Supper – nothing fancy

Hey grandpa what’s for supper? Not a grandfather yet, but since I have been not living with the wife I started making combo meals in the oven. Don’t ask me why. Just got the urge to dirty only one pan. I think these might be hard to do in a wood stove in the NPF. Here are some pictures of my nothing fancy creations. I did most of the cooking before we split up anyway. I don’t know why I never tried this. Probably because I did mostly grill cooking and in my daughter’s apartment and the townhouse now I don’t have a grill. My meals have been very successful.  Had some friends over this weekend and made a country style pork ribs, green beans and potatoes combo. After an hour and a half in the oven the meat came off the bone easily. My friend wanted to know what I put on it. My secret is Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper. I put those on most everything. Worcestershire and black pepper are two things we won’t have in the NPF. Black pepper is tropical. Worcestershire has some esoteric ingredients made by witches in a cauldron that impart some tongue tickling ambrosial flavors.

I cooked each at 350 to 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. The pork ribs (like I said above) I cooked about an hour and a half.

Dinner - Chicken potatoes Green beans and onions (Before cooking)

Dinner - Steak squash and asparagus

Dinner - Steak roast potatoes squash and carrots (Before cooking)

Trust me I cooked the steak in the last picture before I ate it. The only problem I have with all of these meals is that I to cover the Pyrex pan with aluminum foil. I have read that aluminum can lead to or causes Alzheimer’s.

In the house I’m renting my landlord left some dishes. He knew I was getting divorced so was helping me out. He left some glass pans with glass lids that can go in the oven. I used them but did not take a picture. Made me feel better.

Garden Plow

In the NPF there will be no gas to run tillers and tractors.  While reading Living the Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing there was a picture of Scott plowing with a non motorized garden plow with a small wheel in the front. I can imagine it is hard to break ground with just human power. My mother in Law has 3 man plows. Here are their pictures.

Garden Plow 1

Garden Plow 2

Garden Plow 3

I saw a plow at the antique fair for $80. I should have bought it.

Ceramic Crocks and Jugs

Ceramic crocks are important for food storage. Eric Brende wrote in his book Better Off! that he and his wife did not have a refrigerator used a bucket with water in it and set their milk down inside it to keep it cool and make it last longer. I think crocks could be used to do the same thing. Most crocks I’ve seen in antique stores have cracks in them so I don’t know if they will hold water. In the old days some were used for pickling and fermentation.

Ceramic Crocks

Some crocks I have seen have cheese labels on them. I think they would be good for butter storage also.

Jugs will also be important for keeping beverages cool. If they are set in a spring house or creek the drink will be cool and refreshing.

Ceramic Jug

The making of crocks and jugs will be an important industry in the NPF. A source of clay, glazes and a kiln and the craftsman’s skill to combine the three into a utilitarian work of beauty will be a highly sought after NPF profession.

A non powered present in Afghanistan

Had an unexpected power outage today (Some are planned) It lasted from 530 pm until 10 pm. I didn’t get to take a shower before coming to work. It was only in our section of the base. When I was coming back from chow I saw the guys working on one of those green transformer boxes. The other thing I noticed was that a lot more people than normal were talking in small groups outside the hot b-huts. I wondered if this was the way it was before there was power. People outside their hot houses trying to catch a cool breeze. Neighbors talking to neighbors. I thought to myself it was a simpler time but it wasn’t. You couldn’t go down to the local grocery and get what you want almost 24/7. Most of the people had to slaughter their own chicken if the wanted chicken and rice for dinner. Meals had to be planned. There wasn’t a McDonald’s on every corner and a Wal-Mart in every town. Farmers rose early, worked hard and went to bed early. There was no staying up late talking. Wood or kerosene would have to be burned for light and at least the kerosene cost.

Land

One prime item that everyone in the NPF should own is land. Land will feed you or your animals that you can then eat. Land with trees will keep you warm in the winter.
I’ve been looking at Oklahoma land for sale on the Internet. I’ll tell you why Oklahoma. 1. It’s out of the New Madrid fault kill zone. 2. It’s on the outer edge of the Yellowstone super volcano ash kill zone. 3. It still has mountains.
I’m thinking about Tennessee also, but land is cheaper in OK.

Canning Jars

As you can see by my header picture I like canning jars. I especially like canning jars with glass lids. I think the metal ones will be hard to come by in the NPF.  The only bad thing about glass lids is that they can’t show you if the food is spoiled by popping up like the metals ones do. The glass lids can be repeatedly used and sealed with wax. I’m thinking bees honeycomb wax because the petroleum based paraffin I’m sure will be in short supply. The jars in the picture I bought at the antique fair.

Canning jars with glass lids

I wish I knew how to can and plan to learn. I was reading an article from a daughter about her grandfather. It was about how he had a garden and canned vegetables. I like that image and want to be that guy.

Cast Iron Skillet

I own a couple of cast iron skillets now. I really like them. My favorite is a Wagner ware Sydney  no. 8. I bought it to start cooking my kids bacon in it. For the longest time we cooked bacon in the microwave on paper towels. I cooked it one day on the stove and my boys now love “Dad’s” bacon.

At the antique fair I bought a no. 5 for camping. It came with a glass lid. Weird, but it fits perfectly.

My wife wanted a flat “professional” griddle to cook pancakes on. I bought a cast iron Lodge one but then I found a more “professional” looking one at the Base Exchange. Cool so I kept the cast iron one and put it in the camping gear.

My wife has all this expensive Pampered Chef stuff. Don’t get me wrong some of it is nice, but give me the old used stuff any day of the week.

When the plastic breaks in the NPF antiques will replace them.

Butter

Okay Butter. In Laura Ingall Wilder’s book Farmer Boy, Almanzo Wilder’s mom made butter all year and then sold it to a man to be shipped to New York City. Butter is milk fat churned into a solid. I remember making some in elementary school. I don’t think they do that any more.

My Mother in Law has an old butter press. It was used to form your churned butter into nice blocks and probably to squeeze out the unchurned fat.

Butter Press

One of my wife’s friends has a french butter crock. It’s two piece contraption like two glasses one larger than the other. You put some water in the bottom of the larger one and the butter in the smaller one. You invert the smaller one and set it into the larger one. The water in the larger one keeps air out of the smaller one and your butter won’t go rancid without being in the fridge. That is an amazing fact of science.

I need to find a picture of a french butter crock I can post.

I found this on Wikipedia “In antiquity, Butter was used for fuel in lamps as a substitute for oil.” So let there be light in our future without oil with a buttery aroma.

Buy antiques they are built to last

Baskets

Helllo NPF fans finally a new post. In the NPF we will not have plastic or paper bags to carry our groceries home in or produce from the garden so we will have to use baskets. We might have to weave our own so all of you slackers that took underwater basket weaving to graduate college might be in demand. Courtesy of my Mother-in-law here are a couple of pictures of baskets.

Baskets 1

Baskets 2

Roam the antique stores and buy the stuff from the old days because it will replace everything modern plastic built thing.

Wash Boards

How will we was our clothes in the NPF? We will have to bust out the wash boards. We just got back from my mother in law’s house in Texas. She grew up in a non powered past. She has all these great antiques around her house. These next few posts will have pictures of her awesome antique non powered items. I learned more about wash boards than any man person has a right to know.

I am looking for a regular wash board. If I ever come across one at the antique fair I will buy it. Here are two of my mother in laws. She keeps them hidden because she says her girlfriends will steal them.

Wash Board 1

Wash Board 2

As you can see in the above picture she has a third wash board but it is in rough shape so I didn’t take a picuure of it.

The last wash board she showed me was small and made of glass. She said it was for baby clothes and lingerie. How cool is that? Here it is:

Small Glass Wash Board for Baby Clothes and Lingerie

You need a big wash tub to put your wash boards in. Picture to be inserted here.

You will also need soap. My mother in law asked me if I knew the recipe for soap. I knew you use lye and animal fat but I forgot the third ingredient. I’ll have to wiki it and update the post later.