My husband found out yesterday that his co-worker was just confirmed as having H1N1. I immediately went into a tirade of questions: How long has he been sick? What did he touch in the workplace? Was he sick before he left work?
My husband assured me that he has been extra vigilant in keeping his hands clean and not touching his face, long before anyone had a chance of exposure. He hasn’t even been in the same building with this person for three weeks.

But my mind has been in a panic ever since.

Ironically, our family has been sick for a week, because of something I failed to do at church last Sunday. We carefully cleaned our hands and the bench, but I still neglected to protect my family. You see, the little kids in the pew behind us had a mild cough. And my daughter managed to snatch a toy helicopter from them. Normally I’m not concerned; their family is also quite conscientious about keeping things clean, and I know they wouldn’t come to church if they were really sick. It shouldn’t have been a problem, except that my toddler still tends to put things in her mouth.

Wham. The common cold virus at work.

Thank goodness it was just a cold. My daughter had a runny nose for a week, but hasn’t done too badly otherwise. (Would you believe that this is the sickest she has ever been?) I had a little cough and a scratchy throat. My mother ended up in bed for a few days, and my husband got the worst of it. He is still struggling while the rest of us have mostly recovered.

Fear of the swine flu has kept us from going out much this year. Well, there are other reasons, too, and we really prefer being at home, anyway. But it has kept me from attending church as often as I’d like. I really need the spiritual recharge, now more than ever. So why can’t I use my education to overcome the risks, and go get what our family needs most every week?

After a day of my thoughts racing over exposure risks, basic protection procedures, and additional precautions I could take, I finally realized what I hadn’t done.

I hadn’t asked if the co-worker was okay.

Have I uncovered some deep character flaw in myself? No, I don’t think so; normally my first thought is for the person in question, before thinking about how it affects me and my family. But current circumstances have affected my priorities so much that I had forgotten what else was important. I’m thankful that I realized what was happening to my thought processes before it really did change my way of thinking entirely. Of course, my immediate family is most important to me. But I need to be careful not to let problems reduce my circle of concern so much that I begin to fail to recognize the needs of my neighbors, as well.

The economy crisis has definitely blurred the line between need and greed. At the very least it has brought it closer to ourselves; many of us have not prepared and have become more selfish out of necessity, not out of lack of sympathy for our fellow man. Little did I suspect that a pandemic could have much the same effect, and intensify attitudes that have already reduced the amount of selflessness in our society.

I’m glad the warning came to me in time. Preparedness has become even more vitally important to protect our well-being; not only physical, but emotional and spiritual, as well.

I’ll be heading back to church on Sunday, this time more aware of others’ needs in addition to my own.

Update: The co-worker is at home and doing well. Knowing the symptoms to watch for removes most of the danger.

In order to eat what you store, you must store what you eat.

How many days of the week do you eat meat? How much of that can you store? What if the power goes out? How will you save all the meat that you have frozen?

That’s a lot of tuna fish, canned chicken, canned ham, TVP, and dried beef in your basement. And all of that can be expensive, too. If you want to store a pound of meat for every day of the year, that is 365 pounds of meat. Whew!

I’ll say again: In order to eat what you store, you must store what you eat.

What we need is an economical way to store a variety of meat that isn’t over-processed and tastes like an aluminum can – or SPAM.

The answer: Bottle your own!

Buy your meat in bulk when it is on sale or markdown, bottle it yourself, and only use what you need. You won’t need a lot of freezer space, and you can reuse your bottles. It is both economical and practical. You can bottle nearly any kind of meat, except for processed things like hot dogs and turkey ham. Don’t worry about rotation, either – the shelf life is three years and you can rotate an entire year’s worth by using only two jars per week. This isn’t SPAM we’re talking about, or other processed meats with excessive salt and things like sugar, msg, and other miscellaneous parts (eww). It tastes nothing like canned chicken from the store, nor is it like the funky dry beef chunks in canned stews. This is real chicken, ham, pork, and beef that you’ve selected yourself. The meat is tender, juicy, fully cooked, and fantastic. You won’t need to worry about defrosting it, and it works for a last-minute meal, too.

I first learned of this from Wendy DeWitt of Everything Under The Sun. I suggest reading through her instructions, as well. She has great ideas on how to store, rotate, and use the meat you bottle. She deserves credit for many of the instructions you see here.

You must use a pressure canner (not cooker) to bottle meats. Have your gauge tested at your local County Extension Office every year to be sure of safety and accuracy. You can also ask them at what pressure to can your meat, depending on your altitude. A good canner is a wise investment that will last forever. Check your canner and stove manuals before trying this on a glass-top stove!!! (I’d like to note that both Wendy and I have glass-top stoves and have done this with no problems. BE CAREFUL and do not slide your canner around on the stove; carefully put your cold and empty canner on the element and do not move it at all. After removing your bottles and waiting for the canner to cool completely, carefully lift it off – it is very heavy – to empty the water. This is no guarantee for your stove’s safety, however, so I wanted to provide this warning!)

A pint bottle will hold 1 pound of meat, a quart will hold 2 pounds. Invest in some good jars when you first start canning and reuse them; old or cheap jars can crack under the pressure needed.

You don’t need to cook your meat before you bottle it, nor will you add any water.
(The exception is ground meat, which turns out better if you brown it first, then pack it in water.)

Wash your jars and rings. You don’t need to sterilize them.

In a small pan, boil the lids for about 2 minutes to soften the seal. You’ll notice how I switch direction on every other lid to prevent them from sticking together so much.

Put your raw meat into clean jars. Fill jars with ½” headspace. Add ¼ to ½ tsp of salt (no other spices).

Make sure the rim of the jar is completely clean before you put the hot lid on, and put the ring on finger tight.

Pour about three inches of water into your canner and place the tray inside. Place your jars in the canner on the tray.

Screw down the canner lid, making sure the top is even, and turn your stove on high. Don’t put the weight on the pressure valve until steam has spouted out of the valve for about 10 minutes. This expresses the air out of the jars and the canner. After venting the air, put the weight onto the pressure valve or close the pepcock (depending on your type of canner) to start building pressure.

When the gauge gets to the correct pressure, begin timing 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts for all meat except for fish, which is 90 minutes for pints and 105 minutes for quarts. You will need to start turning down the heat to keep the pressure stable and may need to continue turning it down while it is cooking. Never leave your canner during this time! When the pressure drops or increases, a vacuum effect causes the juices in the jar to be pulled out. Keep the gauge at the correct pressure. Be prepared in advance so you do not have to leave the room!

At the end of the processing time you will turn the heat completely off. Don’t move the canner or touch the valves; just let the pressure go down on its own. When it’s back to zero, release the pressure valve (or remove the weight), take off the lid, put the jars on the counter away from cool drafts and let them cool completely. You’ll hear the beautiful plinking sound of success when the lids seal. If a jar doesn’t seal, you can just refrigerate it for later use. (Have some bread or buns and some barbecue sauce handy – you’ll want to break one open even if they all seal!) After they are cool, remove the ring, wipe the bottles clean, and put them into your pantry or back in the box for storage.

This is my beef after it is done. I just used beef stew meat for this, and used boneless skinless chicken breasts for the chicken you see pictured. This meat is so good that we look forward to the diet days that we get to use it!

1. I went through all of my inserts and clipped any coupon under $1 (the store’s limit for tripling) that I thought I might like to use. I saved larger coupons and other deals for another time, unless it was important to match it with a sale this week.
2. I printed out applicable store coupons. A Full Cup is a great resource for this.
3. I sorted the coupons by store sections. I didn’t take the time to write up a detailed list, nor worry about store prices at this point.
4. Arranged for babysitting! For big trips like this, it is best to not have to worry about the kids, unless they are old enough to help.
5. I emptied my truck and loaded a large cooler with a couple of blocks of blue ice inside.
6. I ate lunch right before I went into the store.
7. I first picked up everything I wanted that had a limit of one per transaction and placed it into my cart.
8. I had a raincheck so I picked up those items next; I had one other coupon that I thought there might be a problem with, so I got those items, too.
9. I shopped one store section at a time, deciding what would be a good deal (or what I was willing to spend) until I had twenty to forty coupons to use with the items in my cart.
10. I had three sections of coupons; ones for items that were in the cart, one for coupons that I decided not to use, and one for coupons I hadn’t shopped for yet.
11. I went to the checkout, starting with one of each of the “one per transaction” items, and as mentioned above, added all my “problem” items to the first transaction. I then added more items until I had twenty coupons to triple. I made sure the rain check was on top and pointed that out to the cashier before he rang my order up. With a small transaction, it went quickly and I didn’t hold the line up.
12. I informed the management (who knows me well) that I’d be returning for the cart that still had items in it, and took my purchased items out to the car. The cooler came in handy here; I always have one in the car, but being prepared with blue ice inside meant I could relax and not worry about rushing. (I still saved the frozen section for last.)
13. Again, shopping another isle or two, I would add items to my cart. I’d then do another transaction, remembering to add the “one per transaction” items to the order first, then adding items until I got to twenty coupons to triple. Another trip to the car (good exercise and time to grab a sip of a cold drink) and another return to the store. I did this six times total.
14. About selecting items for a transaction: If you expect overage on an item, be sure to make up for that with the cost of other items. It is always best not to draw attention to the overage by ending up with a negative total at the end! Also, if you are stacking a store coupon with a manufacturer’s coupon on one item (this is the right way to use the coupons and most stores honor this) try to be sure you have another item that isn’t using a coupon. If you end up with more coupons than you have items, registers sometimes have trouble with it, even though you are using them properly. One answer to this is a coupon that is for two items; that gives you an extra item in the transaction! Of course, you can always add items that you need to buy without a coupon. (gasp!)

The cashiers and managers were cheering me on, and the customers behind me were impressed, rather than impatient due to someone trying to use a hundred coupons at once. Smaller transactions are always the key. Managers rarely care that you come back through the line for more transactions, and are more willing to help with problems if you aren’t holding up the line forever and frustrating other customers. So whenever you are using a lot of coupons, split them up! Allow plenty of time so you can have a relaxed trip, and allow other customers to go ahead of you while you work with multiple transactions. Being prepared can make for a fun and rewarding grocery shopping day!