Preparations Update

[Neb]

The Princess scored again.

On sale with price that is near fresh but good for 20 years.

Ben

 

[Tacitus]

The Princess scored again.

View attachment 88903

On sale with price that is near fresh but good for 20 years.

Ben

Wow. I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!!

I need to look into getting some stuff like that.

 

[jazzy]

non electric thermal cooker--

ive had one of these for a couple years and it is great. it works like an electric crock pot but easier. it is an 'inside' stainless steel pot with lid that fits inside a stainless thermal holder. it uses so little fuel--i put my ingredients in the stainless pot, bring up to a simmer and hold for 10-15 min then put that pot inside the thermal holder. leave it on the counter and forget til dinner. it really works great. ive done chicken, elk, stews, soups, veg, rice casseroles, spag and more. and it uses so little fuel . i like using it in the summer so the kitchen doesnt heat up.

ive used this when the electric has gone out, with a camp stove, or alchol stove, its another option to cook food like a solar cooker, which i also like. . i think they come in differetn sizes as a few years ago i got a small one so i could do 2 differetn things.

Tayama Stainless Steel Thermal Cooker,Black,5 Qt.

https://www.amazon.com/Tayama-Stain...CLSX2SR/ref=dp_fod_1?pd_rd_i=B09CLSX2SR&psc=1

 

[Tank-Girl]

Look's like there won't be a firewood delivery this Sunday because it's raining.

Firewood is firewood's side hustle and it keeps him fit.
He does wood chopping competitively...here is an example .. those knotches for the standing platforms have to be cut by the competitor themselves.

 

[Tank-Girl]

non electric thermal cooker--

ive had one of these for a couple years and it is great. it works like an electric crock pot but easier. it is an 'inside' stainless steel pot with lid that fits inside a stainless thermal holder. it uses so little fuel--i put my ingredients in the stainless pot, bring up to a simmer and hold for 10-15 min then put that pot inside the thermal holder. leave it on the counter and forget til dinner. it really works great. ive done chicken, elk, stews, soups, veg, rice casseroles, spag and more. and it uses so little fuel . i like using it in the summer so the kitchen doesnt heat up.

ive used this when the electric has gone out, with a camp stove, or alchol stove, its another option to cook food like a solar cooker, which i also like. . i think they come in differetn sizes as a few years ago i got a small one so i could do 2 differetn things.

Tayama Stainless Steel Thermal Cooker,Black,5 Qt.


View attachment 88906


https://www.amazon.com/Tayama-Stain...CLSX2SR/ref=dp_fod_1?pd_rd_i=B09CLSX2SR&psc=1

How long do you have to bring them to the boil before you but them inside the thermal holder?

 

[goshengirl]

Hey @Neb, where does the Princess get something like that?

 

[Tootsie]

Lehman’s, the non electric / good stuff place in Ohio sells a bunch of freeze dried stuff from hamburger to seafood, but beyond what I want to pay. I’d can stuff first.
With all the concern about freeze drying food to have many years from now, I’m starting to think more on it.
With all that has been posted from situations around the world (Thanks, Elkhound), maybe we do need to consider not just storage, but long term storage.

 

[jazzy]

How long do you have to bring them to the boil before you but them inside the thermal holder?

if you are adding raw meats, bring to a strong simmer-boil for a good 15 min. for grains or veg no raw meat, 10 min works fine. a couple times ive used chopped raw meat but bigger chunks than normal, i will simmer good for 20 min. ive never had a bad outcome, it works like a crock pot, get the temp up and its slow and steady for several hours til its all cooked

i also like it has a sturdy handle, once you cook something in it, you can carry it to some function and it wont get cold. very handy thing to have for several reasons.

 

[Amish Heart]

After storing enough for a couple of years, like the basic grocery store stuff, freeze dried makes sense. It's also just another preservation method to add to water bath canning, pressure canning, dehydrating.

 

[user 2656]

The only canned tomato thing I have to be careful of is organic or regular tomato paste in the small cans. I’ve had several explode. Maybe six months out of date at most. No I don’t keep them after date. I quick cook them up as sauce (thinned of course) and pressure canned tomato sauce.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I re can tomatoes and paste into jars.

 

[Amish Heart]

Can dehydrate or freeze dry, too. Then powder.

 

[Caribou]

Look's like there won't be a firewood delivery this Sunday because it's raining.

Firewood is firewood's side hustle and it keeps him fit.
He does wood chopping competitively...here is an example .. those knotches for the standing platforms have to be cut by the competitor themselves.

While hunting I have found springboard cuts in stumps from when the Russians were logging Alaska. Russia sold Alaska to America in 1867, so those cuts are older than that.

 

[Neb]

Hey @Neb, where does the Princess get something like that?

https://freezedrywholesalers.com/
Ben

 

[jazzy]

just adding this little thing..

i alwasy use stainless steel bottles for my water, coffee, tea but as i get older i have a bit of trouble holding things, especially smooth items with no handles. i found these silicone straps that fit over any size bottle or glass and it makes a real difference in holding, pouring, picking a bottle up, etc. and they can be taken off and put on another . were just getting older, little things like this can be a help.


bottle carrier grip

https://www.amazon.com/Windspeed-Ca...silicone+water+bottle+handles,aps,152&sr=8-14

 

[CalicoKatie]

I haven't been doing much stocking up the last couple of months. I've been using up a few things that were getting old and re-evaluating my needs. One thing I've been lazy about is not using things out of my freezers. During the next couple of weeks I'm going to pull out the big (3 to 5 lb. size) bags of vegetables and dehydrate them. I'm also going through all of my canned tomato products and use up the older ones. Some of the pasta sauce will be dried and powdered. Some things will be made into soups. Some will be made into salsa.

After taking a break, I gotta recharge that prepper mindset.

. . . I noticed something in the big parking lot next to Target. There were either 3 or 4 rows of 40' shipping containers, 20 of them side by side in each row.... so between 60 an 80 shipping containers, that's a lot of containers to just park. . . .

They're prepping and stocking up just like we are. When you see the big chain stores getting ready for the supply lines to fail that's when it really hits home that we passed the TEOTWAWKI milestone quite a while back.

. . .Over the weekend my wife wanted to make a cake. She pulled a cake mix out and the use by date was in 2014. She was going to throw it out . . . . I told her to add some fresh baking powder and she baked the cake. Apparently it was perfectly fine and she said besides looking and smelling fine it tasted great. . . .

I have store brand cake mixes I bought several years ago when they were on sale 2/$1. I'm sure they've lost their charge by now so I'll use them for dump cakes. Same thing with boxes of pudding mix. I have some that are 8 or 9 years old but if they don't thicken, I'll just turn them into milkshakes. Most things can be used one way or another.

 

[jazzy]

i got a heavy duty camp solar shower. my deck is very sunny all day and i can save hot water and fuel by using this for a couople reasons, wash dishes rinse things or wash off at the end of the day. in cold weather i just put big pots of water on the wood stove but this is nice for warm weather.

thinking of ways to work around saving fuel or electric out. i have 2 smalls ones years old but decided to upgrade a bit

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J2Q0T4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Pearl]

i got a heavy duty camp solar shower. my deck is very sunny all day and i can save hot water and fuel by using this for a couople reasons, wash dishes rinse things or wash off at the end of the day. in cold weather i just put big pots of water on the wood stove but this is nice for warm weather.

thinking of ways to work around saving fuel or electric out. i have 2 smalls ones years old but decided to upgrade a bit


View attachment 89164


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J2Q0T4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We have those! Haven't used them in forever, but great to have!!

 

[Tank-Girl]

It is absolutely bloody freezing here and the rain hasn't let up. Down right icy.
It's suppose to be our prime veggie growing time of the year in this part of the world but there's no way that would have happened with this weather.
The garden would have been a complete failure...if I had one.

Because of the rain over the weekend the firewood guy didn't deliver.
I don't think he was even able to get into his wood lot with a 4x4.
So, I'm guessing that with the extremely cold wet weather he has a waiting list longer than his arm and a backlog
of deliveries from this weekend.
As it is in front of the small gate that goes under my house - where I was going to store my firewood, is a sea of slippery mud.
Getting a ton of firewood under the house wouldn't have been fun.
Also, he delivers multiple loads not only on the back of his 4x4 but he tows a duel axle car trailer with sides.
He'd have to back that rig up over my destroyed front yard which is now a sodden clay waste land.
I'm pretty sure he'd get bogged down to the axels if he tried to do a delivery here ATM.

While I understand the reasoning as the WHYs I can't help feeling a little panicked about the lack of fuel sources
I have (or don't have) atm.

 

[LadyLocust]

It is absolutely bloody freezing here and the rain hasn't let up. Down right icy.
It's suppose to be our prime veggie growing time of the year in this part of the world but there's no way that would have happened with this weather.
The garden would have been a complete failure...if I had one.

Because of the rain over the weekend the firewood guy didn't deliver.
I don't think he was even able to get into his wood lot with a 4x4.
So, I'm guessing that with the extremely cold wet weather he has a waiting list longer than his arm and a backlog
of deliveries from this weekend.
As it is in front of the small gate that goes under my house - where I was going to store my firewood, is a sea of slippery mud.
Getting a ton of firewood under the house wouldn't have been fun.
Also, he delivers multiple loads not only on the back of his 4x4 but he tows a duel axle car trailer with sides.
He'd have to back that rig up over my destroyed front yard which is now a sodden clay waste land.
I'm pretty sure he'd get bogged down to the axels if he tried to do a delivery here ATM.

While I understand the reasoning as the WHYs I can't help feeling a little panicked about the lack of fuel sources
I have (or don't have) atm.

Understandable Tank! Know it's yours & spoken for. Give the fella a chance to pull through for you and praise him for his triumph once he does. You'll soon be set.

 

[LadyLocust]

This one will sound funny - well they all are aren't they? We're an odd lot
I am using my car more for work things - hauling odd things like a battery that tipped when I had to hit my breaks. I had a folded up sheet down in the trunk under it, but the sheet got some bat. acid on it and will next be a shop rag. I went and got a chunk of vinyl which will be much easier to haul dirty things around and keep the car clean. (Bat. acid was a special thing I know.) Things being what they are, I want my car to last as long as possible. A trunk liner isn't a big thing, but ordering a new one might take a while if available at all. The vinyl/nogahide is sturdy, wipes up easily, and with a coupon was <$10.

 

[UrbanHunter]

This one will sound funny - well they all are aren't they? We're an odd lot
I am using my car more for work things - hauling odd things like a battery that tipped when I had to hit my breaks. I had a folded up sheet down in the trunk under it, but the sheet got some bat. acid on it and will next be a shop rag. I went and got a chunk of vinyl which will be much easier to haul dirty things around and keep the car clean. (Bat. acid was a special thing I know.) Things being what they are, I want my car to last as long as possible. A trunk liner isn't a big thing, but ordering a new one might take a while if available at all. The vinyl/nogahide is sturdy, wipes up easily, and with a coupon was <$10.

I would consider a concrete mixing tub or boot tray to control spills in the trunk.

 

[Bacpacker]

I would consider a concrete mixing tub or boot tray to control spills in the trunk.

Or at least some good Weather Tech mats. They are somewhat deep to contain water, snow, spilled drinks, etc

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Sliced up and vacuum packed 16 lbs of pastrami for the freezer. That's enough for 84 rueben sandwiches.

Getting ready to smoke 18 lbs of back bacon, 6 lbs of homemade pork hotdogs and ten lbs of beef hotdogs.

 

[jazzy]

amzon is having their prime day sales---good deal on lifestraw personal water filter $11, some decent prices on some camping gear, kitchen stuff and auguson farms is having a sale on some things. worth checking out

 

[Tank-Girl]

I didn't get my firewood probs for the same reason why I didn't crawl under my house and get the firewood racks built.

It's been cold, overcast and drizzly.
The standing water turned to icy mud and stayed that way.
Firewood guy still can't access his wood lot.
Maybe a blessing in disguise.

Just sent him a text to see if this weekend is a go.
The weather has been windy and a little bit sunnier so hopefully he has access without plowing the place up.
Speaking of access I can now actually access the small gate under my house so I had better get that rack built if I'm
sending out texts saying that I'm ready to have a load delivered.

Nothing fancy..just two star pickets/ T-posts laying on the ground parallel to each other between two house stumps and then two short t posts resting against the house stumps and resting between the two t posts on the ground at an angle.
If you can picture it..it's a rough V shape.
It'll be just enough to get the wood off the ground and the post at an angle will stop the firewood from touching the house stumps.
Here in the tropics we have termites and so you don't encourage them by stacking wood against the house. It causes a darker place for them to build their tunnels made of mud and the sawdust that they create to get out of the light.
WE already have evidence of termites in the little fence that encloses space under the house where some shrubs shaded it.

Each of the house stumps has a metal plate like cap on it between it and the actual house so if termites do attack the stumps they can't eat through to the house.

 

[Tank-Girl]

I saved the cash to pay him when he deliveres.

Firewood guy doesn't accept credit cards or take now- pay later type of deals.
Cash in the hand or it goes back in the trailer.
The dude has been burnt trying to be understanding and nice.

 

[Wingnut]

In my experience, one always pays cash for firewood... or scrounges it oneself.

If one develops a rapport with the firewood supplier (and pays cash promptly every time), then the supplier will occasionally "style out" the buyer, lol.

When I was camping with my cats in Arizona for 3-1/2 months, I spent $1000 on firewood, but the guy was reliable and brought decent truckloads of seasoned wood directly to my campsite, so it was worth it. After I helped him unload the truck, we'd sit on the tailgate and have a few beers... and laugh a lot as we talked about life. To me, that firewood made ALL the difference in being warm & comfortable in the field at night (or in the early morning), rather than being cold & miserable, so it was an acceptable expense. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat... gotta like a nice campfire on a chilly night.

 

[Amish Heart]

Little granddaughter and I went bin shopping today...bin items were $1.99 each. I found a big pack of seed starter plastics with the lids and plant sticks. Looks like about 40 or so that hold 8 plants each. The grocery area was all 50% off. The best deal was 2# bags of Great Northern dry beans. Was 99 cents, so paid 50 cents. Bought 20 bags of them, so 40 lbs at 25 cents a lb. Red lentils were $1.29 lb, got bags of those, and some mixed fancy rice. Small bags of yellow spanish rice were only 25 cents.

 

[Caribou]

The 88 fl oz size of my laundry detergent were on sale today. There were only 3 left on the shelf, I made sure they went to a good home. I saved $17.30 on that purchase. Regular price is $13.89 so I got more than one jug for free.