For under $15.00 the Lee Universal Decapping Die is one of the best pieces of reloading gear you can get, heck it’s a bargain at double the price. I have broken a lot of decapping rods over the years and that ended as soon as I got this piece of equipment. The reason this die is so good (Lee calls it “Virtually” Unbreakable) is that the decapping pin is held in a collet so that if the decapping pin hits resistance – say you accidently throw in a berdan primed case, or the flash hole is off center, or WHATEVER, the pin will be pushed up out of the collet instead of bending or breaking under the pressure.
This is a much better design than any of the other decapping systems I have seen. In every other decapping die I know about the pin is threaded or otherwise fixed in the die, so that if it hits resistance it bends. The pins may be inexpensive, but finding a replacement at 5pm on a Sunday can be quite difficult. With the Lee die, you just need to loosen the collet with a wrench and push the pin to the depth you desire and then retighten it. This is much simpler and faster.
What is probably the best review of this piece of equipment is that if you perform an internet search for a review of the Lee Decapping die all you will find are forum posts where experienced reloaders are recommending this equipment to new shooters. I could not find a negative comments about this piece of equipment, and to me that says a lot.
I have no affiliation with Lee precision in any way, other than I like some of their products and I want to share with you what works for me.
We did that to show you that home canning does have its place in long term food storage even though I would not recommend keeping your food for that long.
Today I will show you one of my favorite recipes for using canned chicken as well as a tip for making EASY chicken and dumplings that I learned from my mother.
Flour tortillas are an easy way to make the dumpling portion of chicken and dumplings.
Ingredients:
Chicken
Either you can boil a whole chicken and pick the meat off, or you can use chicken you canned at any amount you desire
Chicken Stock
Flour Tortilla Shells
Cream of Chicken Soup
Salt and Pepper
Cheese (if desired)
Equipment:
Stock pot
Ladle
Procedure:
1.Fill pot 2/3 full of Chicken stock and bring to a boil
1.If you using chicken you have picked from a whole chicken use the water you cooked it in, otherwise use the water from your canned chicken. Add additional water to fill pot to desired level.
2.Add chicken
3.Add soup
4.Rip (or cut depending on your levels of neatness) several flour tortillas into pieces approximately the size of a business card.
5.Drop tortilla pieces into the boiling water until the surface is covered with tortillas. Let cook 20 seconds or so before pushing them under the water with your ladle.
6.Repeat step 5 until you reach your preferred “dumplings” to chicken ratio.
1.Remember that tortillas will swell as they cook.
7.Add seasonings if desired
8.I like to add cheese to the mix, as it cooks, but you can throw some on the top of each bowl or leave it out entirely.
Alternatives:
Sometimes I use cold stock to make dumplings by mixing in All Purpose flour and stock until I get a dough and then dump spoonfuls of the dough into the coiling water.
I also make a lot of chicken and rice by cooking the rice in the stock instead of adding dumplings.
At my house I make this a lot and then eat it at work. A big pot lasts me a week.
All the “reputable” canning guides say that you should only store your home canned items no longer than one year.
Personally I don’t want to eat any canned food that has sat in a storage bin for 15 years BUT….
If I had nothing else to eat and the can is in good shape, I may try it.
My belief is the contents should be safe to eat, although the taste, texture and nutritional value of the food can diminish over time.
However, I had some old chicken and wanted to do a 2 Year Canning Update and actually try it.
USDA Says:
I know that’s the stance of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service when dealing with COMMERCIALLY canned items even though on their FAQ they say…
Store canned foods and other shelf stable products in a cool, dry place. Never put them above the stove, under the sink, in a damp garage or basement, or any place exposed to high or low temperature extremes. Store high acid foods such as tomatoes and other fruit up to 18 months; low acid foods such as meat and vegetables, 2 to 5 years.
Canned meat and poultry will keep at best quality 2 to 5 years if the can remains in good condition and has been stored in a cool, clean, dry place.
Beware the Enemies of Food Storage
From other posts I have said that Heat, Light, Air, and Moisture are the enemies of food storage. I have kept this meat upstairs in our air conditioned living space, in our storage room and away from light. The can is not bulged to indicate botulism growth (I am scared of botulism to the extent my best friend is scared of clowns)…
I have several of these cans of chicken that I pressure canned at the same time 2 years ago. The dates were written on the can and I promptly forgot about them. My intent is to open a can or two every year until I run out that way I can unscientifically experiment with the taste and texture changes over time.
When I opened the cans, I checked to make sure the lid was not “bulged” and there was no external damage to the jar. I then made sure the chicken smelled normal, and looked normal. This is a little subjective, but I err on the side of caution and listen to any nagging doubts. I follow a simple concept with home canned food.
“IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT”
This batched passed muster, and I kept a couple jars back to try next year and each following year until I run out of this batch. I made some pretty decent chicken and dumplings with it, which you can find as a later post.
Today’s article will discuss a system of priorities called the The Survival Rule of 3.
Basically the Rule of Three is a convenient way to memorize the order of importance of basic necessities.
If you really want to get in the weeds you can add seconds. If you are in a blind panic, you can run off and get killed instantly. This means you can only live 3 seconds without thinking.
Obviously this is an approximation, and is only designed to help you remember your priorities, but as a planning tool its valuable as many people add what is important to them, or what makes them feel safe without regard to the realities.
In the video I say that too many people buy a AR-15 before a water filter. That’s not to say a defensive tool is not important, but for thousands of years, billions of humans have lived their entire lives without AR-15s, but nobody has lived more than a few days without water.
When you are looking at what is important right now, or what is important for you to plan for or acquire keep this in mind, and balance your resources with your threats to what you actually NEED for survival.actually NEED for survival.
Today’s post is about mindset, because I believe mental flexibility and preparedness is more important than equipment or even skill acquisition. If your mind is right you can work on everything else, and it’s the one thing that cannot be taken from you.
I use an idea that originated with Notre Dame Football coach Lou Holtz. The idea is a simple acronym W.I.N. It stands for what’s important now. Coach Holtz mad his players ask themselves this 35 times a day, no matter if they were in the classroom, the sidelines, the weight room, or in the game, He wanted his players to be able to learn to focus on what mattered most at any given time.
My first experience with this was when I was serving in the Marines, and my mentor Sgt. B asked me this one day, and then choked the fire out of me when I answered wrong… Believe me, it stuck. Later while looking through the archives of a law enforcement training organization’s website, I became reacquainted with this idea through an article by Brian Willis.
I now try to pass this idea on to my wife whenever she is stressing over an issue that is major to her, but minor in the scope of things. (For the record, I don’t use Sgt. B’s method)…
When She calls me that the rabbits have babies or hail has dented the car, or the washer is making a funny noise, I just ask her to take a deep breath and tell me if anyone is dying, hurt, or about to be hurt or killed. If not then the issue is not of immediate importance. That’s not to say I ignore the problem or its not serious – just that we have some space to think of an appropriate solution.
What this philosophy does is allow you some thinking room to solve the immediate problem rather than get bogged down in the details and minutiae. By concentrating all your effort on what we need to do RIGHT NOW we can focus on specifics and shelve our fears about things we cannot change or that are not pressing concerns.
I find the concept of W.I.N. is a powerful tool in my preparedness arsenal, and coupled with the Rule of Threes (covered tomorrow) gives us an essential tool for both planning and response.
Last week we opened a 
All the “reputable” canning guides say that you should only store your home canned items no longer than one year.
