Survival Garden Seeds Seed Storage Organizer Review

May 4, 2025 Sarah

A few weeks back, I saw the Survival Garden Seeds Seed Storage Organizer at the Walmart in Martinsburg, WV. I walked away from it, but it kept calling to me.

The closest Walmart in Charlestown, WV didn’t carry it in the garden section, but I was coming back through Martinsburg the other night, and caved for it.

Most years, my seeds sit in a mess, in zip-top bags, in a random storage bin. This isn’t very efficient. I rarely know what I have, and have to dig through it all.

The Description:

Seed Organizer – Organize your seeds in one safe space using this portable seed storage kit. You can also save seeds from your garden harvest for breeding purposes or create a personal seed vault for future stability and self-reliance.
Perfectly Sized – Fits most conventional seed packet sizes. The handy file dividers help you easily find your seeds for planting and organization. The dividers have seed-saving instructions for major vegetable, herb, and flower varieties.
Paper Envelopes – Blank paper envelopes have plenty of room for adding details on variety, growing conditions, or any other notes a gardener might want to keep track of for future growing seasons. Perfect for any gardener who wants to select traits for their future crops or keep a record of what has worked in the past.
Seed Protection – The sturdy waterproof, rodent-proof container keeps your seeds safe and secure from moisture or pest damage.

Does it do all this?

It’s a nicely made plastic ammo can with a handle. The side locks down, and like ammo cans, it can take two locks (hardcore seed protection?). I hope not to have to test it for rodent protection, but at the same time, it’s good to know that, in theory, it is safer. It is also black and will block light from getting to the seeds inside.

It comes with 20 seed envelopes for seeds you save, with plenty of room to take notes. It also comes with 15 dividers labeled for the major types of seeds (Onions, Greens, Flowers, etc.). There are 12 labeled and 3 you can mark on your own. My only argument is that they didn’t have dividers for beans, peas, or corn. That was odd.

The box has 5 foam blocks that can be used if you haven’t filled it up with seed packets to keep it all tidy. Think of it as a bookshelf end—your seeds won’t fall over. If your box is full, store or toss the blocks.

Yes, it works well. Setting up and getting your seeds all pointing up and in order is easy. It’s also easy to grab and take outside, then bring back in, after you do your seeding. I feel its price is decent enough for what it is.

I would suggest that if you are storing open seed packets, partially used, seal the packets with Scotch tape, so the seeds don’t get shaken out by accident. It’s an excellent policy of mine to check that I have done this every year. Because the truth is, no matter what seed companies tell you, most seeds will germinate for years, as long as you store them out of the sun/heat/cold. They might also not germinate at a high rate, but you will get enough for most uses. That’s a real issue with seeds – you only need a couple of plants, but get 75 seeds? No need to throw them away! You can also, every year, go through your seeds and share last year’s in case you want to buy fresh seeds or new varieties.

FTC Discalimer: This post contaisn affilate links.

~Sarah

The Minecrafter’s Cookbook: Dirt Block Fudge

April 12, 2024 Sarah

Alistaire picked out The Minecrafter’s Cookbook (An Unofficial Cookbook) at the library because what kid doesn’t love Minecraft? He went through the book and picked out a couple of recipes to cook for culinary purposes. The book was published in 2018, so is six years old, but still relevant for fans of the game. It has lots of choices, and many full color photos of the food.

The dessert he loved was the Dirt Block Fudge, on pages 62-63. It’s a very easy recipe with just three ingredients. Even young children can do this recipe with an adult’s assistance. And they will enjoy it! It’s sugar. What’s not to love about that when young?

You can swap out the chocolate chips for what you like: butterscotch, mint, dark chocolate, white, and even use different flavoring extracts for a wide range of easy fudge.

Dirt Block Fudge

Ingredients:

3 cups milk chocolate chips (you’ll need 1½ bags, 11.5 ounces each)
14-ounce can of condensed sweetened milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Cut parchment paper to fit an 8″x8″ pan. Set aside.

Add the chocolate chips and milk to a microwaveable bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stirring with a spatula, and repeat as needed until the chips melt.

Stir in the vanilla.

Scrape the fudge into the prepared pan, smoothing it out on top.

Place in refrigerator and chill for an hour.

Take out and cut into bite-size pieces. Store covered in the refrigerator.

~Sarah

Recipes · Reviews

The No-Fuss Bread Machine Cookbook: Soft Egg Bread

March 7, 2024 Sarah

I recently saw a cookbook that grabbed my attention: The No-Fuss Bread Machine Cookbook: Hands-Off Recipes For Perfect Homemade Bread. It’s been out for a few years, so I am glad I came across it.

When life gets busy, our bread machine is my savior. Putting the ingredients in, walking away while I homeschool the boys, and working on the homestead are everything. Come back 4 hours later to a perfect loaf of bread, especially with how our house runs chilly in winter. It really makes lunch that much simpler.

I was very excited to have many new recipes to try. The book is straightforward to follow and offers three sizes of loaves for each recipe so that you can use a 1-pound, 1½-pound, or 2-pound machine.

This cookbook has many bread options, from regular bread to spice bread, fruit bread, cheese bread, vegetable bread, holiday bread, and even how to start sourdough bread in your bread machine.

I love getting inspired. And it’s just what I needed as winter slides into spring, and I am so busy.

The recipe I chose to try is a rich egg bread, which is very indulgent. Very soft indeed. This recipe alone made going thru this cookbook worth it.

Soft Egg Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup milk*
5 Tbsp butter*
3 eggs*
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp fine sea salt
4 cups all-purpose or bread flour (480 grams)
1½ tsp bread machine or quick-rise yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients as listed or in the order your bread machine calls for.

Set for Basic/White cycle and medium crust.

Once baked, remove it promptly and let it cool on a wire rack.

Store in a bread bag.

*We use a Zojirushi bread machine, which has a preheating cycle. If your bread machine doesn’t do this:

Milk at 80-90*. The butter melted and cooled down. Eggs at room temperature.

Makes one 2-pound loaf.

~Sarah

Homesteading · Recipes · Reviews

Great Depression Era Recipes: My Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

December 10, 2023January 28, 2024 Sarah

I know as a child I saw the original book of My Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (and it was an antique by then):

My Mom had friends who were off-grid homesteaders who lived up in the foothills. Living their best early 80’s hippy lifestyle. She was also friends with elder ladies who had vast cookbook collections from their youth. These visits were boring for me, so I’d wander in and sit and read the books, that seemed to be so old and quaint to my young mind.

It was the first of its kind. A modern cookbook with actual full ingredient lists, cooking times and temperatures. That might seem odd, but if you try your hand at making vintage recipes you run up against this. The author assumes you know how long to bake a cake, or that you should sweeten berries for a pie, without listing it in the ingredients.

It was ring bound inside so you could add in new pages if needed. And more so, you could send away by mail for more pages to add in, should you have your own recipes to add in. And it had cut out tabs so you could easily wander to where you wanted. A little filing cabinet if you will.

Just like the later Red Plaid cookbooks that would follow, this was the Great Grandmother that set the path. It was modern, it was based in Home Ec Science. And it came out in the Great Depression, when the homemaker didn’t have the ability to waste money. She needed to be able to feed her family, and do it well. See here for a neat history on this cookbook.

In 2018 it was reproduced as a paperback with a new cover:

I picked up a like-new copy of it online. It is a mid-size trade style book. It’s got all the pages as the original, just not in the same format as the old version. Since it’s bound, you cannot add in pages and it doesn’t have the index tabs. That’s OK. It’s still usable.

Now then, these are not necessarily fancy recipes, but these came from an era when many ingredients were just not there for people to buy. And beyond that, the concept of the modern grocery store was 2 decades away. (It isn’t that grocery stores didn’t exist, they sure did but they were tiny compared to after World War II and the Baby Boom. Add in cars to haul food, a good economy, and things like grocery carts added to stores stocking more and more ingredients.)

Some of the spellings are also interesting to note. An example, while reading the cookbook, I kept seeing “sirup” called for. It was in relation to corn syrup and maple. I had no idea that in 2015 the USDA got involved in it and finally declared that syrup was to have a y, and not be spelled sirup anymore. Huh. No idea. It had taken 144 years to get there in fact, and even in 1959 it was changed in the Webster Dictionary, people kept using the old version. That was a rabbit hole I went down for an hour researching.

Another is “sweet milk” which means fresh milk, in the era before ultra pasteurized milk that can sit in stores for 3 months. It just meant it hadn’t soured yet (which happened quickly then).

There’s also far less processed food, and people were eating organ meats still. Waste not, want not.

So let’s get cooking.

I of course picked the one recipe that was missing the baking time. Hahahaha….but I figured it out. I was halfway through making the recipe when I realized that this one lone recipe had no pan size or time. Oops. I looked at the other cake recipes and figured I could match the time for it. I wrote the recipe up to reflect my changes.

The cake and frosting were paired together in the book in Chapter IV (four) on pages 6 to 7.

It’s an interesting match. The cake itself isn’t very “spiced”, the frosting is def very coffee flavored. If you didn’t like coffee, I would just leave it out and use more half-and-half instead of water.

I liked the cake, but as with many Great Depression-era recipes, it isn’t an amazing recipe. These were everyday recipes, simple to make. Nothing too scary flavor wise.

Spice Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups cake flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly oil an 8″x8″ glass baking pan.

Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add in the sour cream, mix in. Add the egg, salt and vanilla, beat in.

Add in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder, beat in till smooth.

Spread evenly into the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes and check. I baked ours for about 35 minutes, till the top was golden and a toothpick came out clean from the center with crumbs. Check often and don’t over bake.

Let cool fully on a cooling rack.

Coffee Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp half and half or heavy cream
2 Tbsp boiling water
2 tsp instant espresso powder
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp fine sea salt

Directions:

Beat butter till smooth, add in cream and work in. Add the water and espresso powder, then the cocoa powder and salt. Add in powdered sugar, beat till smooth, then mix in the vanilla.

The icing should be smooth and spreadable. If too thick, add a tiny bit more half and half. I found the frosting to be very thick.

Frost cooled cake.

~Sarah

Prepping · Reviews

Reviewing Augason Farms Honey White Bread Mix

September 28, 2023January 1, 2025 Sarah

I believe in testing your emergency food supply, to see how it tastes, looks and performs. Better to know ahead of time if you will want to use it!

The other week I reviewed a similar product by Thrive Life, their bread mix. I had been happy with the results, though the price point is very high on it (it is 1 loaf of bread per can, and costs $15.89 retail), I can only treat those cans as a fully 100% emergency item. Not something I would use often, simply due to being so expensive.

I remembered I had bought another brand of bread mix, so I dug into our prepper pantry and found a can of Augason Farms Honey White Bread Mix to review it, and see how it performed. I decided to try the 3 1-p0und bread loaves recipe on the back of the #10 can. It costs $10.54 currently on Amazon (full retail price is $25.99, but rarely is at that price).

The Thrive Life Pantry can is 18.51 ounces, and the Augason Farms #10 can is 58 ounces. That means each can of Augason Farms is 3 of the Thrive cans. That drives a solid point with economy. Both come in cans designed to keep the flour fresh for a couple of years. Thrive is only 3 years, where Augason Farms is 10 years. That is a huge jump.

Ingredients:
Bleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzyme [improves yeast baking]), sugar, nonfat dry milk, non-iodized salt, soybean oil, honey powder (cane sugar, honey), eggs (whole eggs, less than 2% sodium silicoaluminate as an anticaking agent), soy lecithin, dough conditioner (enriched wheat flour [wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], ascorbic acid, wheat gluten, enzymes), yeast (yeast, enzymes, soybean oil). CONTAINS: Soy, milk, eggs, wheat.

The takeaway:

Longer shelf life of 10 years versus 3 years for Thrive’s version
Makes 6 loaves bread versus 1 loaf per can
$10.54 versus $15.89
Both come in solid cans designed for long-term storage
Both brands have similar ingredient lists
It’s actually pretty good overall once baked as bread. While not the best I’ve ever baked, it was very easy to prep and bake and had a nice flavor and crumb. It’s miles above how commercially baked bread tastes for sure.
It’s worth having on hand, since it is water tight and lasts a long time on the shelf. Just …. have yeast on hand. We don’t need 2020 panic again, eh? I had 4 pounds of yeast on hand so I baked happily. But many didn’t have any.

You don’t want to have to be buying yeast on the black market again, do you?

Cons:

As with the Thrive Life bread mix, you must provide the activated dry yeast
Must have a solid can opener to open the large (and heavy) #10 can (no pull top on these cans)
Recipes on packaging call for cups, not grams. I figured it out though in the recipe below*. Apocalypse aside, I will always weigh flour versus scooping it.
Needed a bit more flour to get the dough where it needed to be, as I wanted to keep the other half of the bread mix to use later, I added in my own bread flour I had on hand.
Contains soybean oil…but this isn’t uncommon in commercial mixes (Thrive’s contains soybean oil shortening). It is why the mix has a “bioengineered ingredient” listed on the back. It’s nearly always the soy ingredients added.

Honey White Bread Loaves

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp activated dry yeast
2¼ cups warm water (at least 110°)
1/3 cup oil (used avocado oil)
816 grams honey white bread mix (6 cups worth, half the can)
Additional bread or all-purpose flour, as needed
Oil for bowl/bread pans

Directions:

Add the yeast and warm water to a stand mixer with the dough hook in place. Let hydrate for a few minutes.

Add the oil and bread mix. Start on low and mix in, then turn up to medium and let knead for 10 minutes. At 5 minutes, start checking to see if more flour needs to be added, slowly adding a bit each time and letting it work in.

It was still sticky, so I knocked it out on a work surface and kneaded in more flour by hand until the dough was slightly tacky.

Lightly oil a mixing bowl, and add the dough, flipping it over. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

Lightly oil 3 bread pans (the sizes are not listed on the recipe; I used 2 regular 9×5 and 1 8×4 pan I had on hand).

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut into 3 portions—place in prepared pans.

Cover and let sit for 40 minutes to rise double.

In the last 10 minutes, preheat the oven to 400°.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden on top. (I went for a darker loaf at 25 minutes)

Knock out on a cooling rack and let it cool fully before slicing.

Bread can be sliced and frozen.

Makes 3 1-pound loaves.

Dough ready to cut into loaves.

Dough ready for 2nd rise.

Dough ready to be baked.

Notes:

By looking at how many “servings” the can made, I deduced it could make up to 6 loaves of bread. Each serving was listed as ¼ cup of dry mix or 34 grams weight. Each recipe above uses 24 servings, and the can has 48 servings of dry mix.

You may notice I use a heating pad for yeast dough. Our house is often quite chilly in fall and winter, so it is my secret to properly raised doughs. I preheat it to medium while I knead the bread, and it’s ready to go.

It slices nicely after cooling and has a light texture. It’s the perfect sandwich size of a loaf.

~Sarah