Favorite Bunker Accessory

Tonight is our ward's "Fall Festival". In the past this has just involved games, costumes and trunk or treating. This year they've added a soup and bread cook-off. I think it's a brilliant idea - get something into the kids before the candy.


I signed up a couple of weeks ago to bring soup. I figured I'd make something fabulous and homemade...this morning I downgraded my plans to great and semi-homemade. If you can call "6 Can Tortilla Soup" semi- homemade. I did open all the cans by myself. At home. I decided that it would be safer ( cough, cough) and more hygienic (snork, snork) for me not to have my hands (hack, hack) all over anything.


The hardest thing about making this soup - especially when making a double batch (12 cans), is bringing all those cans upstairs from the bunker. Say hello to my little friend. I found this retired Safeway hand basket at the Hillsboro Goodwill. Little did I realize what a handy helper it would be.

How would you spend $15?

We've been in the Bunker for nearly a week and a half. Steve and I spent a little money yesterday at Costco on totally non-bunker related stuff (engagement pictures, etc..) We didn't spend ANY money on food there. I was slightly tempted, but really, $15 doesn't go very far at Costco.

I may go to the store today. Maybe. We will probably run out of milk this morning - so I could spent 3 or 4 dollars buying a weeks worth of milk. I'm trying to decide what else to buy....

What would you spend your $15 on??

Thrifty Nifty Ideas

So, from the bunker I have made homemade playdough. I did nearly deplete my salt storage, but think I'll be ok for the next week or so.

Playdough is surprisingly easy to make. I'm not a huge fan of the stuff, I've have one too many run ins with it being ground in the carpet for playdough to be a friend to me. Never the less, my kids love it.

Playdough

Flour 3 cups
Salt 1 1/2 cups
Water 3 cups
Vegetable Oil 2 TB.
Cream of tartar 1 TB
Food coloring few drops or unsweetened "Kool-Aid" 1pkg.

Mix ALL of the ingredients in a large saucepan.
Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away
from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled.
Place on counter or wax paper knead 3-4 times.
Store in an air tight container.

One week in the Bunker

I was sure that being in the bunker this time would be a total slam dunk. After all, I had prior experience and this time we get to spend a little bit of money (if we choose to). Our bunker looked fully stocked. Ready, set go...yeah, go and get sick the very next day.

Here are some of my thoughts about being sick while in the bunker:

• I've been glad to have a freezer with plenty of homemade soup stocked in it.
• I feel less inclined to make things from scratch - I couldn't even smell the bread that I made on Thursday.
• I don't take over the counter remedies very often - so they are not part of my storage.

I was talking to Tia about whether or not buying some Sudafed (or other cold remedy) should count against the bunker. She wisely reminded me that having medications is on the list of things we should have in our emergency preparedness stuff.

I'm glad we're doing this again - and I'm happy(ish) that I will be able to take away a lesson this time...I think our family will be working on our first aid/medical supplies when we exit the bunker.

Systems Failure

Okay, I've fallen and I can't get up. Try as I might we only made it 4 1/2 days in the bunker before all Heck broke loose and I ended up buying dinner. It was either that or committing Hari Kari (don't you have to be able to spell it to do it?) so it happened. I had a terrible, awful, no good, very bad day and then had to run around like a chicken to pick up or drop off my kids hither and yon. Then I had to peel a whole bag of Costco potatoes (my hands hurt too!) before I broke down. But I'm back in the Saddle Again tomorrow - I promise!

Why do I want to talk like Jacque Cousteau now?

Remember those Jacque Cousteau specials where he talks very fluidly about the life of some obscure sea slug that we all wanted to know more about by the time he was done talking? Well, I want him to narrate our bunker time....so, put on your best Jacque voice and...

Zee small light children were amazed at zee deftness of zhere modder's cookeeng skills. Watch zee modder as she feeds her children zee ham and cheese fritata wiss candied carrots. See zee children sneer and turn away as if zhey know she is poisoning them. See zhem run away to find zheir own food....

Day two of the bunkering wasn't nearly as good....

Hunkered In

Well, we started our Hunker in the Bunker today. I didn't really cheat by having turkey leftovers the first night did I? We are going for a goal of the entire time Jim is gone (10 days) plus 2 or 3 while he is home - he was not a fan of the idea to say the least.

The kids thought it was fun (the first night). We'll see how they are on night 6 or 7....

Hunker in the Bunker II

We were going to start tomorrow - but hey, I'm not going to the store today anyway, so today it is.

Are you in?

Pumpkin Soup

I was going to make soup in a pumpkin yesterday - until I realized that all of our big pumpkins are doing Halloween decoration duty on the porch right now. I do have lots of smaller pumpkins, so I ended up trying out a recipe for pumpkin soup. Pumpkin/Acorn Squash Soup.

I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com...then I found another one there....then I read the reviews....then I ended up sort of combining the two recipes and making some changes of my own. So here goes:

Pumpkin Soup

1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage, browned and drained
6 cups chicken stock (I used Better than Bouillon)
4 cups pumpkin puree (I used a mix of pumpkin and acorn squash)
1/2 cup chopped onion (I sauteed these first, to soften them)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (I used evaporated milk)
2-4 Tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste.

1. Heat stock, pumpkin, sauteed onions, thyme and garlic in a big pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered.

2. Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time!!!) using the blender.

3. Return to pan and add cooked sausage. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered for another 30 minutes. Stir in cream.

Pretty simple, really. You could use canned pumpkin puree and it would be even easier. I think I will play around with the spices some next time I make it and try a spicier sausage. It came out a tad sweeter than I expected and tasted more like chicken soup than pumpkin - but that was okay with us. A great way to sneak vegetables onto the table.

Nag, nag, nag.

I'm gearing up for another month in "The Bunker". I need to restock my freezer some and fill in a few gaps that haven't been replenished this month - while I've had double the mouths to feed.

We're hunkering down next Monday or Tuesday (when Stephanie and Cory leave).

Are you ready???

apocalypse...soon

So....it's now October and almost time for the Bunker Buddy "Living in the Bunker" Inaugural Fall Challenge.

Okay, okay, that's not what we're really calling it. But it is nearly time for the challenge. You can look at the previous post for rules...this is just a reminder that you should be looking at your food supply and seeing what you think you need to replenish/stock up on.

In May I learned that we didn't have enough variety of fresh/frozen veggies. This summer we managed to freeze strawberries, cherries, blueberries and apples. We should still have fresh apples out on one of our trees...and carrots in the garden. We also have a bumper crop of pumpkins and some acorn squash and spaghetti squash. I know we'll want more mixed berries from Costco (we're a bit addicted to smoothies). We'll also want some more frozen veggies.

What do you need? When will you start? (We're going in on either the 19th or 20th of this month...after Stephanie and the grandkids leave)