Canning Butter for Survival Food
While prepping your survival food you probably account for the right amount of protein and fiber but what about the little pleasures like butter? Canning Butter will give you much more variety as opposed to dried beans and rice. When you’re surviving it doesn’t really matter what you are eating as long as it is nutritious enough to sustain you but mental health is also very important. When you are going day 20 of rice and beans your mental health will start to play a big part. In survival you need to account for that.
One way is to be sure to have games or good eBooks on hand but another is comfort food. So you can’t can all of your favorite comfort food but what about biscuits and butter or fried rice with a little butter right? I mean in cooking butter really does make everything edible.
So how do we have butter that can last through the time period that we will be surviving? We can it!
Canning Butter
Butter is a tricky little thing. It can go rancid easily and it melts at room temperature. Any easy fix to this is canning. When you can butter you will have butter that can last as long as 3-5 years without refrigeration. This means 3 years into shtf you will have butter without needing fresh milk! Canned butter does not require refrigeration just a cool dark area to be stored in. With home canning you can create a well rounded bunch of meals for your family. Home Canning is not a new phenomenon but has been around for decades!
Canning has been long used to preserve food over winter but with the new innovations in the canning process you can preserve just about anything. The great thing about canning butter is there is no fancy canning equipment to buy
For safety’s sake, please read what the USDA has to say on the subject of canning butter at home. Much of this is because they haven’t run tests on these processes themselves and therefore cannot vouch for their safety. Please read HERE and decide for yourself before proceeding to can butter at home.
Canning Butter
Here is how to can your own butter!
- You can use any butter (store bought or homemade)
The only difference in canning expensive butter versus lesser quality is the more expensive will require less shaking!
2. Heat pint canning jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound
of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12
pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.
3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a
large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce
heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of
shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving
the lids in simmering water until needed.
A. We found that the butter will double its size in the pot when brought to a boil so make
sure your pot is only half full when the butter first melts.
4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot
with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar
funnel. Leave 3/4″ of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.
5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add
the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Turn the jars upside
down while they cool so they seal tightly. They need to sit for a while, if you shake them
too soon they won’t seal. Once a few lids “ping,” shake while the jars are still warm, but
cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top
and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains
the same consistency throughout the jar.
6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling
and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become
firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little
shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.
7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a
long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine
after 5 years.] Canned butter does not “melt” again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.
Enjoy Canning your own Butter!
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Survival Food Cooking Method: Conserve Water When Cooking Rice and Pasta
When I first got into stocking up my survival food I went for the easy stuff. I went for the stuff that might not be the best but would go a long way and fill my family and I up. These main staples I collected were bags and bags of things like rice, dried beans and pasta. These great foods not only help you stretch your food and dollar but they are one of the easiest survival food out there to store. It was simple and you can go wrong with grains and such.
When I sat down and thought about it I came to one issue. In an emergency situation water is no longer going to be an easy to come by thing. So we will be cutting way back on our luxury uses of water. So when I thought about cooking I automatically thought of our main survival food supply…rice and the other dried foods. How was I going to cook all of these grains on a limited amount of water? I mean these are the types of food that really use the most water to cook. So I came up with a solution and after many “experiments” I think I have finally found a way to work around it.
Survival Food Cooking
A Pressure Cooker. This method will let you cook rice pasta and much more with less fuel, less water and less time. Now if you are into canning you probably have one or know what it is. A pressure cooker does exactly that cooks thing under pressure. Now with a pressure cooker it takes a while to cool down so not only will it cook with less water but you will be able to cut down on more than half of the fuel. The pressure cooker is also a great way to cook your survival food because the water and nutrients cycle through the pot, the steam does not escape so you are able to keep all the vitamin and nutrients in the dish!
So here is what you will want to do. Put your rice or other food in the pressure cooker. Put the water in, no matter what you are cooking (rice, beans or pasta) just put in enough water in to cover the top of the food. Bring the pressure cooker up to high heat and then stabilize it for 2-3 minutes. Within 2-3 more minutes your rice or pasta will be cooked.
Now you can use this same method if you are cooking meats as well. Just put your meats in the pressure cooker, bring it up to high heat and pressure and cook for a bit and then turn off the fuel and wrap it in towels or another insulator and it will continue cooking for hours. The great thing about the pressure cooker is that it is completely contained so it recycles the water in the cooker.
Survival Food Cooking
This means less water to cook anything since the steam doesn’t escape. The benefits of the pressure cooker for preserving fuel and water are endless. This would be a great way to cook all of your freeze dried survival food.
I highly suggest investing in a pressure cooker for your survival food store as well as other alternative cooking methods such as a solar cooker. The key to survival is not to box yourself into a corner with your means of getting things done! I hope this really helps with your Survival Food cooking and water preservation.
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The Core Beliefs of Urban Survival
The Core Beliefs of Urban Survival
I myself have not always been into prepping and SHTF urban survival.
A few years ago I pretty much saw the writing on the wall so to speak. With all of the instability in our current paradigm it’s easy to see why emergency preparedness and urban survival is gaining so much popularity.
Now when you say urban survival were not talking just he wilderness urban survival where you live off the land and become john the forest man. SHTF Urban survival is more of a lifestyle now. It spans the areas from Urban survival to Emergency Preparedness.
Survival is by no means a new trend. People have been practicing urban survival techniques and Homesteading for many years now.
Preparing for emergencies, disaster preparations and just having enough food and water on hand in case of earthquakes or civil unrest, bank run is a good idea. Urban survival and surviving a calamity or economic breakdown with survival gear is the goal.
There are many titles for this type of life style such as urban survivalist, Prepper, Homesteading and many more but they all basically come down to one thing, being prepared. SHTF Survival – The old adage “better to be safe than sorry” is a core belief in urban survivalism.
The Urban Survival Lifestyle
To be a urban survivalist doesn’t mean extreme hording or any other fringe stereotype. In fact people prep all the time without even meaning to.
This could mean something as simple as buying a few extra cans of food every week to full on 5 gallon tubs with Mylar and oxygen absorbers for Food Storage. Either way you prep remember that something is always better than nothing.
Now here is a very important thing to remember. No matter what stage you are at with your SHTF urban survival prep you need to keep in mind that first and foremost get the basics.
I know so many people that are prepping for SHTF urban survival and they are stuck in what I call “analysis paralysis”.
They are stuck on getting everything perfectly planned out before they even start. This is a big problem. No one and I mean no one can predict when bad events will happen.
This means that you never know when you might need your emergency preparedness gear.
So before you start making extensive lists and narrowing down all of the “extra luxuries,” get the basics.
What I mean by the basics are:
- Bug Out bag – Start with the essential items first
- Water – The single most crucial item we need the quickest
- Food – Food, water and shelter, having this item is key
- Security – Protection for your ‘stuff’
- Clothes – Necessary in cold climates severity
- Evacuation Plan (this is especially important for SHTF Urban survival)
- Long term Food Storage – Need a plan for long term rotation and storage
- Bug Out Vehicle – Your vehicle can be flexible for your needs
- General Prep – Other prep once the needed preps are completed
After you have most of this covered is when I would start with the more in-depth urban survival gear. This is when I would start looking at things like a water purification system, alternative energy, alternative cooking methods and SHTF urban survival communications.
For your bug out bag check out my Bug Out Bag Checklist for some great starter ideas.
Your Bug Out Vehicle or BOV is another important thing to think about. As I mention in my post Bug Out Vehicle (BOV) and What You Need To Know About Them there are several lines of thought on what make the best Bug Out Vehicle. The most important thing is to have a plan.
If you live in an Urban Setting you will need to really prepare for this. Now you can use any vehicle for bugging out or you can go all out. Either way you go make sure you aren’t making any important decisions during the chaos.
Urban survival
Urban survival is a completely different area as I mentioned in my post on Top 10 SHTF Urban survival Bug Out Tips. When you are dealing with an Urban survival Situation you have many more things to think about.
The name of the game with this situation is blending in and getting out of the area. If the situation permits you might end up bugging in. For this situation I strongly suggest getting familiar with Urban survival Gardening. If you think about it logically when the bad things happen you better believe the stores will be cleared out in record time.
Food is the main priority in this emergency situation. Trust me having a sustainable food source will be one of the best techniques you could learn if it comes down to that. You don’t want to be waiting for food from some agency, waiting in line with thousands of other people and that’s assuming that whatever happens there will still be the ability to send out relief efforts to the people.
SHTF urban survival is keeping all of this in mind. It can seem daunting at times to have to plan for so many urban survival situations but like I said urban survival is a lifestyle and a way to thinking.
Homesteading is an increasingly popular lifestyle. This lifestyle is all about self-sufficient living. Most homesteading is gardening and keeping livestock. But anyone can homestead. Regardless of your location be it Urban or Rural you can adapt to this way of living.
Homesteading concentrates on canning and Food Preservation, alternative energy like Solar or Wind Turbines. Getting off the grid is a great way to prep for SHTF urban survival.
This is a very controversial subject with many different opinions. To put is simply it does not matter how you get off the grid, just getting off the grid will ensure that if infrastructure crumbles when you will have modern conveniences like electricity.
As for keeping livestock this can also be done regardless of your location. Even if you live in the city, depending on your city laws and regulations. I know for a fact that in my city we are allowed to have 6 chickens as long as they are 10 feet from the house and the neighbor’s house.
I know chickens are a bit loud and messy but get creative and thing about goats or turkeys. Food preservation is a basic way to start Homesteading.
Canning fruits and vegetable and meat is actually really easy. This is something that you can do to cut down on the cost of buying SHTF urban survival Food as well. There are plenty of great books and free information of Food Storage and Canning out there to get you started.
Urban survival and Emergency Preparedness are not only limited to food and water but think about Financial security in a situation.
Say the dollar crumbles or it’s so crazy people just don’t care about money. I mean if you were trying to SHTF urban survival would you trade for other good s that you might need or take money for a transaction? This brings us to urban survival Barter items.
Barter items can be anything from shampoo and soap (check out my post on how to easily make soap) to other tangible assets as silver and gold.
Most urban survivalist and Preppers out there are also investing in security. These are the best self-defense items you can get. They can make just about any situation a level playing field. There are many different opinions on which protection is the best SHTF urban survival protections but in my opinion just about any security is better than none. I would suggest personal security.
These will most definitely provide great personal security. Keep in mind though that security aren’t the end all in security.
They are great for when the situation escalates to that point but the best SHTF urban survival defense is avoiding confrontation and staying hidden. In my post What is the 5 Levels of Personal security? I explain the levels of escalation and how to avoid force.
In a urban survival Situation communication is key to restoring order or finding like-minded people. Since most people agree that in a situation cell phones will most likely be down and email as well what other ways are there to communicate?
Well it can be something as simple as a short wave radio. A lot of preppers are investing in a shortwave radio or a HAM Radio. These are great solutions to communications problems in an emergency.
Not only are they really great of emergency communication but it’s a very tightknit group of like-minded people and I know you will find some great people on the radio waves!
Bugging in our bugging out is another great subject of urban survival. Every situation is different and this is something you will have to judge yourself.
If it is a natural disaster you might consider bugging in. If rule of law around the country is still up and emergency services are still functional then staying put and hunkering down is probably your best bet.
If we are talking civil unrest or things of that nature many consider bugging out to get away from the masses a better solution. Wither way it is vital to have several plans for evacuation planned out. Be it getting out of dodge or bunkering down to ride out the emergency situation a plan can save your life.
If you are reading this then you’re on the right path to SHTF urban survival and Preparedness. Sometimes you might feel alone in your quest for complete preparedness but remember just because you don’t see everyone doing it there are a lot of us out there that see the writing on the wall.
Don’t get frustrated or disappointed in your level of urban survival prep press on and remember everyone has to start somewhere and any bit you do helps you more than you will know! Stay strong in your beliefs and goals and have fun with your urban survival lifestyle.
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All of this said remember that Surviving does not mean living comfortably. A lot of people confuse that. You can go on and be extremely uncomfortable. But we urban survivalists and preppers WILL persist to see another day with urban survival and SHTF Survival.
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