Posts by — TreasureGift

Going fridgless, to most people would be paramount to going topless, many people couldn’t imagine living their lives without having a 19+/- cubic foot energy eating, leftover storing, inefficient cold box sitting in their kitchen. Now days refrigerators do so much, in my old life, I worked for a big box electronics store, the one with the blue shirts and the little yellow price tag, they were starting to put computers in the door, not just electronics, but a real computer screen that could access the internet and help you with your shopping and let you watch TV on your fridge. (more…)

My hubby and I live 100% off grid, we have lived this way since Dec 2007, we get a lot of questions about how we live, about the costs of living this way and such. I ran across this article on line a little bit ago and found that it answers many of the questions I receive. (more…)

Unlimited users but limited data

From this month new Verizon Wireless customers kissed goodbye to unlimited data plans. But what effect does this have on existing customers? Can off-grid people live without unlimited data?
Verizon planned to eliminate the unlimited data plan for months. But how much data do most people really need?

Neilsen recently published data that shows that the average Android user in the first quarter of 2011 used 582MB of data per month. The average iPhone user was close behind, using 492MB of data per month. This is about a quarter of the 2GB of data allotment per month that is offered under current usage-based plans. However off-grid users tend to have heavier traffic. (more…)

Hanging to dry...

It’s funny how your perspectives change as you grow. When I was a kid, I used to be embarrassed because my mom hung our laundry out on the line to dry. I hated the smell of line dried clothes, sheets and towels, to me that meant we were poor, we couldn’t afford a dryer. All of my classmates had soft, fabric softener fresh smelling clothes, our clothes, towels and sheets were stiffer and to me were just second rate.

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easy no-knead bread

I love making and baking bread, who doesn’t enjoy eating fresh, homemade bread hot from the oven? The problem is the time it takes to make, the mixing, the kneading, the rising, the kneading again, the shaping, the rising again… it just takes too much time and attention.

About a year ago, I started seeing books and recipes for no-knead breads, it looks almost too good to be true, this method makes what is often referred to as “artisan breads”, the kind that cost a small fortune in the specialty bakeries, who knew how easy these breads were to make? (more…)

I like rocket stoves, these are usually small, usually portable, mini-cooking-heating devices that are very efficient. You can use twigs instead of larger pieces of wood, these tend to be safer since you aren’t using a lot of fuel (twigs) and it goes out if you aren’t there to feed the wood into the stove. I have seen a lot of different methods of building a rocket stove, from simple bricks without mortar to very elaborate and expensive rigs. (more…)

Dirt-Cheap Survival Retreat

There are people who have seemingly unlimited funds to purchase whatever goodies they want. This book is not written for them, though they could glean some great ideas. It’s really written for the rest of us, those who have limited incomes but still want to go off grid and live comfortably. (more…)

With food prices going up and up with no end in sight, some of us have already started buying extra food to put away for hard times, and believe me, hard times can come at any time for many reasons, from weather incidents to terrorist (domestic and foreign) attacks. It can be something as simple as losing your income because of being fired, laid off, cut hours, downsizing and such. Wouldn’t it be nice to have one less worry, one less thing competing for your hard earned money? Well if you have a store of food, then you can spend your money on fuel, mortgage or rent, insurance and such instead of worrying about where your next meal will come from or having to choose between buying groceries or paying for other things. Food is expensive, buying in bulk is usually less expensive, but you have to have the money to pay upfront for your bulk purchase. I have learned of a place where you can buy foods in bulk and in #10 cans on the cheap.

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I have the opportunity to talk to people about storing foods from time to time, especially since we are off grid and do not use refrigeration very often, we have a couple of small dorm sized fridges but rarely plug them up, I also have access to my neighbor’s refrigerator. I have heard more than one conversation where people confuse dehydrated food with freeze dried foods. They are in fact, two different things. (more…)