Fromage Formanda

Today I'm going to write about cheese.
I'm also going to mention problems in Australia and the Middle East that will impact my life.

Cheese is gooda. HAH.
I've made 2 batches of hard cheddar with varying results. I've never made cheese before so I'm having to learn from books and youtube but I am going to get better at it. With hard cheddar you need rennet and live culture(or yogurt) I bought mine online from... http://www.cheesemaking.com/ or you might be able to get it at your local brew house.
I've heard good things about Glengary Cheese Company in Ontario Canada too.
It takes time to make cheese. When I make cheese I usually do something else in the kitchen like brew a bottle a batch of beer or vacuum seal meat.

I'm not going to spend time writing an instructional for making cheese because there are already a lot of good ones free online. I will say that I use about $4 of milk and it makes me a good $8 piece of cheese.


Making Cheddar Cheese - by Katie Thear
Cheddar - CheeseMaking.com - They make it look SOOO easy. ;)
     Or Youtube has some good videos.

Beside the ingrediance you need a cheese mould and cheese cloth. Glengary sells some really good reusable Cheese cloth. My dad uses it and says it is great. I'll probably order some in the near future.

Ok. Cheese is awesome on everything. But you still need milk - raw milk is the best. I figure that by making your own cheese for $4 you save $4 by not spending at the grocery store. But how can you get it even cheaper!? How can you get an $8 block of cheese for about $0.25 ?!
Go to the farmer.
Make a deal. If they give you 8L of milk (enough for 2 batches - and costs them nothing) you will give them 1 batch of cheese. All you need to pay for is the Rennet, Culture and maybe some Colouring. And time. The truth is it will probably cost you less than 25 cents a batch. Think of that next time you buy a big block of cheese at the store.
"This could be costing me less than 25 cents."


So now you expand and try and get more milk in exchange for more cheese. You can coat your cheese in cheese wax (which is reusable) and store it for months depending on the cheese type and storage location. Make some Swiss. Mozzarella. Brie. Parmesian. You can make more cheeses than you can buy for cheaper than you can buy and that is a fact.
If you are interested in this solution to your cheese costs I'd recommend getting some good books on the subject.

Another benefit to cheese making is the whey byproduct to cheese making is good for baking. Try substituting it for water next time you bake bread. Nom nom nom.
I use the same equipment for cheese making as I door for beer making so that has cut my costs down because it is used more often. And if you already have the equipment why not give home brewing a try? That 3 dollar bottle of beer can cost you less than a quarter.
In emergency situations beer is liquid gold in Canada. If an ice storm knocks out the power in the area and stores are all closed but you and your neighbour need a tree moved; offer the help beer and see who gets the tree removed first. ;)
I bought beer yesterday for the first time in months just so I can appreciate my own beer more. I'm not even going to drink the rest of these; they are crap I'll offer my guests - who should have been smart enough to try my own.


Now about the land down under. The north east area of Queensland has had a rough year. The flash flooding and now hurricane yasi. That area of Au grows a lot of bannanas, wheat and fishing. Those industries are all but wiped out now. So they will have to import more from the world surplus. This will raise the demand and the price. :(
I've also read reports that some of the underground shelters (the same ones they had to pump out and dry after the flooding) have started to flood and the people are trapped with no where to go. Why would they go there to begin with?
place
The Middle East is still in the dumps. Egypt is getting violent and turning it's eyes on Israel and US of A. That won't end well. They will see a 'new clear' way out of it I'm sure... new clear, nuclear.
Oil prices will go way up and that will drive food prices way up. Yea!

I wish I could explain how badly we all need to start planting and growing our own food. There isn't a draw back to having your own garden. Look at how much cheese costs you!?
If I grow twice as much food as I need and you produce twice as much milk as you need and we trade...
We are ruled by a society that says you need money; but they never tell you what money is; they stopped teaching it in school because they didn't want you to know. Money is slavery, it is dept. We use a fiat money system for christ sake. Does the average person even know what fiat is!?

Let me tell you the problem with slaves. You need to feed them, give them shelter and clothes, medical care and have guards keep them working.
But if you enslave them in dept... they have to work to feed themselves. Pay for their own housing and medical care. They wont leave because they have a home and family to take care of.

Do yourself a favour and get rid of your dept.
Grow your own food. Make your own cheese!

Fresh garden food tastes GREAT! If times get tough or even if they don't.

While my wife is off this year for maternity she will be doing a lot of gardening. And my son is going to be raised on fresh foods. :D
And we will take him out to eat at restaurants so he appreciates how much better our home grown food tastes.