All this food requires more walking

I'm sure you've all become fed up (pardon the pun) with my betty feedings so I haven't been bothering to take pictures of anything going in or coming out.

So just briefly:

The pork chops are out and packaged, then Chicken Green Curry. Right now I have Indian Butter Chicken in and tomorrow is Tandoori Chicken, cooked Ground Beef and more Indian Butter Chicken. 

Oh, and also somewhere in there I did Skittles and Gummy Bears. The Skittles blow up to the size of marbles and kind of have a 'Pop Rocks' thing going on and the Gummy Bears blow up to Fuzzy bears. Pretty neat. Great gifts for the Grandkids... I'm thinking Skittles, Ice Cream scoops, Taffy and something else their parents will hate....... I'm mean that the kids will really enjoy.  😁😁😁

Dealing with Betty doesn't take much at all - just put stuff on the trays and put the trays in the freezer to await their turn. Granted, Brad has been cooking -- which naturally takes effort but the actual Betty part is pretty simple. Put them in and turn her on, wait anywhere between 12-40 hours depending on the water level of what your doing and then take it out and put it in a bag with an oxygen absorber or put it in a jar with a moisture absorber. We've had her 4 weeks and even with Brad coming home all the time with more food, we've managed to empty the fridge freezer and made a dent in the deepfreeze too.

Other than that I've just been playing pickleball, cleaning the house and nagging Stacey to get out walking... we went through about a week there where we were both busy with other things and we've just got back to the walking. The orchard is on a pretty significant sized block and with a trail on one end we are able to walk the whole 'block' which takes half hour at a pretty good clip and has substantial grades going both down and up, today we went the hard way with the steepest grade on the up, I have yet to forgive her - hahaha. We haven't been to do a proper hike for awhile but we'll get to it.

I sent some samples of candy, bananas, strawberries, grapes and banana loaf to Brad's brother in England and all of the above with an addition of Thanksgiving leftover ham and turkey to his Mum in SK and my Dad and his new wife in ON so they can all get an idea of what this is all about.

I actually saw someone today on a FaceBook group say that because they wouldn't be able to spend time with their family as usual this Thanksgiving (in the U.S), that they were making thanksgiving dinner which they would freeze dry and send it out to family members. They could all then have the same Thanksgiving meal together via Zoom or the like. I thought this was pretty ingenious idea. 

Feeding betty and 2 Birthdays

I have a banana loaf recipe that everyone loves, it is soft and moist and delicious which is very odd for my cooking -but anyway, I decided to feed some to Betty. It turned out good, more like biscotti which is expected. It is certainly tasty and rehydrates well but I probably won't do it again, we prefer my banana loaf fresh.

Banana loaf bites

After the banana loaf bites, I did 2 full loads of strawberries which I didn't bother taking pictures of since I've shown that here previously.

Friday was my birthday, I've decided to start counting backwards (MIL taught us this trick) so I am now officially 50. Yup, the big 50.

I had a fabulous day, it was massage day so Brad went to Nanaimo in the morning. I made porridge for breakfast, then had Pickleball at noon, Big Brother was on that night, we went out for supper to a local restaurant and I finished the night off (after cake, that is) with one of my favourite things -- a hot bath. Perfect day.

Our reservation was at 6:20, we were seated right away and not 5 minutes later, the power went out. We had a candle lit dinner at the restaurant (I didn't get a pic apparently). Pretty good meal, but knowing the power was out and betty was eating had us a bit concerned. Power was out for 1.5 hours.... well...

Without power, the ice (moisture removed from product) inside betty began to melt. When we returned home we cranked up the generator and got betty eating again - except she started over in freeze mode. I didn't think anything of it at the moment but then realized it wasn't right. I pushed cancel (10 or 15 min later) and it went to the main screen which showed the product was finished.

I released the pressure valve and nothing came out.... screen advised the vacuum pressure sensor was broken... "Oh, that's just great!". I released the pressure by loosening the hose on the vacuum pump... Then I checked online and thought through what had happened... 

At home eating bday cake in the dark. We played crib until the power came on.

Stuffing my gob as usual

Inside betty's stomach

Cutting a long story short, I realized that because betty had sat for 1.5 hrs without power, that the ice had begun to melt, pooling at the drain and then the freeze cycle started. This clogged the drain with ice and would not allow the pressure to release. Whew. I allowed her to defrost naturally overnight and then in the morning I ran the original from factory tests to ensure everything was working properly - and it was! Beautiful.

Chicken Thai Green Curry that Brad made yesterday to feed Betty, it is packaged into serving sizes and freezing in preparation for its turn in the machine.

At the moment Betty is eating 7 double servings of soup and a small leftover porridge, I expect this to finish early afternoon today, then....

Pork Chops, prepped, cooked and ready for Betty

We will mostly do pre-cooked foods as it just makes sense to have them ready to go, although you can - and we probably will - do some raw meats as well. Just add water.

Today is my good son's bday (I have 2 good sons, btw)... Happy 32nd birthday little man! (He is a father to 3 now and 6'3 at about 225lbs but he used to be 8 lbs 5.9oz.) Those were the days.

Here with my grandson Royce

Yes I was 20 and 2 days when my youngest was born - he's a Scorpio too. Yikes.

Covid trend in U.S.

 I was just looking at the covid #'s and I noticed a trend. When I look at the tracker  for the U.S, I notice that the NorthWest has a roughly 30% chance of surviving Covid-19.

                                Deaths            Recovered              Total                         % 

New York                33366            78530                     111896                     30 

New Jersey              16227            36005                      52232                      31

Connecticut               4559              9651                      14210                      32

Maryland                 4050              7926                        11976                     34      

Rhode Island           1164               2558                       3722                        31

Exceptions:

Massachusetts         9758              118892                     128650                   7.6

Delaware                   668                12245                       12913                   5

DC                            642                 12884                      13526                    4.7

It seems, the further away from New York the better the odds except:

Kansas                      895                2415                          3310                    27

The worst odds though appear to be:

Nevada                    1727              2336                           4063                    42.5

Other West/Central states:

Washington              2282                n/a                (probably just forgot)

Oregon                       633                5870                    6503                        9.7

Arizona                    5837              38705                    44542                      13   

California                17069              n/a                  (probably just forgot)

New Mexico            942                20001                    20943                      4.5                  

The best odds appear to be:

Idaho                        535             26238                        26773                    2

Alaska                        67                6681                       6748                      0.09

Oklahoma                1191            93698                       94889                    1.2

Utah                           551            71693                       72244                    0.07         

I just found it interesting. 

Not sure what it means, perhaps each to their own on that. 

But I felt it worthy of mention.       

I have not done the same for Canada but I may yet.

Grapes and Lasagna then Betty moves

Freeze dry peeps are always going on about how fabulous grapes are FD'd, so we gave it a go.

Going in

After: the grapes did shrivel slightly and this is not all of them... not sure what happened to the rest :D

I should have left them in longer (they were in about 24 hrs) as they were still a bit chewy, but I figured they wouldn't last very long anyway, so I jarred them with a moisture absorber.

The next day, Brad's lasagna that he had made in smaller containers planning ahead for Betty but we then realized they were still too big so he sliced them like bread and we laid them out on the trays that way. He also cut them frozen hence the mess... Next time we will slice them fresh and then freeze them. Its all a learning process.

Going in

And all done. 

We reconstituted a piece and it worked out fantastic. I know I need to do a video.... I know. 

Originally we had Betty under the stairs

then moved her to the kitchen

Yesterday, with the neighbours help we put her upstairs in my 'old' office... 

My computer table has now been set beside Brad's desk in the upstairs livingroom. This Premier pump is quieter than the other vacuum pumps on offer but we think it might be better in its own room. Due to the move last night at 630pm, the machine was jostled quite a bit and so we have decided to allow it to rest for 24 hours just to be sure we don't mess it up. 

Tonight at 6:30..... cooked hamburger and the last of the gardens green peppers. Then we have my homemade banana loaf cut into bite size pieces and more strawberries. Strawberries are my favourite so far, although that may change after the banana loaf bits....

Turkey day continues

 Continuing with the Thanksgiving day leftovers, introducing - Ham and Green peppers (from the garden)

Going in

Top to bottom:    Tray 1 weighed 392g

                            Tray 2 weighed 465g

                            Tray 3 weighed 463g

                            Tray 4 weighed 425g

Once all the water has been removed via freeze drying

 Left to right:       Tray 1 weighs 132g

                            Tray 2 weighs 23g

                            Tray 3 weighs 169g

                            Tray 4 weighs 17g

The freeze drying process removes all moisture from a product but it is not like dehydrating in that the product is frozen first to approx -10F (-23C) the trays are then slowly heated and as the moisture evaporates it is slowly drawn out by a vacuum pump. 

A dehydrator just heats the product which causes it to shrivel up and the result is an unappetizing product, unlike Betty which leaves the product looking almost identical to when it was put in the machine.

I have some dehydrated pineapple now that I think of it, perhaps a comparison of the two... 

#ButFirst I have to empty at least 1 freezer to make proper room for these trays.

Turkey day leftovers and a Betty explanation

Leftover Thanksgiving dinner. There was so much food that day that we sent some home with guests and had a few meals ourselves but there was still so much leftover that we decided to run it through Betty - that girl can eat! So Turkey, Stuffing and Roast Potatoes...

Before 

After

We got a little bowl and reconstituted small bits of the stuffing and potatoes just to be sure - they turned out great. Notice the stuffing shrunk quite a bit.

Into Mylar bags with a 300cc oxygen absorber and a quick seal with the sealing doohickey.

We ordered extra trays shortly after receiving the machine. The extra trays allow us to have the next batch freezing while the current batch is being done in the machine. This way as soon as the machine has defrosted (2 hours) from the current batch, the next is frozen and ready to go.

Flowergirl asked in a comment yesterday: Why we were using this machine. 

Why not just can/freeze everything? A good question, for sure. Also does Betty change the flavours?

Here is my response:

The machine does heighten the flavour but on this island, the power goes out quite often during the winter we’re told. Fuel availability is limited (for the generator) and canning is such a pain and mess. This machine allows us to very easily process food and store it without power on a shelf. In the event of a power outage we’ve only to boil water in the wood stove, pour it into the bag, wait 5 min and eat. Roast beef, potatoes, etc. I prefer that to a jar of tomatoes any day. Besides, as you’ve read many times over the years - I hate to cook. This allows me to batch cook, freeze dry and on nights I don’t feel like cooking, I just boil water and we can have Beef Stroganoff, Spaghetti, Meat and potatoes... It might not work for some but to me this is a Godsend.

Now I realize that some of you probably think we got this machine as a 'Prepper' type tool. We actually, did not. Yes, a lot of preppers would/do use these machines. However, we found out about this while I was trying to figure out a way to preserve the ton of Romaine lettuce we grew in the garden. These are not inexpensive machines, there was a lot of consideration put in to the decision to get one. Energy consumption has been averaging $1.75 per day so about $50/month to keep Betty fed. Pretty damn good since Robbie eats more than that! Ha ha.

We are not 'Preppers', but we do like to be prepared. In my mind, (and maybe only in my mind) there is a huge difference between prepping and preparing. Living where we are and having lived through a hurricane and been without power for a week and unable to leave an island for 3 weeks once already- we have learned to be prepared.

Preppers go to a whole other level. So while we do have hand crank radio and lighting, we do not have a bug out shelter stocked with 50 years of stuff... I don't even know how to put this but I think you get the idea. We stock wood for winter because we know we will need it, we bought a generator and store fuel for it because we know we will need it, sure in the event of an SHTF situation we will have easy ready made meals but that isn't why we bought it.

Brad loves to garden and a lot of what we produced this year cannot be canned, almost all of it has been frozen, and if the power goes out for a day or two our generator will keep it cold - but... once the fuel runs out - everything that is left will be lost. 

We hope to eliminate our deep freeze (as most FDers have) which will save us at least $50/month, so...  Also with the ability to preserve typical nightly leftovers we will save money on basic food waste also. Before purchasing I did a cost analysis and found that even without selling treats and the like at the local market Betty will pay for herself in a year. 

Now, everything will be easily preserved, and we are grateful for it. Come hell or high water. :D

Next up Ham and more Green peppers. Then - grapes and strawberries are after that.

Turkey, Soups, Bananas, Strawberries and Tomatoes

 I think I mentioned that Brad bought 2 turkeys the other day. One for dinner with friends for Thanksgiving and one just for us to Freeze Dry.

2kg of Turkey going in (4.5 lbs) White meat

820g of Turkey coming out (1.8 lbs)

Packaged in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers

Details are written on each bag.

This amount weight 503g going in and 192g coming out, therefore we need to add 311g of water to reconstitute, although meat will only soak up what it needs. We tried a piece and it was exactly the same as it was fresh. Wow.

The next batch was more Turkey - dark meat, 3 chicken soups, 2 butternut squash soups and some strawberry puree.

This batch finished at midnight and I waited for it rather than add more time and deal with it in the morning, so I forgot the after pic. You will just have to trust me it looked just the same as the before. The strawberry puree went soft overnight (you can just run it through again) because what I have learned since is the mylar bags use oxygen absorbers but the mason jars need moisture absorbers, especially here in the PNW. Although I have the FoodSaver jar sealer on order and it is due early November which will solve a lot of my problem - except for the jars we are munching from at the time. If you are opening and closing the jars, the moisture absorbers are a necessity.

Next up: Strawberries, Bananas and Tomatoes

going in...

...and coming out. Again, still learning. I should have dipped the bananas in lemon juice but they are fine but for a slight hint of brown.

However, the tomatoe quarters didn't last the night.

I use mason jars for 'snack' items that will be in short term storage. Mylars are for mid-long term storage. I put 200cc of oxygen absorbers in the quart jar but it seems I also need moisture absorbers.

I have posted my tomatoe predicament on the FaceBook group and peeps are helping me solve it as I type this. Seems the seeds may be the culprit. Seeds hold moisture but I've seen other people do tomatoes, so... these little lessons will happen on occasion, at least it was just a small portion of a batch and not an entire batch of tomatoes that Brad laboured to grow all summer.

Today I'm putting in leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, stuffing and whatever else I can add to make a load.

Update: Everyone concurs - it is the tomatoe seeds.

Betty's first 3 meals

Keep in mind that the machine arrived on Wednesday at 2pm. You must allow it to sit for 24 hours before turning it on. And well, that was during Pickleball.....

So Thursday afternoon about 3pm, I turned Betty on (haha). She had to be run through a few tests to make sure the vacuum and freeze functions were working properly, which they were, and we then had to run a bread test.

The bread test is just that, run damp bread through the machine to make sure everything is working properly and this test also removes any residual factory chemicals and smells without ruining any meaningful food items.

Our bread test completed in 7 hours, 35 minutes which is super fast, some people experience a 24 hour bread test, and I had spritzed the bread lightly to try to avoid this... This alternate pump is a major blessing and also makes a huge difference in processing times.

The machine location pictured in the last post was too noisy and so we left the machine off overnight so we could move it in to the kitchen in the morning (this is Thursday into Friday, I'm referring to)

New spot in the kitchen, much more convenient too.

Once the bread test was completed, I ran a load of peppers from the garden (Friday am). They were already prepped (as shown in a previous post) and were awaiting their turn in the Freeze Dryer. I processed approximately a Kilogram (2.205 lbs) of peppers beginning at 915am. At the 4.5 hour mark, I pushed a button and ended up (in my attempt to fix pushing the wrong button) cancelling the entire load and had to run it from scratch... Not quite a waste of 4.5 hours because the machine is 'intelligent' and senses the moisture level - allowing it to shorten/lengthen the drying time as required. The load finished this am (Sat) at 730am. So having to re-process it through the freeze cycle again certainly caused some delay but as this whole thing is new to us, we are still unsure just how much difference that made.

  A few different types of Peppers with Jalapeno on the right.

We are having some friends over for Turkey Day on Monday and as the local grocers was out of turkey, Brad went over to Nanaimo to get it. He ended up getting 2 turkeys, one Butterball and one whatever non-butterball kind (I'm a Butterball fan)- so we could freeze dry the non-bb one. He cooked it yesterday and after de-boning, we put it in the fridge overnight. 

This morning, once the peppers were finished, I ran Betty through a defrost cycle (2 hours) while prepping the turkey on the trays. The turkeys were put in the Freeze Dryer -unfrozen, at 930am. 

Explanation:You can put frozen or non-frozen foods in the machine (but not together). Also there are 3 cycles to the process. Freeze, Dry and Final Dry.

If frozen the machine will then pre-cool for 30 min so you do not put frozen food in to a warm machine - before running the rest of the cycle.

If you put un-frozen food in the machine it will freeze the food for you before beginning the rest of the cycle. (Today's turkey load of almost 2kg took 3 hours to freeze in Betty)

As a general rule, for speed, wear and tear and energy savings, we will pre-freeze whenever possible. 

Because I was not expecting to have turkey to FD (freeze dry), the freezer is loaded with the next batch (chicken and butternut soups). I therefore had to put the turkey in Betty fresh and let the her freeze it for me.

Turkey going in

Look closely and you will see that I have numbered the trays (left) and written the weight of the tray itself (right) on the front of each, this makes weighing so much easier. Weight is important for rehydrating. If something weighs 100g going in and 10g coming out then you know you need to add 90g of water to reconstitute it.

We also put the bones, etc into a stock pot and have made a chicken soup which will later need to be FD'd as well. 

I made a rather handy discovery yesterday and that is that the FD trays will hold 2 Ziploc medium bags each. I therefore have filled the next batch of soups into the bags and they are ready to be cut open and put on the FD trays. An extra set of trays is on order and is expected early next week.

So that is where we are at with Betty. Still a learning curve but weeks and weeks of studying and learning from other people's mistakes really helps. As someone on FaceBook said this morning, it becomes like muscle memory and you just know what to do. I think that pretty much sums it up for the most part. 

Fortunately, should any issue arise there are several FaceBook groups which I follow where other FDers collect, collaborate and help each other solve problems.

Next up: Taking the turkey out.

Harvest Right Home Freeze Dryer

As Brad had managed to secure our delivery for today, I spent the morning preparing a bunch of peppers to freeze them in our fridge freezer so they would be ready for our expected delivery.

Peppers prepped and ready to freeze

Using pizza stands to separate the racks, off to the freezer with them.

Noah from Day & Ross was our delivery guy today, he was a very professional and polite young man. He helped Brad carry our new baby inside, which was much appreciated.

We purchased 'Betty' from Good2GoCo.ca and they were spot on.

Even including a note and complimentary gift.

Here she is: Betty Boop weighing in at 110lbs

Well FG, were you right?

We were fully anticipating and had ordered the basic vacuum pump that comes with the machine as a set. I was very concerned because apparently it is quite loud and as you can see, the machine is sitting in our very open concept living space. 

We were very pleasantly surprised to find that we had received the upgrade to the premium pump which is the quietest of the 3 pumps on offer. Someone somewhere is looking out for us. This upgrade is roughly a $1000 bonus.

It is such a significant upgrade that Brad thought I had ordered it without telling him, especially since I have been going on about how worried I am about the noise level. I did not.

Inside the chamber are 4 trays.

When you receive the unit you are required to wait 24 hours before turning it on to allow coolants etc to settle within the machine. I wiped it out with vinegar/water and allowed it to air dry, cleaned trays and door gasket and set up and put oil in the vacuum pump.... The machine was put in its spot at 2pm today.

Now we wait. I have pickleball tomorrow at 1pm..... aaaargh, I think it will be a short play day for me.

From Astronauts to Hikers, everyone can benefit from a personal Freeze Dryer. Freeze Dried foods are stored in mylar bags and will keep on a shelf for approximately 25 years!!

To give you a better perspective:

Frozen food: 2 years

Canned food: 3 years

Dehydrated food: 4 years

Freeze Dried food: 25 years

Here is a 7 minute series of short videos from Harvest Right if you are interested in learning more.

                

Past Due

Betty has not arrived, I knew by 9am that she wouldn't be coming today. Mother's intuition.

Brad called the shipper and has secured a delivery for Wed Oct 7th between 9am and 1pm.

So I was able to go to Pickleball today, after all.

All things being equal, I will be posting the details of the delivery and just what Betty is all about for Thursday am.

Shocking house work

Monday is massage day around here so Brad went off to Nanaimo and I stayed home to help Robbie get a few chores done around the house. He is a very handy dog.

1st we went to the local hardware store for some bleach and thumb tacks.

Once home we poured 5 Gallons of bleach (calculated amount) into the cistern to 'shock' it. It is preferable to do this whilst it is raining but alas, it was not. So I grabbed a garden hose (already put away for the season - of course), connected it to the outside tap and put the other end into the cistern rain pipe and turned the tap on while I poured the bleach in through 4 different pipes around the property which all lead to the cistern. This ensures the bleach is not concentrated in one area of the cistern and with the tap simulating rain to circulate the water below it kept the water moving and it all went well. 5 min job, okay maybe 10.

While in town, I ran over to a different hardware shop to get 1 piece of fiberglass insulation. The chimney (insulated pipe) is a round peg in a square hole which is cut in the roof. There was daylight and cold air coming in through there and I wanted to seal it so we don't lose too much heat over the winter. I had the neighbour come over to hold the ladder while I stuffed the box in the ceiling. We had this situation at our own home out east so I was familiar with what to do and just grateful that I didn't have to buy a whole bag of insulation.

Next, Robbie mentioned that because he is so damn hairy and drops that *$!^&$ everywhere - with the new 'baby' sitting under the open back stairs that we should sew something to stop his hair from falling all over the new machine. I chose red, because its my favourite colour, its almost Xmas and it was handy - not necessarily in that order. I then used the thumbtacks to attach it to the underside of the staircase with a mallet, because that wood is very hard.

I also washed a couple of quilts and put a more Thanksgiving/Xmas coloured one on the living room couch (again to control dog hair and also to keep the dog scent off the furniture) yes, we spoil him and allow him on the couch - well, on the washable quilt anyway.

Don't know what I was so busy with yesterday but Sunday is my housework day and I didn't get around to the bathrooms so that was another thing on my list that was done.

Our neighbour has an elderly friend who really enjoys Brad's lasagna and he has asked Brad to make her a few as they are very busy downsizing her from a 3 storey home to a 2 bedroom condo. We popped over on the first day of their garage sale and Brad noted how anxious and overwhelmed she seemed so we ran home and returned with a lasagna for her. She was so appreciative of the quick, easy meal that they would like a few more to help her get through the next few weeks while everything is being dealt with.

So Brad asked that I cook up a large package of ground beef that we had thawing in the fridge so that it would be ready to turn into lasagna when he returned from Nanaimo. I did and I believe he said he made 5 lasagnas from that batch.

In case you missed it: Today, Tuesday Oct 6 is delivery day.... no idea what time, but the 'new baby' is due. Hopefully the courier doesn't have a delay, the tracker tells us it is in Nanaimo, so.... fingers crossed.

Due date is tomorrow!!!!

You probably can't tell, but I'm super excited for the arrival of our newest baby.... It left Surrey yesterday (likely late) and according to the tracker is expected to arrive tomorrow.

 

Birthday, hike and yard work

It was Brad's Bday on the 29th, I'm sure he said he's 26 so I'll go with that.

Looking mighty FINE!

We have been anxiously prepping for our newest arrival, Yesterday (Friday) I received notice that it has shipped - finally.... and its coming from Kelowna so theoretically, that shouldn't take that long... early next week I'd bet.

Elder Cedar Hiking trail is beautiful - Stacey is cute too LOL

Big, old trees

Not sure which is older but here I am looking all the worse for wear.

Stacey in front of yet another tree

Our Pickleball group made the front page of the local paper on Wednesday and we all learned that Min (shown here in red, playing with Sue) turned 83 on Thursday. Well we play on Thursdays, so Matt generously went to the shop and picked up mini cupcakes for everyone and we had a little birthday celebration with her. I understand that Klaus (also a player) is older but he was not present when the reporter was there.

Interesting transport, technically a barge with something on it but I got a pic nonetheless.

Weeded the home gardens, front and side ready for winter.

Moved our chairs to sit in the sun and then the sun moved... typical.

Front yard is ready for winter, 

We sealed the 2 front doors which are homemade and have gaps in them with styrofoam insulation

I then draped a curtain over them (this one is upstairs) the downstairs door has a cream fabric.

I had sunflower seeds that were mailed to us years ago, for doing a survey or such and I finally planted them this summer (too late in the year apparently) but I didn't think they would take as the soil here is extremely rocky - yet they are growing, so.... we'll see. I'm sure they will either keep going all winter or regrow in spring.

Awoke this morning and my first thought was something was burning... but it is not smoke - just fog, very heavy fog.