Preparations Update

[SouthCentralUS]

Sam's pickup this morning. Lots of fresh fruit that looks really yummy. More AA and AAA batteries. We are set for a while. Splurged and bought bread instead of making it. It has been a long time since we bought bread. I wish I had a camera when I told my husband our pickup was $330. That look was priceless. The only meat I bought was bacon but paid the same price as steak we bought not too long ago.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

My SIL is visiting. She is a very nice person so no complaints about her. Last night she asked if we could have soup for supper as she was feeling cold. I turned up the heat in the living room and proceeded to make soup.

As most of you know, I am an hour drive from town. She was shocked when the soup did not come from a can and wanted to know why the broth had so much flavor. I taught her how to make real soup.

This morning she asked why I had so many jars. I am thinking..huh? Then she pointed to 4 cases of empty 2 qrt jars I had just bought and which I had dumped outside the kitchen door.
I said: I keep soup fixings in them, see all the pumpkin in the dehydrators?

What about the other jars (16 jars recently emptied and washed)?

I said: Those are are for canning some stock I just made for soup.

That's a lot of jars!

I said: Remember, we are an hour from town.

She was shocked by such a small amount of stuff thinking it was a huge amount. I have 700 jars tucked away full and twice that still empty. Not something she will ever know. I couldn't hide the wood pile, but DH is busy explaining how to set up a secondary heat source that doesn't rely on electricity in a city of morons and moronic regulations.

They were going to buy an electric furnace as a back up for the gas furnace. Hey, they were trying, but weren't able to see the big picture. We referred them to Texas last winter.

 

[UrbanHunter]

My flat of powdered eggs arrived today, I was shocked at how light 6 #10 cans of that stuff was, less than 20#.

 

[LadyLocust]

Whoever it was (I can't remember!) who recommended Bulkfoods.com a while back - THANK YOU!!! I received my order I think 2-3 days after I ordered it which is way quick considering deliveries have been on the slow side. The prices were average but the quality appears to be good. I just received them so haven't used anything yet. Got some whole nutmegs, mace, orange peel, & chamomile which I'm hoping to sample this evening.

Also, was it @goshengirl who has recently dealt with a cistern?

 

[WVDragonlady]

Went to walmart this morning.
Topped off our health and beauty

Added 12 pack of bath soap
Added shampoo for both hubby and I
2 bottles of mouthwash
2 pack of toothpaste
2 bottles of my moisturizer
Extra shoe inserts
More vitamins for each of us
2 pack of deodorant
Large bottle of pepto ( didn't have any at all )

Also added a large jug of fabric softener
And a large box of dryer sheets


Also picked up some boxed chocolates to give as gifts at Christmas. Figured I get them now instead of waiting and they were in stock

 

[CalicoKatie]

Lately I've focused on some little things like the Jiffy pie crust mix and GV pizza crust mix. Haven't used them before but in "trying times" the fewer ingredients I have to pull out, the better.

 

[UrbanHunter]

This morning I was off due to a Dentist appointment, but I had a couple free hours before the dentist opened. I was able to hit 3 stores: I found a sell on vegetable oil, got some canned fruit, topped off some low sodium soy and teriyaki sauce, got a canned ham, a half a ham (bone in), and a sliced honey ham...

I also got mouth wash, tooth paste, and shampoo; we treat them like you would food storage, like to have enough for a while...

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Went to walmart this morning.
Topped off our health and beauty

Added 12 pack of bath soap
Added shampoo for both hubby and I
2 bottles of mouthwash
2 pack of toothpaste
2 bottles of my moisturizer
Extra shoe inserts
More vitamins for each of us
2 pack of deodorant
Large bottle of pepto ( didn't have any at all )

Also added a large jug of fabric softener
And a large box of dryer sheets


Also picked up some boxed chocolates to give as gifts at Christmas. Figured I get them now instead of waiting and they were in stock

For those who are into penny pinching, those dryer sheets work every bit as well, when torn into 3 pieces; one piece for any size load.

 

[LadyLocust]

I received my other order yesterday (ordered last month.) I am pretty well stocked on soap and lotion making supplies now (I think ).

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Cleaned out the jelly cabinet in the bathroom.
Found 6 bottles of shampoo, 3 bottles of conditioners,6 bottles of body wash, 6 tubes of denture glue.

 

[LadyLocust]

Excited: just received my Azure Standard order that I ordered just about a month ago. In it is my canela. I learned something recently - that ceylon is canela. I haven't been able to find it in the stores usually in the Latino section. They have cinnamon, but this is a different part of the bark and is finer and brews up more flavorfully. I now have a good supply so happy me

 

[Neb]

Excited: just received my Azure Standard order that I ordered just about a month ago. In it is my canela. I learned something recently - that ceylon is canela. I haven't been able to find it in the stores usually in the Latino section. They have cinnamon, but this is a different part of the bark and is finer and brews up more flavorfully. I now have a good supply so happy me

And a month or so ago doesn't count.



Ben

 

[LadyLocust]

And a month or so ago doesn't count.



Ben

I was happy it actually came in - that's been an issue.

 

[joel]

 

[joel]

So the wife got four turkeys 12-14 pounds each for $0.49 a pound & over $100.00 in groceries.
That six turkeys in all, I may get sick of bird, but I will not go hungry.

 

[jazzy]

i found a nother solar light i really like. so far it has turned ouit very well--on a full chage it runs a good 8 hours. it can be recharged 3 ways---solar panel on top, UBS or charging cable plug into wall socket--and--if the internal li-on battery ever dies you can put batteries in it. but the one thing i dont care for is there is no choice of light--no low or high choice but still, this is a pretty good light.


it is the canister shaped where you push the outsid2 up or down so i guess tht is the way to make it brighter or dimme and gives protection when not in use. and a 2 pack is aobut $20..

i like have a couple different types to have

huh---for some reason the link isnt embedding-go to amazon and look up

TANSOREN 2 PACK Portable LED Camping Lantern Solar

 

[WVDragonlady]

And a month or so ago doesn't count.



Ben

Its taking that long to get a tshirt I ordered.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Just ordered 5lbs of red lentils.
I can't find them anywhere around here. Brown yes but not the red

 

[goshengirl]

Also, was it @goshengirl who has recently dealt with a cistern?

I'm waiting on one. Should be delivered/installed this week.

 

[LadyLocust]

I'm waiting on one. Should be delivered/installed this week.

We are looking at a piece of property that has a low pressure well so would need a cistern - wondering what size you would recommend (my mind the bigger the better, but. . . )

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

It depends on your usage. A well that flows at 1gal/min does well enough with a 250 gal cistern, but you won't be watering large gardens or livestock.

 

[Neb]

I added some machining fixtures to my machine shop that will let me hold irregular parts and put flats or hex sides on round stock. They will let me provide additional services and capabilities to fix or replace parts when they are not readily available elsewhere.

Ben

 

[goshengirl]

@LadyLocust, generally speaking, I would agree - the bigger, the better. Our current cistern is 5500 gal. At the farm, the new cistern will be 2500 gal, but I'll have back-up catchment that can be pumped into it. But in my case, I need something that will capture and hold all the rainwater it can possibly capture in order to supply our water needs until the next time it rains. In your case, if you've got a low-pressure well constantly (or intermittently) feeding your cistern or tank, then I would think you wouldn't need something all that big, rather more like Clem suggested (as long as you're talking home use and not livestock use, which would deplete your water stores more rapidly).

I'm definitely no expert, but it seems that our needs are different because of the source of water. You need something that will hold a reasonable amount of water that you might use in, say, a day's time while your pump is slowly filling it up again. I need something that will hold all the water we will use from one rain until the next - a week to two week's worth of water.

 

[LadyLocust]

I added some machining fixtures to my machine shop that will let me hold irregular parts and put flats or hex sides on round stock. They will let me provide additional services and capabilities to fix or replace parts when they are not readily available elsewhere.

Ben

That’s more valuable than it sounds!

It depends on your usage. A well that flows at 1gal/min does well enough with a 250 gal cistern, but you won't be watering large gardens or livestock.

Thank you. That's not very big. I think what I was reading was 3 gal/min, but now can't find it so would have to verify.
(Forgot to hit submit earlier when I typed this )

 

[LadyLocust]

@LadyLocust, generally speaking, I would agree - the bigger, the better. Our current cistern is 5500 gal. At the farm, the new cistern will be 2500 gal, but I'll have back-up catchment that can be pumped into it. But in my case, I need something that will capture and hold all the rainwater it can possibly capture in order to supply our water needs until the next time it rains. In your case, if you've got a low-pressure well constantly (or intermittently) feeding your cistern or tank, then I would think you wouldn't need something all that big, rather more like Clem suggested (as long as you're talking home use and not livestock use, which would deplete your water stores more rapidly).

I'm definitely no expert, but it seems that our needs are different because of the source of water. You need something that will hold a reasonable amount of water that you might use in, say, a day's time while your pump is slowly filling it up again. I need something that will hold all the water we will use from one rain until the next - a week to two week's worth of water.

Thank you! Gives me something to go on.

 

[angie_nrs]

We raided the cash stash and went shopping this week.

new truck tires and brakes bought and installed
oil filters for the truck - 4
grease for equipment - 2 cases
filled oil tank for truck and equipment
brake cleaner - 1 case (another ordered)
mini frig - ordered and paid for
infrared heater 1
infrared heater bulbs - 2
seed starter mats -2
tarps - 3
paint for winter project - 1 gallon
torch kit
coleman lighters - 2
vitamins/supplements on BOGO - 12
steak seasoning - 2 big containers
pie filling - 2 cases
carrots - 1 case
flour - 2 bags
turkeys for freezer - 2 (on sale)
coffee - 3 (on sale and had coupon)
swerve (keto sugar) - 4
fabric softner - 2 (on clearance)
softner salt for the kid - 10 (40#) bags already delivered it to the house with the truck

We'll need to go back in to pick up the frig when it arrives, so will get another 10 bags of salt for us then so we don't have to mess around with it when the snow flies.
We also got the garden bed cleaned out and added compost and extra fresh topsoil, so next spring we should be able to just rake it out and be ready to plant seeds.
Some of that stuff was pretty pricy, but costs aren't going to go anywhere but up, so I feel good about the haul. I doubt that feeling will last long, but it feels pretty good today.

 

[goshengirl]

Freeing up some room in the freezer by canning ground bison in tomato sauce.

Still working on our new house - which is a prep to my way of thinking because of where it takes us (once we're finally able to move in). We'll be better able to weather things with more land and better neighbors/community.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Just an FYI. We had to fill the one 40lb propane tank for the stove and we had a 25lb one that needed filled also.
Propane is $2 here right now. Don't know how long that will last with the way prices are going

 

[Neb]

Collet set and blocks came in and have been stowed.

I had The Princess watch a prepper video on Friday so she filled up her car with bulk flour, sugar, rice... She still has to get 5hem into buckets.

Ben

 

[Magus]

Planned to rotate the canned goods, read instead,