Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

I was doing my week preps gathering at Costco today when I passed the "Emergency 90 Day Food Supply" 5-gal buckets. There was a man and his wife(?) standing there arguing about something, she kept pointing to the buckets and saying something. So being the morbid curiosity type, I moved in close enough to easedrop. He had a cart with 3 or 4 shelving type units he was buying and another cart full of cases of canned goods. She was saying, "this would so much simpler, cheaper, AND something like this would even fit in the trunk of your car." Clearly he was attempting to foolishly spend some FRNs and take over part of the house for preps. Didn't stick around to see how it ended.

Funny I always look at other peoples carts to see if they are just picking up a few things or 'stockpiling', this is the first time I've seen anyone clearly 'preping'. Obviously new to the game (I was too not too long ago) but good for him and his efforts, hope he wins the battle.

BTW, Info on these so called '90-day' supplies here:
http://goldismoney.info/forums/t6281...ency-food.html

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

Are the 5 gallon buckets a good deal?

We should drill mock emergencies to see if they are worth it.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

We've had posts on GIM regarding those buckets and, while I do not have any links, maybe someone else does, there was a huge issue over them. As I undestood it, it was not nearly as good as they advertize, with a full days servings being less than half what people would really need.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

here's the lawsuit on that stuff..

http://soundpolitics.com/PopeCostcoLawsuit.pdf

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

Are you kidding?

I've got 4 spoiled American kids to feed.:rofl:

I thought one of you truly freemen might step up as the bait.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

Saw them on buy trip last week and passed.
Something didn't seem right.
I found that Costco is good for some stuff , but not others.
I really don't want 80 oz jars of Jelly , you know? Or a gallon of dressing.
I'd prefer 8 ten oz jars in a case.
I'm not a restaurant , and it'll go bad before we eat it, especially if there were no refrigeration.
Same with a lot of other items.
But a lotta other type stuff was viable, so we did get a lot, Pasta, Tuna , energy bars etc.
Some stuff is just designed for restaurants etc , though others were normal size , just packed as 4 or whatever.
I'm going to the local supermarket to ask the manager if I can order by case through him for other items that I'd prefer in regular size single containers, and if there'a any discount. I figure it likely to be fresher in this case , than in some online place where I have no idea where or when they got it.
I'll let you know what he says for anyone who cares.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

I agree momopanda, I just get the 'normal' sizes packed in 4, 6 or what ever. You also (as you already know) have to look at the price per X, some is price per can, others, per pound/oz. You have to keep up with what the local supermarket price is and do the calcs, some are 'deals',,, some are not.

Thought of this too, plus it would make rotation/storage easier, swap out the whole case with the same exp date. When you get individual cans you always have to check every can and then 're-case' it yourself. Let me know how this works out, I'm gona check around as well.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Buy-and-Sell-Gol...QQcmdZViewItem

why not just get this and you can start to make some money selling your gold and then you can buy sprouts?!

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

I'm not as concerned about how inflated the time claim is as by how filthy the 'food' likely is. If the food is decent, then people who otherwise would do nothing are better off with the 20 days it might feed them than with zip. The exaggerated claim is only an extreme version of the exaggeration Mt House makes about its products or those 3 man tents that might hold 3 6 year olds. You do need to figure quantity for yourself.

Whole dried foods are IMO, as others have posted, a much better and also more cost effective choice. Steel cut oats, whole corn or corn meal or grits, and whole millet store longer and with less rancidity risk than brown rice. Whole wheat stores well also, but wheat is not a favorite grain of ours and we tend to prefer cooked grain to making bread. Triticale, a grain that is a very high protein wheat-rye cross, tastes good mixed in rice kind of like those wild and white rice dishes and adds a lot of protein. It has a strong somewhat nutty flavor that I find overwhelming alone. We store Uncle Ben's type rice for long storage. Grain with a variety of beans can provide long term good nutrition. Add alfalfa seeds for sprouting and almonds and then in the freeze dried department a lot of fruits and you can eat well.

Don't forget salt, sugar, honey, and spices. All can be purchased very reasonably. Frontier spices are not irradiated.

The prefab freeze dried meals that you add water to would, I suspect, be very bad long term for health if eaten exclusively. They are very salty not to mention the many chemicals they contain, and with all those defects they are extremely expensive per meal compared to the more wholesome whole foods.

As many have posted, get canned goods you like first, because they are easy to purchase and will last many months. If you rotate them buying extra is just saving money by buying more before it goes up. Then whole foods for longer term. And last some overpriced junk food.

I recently started adding sweet treats of various kinds to our storage to use as a cheer up treat. There too you can get a lot at the regular grocery store. Pie filling, jams and preserves, for example are all less expensive and likely healthier than long storage add water strange desserts. Things like body builder chocolate shakes or mix will taste sweet but add protein to your diet. The ones with the complex whey protein are likely better than the soy based ones.

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I am glad you saw people stocking up even if they were just getting started. The more who stock up the better the country will fare in any kind of crisis.

Of the possible scenarios only a few of the most dire really require a lot of stored food: nuclear war, which I am not certain I want to survive considering the misery of radiation sickness, pandemic, world wide famine perhaps climate related. Maybe we feel the starvation already in progress for millions in the world and that makes us stock up. America has enough land to feed itself easily. But pandemic would really call for being stocked up. Even if stores were full of food, you would be risking death for your entire household by going there.

Then a Zimbabwe type hyperinflation might put food out of economic reach for a time. Food could be there, but our entire income not buy a week's food. It would not last because 'let them eat cake' never does. But a year or two would be long enough to starve many to death.

If all I get from stocking up is savings as food gets more expensive and some peace of mind, that is ok.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

Going to costco tomorrow to stock up on oats, rice, beans, meat, and water.

Went to Bashas today. Great deal on Bumble Bee canned tuna. 10 for $10. Advertised limit 10 per person...I picked the new clerk and walked out with 50 cans.

Re: Interesting Costco Trip Today
 

Costco has Chicken of the Sea for $.51 per can,,, picked up 2 cases last week and 2 cases today, 192 cans (4-48 can cases) ....(exp date 3/2011). :aetsch: Also picked up some more :spam4: