PEP Badge: Food Prep and Preservation

Thanks Mike. Understood . . . Keeping what’s there as required and then adding these in as optional extras would only make it harder for newcomers like me. I’m guessing when it comes to preserving millions of calories, then everything I’ve mention could count.

I think I just earned  my first sand badge in the food aspect:

fry an egg so that it slides around
Brown Rice: stovetop
Brown Rice: Instant Pot
Brown Rice: solar oven
Brown Rice: haybox cooker
water bath canning
dry food in a solar food dehydrator
vinegar brine pickle something
salt brine ferment/pickle something
cook stir fry
make soup / stew / chowder
make pizza
Bake 2 loaves of bread

(I don't see how to submit this for BB approval...though I guess it's not a BB...I'll assume you guys just do something magic on the back-end until I'm corrected.)

Christopher Weeks wrote:I think I just earned  my first sand badge in the food aspect:

Congratulations Christopher,
You now have a shiny new badge and the power to approve badge bits for other people.

Here is my submission for the Food Preparation and Preservation Sand Badge.

1. make 2 loaves of bread
2. bake pizza
3. cook grain on stove top
4. cook grain with solar oven
5. cook soup, stew
6. cook grain slow cooker
7. cook stir fry
8. cook grain rocket stove
9. fry egg on cast iron
10. water bath canning
11. salt brine ferment pickle something
12. dehydrate food solar dehydrator
13. pickle something vinegar brine

Can you work on straw badge if you are stuck on the sand badge?

Yup!  You can work on and earn any BB at any level.  You just can't get a higher badge like Straw until you've completed the Sand badge.

Hello Mike, does the plastic prohibition extend to plastic chopping boards?

That would be my understanding.  Wood cutting boards are all I see at Paul's place.

I'm reporting my finished Food Prep Badge!

10 pancakes:      permies.com/wiki/106098/pep-food-prep-preservation/PEP-BB-food-sand-vegan#1336315
Hashbrowns:      permies.com/wiki/106100/pep-food-prep-preservation/PEP-BB-food-sand-vegan#1336319
Grain, 4 ways:      permies.com/wiki/10/106011/pep-food-prep-preservation/Cook-Grain-Solar-Oven-PEP#1571128
    permies.com/wiki/40/106008/pep-food-prep-preservation/Cook-Grain-slow-cooker-PEP#1454669
    permies.com/wiki/63/106007/pep-food-prep-preservation/Cook-Grain-Stove-Top-PEP#1474524
    permies.com/wiki/20/106017/pep-food-prep-preservation/Cook-Grain-Rocket-Stove-Haybox#1564643
Solar dehydrating:      permies.com/wiki/20/105828/pep-food-prep-preservation/Dehydrate-Food-Solar-Dehydrator-PEP#1569748
Vinegar brine pickle:       permies.com/wiki/30/105851/pep-food-prep-preservation/Pickle-vinegar-brine-PEP-BB#1569732
Ferment pickle:      permies.com/wiki/50/105983/pep-food-prep-preservation/Salt-brine-ferment-pickle-PEP#1569806
Water bath canning:      permies.com/wiki/40/133684/pep-food-prep-preservation/Water-bath-canning-PEP-BB#1535630
Stir Fry:      permies.com/wiki/60/105912/pep-food-prep-preservation/Cook-Stir-Fry-PEP-BB#1336298
Soup:      permies.com/wiki/90/102827/pep-food-prep-preservation/cook-soup-stew-pottage-chowder#1477936
Pizza:      permies.com/wiki/90/102815/pep-food-prep-preservation/loaves-bread-PEP-BB-food#1557482
Bread:      permies.com/wiki/90/102815/pep-food-prep-preservation/loaves-bread-PEP-BB-food#1557482

The badge request software has been upgraded to make it better for the submitters and approvers! Please submit for badges by using the big bold links in the top post. Here they are again for your convenience:

Sand Badge
Straw Badge
Wood Badge
Iron Badge

This thread will continue to be the place to ask questions about the Food Prep and Preservation badges.

I have a question about the Food Prep badge bits. I understand that plastic is not allowed to touch the food. What about food processors and blenders though? What else would a food processor be made of? I don't think the plastic leaches out of a food processor like it does with plastic bags, but I could be wrong. There are lots of things I could submit that I make with my food processor regularly: homemade basil pesto, homemade ketchup, etc. Can you please confirm that food processors or blenders made of plastic are not allowed?

As I understand the rules, they aren't allowed.  Maybe to get the BB you could do it by hand one time?

I remember a thread about plastic alternatives to kitchen appliances, but I can't find it now. Anyone know which one I'm talking about?
Other options could be a metal immersion blender, a metal manual food processor, glass blender, or mortar and pestle.

I got flagged for using a cheese mold made from food grade plastic. I didn't know about the plastic rule before I started but most of the submissions before mine were using plastic blenders, plastic measuring cups and the like. I didn't cook (heat) the cheese in plastic nor did I store it in plastic so I don't understand why it should be a problem. Not to mention, although I use my own goat milk, not many places sell milk in glass bottles anymore. I have checked other threads too, and see plastic canning funnels, plastic coated jar lifters, etc.  I understand why we should avoid BUYING plastic, but if we already have it, it seems foolish to throw it away and buy something new.

Sorry Gina, that's the way PEP is set up.  A lot of plastic slipped through early on in the submissions (or before the plastic prohibition was fully understood) and the certifiers are being more stringent about watching for it now.

I have a plastic question. If this should be posted elsewhere please guide me.

I understand no zip lock bags. My challenge is when it comes to the freezer. I store my garden-harvested-veggies in the freezer in plastic freezer bags. I'm willing to try changing my ways entirely to meet the PEP requirements, however I don't know what kind of alternative would be sufficient apart from mason jars and I'll be honest I have greater need to use those for my canned goods and don't desire to have them precariously stacked in my freezer.

Any suggestions?

I was bummed because my stir fry submission was declined and even accused of using "stir fry veggies" because I didn't include photos of them out of the freezer because, admittedly, I'd used zip lock bags to store the veggies in. I grew those babies from seed but it wasn't acceptable because of the zip lock bags, and thus it was assumed I'd cheated and used store-bought & chopped veggies.

I digress...I'm absolutely open to changing my storage ways but don't see an economical (space and use of resources wise) alternative for things like peas and green beans. Would reusable silicone zipper bags be ok?

I wrap meat in freezer paper and then put it in a ziplock so the plastic can't touch the food but still give an air seal.  I also have cellophane bags that I use inside ziplocks.  I'm not sure if they are "plastic" or not but that's what I do for peppers, tomatoes and other chunky things.

I think silicone was permitted for unheated applications so those should work for freezer storage.

Mike, if it's okay as long as the plastic isn't directly touching the food, then my cheese mold should have been acceptable, since a layer of butter muslin separated the curds from the mold. And even though the Tattler lids were approved, I still haven't had my pressure canning submission approved.

as im starting my journey here I am struggling with a few things. the sun chokes are a no go for us. we tried them but the taste and texture is just something we are not into. does it have to be sunchokes? can it be just regular potatoes or any other veggie? Does everything have to be done on the list under each badge to get it? we do not have a rocket oven, we live in south Texas where about ¾ of the year we are under a burn ban. is there an option for this or do we just build one and do it winter only?

Yes, whatever the BBs say is what's required.  The rocket oven ones are a bit tricky, I was only able to get them by going to a free SKIP BB20 event at Wheaton Labs.  You could also go to the summer SKIP event (link in my signature line) to knock it out this July.

I mostly lacto ferment all my harvested goods, does this count as preserving ?

elizabeth tolson wrote:I mostly lacto ferment all my harvested goods, does this count as preserving ?

That sounds like it would fit within any of these BBs. However, each thing you preserve can be used toward only one of these BBs, so whatever you use for the first BB can't also be used for the next ones.  

Salt brine ferment something
Ferment 4 different things (1 gallon each)
Preserve 1 million calories

Lacto fermentation is something I plan to get more experience with in the near future. I hope you'll post about the things you do, whether under PEP or another part of the Permies forum!

Hey guys I’m about to ferment  78lbs of cabbage , I’m trying to find the right section to post this.
I’ll be making different variations of kraut and kimchi🖤

There's a spot in Sand and in the Straw badges for fermentation.  Poke around in the top post of this thread and you'll see it!