Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: May 16 ~ 22, 2021

Meemur said:

Is there anyway or place to hang the exercise equipment? I'm guessing no, but it might be a consideration.

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I would if I could, about the only thing that could be hung would be the rowing machine.

DH has helped me out, he said I could put the glider rocker in the bedroom of the cabin. Now to get stuff out of the way so we can get it out of the pantry room. I moved the rocker out of the spot where it was and stashed it alongside one of the shelves. Now to get the table cleaned off and folded up and with the table out of the way it will make it easier to get the rocker out of the room. It will make a nice place to sit once he gets the cabin completed. I do not just assume that I can put something in the cabin, I ask and if he says no I don't nag him about it.

God is good all the time.

Judy

I had to make an unplanned trip to the PO this morning, so I filled up with gas. Up 40 cents a gallon from last week to $3.09. My station will only let you have $20.
I had finally found some rubber boots that would fit dh, and I thought I was a couple pairs ahead, but he had just been helping himself to a new pair and not telling me. Can't find any size 15 boots anywhere. He has leather boots, just not the rubber.
The weather has been strange. We haven't hit 80 degrees yet. Usually by the time, I'm sitting in my "cool off" pool every day. It hasn't even been warm enough to get in it. My tomato seedlings are like they are in stasis, they've been the same size for over a month.
My allergies are kicking my butt. There is some kind of tree/bush growing right outside the kitchen window and it really makes me sneeze. It's full of honey bees so I will have to live with it. I am not spraying them.

Have any of y'all used the Pur jars? I was thinking of getting some to can dry goods and saving my good jars for pressure canning. There's so much crop out there now, I don't want to buy junk.

Just got back from Lowe’s with another 8 bags of topsoil that we’ll mix with our compost to make a new place to plant sweet potatoes. Our tiller has been messed up and still in the shop, so we haven’t been able to till the mail garden area. Instead, I’m finding places to put various veggies.

We did another top-off run for canned goods to put up this weekend. We know it will save money in the long run.

Hubby is still splitting and cutting wood from some trees we had cut down a few weeks ago. We should have plenty of firewood for several years now.

Taught a class today and applied for a new job. Would appreciate prayers that I end up where I'm supposed to be.

We attended our first Market Day in our little town. Sold all that we took so I guess that is good! We took tons. Learned a lot!

Crows have been in the corn we planted last week. Steam is coming out of my hubby's ears!
Big Mama Limas are up and Blue lake pole beans are up.

This week we are only eating out of storage to see if we really have all the bases covered and to discover if we would like to do anything differently. On the days that we work from sun up to sundown in the garden I am not so keen on cooking complicated meals so trying to make sure that we have that covered.

Isn't God so faithful to us? I have this incredible sense of peace. I don't interpret that to mean that it will turn out like I wish but that He will grace me to face it.

Have a great rest of the week!

Amazon- I haven’t used those jars but I recall a Facebook discussion about them and that they are made in China and that seemed to be the turn off for them.

moldy- Prayers up for you.

Last year DH and I discussed buying insulation and working on getting it down in the attic area over winter since it get so unbearably hot up there in summer. Well it kept getting put off and here we are with it still not done. Today he went and bought 22 rolls (all that Lowe’s had and they didn’t know when they will get more) and of course the price had gone up from what he had priced before, sigh. I hope he can get this in place before it gets any hotter and we recoup some of the money in lower energy costs this summer. We have an outdoor wood furnace for heat in the winter months that also heats our water but summer months is a whole other animal.

DH and I did a quick glance around in the pantry to see what needed to be brought up from the basement and what needs to be replaced. Rotation of Miracle Whip didn’t work out so well this winter LOL, I had 4 jars that are slightly out of date but I’m sure it’s fine and will be used up fairly quick.

Marseydoats said:

I had to make an unplanned trip to the PO this morning, so I filled up with gas. Up 40 cents a gallon from last week to $3.09. My station will only let you have $20.
I had finally found some rubber boots that would fit dh, and I thought I was a couple pairs ahead, but he had just been helping himself to a new pair and not telling me. Can't find any size 15 boots anywhere. He has leather boots, just not the rubber.
The weather has been strange. We haven't hit 80 degrees yet. Usually by the time, I'm sitting in my "cool off" pool every day. It hasn't even been warm enough to get in it. My tomato seedlings are like they are in stasis, they've been the same size for over a month.
My allergies are kicking my butt. There is some kind of tree/bush growing right outside the kitchen window and it really makes me sneeze. It's full of honey bees so I will have to live with it. I am not spraying them.

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If you find more boots for DH hide them and don't let him know about them. If he didn't have to scrounge around to find them himself he probably justs take them for granted.

Pur jars, I can't find what they are. If you can't vacuum seal them then don't store anything in them for very long.

God is good all the time

Judy

aviax2 said:

Amazon- I haven’t used those jars but I recall a Facebook discussion about them and that they are made in China and that seemed to be the turn off for them.

moldy- Prayers up for you.

Last year DH and I discussed buying insulation and working on getting it down in the attic area over winter since it get so unbearably hot up there in summer. Well it kept getting put off and here we are with it still not done. Today he went and bought 22 rolls (all that Lowe’s had and they didn’t know when they will get more) and of course the price had gone up from what he had priced before, sigh. I hope he can get this in place before it gets any hotter and we recoup some of the money in lower energy costs this summer. We have an outdoor wood furnace for heat in the winter months that also heats our water but summer months is a whole other animal.

DH and I did a quick glance around in the pantry to see what needed to be brought up from the basement and what needs to be replaced. Rotation of Miracle Whip didn’t work out so well this winter LOL, I had 4 jars that are slightly out of date but I’m sure it’s fine and will be used up fairly quick.

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Your miracle whip will be just fine awhile past the date. The date is just so you will throw it out and buy new.

God is good all the time

Judy

Well, got front & rear wheel bearing on the car replaced, and a load of topsoil delivered today for creating a veggie bed. I’ll likely get 2 more deliveries of topsoil ..
that’ll keep me busy this coming weekend...
oh, building a chicken tractor, too, and taking down small weed trees. I like to vary my jobs, work different muscle groups ...

philkar said:

This week we are only eating out of storage to see if we really have all the bases covered and to discover if we would like to do anything differently. On the days that we work from sun up to sundown in the garden I am not so keen on cooking complicated meals so trying to make sure that we have that covered.

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That's a great idea. We eat only out of my pantry every day, unless we eat out. Nothing fancy about our meals, either. The older I get, the easier I like things to be. I've thought about posting what I'm making out of my pantry each day to give folks a better I idea of what to store for easy and quick meals. Of course, people's tastes are different, but it's just an idea. I like variety, and can make a month's worth, or more of menus, without making the same meal twice. I do buy fresh breads and produce to compliment meals, but in a SHTF event, I have flour and cornmeal for bread, and can grow some of our own produce. I also rotate meals out of the pantry with meals out of my freezers as far as the meat goes.

Tonight, I'm taking English muffins, cheese, and ham out of my freezer. Will make ham, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches, with dehydrated shredded potatoes for hash browns. The only thing on the list I'm not totally stocked up on are the eggs. I still buy those every two weeks. I do have #10 cans of powdered whole eggs in storage.

philkar said:

This week we are only eating out of storage to see if we really have all the bases covered and to discover if we would like to do anything differently. On the days that we work from sun up to sundown in the garden I am not so keen on cooking complicated meals so trying to make sure that we have that covered.

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We did that last year when we self-quarantined for 3 months because of the virus (before we knew anything about it).
We discovered we were short yeast (we had some) but other than that we were fine. Since then we have dramatically increased our storage preps. Not sorry we did that 3 month trial because it showed us we could do it and what we might want to expand on for preps. Now we are set for a very long time.

hiwall said:

We did that last year when we self-quarantined for 3 months because of the virus (before we knew anything about it).
We discovered we were short yeast (we had some) but other than that we were fine. Since then we have dramatically increased our storage preps. Not sorry we did that 3 month trial because it showed us we could do it and what we might want to expand on for preps. Now we are set for a very long time.

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Everyone needs to do this, IMHO. Back a few years ago, Cary had a seizure. He was still working at the time. Because of a state law, he couldn't work (only income) for 6 months afterwards. We did our practice run then. We went 6 months eating only what we had stored, out of necessity. Our emergency cash all went for paying our utility bills. We learned a lot, and made changes as were needed.

One other thing I'd like to mention. Until you do a practice run with your preps, you don't have any idea how long what you have stored will last. Until we went through the period of only having to eat out of our pantry, I had no clue how much food I had. We went those 6 months with plenty left over, but I knew then how much food it took to last 6 months. It was a lot of food. Not a lot of people know just how much food it takes to last even 6 months, much less a year.

SouthernBreeze said:

One other thing I'd like to mention. Until you do a practice run with your preps, you don't have any idea how long what you have stored will last. Until we went through the period of only having to eat out of our pantry, I had no clue how much food I had. We went those 6 months with plenty left over, but I knew then how much food it took to last 6 months. It was a lot of food. Not a lot of people know just how much food it takes to last even 6 months, much less a year.

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When we did the 3 month thing we only used items from our regular small pantry and the freezer. We never touched the storeroom.

hiwall said:

When we did the 3 month thing we only used items from our regular small pantry and the freezer. We never touched the storeroom.

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Yeah, that's good. Going through our 6 month period, we never touched our long term shelf life food, either. We have that stored away in the event all other means of food are gone, or to supplement what we may be able to find or grow.

We do eat out of our pantry and freezers most days. Lately we've been getting a meal once a week from a near by restaurant, usually Friday or Saturday, this week we had that meal once a week. We were both too tired to cook and I was too tired to wash dishes. One thing that really extends what we have stored is that we have a huge amount of eggs. So eggs for one of our two meals a day.

With the third shelving unit I've been able to clear off the table and almost all of what's on the freezer. I'm taking the table down today. The fourth and final shelving unit is supposed to be delivered today, that one will go where the table was. And I will have more room to get around the units without the table. I hate to lose the table but really all I did was pile stuff one it, so it was not used in the best way.

I have shelves over the washer and dryer that I've been storing canned foods, I'm working my way through those, putting them in box bottoms and stacking them. I've just moved over 50 cans of various greens (spinach, mustard greens, collard greens and mixed greens) from those shelves to one of the shelves on the third unit.

The table is out of the room, much more space to move around in even with the exercise equipment in there, there is hope to get more organized.

We got a grocery ad in the mail, there were only three kinds of canned food advertised. Most of the food was boxed processed food, so nothing I'm interested in.

I found another food I've never eaten in my pantry besides mackerl, ramen noodles, Dh has eaten them but they have never crossed my lips.

God is good all the time

Judy

Prayers said for you, Moldy.

I've been spinning my wheels on the deck project. I was originally going to have it taken down and replaced with Trex (plastic) but it's too costly, so I decided to replace the bad 7 - 9 boards (all straight cuts), strip it (peeling red paint), pressure wash it, sand where needed, and then go from there. If it's not too bad looking, I might just seal it. If it still looks horrible, maybe paint it with actual deck paint. I'm fairly sure the former owner used oops interior paint, maybe from Menard's.

This is a 10' x 12' deck, no curves or fancy cuts.

I'm running into several problems:
- It has been raining every day
- The pressure-treated wood is not available in the lengths I need (or longer!)
I would rather wait than use 3' lengths. I'd do that if I were only replacing one 10' board, but it'll look weird if I do that
with all of the rotten boards. They're all on one side.
- Neither of the two chemical strippers I'd like to use are available in my area right now
- The lower grit sandpapers are also in short supply, but I snagged more #80 at the farm store when I was looking for
wet cat food

Tomorrow, I'm going to visit two of the lumber yards that never answer their phones or return calls (callers get sent to voice mail). I confirmed that they are still in business, just really short-handed. If I can only get a few boards, I'll replace what I can and go from there.

Glad I'm not building an entire wooden deck right now. I'd postpone that project and try again at a later time.

Added: I really thought I was going with the Trex. Had I realized that I would only be doing repairs, I would've bought/ordered the wood back in March.

Everyone has 20/20 hindsight!

The only productive day this week has been Sunday. Neighbor saw me cutting a couple trees down and asked if I would like to take down some of hers. Well, I'm glad I got it all cut up that day because it's been raining like crazy every day since. At least it is ready to split and stack. That should fill up the drying racks, although there's still enough seasoned for a few years. It also allows me to not cut some of the trees on our property...to have in reserve. Most are only 20 or 30 years old, so not too difficult to deal with, and I really don't want to bring down the old ones (50+ yrs) unless absolutely necessary. I figure each of them would fire the wood stove for close to a decade...plus I'd need a much larger saw
The grapes are loving their "trellis" and have started spreading to cover the top. Hopefully they will provide a shady spot to set up a glider in the warm months.
I thought the broccoli was finished putting on, but with all of the rain and cooler temps it seems they changed their minds...
Now if it would just...quit...raining!

Our oldest DS is doing our tree cutting for firewood. He is clearing his backyard of a lot of oak trees that are hindering their garden with too much shade. The area he's cutting is all overgrown, and the trees are pretty big. Since Cary is still limited to 20lbs on weight lifting, our son is cutting the trees down, cutting up the firewood to the lengths we need, then stacking it up in a pile. All Cary will have to do this fall is to go load it on his trailer, and bring it home. There's not going to be much to split, just stack in the racks under the wood shed. This should make around 2 more cords we'll have under roof. That's the amount we have used this winter. We try to stay at least 3 years ahead.

We're leaving in a little while for our "Date Day"! Weather is beautiful. High 85 and sunny skies. The humidity isn't high enough to matter, yet, but it's coming. I'll be shopping at Sam's, my favorite specialty shop for bird feeders, bookstore, shoe store, and Belk's. Cary is taking a book to read with him. On these long shopping days, he says that I wear him out, so if he wears out, he can stay in the car, and read while I shop. He doesn't mind, and he knows I've been looking forward to this trip. I have extra money(gifts) and gift cards to spend, since I had my birthday and Mother's Day close together this year I got
a double dose from everyone.

No pantry menu today. We'll be eating out, before coming home from our shopping trip.

Wednesday night church is when we give away our excess eggs, we didn't go last week so we had two weeks worth. 6 one gallon buckets of eggs. We only had three 18 count cartons, the rest went in a box for the pastor. The eat a dozen a day between the four of them.

I was talking to the son of a cousin by marriage, he didn't want eggs, but he said this time next year he may be wanting chickens because of inflation. He's the same age as my oldest son. We do have way too many chickens. The last round of eggs we had hatched produced a lot or roosters. I suggest to our pastor that he take the young rooster, feed them out and butcher them for meat for his freezer, in addition the five roosters that DH has been trying to get him to take to butcher. He confessed that he did not really know how to butcher a chicken and DH said he would teach him. So he is coming over Monday to learn how to butcher a chicken and take the small roosters and he said he'd take some hens too. He's already got a fine set up for them and he's got rabbits going in that set up too. I've been bending his ear about keeping a full pantry and he has been listening.

The last shelf unit come in yesterday and is put together. With the table gone I have a lot more room to move around in my "grocery store"

One thing that is further down on my list of things to do is to organize and inventory my bucket food storage that is in my she shed. In the buckets that have different foods in them I labeled not only the bucket but also the lids. That way I can easily see what's in a bucket. I do have an air conditioner in the shed that keeps the temperature from getting so hot in the summer and a electric radiator heater that keeps it from freezing in there.

God is good all the time

Judy

So glad all of your shelf units arrived!

I've been watching this saga. Others have things on order, too, but no sign of them, yet. Your story gives them hope!

I got up early so I could get to the dump by 8:30 am and not have to deal with any of the local riff raf who show up and block off the dumpsters so you can't get rid of your trash.
I wasn't going to go to the store this week, but dh requested salad stuff, and the chickens quit laying again. They were just barely keeping ahead of us egg wise as it was. I hate store eggs! I wish I could some chickens and a nice rooster from Judy!
I wound up getting $12 of salad stuff. I thought they didn't have any cherry tomatoes at all, they were with the apples, and had no price on them. $4.48 for a pack of cherub tomatoes. A pack of radishes was almost $2. A crown of broccoli was $1.48. They didn't have any cauliflower and I put back the purple cabbage because they didn't have a small enough pack that I knew I could finish. Dh won't eat anything but nasty iceberg lettuce, and I eat spring mix. I am really enjoying my lunch salad though!
I gave the ancient gelding his first really good scrub bath of the season and dumped and scrubbed 2 water troughs. By then I was so hot, I decided to try my cool off pool for the first time. It's just something to sit in when I get overheated, it's not big enough to swim in. the water is still too cold but I did sit it in for a few minutes. It will really make it more bearable in july/August, especially when the power is out.
Dh says he's going to mow this afternoon and I have to shuffle the animals around so none of them get mown, so I don't think I'm going to do anything else today but read.

Finished another hunting knife yesterday, this one has an aluminum handle just because I had never made one that way before. I threw it in the tote with all the others. I made a tiny branding iron a while back and I brand all the leather sheathes with my last initial.
Rode bike 15 miles for exercise.
Placed yet another small order with Walmart after the molasses I ordered was canceled so I reordered that and a couple other things.
Today, wife wants to go to our small town and pick up a few groceries. Mostly just to get out of the house I think. Very windy here today so we can't do much outside.

OK so you all know onion seeds degrade quickly? Like 50% of seed can be unviable after the first year of storage? Onions are also biennial plants, they make their bulb the first year and flower and go to seed the second year?

So I trotted myself into the grocery store and picked up a few varieties that are currently in season and planted them in our garden. One onion can produce a lot of seed. It's a good idea to stake the central flower stalk so they don't fall over.

Marseydoats said:

I got up early so I could get to the dump by 8:30 am and not have to deal with any of the local riff raf who show up and block off the dumpsters so you can't get rid of your trash.
I wasn't going to go to the store this week, but dh requested salad stuff, and the chickens quit laying again. They were just barely keeping ahead of us egg wise as it was. I hate store eggs! I wish I could some chickens and a nice rooster from Judy!
I wound up getting $12 of salad stuff. I thought they didn't have any cherry tomatoes at all, they were with the apples, and had no price on them. $4.48 for a pack of cherub tomatoes. A pack of radishes was almost $2. A crown of broccoli was $1.48. They didn't have any cauliflower and I put back the purple cabbage because they didn't have a small enough pack that I knew I could finish. Dh won't eat anything but nasty iceberg lettuce, and I eat spring mix. I am really enjoying my lunch salad though!
I gave the ancient gelding his first really good scrub bath of the season and dumped and scrubbed 2 water troughs. By then I was so hot, I decided to try my cool off pool for the first time. It's just something to sit in when I get overheated, it's not big enough to swim in. the water is still too cold but I did sit it in for a few minutes. It will really make it more bearable in july/August, especially when the power is out.
Dh says he's going to mow this afternoon and I have to shuffle the animals around so none of them get mown, so I don't think I'm going to do anything else today but read.

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You are more than welcome to chickens, roosters and eggs. Its weird that our chickens kept laying all winter, we gave eggs to a friend that has way more chickens than we do because theirs were not laying.

When I was moving to the woods I bought a nice rubber tub to cool off in but never used it for that because I stayed in the air conditioning. I did bathe a dog in it once or twice. DH has used it for several things, water for the pigs for a long time. Now its turned upside down for the baby goats to play on.

I bought salad stuff the other day too. And my DH will only eat the crappy iceberg stuff and I also eat the spring mix.

God is good all the time

Judy

As I'm now able to organize my pantry stuff, I'm finding out that I do not have as many black beans as I thought. Those and chick peas I need to buy more of. I thought I easily had 52 cans of each but I don't.

God is good all the time

Judy

A pool really does make life more enjoyable in the summer heat. We still need to get our pool opened. That's this week's big project, along with mulching the garden.

After we finished remodeling our home, about 40 years ago, we had an inground pool put in. A nice patio built all around it. It was really nice. Once the boys got older, they didn't use it that much anymore. I had to start limiting my sun exposure about the same time. Cary didn't want to continue to put money into it to keep it going, plus all the work involved. We had it all dug up, and filled in with loads of top soil. That's where we've had all of our raised beds for the past several years. In a way, I wish we still had the pool.

Had a fun trip into town, today. We went to Sam's first. Loaded up there. I got coffee, mayo, a case of Bush's baked beans, a jug of miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, garbage bags, a 15lb bag of potatoes, a 30 bag case of assorted chips, shampoo and conditioner, a 6 box package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix, a 40 bottle case of water, and a 24 bottle case of green tea. Cary topped off my car with gas while there. Paid $2.90/gal for Premium, which is up from $2.73 from the last top off. It was cheaper in the big town today than it was in Mom's small town last week. There it was already over $3/gal for Premium.

Went to the bookstore, but the book I was looking for wasn't there. I'm going to have to order it. Will do that, Monday. I would have let them order it, but I didn't want to stand in line for an hour waiting to get to the checkout!

As usual, I came home empty handed on new shoes. I went to 3 different shoe stores, but none in my size in the color I wanted. Oh well.....sigh.

I got my 4 hummingbird feeders, along with 2 gals. of food, a new throw pillow for the sofa, and a really nice rustic wooden bowl for the countertop in the kitchen. I've been wanting something there to hold all of our snack cakes and candy bars. I hope it will hold a 2 week supply at a time. It's pretty big, so it should.

Last stop was Belk's. I didn't find anything there I really wanted, even though they had a big sale going on. It was fun looking, though.

On our way home, we stopped at our favorite Mexican restaurant (Mom and Pop), and had a huge supper. It's been awhile, since we've been able to go there, and everyone was so glad to see us. I think they put extra food on our plates, LOL.

All in all, it was a great day! Cary was very patient, too. He got most of his book read, LOL.....

Picked up my new glasses today! So grateful! I put off getting these for too long, It's a joy to be able to see clearly, again.

Found some of the the pressure treated wood I need for the deck. Bought all I could. Got a lead on another lumberyard, which I'll check out tomorrow. It's another one not answering their phones. That's okay. I have time to go there. I need 5 more boards.

Boys had their grand prix for Awana. I'm almost done with the spring cleaning. Got the living room carpet done today. Dug up a large area and got the first batch of corn planted. Everything coming up good. Put some flowers in too.
Just a ton of other stuff done. Been moving like a whirlwind. Have one room still need done.
We are still loaded in the big pantry and freezers.
I'm cleaning the yard and burn pile. That's done. No sand delivered for pool yet.
I'm exhausted at night so sleeping good.
Enjoy getting all this done.

Our pool will be open tomorrow and the garden is almost completely mulched. I wanted to complete the mulch tonight, but I ran out of energy. There's always tomorrow, and after that, we can spend the afternoon in the pool now.

I went for a check up Monday morning before picking up our grandson for the day. My labs were all good. My cholesterol was even down some and fasting sugar was also good. I have never had sugar issues, but my mom did and now my surviving sister is diabetic too. So the dr said to just keep don't what I am doing.

We are getting rain and more rain. We did go on Tuesday and do a one time contract job. We only got sprinkled on. I hope I can get a contract on this area too. Then my jobs would cover all our land payment each month.

We had some new potatoes and sugar snap peas steamed, greens, cornbread, and broiled pork chops ( no grilling because of rain) for dinner last night. I ate too much, but it was so good. I love a simple down home meal. The vegetables were from the garden picked between rain showers.

Today we go to Conway AR to hubby's pain dr. I don't know if we will do anything in the bigger town or not. I may have him drive to see if the strawberry farm is set up selling in town. They are expensive but so good. I would like to freeze a few packages. We are also calling to fish market to see if they have caught catfish today. We would like to get some more.

We went to our local town yesterday. Harps had shampoo again. I guess it was a hickup in delivery. We got everything on our list and then some. We had the littlest grandson with us. He and his papa did some shopping on their own.

Another beautiful day, today. It's 76 right now with the humidity at 56%. High today at 85 and sunny.

I got everything I bought at Sam's, yesterday, dated and rotated in the pantry this morning. I've done some cleaning in the house. Hung a load of laundry on the line to dry. Watered garden and flower beds, new shrubs, hanging pots, hostas, roses, and trimmed back the roses. I try to keep all the old blooms cut off. Seems they bloom better and more fuller all summer. Filled up all the hummingbird feeders, and have them hung. I opened the French doors that go out onto our back deck, and a cool breeze is already blowing into the house. I'm done for the day. I have to get out early every morning, because I have to still limit my sun exposure.

I'm still waiting for Cary to get out the grill, get it all cleaned up, and ready to use for the summer. I'm all out of produce, except for the potatoes I bought, yesterday, so having a salad for supper tonight is out. I could have bought produce at Sam's, yesterday, but with all the other shopping I had to do, I was sure it would get too hot in the car. I didn't think to put our cooler back in the car for the summer. So...

We're eating strictly out of the pantry, tonight. It's a one pot meal that is quick and easy. Spicy Mac and Beef. I always use flour tortillas with it, and make a salad if I have all the stuff. Out of the freezer, I will use 1lb of ground beef. Pantry items are.... 2 cups of uncooked macaroni noodles, 1 can of Cheddar Cheese Soup, 2 beef bouillon cubes to make 2 cups of beef broth, 1 cup of chunky salsa. I like it a bit more spicy, so I add a bit of taco seasoning. If anyone wants the recipe, I'll add it, but mostly, it's just to give an idea of what I have stored in the pantry. Items that some may not think about. Everything I use out of the pantry and freezers, I try to keep a 2 year supply.

SouthernBreeze said:

Another beautiful day, today. It's 76 with the humidity at 56%. High today at 85 and sunny.

I got everything I bought at Sam's, yesterday, dated and rotated in the pantry this morning. I've done some cleaning in the house. Hung a load of laundry on the line to dry. Watered garden and flower beds, new shrubs, hanging pots, hostas, roses, and trimmed back the roses. I try to keep all the old blooms cut off. Seems they bloom better and more fuller all summer. Filled up all the hummingbird feeders, and have them hung. I opened the French doors that go out onto our back deck, and a cool breeze is already blowing into the house. I'm done for the day. I have to get out early every morning, because I have to still limit my sun exposure.

I'm still waiting for Cary to get out the grill, get it all cleaned up, and ready to use for the summer. I'm all out of produce, except for the potatoes I bought, yesterday, so having a salad for supper tonight is out. I could have bought produce at Sam's, yesterday, but with all the other shopping I had to do, I was sure it would get too hot in the car. I didn't think to put our cooler back in the car for the summer. So...

We're eating strictly out of the pantry, tonight. It's a one pot meal that is quick and easy. Spicy Mac and Beef. I always use flour tortillas with it, and make a salad if I have all the stuff. Out of the freezer, I will use 1lb of ground beef. Pantry items are.... 2 cups of uncooked macaroni noodles, 1 can of Cheddar Cheese Soup, 2 beef bouillon cubes to make 2 cups of beef broth, 1 cup of chunky salsa. I like it a bit more spicy, so I add a bit of taco seasoning. If anyone wants the recipe, I'll add it, but mostly, it's just to give an idea of what I have stored in the pantry. Items that some may not think about. Everything I use out of the pantry and freezers, I try to keep a 2 year supply.

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I'd love your recipe!

More working on the pantry room, its slow going. I'm getting a better idea of what I actually have. One thing I was glad to see was the three cases I have of sweet potatoes. More of the save a lot brand than anything else. I'm still sorry that the Sav a Lot closed down. Its possible to order from them on line but what they have available in canned foods is limited. Too bad. The shelf on the shelving unit will accomodate 3 cases high.

Its really eye opening to have so much room in my pantry room to actually get to everything. Last trip to walmart I got a cart full of box bottoms and I'm running out of them fast. Getting it all inventoried will be so much easier. In the pantry room is the actual designated pantry. This pantry is where the can rims rusted, so I have removed almost all of the canned food in there. I've put canning jars filled with dehydrated foods in there, all of my condiments.

Funny thing, last year when people were afraid to go to the grocery store my friend ran out of catsup so I gave her two bottles out of my pantry. Another time she needed corn to make a chowder, but instead of asking me for corn she went to the store and bought a case of corn. She now has a room dedicated to storing food. Since she thinks I'm crazy she only did that because a couple of long time friends were talking about stocking up. What ever it takes.

DH made grilled cheese sandwiches last night, I never learned to cook them well, his are great. Since he cooked last night I need to get my act together and cook something he likes tonight. Now to figure out what that will be.

God is good all the time

Judy

John Deere Girl said:

I'd love your recipe!

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Spicy Mac and Beef

1 lb ground beef
2 beef bouillon cubes plus 2 cups of water for beef broth
1 1/3 cup water
2 cups of uncooked macaroni
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 cup chunky salsa
taco seasoning to add more spice if you like. I don't measure.

Cook and stir ground beef in skillet, until well browned. Pour off fat. Add taco seasoning if used, bouillon cubes, and 3 1/3 cups of water. Heat to boil. Add the uncooked macaroni. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir for 10 mins, or until pasta is tender, but still firm. Water will be absorbed as the macaroni cooks. When the macaroni is tender, and most of the water is absorbed, stir the soup and salsa into the skillet. Cook and stir, til hot and bubbly throughout. Serve with warm flour tortillas and a salad.

It's so quick and easy, because everything cooks in the skillet.

SouthernBreeze said:

Spicy Mac and Beef

1 lb ground beef
2 beef bouillon cubes plus 2 cups of water for beef broth
1 1/3 cup water
2 cups of uncooked macaroni
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 cup chunky salsa
taco seasoning to add more spice if you like. I don't measure.

Cook and stir ground beef in skillet, until well browned. Pour off fat. Add taco seasoning if used, bouillon cubes, and 3 1/3 cups of water. Heat to boil. Add the uncooked macaroni. Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir for 10 mins, or until pasta is tender, but still firm. Water will be absorbed as the macaroni cooks. When the macaroni is tender, and most of the water is absorbed, stir the soup and salsa into the skillet. Cook and stir, til hot and bubbly throughout. Serve with warm flour tortillas and a salad.

It's so quick and easy, because everything cooks in the skillet.

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Thank you! It sounds really good!

I make something similiar to that with boxed mac and cheese, ground meat and a can of spaghetti sauce. DH does not like anything spicy.

God is good all the time

Judy

I'm looking to buy a few more cans of Del Monte zucchini. The are 1.36 at walmart for one can and 26.47 for 6 cans on amazon. We are going to be royally screwed it our only option is amazon.

Black beans, I want more canned black beans. Dollar General has their brand of Clover Valley with smooth tops for approximately 1.00, Walmart has Bush's black beans with a smooth top for 1.00. Walmart has other brands cheaper but cans all have to pop tops. However, amazon has the Bush's black beans 12 for 9.77 with free shipping. Amazon has other brands for more money.

I haven't inventoried my chick peas yet, but I may get more of them. I like chick peas, but DH does not. My second husband who is from Boston turned me onto them, I'd never heard of them before. I doubt they are a staple in southern pantries. Hot dogs are only going up in price, but walmart still has the BarS brand for .98. I'm not picky about the brand of hot dogs, I think they are all garbage nutritionally. We don't eat them, but I like to keep several packages in the freezer.

We are having hot dogs, baked beans and corn bread for supper. I like to doctor my canned baked beans up with molasses, I may toss in some onions or not. Seems like I've been baking corn bread about once a week lately, its something that Dh likes since I've perfected it to the way DH likes it. I use a 4" woopie pan and it gets nice and brown on each side. I like it too, but I limit the amount I eat.

I had some aging grape tomatoes in the fridge so I sauteed them in butter and scrambled 4 eggs in them. I like tomatoes in eggs. That's another thing the DH would starve before he ate them.

God is good all the time.

Judy