The Red Shed – The Red Shed Project

Good people, good food & Taco meat.

Hello! Long time no write. This post has been on my mind for awhile now and I feel strongly about it so it’s time to get it done.

On my YouTube channel and some in this blog I mentioned future plans and goals for the Red Shed Project. One of those goals was to source my own food to reduce food costs by gardening, foraging, hunting and fishing.

I have to admit none of these have stuck or really allowed for a self sufficient food source; yet. However, an interesting food source has recently become available, Taco meat. Yes, Taco meat.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Not taco meat as you are thinking but rather a play on words. Gotta get a laugh in where you can. I will explain taco meat and give a simple recipe so pull up a chair and I invite you to spend a few minutes with an old shed head.

First things first, Taco is the nickname of Steve McDonald a driver for DOT foods. He delivers to the company I work for . His credentials on the side of his rig (see picture below) speak for themselves.

I guess you could say our meeting was purely coincidence and based in circumstance but I choose to believe differently. I met a good man and friend when I met Taco and I look forward to our seeing each other weekly if only for a moment.

After some time and many visits we struck up a working relationship and soon began to share each other’s lives and events. In the early days he would bring a pizza for me that I would share with a coworker. He later switched to bringing a Hillshire Farm smoked sausage. He buys it at the local Piggly Wiggly where my daughter and son work. My daughter is assistant night manager and my son is head of the produce department. I am very proud of them. My coworker was not interested in it and I keep it now to myself. Muahahaha , it’s the little things…

When managed right this meat is the base ingredient that can feed me for 2 to 3 days. I look forward to it every week and am very grateful for it and never take it for granted.

Taco, should you read this know that I am glad I met you and you are a friend and a unique individual that the world needs more of! Never change and keep spreading good things!

As promised I will include my most recent recipe, Beefy Ramen and a few pics of the preparation and of other food and meals accredited to ‘Taco meat’….

Beefy Ramen

First I bring my water to a slow boil for about 8 minutes then drop in the sausage and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

While the sausages is simmering I begin to prepare my other ingredients. For spices I chose Cajun, garlic and ginger with a dash of Louisiana hot sauce. You can choose ingredients to best suit your taste.

I add equal parts of spices, roughly half a teaspoon each, to the bottom of my empty mixing bowl. By now the sausage should be ready and I remove it and replace it with the Ramen noodles. I cook the noodles 8 minutes as well and then let them stand in the water with no heat for an additional 2 minutes to finish cooking.

While the noodles finish I sliced the meat and pour it into the mixing bowel and stir to coat the meat with the spices. Stir until little or no loose spices remain in the bottom.

Next, drain the water from the noodles and pour the noodles over the meat. When adding the beef spice packages to the noodles I like to sprinkle evenly across the top and let it set for a couple of minutes before stirring. It seems to dissolve and mix more evenly.

After standing a few minutes I add a dash of hot sauce for a little extra kick then stir all ingredients together thoroughly and enjoy. Serves 2 to 4 respectively; prep time 20 to 30 minutes.

There you have it, good people, good food and Taco meat! I am including some pictures of other food/meals provided by Taco. I hope you all enjoyed this post and good luck in all your endeavors!

Always into something…

Long time no post; I’m always into something. Currently I am trying to fabricate porch railings from recycled pallets.

Still loads to do. I’m about 3 weeks into the project. The tedious part is harvesting the pallets.

As always, I thank you for stopping by and stay tuned….

The Red Shed Project: Surviving the heat

Hello to all my faithful followers ( which is exactly one LOL Thanks Lisa 👍). Welcome back to the The Red Shed! It has been awhile since my last post. Busy, busy, busy. I thought I would catch my readers up on life in The Red Shed.

Originally I had planned on doing some posts on my solar array, rechargeable batteries and chargers but as the heat is on the top of the priority list I will catch you all up on that topic.

When I moved in The Red Shed late last September 2019, staying cool wasn’t a problem. I did have the foresight to plan for this summer. Some of you may have heard of a ‘swamp cooler’ and that is the option I chose for my air conditioning.

I work in a food distribution warehouse and was able to utilize a lot of resources there. We sometimes get sample products shipped to us in Styrofoam coolers packed in dry ice. I scavenged a few that were to be thrown away as they are one time use only.

We distribute both dry goods and frozen so an unlimited supply of free ice is not a problem. I have a few gallon jugs and two liter bottles that I saved that I use as my ice bank. The two liter bottles were actually scavenged on site from a fellow coworker; Jerry Hill. He never buys anything less than a two liter because he says “Why pay for a 20 oz when you can get a 2 liter for almost the same price?” He drinks about one a day so it did not take long to acquire the bottles and jugs I needed.

Everyday I pack them up and carry them to work and place them in our freezer, bring them home in the morning and stock my ‘swamp cooler’ with them. I have to admit it is a chore but lately my mantra is “do what you can with what you have.” It is a prototype and I intend to build a better one later. If you are looking for ideas on swamp coolers I suggest checking out Pinterest.

The following pictures will give you an idea of my set up. You will see my cat Sage or as I affectionately refer to her as ‘Bun Bun’ giving it her approval. She stays in the big house while I am at work.

If you all get a chance PLEASE check out a fellow blogger at Our eyes open for some great content and breath taking pictures. Come back soon!