Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and rice from the pot I’d made previously. Comment on rice storage: This is how we do it….decide for yourself if it’s safe in your house/environment. I don’t like to refrigerate leftover rice cuz it dehydrates it. But I like to make some ahead and keep using it in different ways. So I leave it in the aluminum [transfers heat/cold very well….negative insulation value] pot it cooked in. I set the pot on a big slab of solid-frozen stuff you can use in camping coolers. Then cover it with a thick towel. [Could also use a small Styrofoam cooler but this is what I do.] In OUR chilly house, it stays very nicely cold without the dehydrating affects of fridge.
I keep a LOT of those freezer-bag things in the freezer. I have a dangerous tendency to overheat rather suddenly/seriously. So I can always have those and the gel-type for quick use. [for summer, mostly] Also, they’re available if we lose power in summer…in winter here there is no problem keeping food chilled. Make ice in clean containers by setting it outside. Create your own ‘ice house’ without sawing blocks from the nearest lake/pond like the old days. LOL
Also use winter frigid temps to kill off any bug/larvae in grain, etc you buy. I try to always buy new grain/flour/legume buckets in deep winter and leave them inside a vehicle [after bears are hibernating!!!] for several days/nites. This deep subZERO has to be good for something!
Ok….we’ve been eating off the roast I did a couple days ago. Shaving off thin slices and quick fry/brown for sandwiches…DH’s lunch at work. He nearly always brings a lunch from home. Unless I’ve really not thot ahead. I had to quick package and send his breakfast with him too, today. We were running late. I’m still eating a soup/pasta thing that turned out ok but not remarkable.
Speaking of using winter [for those of us in the middle of it] for making useful ice…I have a DIY. Ice Luminaries. Get a container about the size of a #10 can – but smooth-sided, not ridged. Pour a couple inches of water in it and leave it outside to freeze solid. Then find a smaller container [smooth sides] that will set inside the first one….leaving about 2″ open space like a doughnut all the way around. Weight down the smaller container and fill the doughnut space with water and let it freeze. Remove the smaller container – you can pour warm water inside it to release it. Then remove the larger, outer container. Might need to run under hot water too.
Now you have an ice formation with a hole in the center. You can make this very fascinating by coloring your water with food coloring before freezing it. Don’t make it too dark tho. Set a votive or tea light candle down inside and light it with a long something… a strand of spaghetti will light. You may have to experiment with how high the sides are to protect the flame from winds outside. {fairly deep} And how wide your inner tube will need to be. The outer wall needs to be thick enough to not be fragile. It’s like the luminaries but made of ice. Stable and safe. Will last a long time and might light your way outside during a power outage.
OldMtWoman….might do this again since it’s winter. Lined up on the porch/deck railing, pretty from inside where it’s warm. 😉
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This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by
OldMt Woman.