You can also use dry ice to force carbonate beverages, but if you do this it can cause the bottle to explode so be careful.
I have also used it to make fog (which is not a prepper use I guess)
Something else I find to be a fun on of the dry ice uses is if you put cubes of dry ice into a container of rubbing alcohol the CO2 will super chill the alcohol making an extremely cold liquid that replicates some of what liquid nitrogen can do.
I love garlic, both for cooking, and for medicine. But mostly I love dry garlic for cooking. I put garlic powder in almost everything.
Unfortunately, garlic powder is getting more expensive, which is silly seeing as how easy it is go about dehydrating garlic.
To make my own garlic powder I simply grind dehydrated garlic and then sift it.
The large chunks go in an old minced garlic container, while the finer bits go in the reused garlic powder container.
To dehydrate it simply:
Peel back the paper from the cloves of garlic.
Cut out any bad spots with a knife.
Cut the cloves in half lengthwise to significantly reduce the time it will take to dry.
Dry the garlic at 150 degrees Fahrenheit (in the oven or in a dehydrator)
Turn the slice often until dry.
Once you have it ground and put into your container, store in a cool, dry area.
I don’t know how long it lasts, as I continuously use it, so I don’t have information on powdered garlic for food storage.
What I do know is that I like the taste of the garlic I grew and processed myself. There is something to be said about the quality of food that is home processed versus being made in some factory out of materials that may be modified or adulterated.
Not only is dehydrating garlic easy, but garlic has medicinal value, so I hope that you try this at home.
Here is a quick tip for backpacking or camping where space and weight is a premium – make Dehydrated Toothpaste Dots.
To make a chewable single use dry toothpaste “mint” lay out foil sheet or parchment and make rows of toothpaste spots.
Allow to dry for 2-4 days.
Sprinkle baking soda on top to keep from sticking.
Repackage in small bags.
I stopped making these Dehydrated Toothpaste Dots when the boy began thinking they were candy. But they are good for trips and traveling – once you have a can of shaving cream explode, or some shampoo leak into your luggage you begin to think about new ways to pack your stuff.
There really isn’t much more to say about this project other than you should be careful where you let them dry at – you don’t want to leave them in your bathroom because of the bacteria, and you don’t want the to sit out too long because they get really hard and nasty.
If this is not something you want to try, but you still have the issue of packing something light and easy for tooth brushing in the outdoors, you may want to just get a small container of baking soda – but I will warn you – this tastes better.
To use
Pop one Dehydrated Toothpaste Dots in your mouth, chew, then add a small amount of water in your mouth and start brushing.
I grew on a state park as a son of a park ranger and was encouraged (maybe that’s too strong a word –tolerated) to explore Native American crafts and wilderness survival skills. I had always wanted to make pemmican, but since I lived on a state park, I could not hunt so I never had access to enough meat and fats to make it. (Mom wouldn’t let me experiment with the family’s groceries unless I was cooking supper…. LOL)
The urge to make pemmican lay dormant for several decades as I went in the service, and later spent all my energy learning about ex-wives and the legal process. Now that I am settled and have a wife that understands me enough to let my creative juices float me in strange directions I decided to finally make some pemmican.
Basically pemmican is mixture of dried and pounded meat and rendered fat. Since meat spoils rapidly needs to be preserved, but because of the differences in makeup meat and fats have to be preserved using different methods.
In pemmican, dried meat and rendered fat is preserved separately. It is then mixed back together to make a calorie dense food that has a long shelf life. Traditionally we hear about pemmican being made with dried berries also, but that did not make up the bulk of pemmican creation until the Europeans began buying it that way.
Here’s how to make traditional pemmican
Separate the meat from the fat
Dry the meat into jerky
Grind the meat. Use a commercial grinder, or pulverize, I threw mine into a blender.
Render the fat.
Combine meat and fat, in a ratio of 2 parts meat to 1 part fat.
Pack in airtight containers
If you want to add dried fruit you can do that also.
Modern Pemmican is more palatable
For a more modern (and easier to convince your wife to try) you can substitute peanut butter for the fat.
I dried a bag of freeze dried assorted fruits and added it with the peanut butter and meat. My wife ate some and would do so again. I doubt she would if she saw me dumping in a jar of rendered fat though….
Just one caveat, this stores well, and tastes pretty good, but modern pemmican is very calorie dense so its probably best suited as a meal replacement and not a neat snack.
I love garlic, both for cooking, and for medicine. But mostly I love dry garlic for cooking. I put garlic powder in almost everything.
Here is a quick tip for backpacking or camping where space and weight is a premium – make Dehydrated Toothpaste Dots.
