On Sun, 16 Feb 2014 22:19:25 -0600, Dave Balderstone
> wrote:

>In article >, songbird
> wrote:
>
>> yes, some of those, plenty of fermented foods too,
>> just trying to see what people can think up that is
>> out of the box and not reliant upon manufactured
>> items from far away.
>>
>> also, having plenty of beans and grains on hand
>> for sprouting is a good alternative to not having
>> any fresh greens during the winter months. still
>> i would like to have a full variety of things to work
>> with and choose from. nutrition from a mix of
>> sources.
>
>Back "in the day" (40-50 years ago) we used paraffin for jams, jellies
>and such. Anything else went in the pressure cooker with rubber
>sealers.

Even in the 70's I used paraffin for jams and jellies until I saw the
ants marching in and going through the paraffin.
>
>Not sure what Great Granny used...
>
>Pickles and sauerkraut were left fermenting in crocks in the cold
>cellar... Kimchee (in some recipes) is fermented in crocks that are
>buried in the ground.
>
>Humans have been curing meat for centuries. Nitrates/nitrites have
>been/are used (and can be harvested as crystals from manure piles, or
>potash if you happen to live in an area like ours where it very
>common), but as well as drying meat (aka jerky) there's salting (salt
>beef, salt cod) pickling (herring for instance, and corned beef) and of
>course smoking and combinations thereof (curing and smoking ham and
>bacon comes to mind, as well as sausages).
>
>Root cellars (caves, if there are any accessible) are critical. Grampa
>had a huge underground one, walled and roofed with timbers then covered
>with soil.
>
>Drying fruits and veggies, of course.
>
>If you have access to grain, you can grind for flour, but best to
>acquire mill stones before the zombie apocalypse.
>
>You may also want to investigate snares and deadfall traps for game.
>
>Stocking up on things like fish hooks, line and snare wire would seem
>to me a good idea.
>
>Learning to weave vessels for storage could be a useful skill as well,
>as is tanning hides. If you're in an area where you have a freeze in
>the winter, an icehouse is a great thing to have for the warmer months.
>You'll want an ice auger and saw.
>
>Also don't forget basic medical skills like setting breaks, dealing
>with infection, and serious lacerations or puncture wounds.
>
>Interesting thread.
>
>djb

Frankly I don't think that finding a way to seal glass jars is going
to do you much good if no one is still producing the jars. Instead of
trying to figure out how to make today's products work, you best learn
how people in the 1700's - early 1800's lived, and how long.

One of the first things you would have to do is dig yourself a well.
Then build an outhouse, more digging.
While you are digging go ahead and dig a root cellar.
Get yourself some basic tools, nothing that runs on electricity or
even gas.
Livestock. Learn how to butcher them.
Find a source of wood. You will probably have to cut the trees
yourself.

Remember too, people had large families. They were necessary to keep
everything going since one or two people could not do it.


--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)