Preparations Update

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Back in the day, when I was alone, I used to make Cornish game hens for the holidays. Half a bird is about right for one person. It looks like a crew this year for Thanksgiving so a turkey is in order but only 2 or 3 for Christmas so the game hens may be an option.
 
Got the tenderloin.
Also picked up 2lbs of ground chicken
1lb of ground turkey
4lbs of smoked sausage
1 case of cannelli beans
2lbs of dried black beans
2lbs of dried lentils
2lbs of dried northern beans
5 boxes rice-a-roni
5 jars spaghetti sauce
 
Today, I harvested tomatoes, we will need to can them soon, I am also harvesting green beans and they will also need to be canned.... At this point it appears that we are going to run out of pint jars.... The funny thing is, I don't have the space to store many more of them.....

I am working on my small power supplies (<1000 watts, and < 200 Amp hour (AH) storage) to act a backups for my freezers. The wife's oxygen equipment requires something larger, the wattage is not the issue but storage is definitely a problem. I had a larger >400 AH battery pack, but it is getting long in the tooth and half of the batteries have failed in the last month, we are considering switching that system over to LiPo- packs, I like the reported performance of those batteries but the cost is holding me back.
 
UrbanHunter said:
...... I had a larger >400 AH battery pack, but it is getting long in the tooth and half of the batteries have failed in the last month, we are considering switching that system over to LiPo- packs, I like the reported performance of those batteries but the cost is holding me back.
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Bear in mind that LiPo (or Lithium Polymer) and LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries are different technology to each other.

LiPo is great for the absolute lowest weight (that is why that tech is used in drone batteries). But LiFePO4 batteries are much better for what you are trying to do.
 
Caribou said:
Back in the day, when I was alone, I used to make Cornish game hens for the holidays. Half a bird is about right for one person. It looks like a crew this year for Thanksgiving so a turkey is in order but only 2 or 3 for Christmas so the game hens may be an option.
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I eat a whole Cornish hen 😊 (unless you grow them bigger there).

Amish Heart said:
I ended up with three toms and three hens from the chicks that I ordered. I don't mind butchering one of the toms, but two would be a stretch since I plan to breed them. So hoping I can buy one.
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This is what I do too.
 
Just placed another ground beef order with the beef co-op. I'm trying not to go crazy with buying food - trying to balance preparedness with finances, plus we're out of room in our freezers. So this ground beef will get canned.

I've also been organizing clothes. You know how they always say to get rid of your too-small clothes? Own the size you are now and get rid of the clutter - and when you lose weight you can buy a new/current wardrobe, yada, yada, yada. Well, I don't know how many people can really go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. Besides that, I'm always thinking that when the SHTF, I'll need those smaller clothes! lol. But I haven't been very organized with them - some here, some there, etc, no real storage system.

So now I'm getting not only my 'small' clothes organized, but also the men's clothing around here. With DH getting smaller and DS bulking up, I suspect they'll be switching clothing with each other, maybe use some old clothes from the sons who've flown the coop, too.

Feels really good to start to get the clothing thing under control.
 
Today we were looking at the next canning project and realized that we will be short on pint jars, wife said we need 2 flats.... I check it out, WM has them for about $10@ and will deliver, free if the order is above $35. So I think to myself, I'll just order some lids, the lids (per box of 10) were more than the Jars with rings and lids. What's with that? Anyway, checked Amazon the jars were over $40 for 2 flats... So, I stayed with WM and ordered 4 flats (got the free shipping), wife says that we can always can more beans (assuming that the tomatoes slow down)...

I did order some heavy electrical cable for my inverter setup, I am using 175A quick connects to allow for a swap-able arrangements where I can mix and match my equipment.....

Went over to a friend of the wife's house to pick up some their hard red wheat before they move. So, we increased our wheat food storage by a few hundred pounds and all I had to do was carry it out to the truck.... They were crying, the movers are coming tomorrow and they couldn't get anyone to take it, for free... unless they delivered it to them... Come on folks, this 70 year old couple giving food away and everyone is too lazy to just pick it up.... Say's a lot about society.
 
LadyLocust said:
I eat a whole Cornish hen 😊 (unless you grow them bigger there).
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You fill up on your tiny buzzard, I'm saving room for dressing, mashed, gravy, bean casserole, and dessert.
 
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Bacpacker said:
Good hauls all the way around Urban.
So sad those folks had to get rid of their food, but glad you could help them out.
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We spoke with them about that, their wheat is about 5 years old. They were able to place orders covering their long term food storage needs before they left (it is to arrive at their new house a few weeks after they get there). The moving company was going to charge them more to move their bulk food items than it was going to cost them to replace it, delivered.... I guess it's just the world we live in.
Hey, it was packed right in Mylar bags, vacuum packed with oxygen absorbents, inside plastic buckets... so there is still plenty of life left in that food...
 
UrbanHunter said:
We spoke with them about that, their wheat is about 5 years old. They were able to place orders covering their long term food storage needs before they left (it is to arrive at their new house a few weeks after they get there). The moving company was going to charge them more to move their bulk food items than it was going to cost them to replace it, delivered.... I guess it's just the world we live in.
Hey, it was packed right in Mylar bags, vacuum packed with oxygen absorbents, inside plastic buckets... so there is still plenty of life left in that food...
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Wheat in the pyramids still sprouted. You should live long enough for it to go bad.
 
I added some storage containers in 4 sizes so I can get some stuff organized

I'm not going to get into the size 12's anytime soon so I'll pack them away for now 😒
 
I'm going to put this here, because I consider it more of a motion to prepare rather than something to discuss over in the News treads. On my way home, I listened to the news (I try not to.) It said in China, there is a power shortage and people are eating breakfast by cel. ph. light and businesses are operation with generators. The gov. is blaming it on a coal shortage keeping the plants from operating. Many there are saying it's all political. The Chinese gov. is considering closing down certain plants for 1 week to try to help - obvious business consequences there.
To me this means if it can happen there, it can happen here. I want to make sure we are set if the power goes down even for short periods of time. I think we are good for a while but still don't like our situation as far as not having wood heat. We would not be able to run our business if they nixed the power.
 
@LadyLocust, I totally agree with you - if it can happen there, it can happen here. And not just that. We’ve seen this country moving toward unworkable energy situations - closing coal plants, mandating less efficient green energy. That’s going to come to a breaking point. And it’s not like we haven’t seen rolling “brown outs” in some states already.

I also am concerned about water supplies. Public water is at risk for terrorism, and we’re more vulnerable to that these days. Plus, I don’t trust our own government not to put something in the water. They already did it with fluoride. With all the mandates out there, I don’t doubt they’d put some covid vaccine in the water if they could. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to have a choice in the matter.

Getting a cistern has been way more of a pain in the butt than I ever imagined (no one does cisterns anymore), but we feel it’s worth it.
 
LadyLocust said:
I'm going to put this here, because I consider it more of a motion to prepare rather than something to discuss over in the News treads. On my way home, I listened to the news (I try not to.) It said in China, there is a power shortage and people are eating breakfast by cel. ph. light and businesses are operation with generators. The gov. is blaming it on a coal shortage keeping the plants from operating. Many there are saying it's all political. The Chinese gov. is considering closing down certain plants for 1 week to try to help - obvious business consequences there.
To me this means if it can happen there, it can happen here. I want to make sure we are set if the power goes down even for short periods of time. I think we are good for a while but still don't like our situation as far as not having wood heat. We would not be able to run our business if they nixed the power.
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I agree with you.
It used to be common for things that transpired in California, to move east across the rest of the USA. Well, California has certainly been having many total blackouts and brown-outs for some time now. It would only be reasonable to expect that to occur in areas across the USA too.
Prepare Now.
 
Added more paper products today
Also more canned veggies
Canned fruits
Canned meats dated 2-3 years out
Pastas and noodles
Couple bottles of salad dressings (although I like making my own)

Local grocery will have canned soups on sale starting tomorrow so I plan to be there when they open to grab some
They also have folgers big containers on sale for $5 each. I'm hoping to grab 4 of them
They have thomas's english muffins on sale buy one get two free. I plan to freeze them
 
WVDragonlady said:
Added more paper products today
Also more canned veggies
Canned fruits
Canned meats dated 2-3 years out
Pastas and noodles
Couple bottles of salad dressings (although I like making my own)

Local grocery will have canned soups on sale starting tomorrow so I plan to be there when they open to grab some
They also have folgers big containers on sale for $5 each. I'm hoping to grab 4 of them
They have thomas's english muffins on sale buy one get two free. I plan to freeze them
Click to expand...
That's a good deal on folgers!
 
Added 4 of the large canisters of folgers. Can't believe they're $10 each normally, and I got them for $5 each.
Added 12 cans of progresso soups and only paid for 6 of them. Love BOGO s lol
Added 5lbs of russet potatoes. Got them for $1.77 with a store coupon
Added 4 boxes of ditalini pastas. I use those in soups
Added those english muffins. Bought 1 got 2 free. Can you believe those things are $4.69 each?! Thats just ridiculous.
 
Just a follow up on my butane stove purchase. I replied negatively to the Amazon survey because my order wasn't complete. Quick reminder, I got the stove, but no butane. They responded saying the balance of the order would be delivered in about a week. I wasn't thrilled, but I had no immediate use for the stove, so it wasn't a hardship. The negative response must have lit a fire under somebody because I got my butane the next day via Express Mail.

The stove worked perfectly. Very easy to set up. We will see how long it lasts, but thus far I am quite pleased with the purchase.
 
I have been testing my small battery backup power supply, increasing the wattage and recording the readings, time to discharge to X volts type stuff. It has been working very well and has taught me a lot of lessons about what I would do different next time (mostly simplify things). I have most of the stuff to build a larger unit and I have gathered a reasonable supply of wire, cable, and connectors. The little one is now ready for deployment out doors...

I went shopping this morning and restocked all the canned goods that we have used over the last few weeks. I also brought our bread flour reserves back to full force. They even had 2 full flats of my canned grapefruit.

I feel really good about things but have this constant unsettled feeling that makes me want to do more....

My gas grill is on it's last legs, if they have a good sale on a small one with a side burner I might ask the wife for permission..... It would give me an excuse to get another propane bottle. ;)
 
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