin to wilt or mould - berries and broccoli were eaten first. Bought washed eggs were fine for three weeks (water test near the end, just in case). I had a cool closet that had a hole and was 10˚C cooler than anywhere else. With this, I made cheese and kept the beef I ate over a few days. Chickens, I roasted two, had a meal and canned the rest of the meat and the broth made from bones. Yogurt, kefir, and cheeses were fine for the time it took me to eat it. What I found is I ate healthier, had almost no food waste, and not only did my energy bill go down, but so did the noise pollution. My life became more simple and more peaceful..., all because I sold my fridge.
This is so awesome to me....I had this huge revelation that quite literally the worst invention that has been touted as the best , in my opinion, is the fridge. If it were not for refrigeration we would not have major factory farming operations. We would have less energy use. More people would be self sustainable. We would have less food waste.
@@shantelleboyce1921 Yes, exactly. And on top of all that, the toxic chemicals inside refrigerators and all their designed to fail parts are piling up in the landfills.
After my dad died, my mom started teaching me about old facts. I was astonished when she told me that cold salads are ridiculous. She put together a salad that had variety of lettuces minus iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, etc, and the dressing was vinegar olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. All of it was at room temperature, even the cheese. She told me to pay attention to the richer more intense flavors. She said then that in the old days this is how good salads tasted, that refrigeration ruined our pallettes for truly delicious food.
I've always ate my salads that way. Those store bought dressings are very bad for you. Mostly soybean oil and sugar. You'd be better off not eating a salad at all.
I had relatives in Idaho who were, honest to God, true homesteading pioneers. They lived in a log cabin on the hillside of a mountain. When I was a boy in the 1960s, I remember being fascinated by their means of refrigeration. They had a spring dug into the hillside above them on the mountain. He hand dug a trench and ran a pipeline from the spring into the cabin. The pipe from the spring came into the cabin at about 4' high. From there, the water poured into a long, tin trough about 18" wide x maybe 30" or so long. The trough was slightly sloped downhill with an exit pipe of probably slightly larger diameter about 3" to 6" up from the bottom of the trough. It was sort of like a swimming pool with a shallow end on the inlet side and the deep end on the outlet side. Icy cold water ran through the trough year around, 24/7. The water was pure spring water, so no fear of parasites, etc. At least not until one time when a bear tried to get into the spring dugout and died in there upside down. That's when maggots started pouring out of the drinking water pipe. Lol. But that's another story. So make your spring bear and rodent proof! Anyway, they would store their jars of milk and such at the deep end of the trough, let eggs float around however they wished and had meat or whatever else floating in tin pans at the shallow end of the trough. It worked great! So, if you have a spring, that could be done. You could also use running creek water to do the same thing. Since creeks are not 100% pure for drinking, you could still use the water to cool by building a double walled tank system, sort like how hydronic water heaters work, but in reverse. The water refrigerator could have a metal, sealed inner tank for food, with a water jacket flowing around it for the cold creek water. The water from the creek would cool the contents of the inner container through the metal walls. The inside refrigerator tank could have a divider in the center, creating both a dry chamber and a wet chamber. The wet chamber would be filled with potable water to float cans and such like an ice chest. The dry side would be used for anything you didn't want wet. Put a lid on the top of the refrigerator box, and there you have it! Plus, if you caught a few live fish or crawdads, you could store them live for a couple days in the creek side water jacket until you are ready to eat them! These are my thoughts. Mark Hillen Colorado
In Indonesia I was in a village . When one family slaughtered a cow the whole village would eat it. All gone in one day . Families would rotate killing a cow so no one would ever have left over meat to spoil
It always amazes me that some refuse leftovers. I am thankful to have leftovers. I am thankful that I only eat when hungry. I am thankful for Salvation. My thankfulness is an endless list. Good video. Thank you Zach. Shalom.
I never understood that there were people who didn't eat leftovers. If not later in the day, within the week. I remember days of not having anything to eat but a granola bar after school until lunch the next day when someone at school shared their lunch with me.
Same. I grew up on leftovers and a lot of the time nothing but bread and whatever condiment was in the fridge or cereal and powdered milk, oatmeal or rice with sugar or beans. You can imagine my dismay after having my own daughter then refuse to eat anything leftover growing up. There were many years of struggles and me reinacting a similar scene to that in the movie Mommy Dearest and later earning that as her contact name for me in her phone, lol. In her defense, we found out in college that she suffers from extreme anxiety disorders and autism, most likely from years of exposure to vaccines and the mercury amalgam fillings in her teeth. If only I could do it all again.....anyways, not sure how she's gonna fair if it soon comes to what is written in Revelations. God bless.
@@hahna77 same. Do the best you can. I took the "just take 1 bite, chew and swallow" route. That way he would taste a variety of foods and at least could decide if he liked them or not. I also knew at least something was in his stomach.
This grandma has a small win to share . I found a simple oven method to turn butter into Ghee , that when ladled hot into hot sterilized canning jars , seals with a "ping" when cooled and are now shelf stable ! I use half pint jars , which allows me to use the contents in a timely fashion . Hope this helps someone .
@@lesliehunter1823 I use the method described by Doug and Stacy - In a deep baking dish ( I use my Pyrex oval - 12"L x 8.5" W x 2.75" Deep ) , put 2lbs butter (sticks unwrapped and in a single layer) . Put the baker into a 250 degree pre-heated oven , for an hour and a half . I put 4-5 half-pint canning jars into a stockpot , with water to cover the jars and bring it to a boil , then reduce heat to a low simmer , until the ghee comes out of the oven .The butter will have melted and separated into three layers - bottom one is the milk solids , the middle one is the beautiful clear liquid Ghee and the golden brown , lacey one on the surface is something else (unknown , but carefully skimmed off..lol) place the baker on a heatproof mat or wooden cutting board . I take a shallow ladle and carefully skim off the ghee , do not to include the milk solids underneath , and ladle it into the hot , drained jars ( a canning funnel helps avoid spills) , leaving about 1/2 " headspace and put on the lids , and bands . The tray with the filled jars is treated like canned jams , in that they are covered with a towel and left , undisturbed overnight . The two pounds of butter should yield about 4-5 half pint jars of solid , butter yellow , shelf stable Ghee ! I realize this is a bit long , but I've tried to include helpful hints for someone who hasn't done this before .Thank you for asking ! Enjoy !!!
@@kayeeiland4167 Thank you very much. My first thought was at what temp, for how long? Instructions would be nice. So much appreciated, not too long at all and well worth reading and paying close attention. In fact I am saving and reading until I get it properly. FYI people like yourself are of great value to people like me whose parents were abusive and didn’t care to teach us very little of use. So I thank and praise God (all of Him for you) IJN Amen x Much Love (God IS Love) and thanks sunshine🙃 from Scotland x
Leftovers have been a staple in our home. We call them Brought Forths. 😂 I feel grateful being raised in the Ozark Mountains so far out the nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. We had a massive garden and 7 'truck' patches. We harvested and canned, froze, put in our root cellar, fermented, pickled and dehydrated. We raised pigs and when we got one slaughtered nothing went to waste. I feel grateful to have learned these skills from my hillbilly family.
You live in ozark!!? Do you launder money??? Just kidding. I watch and enjoy the tv show ozark with Jason Bateman. The landscape and lakes are so beautiful !! You re so lucky.
In the old days, they would put a large pot of beans on to cook. They would keep the beans cooking for days and eat out of the pot everyday. They would add other ingredients to it as time went on.
Pease porridge hot; pease porridge cold; Pease porridge in the pot, 9 days old. Some like it hot; some like it cold: some like it in the pot, 9 days old!
My refrigerator died 2 months ago and I haven’t replaced it. I wrapped up my $100 cooler in reflextics and throw a wool blanket over it. Ice lasts twice as long. The money I’ve saved not buying things that won’t fit in this lifestyle is amazing.
I bought a cheap Best Buy refrigerator that every now and then seems to be failing. I have considered living without a fridge if it does. However, this video is making me think a fridge is a great invention. If only they made them to last thirty years or more, like they used to do.
If you're living from a cooler get a yeti. I didn't for so long on principle but once I finally did I could've smacked myself. They really hold ice and cold a long time, it will pay for itself eventually. The cheaper knock offs work almost as good. I have a Magellan but my friend has a big yeti since he travels for work and I recommend if you can $ wise, save up it's worth it. WHY'S EVERYTHING GOTTA COST MONEY! 😒
I wonder what these non leftover eaters would say if they knew the true way of brazing meats, i mean it isnt leftover but true brazing is left in fridge overnight to soak in the juices. So yes u have eaten leftovers pretty much.
In our house, while there might be food scraps/leftovers, they do not go to waste. They feed our chickens, and the ever hungry wildlife around here. :D
That's great. I hate only buying food on sale, to see it go to waste. I only make enough servings we will be eating that sitting, plus an extra for a lunch to take to work.
Some leftovers taste better the next few days! The veggies and fruits you get now from other countries are picked green and not ripe in order to ship and allow the products not to rot. Unfortunately they don't have the nutrition or vitamin/mineral value if it would have ripen on the vine. It is proven our food does not have the health and nutrition value it did in the past. So we are not getting the things are bodies need to survive and be healthy!
I'd like to know how a freezer with "refrigerant" in it that converts solar power/electricity into refrigeration i.e. freezing, isn't refrigeration? As you've said there is no registration on the homestead
I dont make enough to have leftovers typically unless its the holidays sometimes I let the kids eat the rest I can wait until breakfast just drink some extra water
When we lived in south central Texas. One year our old fridge died. I remember mom putting the milk in the window between the screen and and the glass all that winter. If you dont have it you fugure it out or do without. Im with you on seasonal fruits and vegetables. Christmas stockings always had oranges and tangerines. What a treat! I remember fishing out a tangerine from the toe of the stocking and I just sat there inhaling its aroma. Even today, when i smell a tangerine, it floods my memory of Christmas mornings.
I live in south central Texas, for the holidays, we never had enough room in the frig, so my mother had us store food outside in the charcoal grill (when it wasn’t in use!) kept things cool and kept the critters out! 😁
My mother lived thru the Depression. NOTHING got thrown out. She had the smallest refrigerator containers you ever saw. At the end of the week we would have 'goopslop' supper. Everything went into the pot along with maybe a little added meat or vegetables and maybe spaghetti sauce or some other concoction to bind all the leftovers. We could take what we wanted but we better eat what we took. Anything you left on your plate was recycled for breakfast. Seriously!!! It was considered a sin to waste food.
I surprised a guest by taking out my ramen broth the other week, on Monday I started opening my canned veggies and draining the water into a quart jar and every can I open in the week was saved in the fridge for Friday night ramen.
@@RayF6126I hope these are home canned cans rather than the store bought carcinogenic lined ones. I really like your idea! Sounds like a really yummy soup or Ramen starter!
@@janemcpherson2119 I joked about being a snail because my home went everywhere I did when I lived in a camper van for 14 years. I had no fridge. I had peanut butter, tuna, hummus in my kitchen. Burrito wraps, pita bread, and often homemade plop bread were staples. I hung my weeks worth of veggies from the ceiling in onion bags. I bought 6 farm fresh eggs a week to eat or make mayonnaise. I had a camper van, camp stove, Dutch oven, and a portable table for my cooking. My electricity was from batteries and the car engine. It's funny how much stuff our society produces that allows for different choices.
My Grandfather is 84 and has refused to have a microwave in his home since they became a modern "convenience". I admire that man above all. He has always shared his wealth of knowledge with me and I'm grateful I still have him at 45. He used to tell me, 30 years ago, that he was convinced we were being surveilled through TV and that America was returning to a feudal system of just two classes of people... rich and poor.
@@mrdraper4633 My father was just the same. He said the same about our government. I HATE microwaves and refuse to use them. there is one in the house because 'other members' can't seem to give it up.
My Poppa he’s 107 and he said to mention a cistern if a well isn’t available, save sawdust and volunteer to cut pond ice in winter time, add Farmers cheese from the whey and Ghee to the milk products, and the 10 month rule(seasonal eating)...Poppa raised my Dad an I to have a plan in place for every single person in household for 10 months 3-4 meals a day...The 10 Plan has saved my biscuits this year!!!
@@katehenry2718 Fortunately he worked at a place called Jet Nutrition. He learned to cook nutritious foods first. Now he cooks for Blount Fine Foods. Everything tastes great BUT its loaded with sodium. He will cook himself something if he's desperate.
My "off grid" friends dug a hole in the ground large enough to put an old dryer drum in. They insulated the outside of dryer drum with insulation and that aluminum wrap from HD, created a wooden, insulated lid, then sunk it in the ground on the shady side of porch. It was their year around cooler for veggies, roots, and weekly perishables.
I live in the desert so Zeer fridges work well here. Good for veggies, fruit, etc. Basically huge clay pot, an inner pot with sand between the pots. Big pot sits in a clay saucer with water in it.
Here in Arizona (or anywhere with dry air), you can put a terracotta pot inside a larger terracotta pot with wet sand packed in between and a heavy rug or horse blanket over top to insulate and it creates a swamp cooler effect to keep things cooler in the desert heat.
Awesome tip, will be especially useful here in Brazil, where most of the climate is hot so we can't use some of those tips for winter and cooler climates.
I’m here in the East valley (Phx). If there becomes a time when there is no ac/electricity I’m footin’ it to the river and pitchin’ a tent at the Salt. There is no way I’m going to be in the city in 115-118 degrees heat! I’ve had my ac break down at that time for about a week and it is MISERABLE. A gallon a day per person is no joke here.
Lived off grid for a couple of years in Australia's Blue Mountains area. Two methods we used were: 1) putting items on the south side window sill in between the glass and fly screen, no direct sunlight and nights were almost always cold, to open the 'fridge' we just opened the window 2) putting them in a rainwater tank that was in permanent shade (as you do with the well). We had one tank painted black in a sunny area and one white one in the shade so we had 'warm' and 'cool' water.
thats about how i shower....when the feet or hands are real dirty i use the old water for prewash, then water the plants with it. ....and i love the love and exercise. so yeah i have a bucket n brush next to my lawn swing.
Thanks for the ideas with the water tanks. We live at mid north coast and I’m researching how to keep our food cool if electricity fails. We have solar power but also still connected to the grid. The ground is heavy clay and fills with water when we dig down so not sure we can make a cellar
@@patriciafisher1170 You reminded me of the rain barrel we had when I was a kid. It was in the shade and the water stayed cold even in the hottest part of the summer; I used to put my arm down in it ;). I think I'm going to get a light color one, I already have a black for the garden.
Just got back from camping and ate three days worth of leftovers an other meal was two days before, rule of thumb in our house if it's 4 or more days old ,cooked food that is throw it out when in dought I hope i said that correct.
Of course I can live without refrigeration!! I have been for the past five months!! Someone came along and destroyed the electrical system of my new (to me) RV. Don't have the money to fix it now, so I am making do. With it having been cold for the past couple of months, I have been putting the things that need to be kept cool beside and in front of the door>>>>since it has been going down to the 20s and 30s, they stay very cold. During the day, I put them in the freezer compartment of the RVs refrigerator. No well, no ability to dig deep holes at this point>>>this is ground with HUGE boulders in it and I am hitting 70 years old soon, so, not a "by hand" job. I have always been a woods-woman and survivalist, this new development is just honing my skills!! Actually, it's rather fun if you think of it that way!!
I ❤ your ability to ebb and flow! And with excitement!!!! You don’t need to get ready!You are about to experience a happening not able to be described by words bc it will be pure Divinity! Ohhhh, I am truly so happy to know this! I KNOW. Cheers to you! Oh. Wow!!! ❤❤❤❤ 🎉🎉🎉
For the last 30 days we have not eaten out or bought groceries. We are depending on our garden and what we have canned. This has been a great eye opener. Thank you for this video.
Hi. Have tried for ten years to convince some people of Guatemala to grow a garden in order to have something to eat... But they don't get it... They think one needs intelligence to have one as well as money... I tell them to go to the outdoor markets where they can find all kinds of seeds laying on the asphalt... Mangoes. Tomatoes. Corn. Grape seeds. Coriander (really). Beans. Avocadoes. Cucumber. Coffee. Sunflowers.... But i guess they have not suffered enough yet... They prefer to shoot you to rob you instead of kneeling down and till the ground!
We agree with what you are doing. We have a garden in the summer too but now its winter so we started a Hydroponic garden indoors, all the salad and greens you could possibly eat in just 40 days, anyone can do it in a small space in the house or apartment.
YES AND WE NEED TO TEACH THESE YOUNG KIDS NOT TO HUNT IN SPRING OR SUMMER ONLY IN WINTER , ANIMALS ARE HAVING LITTLE ONES DURING SPRING AND SUMMER AND ONLY SHOOT WHAT YOUR GOING TO EAT COMPLETELY YOURSELF ! RESPECT NATURE!🇺🇸
@@tenbumaka7899 humans are part of the ecosystem. It's the human tendency to want to control others, which has been greatly magnified in Western tradition that has separated Humanity from the ecosystem.
@@kenolson3064 Of course humans are part of the eco system, but most humans no longer contribute to the eco system or keep the balance, in fact we are in an enormous debt to nature right now, so even the thought of hunting in todays circumstances is incredibly arrogant and disrespectful to nature.
@@earthlingT What are you talking about? I see cats drink cows milk all the friggin time. Dogs will eat ice cream or drink any kind of milk, pigs will eat or drink anything. Your just full of it honestly. Not to mention humans can eat food without processing it, they can eat freshly killed meat RAW without a problem, plants, fruits, and nuts can be picked right off the branch and eaten. Mushrooms the same thing. And your correct, we don't have great digestive systems, and neither do wolves, cats, dogs, etc. etc. hence why they eat MEAT, because the cow, goat, etc. can easily digest grass, bramble and other plants we and a lot of other animals cannot eat and turn it into a food source. Humans can only survive without meat in the modern day society, unless you lived in a tropical climate it was impossible to not eat meat.
For people that have small back yards....get an aluminum 55 gal garbage can. Dig a hole big enough for a foot all around the can. Fill around the can with sand. Your food will stay cool.
My rootceller is 124 years old. The walls are 6 in. Thick and the door is 6in. Thick the whole thing insulated with sawdust . I have 3 more ive made and paid 3000. Dollars to spray foam insulate and I waisted my money because my 124 yr old sawdust Root cellar is very cold at 120 degrees out side. The expensive insulated were still hot inside. What a waste The old ways are always better. ALWAYS.
@Gman That is one thing I have instilled in my little ones...especially when it comes to drinking out of water bottles....refill that and use it again...Don't just throw it away....smh
@@jhoughjr1 yep and when i wear the bottle out for drinking i use it to start my flowers and veggies......smiling...or for something else ...reuse and reuse and,ReUse and save more pennies.......
I’m 65 and remember my Grandmother’s “ice box” that literally had a big block of ice on the top aluminum lined boxed shelf! There was a drain that caught the melted ice so that eater could be recycled. The block of ice was replaced every week or so. Strict rules were not to open the ice box door! That was only done when time to prepare meals. Eggs and a lot of produce were kept out on the counter.
I'm just 60 this year and my grandma had an ice box. Yup block of ice and yup she even had a ringer (crank) washing machine. People don't know how good they have it today.
@@tinymompj my mother had a ringer washing machine for several years after my parents split. Then she had a smaller apartment washer/spinner one, and finally a regular one when finances were stable. We were blessed with the older knowledge from her youth she gave us. I still use much of it now.
@@tinymompj my mother had a ringer washing machine for several years after my parents split. Then she had a smaller apartment washer/spinner one, and finally a regular one when finances were stable. We were blessed with the older knowledge from her youth she gave us. I still use much of it now.
My mom said they used to take the milk and put a jar in a bucket take down to the creek and tie the bucket to a branch and set the bucket in the running stream and the metal bucket would stay cold from the cold water running around it which kept the milk cool. And we had a smoke house.
I lived with a family from Ecuador for a short time. The ONLY thing they kept in the fridge was fresh meats and dairy. All foods that were cooked stayed on the stove to be eaten later (always a 4 qt pot of rice sitting on the stove as well that was warmed up for every meal.) Now, the way my great grandparents lived, they had breakfast (like a prince) lunch (like a king) and supper/dinner (like a pauper) and it was whatever was left from the other 2 meals. Left overs from those meals were covered with a cloth and left on the table. My great grandpa (maternal) lived to be 97 years old. Was fit (not overweight a day in his life) and ate fried potatoes 3 meals a day..every day..fried in lard. And he loved to take the 'drippings' from the fried potatoes and soak his bread in it! So much for 'cholesterol' and saturated fats being 'bad' for you.
Cholesterol isn't bad if you're not pumping your body full of heavy sugars and medications that DR'S push to get their cuts from big pharma and just as the FDA government approving meds/foods etc... Most (ALL THEY APPROVE) ARE SLOWLY OR FASTLY DESTROYING HUMAN INNER BODY'S AND THE MENTAL PROCESS AND THE MAIN ORGANS... ❤️ 🫁 KIDNEYS ETC., JUST AS ALL BIXED FOODS ARE NO LONGER PROPERLY STORED AND SHIPPED THEN MOST SIT ON SHELVES W AIR CRACKS AND BACTERIA SEEPS IN OPEN A BOX OF INSTANT DRIED POTATOES NOTHING BUT LOOSE INSIDE NO PROTECTION, SAME AS, PUSHING MEATS IN FOOD MARTS AND LIKE WALMART, THE TEMPS ARE EITHER TOO HIGH WHICH OVER COOLS SO WHEN PLACE IN FREEZER IT DOESN'T LAST AS LONG AS SHOULD FREEZER BURN SPOTS WHICH CAN BECOME DEADLY IF U EAT, LOOK AT THE SHELF LIFE DATES ON EGGS ETC., U CAN ACTUALLY EAT SAFELY IF THOROUGHLY COOKED UP TO 1 MONTH PAST THE DATE/ MILK SAME UP TO 1-2WKS PAST EXPIRED DATE BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN PASTEURIZED AND BORDEN'S MILK ISN'T AS SAFE TO DRINK, IF MILK STARTS BREAKING APART LOOKING LIKE WATER AT THE 2 INCH TOP AT MILK LEVEL IN JUGS OR WEIRD SMELL THEN BOIL IT DOWN MAKE BUTTER OR AMERICAN OR PARMESAN CHEESE WITH LEFT OVERS! Rice in stores especially instant most are eating plastic, the hard dried or milky looking white rice is 100% plastic! So much more I've researched and studied on about store foods, even some produce in stores isn't healthy at all some big growing indoor factories are using dangerous chems to make grow faster, just as, buying lettuce 🥬 etc in fruits/veggies the stores are waisting $$ & the buyer's because the stores are storing these products terrible by over cooling then when u get home after buying and drive and unload and put away, they have reached room temps or worse, so instead of I have to $$ from market's, when I get home, I just leave all fruits/veggies except lettuce I place in wrapped white paper towels Viva are the best and wrap well put into zipper type freezer gallon zip bag let all air out well or use a vacuum sealer even better seal off all Air, place in middle drawer close all vents to drawer and it will last for 1 month - 6 week's/do not store any lettuce with spoiled gas brown spots remove do not wash either until using only/u can even prep by placing Lettuce in sink chop how you need it for liking, & then store in fridge, this saves numerous time and when ready to eat a salad etc, just take out wash in colander dry thoroughly add whatever flavors and other veggies you want, enjoy! I do this with bell peppers and onions, I clean well/dry/chop/dice/slice all dry veggies and store in vacuumed sealed containers or bag's, if in bag leave little extra cutting room, so if you have to cut open to use certain amount, u can reseal and store bk in freezer, if you plan on using these types of dry veggies from freezer, remove about 15 mins before cooking in foods allow to thaw natural so keeps firm with hardly any softness, you can also do this by slicing up Apple's/peaches/any berries and much more! Store rice/flours/any grains in air tight glass jars, this will preserve them for 1-5 years especially rice/beans/grains can last up to 3-5 yrs even starch noodles for spaghetti/lasagna/if you by freezer beans/veggies/fruits immediately take out of original packaging and place in a vacuum seal containers or bag's, if not, they tend to get mushier and lose their consistency and flavors! A vacuum sealer is the best time consuming/space saving/shelf or fridge or freezer life saving for storing and using some daily weekly monthly some items even year's! I hope this will help someone out! You don't need a big high cost vacuum sealer, go on Amazon and purchase 1 and make sure it has the liquid sealer hose with it it'll become your bff for storing liquids like soups/sauces/marinades etc... You can even prepare quick meals by cooking on weekends like chili/soups/stews/scallops many many more, vacuum liquid seal very easy and store in fridge if using in 1-4 day's, freezer if going to use later on, and these COOKED ahead types of foods can last anywhere from 6 months and some even up to 1year! Gl and I'm encouraging everyone to start small or big with growing especially own produce and fruits elderberries give so much greatness for our health and natural energy booster and they taste so dang delicious, you can even make own vitamins from these types of growing berries! Stay Safe and God bless us, ALL 🙏
My grand parents smoked all their meats, canned all their vegitables and had a root celler. They did not even have electricity or inside plumbing until the mid 1970's. No left overs. They ate whatever they cooked.
@@margaretjones2055 well that depends on your lifestyle. Sometimes my job is physically demanding, I work in a bindery. As a smaller female things can be harder than for others, if I'm hungry I eat. Unfortunately I can't choose my mealtimes so I often have to eat when I'm not truly hungry or suffer the consequences.
My grandmother from Mexico who had 11 children in the mountains of chihuahua....actually was accustomed to leaving the refried beans and tortillas covered on the wood stove over night for breakfast with some eggs...warm them up again in the same pan...she passed but left a huge footprint 28 grandchildren and who knows how many great grandchildren lol.
That's how my family was about food, theyd leave it out of the fridge for 3 days and boil it Everytime in the morning and only throw it out after 3 days especially if it smelled bad or started molding.
In Nicaragua, we always left the pot of beans on the stove and just heated them again in the mornings till they were completely eaten...then start again. @@atmathoughts2871
can do it in the desert in the winter also, and if you have a dug out witha tall cieling, you can put the ice in there and it will last a LONG time. thats how people in the middle east kept things cold into the summer in the old days
You're absolutely right! We used to live without electricity, without refrigeration! We ate from the garden, we salted and dried our beef, we turned pork into sausages, we fried some and kept them in the lard, we ate the fish straight from the sea or the river! Today, we are all spoilt enslaved to consumerism!!
Reading the Little House book series explains many of these processes. Author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Good read aloud, good on cold nights, esp The Long Winter
When I was a kid my dad would make a huge pot of soup and we would eat from it over the week. Sometimes there would be mold growing on the top, my dad would skim it off the top, heat it up and we would eat it. We never got sick. In fact all the kids around me seemed to get colds a lot, but we almost never got sick.
Mold has 'roots' that extend down into whatever it is growing on. Skimming/cutting off the mold does not remove it all. However, we're built for that. Do you know the story of Lizzie Borden and the Rancid Mutton Stew?
a lot of fermented foods in different cultures use mold. the color of the mold (usually indicating type), and the smell it emits is important to determine if it is safe to eat or not. if it smells like decay (lots of bacterial activity) and not earthy/cheesey/food-ish you shouldn't eat it. edit: in light of the BA botulism situation, please also read up on the conditions which are likely to foster development of the bacteria that causes botulism, as you cannot see, taste or smell the botulinum toxin. while the toxin will denature with thorough cooking, it is still a deadly neurotoxin so you do not want to play chance with trace amounts. this has been a PSA
Love what your saying about eating left over food the next day. When I lived in Eastern Europe on a farm (former Yugoslavia) before the civil war, so nearly a year i lived there. We don't NEED showers everyday (except for underarms, feet and genitals)'. I learnt so much over there.
Tomatoes from Brazil! Here in the uk we get terrible tasting, extremely bland, hard tomatoes over the winter. Dehydrate them in summer, and pack in jars olive oil. They taste fantastic.
In Texas my grandma told me in the great depression they used milk can's in the ground and old rags wrapped around them they would wet them down and cover with a wooden cover and covered that with straw. it kept milk and whatever needed kept cold. cheap and easy something everyone can do.
I grew up working on my family’s farm in Missouri and we had a fridge but we mainly used a root cellar. I was taught how to can and and smoke and cure so we hardly refrigerated anything. Having a refrigerator has definitely spoiled me because I don’t hunt or do anything of those things anymore nor have I taught my children any of those things. But after watching this I feel inspired to pass that knowledge along. Thanks for the reminder!
Read the book Nourishing Traditions. Everything can be preserved without refrigeration. And just as or more healthfully also. Especially with fermented foods.
I'm looking into this, which book? There seems to be quite a few... "The cookbook that challenges political correctness..." One? Edit, nevermind, I understand, I'm an idiot...
I was raised to never waste any food. My Grandmother lived through the depression and she was a prepper ever since. Lived in the city but still had fruit trees and an awesome garden. She used her basement to store everything and knew how to prep her food for long term storage..
We never waste food, either. Save it and make something else like hamburgers one day, then chili the next day. The dogs are always happy recipients of leftover food, too!
@Zechariah Ahl My Grandmother lived to be 98. We should be so lucky, right?! She ate a Grapefruit everyday. Very disciplined person. I used to be called Rambo, because they said I could eat stuff that would make a Billie Goat puke. It does seem to build up a resistance to eating bad food, but of course, only to a certain point.
You got in big trouble if you wasted food in front of my grandma. She lived thru the depression and lived to be 100 years old. I was taught many lessons about saving growing up like don't cut a pattern piece out of the middle of a piece of fabric, go to the end of the fabric and cut it out there. Cut off buttons and anything good from clothing before throwing it away. From hair from your hairbrush you can make rubberbands hair ties for ponytails.
I am 73. When I was 12 my parents bought a country home on 5 acres. The house was heated by an old pot belly stove in the kitchen. There was an enclosed back porch that had a water pump and a root cellar. We grew enough potatoes, carrots, onions and other root vegetables to last year round. They were stored in the root cellar or an outdoor cistern. There were many out buildings...a barn, chicken house, outhouse, smokehouse and storage shed. It was not all that long ago that most people lived off grid. I am impressed by how many are getting back to it. Very wise!
My wife was raised by grandparents and says it's so refreshing to hear the exact things that she was told growing up! You are totally right about all of your points. Thank you for your video.
When I was a kid, we had an underground larder. Walls were all cemented and there was ice cold water inside. Jars were standing in that water. Each jar had a piece of rope tied around its neck for ease of retrieving. Temperatures in the garden were often 35-40 C (95-105 F), temperature inside the larder stayed at 2-5 C (35-40 F) during all the hot season.
I totally enjoyed that, we eat our left overs and don’t put our chicken eggs in the fridge. We are full time RV’ers that just bought 160 acres in Wyoming, we homeschool too, both my husband and I were homeschooled as well.
My understanding is that eggs that have not been washed don't need Refrigeration. Eggs that have been washed must be refrigerated. This is why the Europeans don't refrigerate their eggs, but the Americans do because of laws stating egg producers must wash their eggs.
I'm having a good laugh at this video. I had no idea how much I don't use my fridge. I've had comments for years getting after me about why my fridge is so empty. I legit had someone say last week they have fridge envy my fridge is so bare. The more I pursue preserving the emptier my fridge gets. What a great challenge to unplug it soon.
I bought my entire months groceries right before the heat wave, and put off canning because of it, until the fridge broke. 36 hours of food preservation later I finally had my fridge done.
People don't eat their leftovers? For real? My grandmother, who lived through the Great Depression, taught me how to cook. At my house, if it doesn't get eaten, it becomes soup. Thanks for this. I wonder how much I could implement in the SE 🇺🇸
My mom will eat them from time to time, me and the little one eat them but no one else will and get pussed theres no room in the fridge because of the leftovers but theyre not the ones who cook so they can bite me
That is funny because I'll get the many leftovers out of the fridge that no one wanted to eat and make a pot of soup. It is always soup surprise, it had everything but the kitchen sink in it. Amazingly enough they almost always finished it. When it wasn't finished, freezer bagged it and used it in another soup down the road or just heated as is. All good, all used & bellies stayed full with little to no waste.
My father told me to never drink water from a creek in the area where the tadpoles were. I always assumed it was because the water is slower moving there and may be stagnant.
My grandparents used to store tomatoes before the final frost, in the basement on newspapers spread out on the floor. Soda pop in bottles lined the sides of the stairs going to the basement. The basement wasn't heated but in between the garage and the house, so it pretty much kept about 50-60 degrees year round. Between the invention of the ice box, and the refrigerator, was a device called. "The Crosley Ice Ball." This was built specifically for rural living because some places were too expensive to connect to the grid. You would heat once side of the ball with a heat source (Gas flame...) and the ammonia would expand and get cold enough to make ice. The non heated side of the ice ball could then be put into a chest that looks like a modern freezer, and this would keep things cold for about 24 hours. Lots of early refrigerators were gas operated because they use the ammonia absorption process. However, keeping the refrigerator in the home would kill people in their sleep if the ammonia seeped out. Ammonia coolers/freezers are what grocery stores use, and grocery warehouses use to keep things at constant arctic temperatures for storage.
I believe that was an ammonia aDsorption device, not aBsorption. Similar to an RV refrigerator today, not very efficient but easy to power without electricity.
I used to work with a waiter whose wife was a Brazilian immigrant. When they went to visit her family he'd always tell me what they ate and how it was stored. There was no refrigeration items were stored in holes in the ground, or in the oven/on the stove with low heat. They made hard cheese, similar to Parmesan, and stored it in the oven once it was ripened and opened. Their make a big pot of stew, and a separate pot of rice. It could last for days on the stove. I did the same in my cabin in the woods. I would just bring the stew to a boil for a few minutes before eating. I was able to make it last for a week while working at a scrap iron yard 50-60 hours/week and starting a farm on the side. Eggs can last a month on the counter. At around 65°. Butter also. Sausage can last 4-6 days, vegetables and fruit also. Cheese, about a week. It's a good thing to at least learn, just so you know that you can do it.
Thanks for your wisdom. I'm a single mum of 3 boys in Victoria, Australia making the transition from suburbia to off grid Mountain living, right now...and seeking as much insight from experienced homesteaders. You're a blessing.
Yep, we have a large cooler on our northside of our home to store items in mostly in the winter. We had 12 milk crates of green tomatoes we picked prior of frost and now we're down to 4 crates. As they turn ripe we cook some and can some too. Folks give us large boxes of their garden leftovers so we can and dehydrate it all. Trimmings go to the chickens. Yes. Eggs from our chickens are on the counter too. We're 68 years old and thats what we have done.
Yep. When in doubt put the egg in water. If it floats, it's bad. I've eaten ham, cheese and eggs left out in a Central American Jungle in summer. In fact, eggs are never refrigerated there.
Sent a pic yesterday to a friend as I was down to the last dozen or so tomatoes. He was dumbfounded asking how as his tomatoes had been gone almost 2 months. I only had about 7 gallons, but yes, anything over the size of a radish gets picked for inside ripening.
My great grandmother (back in the day of Jesse James) kept the butter & milk in a cool, running spring they also used as their water source, located less than 1/4 mile from the house...lots of water hauling, before the well was hand dug at the house. They cured & smoked their meats in a smoke house. I've heard of a shallow hole that's boxed off beneath a house set on blocks, burying an old freezer or refridgerator laid on it's side slightly above ground level beneath a shade tree, & covered with wood & blankets for insulation have served well as improvised root cellars & coolers.
I love that you mentioned vodka but maybe a little more emphasis! My grandma from the Ukraine told me the following story. There was a drought that swept through Eastern Europe hundreds of years ago. In order to save the livestock (mostly the cows) and potatoes they gave most of the water to the animals and did all their preserving in vodka (also you will not find a true Eastern European who is lactose intolerant. If your body couldn't process the milk, then you died.). Potatoes were also a staple during the Depression era because it's one of the only foods that could survive the drought. That's making the potato and ideal vegetable for many reasons. So my grandma said all the fruits and veggies were preserved in vodka. I have not looked into this detail and unfortunately my grandma passed away a few years ago. But I think vodka preserving and potatoes are worth a closer look. This is why I believe my Slavic brothers and sisters have such a fondness for the Vodka. It saved Nations! and who doesn't need a stiff drink when things aren't looking so hot? Thanks for your video I'm now going to do some thorough research on preserving with potato vodka!
@@rebelwithacause5217 but when milk is available when produce and meat isn't you may starve. Lactose intolerance is real. Toddlers not ready to eat mature food would be most vulnerable.
@@debrapaulino918 I know that lactose intolerance is real because my spouse has it. I just never heard of someone starving because the only thing they had was milk. Are you telling me that milk was all they had in Eastern Europe?
Canning! I have an endless supply of pre-cooked meats, soups, fruits and vegetables just sitting in my un-refrigerated basement and they last for many years.
I grow up without refrigrator,no running water,no bathroom,no stove,no bed,no electronics, no shoes ,no gifts/Christmas tree for Christmas,no bday /gifts growing up,heck even toothbrush cant afford,no pencil /paper just so i can go to school ..but here i am ..a true poverty survivor .
Ruth LLOYD Andersen Me too. When he said people don’t eat leftovers, I almost fell off my seat. Who is so rich you can throw good food away? It’s already made! I get excited because I figure I have lunch the next day.
@@NoNORADon911 Same here. I told somebody this once and trying to be as diplomatic as she could, she said that she only cooks things fresh. I didn’t realize I was serving my family rotten food!
My family eats leftovers everyday for lunch and at least one dinner a week: 3 days for seafood and fish, 7 days for everything else. Never had a problem.
@@tamlaprice6656 i think what theyre getting at is that things like mozzarella are made with forced milk spoilage with vinegar,or just straight up sour expired milk
In Australian outback our pioneers had a box called a Coolgardie safe. It was a Tin box with many little holes drilled in the sides with a front latched door. You would drape wet hessian bags from the top which rested in a reservoir of water , down all 4 sides. Pretty much an evaporative cooling method. Put in the breeze and it would work better. That is certainly the option for us in parts of the world who don’t have snow and ice and freezing winters. But very informative.
That reminds me of the Zeer Pot that they use in Africa. I probably misspelled the name, but it's essentially a clay bathtub with a small tub with a lid inside of it, with sand in between the two to support the smaller tub. Water was poured into the sand, and the evaporation drops the temperature below the ambient temp. I wonder if this would work in a root cellar, but I fear that the humidity it causes could be catastrophic in that environment.
Thank you for this! I am an urban city dweller, dying (literally) to get off grid, and clueless about the basics of living without these modern conveiniences I've grown up with. Super old soul that wants to get back to basics and so appreciate the information you have shared here. Bless you!
The key to living off-grid is reducing usage first unless you're very well off. Most off-grid folks minimize what they use. And they only do some things when the sun is shining. For example, you wouldn't decide to can on an electric range or do the laundry on cloudy or rainy days.
@@Diniecita I meant you wouldn't use a lot of electricity on cloudy days to run a washer or dryer. Interesting. I never thought of wanting rain on laundry. I guess it depends on how clean your rain is.
@@Diniecita I thought I would never hear anyone but me say that. I never posted that because I thought people would think I was bats. But it's true. Laundry on the line is so soft after it's been rained on, and dried. My grandmother used to catch rain water and rinse her hair in it for the same reason.
This is a household that LOVES leftovers!! My husband and kids love when I cook extra so there are leftovers they can reheat when they get hungry later. It means they don’t have to cook themselves something from scratch if they want a snack.
For refrigeration : if you have a spring or a cold stream on your property, you can put food into plastic containers, then in the water. Similar to putting them in the well. I've used these methods when I didn't had a fridge. Also in winter, you can keep a lot of food outside (depending of climate), or on a north-facing windowsill (norther hemisphere). In northern climates where winter temps will deep freeze foods, make a wooden box that replaces a window and sticks out of the house wall. Insulate the box, according with the outside temp and how cold you want it in your cold box. Ideally use several layers of insulation to add/remove as winter gets colder then hotter in spring.
I saw a woman who did something similar. She had a "cage" made from window screen like material extending out her window on the shady side of her house. She kept a blanket soaked in water over the cage in warmer seasons.
@BillCat Buy minced meat and make the burgers yourself, try baking the burger buns! My kids love it and after a burger they are so full, no need for French fries, sodas, nuggets, etc... well, maybe just desert! It’s a totaly different, tasty, simple and a satiating experience! Afterwords, you wonder what they sell us as food and how can a home made burger from scratch be so different! You’ll definetly stop craving fast food.
You need two clay pots, one that can nestle inside the other with a 1 to 2 inch space between the two all the way around. Bury the larger clay pot up to the rim. Pack sand up against the insides just thick enough to be able to nestle the second smaller pot inside. Fully fill the space between the two pots with sand. Pour water in the sand till it's moist. Put food in the smaller pot, and put on the lid. As the water evaporates, the food inside will cool down. Keep replacing the water as it evaporates.
I have used most of those preservation methods over the years including sealing crocks of food with lard and waxed cloth, and jams and other fruit preserves with wax. Have always had plans for an ice house, but just haven't done it yet. I do currently use both freezers and refrigerators as well as electric lights, but I'm set up well enough to go off grid if needed. Having been an "experimental archeologist" for several years gave me a hands on chance to experience many of the skills and knowledge of our ancestors .
I liked the way that you did not waste my time and that your presentation was well organized. This was better than 99% of the other videos I have watched on TH-cam.
Check out off-grid refregeration techniques. The one that has 2 containers, one in another, with wet sand in between them. That keeps vegetables relatively fresh for a week or so.
@@annebeignatborde1832 don't know about the principle that it follows, but yes, clay is one of the most effective methods of using the off-grid refrigerator. These days, people just wrap everything in plastic and leave it in that pit without a container. The walls can be made from clay or Stone. As long as it is a good conductor of heat / cold (like wood is a no-no)
@@KalpeshPatel78 I checked it out this morning. It's thermoelectric cooling which uses the Peltier effect. Have to keep the (clean) sand damp. Have a nice day.
My grandmother lived during the depression of the 20's she was about 20, she had views on the wasting of the food and saying things like "I don't like this" would be met with a knock to the head, and an "eat it" followed by another tale of hardship! The blood in you is the same blood that flow in your ancestors. Your ancestors lived, you'll be OK
We live in Germany and no one refrigerates eggs, and they are sold unwashed. We love it! Also consider a freeze dryer. A modern invention, but can really save nutritional value!
We live in Pennsylvania, USA and have vacationed in North Germany (Busum area) many times. It's beautiful! Since you have access to unwashed eggs you should look into water glassing them for SHTF storage. It really works. Do a TH-cam search for it. Btw, my name is Erin too. 🙋
@@Dasani_water_drinker They also use quite a bit of electricity because of the refrigeration built into the unit, plus you have to run a fairly large vacuum pump .
I haven't had water in 4 yrs, water heater burst, not using my fridge or stove. I eat right out of a can. I'm 73 and moving soon to a HUD home so I'll have water, etc. Ty for your video. 🙏🏻
marthale7 I just got an IP so I'm not very familiar with it. Can you tell me what you mean by Cavey and is it an accessory I need to buy in order to can? Thanks
My grandmothers left all condiments, jelly, applesauce and breads on the table all day long. Usually leftovers were there too if not in the stove warmer. Then a clean table cloth was draped over them. I still do the same on my peninsula
When I was a young child in South Africa farmers had ash boxes for refrigeration- a square frame with fine chicken wire on the inner and outer part of the frame filled with ash. A bottle of water hung from a tree above with a rag hanging out of it dripped to keep the ash wet. The breeze created refrigeration
My mother-in-law will keep beans in a pot on the stove all week! What she does is once everyone is after dinner, she will bring them to a boil, simmer for a couple minutes, enough for the lid to get hot, and they are ready for the next day where they can be tested cold or reheat d again. I was amazed at this. Now I've been doing it this way for over 15 years! It took a while for me to get comfortable with it and go longer than a day. But now they sit ther till they are gone. Same with rice, though I don't leave that out for more than a day or 2 because it does not get boiled. I also make fermented veggies. I get the big blocks of cheese and cover it in wax. A great way to make meat last, if it's too much to eat right away, is corned beef. When we were without power for 4 days I had meat which was not frozen that i had gotten the first day. I put it in 2 quarts of water, 2 cups of salt, and a bunch of spices, and we are from that all week. I'd just pull out what i needed and the rest would sit there getting better and better. 😊 We also salt dry cod fish, on purpose because it's better that way! And can butter and milk. ❤️
He’s living a lifestyle like that. Unless your living like this, you’ll never make it. I’ve been thru two husbands wanting to live homesteading and both were horrified. I had garden’s, canned and they hated the food. I’m too old now but I totally agree with this man. If your young, do it!!!
It's the opposite with me, i grew up living off the land and while I like to go out from time to time it's a lifestyle I refuse to turn from and the only female that ACTUALLY want that is my girls , lots of women,well and men to but I'm not into men,lol anyway lots of women claim at the table that's always been a dream and yadda yadda but when it comes down to putting in the work ....not happening they will starve to death before putting forth a bit of labor into a harvest or storing a harvest it blows my mind Now of course I mean modern women, my mother and certainly grandmother and great grandmother worked their asses off and we're damn happy to be physically able to do so
I grew up in Appalachia in a house that had cracks in the walls that you could throw a live cat through. We had a springhouse and a smokehouse and plenty of salt. Believe it or not, I never saw a refrigerator until I was a teenager. Weren't preppers or anything, its just how life was. Today, its still a lot like that here for us....
During Christmas and Thanksgiving, trays of food usually sit out most of the day without refrigeration and nobody ever gets sick. You can leave a pizza in a box on the counter and eat it the next day without a problem. The country side of my family used a springhouse to store dairy, etc and smoked the meats.
Bravo man, glad I found your Chanel . My parents grew up without electricity and taught me many of the things you just went over. You also give an updated twist to the ways we are suppose to eat. Fermented food has been almost lost, and it's some of the healthiest foods known to man.
I think that people who are that bloody touchy about what they eat, have not yet lived life with any type of appreciation. They will have a very hard time when life comes knocking at their door. Appreciate all that you have because there may come a time when your plate may be empty.
lol. When my daughter was little she would say she was hungry. I would tell her to eat an apple. She would say no she didn't want one. I would tell her obviously you are not that hungry then!
I remember great grandmother talking about a spring house..where they built a shelter over a spring or creek and kept jars in the water ..put their stuff in jars..
Yes, we could live without refrigeration. Can, dehydrate, spring house, root cellar, solar and hand cranked items also are a good buy for when electricity goes down.
Bacteria are everywhere. Assume they're there. Still you can eat food left out during the day, if you don't leave it in warm sunny places. I've seen this done as a normal thing in warm parts of Asia. Their kitchens are always in the shade, for that reason.
Related to keep food in a well is the spring house. I saw one once, a small building with a spring fed pool in the floor, that was uncomfortably cold. One could keep FRESH milk in for days and days without spoilage. It would be easier for storing and accessing food than a well. All you need is a spring with sufficient flow.
I've been living without any fridge since a year now. In my village there is a project feeding 20-30 volunteer workers without any fridge since 35 years.
Yep👍. I learned all from my Grandnanny, except the solor powered freezer. That woman was a teaching, walking talking book of survival old way knowledge, God rest her soul🥰. I was so blessed by God to have her as my Grandnanny🙌. The knowledge certainly got me through some hard emergency times and year to year preparation for winter's & possibly hard times.
dehydration is a wonderful preserving method I especially love. We do make smoked everything... lol... smoked goat cheese is my favorite right now and making yogurt is a wonderful way to preserve your milk as well especially if you add a lil salt. Also adding a bit of salt to your fresh milk will help it keep longer. This was a great video really enjoyed it. We might be faced with a no power situation sooner than we would like with an EMP attack being very possible.
When I was young we had the old Coca Cola coolers. The Coke bottles were kept cold by sitting in cold water in the big Coca Cola coolers up to their caps. I remember them very well. Memories from days past!
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Living in a major city, I stopped using a refrigerator 10 years ago. I was decluttering, and with my decluttering eyes, realised my fridge was too big, not only that, most of what was in the fridge did not need to be refrigerated, so I sold my fridge. The emotional adjustment from letting go of that machine that represented security in our society was huge! It didn't help that friends were freaking out about my decision. I already had a balcony garden, but shopped for what I couldn't grow. In the end, I did not go shopping more often, nor did I use a cooler (wasted personal energy to try and keep that cool, and it was just replicating the refrigerator).I learnt about food preservation (fermenting, drying/dehydrating, water and pressure canning). For the fruit and vegetables I bought at the market, I learnt about the cycles of foods, i.e. which foods go bad first, how fast each one took to begin to wilt or mould - berries and broccoli were eaten first. Bought washed eggs were fine for three weeks (water test near the end, just in case). I had a cool closet that had a hole and was 10˚C cooler than anywhere else. With this, I made cheese and kept the beef I ate over a few days. Chickens, I roasted two, had a meal and canned the rest of the meat and the broth made from bones. Yogurt, kefir, and cheeses were fine for the time it took me to eat it. What I found is I ate healthier, had almost no food waste, and not only did my energy bill go down, but so did the noise pollution. My life became more simple and more peaceful..., all because I sold my fridge.
Wow!
That's a great story. Good for you😊
This is so awesome to me....I had this huge revelation that quite literally the worst invention that has been touted as the best , in my opinion, is the fridge. If it were not for refrigeration we would not have major factory farming operations. We would have less energy use. More people would be self sustainable. We would have less food waste.
My
@@shantelleboyce1921 Yes, exactly. And on top of all that, the toxic chemicals inside refrigerators and all their designed to fail parts are piling up in the landfills.
We keep our eggs on the counter. I can EVERYTHING! My husband has even said that if he sits still to long, he might end up in a Mason jar. 😄
Lmao
LOL! Shhhhhh! Dont tell him jars are officially out of stock until maybe next year! At least the size he might fit in! :)
Lol!! Reminds me of
My dads saying,
"Mom's so good at laundry two pairs deep my socks are new"
@@MiddleEastMilli He knows I have jars!! I found a stockpile in the barn.
@@lauramissy7492 LOOOLLLLLL
After my dad died, my mom started teaching me about old facts. I was astonished when she told me that cold salads are ridiculous. She put together a salad that had variety of lettuces minus iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, etc, and the dressing was vinegar olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. All of it was at room temperature, even the cheese. She told me to pay attention to the richer more intense flavors. She said then that in the old days this is how good salads tasted, that refrigeration ruined our pallettes for truly delicious food.
Excellent points!
Thank you for sharing that
Vinegar is big in many cultures, and healthy
I've always ate my salads that way. Those store bought dressings are very bad for you. Mostly soybean oil and sugar. You'd be better off not eating a salad at all.
Cool
I had relatives in Idaho who were, honest to God, true homesteading pioneers. They lived in a log cabin on the hillside of a mountain.
When I was a boy in the 1960s, I remember being fascinated by their means of refrigeration.
They had a spring dug into the hillside above them on the mountain. He hand dug a trench and ran a pipeline from the spring into the cabin.
The pipe from the spring came into the cabin at about 4' high. From there, the water poured into a long, tin trough about 18" wide x maybe 30" or so long.
The trough was slightly sloped downhill with an exit pipe of probably slightly larger diameter about 3" to 6" up from the bottom of the trough.
It was sort of like a swimming pool with a shallow end on the inlet side and the deep end on the outlet side. Icy cold water ran through the trough year around, 24/7.
The water was pure spring water, so no fear of parasites, etc. At least not until one time when a bear tried to get into the spring dugout and died in there upside down. That's when maggots started pouring out of the drinking water pipe. Lol. But that's another story. So make your spring bear and rodent proof!
Anyway, they would store their jars of milk and such at the deep end of the trough, let eggs float around however they wished and had meat or whatever else floating in tin pans at the shallow end of the trough. It worked great!
So, if you have a spring, that could be done. You could also use running creek water to do the same thing.
Since creeks are not 100% pure for drinking, you could still use the water to cool by building a double walled tank system, sort like how hydronic water heaters work, but in reverse.
The water refrigerator could have a metal, sealed inner tank for food, with a water jacket flowing around it for the cold creek water.
The water from the creek would cool the contents of the inner container through the metal walls.
The inside refrigerator tank could have a divider in the center, creating both a dry chamber and a wet chamber. The wet chamber would be filled with potable water to float cans and such like an ice chest. The dry side would be used for anything you didn't want wet. Put a lid on the top of the refrigerator box, and there you have it!
Plus, if you caught a few live fish or crawdads, you could store them live for a couple days in the creek side water jacket until you are ready to eat them!
These are my thoughts.
Mark Hillen
Colorado
Sounds fantastic.
Great idea and cool memories 😊
In Indonesia I was in a village . When one family slaughtered a cow the whole village would eat it. All gone in one day . Families would rotate killing a cow so no one would ever have left over meat to spoil
@@michaellalanae7228 the blood put at ground they what God says .
@@michaellalanae7228 Give the guts to your dog.
I can’t stand eating a poor animal. My opinion
Thst was done in my chuldhood community.
@@donaglosser4272 what a great great opinion animals are to be loved and hugged
It always amazes me that some refuse leftovers.
I am thankful to have leftovers.
I am thankful that I only eat when hungry.
I am thankful for Salvation.
My thankfulness is an endless list.
Good video. Thank you Zach. Shalom.
I never understood that there were people who didn't eat leftovers. If not later in the day, within the week.
I remember days of not having anything to eat but a granola bar after school until lunch the next day when someone at school shared their lunch with me.
AMEN 💯💯💯💯 God Bless you and your family from middle GA 🙏
Same. I grew up on leftovers and a lot of the time nothing but bread and whatever condiment was in the fridge or cereal and powdered milk, oatmeal or rice with sugar or beans. You can imagine my dismay after having my own daughter then refuse to eat anything leftover growing up. There were many years of struggles and me reinacting a similar scene to that in the movie Mommy Dearest and later earning that as her contact name for me in her phone, lol. In her defense, we found out in college that she suffers from extreme anxiety disorders and autism, most likely from years of exposure to vaccines and the mercury amalgam fillings in her teeth. If only I could do it all again.....anyways, not sure how she's gonna fair if it soon comes to what is written in Revelations. God bless.
@@hahna77 same. Do the best you can.
I took the "just take 1 bite, chew and swallow" route. That way he would taste a variety of foods and at least could decide if he liked them or not. I also knew at least something was in his stomach.
left overs have all the deep flavor .
I love leftovers. Lots of food like soup, stew, chili and casseroles taste better the next day!
Spaghetti is always better the day after it is made, and the day after that! lol
Almost always!
Absolutely not true!!!
Definitely true
Especially spaghetti, goulash, and meatloaf. Yum!!!
This grandma has a small win to share . I found a simple oven method to turn butter into Ghee , that when ladled hot into hot sterilized canning jars , seals with a "ping" when cooled and are now shelf stable ! I use half pint jars , which allows me to use the contents in a timely fashion . Hope this helps someone .
I wish you had described the method.
@@lesliehunter1823 I use the method described by Doug and Stacy - In a deep baking dish ( I use my Pyrex oval - 12"L x 8.5" W x 2.75" Deep ) , put 2lbs butter (sticks unwrapped and in a single layer) . Put the baker into a 250 degree pre-heated oven , for an hour and a half . I put 4-5 half-pint canning jars into a stockpot , with water to cover the jars and bring it to a boil , then reduce heat to a low simmer , until the ghee comes out of the oven .The butter will have melted and separated into three layers - bottom one is the milk solids , the middle one is the beautiful clear liquid Ghee and the golden brown , lacey one on the surface is something else (unknown , but carefully skimmed off..lol) place the baker on a heatproof mat or wooden cutting board . I take a shallow ladle and carefully skim off the ghee , do not to include the milk solids underneath , and ladle it into the hot , drained jars ( a canning funnel helps avoid spills) , leaving about 1/2 " headspace and put on the lids , and bands . The tray with the filled jars is treated like canned jams , in that they are covered with a towel and left , undisturbed overnight . The two pounds of butter should yield about 4-5 half pint jars of solid , butter yellow , shelf stable Ghee ! I realize this is a bit long , but I've tried to include helpful hints for someone who hasn't done this before .Thank you for asking ! Enjoy !!!
Tx for the clear response. I usually do stovetop and a coffee filter but I don't think my method is sterile. @@kayeeiland4167
Thanks for sharing
@@kayeeiland4167 Thank you very much. My first thought was at what temp, for how long? Instructions would be nice. So much appreciated, not too long at all and well worth reading and paying close attention. In fact I am saving and reading until I get it properly.
FYI people like yourself are of great value to people like me whose parents were abusive and didn’t care to teach us very little of use.
So I thank and praise God (all of Him for you) IJN Amen x
Much Love (God IS Love) and thanks sunshine🙃 from Scotland x
Leftovers have been a staple in our home. We call them Brought Forths. 😂 I feel grateful being raised in the Ozark Mountains so far out the nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. We had a massive garden and 7 'truck' patches. We harvested and canned, froze, put in our root cellar, fermented, pickled and dehydrated. We raised pigs and when we got one slaughtered nothing went to waste. I feel grateful to have learned these skills from my hillbilly family.
You live in ozark!!? Do you launder money??? Just kidding. I watch and enjoy the tv show ozark with Jason Bateman. The landscape and lakes are so beautiful !! You re so lucky.
Omg you should write a book! All that knowledge. 😉
We live in Ozark’s also. We will never starve or die of thirst. I’m pretty sure in SHTF situation we won’t need doe tags LOL
I make really good ranch hand ! 😁
@@GnosisKing th-cam.com/video/TYvX8VyxoGk/w-d-xo.html
A good place to start. He can teach you a lot.
In the old days, they would put a large pot of beans on to cook. They would keep the beans cooking for days and eat out of the pot everyday. They would add other ingredients to it as time went on.
this was done even as far back as midievil times.they called it "pottage"
Pease porridge hot; pease porridge cold;
Pease porridge in the pot, 9 days old.
Some like it hot; some like it cold: some like it in the pot, 9 days old!
@@eb6552 can you link a good video showing how to make and use one? Thanks
@@artemisiagentileschi2400 I agree id like to know too.
or soak beans in water and eat.
My refrigerator died 2 months ago and I haven’t replaced it. I wrapped up my $100 cooler in reflextics and throw a wool blanket over it. Ice lasts twice as long. The money I’ve saved not buying things that won’t fit in this lifestyle is amazing.
Awesome that's a great idea.
I bought a cheap Best Buy refrigerator that every now and then seems to be failing. I have considered living without a fridge if it does. However, this video is making me think a fridge is a great invention. If only they made them to last thirty years or more, like they used to do.
If you're living from a cooler get a yeti. I didn't for so long on principle but once I finally did I could've smacked myself. They really hold ice and cold a long time, it will pay for itself eventually. The cheaper knock offs work almost as good. I have a Magellan but my friend has a big yeti since he travels for work and I recommend if you can $ wise, save up it's worth it. WHY'S EVERYTHING GOTTA COST MONEY! 😒
@@watermelonlalala that’s how they make everything…2 years then buy another it’s why we’re poor.
WHAT are "reflextics" ??
Refusing to eat leftovers isn't just spoiled, it's the height of ingratitude.
@@workin4alivin585 It’s their loss because imma eat it!😂
I wonder what these non leftover eaters would say if they knew the true way of brazing meats, i mean it isnt leftover but true brazing is left in fridge overnight to soak in the juices. So yes u have eaten leftovers pretty much.
In our house, while there might be food scraps/leftovers, they do not go to waste.
They feed our chickens, and the ever hungry wildlife around here. :D
@ I feed the chipmunk living in the backyard. Not always but he loves when I do.
I’ve eaten leftovers my entire life. For Gods Sake, never waste food
AMEN i came up DIRT po, my food came from pecan trees/fruit trees etc. i dont waste a thing
Exactly!
That's great. I hate only buying food on sale, to see it go to waste. I only make enough servings we will be eating that sitting, plus an extra for a lunch to take to work.
Some leftovers taste better the next few days! The veggies and fruits you get now from other countries are picked green and not ripe in order to ship and allow the products not to rot. Unfortunately they don't have the nutrition or vitamin/mineral value if it would have ripen on the vine. It is proven our food does not have the health and nutrition value it did in the past. So we are not getting the things are bodies need to survive and be healthy!
I'd like to know how a freezer with "refrigerant" in it that converts solar power/electricity into refrigeration i.e. freezing, isn't refrigeration? As you've said there is no registration on the homestead
People that don't eat leftovers absolutely baffle me!!!
I dont make enough to have leftovers typically unless its the holidays sometimes I let the kids eat the rest I can wait until breakfast just drink some extra water
@@marcuskoontz1823 good man Marcus
An ex is a crybaby who can't stand leftovers. I totally dont get it
Hot wings fried chicken and pizza are great to
Thats crazy certain food to me is better the next day
When we lived in south central Texas. One year our old fridge died. I remember mom putting the milk in the window between the screen and and the glass all that winter. If you dont have it you fugure it out or do without. Im with you on seasonal fruits and vegetables. Christmas stockings always had oranges and tangerines. What a treat! I remember fishing out a tangerine from the toe of the stocking and I just sat there inhaling its aroma. Even today, when i smell a tangerine, it floods my memory of Christmas mornings.
I live in south central Texas, for the holidays, we never had enough room in the frig, so my mother had us store food outside in the charcoal grill (when it wasn’t in use!) kept things cool and kept the critters out! 😁
That was a Christmas tradition in our home along with apples, bananas & juicy fruit gum.
Mandarin oranges and nuts were treats in our stockings.
My mother lived thru the Depression. NOTHING got thrown out. She had the smallest refrigerator containers you ever saw. At the end of the week we would have 'goopslop' supper. Everything went into the pot along with maybe a little added meat or vegetables and maybe spaghetti sauce or some other concoction to bind all the leftovers. We could take what we wanted but we better eat what we took. Anything you left on your plate was recycled for breakfast. Seriously!!! It was considered a sin to waste food.
I surprised a guest by taking out my ramen broth the other week, on Monday I started opening my canned veggies and draining the water into a quart jar and every can I open in the week was saved in the fridge for Friday night ramen.
@@RayF6126I hope these are home canned cans rather than the store bought carcinogenic lined ones. I really like your idea! Sounds like a really yummy soup or Ramen starter!
Moonshine, not just for breakfast anymore . A natural food perspective.
Did you mention you need a farm to accomplish these things??? 🤔
@@janemcpherson2119 I joked about being a snail because my home went everywhere I did when I lived in a camper van for 14 years. I had no fridge. I had peanut butter, tuna, hummus in my kitchen. Burrito wraps, pita bread, and often homemade plop bread were staples. I hung my weeks worth of veggies from the ceiling in onion bags. I bought 6 farm fresh eggs a week to eat or make mayonnaise. I had a camper van, camp stove, Dutch oven, and a portable table for my cooking. My electricity was from batteries and the car engine. It's funny how much stuff our society produces that allows for different choices.
I am 63 years old and my grandparents ALWAYS had leftovers and without a microwave. They were GREAT!
My Grandfather is 84 and has refused to have a microwave in his home since they became a modern "convenience". I admire that man above all. He has always shared his wealth of knowledge with me and I'm grateful I still have him at 45. He used to tell me, 30 years ago, that he was convinced we were being surveilled through TV and that America was returning to a feudal system of just two classes of people... rich and poor.
I'm 63 an never owned a microwave and never will.
@@ThisIsNotSoap Does the microwave remove the carbon compounds?
I NEVER use a microwave. and always eat leftovers!! (not always refrigerated). I Usually don't tell most people that since they are so weird about it.
@@mrdraper4633 My father was just the same. He said the same about our government. I HATE microwaves and refuse to use them. there is one in the house because 'other members' can't seem to give it up.
My Poppa he’s 107 and he said to mention a cistern if a well isn’t available, save sawdust and volunteer to cut pond ice in winter time, add Farmers cheese from the whey and Ghee to the milk products, and the 10 month rule(seasonal eating)...Poppa raised my Dad an I to have a plan in place for every single person in household for 10 months 3-4 meals a day...The 10 Plan has saved my biscuits this year!!!
Do people who won't eat leftovers realize that prepared foods in cans and frozen packages are eating "LEFTOVERS"?
Touche
bravo
My son doesn't care because it was prepared by a "professional". Um ok a minimum wage worker in a factory is a better cook than me. Thanks! Lol!
@@BaloosCluesOriginal He better hire a cook or make enough money to eat out. He'll get hungry eventually.
@@katehenry2718 Fortunately he worked at a place called Jet Nutrition. He learned to cook nutritious foods first. Now he cooks for Blount Fine Foods. Everything tastes great BUT its loaded with sodium. He will cook himself something if he's desperate.
My "off grid" friends dug a hole in the ground large enough to put an old dryer drum in. They insulated the outside of dryer drum with insulation and that aluminum wrap from HD, created a wooden, insulated lid, then sunk it in the ground on the shady side of porch. It was their year around cooler for veggies, roots, and weekly perishables.
That's a good idea, thanks for sharing.
Look for a large stainless commercial dryer/washer drum
I live in the desert so Zeer fridges work well here. Good for veggies, fruit, etc. Basically huge clay pot, an inner pot with sand between the pots. Big pot sits in a clay saucer with water in it.
An old dishwasher would be great. It includes the door! Tun on its side. Aloe sawdust is great insulation & you can usually get it for free!
Great idea...the aluminum wrap or an aluminum container GREATLY adds to the cooling effect.
Here in Arizona (or anywhere with dry air), you can put a terracotta pot inside a larger terracotta pot with wet sand packed in between and a heavy rug or horse blanket over top to insulate and it creates a swamp cooler effect to keep things cooler in the desert heat.
Yep. Zeer pot.
Awesome tip, will be especially useful here in Brazil, where most of the climate is hot so we can't use some of those tips for winter and cooler climates.
Thank you. I was thinking none of this would work in AZ
I’m here in the East valley (Phx). If there becomes a time when there is no ac/electricity I’m footin’ it to the river and pitchin’ a tent at the Salt. There is no way I’m going to be in the city in 115-118 degrees heat! I’ve had my ac break down at that time for about a week and it is MISERABLE. A gallon a day per person is no joke here.
I’d forgotten about this...thx! Do you have to keep re-wetting the sand?
Lived off grid for a couple of years in Australia's Blue Mountains area. Two methods we used were: 1) putting items on the south side window sill in between the glass and fly screen, no direct sunlight and nights were almost always cold, to open the 'fridge' we just opened the window 2) putting them in a rainwater tank that was in permanent shade (as you do with the well). We had one tank painted black in a sunny area and one white one in the shade so we had 'warm' and 'cool' water.
thats about how i shower....when the feet or hands are real dirty i use the old water for prewash, then water the plants with it. ....and i love the love and exercise. so yeah i have a bucket n brush next to my lawn swing.
We use water catchments in Hawaii too. One of mine is usually full of canned and bottled beverages.
Love that idea! Thanks!!
Thanks for the ideas with the water tanks. We live at mid north coast and I’m researching how to keep our food cool if electricity fails. We have solar power but also still connected to the grid. The ground is heavy clay and fills with water when we dig down so not sure we can make a cellar
@@patriciafisher1170 You reminded me of the rain barrel we had when I was a kid. It was in the shade and the water stayed cold even in the hottest part of the summer; I used to put my arm down in it ;). I think I'm going to get a light color one, I already have a black for the garden.
I grew up with left overs, and sometime they taste even better the next day.
Especially beef roasts,beef stew,meatloaf ,and Italian gravy.
I have a hot dish recipe that is better reheated.
Just got back from camping and ate three days worth of leftovers an other meal was two days before, rule of thumb in our house if it's 4 or more days old ,cooked food that is throw it out when in dought I hope i said that correct.
Risotto tastes better the next day.
We had to eat everything including vomit
Of course I can live without refrigeration!! I have been for the past five months!! Someone came along and destroyed the electrical system of my new (to me) RV. Don't have the money to fix it now, so I am making do. With it having been cold for the past couple of months, I have been putting the things that need to be kept cool beside and in front of the door>>>>since it has been going down to the 20s and 30s, they stay very cold. During the day, I put them in the freezer compartment of the RVs refrigerator. No well, no ability to dig deep holes at this point>>>this is ground with HUGE boulders in it and I am hitting 70 years old soon, so, not a "by hand" job.
I have always been a woods-woman and survivalist, this new development is just honing my skills!! Actually, it's rather fun if you think of it that way!!
I ❤ your ability to ebb and flow! And with excitement!!!!
You don’t need to get ready!You are about to experience a happening not able to be described by words bc it will be pure Divinity!
Ohhhh, I am truly so happy to know this!
I KNOW.
Cheers to you! Oh. Wow!!!
❤❤❤❤
🎉🎉🎉
@@emerg0n0see
For the last 30 days we have not eaten out or bought groceries. We are depending on our garden and what we have canned. This has been a great eye opener.
Thank you for this video.
We live the same way.
@@sherri5303 smart, wish I could have a garden.
Hi.
Have tried for ten years to convince some people of Guatemala to grow a garden in order to have something to eat... But they don't get it...
They think one needs intelligence to have one as well as money...
I tell them to go to the outdoor markets where they can find all kinds of seeds laying on the asphalt... Mangoes. Tomatoes. Corn. Grape seeds. Coriander (really). Beans. Avocadoes. Cucumber. Coffee. Sunflowers....
But i guess they have not suffered enough yet... They prefer to shoot you to rob you instead of kneeling down and till the ground!
@@edmourgagnon1504some people are lazy ,I love digging in the earth.
We agree with what you are doing. We have a garden in the summer too but now its winter so we started a Hydroponic garden indoors, all the salad and greens you could possibly eat in just 40 days, anyone can do it in a small space in the house or apartment.
YES AND WE NEED TO TEACH THESE YOUNG KIDS NOT TO HUNT IN SPRING OR SUMMER ONLY IN WINTER , ANIMALS ARE HAVING LITTLE ONES DURING SPRING AND SUMMER AND ONLY SHOOT WHAT YOUR GOING TO EAT COMPLETELY YOURSELF ! RESPECT NATURE!🇺🇸
To point I mean rabbits reproduce my crazies so you could probably hunt them on all seasons and they'll be plenty of them out
Or don't hunt at all, the human body doesn't need meat to survive
and we've already fucked up the eco system enough
@@tenbumaka7899 humans are part of the ecosystem. It's the human tendency to want to control others, which has been greatly magnified in Western tradition that has separated Humanity from the ecosystem.
@@kenolson3064 Of course humans are part of the eco system, but most humans no longer contribute to the eco system or keep the balance,
in fact we are in an enormous debt to nature right now, so even the thought of hunting in todays circumstances is incredibly arrogant and disrespectful to nature.
@@earthlingT What are you talking about? I see cats drink cows milk all the friggin time. Dogs will eat ice cream or drink any kind of milk, pigs will eat or drink anything.
Your just full of it honestly. Not to mention humans can eat food without processing it, they can eat freshly killed meat RAW without a problem, plants, fruits, and nuts can be picked right off the branch and eaten. Mushrooms the same thing.
And your correct, we don't have great digestive systems, and neither do wolves, cats, dogs, etc. etc. hence why they eat MEAT, because the cow, goat, etc. can easily digest grass, bramble and other plants we and a lot of other animals cannot eat and turn it into a food source.
Humans can only survive without meat in the modern day society, unless you lived in a tropical climate it was impossible to not eat meat.
I never liked the term left overs; it implied excess. It's not excess. It's just our next meal.
Good point. We love extra meals. I'm fortunate that husband is an exceptional cook.
We called them "must goes", because they must go.
What's for supper ? .... Mustgoes.
If you don't like eating left overs, get a dog or raise a pig.
I've never heard those terms. I just like to cook once and eat twice. It saves electricity and My energy and it just makes sense to me.
Plan-overs at our house. Time saved big prep once, at least 3 meals from one mess in kitchen
Watch "- V@cinfo Episode 17 - "The Walking Dead" Part 2" on TH-cam
th-cam.com/video/WgwjoW6CBjE/w-d-xo.html
For people that have small back yards....get an aluminum 55 gal garbage can. Dig a hole big enough for a foot all around the can. Fill around the can with sand. Your food will stay cool.
No way I'd ever use sand... Have you not ever been to the beach on a hot day?? I'd use woodchips
Ants?
My rootceller is 124 years old. The walls are 6 in. Thick and the door is 6in. Thick the whole thing insulated with sawdust . I have 3 more ive made and paid 3000. Dollars to spray foam insulate and I waisted my money because my 124 yr old sawdust Root cellar is very cold at 120 degrees out side. The expensive insulated were still hot inside. What a waste The old ways are always better. ALWAYS.
@@Dan0rioN I think she's saying you put the sand in that foot of space that is all around the can, not that you put your food in the sand!
@@tb6303 That's what I originally thought.. Why use something that gets hot to touch??
Wow, never been so spoiled to turn down leftovers. That's just so foreign to me!
@Gman That is one thing I have instilled in my little ones...especially when it comes to drinking out of water bottles....refill that and use it again...Don't just throw it away....smh
@Gman waste not want not. refill that bottle and keep your pennies in your pocket........duh....
@@adversarysatan8059 you buy the water not the bottle
@@jhoughjr1 yep and when i wear the bottle out for drinking i use it to start my flowers and veggies......smiling...or for something else ...reuse and reuse and,ReUse and save more pennies.......
That's what leftovers are for - to eat. I'm eating yesterday's leftovers right now, beef and pork.
I’m 65 and remember my Grandmother’s “ice box” that literally had a big block of ice on the top aluminum lined boxed shelf! There was a drain that caught the melted ice so that eater could be recycled. The block of ice was replaced every week or so. Strict rules were not to open the ice box door! That was only done when time to prepare meals. Eggs and a lot of produce were kept out on the counter.
I'm just 60 this year and my grandma had an ice box. Yup block of ice and yup she even had a ringer (crank) washing machine. People don't know how good they have it today.
Many people my age say ice box still instead of refrigerator.
My Great Grandfather told me stories of forgetting to empty the tray of melted ice water and it flooding the kitchen. 😂
@@tinymompj my mother had a ringer washing machine for several years after my parents split. Then she had a smaller apartment washer/spinner one, and finally a regular one when finances were stable. We were blessed with the older knowledge from her youth she gave us. I still use much of it now.
@@tinymompj my mother had a ringer washing machine for several years after my parents split. Then she had a smaller apartment washer/spinner one, and finally a regular one when finances were stable. We were blessed with the older knowledge from her youth she gave us. I still use much of it now.
My mom said they used to take the milk and put a jar in a bucket take down to the creek and tie the bucket to a branch and set the bucket in the running stream and the metal bucket would stay cold from the cold water running around it which kept the milk cool. And we had a smoke house.
We do this when we are having a bbq by the river. All the drinks go in the water. It's amazing, even on the hottest day!
I lived with a family from Ecuador for a short time. The ONLY thing they kept in the fridge was fresh meats and dairy. All foods that were cooked stayed on the stove to be eaten later (always a 4 qt pot of rice sitting on the stove as well that was warmed up for every meal.)
Now, the way my great grandparents lived, they had breakfast (like a prince) lunch (like a king) and supper/dinner (like a pauper) and it was whatever was left from the other 2 meals. Left overs from those meals were covered with a cloth and left on the table. My great grandpa (maternal) lived to be 97 years old. Was fit (not overweight a day in his life) and ate fried potatoes 3 meals a day..every day..fried in lard. And he loved to take the 'drippings' from the fried potatoes and soak his bread in it! So much for 'cholesterol' and saturated fats being 'bad' for you.
So did my grandfather. He said the fat on the fried steak was the best flavor.
@@pembebulut2781 100% !!!
@@pembebulut2781 amen
Actually Testosterone is made from cholesterol in the body…So no it’s not bad for you
Cholesterol isn't bad if you're not pumping your body full of heavy sugars and medications that DR'S push to get their cuts from big pharma and just as the FDA government approving meds/foods etc... Most (ALL THEY APPROVE) ARE SLOWLY OR FASTLY DESTROYING HUMAN INNER BODY'S AND THE MENTAL PROCESS AND THE MAIN ORGANS... ❤️ 🫁 KIDNEYS ETC., JUST AS ALL BIXED FOODS ARE NO LONGER PROPERLY STORED AND SHIPPED THEN MOST SIT ON SHELVES W AIR CRACKS AND BACTERIA SEEPS IN OPEN A BOX OF INSTANT DRIED POTATOES NOTHING BUT LOOSE INSIDE NO PROTECTION, SAME AS, PUSHING MEATS IN FOOD MARTS AND LIKE WALMART, THE TEMPS ARE EITHER TOO HIGH WHICH OVER COOLS SO WHEN PLACE IN FREEZER IT DOESN'T LAST AS LONG AS SHOULD FREEZER BURN SPOTS WHICH CAN BECOME DEADLY IF U EAT, LOOK AT THE SHELF LIFE DATES ON EGGS ETC., U CAN ACTUALLY EAT SAFELY IF THOROUGHLY COOKED UP TO 1 MONTH PAST THE DATE/ MILK SAME UP TO 1-2WKS PAST EXPIRED DATE BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN PASTEURIZED AND BORDEN'S MILK ISN'T AS SAFE TO DRINK, IF MILK STARTS BREAKING APART LOOKING LIKE WATER AT THE 2 INCH TOP AT MILK LEVEL IN JUGS OR WEIRD SMELL THEN BOIL IT DOWN MAKE BUTTER OR AMERICAN OR PARMESAN CHEESE WITH LEFT OVERS! Rice in stores especially instant most are eating plastic, the hard dried or milky looking white rice is 100% plastic! So much more I've researched and studied on about store foods, even some produce in stores isn't healthy at all some big growing indoor factories are using dangerous chems to make grow faster, just as, buying lettuce 🥬 etc in fruits/veggies the stores are waisting $$ & the buyer's because the stores are storing these products terrible by over cooling then when u get home after buying and drive and unload and put away, they have reached room temps or worse, so instead of I have to $$ from market's, when I get home, I just leave all fruits/veggies except lettuce I place in wrapped white paper towels Viva are the best and wrap well put into zipper type freezer gallon zip bag let all air out well or use a vacuum sealer even better seal off all Air, place in middle drawer close all vents to drawer and it will last for 1 month - 6 week's/do not store any lettuce with spoiled gas brown spots remove do not wash either until using only/u can even prep by placing Lettuce in sink chop how you need it for liking, & then store in fridge, this saves numerous time and when ready to eat a salad etc, just take out wash in colander dry thoroughly add whatever flavors and other veggies you want, enjoy! I do this with bell peppers and onions, I clean well/dry/chop/dice/slice all dry veggies and store in vacuumed sealed containers or bag's, if in bag leave little extra cutting room, so if you have to cut open to use certain amount, u can reseal and store bk in freezer, if you plan on using these types of dry veggies from freezer, remove about 15 mins before cooking in foods allow to thaw natural so keeps firm with hardly any softness, you can also do this by slicing up Apple's/peaches/any berries and much more! Store rice/flours/any grains in air tight glass jars, this will preserve them for 1-5 years especially rice/beans/grains can last up to 3-5 yrs even starch noodles for spaghetti/lasagna/if you by freezer beans/veggies/fruits immediately take out of original packaging and place in a vacuum seal containers or bag's, if not, they tend to get mushier and lose their consistency and flavors! A vacuum sealer is the best time consuming/space saving/shelf or fridge or freezer life saving for storing and using some daily weekly monthly some items even year's! I hope this will help someone out! You don't need a big high cost vacuum sealer, go on Amazon and purchase 1 and make sure it has the liquid sealer hose with it it'll become your bff for storing liquids like soups/sauces/marinades etc... You can even prepare quick meals by cooking on weekends like chili/soups/stews/scallops many many more, vacuum liquid seal very easy and store in fridge if using in 1-4 day's, freezer if going to use later on, and these COOKED ahead types of foods can last anywhere from 6 months and some even up to 1year! Gl and I'm encouraging everyone to start small or big with growing especially own produce and fruits elderberries give so much greatness for our health and natural energy booster and they taste so dang delicious, you can even make own vitamins from these types of growing berries! Stay Safe and God bless us, ALL 🙏
My grand parents smoked all their meats, canned all their vegitables and had a root celler. They did not even have electricity or inside plumbing until the mid 1970's. No left overs. They ate whatever they cooked.
Didn't realize you could smoke meats. Well that's got to be better than cigarettes for you. 😉
Exactly
@@jerrylisby5376 The cartoonist in the OLD Mother Earth News did a cartoon of a man smoking a fish. Decades later I still laugh about it.
Eat when you’re actually hungry. Not because your clock says it’s time.
This is super important and easier than any alternative, once you get used to it. It makes losing of maintaining a healthy weight so much easier.
@@margaretjones2055 well that depends on your lifestyle. Sometimes my job is physically demanding, I work in a bindery. As a smaller female things can be harder than for others, if I'm hungry I eat. Unfortunately I can't choose my mealtimes so I often have to eat when I'm not truly hungry or suffer the consequences.
But I get hungry at 10pm. Sometimes eating by the clock is healthier.
DR. David Duke talks' about the benefits of Fasting.
Hard to do that when U have a FAMILY . Family DINNER TIME is important .
My grandmother from Mexico who had 11 children in the mountains of chihuahua....actually was accustomed to leaving the refried beans and tortillas covered on the wood stove over night for breakfast with some eggs...warm them up again in the same pan...she passed but left a huge footprint 28 grandchildren and who knows how many great grandchildren lol.
Less time wrapping left overs - more time for loving! ❤
That's how my family was about food, theyd leave it out of the fridge for 3 days and boil it Everytime in the morning and only throw it out after 3 days especially if it smelled bad or started molding.
In Nicaragua, we always left the pot of beans on the stove and just heated them again in the mornings till they were completely eaten...then start again. @@atmathoughts2871
If you live in a cold climate you can freeze water each night in small containers and 'recharge' a cooler or fridge that's not plugged in..
a half filled plastic pop bottle works great! we have been doing that for years.
@@solarbrianyvonne ive found gallon jugs work even better
Wow, I'm a city folk and I need to learn this, its wow 👏 to me. I'm brand new and ripe lol
Mix a drink mix and sugar. If koolaide. Freeze can drink as melts
can do it in the desert in the winter also, and if you have a dug out witha tall cieling, you can put the ice in there and it will last a LONG time. thats how people in the middle east kept things cold into the summer in the old days
You're absolutely right! We used to live without electricity, without refrigeration! We ate from the garden, we salted and dried our beef, we turned pork into sausages, we fried some and kept them in the lard, we ate the fish straight from the sea or the river! Today, we are all spoilt enslaved to consumerism!!
Reading the Little House book series explains many of these processes. Author Laura Ingalls Wilder. Good read aloud, good on cold nights, esp The Long Winter
@@meman6964 there is a cookbook for the little house series. Kind of interesting stuff. Still seasonal.
When I was a kid my dad would make a huge pot of soup and we would eat from it over the week. Sometimes there would be mold growing on the top, my dad would skim it off the top, heat it up and we would eat it. We never got sick. In fact all the kids around me seemed to get colds a lot, but we almost never got sick.
You had built in penicillin in that soup! 😀
Mold has 'roots' that extend down into whatever it is growing on. Skimming/cutting off the mold does not remove it all.
However, we're built for that.
Do you know the story of Lizzie Borden and the Rancid Mutton Stew?
We ferment our dough for 3-5 days but we have never gotten sick.
a lot of fermented foods in different cultures use mold. the color of the mold (usually indicating type), and the smell it emits is important to determine if it is safe to eat or not. if it smells like decay (lots of bacterial activity) and not earthy/cheesey/food-ish you shouldn't eat it.
edit: in light of the BA botulism situation, please also read up on the conditions which are likely to foster development of the bacteria that causes botulism, as you cannot see, taste or smell the botulinum toxin. while the toxin will denature with thorough cooking, it is still a deadly neurotoxin so you do not want to play chance with trace amounts. this has been a PSA
Heidi D, that's a bit to gross for me. 🤢
Love what your saying about eating left over food the next day. When I lived in Eastern Europe on a farm (former Yugoslavia) before the civil war, so nearly a year i lived there. We don't NEED showers everyday (except for underarms, feet and genitals)'. I learnt so much over there.
Lol, my Grams called those, 'PTA baths', pits, t#@$, and a&& baths!! Still very valuable today!
Learn canning, build a smoke house, buy propane, dig a root seller, cast iron ware for cooking.
Thought of buying an iron skillet. I heard it will put a little iron in the food so you don't get anemic.
@@jerrylisby5376 Cast Iron is all my family cooks in or on. Even most of our baking.
Tomatoes from Brazil! Here in the uk we get terrible tasting, extremely bland, hard tomatoes over the winter. Dehydrate them in summer, and pack in jars olive oil. They taste fantastic.
In Texas my grandma told me in the great depression they used milk can's in the ground and old rags wrapped around them they would wet them down and cover with a wooden cover and covered that with straw. it kept milk and whatever needed kept cold. cheap and easy something everyone can do.
I grew up working on my family’s farm in Missouri and we had a fridge but we mainly used a root cellar. I was taught how to can and and smoke and cure so we hardly refrigerated anything. Having a refrigerator has definitely spoiled me because I don’t hunt or do anything of those things anymore nor have I taught my children any of those things. But after watching this I feel inspired to pass that knowledge along. Thanks for the reminder!
That's good parenting, best of luck with it.
Read the book Nourishing Traditions. Everything can be preserved without refrigeration. And just as or more healthfully also. Especially with fermented foods.
That book has been my lifestyle Bible for decades!
I'm looking into this, which book? There seems to be quite a few...
"The cookbook that challenges political correctness..." One?
Edit, nevermind, I understand, I'm an idiot...
I was raised to never waste any food. My Grandmother lived through the depression and she was a prepper ever since. Lived in the city but still had fruit trees and an awesome garden. She used her basement to store everything and knew how to prep her food for long term storage..
We never waste food, either. Save it and make something else like hamburgers one day, then chili the next day. The dogs are always happy recipients of leftover food, too!
@@jaymelang9610 same.
@Zechariah Ahl My Grandmother lived to be 98. We should be so lucky, right?!
She ate a Grapefruit everyday.
Very disciplined person.
I used to be called Rambo, because they said I could eat stuff that would make a Billie Goat puke. It does seem to build up a resistance to eating bad food, but of course, only to a certain point.
You got in big trouble if you wasted food in front of my grandma. She lived thru the depression and lived to be 100 years old. I was taught many lessons about saving growing up like don't cut a pattern piece out of the middle of a piece of fabric, go to the end of the fabric and cut it out there. Cut off buttons and anything good from clothing before throwing it away. From hair from your hairbrush you can make rubberbands hair ties for ponytails.
"You just can't have everything you want in life" - THAT needed to be said.
Sure you can.... Learn how?
Human want is a bottomless pit.
With work and delayed gratification you can have everything you need.
There’s a lot in just wanting what you’ve got. Gratitude is happiness.
I am 73. When I was 12 my parents bought a country home on 5 acres. The house was heated by an old pot belly stove in the kitchen. There was an enclosed back porch that had a water pump and a root cellar. We grew enough potatoes, carrots, onions and other root vegetables to last year round. They were stored in the root cellar or an outdoor cistern. There were many out buildings...a barn, chicken house, outhouse, smokehouse and storage shed. It was not all that long ago that most people lived off grid. I am impressed by how many are getting back to it. Very wise!
I’m trying to get back to that. But it’s hard to find people to teach me. Slowly finding help.
My husband isn’t there yet- so that’s not helping.
My wife was raised by grandparents and says it's so refreshing to hear the exact things that she was told growing up! You are totally right about all of your points. Thank you for your video.
When I was a kid, we had an underground larder. Walls were all cemented and there was ice cold water inside. Jars were standing in that water. Each jar had a piece of rope tied around its neck for ease of retrieving. Temperatures in the garden were often 35-40 C (95-105 F), temperature inside the larder stayed at 2-5 C (35-40 F) during all the hot season.
Great video, thank you!
I totally enjoyed that, we eat our left overs and don’t put our chicken eggs in the fridge. We are full time RV’ers that just bought 160 acres in Wyoming, we homeschool too, both my husband and I were homeschooled as well.
Where at in Wyoming?
Rawlins area
@@jamiereynolds3407 oic. I used to live in Gillette.
My understanding is that eggs that have not been washed don't need Refrigeration. Eggs that have been washed must be refrigerated. This is why the Europeans don't refrigerate their eggs, but the Americans do because of laws stating egg producers must wash their eggs.
We keep talking about buying land in WY it SD. God’s country!
I'm having a good laugh at this video. I had no idea how much I don't use my fridge. I've had comments for years getting after me about why my fridge is so empty. I legit had someone say last week they have fridge envy my fridge is so bare. The more I pursue preserving the emptier my fridge gets. What a great challenge to unplug it soon.
Mines always got leftovers, dairy, thawing meat and condiments in it
Then my freezer is stuffed with meals, fruits & veg & bread. I make ahead ALOT.
I bought my entire months groceries right before the heat wave, and put off canning because of it, until the fridge broke. 36 hours of food preservation later I finally had my fridge done.
People don't eat their leftovers? For real? My grandmother, who lived through the Great Depression, taught me how to cook. At my house, if it doesn't get eaten, it becomes soup. Thanks for this. I wonder how much I could implement in the SE 🇺🇸
I need to do better on that !!
My mom will eat them from time to time, me and the little one eat them but no one else will and get pussed theres no room in the fridge because of the leftovers but theyre not the ones who cook so they can bite me
That is funny because I'll get the many leftovers out of the fridge that no one wanted to eat and make a pot of soup. It is always soup surprise, it had everything but the kitchen sink in it. Amazingly enough they almost always finished it. When it wasn't finished, freezer bagged it and used it in another soup down the road or just heated as is. All good, all used & bellies stayed full with little to no waste.
👍
I felt awful last year when I had to throw away a banana! Ive got a compost bin now so even my scraps are utilised!
My father told me to never drink water from a creek in the area where the tadpoles were. I always assumed it was because the water is slower moving there and may be stagnant.
My grandparents used to store tomatoes before the final frost, in the basement on newspapers spread out on the floor. Soda pop in bottles lined the sides of the stairs going to the basement. The basement wasn't heated but in between the garage and the house, so it pretty much kept about 50-60 degrees year round.
Between the invention of the ice box, and the refrigerator, was a device called. "The Crosley Ice Ball." This was built specifically for rural living because some places were too expensive to connect to the grid. You would heat once side of the ball with a heat source (Gas flame...) and the ammonia would expand and get cold enough to make ice. The non heated side of the ice ball could then be put into a chest that looks like a modern freezer, and this would keep things cold for about 24 hours.
Lots of early refrigerators were gas operated because they use the ammonia absorption process. However, keeping the refrigerator in the home would kill people in their sleep if the ammonia seeped out. Ammonia coolers/freezers are what grocery stores use, and grocery warehouses use to keep things at constant arctic temperatures for storage.
I believe that was an ammonia aDsorption device, not aBsorption. Similar to an RV refrigerator today, not very efficient but easy to power without electricity.
During a storm went to grocery store they had signs on every glass frozen door saying do not open due to noxious gasses.
I used to work with a waiter whose wife was a Brazilian immigrant. When they went to visit her family he'd always tell me what they ate and how it was stored. There was no refrigeration items were stored in holes in the ground, or in the oven/on the stove with low heat. They made hard cheese, similar to Parmesan, and stored it in the oven once it was ripened and opened. Their make a big pot of stew, and a separate pot of rice. It could last for days on the stove. I did the same in my cabin in the woods. I would just bring the stew to a boil for a few minutes before eating. I was able to make it last for a week while working at a scrap iron yard 50-60 hours/week and starting a farm on the side. Eggs can last a month on the counter. At around 65°. Butter also. Sausage can last 4-6 days, vegetables and fruit also. Cheese, about a week. It's a good thing to at least learn, just so you know that you can do it.
So what I'm hearing is without refrigeration most modern people would die. Got it😁👍
Yep
Lol!
Especially those who depend on Medication that needs to be kept cool. This is Very Valuable information !!
Yup 🤦🏻♀️
@@leemartin9156 Thank you, you as well🎄
Thanks for your wisdom. I'm a single mum of 3 boys in Victoria, Australia making the transition from suburbia to off grid Mountain living, right now...and seeking as much insight from experienced homesteaders. You're a blessing.
Yep, we have a large cooler on our northside of our home to store items in mostly in the winter. We had 12 milk crates of green tomatoes we picked prior of frost and now we're down to 4 crates. As they turn ripe we cook some and can some too. Folks give us large boxes of their garden leftovers so we can and dehydrate it all. Trimmings go to the chickens. Yes. Eggs from our chickens are on the counter too. We're 68 years old and thats what we have done.
Yep. When in doubt put the egg in water. If it floats, it's bad.
I've eaten ham, cheese and eggs left out in a Central American Jungle in summer. In fact, eggs are never refrigerated there.
Sent a pic yesterday to a friend as I was down to the last dozen or so tomatoes. He was dumbfounded asking how as his tomatoes had been gone almost 2 months. I only had about 7 gallons, but yes, anything over the size of a radish gets picked for inside ripening.
Name brand of cooler pleeze
@@michellelaclair Igloo. Large one my boy bought.
Yes agree. 67 and 68. 80% self sufficient. Only go to the feed store for animals. Oh yeah.
My great grandmother (back in the day of Jesse James) kept the butter & milk in a cool, running spring they also used as their water source, located less than 1/4 mile from the house...lots of water hauling, before the well was hand dug at the house. They cured & smoked their meats in a smoke house.
I've heard of a shallow hole that's boxed off beneath a house set on blocks, burying an old freezer or refridgerator laid on it's side slightly above ground level beneath a shade tree, & covered with wood & blankets for insulation have served well as improvised root cellars & coolers.
I love that you mentioned vodka but maybe a little more emphasis! My grandma from the Ukraine told me the following story. There was a drought that swept through Eastern Europe hundreds of years ago. In order to save the livestock (mostly the cows) and potatoes they gave most of the water to the animals and did all their preserving in vodka (also you will not find a true Eastern European who is lactose intolerant. If your body couldn't process the milk, then you died.). Potatoes were also a staple during the Depression era because it's one of the only foods that could survive the drought. That's making the potato and ideal vegetable for many reasons. So my grandma said all the fruits and veggies were preserved in vodka. I have not looked into this detail and unfortunately my grandma passed away a few years ago. But I think vodka preserving and potatoes are worth a closer look. This is why I believe my Slavic brothers and sisters have such a fondness for the Vodka. It saved Nations! and who doesn't need a stiff drink when things aren't looking so hot? Thanks for your video I'm now going to do some thorough research on preserving with potato vodka!
It’s no coincidence vodka essentially translates to “water” ;)
@@tylergooden2183 interesting indeed!
No one would die because they couldn’t process lactose.
@@rebelwithacause5217 but when milk is available when produce and meat isn't you may starve. Lactose intolerance is real. Toddlers not ready to eat mature food would be most vulnerable.
@@debrapaulino918 I know that lactose intolerance is real because my spouse has it. I just never heard of someone starving because the only thing they had was milk. Are you telling me that milk was all they had in Eastern Europe?
That wood storage is a beautiful sight 😍
Canning! I have an endless supply of pre-cooked meats, soups, fruits and vegetables just sitting in my un-refrigerated basement and they last for many years.
I grow up without refrigrator,no running water,no bathroom,no stove,no bed,no electronics, no shoes ,no gifts/Christmas tree for Christmas,no bday /gifts growing up,heck even toothbrush cant afford,no pencil /paper just so i can go to school ..but here i am ..a true poverty survivor .
Pretty amazing! 🙌🏼🙌🏼
Were was that in Australia?
How are you doing in life today?
I grew up eating leftovers .still do.
Ruth LLOYD Andersen Me too. When he said people don’t eat leftovers, I almost fell off my seat. Who is so rich you can throw good food away? It’s already made! I get excited because I figure I have lunch the next day.
@@NoNORADon911 Same here. I told somebody this once and trying to be as diplomatic as she could, she said that she only cooks things fresh. I didn’t realize I was serving my family rotten food!
@@NoNORADon911 Same for us!!
Cooked food actually taste better the next day!!!
My family eats leftovers everyday for lunch and at least one dinner a week: 3 days for seafood and fish, 7 days for everything else. Never had a problem.
Most of us throw milk away when it's passed it's expiration. But it's perfectly fine to make cheese with which extends the shelf life.
Yogurt too
Great points!!
If it smells good,looks good and tastes good, its good.
@@tamlaprice6656 i think what theyre getting at is that things like mozzarella are made with forced milk spoilage with vinegar,or just straight up sour expired milk
. Kefir too!
In Australian outback our pioneers had a box called a Coolgardie safe. It was a Tin box with many little holes drilled in the sides with a front latched door. You would drape wet hessian bags from the top which rested in a reservoir of water , down all 4 sides. Pretty much an evaporative cooling method. Put in the breeze and it would work better. That is certainly the option for us in parts of the world who don’t have snow and ice and freezing winters. But very informative.
That reminds me of the Zeer Pot that they use in Africa. I probably misspelled the name, but it's essentially a clay bathtub with a small tub with a lid inside of it, with sand in between the two to support the smaller tub. Water was poured into the sand, and the evaporation drops the temperature below the ambient temp. I wonder if this would work in a root cellar, but I fear that the humidity it causes could be catastrophic in that environment.
You would do well in S. TX! Cheers.
The Brunts thank you I was wondering what we should do in Australia
Thank you for this! I am an urban city dweller, dying (literally) to get off grid, and clueless about the basics of living without these modern conveiniences I've grown up with. Super old soul that wants to get back to basics and so appreciate the information you have shared here. Bless you!
The key to living off-grid is reducing usage first unless you're very well off. Most off-grid folks minimize what they use. And they only do some things when the sun is shining. For example, you wouldn't decide to can on an electric range or do the laundry on cloudy or rainy days.
@@Growmap rain is a natural laundry softener so sometimes I do hang clothes before its going to be a light rain.
@@Diniecita I meant you wouldn't use a lot of electricity on cloudy days to run a washer or dryer. Interesting. I never thought of wanting rain on laundry. I guess it depends on how clean your rain is.
Have you made it off grid yet? I sure hope so!
@@Diniecita I thought I would never hear anyone but me say that. I never posted that because I thought people would think I was bats. But it's true. Laundry on the line is so soft after it's been rained on, and dried. My grandmother used to catch rain water and rinse her hair in it for the same reason.
My children call me the "Left-over Queen". Some things just taste better after they have absorbed all the flavors of their contents. Yummmm
This is a household that LOVES leftovers!! My husband and kids love when I cook extra so there are leftovers they can reheat when they get hungry later. It means they don’t have to cook themselves something from scratch if they want a snack.
Same! And sometimes I cook a huge meal at lunch time to eat for dinner too (gasp!!)
@@CG-mj8tk Here too!! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 One big meal to cover two meals is awesome.
Yes!!!
Canning and dehydrating, my wife does both, I grow and she preserves it
AWESOME WIFE DOES SHE HAVE A SISTER😁😁😁😁
@@equalizertime188 or a like minded brother? Haha
For refrigeration : if you have a spring or a cold stream on your property, you can put food into plastic containers, then in the water. Similar to putting them in the well. I've used these methods when I didn't had a fridge. Also in winter, you can keep a lot of food outside (depending of climate), or on a north-facing windowsill (norther hemisphere). In northern climates where winter temps will deep freeze foods, make a wooden box that replaces a window and sticks out of the house wall. Insulate the box, according with the outside temp and how cold you want it in your cold box. Ideally use several layers of insulation to add/remove as winter gets colder then hotter in spring.
I saw a woman who did something similar. She had a "cage" made from window screen like material extending out her window on the shady side of her house. She kept a blanket soaked in water over the cage in warmer seasons.
Since last January, the wife and I have only eaten what we cook.. no feeding at the fast food trough.. we've never been healthier
@BillCat Buy minced meat and make the burgers yourself, try baking the burger buns! My kids love it and after a burger they are so full, no need for French fries, sodas, nuggets, etc... well, maybe just desert! It’s a totaly different, tasty, simple and a satiating experience! Afterwords, you wonder what they sell us as food and how can a home made burger from scratch be so different! You’ll definetly stop craving fast food.
You need two clay pots, one that can nestle inside the other with a 1 to 2 inch space between the two all the way around. Bury the larger clay pot up to the rim. Pack sand up against the insides just thick enough to be able to nestle the second smaller pot inside. Fully fill the space between the two pots with sand. Pour water in the sand till it's moist. Put food in the smaller pot, and put on the lid. As the water evaporates, the food inside will cool down. Keep replacing the water as it evaporates.
A+ from SA Tx
Brilliant. My grandmother had clay pots too but only the one.
Zeer pot works great
Do you know what temperature it generates? Food needs to be refrigerated at about 3 degrees Celcius or you'll get ill..
@@Victoria-gq8gt It depends on where you live. It was used for centuries in many countries before refrigerators.
I have used most of those preservation methods over the years including sealing crocks of food with lard and waxed cloth, and jams and other fruit preserves with wax. Have always had plans for an ice house, but just haven't done it yet. I do currently use both freezers and refrigerators as well as electric lights, but I'm set up well enough to go off grid if needed.
Having been an "experimental archeologist" for several years gave me a hands on chance to experience many of the skills and knowledge of our ancestors .
I liked the way that you did not waste my time and that your presentation was well organized. This was better than 99% of the other videos I have watched on TH-cam.
Check out off-grid refregeration techniques. The one that has 2 containers, one in another, with wet sand in between them. That keeps vegetables relatively fresh for a week or so.
It's called a zeer pot
Best if those containers are made of clay. If I remember correctly it uses the Pelletier principle.
@@annebeignatborde1832 don't know about the principle that it follows, but yes, clay is one of the most effective methods of using the off-grid refrigerator. These days, people just wrap everything in plastic and leave it in that pit without a container. The walls can be made from clay or Stone. As long as it is a good conductor of heat / cold (like wood is a no-no)
@@KalpeshPatel78 I checked it out this morning. It's thermoelectric cooling which uses the Peltier effect. Have to keep the (clean) sand damp.
Have a nice day.
My grandmother lived during the depression of the 20's she was about 20, she had views on the wasting of the food and saying things like "I don't like this" would be met with a knock to the head, and an "eat it" followed by another tale of hardship!
The blood in you is the same blood that flow in your ancestors. Your ancestors lived, you'll be OK
We live in Germany and no one refrigerates eggs, and they are sold unwashed. We love it! Also consider a freeze dryer. A modern invention, but can really save nutritional value!
We live in Pennsylvania, USA and have vacationed in North Germany (Busum area) many times. It's beautiful! Since you have access to unwashed eggs you should look into water glassing them for SHTF storage. It really works. Do a TH-cam search for it. Btw, my name is Erin too. 🙋
Freeze dryers are really expensive- only one company that makes it and start out away 3k
Viele gruesse aus CA= bin von Rheinland Pfalz.
I have the small FD love it
@@Dasani_water_drinker They also use quite a bit of electricity because of the refrigeration built into the unit, plus you have to run a fairly large vacuum pump .
I haven't had water in 4 yrs, water heater burst, not using my fridge or stove. I eat right out of a can. I'm 73 and moving soon to a HUD home so I'll have water, etc. Ty for your video. 🙏🏻
My "meals in a jar" are now canned in 1/2 pint jars, so no left overs.
Good idea
marthale7 I just got an IP so I'm not very familiar with it. Can you tell me what you mean by Cavey and is it an accessory I need to buy in order to can? Thanks
@marthale7 Thanks so much for replying and for the link. I appreciate it. Have a blessed day. Prayers from a 👵🏼 in Texas.
My grandmothers left all condiments, jelly, applesauce and breads on the table all day long. Usually leftovers were there too if not in the stove warmer. Then a clean table cloth was draped over them. I still do the same on my peninsula
When I was a young child in South Africa farmers had ash boxes for refrigeration- a square frame with fine chicken wire on the inner and outer part of the frame filled with ash. A bottle of water hung from a tree above with a rag hanging out of it dripped to keep the ash wet. The breeze created refrigeration
My mother-in-law will keep beans in a pot on the stove all week! What she does is once everyone is after dinner, she will bring them to a boil, simmer for a couple minutes, enough for the lid to get hot, and they are ready for the next day where they can be tested cold or reheat d again. I was amazed at this. Now I've been doing it this way for over 15 years! It took a while for me to get comfortable with it and go longer than a day. But now they sit ther till they are gone. Same with rice, though I don't leave that out for more than a day or 2 because it does not get boiled.
I also make fermented veggies. I get the big blocks of cheese and cover it in wax. A great way to make meat last, if it's too much to eat right away, is corned beef. When we were without power for 4 days I had meat which was not frozen that i had gotten the first day. I put it in 2 quarts of water, 2 cups of salt, and a bunch of spices, and we are from that all week. I'd just pull out what i needed and the rest would sit there getting better and better. 😊
We also salt dry cod fish, on purpose because it's better that way! And can butter and milk. ❤️
Wait, I'm confused about your corned beef reference... Do you mean you left it sitting in water on your stove all week? Was it warm? Cold?
He’s living a lifestyle like that. Unless your living like this, you’ll never make it. I’ve been thru two husbands wanting to live homesteading and both were horrified. I had garden’s, canned and they hated the food. I’m too old now but I totally agree with this man. If your young, do it!!!
It's the opposite with me, i grew up living off the land and while I like to go out from time to time it's a lifestyle I refuse to turn from and the only female that ACTUALLY want that is my girls , lots of women,well and men to but I'm not into men,lol anyway lots of women claim at the table that's always been a dream and yadda yadda but when it comes down to putting in the work ....not happening they will starve to death before putting forth a bit of labor into a harvest or storing a harvest it blows my mind
Now of course I mean modern women, my mother and certainly grandmother and great grandmother worked their asses off and we're damn happy to be physically able to do so
Unless you can buy land outright you can't hardly get it. Land is sky high right now and they say it's because of He virus.
I grew up in Appalachia in a house that had cracks in the walls that you could throw a live cat through. We had a springhouse and a smokehouse and plenty of salt. Believe it or not, I never saw a refrigerator until I was a teenager. Weren't preppers or anything, its just how life was. Today, its still a lot like that here for us....
Aka if your rich you can homestead if not your dead if things go down hill.
It seems you picked the wrong 2 men! What did they want? Fast food burgers and pizza every week?
Mom and dad had a propane fridge. Left overs, if you didn’t eat them you just didn’t eat.
"warsh" my dad who passed this year used to say it that way. Thanks for the memory. :)
my dad also, he died 5 years ago, no, 7, sigh, time is moving along...it was good to hear though : )
My 90year old Mom says "pellow" for pillow and "meerow" for mirror. I smile every time.😁
@@betty8173 My father did also, along with 'far' for fire. Miss him.
My grandpa used to say that too I miss him every day:) I agree that brought back the memory of him saying that. Thank you ☺️
I think that's from a British accent, my friend from England says it so.
During Christmas and Thanksgiving, trays of food usually sit out most of the day without refrigeration and nobody ever gets sick. You can leave a pizza in a box on the counter and eat it the next day without a problem. The country side of my family used a springhouse to store dairy, etc and smoked the meats.
As a fellow (now retired homeschool mom) be encouraged, you are doing an amazing job! Sometimes we need to hear this and be reminded, blessings!
Bravo man, glad I found your Chanel . My parents grew up without electricity and taught me many of the things you just went over. You also give an updated twist to the ways we are suppose to eat. Fermented food has been almost lost, and it's some of the healthiest foods known to man.
If those people don’t eat “ leftovers “ then they aren’t that hungry then ...SMH
I think that people who are that bloody touchy about what they eat, have not yet lived life with any type of appreciation. They will have a very hard time when life comes knocking at their door. Appreciate all that you have because there may come a time when your plate may be empty.
Exactly!!! I love leftovers but my husband and kids don’t. I grew up on leftovers.
lol. When my daughter was little she would say she was hungry. I would tell her to eat an apple. She would say no she didn't want one. I would tell her obviously you are not that hungry then!
Or they just like fresh food.
In India, they always say to eat food within 36 hours or fresh.
Salted butter can sit out on a counter for at least a week. Unsalted butter spoils quickly.
I remember great grandmother talking about a spring house..where they built a shelter over a spring or creek and kept jars in the water ..put their stuff in jars..
Yes, we could live without refrigeration. Can, dehydrate, spring house, root cellar, solar and hand cranked items also are a good buy for when electricity goes down.
So, for the record, leftover safety is dependent on "bacterial load". At 70°F, bacterial load doubles every hour.
Yes. Assuming bacteria is present to multiply.
Bacteria are everywhere. Assume they're there.
Still you can eat food left out during the day, if you don't leave it in warm sunny places. I've seen this done as a normal thing in warm parts of Asia. Their kitchens are always in the shade, for that reason.
Related to keep food in a well is the spring house. I saw one once, a small building with a spring fed pool in the floor, that was uncomfortably cold. One could keep FRESH milk in for days and days without spoilage. It would be easier for storing and accessing food than a well. All you need is a spring with sufficient flow.
I've been living without any fridge since a year now.
In my village there is a project feeding 20-30 volunteer workers without any fridge since 35 years.
Yep👍. I learned all from my Grandnanny, except the solor powered freezer.
That woman was a teaching, walking talking book of survival old way knowledge, God rest her soul🥰.
I was so blessed by God to have her as my Grandnanny🙌.
The knowledge certainly got me through some hard emergency times and year to year preparation for winter's & possibly hard times.
dehydration is a wonderful preserving method I especially love. We do make smoked everything... lol... smoked goat cheese is my favorite right now and making yogurt is a wonderful way to preserve your milk as well especially if you add a lil salt. Also adding a bit of salt to your fresh milk will help it keep longer. This was a great video really enjoyed it. We might be faced with a no power situation sooner than we would like with an EMP attack being very possible.
I agree. Do you keep goats?
How much salt per gallon do you add?
When I was young we had the old Coca Cola coolers. The Coke bottles were kept cold by sitting in cold water in the big Coca Cola coolers up to their caps. I remember them very well. Memories from days past!
The fact that you have to tell people they can eat their leftovers scares the hell out of me
Ppl has become so wasteful
We've evolved into a society that is dependent on making others very rich. We don't need them nor many of their invention's. Change is happening...💪💌
@@lalani888ARTblue no s*** man the middle-class pin all day working in manufacturing plants making useless stuff for other class to go waste money on
@@lalani888ARTblue marketing has the easiest job ever right now cuz people will buy anything
@@lalani888ARTblue people hire someone to come cut the grass and then they go to a gym to workout