I’ve been working hard to get back to eating basic or real foods. I got rid of oleo margarine and gone to butter. One advantage of margarine is that is all chemical so even most bugs won’t eat it. I’m not sure it can really rot or decompose!

Butter can rot and it can decompose. But it is also very easy to preserve. The process takes a bit of time, but it’s easy to do and it will save you a ton of money.

First butter has long been “rendered” and still is in India where it’s called ghee. Basically butter is heated to the melting point and all of the solids (Milk fats) are skimmed off which results in “clarified butter” that you dip your lobster in. This “ghee” is very stable and does not rot even in high temps. In fact it was used by pioneers of the USA in the early 1800′s. But you must keep it in the coolest darkest place available like any oil. I’m sure your home has many better places to store it than a Conestoga Wagon crossing the plains in early summer.

So on to bottled butter. You will need butter, canning jars lids and bands. A canning “Kit” that contains a funnel, lid lifter, Jar lifter and a few other doodads will be a great help also you will use them again canning.

1. Clean the jars: A run through the dish washer is fine. I use a roasting pan for sanitizing the jars in an oven at 250 degrees F. Place a glass marble in each jar. Turn off heat but leave in oven till butter is ready

2. Place canning lids and all utensils in a large pot and Boil to sanitize.

3. Melt butter and bring to a slow boil over very low heat. For 5 pounds of butter have 6 pint jars ready.

4. I  use a ladle to fill my jars. You will want to leave some space. I fill mine up to the neck of the jar. About an inch of spacing. Or if you are using a canning funnel a bit (1/8 in.) below the funnel’s bottom edge.

5. Place lid from the other boiled/sanitized pot on jar and screw on band.

6. Walk away and check your email and you will start to hear the jars pop indicating a seal.

7. About every 5  minutes give the jar a shake. This is where the marble comes in. The marble will work to to break up the fats and distribute them evenly. Same concept as shaking a can of spray paint.

8. Now you have bottled Butter! Store in a cool dark spot and it should be good for at least 3 years. Though archeologists have found “Bog Butter” in Ireland and Scotland that was edible from 500-1000  years ago.

Please stop by Preparedness Pro and give a thank you to Kellene. She’s the one who taught me, and gave me the confidence to try it out.

Author: Jamie

Jamie is a US Army veteran and an expert on the subject of self reliance & preparation on a shoestring budget. To learn more from Jamie’s vast experience, you can visit her blog titled My Adventures in Self Reliance.

At Grab the Apple we often talk about the importance of having a certain attitude towards life in general. Preparedness is not just about having X amount of gear and supplies and taking Y classes and courses. Those are important, even may be crucial at some point, but to really squeeze all the juice out of preparedness  you have to incorporate it to your daily life.

You see, its not what you buy or even what you do, its much deeper than that: Its how your head is wired and process everything in the first place.

Just a few examples of what I mean.

This Christmas I received his scarf from some relatives in Spain I’m meeting for the first time.

Apart from the gift itself, reestablish family ties in other countries is a pretty good idea I encourage everyone to put into practice.  You might be surprised by how welcoming and affective they can be. Family is important, and they can help each other during hard times and having family in other countries is and extra advantage.

The first thing I noticed about this winter scarf was the color. See how its almost cammo? I’m sure that’s not what the designers at Zara had in mind, but it makes no difference. I don’t care if its made by Versace, the different shades of brown work almost as cammo and that’s good enough for me. I can wear it to keep warm and as a bonus this is something you can spread out and wrap around your head and neck like a piece of camouflage.

Second,  the material.  Its wool and that means it will keep you warm even if wet, so that’s another advantage.

While someone else sees just an ugly winter scarf someone with a different mindset sees these things.

I got these as a Christmas gift for my oldest son.

While the political correct crowd gets their panties all twisted by the idea, I think toy guns are a great gift for kids.

Now, why buy just any toy gun? What I did was buy some heavy metal ones, with working mechanisms and designs similar to real guns so that, even if just scaled down toys, the muscle memory and feel is somewhat the same of the real thing. The pump action actually pumps and the revolver has a double action mechanism with a trigger pull that isn’t that bad.

The day when my son handles real firearms for the first time, the feeling of a DA revolver and pump action shotgun wont be entirely strange to him.

This is a product I found recently in a supermarket and it caught my attention.  Its  condensated milk in a metal toothpaste type tube. Maybe you have something similar in your local supermarket.

Condensated Sugared milk, has lots of calories which is good for an emergency food. The tube provides 700 calories give or take, as well as protein and fat.

Pretty cool for something that has over a year worth of shelf life and can be eaten out of the tube, not to mention mixing it with water to well, make milk of course.

It’s a serious contestant to my other favorite survival supermarket food, tuna in a metal pouch.

Such a tube with peanut butter would be neat as well.

Hope you guys started the year well. Take care.

Fernando Aguirre

Join the forum discussion on this post