Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: February 28 ~ March 6, 2021

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
I keep a few family sized cans of chicken noodle soup on hand for when I'm not up to the task of making my own. I guess I need to stock up on some of those Chunky Soups, too. There's not many of those we like, though. We've tried some in the past. Mostly, it was those that said they were good over rice. Not good to us, though. I'll take another look at them.

If you don't like them, maybe Progresso soup, if you find coupons. I always want to be sure I've got some canned food. If I need to leave in a hurry, maybe a quick trip somewhere and nothing already made up, I can drop those into my food tote with a little stove and be assured of a hot, filling meal. Or a cold one, LOL. That happens less now, but I used to go camping on weekends with little prior planning.
 

paxsim2

Senior Member
I do batch cooking with hamburger and chicken for fast meals. I do roasts as well when they are on sale. It really comes handy.
Got my Mr Buddy burner, we'll try it out this weekend.
I'm going to start sowing seeds tomorrow and my sister got onion sets and potatoes to split. I'll get those out on Wednesday.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Southern Breeze, we have the ham salad at least once a week. I buy the Hormel brand. We love it in quiche too.

Yes, it's Hormel for me, too. In the small 5oz cans. Do you add egg noodles to yours?

I use the smoked ham in several different recipes. We like it in Scalloped or Au Gratin potatoes. I also use it in a pot of pinto beans.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Just a heads up. My wife likes Broccoli ( :kk1: ). But I was unable to buy any for storage for her. Walmart now has Freeze Dried Broccoli in stock for shipment. I ordered some last night. Here is a link if anyone would like any.

 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Just a heads up. My wife likes Broccoli ( :kk1: ). But I was unable to buy any for storage for her. Walmart now has Freeze Dried Broccoli in stock for shipment. I ordered some last night. Here is a link if anyone would like any.


Cary is like you. He hates the stuff. I try to only stock foods that we both like. I buy fresh or frozen broccoli for myself sometimes. Thanks for the link, though. I tried to order some things directly from Augason Farms a couple of days ago. Their website said they weren't taking orders, because of a metal can shortage. It seems Walmart still has some of their food stock in their warehouse.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
we had rain predicted all this last week and didn't get much guess it all went your way SB. However, we may get some or lots later today and tomorrow.

We got commodities this last week. We each got a frozen turkey breast. Neither of us are particularly fond of turkey, but I'm going to put one in the crock pot, I've got lots of turkey gravy to drown it in and plenty of eggs to make turkey salad. The other day I had to scratch around to find sweet pickle relish and thought I was low on it so I bought 4 more jars at Dollar Tree.

We usually get two cartons of shelf stable milk, but only got one, which is fine, we don't use it much. They gave us powdered milk too, along with potato flakes and a bag of grits. A package of spaghetti sauce, a one pound bag of pinto beans and a one pound bag of brown rice. The brown rice is going in the freezer which will keep it longer than vacuum sealing it. They also gave us a couple of lean cusine dinners which were awful, but we ate them. Probably getting partially defrosted didn't help the taste. They were in bowls which I kept the bowls to use in the kitchen. Both sets of commodities were kind of slim but I'm greatful for whatever we get. They almost always give us a couple of cans of fruit and vegetables. Which pretty much means I rarely or never have to buy corn or green beans.

We went out to eat yesterday to the local chinese place, I say local but its a 60 mile round trip. We really don't mind having to go that far, first we are use to it and second we love living in the woods. We stopped at Dollar Tree while we were in town and they had canned apricots, which DH loves so I bought four cans. And they had the sinus and allergy meds that really work best for us and I bought a case of 18 boxes, there are only 12 caplets in a box and we take two at a time, so when they are in stock I stock up.

I did go to walmart in that town but they did not have what I wanted, the Bear Creek Creamy wild rice soup mix, but I did restock the mandarin oranges with not sugar added that I like, 15 cans and there were some left. I love those and the whole can is low in calories and I also put them in a salad, it gives a whole new meaning to eating salad with a spicey dressing and sweet fruit.

I have decided to go back to use the cardboard can case bottoms in my pantry, cans keep falling off the shelf. Either on here or a utube video a lady said she puts bay leaf and sprays them with peppermint oil to deter bugs and spiders. That is the reason that I threw them all away. So while at walmart I filled my cart up with those cardboard bottoms. Now I just have to get in the pantry and restack hundreds of cans.

Its humid and 80 degrees outside, I actually had to turn the ac on for a little while yesterday afternoon, 82 in the kitchen is just too darn hot.

God is good all the time

Judy

Your list of what you got in commodities reminded me of this video that I came across yesterday:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7epGiZxp9dA&t=331s
Run time about 24 minutes.

It would, admittedly, be a very limited diet, but could be supplemented with foraged foods, or with herbs grown in pots, or from a small backyard garden. It is high-carb, but the portion sizes would necessarily be rather small, I think, which might partially make up for the high carbs.

Kathleen
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Today is shopping day for us. I plan to buy extra today, because it may be awhile, before I can get to the grocery store again. I also plan to stop in at Sam's, tomorrow, since we'll be in the big town for Cary's heart stress test. It's been months, since I've been in the store. I've been ordering all my items from them, but with all the running around we're doing getting Cary ready for surgery, I don't want FedEx dropping things off at our house, because of all the rain we're still getting into next week. We may not be at home when they deliver.

Today I'll shop at Tractor Supply, Dollar General, and Hometown Market. Since there is a shortage of food items everywhere now days, I may have to go to other places, too, just to get everything on my list.

And......It's RAINING!
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
Oh, definitely stock "quick" stuff, as well as the basics. Just during our move (we moved the last 7 loads Saturday, including the livestock, and are now trying to settle in) our diet sucked! We didn't have the time for even basic cooking, and as utensils and ingredients started getting packed and moved, it really wasn't possible. We kept complaining that our grown kids didn't seem to remember there's no Door Dash or even pizza delivery in the boonies!

But really... we have no way of knowing under what conditions we'll need our preps. And while you might want to make homemade noodles if you are stuck at home with everything working (say, the Texas weather situation, but your power stayed on), unfortunately, most scenarios involve a lot more uncertainty and other difficulties.

I try to make sure I have at least several meals worth of "heat and eat" stuff... home canned meat stews, baked beans, soups. In a real emergency, they could be eaten straight from the jar or can if necessary.

Summerthyme

Yes. I've been tending a lot more towards canned fruits and veggies, and canned soups and meats, since hurting my back several years ago. There are days I can't stand long enough to cook anything (or wash dishes, so we also have a lot of paper and plastic dishes and tableware), so we have to have quick and easy stuff on hand. It's not the best way to eat, certainly not how I prefer to eat, but sometimes we just don't have any choice.

Kathleen

ETA: Because we have to have gluten-free stuff, I mostly buy Progresso soups (most of theirs are not gluten-free, but they have several that are). Thankfully, we like lentils and split pea soup! These are also quite nutritious (but also very easy to cook from scratch). They also have clam chowder, a beef and vegetable soup (I think they call it pot roast or some such), and a chicken and rice soup which I don't like so haven't been buying. They have a chicken gumbo with sausage in it -- it's gluten-free and I like it, but neither of us tolerates hot peppers well due to our auto-immune diseases. In the summer, we often just eat these cold!
 
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Digger

Veteran Member
We bought 5 new fruit trees. I got them planted Sunday. 4 of them are replacement trees. We lost 2 older trees and one we planted last spring. Our 30 year old plum has died back to one branch so I got another of that one. Then there was a plum I wanted to try. I hope it is good.

I have 50 strawberry plants to put out. I hope to get at least half of them today. We will see how it goes.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Many things in our food storage is strictly for just my wife or just mainly for me. I have several food allergies and my wife has none. Plus we like many different things too. I don't have an issue with storing different items. Of course many items we both eat too.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Many things in our food storage is strictly for just my wife or just mainly for me. I have several food allergies and my wife has none. Plus we like many different things too. I don't have an issue with storing different items. Of course many items we both eat too.

Neither of us have any food allergies. BUT, Cary is supposed to be on a low cholesterol diet. That's not working out too well, cause he is a picky eater. He wants what he wants. I do what I can with what we have stored already.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Neither of us have any food allergies. BUT, Cary is supposed to be on a low cholesterol diet. That's not working out too well, cause he is a picky eater. He wants what he wants. I do what I can with what we have stored already.
my DH is a picky eater and he wants what he wants. I have been able to steer him away from some things that were mainstays in his diet before me. Since I just got up the only thing I can think of that was major is no more vegetable oil, we only use coconut oil for cooking.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
my DH is a picky eater and he wants what he wants. I have been able to steer him away from some things that were mainstays in his diet before me. Since I just got up the only thing I can think of that was major is no more vegetable oil, we only use coconut oil for cooking.

God is good all the time

Judy

I've got a lot of vegetable oil stored, but won't ever use it up. I'm going to keep it for emergencies, though. I've switched to olive oil. I've stopped frying foods, and bake as much as I can in the oven, including French fries.

I remember when Dad's doctor told him that he had to go on a low cholesterol diet. Dad started complaining about not being able to have fried chicken anymore, which he absolutely loved. His doctor told him he could still have fried chicken from time to time. It was just that he couldn't eat the whole chicken at one time, LOL.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Many years ago I had my cholesterol checked. It was way high. Doctor said he would give me a diet to follow to help bring it down. I told not to bother. I always have eaten whatever I wished only now with my allergies do I ever watch what I eat. A person can only live until they die anyway.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
my cholesterol has always been over 200, and I will never ever take a statin or eat a low cholesterol diet. That would mean not eating much in the way of eggs and eggs are just about the perfect food. But then again I don't have a health issue. I did have a vertigo issue years ago and eliminated it by eating a Macrobiotic diet. Its hard to stick to it but I did, but since I have little imagination when it comes to cooking I ate mostly green soup.

God is good all the time
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I just got back from shopping. I managed to get everything on my list and then some. I spent way too much, but it might be a month, before I can go again. I still plan to go by Sam's Club tomorrow to pick up a few things.

After my trip, today, I have managed to refill my one freezer that I had emptied to defrost. There is just one small hole left to fill. I'm sure it will get filled on my next shopping run whenever that turns out to be. We're eating out of the other freezer right now.

On the cholesterol. Cary's father, grandfather, uncles, and one cousin all in the same family died of a stroke. High cholesterol runs in the family. Cary already takes medication for it, and it's still running a bit high.

Moldy, I'll watch the video later today. I still haven't put all the groceries away. Got to do that, first.
 

moldy

Veteran Member
Transplanted about 30 pepper plants into bigger containers, did a bit of laundry, and worked on cleaning. Managed to get 3 of the 4 fruit trees pruned, except for about 3 bigger limbs I need the chainsaw for. Managed to wear myself out though.
 
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nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Cholesterol and Stroke Cholesterol and Stroke - The Weston A. Price Foundation

ARTICLE SUMMARY

  • Stroke is the leading cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States and most developed countries. There are two types of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic. The more common ischemic stroke results from blockage of a blood vessel supplying the brain, whereas the more damaging hemorrhagic stroke results from rupture of such a vessel.
  • As cholesterol levels increase, the risk of hemorrhagic stroke decreases and the risk of ischemic stroke increases.
  • Stroke mortality is lowest at cholesterol levels between 180 and 200. Mortality increases substantially below 180 and above 240. Mortality is highest below 160 and above 300.
  • Although cholesterol itself does not cause stroke, a diet high in polyunsaturated fat and low in antioxidants can make LDL-cholesterol within the blood vulnerable to oxidation. Oxidized LDL can contribute to the development of stroke.
  • High blood pressure is a far more important contributor to stroke than high or low cholesterol.
  • Animal fat and fatty fish are associated with a lower risk of stroke. Polyunsaturated fat and carbohydrates are associated with a higher risk of stroke.
  • Exercise, stress management, proper control of oral or systemic infections, and adequate nutrition can lower the risk of stroke. Important protective nutrients include magnesium, potassium, antioxidants and adequate protein."
"Cholesterol is essential to human life. It is a primary constituent of cell membranes, essential to learning and memory, and the fundamental building block of bile acids, vitamin D, and the steroid hormones.1 Because in most cases the body synthesizes all the cholesterol it needs, however, scientists do not consider it an essential nutrient. Weston Price did not study the cholesterol content of primitive and modern diets, and he wrote his epic work, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, decades before the medical establishment began measuring blood cholesterol levels and recommending cholesterol- lowering drugs and diets.2

Doctors get kickbacks for drugs they prescribe and they have been pushing statins for years. I worked in the legal department of a very large Hospital and Clinic that is all over this state. I signed a non disclosure when I left so I can't say its name.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Wow! Y'all have been busy this week - and it's only Tuesday!!

I hit Rural King after work this morning while waiting for Aldi to open; needed suet and peanuts for my bird feeders. They had a bin of hand warmers on clearance sale, so I snagged two big packages - my coworkers try to freeze me to death, I swear! The hand warmers being on sale led me to check the sock bins as they had wool blend socks on clearance last year around this time - I got lucky and they were on clearance again, so picked up a dozen pair of Lincoln brand merino blend in kid sizes (aka: my size lol!) for $1.46/pair - I wear them year round to work. I was kind enough to pick up a couple pair of grown up size for Hubby as well. Since the 10 year old grandson has passed me up in shoe size, I will probably pick up a few more pair in a smaller adult size for him; the younger grandson still fits in my size. I'll check again on my way home from work Friday morning, and if they have plenty, will pick up 10 more pair for myself to vac seal and put back; probably a few more pair for Hubby and the 10 year old as well. They also had an off brand of disinfecting wipes for 49 cents/80 ct tub so I picked up 4 of those to use in bathroom cleaning since most those I had on hand in the pantry ended up going to the grandsons' schools over this past year.

I stocked up on 20 - 2 pk boxes of onion soup mix and a couple dozen tuna packets in assorted flavors while I was at Aldi - I use the onion soup mix when I can cubes of beef and ground beef; and the tuna packets are about the right size for the base of a meal for Hubby - he makes tuna cassarole for himself (only gets to make it when I'm off work/have already left for work so I don't reek from the smell when I go in - gag!) I'll make a rare batch of tuna salad for us, but he eats most of it; the use by date was 18 months out, so that should take care of our tuna needs for a bit with what I already had on hand. Now to find a good price on salmon...

Popped in to the Evil Empire to re-stock light bulbs after I got done at Aldi - snooped the clearance aisles and found lots and lots of bottles of hand sanitizer on clearance, but didn't pick any up. They also had a bunch of school supplies on clearance, so I am going to pull up last years school supply lists and see what I can knock off their lists at 75%+ off cost when I'm on my way home from work on Friday morning.

Hubby said one of his younger co-workers is buying a different race bike (motorcycle) and was checking financing; he has over half the price saved up, but the interest rates are 16-19%!!! No credit history since he's a young'un, but dang!! I thought I was back in the late 70's/early 80's again! Told Hubby to offer him a loan at 8%; he's thinking about doing so - not like he doesn't know where the kid lives/works lol!

The neighbor lady who has had a greenhouse business for a couple of years has been posting photos of the plants she has started, so I'm not going to start any tomato or pepper plants this year. I'm hoping that the Feed 'n Seed has good sweet potato slips this year - I've tried to start a few from store sweet potatoes (the leaves can be cooked like other greens, and they make a nice houseplant) but have had no luck. Most of the sweet potatoes in the stores are pretty dry - feel way too light for their size, and aren't hardly worth eating.

I did manage to get more strawberry and raspberry plants ordered; and did find a source for yellow pole beans - Thank you, Summerthyme! I save seed from my zinnias each year, but succumbed to a few packets of bright purple, green, and orange ones to mix in with my home grown seed while I was at Rural King. I'm going to keep looking for red and white striped petunia seed for my hanging baskets this year - I'm only going to hang 4 as I need the other hooks for hummingbird feeders. I need to find some good grape vines as well - I didn't prune mine for the past couple of years and have decided to just rip out the old ones and start over on the grape arbor/gazebo thing in the side yard.

Darn, I've about worn myself out typing - time to head back to bed for more than a couple hour nap, I guess. The neighbor lady has already texted to see if I'm going to the pool with her in the morning, so I'd better rest up!

You folks all take care; stay safe, and have a great week!
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
In addition to the Hormel canned ham, I've also added another brand to my pantry because Hormel was getting hard to find at the time. Butterfield Farms Diced Ham. It's 11.99 at walmart.com. I just looked up the Hormel on amazon and the price is out of sight. A case of 12 for 38 dollars. The Butterfield is fine, not exactly like Hormel, but way better than nothing. Walmart still has it for 1.00 a can in the store, but nothing on line. Keeps me out of the stores to order on line.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

philkar

Veteran Member
I have duck questions. My only duck experience has been with wild ducks. Watched a momma hatch 14 eggs. Well, this past August I got the bight idea of getting some ducks to put on the pond. I thought it would be nice to wake up to ducks on the pond...never gave a thought to duck eggs. Well it is March and my three females are laying...where ever the urge hits them which means I am walking around the pond a couple of times a day looking for those eggs! The wild duck I watched layed under a bush. Help!
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
In addition to the Hormel canned ham, I've also added another brand to my pantry because Hormel was getting hard to find at the time. Butterfield Farms Diced Ham. It's 11.99 at walmart.com. I just looked up the Hormel on amazon and the price is out of sight. A case of 12 for 38 dollars. The Butterfield is fine, not exactly like Hormel, but way better than nothing. Walmart still has it for 1.00 a can in the store, but nothing on line. Keeps me out of the stores to order on line.

God is good all the time

Judy

I passed on buying any canned meats, yesterday. I was concentrating on filling up my freezer with meat. I think I'm good on cans of smoked ham for awhile. Might pick up more cans of chicken breasts at Sam's today, though. I use canned chicken more than all the rest. We're just about to leave.......
 

paxsim2

Senior Member
Went to Orschelns to look for seeds and found them! Bought more and some extras.
Working on another Walmart order, the discussion of easy to fix meals hit home.
Cleaning, I think we're going to try and take advantage of the low interest rates to sell our house and move to the small farm we have. Just 2 1/2 acres with a 125 year old home on it that we have completely remodeled and updated but left everything as original as possible. We'll have to build a garage/shop but it's move in ready. We are looking at solar power plus propane. Lots of possibilities out there.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I felt like a kid in a candy store when I walked inside Sam's, today, LOL! It's been so long, since I've been in the actual store. Our Governor lifted all COVID mandates, today, and our numbers have gone down so much, I felt safe going to the store. I wanted to buy everything! I limited myself to a 12 can package of tuna, snack foods, soap, and finally, English muffins. I have looked for those muffins for months, and they had plenty of the double packages. I bought 3 packages. They freeze well.

Went for Cary's stress test, and I got so mad I almost walked out. We went over there to get the test done, today, and all they did was do an EKG, and ask him some questions. They made him another appointment to come back Friday for the actual stress test and an Echocardiogram. There, apparently, was some kind of miscommunication somewhere. He already has another doctor appt. on Friday, so we had to fit these tests in.

So much stress and frustration trying to get everything set up.
 
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Freeholder

This too shall pass.
I have duck questions. My only duck experience has been with wild ducks. Watched a momma hatch 14 eggs. Well, this past August I got the bight idea of getting some ducks to put on the pond. I thought it would be nice to wake up to ducks on the pond...never gave a thought to duck eggs. Well it is March and my three females are laying...where ever the urge hits them which means I am walking around the pond a couple of times a day looking for those eggs! The wild duck I watched layed under a bush. Help!

Do you pen them up at night? (If not, you probably should, or they will likely get eaten by something sooner or later.) If you can pen them up at night, then just don't let them out in the morning until after they've laid their eggs, which is normally fairly early in the morning.

Kathleen
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
DH and his first (deceased) wife did a lot of canning. She had several pressure canners, they all seem to be Mirro-matic, which apparently last for generations. I share things with the young pastor and his family who live up the road about 2 miles. I asked him the other day if they had a pressure canner and he said no, but they were thinking about getting one. He is fast becoming a prepper and I can talk to him safely about anything. I told him to hold off because we have extras.

I asked DH to dig out one of the canners and he found two in different sizes. So I'm letting him pick which size he wants, all he had to do is get a new gasket for it. Also I bought the New Ball Canning book last year and I don't care for it, mainly because I'm never going to do much of anything of the recipes listed, so I'm gifting that to him also.

I have a canner that was my mother's, which I've used a couple of times. And I also have my All American which I've never used, and at the rate I'm going I never will.

Also I have a box of canned goods from our last commodities that I'm also sharing with him and his lovely wife and their three beautiful children.

This is just a way of giving back or paying it forward or whatever.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
Today I finally got rid of the last of the broken chairs that dh threw out in his junk pile before the holidays. They won't let you put furniture in the dumpster and I had to take them apart piece by piece, but they're gone, at last.
Still working on retirement paperwork. it's ridiculous.
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Judy - very kind of you to share your unused canner - and also food! - with the pastor and his family! I have a few Mirro canners; the ones I have are older and heavy as can be, but they work just fine.

I've got the first load of sheets in the washer; just waiting for the frost to melt off before I go out and wipe down the clothesline to hang them out to dry. I'll need to tighten up the turnbuckles on the lines, and wipe them down good before I start hanging anything. My scrubs are going on the line too - they are royal blue so I will hang them in between the lines of sheets to keep them from fading too much. The black turtlenecks I wear under them are gonna have to settle for the dryer - those things fade enough just from being washed.

I want to get everything dry and off the line before Hubby gets home from work this afternoon as it has finally dried up enough that we should be able to get the tractor in where the last load of rock (hopefully lol!) goes so I can order a load for the area where I park my little trailer. It might even be dry enough to mow off the small field east of my garden. But before he does that, I want him to open up the valve from the shed gutters to the big rain water tank in the shed - so looking forward to having rain water again.

I'm going to plant some beet seed in one of my small raised beds today - the sign isn't the best and the seed is last year's, but I want my fingers in the dirt! If they grow, they grow; if they don't, I'm not out much. I'm going to use the red beet seed as it's supposed to be hardier than the yellow ones, and I want them mostly for the greens anyway.

Talk to me about turnips... they've never been what I could call a favorite food, but the cousins planted a half acre of them for the deer and they didn't seem very interested. It's dried up enough that I can get out in that field without sinking up to my elbows, so I thought I might harvest a few just for giggles and grins.

Not sure if I'll have the grands this weekend or not - it would be a good weekend to ride their dirt bikes for sure! But daughter's step brother (good kid; I'd claim him lol!) and his wife have a new baby girl so they may be hanging at the other grandparent's this weekend. Reckon I'd better add a card to my Dollar General shopping list and see if I can round up a silver dollar to put in it - I'm sure it will be more expensive than the last baby gift coin I gave!

Well, it's a beautiful day out there and I'm not getting anything done sitting here looking at the computer so I reckon I'd better get up and get at my chores! You folks all take care out there - stay safe, and as happy as you can!
 
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