Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Purchased a DPMS in 5.56mm flavor for MizNCO and planted eight more eggplants.

That pretty much tapped me for this month.

Need to work on ammo now for the new addition to the NCO household. Our first 5.56! I hope the LR-308 and Garand aren't too jealous...

How're y'all making out?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Always nice to add another barrel to the collection!

Canned 34 1/2 gallon jars of various dry goods. (see other thread)
Purchased food saver and mason jar attachment
Bought another bundle of TP
Another 12 spam or so.
Bought some of sams club canned salmon fillets to try.

On the agenda for next month is fuel, fuel storage, etc.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

16 lbs of black beans, 12lbs of rice, cooking oil, canned salmon, canned chicken breast, brown sugar, 18lbs of spagetti.

picked up 3 more cases of quart mason jars and ordered 5 cases of half gallon mason jars.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I just hate dealing with spaghetti. I usually buy penne or macaroni. It is alot easier to handle.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I can see that now. You are right. Will keep it in mind for my next Sam's club trip.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Making your own pasta is easy too!
I did a pictorial here about it.Regular noodles and spaghetti noodles.

http://eastcherokee.proboards58.com/...ad=1697&page=1


Also did a pictorial on dehydrating spaghetti sauce,boy can you save a ton of space with that!Like 20 lbs of sauce makes 2 and 1/8th pound of powder!

http://eastcherokee.proboards58.com/...ay&thread=1798

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

This week's haul- more or less...

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...12/Picture.jpg

Pasta, pancake mix, & more rice (of course) on bottom 2 shelves... soup base (can be used to flavor rice), PB, & ichiban (uh- kinda like them) on third... misc. above including powdered milk & potato flakes. A lot of this will end up sealed ala mylar/buckets by next weekend. Got the shelf at Costco today. :D

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Bought some cornmeal. I LIKE cornmeal mush, LOL.

Bought some rump roasts to make jerky for $1.99/lb (black angus choice stuff) and some big Tyson chickens for $.69/lb.

Emptied the car while wife was out. The boat is completely FULL (14.5 ft), and both freezers and the dining room, too. Wife thinks I'm nuts already. Just imagine if she found out the boat was filled with food.

I need to get pails and bags and get more organized.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Mone,I have those same shelves without the wheels,very pleased with them.Got mine at Home Depot.

Bob,great price on the Angus Choice,almost hurts to make jerky from it,but good sale price.Do you grind your trim into burger,we do,YUMM! I dont buy commercial burger at all anymore.Much better,cheaper and safer IMO to grind your own.

Yes, I have a meat grinder. I really bought it to make homemade Pepperoni (got sausage stuffer with it), because Pepperoni costs $4.00/lb, but never was successful at making it. I do use it to make sausage and hamburger (from chops or roasts on sale), but lately I'm using up 30 lbs of ground beef I got for $.99/lb a few months back on sale. Once that's gone, I'll be back to making hamburger out of whatever looks good for cheap. It works well, and you know what's in your burger if you grind it yourself. I REALLY like your food dehydrator, LOL. That thing is KILLER compared to the junky little thing I have.

Ever tried making chili with beans from home dried stuff? I want to try making chili with dried tomatoes, onions, jerky and beans. Haven't seen a recipe anywhere for it using jerky, either, but I figure that must have been what was used back in the 1800's before refrigerators. I'm going to need to make a special batch of jerky with just salt, pepper and onion for spices that can be ground up in the food processor for long term storage and use in chili or stew. Any thoughts on that?

To be honest, I expect the price of meat to double by next winter, and that's why I'm trying to find ways to store it without using freezer space.

PS: I also make my own homemade corned beef out of those roasts. So much better than the fatty stuff you get in the packages at the store.
Buying canned meat is for the birds, IMO.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I think staying organized and keeping things where the wife isn't running into them everyday would be a good idea.

Whats going to happen when you use the boat!!!!
:bear_w00t:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

She will NEVER think to look there. I covered it all up with sails and stuff

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

LOL,I got that dehydrator at the thrift store,marked 'furniture'.Still had the book in it. I paid,get this.... $3.83.Yep,three dollars,eighty three cents! My best thrift store find ever!


Maybe make hamburger rocks? I made some,they dont have much flavor but rehydrate right back into hamburger.Its ideal for chili,you couldnt make burgers with it though.Would work good on burritos.I made some rocks and have em stored.Cant remember if I rinsed em twice or three times,but for sure got the fat out I think.I poured em into a colander and ran HOT tap water thru them.

Also somewhere saw a how to use/cook with jerky,but its long gone.

Rocks...
http://www.endtimesreport.com/hamburger_rocks.html

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Noah Bob? :D

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Wanna trade boats, mine doesn't have sails?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Too small and too tippy for TSHTF scenario. I'd need about 40 or 50 ft to live aboard. I used $5.00 of fuel for the entire year on my last big sailboat. I only used the motor to take it in or out from the dock.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Great find on the dehydrator!

I'm thinking of making it into a "finely chopped jerky" via the food processor for use in chili. I don't think I want to eat hamburger rocks if I don't have to, LOL, when my jerky is about the same cost and difficulty to make.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

That is my dream. What in your estimate is the USD amount you would need to A) purchase a sailboat you could live on. and B) have the required funds to repair/keep up

This would be the kind of thing that is a huge deal but has always been a dream of mine. Thanks.

Edit: sorry for the off-topic.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

About $100k and $10k per yr upkeep. A slip in the tropics somewhere, and another in the Chesapeake. I dunno its REALLY doable, but its a nice dream. Maybe it would be better to have a small one and an off the grid home somewhere nice.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I'd like to get a small sail boat in addition to my 14.5' Fisher boat w/9.9hp Mercury motor. I'd like it to be under 26' and have at least camp aboard capabilities. Problem is, I'd have to trailer whatever I got and I'm already paying high license tax for other tags and insurance fees.

In the way of preps for this week. Spending more on preps than on boats. :D I'll be getting my chicks moved into larger coops, trying to get them at least a fenced in range area so they can enjoy their life a little better. All together I have 40 chicks of different breeds and size. Need to buy more diesel and gas as I use quite a lot of both around the micro-farm. We want to buy a bunch of lumber for future planned projects. I try to keep some around for little projects anyway, as you never know when you'll need it. Need more plumbing supplies too, I've got a few planned additions in the works. Plastic pipe is great for building stuff out of and surprisingly sturdy.

Well, got to get these old bones :stickymanmoving beforre I stick in this position.:smokin:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Bought 3 cases of quart canning jars - Gonna try Tech Guys dry storage for my rice and beans. Still looking for a cheap foodsaver.
Local Publix supermarket had a BOGO sale on all Del Monte canned veggies. I bought 2 cases each of peas, green beans and corn. Came out to 37.5 cents a can. Going back for more this weekend.
Received my cases of LDS #10 cans of rice, pinto beans and wheat via UPS. Not a bad deal at all as shipping is free. Now I need to get a wheat grinder.
Bought several more 20# bags of white rice and pinto beans.
Reorganized the shelving system in my utility room. Started an inventory of all preps to keep better track of everything as I'm starting to get top heavy in certain areas and still bare in others. Gotta stay organized.:wink:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Burn a can of wheat when you get a wheat grinder, and learn how to use it.

There are several good books on how to use home storage books on beprepared.com .

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Was at Sams today

Elbow pasta $4.87/6lb bag
Spaghetti $4.87/6lb bag

This is .81 per pound and seems a good buy. The spaghetti is denser and more compact than the elbows.

Plenty of Jasmine rice @ $13 sumpthin' for 25 lb bags seemed like a different brand. I don't know what.

plenty of Arkansas rice @ $25 for 50lb bags This was $13-14 a while back

:smokin:

sb

ps It will be a while before I repent.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I'm still finding 45 cent per pound rice (20 lb bag for 8.99)
and 80 cent per pound spaghetti
I'm using a vacuum sealer and then freezing the sealed bags for a week

I also bought some Mung beans recently
has anyone been using them for sprouts? how many days ahead should
I plan on preparing them - 3 days before they can be added into a salad I'd guess, maybe even longer? Any tips?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Trying to round out the pantry. Tonight ordered:

1 case of powdered whole eggs (6, #10 cans) from Honeyville food products
1 case of freeze dried peas (6, #10 cans) from Honeyville food products
3 #10 cans of dehydrated Instant fat free powdered Milk
3 #10 cans of dehydrated Apple Slices
3 #10 cans of dehydrated Banana Slices
4 #10 cans of dehydrated Potato Slices

Should get about 10-12+ years shelf life out of all of them at 60 degrees year-round.

Going to Sams tomorrow to grab 50lbs of elbow macaroni to vaccuum seal.

I still think we are in the calm before the storm when it comes to the banking system and general economy. Time to prepare is now.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I agree with you there. This is the dead cat bounce.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I saw brand new foodsavers at Costco today for $125.00, these are the new delux jobbers. Also, yesterday at Wally World I saw foodsavers for $59.00. I didn't look real close, they might be reconditioned ones, or maybe a lesser model of some sort.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Went to Costco today. They had nice variety packs of pasta. You get 6-17.6 ounce packs of three different types for about $7.50. That's actually a really good price. About $1.10 per lb.There were two different bags of 6 smaller bags in each. One of them was all organic. So, I got 13 pounds of pasta for $15.00. I'm going to do like TG and can these all up. They had 25lb bags of white rice for $10.79, 4 bag limit. I heard all of these people making comments about the rice, "I don't think I've bought 4 bags like that in my life!" Comments like that. I was putting 2- #10 cans of tomato puree, and peach halves into my cart. This one couple looked at me like I was nuts or something. Hello! That's the only size they have here! That's okay, move along please BAAAAH, BAAAAHHH!

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Scott, what State do you live in, if you don't mind. I would think at 60 degrees year round, you might do alot longer than that. I was thinking if you could find an awesome deal on spaghetti, you could just break it up in order to can it easier. Maybe in half or something. I'm going to try that, as I have 6 or 8 pounds of spaghetti I bought awhile back.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

I'm in MD. I have a nice size closet on the ground level that I am filling. It was 85 degrees one day last week and the temp was 60. In the winter I bet it's about 55 degrees in the closet. No heat vents in there. It's a concrete foundation floor with some moisture barrier and 3/8 inch hardwood on top made for fastening (adheseive)above concrete.

I have some spagetti. Let me know how your experiment goes with breaking it up. I was going to give mine to the food bank and buy some elbow macaroni for storing based on Techguy's experiece with spagetti.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

picked up 60lbs of elbow macaroni @ sams for $48.60. What was interesting is that there were literally tons of rice there last week and today the shelves were completely bare. No signs on limits last week, this week signs and bare shelves. I took a couple of cell phone pics I will post later.

Also got some more spices, and baking powder.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Got my new K-BAR USMC knife in the mail today. I think everyone should have one of these, this thing is awesome! Got 'er on Ebay for 50 bucks. Got a black one with a rubberized handle, plus a hard plastic type sheath. There were others selling the same knife for 75 to 80 bucks, so I think I got a decent deal.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 27 Apr - 3 May
 

Rice is gone now at my Sams in Maryland (see link below for pics from my trip today). You can see the flour in the background is running low. Plenty of pasta though.

http://goldismoney.info/forums/showp...7&postcount=52