Cooking with oils, both vegetable and animal fat, at the Hemlocks and during hard times

       Bottom line, we humans can do it if we have to. In the meantime there is plenty of cooking oil stocked up, but what happens when and if we run out?

            Now for animal fat cooking, I still don't know the best way to collect and store animal fat, so I will just have to figure it out if the time comes. I figure most animals I eat will be low on fat, too; at least during hard times. Said another way, vegetable type oil is maybe a better option in the long run? Who knows?  As always, it will depend on the situation.

            The best animal fat guess right now is to collect the liquid version as best you can, and pour it in some container, and use it before it goes rancid. If that sounds inefficient, I think it is, too.  Maybe we can get some fat oil out of boiling carcasses, too. Since the Hemlocks has locally made electricity, consider putting some of it in a refrigerated or frozen mode, if you can get it a priority over the other things that need refrigeration or freezing, too. After that, one can even store it in the underground overhang areas, around 54 F.

            Now for vegetable oils, humans have been using them for thousands of years. The more recent vegetable oils one gets at the grocery store are more high tech produced, but there are older more low tech production options, too; and are what the future Hemlocks' people will probably have to do, again if times get hard. There are several posts on these subjects, too; and are included for one to best figure things out. (Sorry, just these posts are local, but the ideas are all in this post.)

            Now for vegetable oil info. Generally, one gets it out of garden seeds.  At the Hemlocks one just harvests the locally grown seeds, crushes them (like with the mortar and pestle, the manual grinder, or even a hammer or rock), then boils this mash with water (we have plenty of solar power if we need to use it, plus there is plenty of wood), and then one skims off the oil floating on the top, and uses it. Now the remaining mash should go to a fertilizer use or even growing worms for fishing bait. While it sounds easy, it is still a lot of work.

            And then there is always barter, which is always a two way street. Maybe you have a person who is good at this?

            Last, I looked at the shelf life of seed sources for vegetable oil, like peanuts (around 3 to 6 months shelf life for raw peanuts), and decided on all the aforementioned in this discussion as a better way to go, if times get hard. Like I will just stockpile already made cooking oil, which has a longer shelf life than the peanut seed sources, in general. And then, again, if times get hard, then I will just make it from my local seeds.  That nobody grows peanuts around here suggests this might be a good decision.

            And as to the shelf life of already processed and stored vegetable oil, ignore the shelf life suggestions and use your own nose and eyes during hard time situations. Obviously, if it smells bad, don't use it I would say. And if you choose to discard it, consider using it for other things, like lubrication, or fertilizer, worm beds, etc.

            And there are many more garden seeds that can be used besides peanuts, if we choose to do so. Now keep in mind, some of these seeds are also needed for the garden, too, like future growth.

            Hope does spring eternal.

            And things will sort out, in the end. And thanks to human efforts, I also think.