Martin Fisher

Welcome back!

In my tiny 'corner' of the world — I was born in Elmira, NY but spent most of my life growing up near-by in north central PA — they're all recognized as meaning about the same thing, with a few relatively minor differences.

Yeah! That!

Library system here sucks, generally. Absolutely no real sous vide titles. No Rob's book. Not many other interesting new cookbooks OTHER than Vivian Howard's Deep Run Roots — there are 2 of them in the system! I'm surprised at that!

Low-Carb High-Fat

Yeah, I got the email too. They're LCHF so I've been eyeing them with desire.

Per Baldwin — for foods rapidly chilled after being cooked sous vide: "While keeping the food sealed in its plastic pouches prevents recontamination after cooking, spores of C. botulinum, C. perfringens, and B. cereus can all survive the mild heat treatment of pasteurization. Therefore, after rapid chilling, the food must either be frozen or held at • below 2.5◦C/36.5◦F for up to 90 days, • below 3.3◦C/38◦F for less than 31 days, • below 5◦C/41◦F for less than 10 days, or • below 7◦C/44.5◦F for less than 5 days to prevent spores of non-proteolytic C. botulinum from outgrowing and producing deadly neurotoxin (Gould, 1999; Peck, 1997)" Source: Sous Vide Cooking: A Review, Douglas E. Baldwin, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0526

That's the Sous Vide at Home book, not the The Complete Sous Vide Cookbook.

Lodge makes one but it's a bit bigger.

Smithey pricing is outrageous — but not as outrageous as that of Borough Furnace. Vintage pieces are often available for a pittance

I doubt I'll change much. While I prefer fresh — by far — there's no way I can stretch my food dollar (especially in terms of meat) as much as possible without utilizing the freezer (or canning.) I buy in bulk when I find bargains: 39¢ per lb. chicken leg quarters (~70 lbs.) 88¢ per lb. whole chickens (16) 49¢ per lb. whole turkeys (2) 99¢ per lb. pork shoulder roast (pork butt) (~8) 89¢ per lb. pork picnic roasts (3) $1.26 per lb. pork chops (~20 lbs.) $1.69 per lb. 80/20 ground beef Veg from the garden, etc. I do buy beef steaks and the like fresh but they're a rare treat.

Me too. Oatmeal was at the top of the list. I love oatmeal. It was popular on both sides of the family. At the family farm (paternal) they used to buy rolled oats in 50 lb. bags. Oat bran hot cereal Cream of Wheat (Farina) Cream of Buckwheat Cream of Rice Wheatena Malt-O-Meal Ralston Maltex Maypo Grits Cornmeal mush Hot Grape-Nuts Hot Shredded Wheat

I have four moka makers, Chemex (paper and stainless), French press, pour-over (Hario), Aero-Press (paper and stainless) and a couple Vietnamese phin coffee makers (all stainless steel). The Vietnamese phin doesn't require an additional filter — and makes a fairly strong cup with little standard drip grind coffee compared to some other methods. It's SO's preferred way to make coffee.

Around here cattle, lambs, pigs, etc. can be split up in any way desired and sold to anyone who wants it if it's processed by a butcher who works with USDA inspection. It's been that way for as long as I can remember.

Me too.

If it's cold/unheated, it's permitted. If it's hot or intended to be eaten in the store, it's not. In most states, anyway.

8% sales tax in this county of NY.

I don't know but almost any good church or the like is happy to provide good water — around here anyway.

I think nutrient dense foods are best but there are some shelf stable beverages that provide more nutrition that soda pop and the like, e.g. powdered milk which can be mixed with good water, shelf stable almond milk such as Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, shelf stable soy milk such as WestSoy or Silk, shelf stable cows milk such as Parmalat or Borden, etc.

Yes, nutrient-dense calories — not empty calories.

He lives in Florida. He told me that a 2 liter bottle of Coke or Dr. Pepper usually costs him $2.00 to $2.50 per bottle but he does sometimes find them on sale — 3/$5.00 or 2/$3.50

Also from the article: "Wilde argues that soda restrictions in SNAP are worth considering—not in a knee-jerk way, but rather after seeing what happens in a carefully constructed pilot project. If the results suggest that soda restrictions end up reducing the quality of participants' diets by driving them out of the SNAP program, the idea should be scrapped, he says. And if it results in people making healthier purchases, then restrictions make sense—especially if packaged with incentives to buy more vegetables and fruit. (Early evidence suggests that soda taxes, another policy tool for improving diets, might be effective as well.)" Seems reasonable.

From the article: "No, low-income people aren't quaffing huge amounts of soda on the taxpayer dime." Some folks certainly are. One of my friends is on SSI disability. He receives about ~$140 in SNAP — $194 being the most a single person can receive. He spends $50 to $60 per month on Coke and Dr. Pepper, as well as several dollars on junk food. He's CONSTANTLY complaining about weight gain and limited funds for good food — and he does know how to cook!

Yes it is. e.g. Mixing infant formula and Coke doesn't strike me as a good idea.

No need for you to be sorry. I'm the one who's sorry — sorry I live in Chemung county!