Strategic Living for a Joyful, Self Reliant and Healthy Life

Eating Old and Expired Food

Is the outdated and expired food in my cupboard safe to eat? Do I really need to throw away food that is past it’s “best buy” date? These are age-old questions that are further aggravated by the fact the most food pantries and food banks will not accept outdated canned and packaged goods.

I first wrote about this dilemma back in 2015 (link below) and to the best of my knowledge, nothing much has changed. I still stand by my premise that best-buy and sell-by dates are mostly a CYA imposed by food producers.

There are some exceptions of course: meats, deli products, certain dairy products, and tomato-based canned goods to name just a few. I also know from personal experience that packaged dry goods such as cereals and crackers can easily become rancid and inedible over time. All the more reason why proper food storage conditions and proper re-packaging are necessary if you want your food to be viable for years if not decades.

All of this and more is covered in my eBook, Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage which, for a limited time, you can get for free on Amazon.

Low-Carb, Keto-Friendly Bread from Scratch

By Gaye Levy Leave a Comment

One of life’s simple comforts is fresh homemade bread. Alas, if you follow a low-carb or keto lifestyle, your options are limited. Most recipes (and I have tried a ton of them) are eggy, tasteless slabs of cake-like bread. In my search for low-carb bread perfection, I finally stumbled upon a pre-made mix that I could dump in the bread maker, add some fresh ingredients, and voila: the perfect loaf.

That was not to last. Bob’s Red Mill discontinued their low-carb bread mix and for all intents and purposes, I was out of luck until I could develop a recipe of my own. My goal was to create a tasty, low-carb bread from scratch. After many failed attempts, my mission was accomplished. Or so I thought.

In May I moved to my mountain home, elevation 5000 feet and oops, my tried and true recipe was hardly the beautiful loaf I had become accustomed to. I went back to the drawing board and after another round of testing, I am finally ready to share my Low-Carb Bread with you, including high altitude adjustments. The recipe is a complete, from scratch recipe and it is delicious.

Warning: your mouth is going to water.

Independence and Freedom: Don’t Go Down Without a Fight

By Gaye Levy 18 Comments

What exactly is Independence Day? Do we even know any more? Reluctantly, I sat down at my computer and made a feeble attempt to put some thoughts together on the relevance of Independence Day, then and now.

Let me explain.

As I expressed to my followers on the Strategic Living Facebook page, I have gone underground for a few months, isolating myself from society and COVID-19 while at the same time absorbing the news of the day and trying to make sense of it.

The reality is that as prepared as I was and am with physical products and life-skills, I was not at all mentally prepared for the discourse of 2020: the impeachment hearings, global pandemic, death of George Floyd, and unmitigated riots and anarchy. To say that I am in a funk is, to put it mildly.

When I finally shared this publicly, I heard a collective sigh of relief from others who were either afraid to speak up, or lacking a safe platform in which to do so.

So here we are today, on Independence Day in the United States. This year it is a day without celebrations, picnics, BBQs, and fireworks. Many of us are self-isolating for fear of getting sick ourselves or infecting others. Some are afraid to leave their homes lest they get car-jacked or their home is invaded while they are out. Fear rules the day.

I don’t know about you, but this aging prepper and her husband are frustrated and depressed. We don’t know what to believe and which expert to listen to. Freedoms that we have long considered our right as citizens appear anything but. And sadly, we realize that this may be the last year ever that July 4th will be recognized as the day the Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Knowing that this may be the last time we can publicly glorify our independence, I would like to reflect on the unique experiment we call the United States of America.