2006 $20 WEEK PREP CHALLENGE-WEEK 1

[prudentwatcher]

INTRO:
One of my prep hobbies is to evaluate different food storage plans. I try to see how balanced they are, how much they cost, and how much nutrition they offer. I try to relate them to my situation, which is a minimum 1 year plan for two adults.

CRITICISM OF PLANS:
The two $5/wk plans I looked at were very heavy on wheat (500lbs), heavy on sugar (180 lbs), no rice, minimal pasta, no beans, a few cans of tuna and some peanut butter as the only protein, no quick meals, and no fruits or veggies. Also, in my area, wheat is 79 cents a lb., so just wheat alone would double the dollar amount of the plan.
The prepared year supply combos sold through suppliers also have problems. The traditional plan provides 1200 cal/day, which is pretty close to starvation levels. The ultimate plan provides 2000 calories a day, but costs over $2200.
Alan Hagan’s $10/wk plan is a good start, but doesn’t rely on finding sales or the best prices. One $20/wk plan I found was nice and varied, but relied on home canning meats and also included paper goods.

THE GOAL:
I want to design a plan that most people could follow, with a varied diet, similar to what we eat now, that includes adequate nutrition and calories, along with some goodies. Most things should be easy to cooks and not require further processing such as canning or dehydrating. This is to help a new prepper get ready and be able to prep without everyone else thinking they are a “survivalist nutcake”.

CAVEATS:
I have 4 Publix supermarkets, a Winn-Dixie, a local grocery, four CVS’s, a Walgreens, four dollar stores, a regular WalMart, and a Save-A-Lot, all within a four mile radius of my house, so I don’t have to go far to look for bargains. I have also been couponing and refunding for years, so bargain shopping is second nature to me. Also, what we will be able to get at the grocery store will need to be supplemented with dried whole eggs, dried margarine powder, and cheese powder.

THE CHALLENGE:
-$20/wk on food/beverages only, no carryover on funds, and no more than 25 cents a week overage
-no frozen or refrigerated foods
-no foods that require further processing (canning or dehydrating)
-encouraged to shop sales/specials for the week and use coupons, but no more than two coupons on any one type of item per week
-trying for a 1 year supply for two people, but realistically looking at an 8 month supply, but you need to know what your baseline is--how much would two people go through in a year so you know how to space out your purchases (so keep track of your purchases so you know how you stand)
-prices and sales and stores vary by area, so lets see what you can come up with

-a weekly thread will go up on Sat/Sun with my ideas for the week
-this is also meant as a learning/planning exercise; you don’t actually have to go out and buy the things recommended or that you find, but it does help fine-tune your own planning

FIRST WEEK TO FOLLOW IN NEXT POST

 

[prudentwatcher]

North Central Florida
Week 1-Jan 1-7

Walgreens-
-4 pk Starkist tuna-flyer coupon-2.00
-1 box (10) Quaker oatmeal-1.99
-1 15 oz Bush homestyle chili-1.66 w/1.00 coupon-.66

Winn-Dixie-
-6 pack Jiffy cornbread-1.99
-2 24 oz jars applesauce @ .99 each-1.98
-1 14 oz cans collard or turnip greens @.50 ea-1.00

Publix-
-2 5lb bags of rice @1.59 each-3.18
-3 1lb dry beans@.69 each-2.07
-2 kraft mac and cheese-.60 cents each w/ 50 cent off coupons on both-.20
-1 48 oz bottle Crisco oil-2.00
-4 16 ox Barilla angel hair pasta-1/1 @.97-1.94
-1 canned milk-.57
-1 lb. Morton salt-.43


TOTAL FOR WEEK 1-$20.03


Let’s see what you can do.

 

[ofuzzy1]

I'll add to the coupon pile in Publix.

They have a flyer with some great coupons. expire next week.
bumble bee 14oz canned pink salmon 2/$3, cut those coupons for $1 each and pay $0.50 each
Suebee chicken also has a $1 coupon.

See granny's kitchen for recipes on salmon patties. I finally tried usig a food processor for them instaed of picking the bones - just pulled the big spinal bones out, and pureeed the rest with 1 oinion, 10 saltine crackers and two eggs - fried in oil ... just yummy.

I'd splurge and get peanut oil it will last longer and is far better for you. Or at least corn oil,

 

[Deep Blue Dragon]

Anywhere in the South is going to have great deals on black-eyed peas this week!

I just picked some up on special 4 cans/$1 (limit 8) at our AppleTree store. Hope to get more over the next few days (sale is on til next Wed.). They are great for making Hoppin John (with onions and ham or bacon served over rice) or "Texas Caviar" (mix up cold with Italian dressing or homemade vinegrette, throw in japapenos, green onions, whatever you like) as a salad or dip for tortilla chips.

I'm not yet as organized as you are, prudentwatcher! As you suggest, it makes sense to become more deliberate about spending $20/week. Perhaps one could alternate spending the $20 at the grocery store with ordering $20 of long term preps.

I often stock up one prep category at a time during weekly grocery shopping. For example, we have a LOT of tuna but I branched out to other types of canned seafood. I bought about 10 cans each of store brand of a variety of things that we like (sardines, smoked oysters, kippers and crabmeat). I also have been trying to build a long-term storage of the powdered eggs type items.

BTW, I usually buy store brand to strech the grocery dollars (both for preps and for feeding our tribe). There are only a few items for which we prefer national brands.

I look forward to following this thread!

 

[prudentwatcher]

Thanks for the contributions so far. I'll have to check on the salmon coupon at Publix-hadn't seen that one. My mom always made the best salmon patties.

Part of the idea of the $20 a week was the discipline, but part of it is also to fine-tune what you have. A lot of us, me included, buy what is on sale at an available time. That is a good strategy and saves money, but if you don't have an overall picture of where you are going, then you can have a problem. I think that was the weakness in my planning. I might have 75 lbs of pasta, but do I have things to go with it? I might have 100 lbs of rice, but do I have enough beans, or enough cream of chicken soup to go with my canned chicken, or enough mayo to go with all of that tuna? I've found some embarrassing holes, so I came up with what I thought would work for 2 people for 1 year, and I'm seeing how close I can get using the sales and coupons. It also works because we will have to deal with weekly changes in food prices (probably going up up up), so we can't cheat and say we can always get tuna at 3/1.00.

 

[RC]

Some will be closing today, so you might need to hurry! (The one I was at said they will be there until Monday).

The Hickory Farms stand at the mall is selling their remaining items at 75% off. Since they normally go for about twice their retail value, you are now spending about half.

For example, for about $2.75, you will get a box containing about a half pound of sausage, two ounces of cheese, a couple ounces of cheese spread, a tiny box of crackers, and a little jar of mustard.

I spent about $30 this morning. We had one of the $2.75 boxes for lunch, with mustard left over.

 

[diamonds]

I did set up a prep pantry. I have done my buying alittle bit different. I usually try to buy alot of canned chicken, tuna and beef. Now that I have those things I just replenish my shelves and still try to add to them at least 2 times a month. I buy things that I know we will use. I used to buy a roast to make beef and noodles with. Now I use the canned. I purchase to replace now and still try to get more to stock ahead.

I based my preps around canned meat, rice and canned vegatables. I also keep alot of pasta products in my pantry. I keep noodles that I would use for say beef and noodles but I have also purchased alot of generic mac and cheese. My kids like them even though I think they are gross. I would however eat them if I had to.

As far as ketchup and mustard I keep a few extra on hand. However with mayo I found a food supply chain that sells the little individual packs. They will sell a case or even half. So I bought some of those. They will not go bad for a period of time like an open jar would. I also asked all my kids to request them when they go to a fast food resteraunt. I have them get as many as they can and put them in a box. They add up slowly but are there and were free

I have been working on my prep pantry since I joined. I feel confident that I can weather different situations that may come up.

 

[okie medicvet]

That texas caviar sounds good. Yeah, black eyed peas on sale here too..picked up a dozen cans at 16 cents each..might get more too.

My prep purchases for this month so far have been a hand crank radio and food and bleach...

I still need to buy sandbags/tarp/trashbag liners this month.

I only have about two months food in the house stretching it, but will try and keep adding to that as I go each month..with two hungry teens in the house and a limited budget, it ain't always easy, but am doing the best I can.

 

[Splicer205]

What a nice thread Prudentwatcher, and a real challenge too. From your post, it sounds like you want us to feed a family for 20. a week. Yours is the only post I've seen so far that does that, and I'm wondering if someone else has the questions I have.

I noticed that you included salt in your 20. and you said no carryover from week to week. That .43 on salt would have to be spent every week if we can't carry it over, and it's a significant amount of money when you only have 20., so my question is, can we go on the assumption that we already have spices? Like salt, pepper, paprika, etc.? Not to make a deal out of it, but I don't want to spend .43
when there's only 20. total.

Next question, you based the 20. on your family of 2. If a family has 4, do they get to spend 40, or a family of 6 spend 60.?

This looks challenging and fun, but gosh, I'm looking for ways to cut corners here. You did a great job on yours and it will be a real challenge to equal it, much less do better!

 

[tangent]

I'm assuming the "no carryover from week to week" ment for money. Otherwise, this isn't a good way to prep. Salt is a good example, but it applies to everything. The larger ammount of something you buy at once, the less it costs. Buying a case of cans of whatever can half the final price over buying individual cans.

Bill Kasing, in his 1972 book: "How to Live in the New America" had a chapter on eating well for a dollar a day. It was heavy on grains and bypassed the grocery store completely. He likes ranch/farm feed and grain stores. It's a lot less expensive there. He also included growing your own and foraging for wild food, like cattails.

Back in HS (it was a "different" kind of HS...) we had something called the .75 cents lunch exercise. We were given .75 cents and told to get lunch for that ammount of money. The catch was that we had to include the 4 main food groups and document how we did it. The solution is cooperation. If you try to do it alone, you can get one food group or maybe two, but that's it. If you get 4-5 people together and pool your .75 cents, it's easy! Not only that, but we had enough leftovers for at least one and maybe 2 more meals!

Overall, I think setting asside $20 a week for preps is good, but for some items it would be better to allow those funds to snowball... so you can get more case lots, buy 100 or 500 pounds at a time or order a pallet worth of an item. Bulk is bulk, but you may be able to do better than the case price if you talk to a manager and say: what kind of price could you give me if I ordered a pallet of...

As to grocery stores and coupons - more and more that is a scam. I've been noticing that a lot of what's in the sunday ads isn't really on sale, there are some items, but increasingly they just list the items at their regular price. The store cards are also a con job. (Costco and Sams are exceptions). You will tend to find that the "members only" price with the card is the same as the regular daily price in other stores that don't use the cards. And, of cource, they collect all that information about your buying habits and often sell your name/address to junk mailers... (if you use one - LIE! about where you live when you get it. allready have one? - ask for a change of address form...).

The other problem with grocery stores is that, with the exception of store brands and bulk - if they have it, is that you are paying for brand name, advertizing, convienient single serving packaging (and "pretty" packaging at that), and processing that often removes much of the nutricianal value from the food in the interests of making it visually and palatably more attractive. Yet the most important aspect of the food is the least marketable - the food itself. Next time you go into a store, think about what you're really buying...

Another note is that the best deals WILL NOT be at eye level! For really good deals, most stores have a rack somewhere in the store containing all the items that have been dropped, labels torn, are being discontinued, etc.

Under NO circumstances go grocery shopping with young children or if you are hungry. You WILL regret it! - or at least your pocket book will.

other tips:
keep a look out for K-Marts, etc that are eithor phasing out their grocery section or where the store is closing. Deep discounts here.

If you have a local farmers co-op, Amish or Mormon community, they usually have a store where you can buy bulk for cheap. Farmers markets and the ones that sell from roadside stands or trucks are also good as sources and to ask about other things.

most communities have a local beekeeping association - get in touch with them and ask about referals to buy bulk honey - eithor in 5 gallon cans or in drums. As I recall, a drum is 35-40 gallons. Much cheaper than the largest jar at any store!

hope that helps!,

-t

 

[tangent]

Thread over at Frugals that lists 3 directories of food coops all over the US. The third link also lists health food stores. Listings are somewhat different for all 3 directories, so check all three.

These places sell bulk food.

http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=27;t=003742

-t

 

[Trek]

I've never "subscribed" to a thread before (at least not that I can recall).

THIS thread is a great idea, is now on my 'subscription' list, and set to email me weekly updates. This way, I won't forget to go shopping along with the rest of you!

My favorite store for money savy food prepping... Aldi's. Hitting the rest of the local stores for their loss leaders is a close second.

 

[tangent]

common guys! (and gals) this is a gret thread! - POST DAMBIT!!!!

btt...

-t

 

[Jesse]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I'm going to put up my list tomorrow - God Willing. It's in my bag right now, and I'm in my bedroom (Shhhhhhhhhhh! ) , which is vewy vewy dark, typing this on my laptop with a miner's type LED light on my head, so I won't disturb my husband.

We spend $60 a week, but we do it all at once and it covers... everything, even meds. The total is slightly less than $3000 a year - Canadian. That's for three people.

Tomorrow then. - Jesse.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Some answers for some of the questions. The carryover refers to the money. You can't spend $15 this week and then $25 the next. The idea is to find the best deal possible for your $20 with what is available that particular week.

The salt is one of my fillers for the week. In my list for 2 people for a year, I have down 10 lbs of salt, so I have to get it at some point, and there was nothing else I wanted for that price this week. Canned milk and ramen noodles will also fill that role.

Remember, you are going for balance, but with a view to savings. If I had known about the Publix deal on salmon I might have redone the week by dropping the oatmeal (which gives me 1.99), then buying 2 salmon for $1 after coupons, then probably getting another chili (I'm sure I could find another coupon) for 66 cents, then with the remaining 33 cents, I would probably buy 2 ramen noodles for 28 cents, bringing me to 19.98 for the week. So you see, you have to learn how to prioritize for your needs. For me, two cans of meat and one can of a prepared meal is a good trade off for the oatmeal, which is actually at just an okay price. When we get six months down the road things might be different. I might need a lot more meat to meet my goals or I might be really low on grains and would drop the tuna and buy 2 boxes of oatmeal.

I understand the idea of eating cheaply on grains and foraged food, but the idea is to "buy what you eat and eat what you store" or something like that. I would be very cranky if I followed some of the other plans and had 500 lbs of wheat, 100+ pounds of sugar and just a few other things. I would probably be sick, suffer from appetite fatigue, and just how many ways can I cook that wheat and will I have the power to do so? What about a wheat grinder? Also, if I came home with 500 lbs of wheat, my SO would probably think I had gone around the bend. I am humored with prepping, (SO is a DWGI-don't want to get it), but I don't want to push my luck. I have much more success when I say "look what I got on sale!" So many people have posted on threads here that their sig other doesn't support their prepping habit or their extended families think they are nuts. Eating wild cattails might be good for you, but I would prefer a jar of peanut butter and I think most people would as well.

Splicerswife, my guess, based on past sales, coupons and knowledge of prices, along with what I think 2 people would eat in a year, that this $20 a week challenge would feed 2 for maybe 8 months at most. So say, 14-16 months for 1 person, and do the math for the rest. Problem is, there are only two in my family, so I have no idea how much a family of four would need. it would depend on the ages of the children and what they would eat. So, yes, bigger families would need to put more away each week to cover the increased need, but for the purpose of this game, base it on the $20/week. Remember, you don't actually have to be buying this stuff, but it is a good mental exercise. One day you will come to that dilemma--a good price on a can of coffee that you really need (you think) or four jars of peanut butter on sale that would feed the kids for a while. Or even worse, a great sale on M&M's or being able to buy 10 lbs of flour for every bag of candy. Tough choices. Good luck !

 

[prudentwatcher]

Jesse, I look forward to your list. I made up some of your scotch broth mix and have it vacuum sealed and stored away. Thanks so much for that idea.

Everybody, go ahead and look at the sales flyers from today's paper and the grocery store ads from earlier in the week. Pretend you had $20. What would you buy? Post your lists!!

 

[Jesse]

My Annual Shopping List...

Prudent Watcher - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Glad you like the soup - I was raised on that. My great grandmother would be so pleased that others still use her recipe.

Okay, here's my annual list - deftly retrieved from my bag here beside the bed. DD isn't home much anymore (since Sept) - she boards at university but I still prep for her, so this list is for three people.

Bread:

Yeast: learned how to make my own "starter" this year so don't have to buy any. THANKS y'all. I've been wanting to learn that for quite a while.
Flour: 18 x 22lb bags
Skim milk pwdr: 3 containers of 4 bags. Each bag makes 25 gallons. (300gallons)
Olive Oil: 6 liters. (4 x 1.5 liter jugs)
Salt: 10 lbs. (Not that we've used even nearly that this year... we rarely do)

Vitamins & Herbs:

One A Day: 4 boxes of 250 tablets
Potassium
Iron (Slo-Fe-Folic)
Grapeseed Extract
One A Day Garlic
Salmon Oil
Flax Seed Oil
Milk Thistle
Ginkgo Biloba
Co-Q10
Glucosamine
Oregacyn

Other Meds:

Regular Meds (mine) : $360
OTC Meds: Tylenol, Buckley's, etc. $30

Scotch Broth Mix:

Rice: 9 bags x 22lbs
Grains and Legumes: yellow lentils, split green peas, chick peas, kidney beans, lima beans, barley (3 of each) 18 x 11 lb bags
Chicken stock: 2 canisters x 11 lbs (more than we use, but... )
Mylar bags: $5 for one year

THIS WILL PRODUCE 396 lbs OF THICK SOUP - enough to feed four people for a year. (Use 1 cup of mix. per person for two days)

To this add moose, deer, or whatever you've "bagged" this year - 2 oz. per person per day - IF desired.

We usually grow our own veggies, but if you don't, then add 2 lbs of frozen mixed veggies (the "Italian Mix" is best. Broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, water chestnuts, carrots and peppers), the less starch in them the better. This is for a two-day batch.

If you can also manage to go fishin' one day a week, it'll save you a *bunch* more $$$

Pancake Mix:

20 lbs - I make my own syrup from berries - no sugar.

Mac n' Cheese for DD: 48 boxes (2 cases)


Coffee Mix:

We like to drink iced mint/mocha coffee at night, so I buy this stuff - "comfort food" I bought one of those "Magic Bullet" thingies - they're GREAT!!! It cost only pennies per serving, but over $5 to get from Starbucks etc., and we like ours better!

Coffee, decaf - Nescafe: 12 x 350g jars
Coffee, decaf - International: 12 x 250g tins
Carnation Hot Chocolate: 4 x 2 lb containers
Crème de Menthe: 12 bottles
(I use skim milk powder in it too, but there's enough left over from the bread)
A ten ounce mug or glass of this stuff contains less than 50 calories.

We also buy a "ton" of "coffee table" candies that people like to pick away at from time to time. Costs about $100 for the year.

Honey: 2 x 2 liter jugs

Other "stuff":

Bleach: 12 x 4 liter jugs
TP: 4 x 24 double roll packs
Huggies Baby Wipes: 12 x 160 sheet refill packs
Shampoo and Conditioner: 12 x 1 liter containers "Pantene" 2 in 1
Ivory soar: 6 bars, which I make into liquid soap for the year
Ivory dish detergent: 2 x 4 liter jugs
Cascade Auto dish detergent: 4 large boxes
Tide w/bleach: 2 x 5 lb boxes
Garbage Bags: 1 pkg of 100 oversized "tough" bags
SOS: 1 box of 50 soap pads
Ziploc Freezer Bags: 12 x 10 large size (for berries and veggies)
Deodorant: 12 containers - 6/his & 6/hers

Batteries: Replaced what we used (can't remember what we needed - quite a few, but then I use regular AA's in my small digital camera and they are power-hungry. We'd like to get some solar-rechargable batteries. Maybe next year. )
Medical Kit: Replaced what we used - not much, just some cut-to-fit- Elastoplasts and some Bactroban.
Sewing Kit: Replaced what we used - just some thread
Knitting supplies: Nothing this year
Other crafts: Just glue - maybe half a dozen tubes I should think
Matches: Replaced what we used - 2 x boxes of 500
"Tea-Lights" (candles) : 2 pkgs of 50
Duct tape: 4 rolls - we use it a LOT!

If there's anything left over from the $3,000 we just buy some practical things that aren't on this list like stamps, "Thank You" and other assorted cards, Scotch tape and other office supplies, house and car fuses and so on.

We have those 10 year curly fluorescent light bulbs that only use a tiny bit of electricity, so we don't need those for... let's hope a decade. We also unplug the fridge at the first snow, and our electricity bill is half what it used to be during the winter months.

The LED light I'm presently wearing on my head (go ahead and laugh - I would! ) saves on electricity too. It has a red LED bulb for night vision, a regular white LED light for regular stuff, and a more powerful spotlight for if you have to walk down a country road or change a tire in the dead of night etc. We had to do that once already (change a tire at night) and using the two we keep in the car, we were very pleased with their performance. Got 'em for $20 each at Wally World. They take 3 AAA batteries, which last for 200 hours. Not bad.

We don't need any clothes or shoes and DD buys her own these days anyway. I make *most* of ours, but not all. DH has to have steel-toed boots for work by law. He can't wear Mukluks to work - don't know why. It's not as if he's in construction. Anyway, we're good in that dept. for quite a while.

I think that's about it. This is how we maintain our preps.

We just put away $60 a week and don't touch it for a year until we need to go shopping. We generally do that in September when the sales are good - back to school and all that. Plus it's harvest time, so anything I didn't grow well I got from the farms. We had a *lousy* growing season in 2005, which is unusual for here.

Love to all, and I wish you all a wonderful 2006. - Jesse.

Edited to add: I would **like** to play the "$20/coupon game" Prudent Watcher (sounds like fun), but we don't live at all near any grocery stores, so shopping annually is the best way to go for us - buying everything in bulk for the year. I hope it's okay to post my list? If not, you can just delete it.

 

[Micro]

Storage included?

Does the $20 assume you have the storage already set for a years worth of food? A years supply of canned food and rice takes alot of space and shelving. For proper rotation to food, proper shelving is essential!

You will need to budget in stoarge containers and proper shelving in your weeking shopping lists. I know shelving goes on sale here and there and after Christmas is a good time to find bulk storage containers on sale.

 

[cvk]

I haven't been able to give this alot of thought yet butttttttt--- this is a great thread. About store brands---we buy store brands but also I wait for name brands to come on sale and try to get about half and half store brands and name brands. Over the years we have found that store brands DO NOT always have the same shelf lives as name brands. One example around here has been evaporated milk--the store brands tend to get a bit strange within a year while my Carnation is still perfect after 3 and 4 years. A deal is sometimes not a deal in the long run. You have to test this for yourself according to the brands you buy. While I understand that buying weekly and purchasing a variety is necessary in the beginning so that you end up with a little of everything---once fairly stocked up I quit this entirely and only buy what is on sale. This week there is nothing that we normally use that is on sale so we will either buy some things that generally never come on sale anyway or we will buy nothing and use the money in a week where we get great savings. I think there is a transition point where you have to change your buying habits according to what you already have on hand. A person that is prepped for several months or a year doesn't have to buy anything that isn't a real deal. Once we reach that point we can prep for way less money than the first things that we bought because we needed a balanced pantry back then and had to purchase what we had to have.

 

[southernbelle32]

Thanks for starting this thread. I have been very slack in my preps of late and this has made me "get the fever" again!!!

I will be going out on Monday to do my shopping and spending today studying the ads on line and making my list for each store.

 

[FireDance]

I agree with CVK - sometimes the "less expensive way" isn't. Joining the challenge. I've pretty much missed week one as I've blown the grocery budget already, but will catch it next week...

 

[garnetgirl]

Thanks Prudentwatcher, what a great thread. I will try to contribute. This might get me more organized and thoughtful about grocery store preps each week. Right now, I just scan the stores for really good sales and closeouts/clearances to add to our storage supplies.

This past week I scored FREE boxes of Stagg chili (B1G1 free plus a .55 coupon on each that doubled). I had several coupons, so I bought quite a few. Will take half to a local food charity that is desperately low on food supplies right now.

The other great deal of my week was Kleenex anti-viral tissues. My Bi-Lo clearanced them at .94 cents a box and I had .40 coupons that doubled, making them .14 cents a box. We all have had colds in our house over the holidays, so that made for a very welcome buy.

Oh, and one more thing that made my day - my Bi-Lo (my favorite grocery store for close-outs/clearances) had put Sure-Jell on clearance for .99 a box (usually over $2/box). I had saved coupons cut from boxes this summer for $1/3 boxes that expired 12/31. I ended up getting my Sure-Jell for jam making for .66/box. Got lots as I make lots of jam. They don't expire until 2008.

I will try to play the game and see what I can come up with. Our grocery stores have different sale dates, one running Sun-Sat and the other Wed-Tues.

Also, while we are thanking Jesse again for Scotch Broth, I would like to do the same. I made up several packages this fall with mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. We have Mormon relatives, so they got a couple of "Scotch-Broths" with their Christmas! They laughed and said that Mormons would be the only people who would appreciate food storage for Christmas. I think not! Probably everyone here at TB2K would be thrilled. It was funny.

Again, Prudentwatcher thanks for the thread and I will see what I can add. I may have to rethink my strategy, though, to play. It will be a good exercise.

Happy New Year!

garnetgirl

 

[Tweakette]

A lot of us, me included, buy what is on sale at an available time. That is a good strategy and saves money, but if you don't have an overall picture of where you are going, then you can have a problem. I think that was the weakness in my planning. I might have 75 lbs of pasta, but do I have things to go with it? I might have 100 lbs of rice, but do I have enough beans, or enough cream of chicken soup to go with my canned chicken, or enough mayo to go with all of that tuna?

This is EXACTLY the issue I've been struggling with - how to make all those random preps fall into coherent meals, with all the right stuff available?

I wish I could add to this thread but I still haven't figured it out for myself yet .

The "system" I'm working under right now (if you can call it that) is the "servings
model - each prep can be split up into some number of servings of it's main component (i.e. 1 lb of spaghetti = 4 servings of carbs, 1 can of tuna = 1 or 2 servings of protein depending on can size, etc). A human needs X numbers of carb servings, protein servings, fat servings etc. a day. Multiply that by X people for X days and you know how many servings of carbs/protein/fat etc you need to have stored.

Even if I have the right number of servings I can still see us eating really nasty combos near the end of the preps as the stuff that goes together runs out. But maybe if we're that near the end of the food we won't care? I dunno!

I still will be buying in clumps of what's on sale, because of the price, rather than by complete meal, which makes it that much harder to keep track of how "even" it's all coming out!

Thanks for the thought-provoking thread...

Tweak

 

[cvk]

I never have figured out meals for my storage. Instead I think in terms of how much of the basic food groups I will need. Protein, veggies, fruit etc. When tuna is on sale I buy 52 cans per person per year, corned beef 26(2 servings per can) cans per person per year, 26 cans of salmon etc. This is based on eating it one day per week. I do the same with veggies, fruits etc. After I get the basics figured out then I look again at what would make them meals and start to add noodles, cream soups, dehydrated potatoes by sitting down and trying to figure out how many times per week we might eat a certain item. Like how many times per week do you cook with tomatoes and multiply that times 52 weeks. Once I got a grasp on how much it would take for a year per person it was easy to cut it down to 3 months or whatever amount of time or multiply to go another year and by how many people would be eating. It is more like marking the tp roll to see how much you use in a week. Rather than just buying stuff--I kept track of what I am using right now and how much to give me an idea what I would need for an extended time. To fill in the gaps, I keep at least 20 pounds of tvp for emergency food--a large amount of beans and rice that aren't even figured into what I need to feed us for 7 days per week. The tvp is unflavored--the flavored stuff is icky. It is noble to say that you should store what you eat and eat what you store butttttttt I don't want to live on Spam, tuna, etc. We do eat it but in order to rotate it out every year we would have to live on the preps constantly and we are not willing to give up fresh food for life just in case there is a disaster. Our solution is that we try to prep with things that have relatively long shelf lives. Tuna is 5 years so I don't have to fix 100 cans of tuna per year to rotate it. Spam they say keeps forever so no rush there. TVP keeps indefinitely if it is cool and dry. The corned beef I just bought was canned in Oct. of 2005 with an estimated use by of 2010. Last week my prep items were 14 cans of the squirt cheese that you use on celery etc. for $1.39 per can--long shelf life and needs no refrigeration. Week before we picked up 24 cans of corned beef at .69 per can with a shelf life of 2010. Once I get the protein the stuff to go with it is easy.

 

[Gizmo]

Ok - thin pickins at our stores this week. Not too many long term storage stuff.

Cub Foods:
Red Gold Tomatoes 4 for $2
Joan of Arc canned beans 4 for $2
Hormel Chili 10 cans for $10
Cub oatmeal.(the big cannisters) 2 for $2
2 32 oz Jif Peanut Butter 2 for $5
=$21 dollars. Close enough.

They have tons of free stuff if you spend $85. Mostly fresh and frozen.

Rainbow Foods:
Folgers 39 oz $2.98
Claussen Pickles $2 for $5
Chicken of the Sea tuna 4 for $2
Charmin 2/24 pks $10
$19.98

This week sucks.

 

[Splicer205]

Thanks for the clarification. I read wrong again. I was figuring how to feed a family for a week for that much. Your plan was so good that I could see how you could easily get a weeks meals out of it, so I was trying to pinch pennies to make sure I got a complete weeks food for 20.

 

[window2watcher]

When facing the problem of storage think about metal garbage cans for thelarger storage need like bags of stuff like rice, sugar, beans. wheat. Much easier to store there and safer too. You might have to do bit of rummaging around but still it works. I found to my dismay that with my current tedonitis in my wrist, opening the square 5 gal containers with that tool that looks like a giant bottle opener presents an almost impossible obstacle. I am not strong enough to do it without reinjuring myself. Sure wish I had a better answer to THAT delema without spending a fortune. My doc has said that I have to stop doing hard labor or I will continue to have this problem---means no wood heat as I am carrying wood---it just goes on and on as I get older---rats.

ps remember to date your stuff as you put it away.

 

[ferret]

...We don't need any clothes or shoes.

Ya' go nekid??? You must be really out in the sticks.

Jesse, you live like I did when I was growing up (50's to 70's). We grew most of our own food and supplemented with hunting and fishing. In lean times, dinner could be pancakes and eggs or rice with milk along with a peanut butter sandwich. We shopped monthly because we were close to town but only bought the basics, just like you outlined above.

I'm going to pass on the $20/week plan but will keep watching it for ideas. This sounds like a great idea to get used to shopping routinely for preparedness items.

I use a different method for shopping that has served me well for 15 years. I'm strictly a bargain hunter. When I buy, I get enough for 6 months to a year which should tide me over until I find it on sale again. I have been shopping this way that I know good prices by heart. For instance, I like Progresso soups occasionally. I typically find it "on sale" at $1.47 a can. I know that's NOT a bargain. When I see it truly on sale at less than a dollar, I purchase it. When I run out of something in my pantry, I simply shop in the larger storeroom in my own house. We rarely run out of anything.

When I do shop, I first stop at a canned outlet store, which has much more than that. I typically buy canned fruit, veggies, and toiletries there. They sometimes have good deals on canned meat. I then shop at a "bag it yourself" grocery store. Occasionally, I go to Costco for larger quantities of some items or Bob's Red Mill for all my grains and beans.

It's been working for me but will look forward to others ideas!

 

[Cardinal]

I have the same problem as many of you-figuring out how much of what, plus, I don't eat lots of rice, flour, noodles, ect...
So I rely a lot on the B1G1 free deals and the loss leaders that WD and Publix have, rounded out with Dollar Store items.

Once we move and I can grow our own, I'll be canning what we eat. Mostly, I am going to watch this thread carefully
and steal what ideas I can use.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Agreed, storage can be a problem. I didn't add it to the budget since I wanted to stick with the food theme, but you will need something. The Rubbermaid containers are good and are on sale this time of year. I also have some heavy duty restaurant shelving from Sams, it was like $70 or so and is very sturdy. Plastic shelving is pretty worthless for storing anything but light paper products.

I'm glad so many are chipping in with ideas. There are many ways to set up a food storage program and the information out there can seem overwhelming for someone just starting out, which was the original idea of this thread--something regular and easy to follow. Several people have pointed out the key problem--estimating how much food you will need for the time period you are prepping for. That is part of the mental exercise of this game and I think it is necessary for everyone to do this at some point, or otherwise you will just wander along getting something here and there with no overall plan.

Once you have some food storage in place (at an amount you feel comfortable with and is nice and varied), then I would start the stockpiling of the great deals. For example, we already have our target food storage plan, but I can't pass up a good deal. So I bought 14 of those mac & cheese for .10 cents each with coupons. Not everyone will have 14 coupons, so that is why I limited the coupons to two per like item. In November the sales were okay and I ended up with 40 cans of veggies, 18 cans of fruit, 12 cans of chicken broth, 18 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes, 12 packages of cocoa mix and 14 packages of cornbread mix, and that was just for starters. I used coupons and sales and got great deals on all of it, but it put a dent in the food budget for the month. CVK and I sound like kindred spirits.

Keep those ideas coming. We all have things to learn.

 

[southernbelle32]

Oh BTW prudentwatcher Do you have a CVS around you? I live in North Fl and ours has Bumble Bee pink tuna for .99 a can!!! Will be stocking up in the morning. Gotta love salmon patties!!!

 

[prudentwatcher]

Yep, have several CVS's close by. Saw the ad for the salmon, and the peanuts, buy 1/get 1 free, but had to leave them out when I made the final list. I love salmon patties. WHen I visited my parents in October my request was that mom make salmon patties. They were soooooo good!!! SO hates salmon and I hate tuna, so these little things make prepping interesting.

 

[Chartreuse]

I love this thread! I think you've got a great idea here, prudentwatcher.

It's interesting to me to see how much many of you have "done the math" on specific caloric/nutrional needs. It's probably quite wise, but I just don't have the patience, or time.

My approach is somewhat more scattered - I just know that we need a lot of everything. Over the years, I've tried to accumulate as large a variety as possible. I usually try to hit the good sales each week at Freddie's, and pick up anything that is actually on sale (as opposed to what they want me to believe is on sale).

I can't recount what I've been able to get for $20.00 in any given week, but I did have a good shopping trip to the Rite Aid about a week ago. I've never bought any groceries there before, but it's right by my work and they were having a big year-end sale. Here's what I got:

2 cannisters mixed nuts
2 cannisters almonds (same size as the mixed nuts - not the small ones)
2 large cans raisins
4 boxes of spaghetti noodles
2 large jars spaghetti sauce
4 cans mandarin oranges
4 cans Vienna sausages

The total was $26.00, which is just about what the nuts would have cost at regular price. Overall, I saved just over 50% on what the bill would have been normally.

Anyway, I'll try to participate occasionally in this "challenge."

 

[SomeAverageJoe]

What does everyone think of ramen noodles? for 20 dollars you could get 200 packages , There are several flavors, I would imagine though that u might get sick of it after a while, but if its a shtf situation thats the least of your worries.

 

[Splicer205]

Hmm, well it does take the challenge out of it if we don't have to make a weeks meals out of it, and it's all storage things, but if we can't use more preparation, as in dehydrating or canning, there's no way I can come up with a diet similar to what we eat now. Especially if you make it easy cooking. There goes the flour, yeast, and breadmaking. Oh well, I guess if we got hungry enough, we'd go for some of the convenience things, so I'll just go to Aldi's, the Dollar Store, The Pharm and get:


2 bow tie pasta
2 spaghetti sauce
1 lb. salt
1 lb. grits
box oatmeal
1 lb. sugar
2 corned beef
2 can salmon
2 lb. beans
2 canned pears
2 cans milk
2 cans soup
box crackers
Yuk. I should have a couple dollars left. You can have the money. I won't need it. I'll die from depression eating like this.

 

[Topusaret]

Jesse, I just got two of those headlamps you described. They are awesome. I just stumbled over them (not literally) in the camping section of the super walmart. The damn things look like some kind of ET signalling system, but they work great...lol My JGI DW laughed her butt off when she first saw them. Then she warmed up to them and tried wearing it around the house. Then I laughed MY butt off.

 

[Jesse]

I was wondering...

Evening all!

I haven't spent too much time worrying about nutritional requirements either. I *only* buy what we already eat/use on an everyday basis, and we take vitamin and herbal supplements, so don't have to wonder what we'd do in an emergency situation. We basically only have four meals that we eat cyclically: Scotch broth and bread; baked potatoes and onions; curried rice and veggies and lastly - fish and veggies. SOMETIMES, I'll make a veggie pizza. That's about it.

We aren't big eaters, and usually don't bother with breakfast and lunch. IF we do, we just have a slice of the home-made bread we bake every day. (Thank You, Lord, for electric breadmakers! I intend to use ours as long as we have electricity. ) e.g. It's 7:22 p.m. here on PST and all I've had today is a cup of decaf coffee - it's a BIG cup.

I have to go and do my physio in a minute and that takes an hour. After that I'll have a slice of bread w/miracle whip on it, and a small bowl of soup. I walk for an hour on our treadmill (averaging 2.6 miles per day right now and building... ), but I don't do much walking other than that, except to make some coffee or visit the ladies room etc. - just around the house "stuff." (CAN'T do it. ) So I don't need a lot of calories and mostly ingest around 500 a day. And I *walk* off well over 300 on the treadmill, yet don't lose weight. It works for me. DH eats about 1,500 calories a day at most and he works hard getting wood etc. We just don't seem to NEED the calories we used to. (I'm 50 and he's a year and a half younger than me. )

Are any of the rest of you noticing that you don't eat as much as you used to? My mother, who is 70, eats much the way I do and my grandmother (age 92) barely bothers with food at all, yet she can still walk most people into the ground. LOL!

It sure helps with prepping when you don't eat much and are in good physical shape - or as good as you can be. I'll never be in *great* shape unless God performs another miracle, but it just makes sense to me to be in as good shape as I can manage. Exercising also diminishes the appetite, I find. Can any of you relate to this?

When we first started prepping in a serious way, say 7 years ago, I'm guessing we ate at least twice as much as we do now. THAT sure helps the budget!

ferret: "We don't need any clothes and shoes." I guess what I *should* have said, is we don't need any *this* year. Pretty funny!

Lots of love to all - Jesse.

 

[ofuzzy1]

I'll add to this why are you folks buying premade mixes?

Go visit Granny's Kitchen for losts of great recipes.
http://70.97.123.22/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=110

I've posted a several, here's 4 on chocolate -- that oughta get you to visit that forum.
http://70.97.123.22/vb/showthread.php?t=159163

 

[Splicer205]

I'll add to this why are you folks buying premade mixes?

Go visit Granny's Kitchen for losts of great recipes.
http://70.97.123.22/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=110

I've posted a several, here's 4 on chocolate -- that oughta get you to visit that forum.
http://70.97.123.22/vb/showthread.php?t=159163

Because the guidelines say easy to prepare. Lazy and dummy proof, probably for the non cooking masses who need to open a can to survive. When they die from appetite fatigue, then we'll go to Granny's Kitchen and get some goodies.

 

[scheri]

If you're into doing the coupon/sales thing, try http://www.thegrocerygame.com. My daughter and I have used it for the past month and already have a two months stock built up (over and above what we did have already) For instance, I did my regular shopping and spent $40 on preps from Terri's List. Total spent, $80 - total saved $40 (33%).

Purchased for the $40
5 cans Libby's Pumpking (large can) 5/$4
1/2 lb Millstone Bulk Coffee $4.00 per lb
Dole Mandarin Oranges 10/$10
Campbell's Chunky Soup 2/$3 with coupon for 1.16 each

The other savings were on T-Bones $4.99/lb
Dungeness Crab $3.99 lb
Sausage Patties 2/$5.00
Kraft Shredded Cheese 3/$6

and a few other things

Try the list. It's $1 for 4 months for all the stores in your area, and then $10 for 2 months for one store. But with the savings you get from the list itself and the coupons, it's more then worth it.