DIY Chicken Bouillon

It is so nice to have a couple of like-minded friends when it come to preparedness.  It's even nicer when they are also concerned about all the garbage in prepared foods and seek alternatives for healthier eating.  

I really hate the little cubes of chicken bouillon at the store because they're loaded with garbage, but the organic stuff is just too expensive.  So most of the time I used home-canned chicken stock where possible, but I never have enough of that.  It never occurred to me that I could just make my own at home.  Yeah, I know, it seems like something simple that everyone else probably knew about.  But just in case there are one or two more people like me, I thought I'd share a couple of recipes for DIY chicken bouillon.

The main ingredient here is nutritional yeast flakes.  I'd heard about them but never paid much attention, so I had to research them to find out more.  Nutritional yeast flakes are not brewer's yeast or bread-making yeast.  They are adored by vegans for some kind of cheese-substitute and adding flavor to their foods.  It's a little bit pricey, in my opinion, running about $8.00 per pound in the bulk section at my local Winco.  Apparently, most people get it at their health food stores.  Of course, Amazon has it, too, but the best you're going to do price-wise looks like about $10.00 per pound.   It has a two-year shelf life.  I couldn't find any information on whether it lasts longer if vacuum-sealed, but it seems as if that would be the case.

I've included two recipes here; you can find loads more online.  Give them a try and see which you like better.  They differ substantially in the amount of herbs.  I like lots of seasoning, but some people like their food a little more subtle in flavor.  Because some chicken bouillon is just too salty and some people need to watch their intake, I recommend using less salt than initially called for and then adding in more until it suits your taste buds.

DIY Chicken Bouillon #1

1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon basil

DIY Chicken Bouillon #2

1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons minced dry onion 
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon thyme 
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon sage
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder

The chicken flavor comes from the nutritional yeast.  But what do we do when we can't get nutritional yeast?  My good friend Renee thought and thought about this dilemma, and finally came up with the perfect answer:  powdered chicken!  While freeze-dried chicken could be used very easily, it would be less expensive to use dehydrated chicken.  Those who have done it already know that dehydrated chicken loses a lot in texture when it is rehydrated.  It just doesn't turn out all that well for eating.  But it's great for turning into powder for making bouillon. 

Thanks, Renee!

Links to related posts:
Cream Soups and Recipe Replacements
Spanish Rice


© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com   

26 january 2023

Book Review: Stephen Buhner's Herbal Antivirals

Stephen Harrod Buhner's Herbal Antivirals:  Natural Remedies for Emerging & Resistant Viral Infections is another essential volume to acquire for the medical prepping library.  Just like his Herbal Antibiotics book, in this volume Dr. Buhner clearly presents information for each of the herbs and viral diseases he discusses, without any fluff.  Everything is meticulously researched and documented, though much of the research does comes from outside the United States.  Maybe that's a plus. 
Buhner starts off this volume with an introduction to viruses, and though he includes the biological explanations of what viruses do, he pretty much keeps it to a level that most non-life science people with a couple of brain cells to rub together can understand.  He keeps it at a conversational level, and even a bit entertaining at times.  He touches on polio, smallpox, and influenza--the stuff we're somewhat familiar with, and then brings out chikungunya, a virus spread by mosquitoes that causes fever and debilitating pain, for which doctors prescribed acetaminophen.  And the cause of death for many of chikungunya's victims was--get this--liver failure from the acetaminophen.

So what's to be done?  As Buhner points out, Big Pharma doesn't have a lot of antivirals at its disposal.  About 30% of the pages in this volume are devoted to Buhner's top seven antiviral herbs:  Chinese skullcap, elder, ginger, houttuynia, isatis, licorice, and lomatium, plus boneset and red root, which merit an honorable mention.  However, he also lists the many herbal options and dosages for all the illnesses he discusses; he just doesn't go into elaborate detail on the others.  So you'll also learn or be reminded of how to use blackberry, raspberry, oregano, thyme, knotweed, berberine, and many other herbs in your treatment of viral diseases.  And he offers some advice and herbal suggestions for strengthening the immune system. 

In the appendices, Buhner includes an introduction to making herbal medicine as well as a list of suppliers he recommends.  Now, as preppers, we're probably happier being able to produce our own medicine, and fortunately, the author also includes, with his discussion on each of the herbs, guidelines for growing and harvesting the herbs and sources for obtaining seeds or plants.  So there's that to look forward to.  In addition, the bibliography is over 50 pages long.  If you want to find sources for further researching a specific disease or herb, it's all there.

Like Herbal Antibiotics, I think this volume would be better with pictures to help with plant identification.  And one other complaint that some readers have is that very little attention devoted to the common cold.  To me, that's not a deal breaker.  A cold doesn't kill you, and if you strictly practice basic hygiene, common sense, and eat a healthy diet, you shouldn't have too many.

Like with his other books, Buhner's intended audience is those who want a natural, practical, and effective approach to treating viral diseases.  In that respect it is also quite invaluable to preppers looking for tools to defend themselves against enemies they can't even see. Buhner provides treatment protocols for viral respiratory infections like influenza, pneumonia, SARS, RSV, and croup; viral encephalitis infections such as Japanese, West Nile, tick-borne, and dengue; and other viruses like enterovirus, varicella (shingles), herpes, and Epstein-Barr. 

I'm glad I don't have to choose between getting Herbal Antibiotics or Herbal Antivirals.  They are both must-haves, in my opinion.  But if I did have to choose, the nod would go to Herbal Antibiotics.  Herbal Antibiotics covers the plants you want for treating respiratory diseases, which is probably huge for all of us.  I live in a desert where we have almost nothing in the way of ticks or mosquitoes, and much of Herbal Antivirals deals with tick- and mosquito-borne diseases.  If I did have to deal with ticks and mosquitoes, or if I were worried about shingles, I'd eat rice and beans for a month and save the money to get this book.  There should be a copy in every group, if not every family.

Links to related posts:
Alton's Antibiotics and Infectious Disease, Dr. Joe Alton and Amy Alton 
Herbal Antibiotics, by Stephen Buhner
The Herbal Medic, by Sam Coffman

© 2019, PrepSchoolDaily.blogspot.com