Category: Simple Living

Whether it is finding joy in simplicity or learning to cope with food allergies–we are all simply doing the best we can.  Maybe Pantry Paratus can offer some inspiration.

Kid Food Choices: Will They Make the Right Ones?

Kid Food Choices

Growing up, the garden was somewhat family-cultural; it was an overflow of the psychological “make-do or do-without” mindset of both my parents, who came from poor, Midwestern backgrounds.  It wasn’t because it was healthy; it was just a past-time and the way to secure access to green tomatoes for frying.  Still, my favorite childhood food memories were the watermelon seed-spitting contests off the porch, stealing strawberries straight from the patch, measuring my height against the corn, and the fresh onions we kept in a glass of water on the table for any passerby to grab and munch.

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A Tasty Christmas Wish For Your Family, In Song

tasty Christmas wish

A Tasty Christmas Wish For Your Family

In (Silly) Song

 

Nothing says party like singing vegetables.

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with family, friends, and….food!

 

 

From our family to yours,

Wilson, Chaya, & the kiddos

Using Leaves in the Wild

Using Leaves: Mullein

Sometimes the solution is right in front of us all along.  Today’s post might save your life–certainly, it might make things easier on a camping, hunting, or hiking trip. If you find yourself on the side of the road with a long walk to the gas station–there is a use for leaves to help you out.  Please welcome James Smith, who wrote this article for Pantry Paratus, based on many of his own experiences.

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Why Green Cleaning Is Frugal

homemade cleaners

Edna is our cleaning contributor to Pantry Paratus; she is back with a persuasive piece on making your own cleaners as a way to cut down on your budget!

If you are new at green cleaning, or have not even begun yet, there are a few very important things you need to know about it caring for your home in an ecological way.   You have likely read all about its benefits to the environment and how it is not dangerous to people’s health, those facts are all true. But what you might have missed or did not pay attention to is the fact that green cleaning is also economical and frugal.

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Preparedness & The Simple Life: Announcing a Free Summit to Get You Started

Preparedness and Simple Living

Preparedness.  The Simple Life.  Self-Sufficiency.

 

God never meant us to live this way, I’m convinced.  There are people who never see the light of day, never talk to a neighbor, never eat something out of the ground. They may never sit at the table for a meal, be asked how their day went by a loved one, or pet an animal.  This is not normal.

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Last Minute House Guests? 6 Tips & Tricks

Produce, Prepare, & Preserve Your Harvest

I love having people over.  I detest the undue stress I place on myself when I have fair warning that guests are coming.  I actually thrive with the unexpected variety, because no excuses shall be made: yes people, this is how we live…well, sort of.  I do pull some last minute trickery, and I’m going to let you in on my secrets.  But then I thought that perhaps I am missing a few great tricks, too!  I put the question about last minute house guests to our facebook fans on the Pantry Paratus page…and wow–they’ve got some great advice I’m going to try next time.

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Pressure Cooking: Controversy & Science

Pressure Cooking: Controversy & Science

(originally published on Pantry Paratus in 2012, this piece has circulated quite a few times! We’ve made some updates…enjoy!)

Some swear by pressure cooking because of high altitude living constraints, meat tenderizing, energy reduction, nutrient preservation, or convenience.  Other advise against pressure cooking because it leaches antioxidants, makes meat stringy and dry, or because they believe it to be a dangerous procedure.  So which is it?

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Two Is One and One Is None: What is your Single Point of Failure?

Two is One and One is None: What is Your Single Point of Failure?

Some technical difficulties range from “Wow, that was annoying,” to the type of events that can make you want to lose your religion.  The constant prompts to “listen carefully as our voice menu options have changed” annoy me, because I am constantly caught up in the spin cycle of man’s evolution for automated phone answering systems.  Compare that to having your hard drive fail on your laptop; this can bring you to the point of finding out whether you are as emotionally well adjusted as you think you are.

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Kitchen Self-Sufficiency Skills: 11 Places to Start

kitchen self sufficiency

Some of us might jump into the middle of this list of kitchen self-sufficiency skills; some might have more to learn. I personally find I am overwhelmed with what I don’t know, but that once I have a plan to tackle something I can shake off the paralysis. If the light-bulb has come on over your head and you’re thinking “gak—I only have enough food in the fridge for 3 days,” start here.

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Walking the Plank of Politics Simply Because I Like Real Food

Walking the plank of politics because I like real food

The people who shop at Pantry Paratus and the people who interact with us through Facebook and email are often very different from one another. There are self-described hippies and conservatives (and even people like me who get accused of both quite often). There are Christians, Atheists, Pagans and other faith representations. We have vegans, traditional foodists (bring on the bone broth!), paleo, and conventional-food lovers who are exploring what it might mean to make a change. There is the pro-wheat crowd and the gluten-free one. There are city-dwellers, homesteaders, farmers, and busy suburban moms just trying to abate food allergies or illness….the differences abound.

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Why Food Matters: Ideology, food ethics, provision, & palette

Why Food Matters

Food is my business. Not just food—I am not a chef; I can’t make my tiramisu presentable or my own puff pastry dough from scratch—but our (Wilson & my own) passion is in teaching others the importance of knowing where food comes from and how to preserve it for future use.

Maybe you’ve thought some of these:

The problem is bigger than me. 
I don’t want to know.
But it tastes so good.
I don’t have time.
I don’t know how.

If you have (and I have), then I would like for you to consider four areas of food ethics.  These four things will totally change the way to see–and taste–what’s on your plate. 

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Fermenting: Large vs. Small Batches

pickled carrots

You can pickle nearly anything following the same basic steps in this article. Really. My family doesn’t really care for pickled carrots, but I absolutely adore pickled garlic, onion blooms, and radishes. And of course, there is always sauerkraut too! If you are interested in pickling eggs, please read this article.

pickled-carrots pickled-garlic

When I ferment anything, I no longer use the large “crock” method. Perhaps that is because I have never owned a real fermenting crock but have tried other hacks such as food grade buckets. I much prefer fermenting in very small batches and so I stick with mason jars.  This is purely experiential opinion, but you’re welcome to it:

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