Bare Minimum Pantry Supplies for Black-Outs

The topic of emergency preparedness can be quite overwhelming, over the next few weeks I’ll be covering different aspects of how individuals and families can be more prepared for some emergencies. Emergency preparedness is a practical, low cost insurance policy. Just like car, home, or renters insurance, we may never need it, but that doesn’t …

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Musty Odor in a Home

musty odors

Dear Home Ec 101,Here’s my dilemma. The house is clean, but there is a fusty, musty odor, like a large dog is secretly living in our house. We have an older, small house with the kitchen being basically open to everything. Sometimes I think it is cooking odors that are being trapped in the rest …

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How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken, a Knife Skills Tutorial

Heather says:

Why would anyone want to cut up a whole chicken? It’s a useful skill to have, I tend to buy whatever is on sale and if whole chickens are on sale that week, then I load up. By buying a whole chicken, I have not restricted myself to one form of cooking or another. Additionally some people in this house are white meat fans, while others prefer the dark and good luck finding chicken breasts at a reasonable price on their own.

If you purchase whole chickens, come home and cut them up, they can be frozen in pieces. However, do not thaw the chicken, cut it up, and refreeze. That’s a big no on the safety meter.

As some readers of Home Ec 101 are vegetarian and others read their feeds first thing in the morning, I’m putting a cut, just so no one is surprised with pictures of raw chicken. You’re welcome.

Also, give my stepdaughter a big round of applause, she was a trooper and helped me take the pictures for this tutorial. It’s not every teen who’s willing to hang out with their stepmother over a chicken carcass, you know.

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Is Anyone Else Tired of Meaningless Terms in Food?

Heather says: As I peruse discussions on nutrition and “real food” there are two terms I’m struck with again and again “chemicals” and “natural.” Without context neither mean much of anything when it comes to food. NaCl, C12H22O11, H2O <— Ooh scary look chemicals! Those are the chemical formulas for table salt, sugar, and water. Chemical …

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Sticky Soda Residue

Do you have a nice sticky, stinky mess in the bottom of your car's cupholders? Here's how to clean up the old sticky soda residue for good.

Dear Home-Ec 101: This isn’t exactly a Home-Ec question but I figured you would know the answer. I have two cupholders in the front seat of my SUV. They are odd shaped, bigger than most normal sized cups, but too small to hold something the size of a Big Gulp for example. So when I …

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Emergency Water Conservation: How To Hand Wash Dishes

Dear Home Ec 101,Here’s a question for those of us in Nashville who are conserving water due to the flood, what’s the best way to conserve water while washing dishes? I know the dishwasher is out. Should we wash dishes individually, or do the whole fill-up-the-sink-with-water thing? Does that really get dishes clean? It always …

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Give Ladybug Imposters their Walking Papers

Dear Home Ec 101, Every year my home is filled with ladybugs. Well, I’m not really sure if they are even ladybugs, but they sure look like them. Could they be ladybirds? Whatever they are, I want them out of my house. How do I get rid of the infestation? Signed, Crawling in Crawford Heather …

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Food Labels, Controversy, and MSG

Heather says: Yesterday’s conversation on high fructose corn syrup is a nice segue today’s look at food labeling and MSG. While I understand that cost and profits are the bottom line for many companies, I refuse to take the cynical view that all companies are out to hurt people. I believe there may be some misguided motives …

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Dishing on High Fructose Corn Syrup

Heather says: I live under a rock. Well, that’s not true at all let me rephrase it. When we moved from Minnesota to my home state of South Carolina, we decided to not pay for cable or satellite TV to save a little money after the expense of moving and buying a home. We live …

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