Preparations Update

[LadyLocust]

I broke down yesterday and ordered another small freezer from Home Depot. It's just a 5 cu ft upright but will do the job I need. It's supposed to be in the store ready for me to pick up by 10/20 so I hope there isn't a snag.

It’s easier to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. If you keep it in the box until you need it, if things change, you will be able to sell it easily. I recently bought a new one because used ones on CL were the price of new. (We had one of ours go out this past year )

 

[Terri9630]

Our newest prep. Buttercup is almost 7 months old. The black cow is my 8yr old milk cow, not the dam of this one. We are trading a finished steer for a bull calf that is the same age. Wesley will be here next month.

 

[Tacitus]

Bought paper products (TP & paper towels...a run on those currently, locally).

Also bought a 5 gallon gas can and filled it up. Can I tell you I hate the new plastic gas cans with the ridiculous plastic lids?

 

[WVDragonlady]

Fleece lined leggings came. 3 pairs to use as long underwear.
Freeze dried chicken came. Beef coming in the next week some time
* glad I ordered when I did for these things. they might not be there soon*
Added more hygiene products
More firstaid products
More canned soups, yellow rice, zataran's mixes and condiments.
Added more coffee filters
Added some office supplies
Added some envelopes of cookie mix (sometimes I don't feel like dragging everything out to make some)

Hitting the grocery store tomorrow, hopefully to add even more.
Just have a funny feeling that I need to get more

 

[LadyLocust]

Just have a funny feeling that I need to get more

Our guts must be related. Mine's been telling me the same thing Our beef is at the butcher and our hog is scheduled for butcher the 31st. I will be glad when it's cut, wrapped, and in our freezer.
PS: I'm still on the lookout for turkeys.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I've been doing a lot of repackaging of noodles and such. This year we have shifted our canning focus from quarts to pints, we still can a few quarts but we ended up doing about 3 times a many pints. What does this have to do with prepping, well we had a lot of extra quart jars and I bought a vacuum adapter so we have been putting noodles, special rices, and such up in quart jars... This is converting space for the storage of empty jars into food storage, with jar storage....

I have been working on the battery backup for the wife's equipment. I now have all the hardware and just need to finish hooking everything up.

I have also gathered an assortment of 110v electrical cooking tools, 2 electric skillets, 2 crock pots, 1 instant pot, and 2 toaster ovens. So if things go dark we can cook off the solar/batteries, the generator, the propane camp stove, the gas camp stove, or the wood burning stove. I feel confident that I will be able to at least have something warm to eat regardless of the event......

FYI, I now have a reasonable supply of food storage on hand.

 

[CalicoKatie]

. . . Hitting the grocery store tomorrow, hopefully to add even more. Just have a funny feeling that I need to get more

I think we're all feeling that way. No matter how much we accumulate, it seems like we should get more. That's the defense mechanism kicking in. A lady in North Carolina does videos in different stores showing how full or empty the shelves are. She did one yesterday and she believes the panic buying has started. She was at a Sam's Club and it looked like there were signs on 90% of the items saying they were limited. Almost every person in the store had a cart - or 2 - and had them loaded down with the giant size packages of paper towels, napkins and tp along with other stuff. Nobody looked happy. I don't remember what town she was in.

Now that the mainstream media is finally beginning to talk about supply line disruptions and "some" shortages, especially Christmas toys and items, a lot more people will be getting that funny feeling. So we need to get anything else we need while we still can.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Added to stores as budget allows.
Paid off another $1000 bill so one less of those.
Owe nothing but car payment and monthly bills.
Hope to sock more cash away next month here at home.
Building back up stores slowly but surely.
Spent $6 per case of canned vegetables from Wal*Mart today.
Got 4 cases of vegetable.
Got another 2 cans of Folgers coffee for the freezer.
Picked up several more boxes of spaghetti, pasta,
Picked up several more cans of sauces.
Picked up several more beans and rice.
Next month will need to pick up meat of some kind.

 

[jazzy]

matches
get matches. im seeing a real shortage. went to 2 different $ stores, no matches, nada. not the wood or the book matches or even stick lighters. . said theyd get some in later that week, didnt know when or how much. amazon is like triple the price and walmart wont ship them.

walmart low too. i like the old fashioned wood matches.
i have extra lighters, a few of the stick lighters but i just like the old wood matches.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

matches
get matches. im seeing a real shortage. went to 2 different $ stores, no matches, nada. not the wood or the book matches or even stick lighters. . said theyd get some in later that week, didnt know when or how much. amazon is like triple the price and walmart wont ship them.

walmart low too. i like the old fashioned wood matches.
i have extra lighters, a few of the stick lighters but i just like the old wood matches.

Look in camping supplies at Wal*Mart or in housewares on the gadget aisle.

 

[Caribou]

Added to stores as budget allows.
Paid off another $1000 bill so one less of those.
Owe nothing but car payment and monthly bills.
Hope to sock more cash away next month here at home.

That's quite a milestone MoBookworm, congratulations!

 

[MoBookworm1957]

That's quite a milestone MoBookworm, congratulations!

Thank you Caribou.

 

[Tacitus]

...bought a 5 gallon gas can and filled it up. Can I tell you I hate the new plastic gas cans with the ridiculous plastic lids?

Just saw this tonight...

 

[Peanut]

Ya’ll might laugh at this… I had to make a long drive today, across the big town. Traffic was extremely lite for lunch on a Thursday. I stopped at the one of the best chinese restaurants in town, seats 125people. Packed at lunch except at noon today, barely 20 guests were seated. I left thinking “How long before they close up?” They are yards from from the campus of a major university yet no one was there.

On the way back I stopped at my favorite bbq joint for sliced pork to bring home. 3pm and I was the only customer. It was before the after-work-rush, folks picking up ribs ect. for dinner. I was expecting 4 or 5, I’ve never been the only customer.

Anyway, I usually get their sauce 2 pints at the time and needed some today. It’s vinegar and mustard based, doesn’t need refrigeration. So what the heck? I got a gallon, might be a while before I get anymore. Besides, the pints come in large styrofoam cups with leaky lids, always spill some.

Anyone else thought of condiments? Lots of spices are medicines so I have some covered. Gotta have mustard, plenty of hot peppers etc. The right spices or condiments can make crappy meat taste better. I guess this can count as a prep.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Anyone else thought of condiments? Lots of spices are medicines so I have some covered. Gotta have mustard, plenty of hot peppers etc. The right spices or condiments can make crappy meat taste better. I guess this can count as a prep.

Yep Condiments can make things go smoother, herbs, spices, salt, pepper (corns), butter, jellies, relishes, BBQ sauce, mustard (s), vinegar(s), wines (for cooking)....: We believe that if you are eating it you should be stocking it....

When making the shopping list, I have the hardest time with the wife, she thinks in terms of what do we need for next week, I think in terms is there anything that we are low(it's a relative term like <X cans) on and what have we consumed in the last 2 weeks, keeping a menu of what you eat helps some.....

 

[The Lazy L]

...Also bought a 5 gallon gas can and filled it up. Can I tell you I hate the new plastic gas cans with the ridiculous plastic lids?

Yep. I ordered "normal" pour spouts for my new gas cans that had the Federal approved, politically blessed worthless pour spouts.

 

[joel]

"Anyone else thought of condiments? "
You can store the ingredients: oil, vinegar, salt, paprika, mustard seeds, turmeric, sugar.
You can grow tomatoes, pepper, garlic & onions, & many spices.
Or you can store the already made condiments.
We use mustard, mayo, pasta sauce & salsa move than any other condiments.

 

[Peanut]

I bought a stick blender back in april. Then main reason was to learn to make mayo and a few other condiments. Once I understand the process the tool I use doesn't matter.

My thought being... if I have to have electricity to make something then it's off the menu. Some items I want on the menu like mayo. Now that I know what I'm doing I can make a tool if one is needed or do it manually. This stick blender was to speed up the learning curve.

 

[Amish Heart]

We just bought some replacer spouts at the hardware store called Easy Pour. I couldn't get at least half of our gas cans

 

[CalicoKatie]

. . . . Anyone else thought of condiments? . . .

Oh, yeah. Ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, salad dressing mostly ranch and Italian, store brand Miracle Whip that they call salad dressing, a couple of bottles of sweet and sour sauce, big 64 oz. jugs of Pace salsa, soy sauce, pickle relish, pancake syrup, molasses, jelly and preserves plus dozens of spices and seasonings. I'm sure there are a few other things that I'm not thinking of right now.

 

[CalicoKatie]

I like to keep some aluminum foil pans on hand but they're getting a little scarce especially the 8x8 size. WM.com has some round foil cake pans 3/$1 so I ordered 4 packs and another case of GV 12.5 oz. chicken.

Also ordered ten P-38s for $11.79. I'm going to give one to each of my boys and boys-in-law to keep on their keychains and still have a few for emergencies.

Son rented a small storage unit near me to keep some things in. If he ever has to get up and walk out of his office, get in his car and drive north he'll have some things ready here. He keeps his car at least half full and a filled 5 gal. can of gas ready.

 

[joel]

I got my P-38 in the Army in 1980, still works fine.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Just a reminder. IF you have the money to, maybe think about getting backup small appliances that you use regularly.

My big Oster toaster oven died on me yesterday evening
So I made do with a tiny one for a dorm this morning. And hubby went and bought me another Oster.
I use it every day and it worked great for over 5 years.
$149 so thats not bad I don't think for something that gets a heavy use

 

[Caribou]

Ordered spare refrigerant for the heat pump today.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today I made the last of my small cables for my battery boxes... Now I have that finished and can focus on other stuff.

This weekend we revisited the food storage inventory as we were putting up the last grocery trips.

The canning is almost done, I figure about 2 more batches of tomato products and we will be done for this year.

The wife has a casserole for egg plant that is very good, we cooked one yesterday and put the other up in the freezer. We have a few more egg plant fruit to deal with, but this is the first year that I have grown it, so we are happy.

I received my first order of seeds for next year today... mostly just bean, we found one that seems to be a good producer for canning and we are sticking with that.

One of the growing stations has been being powered off the solar panels for the last 2 days, I am timing it so it comes on before the solar panels start producing, pulls the batteries down about 10% then shuts off just before the end of the solar day so the batteries are fully charged at the end of the day... seems to be working but only time will tell...

 

[LadyLocust]

Today I made the last of my small cables for my battery boxes... Now I have that finished and can focus on other stuff.

This weekend we revisited the food storage inventory as we were putting up the last grocery trips.

The canning is almost done, I figure about 2 more batches of tomato products and we will be done for this year.

The wife has a casserole for egg plant that is very good, we cooked one yesterday and put the other up in the freezer. We have a few more egg plant fruit to deal with, but this is the first year that I have grown it, so we are happy.

I received my first order of seeds for next year today... mostly just bean, we found one that seems to be a good producer for canning and we are sticking with that.

One of the growing stations has been being powered off the solar panels for the last 2 days, I am timing it so it comes on before the solar panels start producing, pulls the batteries down about 10% then shuts off just before the end of the solar day so the batteries are fully charged at the end of the day... seems to be working but only time will tell...

Which bean?

I like to keep some aluminum foil pans on hand but they're getting a little scarce especially the 8x8 size. WM.com has some round foil cake pans 3/$1 so I ordered 4 packs and another case of GV 12.5 oz. chicken.

Also ordered ten P-38s for $11.79. I'm going to give one to each of my boys and boys-in-law to keep on their keychains and still have a few for emergencies.

Son rented a small storage unit near me to keep some things in. If he ever has to get up and walk out of his office, get in his car and drive north he'll have some things ready here. He keeps his car at least half full and a filled 5 gal. can of gas ready.

Our Dollar store usually has the foil pans.

I found more lemon curd so got 3 more jars while I can. I only use maybe 1 jar per year so I's set for a little while.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Which bean?

We had good luck with the Jade Bush Bean from Baker Creek this year

 

[LadyLocust]

We had good luck with the Jade Bush Bean from Baker Creek this year

I've canned contenders and blue lakes as green beans. This year, I've 3-4 kinds due to trying to get them going. Need to pull them off the vines this week and get them drying before weekend rain. Will have to let you know which do the best as bean beans.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Went to walmart this morning
Added more canned meats
More canned veggies
Canned fruit
Pastas, noodles
Paper products
Added some ground beef and sausage for the freezer (sticker shock on the 80/20)

 

[Amish Heart]

Loaded up on more hygene items (shampoo, body wash, conditioner, toothpaste, floss) from Dollar Tree. Did find some grocery items there, but alot of it was junk food they seem to be restocking. Caved in to buying some of it. Found sweet pickles and chopped garlic. At Tractor, loaded up on turkey feed.