Old dog learning new tricks

One of the goals of living out in the desert is to use the least amount of water possible.

Today, I tried an experiment in cooking.  This method of cooking isn't new to me, but what is new is how I did it.  I adapted it to something that I have done before.  The result wasn't that bad, and may be adaptable to more dishes.

Anyway, here's what I did.  I took some meat and put it into some aluminum foil.  In addition to that, I took some frozen french fries, and also put it into some aluminum foil.  However, they are separate from each other.  I put both of these pieces of aluminum wrapped around some frozen food into a pot with a lid.  The pot was put on a stove at the lowest or nearly the lowest setting.  I let it cook for thirty minutes, and voila--- a meal.

The advantage to this is that it doesn't make a mess that requires a lot of water to clean up.  No dishes to wash, in other words.  The aluminum foil might be reusable for something else, or it can be thrown out.

So, at the cost of NO water, I was able to cook a meal.  Instead of water, it cost some aluminum foil, which might be usable for some other purpose.

These kinds of methods have allowed me to cut my water usage down to nearly nothing besides drinking water. 

However, in the summer, I will need plenty of water for the "swamp" cooler.  What I am saying is that I think I can reach the goal of five gallons of water per day or less.  Even in the summer.  At peak usage, I can get about an hour for a gallon of water.  If I stretch it, I may get a bit more.  That should be close to enough.

But I am always thinking up new ideas like this.  It may be possible to recapture some of this water using the dehumidifier.  However, that takes a lot of energy.  This could be a topic for another post.