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kitchen – Homesteader Depot

Homesteader Depot

Tag: kitchen

  • 6 Natural Ways to Rid Bugs from Your Kitchen

    6 Natural Ways to Rid Bugs from Your Kitchen

    BUGS…No matter how hard you try, you’ll probably find a few of them in your kitchen. They sneak in through tiny cracks in your walls, foundation, and may even hitch a ride in on someone’s shoes. Thankfully, once they’re in, you have several methods of getting rid of them that don’t require the use of pesticides. After all, you don’t want those harmful chemicals in your kitchen.

    1) Put a Basil Plant on Your Kitchen Counter

    Basil smells great. Many people find that its aroma adds a little something to air quality in their homes. It’s also a great additive to your foods, as it works well on things like baked chicken and pork chops. This amazing, multi-use plant can even repel any insects that try to find their way indoors. Although humans like the smell of basil, most bugs are turned off by it and will head back outdoors from whence they came. Thankfully, live basil plants are easy to find. They’re sold in the produce section of many grocery stores.

    2) Place Bay Leaves Around Your Kitchen

    Bay leaves can add plenty of flavor to your food, and they can keep bugs at bay. No matter the form of the bay leaves – dried or fresh – bugs hate the smell of them, so they’ll steer clear. If you’re worried about insects getting into your flour, dried beans, rice, any other grains, or the other opened containers that you have stored in your pantry, just place a bay leaf on top of them, inside of the package. You will never have to worry about weevils again. Plus, the bay leaves don’t harm the food, so everything stays edible.

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    3) Purchase or Make a Batch of Hot Pepper Wax Insect Spray

    Along with the smell of basil and bay leaves, insects absolutely hate hot pepper spray. You can make some yourself by mixing together water, dried red pepper flakes, and even a few drops of liquid hot sauce. With that said, many stores sell this pre-mixed, as well. The liquid contains capsaicin, the stuff that makes the liquid spicy, which deters insects such as spider mites, aphids, and more. It’s harmless to plants to the point that you can spray it right on and everything will be fine.

    4) Mix up Some Essential Oils

    Essential oils are great for clearing out your sinuses, relieving stress, and much more. But did you know you can even mix a few of them together and use them to ward off insects? Some suggestions include tea tree oil, lavender, lemongrass, citronella, and peppermint. Mix them into a spray container and mist the corners of your kitchen.

    5) Place Some Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth in Your Kitchen

    Food-grade diatomaceous earth won’t harm humans, but it does kill insects. It will remove all of the moisture from the insect’s casing, forcing it to dehydrate and die. Now there’s an easy solution to your insect problems!

    6) Make a Fly Trap Out of Vinegar

    Vinegar, which is a great all-natural cleaning solution, is also one of the crucial components of a fly trap. Place a little bit of vinegar in a bowl (you can use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar – both will work just fine), and then add in a bit of dish soap. Fruit flies will be attracted to the sweet smell of the dish soap, but when they hit the liquid, the vinegar will kill them. You can set a trap by placing some plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and poking a few holes in it. The flies will get in, but they can’t get out.

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  • How They Feed a Family of 9 for $250 a Month (Video)

    How They Feed a Family of 9 for $250 a Month (Video)

    I’ve heard of low grocery bills, but this one takes the cake! One of my favorite homestead YouTubers, Big Family Homestead, share how they feed their family of 9 for a mere $250 a month.

    What I love about this is that so much of their diet is supplemented by their chickens. They don’t live somewhere that they can raise dairy or meat cows or pigs, but they’re able to eat lots of free chicken and eggs and it clearly has a great impact on their grocery bill!

    Also, they are smart with their meal planning. They plan out a whole month’s menu at the beginning of the month and resolve to stick with that. They say this is the secret behind saving money at the grocery store, and after seeing how they manage to save money, I tend to agree!

    Enjoy:

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  • Slow Cooker vs. Instant Pot (Video)

    Slow Cooker vs. Instant Pot (Video)

    I have been hearing so much hype about the Instant Pot lately, and I wanted to see what all the buzz was all about.

    I have got to tell you, I’m itching to get one of these myself after watching this video! Slow cookers are great, especially for things like bone broth or chili, but Instant Pots can cook both quickly and slowly, which is super cool.

    Regular pressure cookers are great, especially for off-grid energy situations, so I could see an Instant Pot being a real boon to many homesteaders! Check it out, I bet you’ll want one too:

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  • How to Cook With And Season Cast Iron (Video)

    How to Cook With And Season Cast Iron (Video)

    A good cast iron skillet is one of the most important–if not the most important kitchen tools you’ll ever own. You could probably have only a cast iron skillet and some basic utensils in your kitchen and go very far.

    Many people are intimidated by cast iron because it has a particular cleaning protocol, but it’s really not so complicated to care for, especially if you know what you’re doing.

    The YouTube channel Tasty, purveyor of those really awesome visually-appealing viral cooking videos, shares some important tips on how to care for and use the classic cast iron skillet.

    Enjoy!

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  • 6 Creative Ways to Use Bone Broth

    6 Creative Ways to Use Bone Broth

     

    You’ve probably heard of the growing popularity of bone broth lately, and if you haven’t, you should definitely know about it.

    It’s not really anything new, but recent trendy diets have emphasized the regular consumption of hearty, super-nutritious bone broth as a way to get essential vitamins, minerals, and, most importantly, gelatin. 

    Gelatin is a wonderful addition to any healthy diet, but particularly beneficial for anyone concerned about bone or joint health.

    The great thing is it’s very cheap and easy to make, unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to find creative ways to consume it! Especially this time of year, sipping on a warm, frothy cup of broth might not sound so appealing to you.

    So we’ve come up with some clever ways to consume broth in your diet that you might not have thought of. Let’s begin:

    Soups and Stews

    Using bone broth as the base for hearty soups and stews is, of course, the most obvious way to get this hearty, healthy broth into your diet. You can use as you would chicken broth or even water. But, since the weather is warming up this time of year, if warm tomato soup or hot, spicy chili isn’t sounding too appealing to you, don’t forget there are great cold summer soups like gazpacho and vichyssoise that bone broth can be used for too.

    Related Article:  How to Cook Bone Broth in Your Slow Cooker

    Steaming Vegetables

    If you are one to enjoy some simple steamed vegetables in a quick weeknight dinner, you’ll be happy to know that you can use bone broth in place of water! Steaming vegetables with bone broth infuse the veggies with the health benefits of the broth and add a rich, deep, flavor as well.

    Cooking rice, pasta, beans, etc. 

    As with steaming vegetables, you can use your bone broth in place of water when cooking rice, pasta, beans, quinoa, lentils, or other legumes or grains. It will add a rich flavor as well as the nutrients and minerals of the broth.

    Sauteeing Vegetables

    You can always throw a little bone broth in when you are sauteeing vegetables or making a stir-fry. It will help the vegetables cook faster as well as lend it’s rich flavor to your dish.

    Related Article:  How to Make Bone Broth (Video)

    Sauces and Gravies 

    Many sauces require a fatty broth or milk to be reduced, and bone broth can almost always be used for that. It makes a wonderful base for a wide range of sauces and is always ideal for gravy.

    Egg Dishes

    Use bone broth in place of water or milk when cooking scrambled eggs, frittatas or quiches.

    Get Creative!

    Hopefully, this has given you an idea of just how many options there are for using bone broth! Try to see if there are other creative ways to incorporate bone broth into your daily life. Happy cooking!

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  • How to Care for Wood Cutting Boards and Utensils (Video)

    How to Care for Wood Cutting Boards and Utensils (Video)

    Wooden spoons and cutting boards are great to use in the kitchen, but, like cast-iron, they require the right kind of care.

    A popular way to keep wooden kitchen ware conditioned is to use mineral oil and beeswax, but is this the healthiest option for your family?

    Wardee from TradtionalCookingSchool.com shares her thoughts on the healthiest ways to care for wooden spoons and cutting boards in one of her recent podcast episodes, #AskWardee. Enjoy!

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  • Dandelion Pesto Recipe

    Dandelion Pesto Recipe

    Dandelion is a wonderful plant, that the majority of Americans just think of as a weed. If you’re not already foraging your yard’s dandelion for natural remedies or food, you definitely should be.

    Dandelion grows virtually everywhere, and I can almost guarantee it’s growing somewhere near you, either in your backyard, local park, or any field or meadow nearby. It was a staple of Depression-era cooking, and it’s tasty, nutritious leaves can be prepared in a number of ways.

    You can easily eat them raw, but if you’d like to enjoy them in a very delicious way, try this amazing and tasty dandelion pesto. You can make a fancy, gourmet pasta dish out of foraged leaves, how cool is that?

    To harvest dandelion leaves, be sure to use a knife. The tough, stubborn roots can make it hard to harvest the whole plant, so you’ll want to dig in with a paring knife to uproot it properly.

    After harvesting, make sure to wash extremely thoroughly. Dandelion can retain a lot of dirt, so you’ll want to rinse it all under cold water, then soak it all in water with a dash of vinegar.

    After about 20 minutes of soaking, vigorously shake the dandelion leaves all around the water, then pour out the water, rinse, and fill your bowl with water again, shake the leaves out one more time, and rinse again. This should do it, but inspect the leaves as you prepare your pesto, just to be safe.

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 pine nuts
    • 3 garlic cloves
    • 2 bunches freshly harvested dandelion leaves.
    • 1 Tbs lemon juice
    • 1/2 cup olive oil
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/2 tsp black pepper
    • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
    • salt to taste

    Instructions

    1. Roughly chop your freshly washed dandelion leaves, so that they equal a loosely packed 2 cups.
    2. Roughly chop your garlic.
    3. Place the garlic, dandelion leaves, pine nuts, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor.
    4. Blend or pulse until smooth. You might need to stop and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula a few times.
    5. Stir in the parmesan cheese until evenly incorporated.
    6. Serve fresh or refrigerate and eat within 3 days.

    Bon appetit!

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  • Dirt Cheap Foods for Homesteaders

    Dirt Cheap Foods for Homesteaders

    Whether you’re an urban homesteader or full-blown, land-owning, farmer, you have probably come to a time in your life at some point in which you had to keep your budget tight. If you are saving up for land, land development, or simply trying to budget and spend in a smarter way, food is always one of the biggest expenses, and it can be hard to know how to cut back on food spending without going for less healthy, processed foods.

    Fortunately, there are many wonderfully healthy and nutritious foods out there that are not only good for you, they’re dirt cheap too! I thought I’d put a quick list together of some of my favorite frugal foods for homesteaders and beyond.

    Beans

    Dry beans are always cheap, and a great source of protein and fibers. They’re a great survival food, too, since they keep for long periods of time, but on a regular basis not only will they save you lots of money by adding frugal protein to your meals, they’re very healthy as well.

    Lentils

    Lentils, like beans, are highly nutritious and healthy, and also frugal too! Sometimes simple green lentils are cheaper than any other dried bean, so stock up! You can make all kinds of delicious Indian-style dishes or warm, hearty lentil soup.

    Oatmeal

    Simple bulk rolled oats are healthy, delicious, and totally cheap! You can use them to make cookies, snack bars, or just whip up a quick and easy bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. They’re low-calorie, high in fiber and iron, and naturally gluten-free (although if you do have a gluten intolerance, make sure the oatmeal you buy indicates it’s gluten-free on the box because it is often produced in the same factory as wheat otherwise and might have traces of gluten).

    Rice

    You can’t really go wrong with rice, and together with dried beans, you’ve got a complete meal that’s easy to store for survival purposes. But by itself, it is a healthy, cheap way to enhance stir-fries, make pudding, risotto, and more.

     

    Canned tomatoes

    Canned tomatoes or tomato sauce are a really great and cheap staple to have on hand. Rather than buy expensive pasta sauce that has sugar and preservatives in it, if you keep canned tomatoes on hand you can always whip up your own, making delicious, healthy pasta and pizzas at home a breeze.

    Carrots and Celery

    These are great staple vegetables to have in your fridge. They’re not only cheap, they’re low-calorie and kid-friendly too. Prepare a large batch of veggie sticks at the beginning of the week and you’ll have a healthy snack to munch on all week that will keep you away from the potato chips!

    Apples

    Apples are another great option to keep in your fridge for healthy snacks all week long, and they’re cheap too! You know the expression, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Well, there’s a good reason for it! Apples are high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and also loved by kids as well.

    Cabbage 

    Finishing off our selection of great, healthy, and affordable produce, cabbage is another great one to have on hand. You can use it in all kinds of dishes, and it will keep for a very long time in your crisper, unlike that ill-fated and expensive spring mix that will turn in a few days. Whip up some coleslaw, sauteed with sausage, make some classic cabbage wraps, the sky’s the limit.

    Potatoes 

    Potatoes are a great staple for your kitchen, and they’re always incredibly cheap. Potatoes get a bad rap, but they’re really quite healthy. Their skins are packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, and they’re a great alternative to grain for a healthier diet. Plus, there are so many possibilities for how to prepare them, they make for a really great frugal base for tons of delicious and hearty meals.

    Ground beef

    Probably one of the cheapest and healthiest meats, ground beef is not only frugal on its own, it can often be found at rock-bottom prices so you can stock up your freezer for next to nothing. Put in your pasta sauce, stir-frys, hamburgers, and more, it’s rich in iron and typically quite lean, so it’s a great source of protein that can’t be beaten.

    Ground turkey

    Also often frugal and found on sale, ground turkey is ideal to add some very low-priced protein to your diet. Kids often love turkey burgers too for their milder taste, and they’re easy to season accordingly.

    Popcorn

    Popcorn is cheap, lasts forever, and is much healthier than potato chips or other processed snack foods. Keep the kernels in your pantry for a quick, easy, warm bowl of buttery popcorn anytime. Kids love it, and will love to help you make it right on the stove!

    Seasonings

    Seasonings of all kinds, from garlic to dried herbs, to vinegar, and even mustard and other sauces, can all be found affordably and are essential for the frugal pantry. You’d be amazed at how much you can dress up your frugal food with a few dashes of delicious herbs. Always make sure to invest in flavor!

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