Using Powdered Milk

Powdered milk can be used in recipes on a regular basis. I use powdered milk for all my baking and also to make homemade yogurt and/or keifer. When using powdered milk in recipes, add the dry milk to the other dry ingredients. When the recipe calls for wet ingredients, add the amount of water you need to make the powdered milk. Here are some ways to use your powdered milk every day.

Good Drinkable Powdered Milk = To improve the taste of powdered milk, always mix with warm water and leave it overnight in the refrigerator. Another suggestion would be to add a little sugar or vanilla to enhance the flavor.  We also have found that aerating the milk by pouring it back and forth between containers helps to improve the taste.

In our home, to rotate the powdered milk, I always keep two quarts in the fridge.  I use it all the time in baking.  I also make sure that I make two quarts every time I open a new gallon of milk.  When we have drunk half the gallon, I pour the already mixed powdered milk into the gallon container and it extends our milk.  I have recently told my husband that's what I was doing and he hadn't even noticed a difference in taste.  My son does not like powdered milk, but doesn't notice when it's mixed half and half.  I also don't buy anything unless it's on sale, and that includes milk.  If we run out of milk, we drink powdered milk.  The trick to getting my son to drink the powdered milk is to mix in some Nesquick or Ovaltine.

Whole Milk = 1/3 C powdered milk mixed with 1 C warm water

Evaporated Milk = 2/3 C powdered milk mixed with 1 C warm water

Sweetened Condensed Milk = 1/2 c hot water, 1 C sugar, 1 C powdered milk

Buttermilk = 1/3 C powdered milk mixed with 1 C warm water. Add and stir in 1 T vinegar or lemon juice and let stand several minutes

Reconstitution Table for Dry Milk

QUANTITY	INSTANT MILK POWDER	NON-INSTANT GRANULAR	WARM WATER
1 quart	1 1/3 C	3/4 C	3 3/4 C
1 Pint	2/3 C	3/8 C	1 3/4 C
1 Cup	1/3 C	3 T	scant C
1/2 Cup	3 T	1 1/2 T	1/2 C
1/4 Cup	1 1/2 T	2 t	1/4 C

~ Edited from Carma Koester

Dry Laundry Soap Recipe

I have had many people ask me if there is a dry laundry soap recipe. Well, it just so happens that my sister-in-law has one. It is very similar to the liquid laundry soap. I have tried it and it works just as well as the liquid and is less time consuming to make. I had Casey sit and grate a whole bar of fels naptha and we tripled the recipe. For other laundry tips, refer to earlier posts.
I have had a few people tell me though that the dry laundry soap does not dissolve well in a front loading machine.  If you use a front loading machine you can try the liquid laundry soap.

Dry Laundry Soap
1 c. grated fels naptha soap (1/3 of a bar)
1/2 c. borax
1/2 c. arm & hammer WASHING SODA
mix well & keep in covered container
use 1 T for regular clothes; 2 T for heavily soiled

~ Submitted by Stacy Fuller

Whole Wheat Waffles

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law. She found it in an old World War II cookbook. My son LOVES them! It makes about a dozen whole waffles. It says it's a 4 person recipe, but really it's enough for 12! We just freeze them and take them out as we eat them.

Mix together:
4 C Fresh Whole Wheat Flour
8 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt
4 Eggs (or 1/4 C powdered egg and 1/2 C warm water)
3 1/2 C Milk (or 1 1/2 C powdered milk and 3 1/2 C warm water)
1 C Olive oil

After mixing, pour desired amount into waffle iron and enjoy! (This recipe can be used for pancakes too!)

*To use up that oatmeal and for even more flavor add these ingredients to the waffles: 1 Cup oatmeal, 2 t cinnamon, 1 t vanilla, 2 scoops flax seed (no extra liquid needed)

Canned Butter

I know it sounds odd, but canned butter is awesome! One major thing historians have found that people were lacking during the Great Depression in their diets was fat. Without natural fats, you cannot digest proteins and certain minerals properly and can die of protein poisoning. Butter is a great natural fat and will also give you some comfort food during hard times.
Canned Butter can be stored on your shelf for 3 years or more. I knew one women who opened a good can of butter after 10 years! The key is to keep it in a cool, dark place. Though I have used canned butter on the stove top, this butter will not "melt" again and it is NOT recommended to use for baking. For your baking needs, store powdered Crisco or butter, canned Crisco, or oil.

What you will need:
11 pounds of Butter (I like to use 1/2 salted and 1/2 unsalted butter. I found that using all salted butter was too salty after being cooked down.)
12 Pint Jars
12 each of Lids and Rings
6 quart pan
Small pan
Ladle
Clean wet rag
Canning Funnel
Cake or Roasting pan(s)


Directions:
1. Use any butter that is on sale.

2. Gather the number of pint jars you will be using and remove the rings and lids. Using a cake pan, or some sort of pan with a high edge, place pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes.

3. While jars are heating, melt the butter on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil. Be sure to stir the butter often to keep the butter from scorching. Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a simmer, leaving lids in the simmering water until needed. When butter comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes (a good simmer time will lesson the amount of shaking required.)

4. When the jars are done heating and the butter has simmered at least 5 minutes, remove the jars from the oven. Stir the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle and pour into heated jars using a canning jar funnel. Be sure to leave 3/4 to 1 inch head space for shaking.

5. After filling the jars, carefully wipe the mouth (tops) of the jars with a clean, damp cloth. Get a hot lid from the simmering water and place the lid on the mouth of the jar. Place the rings on the jars and tighten finger tight, do not over tighten. The jars will seal with a "ping" as they cool.

6. Once most of the jars have "pinged", and are cool enough to handle, shake the jars to keep the butter from separating. Set your timer and shake the jars every 5 minutes.

7. When the jars are only slightly warm, put them into the refrigerator. Still shake them every 5 minutes. The shaking is very important at this point! Once the butter has hardened in the jar, leave them in the refrigerator for one hour.

8. After refrigeration, the butter is okay to leave on your dark, cool shelf for 3-5 years. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is a fantastic thin crust pizza dough. I have tried several homemade pizza dough recipes and this is the best one I've ever used, and it's healthy! My father-in-law has diabetes and is able to eat this pizza dough as a vegetarian pizza. It is a very dry and stiff dough and rolls out very thin. I do not divide the dough into two, but rather roll the dough onto a large baking sheet into a square. Do what works for you!

Ingredients:
1/2 C + 1 T Warm water
2 t dry yeast
2 C white whole wheat flour
1 t salt
3 T olive oil

Directions:
Mix the warm water and yeast in a small bowl to blend. Let stand until the yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Mix the flour and salt in a food processor (I use my Kitchen Aide)to blend. Blend in the oil. With the machine running, add the yeast mixture and blend until the dough forms. Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth (or use your kitchen aide and the dough hook). Transfer dough to a large oiled bowel and turn the dough to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free area until dough doubles in volume, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and divide into two equal balls. (The dough can be used immediately or stored airtight in the refrigerator for 1 day.)

Cooking:
Position oven rack in the center and preheat to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle cornmeal (optional) over two rimless baking sheets. Roll out each piece of dough into a 10-11 inch diameter round. Transfer one dough to each prepared baking sheet. Drizzle 2 t olive oil over each pizza dough. Garnish the pizza with whatever toppings you prefer and cook for about 15 minutes.

~Submitted by Stacey Fuller

Home Made Yogurt

I use this recipe about once a month and make my yogurt out of powdered milk. I usually half this recipe because it makes a lot of yogurt. But if you do make the whole batch, you can also make a taffy-like treat by drying the yogurt in a dehydrator. It makes a great snack!

You will need:
1 Gallon of milk (skim, 1%, 2%, whole, powdered; whatever you prefer)
1 Cup of Honey (or you can add any other sweetener you prefer to your taste)
8 teaspoons of gelatin (or 4 packets)
1 Cup Dannon Yogurt (or any other yogurt with LIVE bacterial culture)
1 large pot to boil
1 Medium sized mixing bowl
4 clean Quart jars with lids
1 small jar with a lid (a pint jar works fine)
1 warm blanket
1 Five Gallon bucket

Pour milk into a large pot and place heat on LOW. Bring to a boil. Occasionally stir and do NOT let the milk scald. Because milk doesn't really "boil" I make sure to bring the temperature to 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
While the milk is coming up to temperature, put one cup of Dannon yogurt, your sweetener (honey or other), and gelatin to the mixing bowl. Wisk the ingredients and set aside.
When milk has reached the desired temperature, remove the pot from the heat and place it in the sink with ICE COLD water to cool quickly. Be sure to keep stirring the milk to keep it at an even temperature.
While the milk is still hot, but cool enough to put your finger into, remove 1 cup of milk from the pot and add to the mixing bowl containing the Dannon yogurt mixture. Wisk all ingredients in the mixing bowl together and add to the remaining milk in the pot. Mix everything in the pot together. Now, pour the yogurt into your four quart jars and 1 small jar. Put the lids on and wrap the jars in the blanket. Place the blanketed jars into the five gallon bucket to keep warm. Set aside for 8 hours. After 8 hours, place the jars into the fridge. Your yogurt is done!

*Notes:
*The small jar will be your starter for your next batch. Instead of using 1 cup of Dannon, you will use 1 cup of your starter.
*If you use the homemade starter yogurt, you do NOT need to use gelatin in your next batch.
*You will also only need to let your next batch set in the bucket for 4 hours instead of the original required 8 hours.
*To make a fruit yogurt, blend your favorite fruit and add it to the pot before pouring yogurt into the jars.

Casey's Water Storage and Filtration Lecture

Alright here are my notes from the water lecture I did in our ward for those of you who would like them. I hope these make sense to everyone a lot of this was simply format for me so I'd stay on track. If you have any questions let me know.OK Brit asked me to shorten this so here's the short and sweet.
-Casey


How much to store?- At a bare minimum you need to have 1 gallon per person of clean water available. The recommended amount is for 3 gallons per person per day to allow for cooking, cleaning, bathing, and drinking.
4. Storage containers?- Use only food grade opaque storage media marked with a triangle and a 1,2,4 or 5
5. Rotations? - Test for 2-3 ppm free chlorine. More then 10ppm will make you ill.

 Water Disinfection and Purification

1. Determine water source to use and to what degree it needs to be cleaned. This depends on water source,turbidity and temperature.
2. Pre filter/Settling- use anything available shirts, bandanna, bra, coffee filter etc…
3. Flocculation- (organic binder)pinch of baking soda, stir, wait 5 min filter again
4. Treatment of choice
Disinfection/ purification methods, Boiling,Distillation,Filtering, Halogens, UV light systems, Distillation
1. Boiling
A. Cover pot and bring to a rolling boil for 3 min per CDC
2. Distillation-great for heavy metal, urine, salts and chemicals as these are all too heavy to be transferable by as a vapor when the water changes physical properties from a liquid to a gas.
3. Filters
a. Filter principles Sieving and Adsorption
b. Sieve- filter medium, micron size, iodine- This is a process by which pressure (a pump) is used to force water and contaminants through a filter medium of spun pleated glass fiber or ceramic plates designed to allow only a certain sized particulate through it. Most filter to .2 or .3 microns which stops everything but viruses. Iodine impregnated cores are sometimes used but have been found to be fairly useless due to insufficient contact time.
c. Adsorption- Activated charcoal, carbon core- Adsorption attracts particles to it and holds them tight thus removing them from water. Carbon is used quite a bit as a tsp has enough surface area to cover a football field due to its thousands of nooks and crannies. Adsorption is often used in conjunction with other filter mediums to remove smells and unpleasant tastes.
4. Halogens- What are they? A member of certain chemicals on the periodic table treatment used to disinfect water. Bonds to organics and work by oxidation which disrupts the molecular structure of organics and sterilizes them/ poisons parasites.
a.. How to use them?- Follow directions on packaging or see the provided handout. Most are sensitive to contact time, organics, water PH and temp. If the water is below 68 degrees or from an extremely nasty source the contact time or the amount of chemicals should be doubled
b. Are some better than others?- Depends on water quality, and a persons health problems/preferences.
5. Types of Halogens
6. Chlorine- DO NOT MIX WITH PETRO CHEMICALS!!!
a. Sodium Hypochlorite- Household bleach, use only unscented straight bleach. Fairly weak solution 5-15% chlorine standard is 5%-6%, good for long term storage. Loses strength quickly. “We recommend storing our bleach at room temperatures. It can be stored for about 3-6 months at temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. After this time, bleach will be begin to degrade at a rate of 20% each year until totally degraded to salt and water. Storing at temperatures much higher than 70 degrees Fahrenheit could cause the bleach to lose its effectiveness and degrade more rapidly. However, if you require 6% sodium hypochlorite, you should change your supply every 3 months.” Problem with it is it binds easily to solids and becomes useless solution of chloramine. Does not work well in cold water use other alt if available. Alkaline waters significantly reduce effectiveness. Use 2-4 drops per ltr/ quart. Let stand for 30 min. be sure to prefilter. If cold let stand an hr or add more chlorine.
b. Redi-Chlor- Bleach in pill form/one pill disinfects 5 gallons of water
c. Calcium Hypochlorite- Can be found as a form of pool shock. DO NOT USE ANY OTHER TYPE OF POOL SHOCK AS IT WILL BE FATAL. Use only shock that contains large amounts of high grade bleach. Do not use unless you're willing to research and use correctly. Contains 65% chlorine, granular form of chlorine, used as pool shock, 10yr shelf life, used to create a chlorine solution to purify water, 1 lbs can disinfect 10,000 gallons of water, enough water for family of 9 for one year (3 gallons per day), works similar to chlorine, economical. Use one heaping teaspoon for 2 cups of water. Use 1 pint of solution to 12.5 gallons of water for disinfection.
7. Iodine. Protect all from light and oxygen- Do not use if pregnant or if you have a thyroid condition.
a . Potable Agua- tablet form of iodine, economical, has a four yr shelf life unopened, 6 months if opened, Use 2 tablets per qt/ltr, wait at least 30 min before use needs to be 68 degrees or warmer to work effectively. Vitamin C will counter act flavor, Anything else just covers it up.
b. Polar Pure-- Iodine in a suspended granular form, economical, multiple use form of iodine, one bottle will treat 2000 qts/liters, indefinite shelf life till crystals are gone, add water for 1hr and let sit then add solution as directed by green dot on side of bottle.
c. Tincture of Iodine- 2% use between 5-10 drops of water depending on quality and temperature of water. Good for 5-7 years if kept in a cool dry dark place, has the added benefit of being used as a topical antibiotic
d. Chlorine Dioxide- use one tablet as directed on package, very corrosive do not get on clothes or skin, will cause chemical burns, do not ingest. Lasts for 3 years if unopened 6 months once opened. Only chemical that will kill crypto but takes 4 hrs.
e. MIOX- “Mixed Oxidants” creates an oxidant similar to chlorine dioxide, used by the military unknown shelf life , small current passes through rock salt, comes with test kit and rock salt, downfall is it relies on batteries.
f. KEEP A COPY OF POISON CONTROL/DOCTOR #’S WITH THESE CHEMICALS IN CASE OF INGESTION!
8. UV Light disinfection systems
a. SODIS- Solar Water Disinfection Process, created in 1991 by the Swiss used by third world countries for years. Uses UV light to kill bacteria, pathogens, and viruses by using UV radiation. It has reduced dysentery by 35-50% in undeveloped countries. Use only translucent bottles and leave in the sun 6 full hours in full sun and double for cloudy days in the rain collect and use rain water. If it gets hot enough it can also have the benefit of pasteurizing the water (149 degrees). Water has to be clear enough to read normal size print with an extreme minimum of organics in solution. Use only small bottles nothing larger than 2 liter bottle
b. UV Steri pen- Works on the same principle as above follow same rules on cleanliness of water. Kills in seconds see product for more details. Doesn’t work on ice.

Katadyn Hiker &Hiker Pro/ MSR Sweetwater N/A Follow manufact. instructions
Use the cleanest source possible to avoid plugging filter Filter from moving water if possible. Ceramic filter elements are field cleanable

Sodium hypochlorite (Bleach) 2-4 drops minimum 6-8 max 30 min minimum more for filthy water Begins breaking down after 6 months Should smell like bleach. POISON! Filter/strain out as many solids as possible

Calcium Hypochlorite (Granular Chlorine) 1 pint solution (one heaping tsp granules dissolved in 2 gallons water) per 12.5 gallons 30 min minimum more for filthy water 10 year shelf life Very Corrosive! Store Dry! Do NOT mix with Petro Chemicals. POISON! Incorporate into your year supply. Do Not Use Raw Crystals in drinking water!!!

Potable Agua 2 tablets per quart/liter 30 min minimum more for filthy water 4 yr shelf life if not opened 6 months open Good when still gun metal grey if turned deep brown discard. POISON! Vitamin C drink mixes added AFTER 30 min get rid of taste

Polar Pure Add as many capfuls as instructed by green line on side of bottle 30 min minimum more for filthy water Good till crystals dissolve Do Not ingest crystals! POISON! Dissolves slowly, Evaporates quickly. Keep wet after initial use
Good for 5- 7 yrs. Keep out of direct sunlight. POISON! Can also be used as a topical antiseptic.

Tincture of Iodine 5- 8 Drops per quart/liter 30 min minimum more for filthy water Can also be used as a topical antiseptic.

Chlorine Dioxide 1 Tablet/ Follow directions for solution 30 min/ 4hrs for Protozoa minimum more for filthy water Good for 3yrs sealed, 6 months opened Do Not let it come in contact w/ anything but water. Corrosive. POISON! Only Halogen that reliably kills Crypto cyst after 4hrs exposure

MSR MIOX Follow directions, comes with test strips for disinfection 30 min/ 4hrs for Protozoa minimum more for filthy water Unlimited use till dead, uses rock salt and batteries Do Not let it come in contact w/ anything but water. Corrosive. POISON! Great for 72 hr kit light weight and easy to use safer with small children

SODIS Use no more than 2 liter at a time 6 Hrs full sunlight 2 days cloudy Water must be clear enough to read newspaper print through Not full proof but Much better than nothing!