Check out this homemade grill that you can make from a tin can. This idea was shared on Living Off the Grid.
Its a wonderful way to improvise and make a grill from a recycled can. Even if you didn’t have charcoal, you could use coals from a fire to make yourself a small useful cooking grill. So tuck this idea into your prepping knowledge bank and remember it should you need it the future.
At the end of the gardening season last year I had many green tomatoes. I wrapped them in pieces of newspaper and stored them in a brown paper bag in my basement. I kept them in the dark and they not only ripened over the winter but stored very well.
Here are a few of the last tomatoes that I just unwrapped today. They have been stored in the newspaper for 4 months. As you can see they look pretty good. Some of the skins are a bit wrinkled but these tomatoes tasted great in my green salad today.
Storing Details:
Wrap only about 2 green tomatoes in each piece of newspaper loosely. Place each wrapped newspaper bundle in a brown paper bag. I was able to put quite a few bundles of wrapped tomatoes in the paper bag. Close the bag and keep it in the dark. Storing in the basement worked well for me.
Check the tomatoes in a few weeks or as needed. Remove the red ripened tomatoes. Re-wrap the green tomatoes and put them back into the brown paper bag until ripe or when you need a tomato.
Conclusion:
Green tomatoes can be saved, stored, and ripened over the winter for future use.
Boiling water is one of the safest ways to purify it. Water should be boiled for one full minute at a rolling boil. If you can not boil your water, using bleach is another alternative for purification.
Normal household bleach is usually between 5-6% chlorine and can be used following the chart guidelines below. Do not use perfumed, dyed bleach that has any additives. Use plain bleach as follows for water purification.
Source: Washington Dept of Health
Use a clean container and mix thoroughly and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes before using (60 minutes if the water is cloudy or very cold).
Today’s tip is how to recycle your toilet paper rolls and repurpose your dryer lint. Recycled toilet paper rolls make excellent firestarters. Just save your toilet paper rolls and stuff them with lint from your dryer lint trap.
I find it useful to keep a few empty rolls by the dryer and then each time I empty the lint trap, I just stuff the lint into the paper roll. After a few drying cycles, the roll is full and I keep it near my woodstove along with kindling for firestarting.
This useful idea has been shared on many tip sites and I just love it. You use a lid and ring to re-seal a package. A recycled bottle top or small jug is used for re-sealing packages. Cut the top of the package open and insert it into the cut lid sleeve. Fold over the package and screw the lid on.
What a fantastic way to recycle a plastic bottle and keep your packages sealed for freshness and storage.
I had many green tomatoes left over after the gardening season. I just hated not saving them for future use. I had read that you can store green tomatoes for future use by wrapping them individually in newspaper. So I gathered all my green tomatoes in October and wrapped them separately in pieces of newspaper. I then put them loosely in a brown paper bag and put them in my basement larder.
Today I carefully unwrapped a few of the newspapers to check on the tomatoes. I needed a few tomatoes for a green salad I wanted to make. I was pleasantly surprised that many of the tomatoes were bright red and ripe. A few were still green or orange so I just re-wrapped them and put them back in the bag to use later.
So if you have green tomatoes, you might want to try out this useful idea for storing and ripening your tomatoes. Using this method will provide you ripe tasty tomatoes well into the winter months.