Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: December 13 ~ 19, 2020

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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Mornin' All! I'm heading out to go pick up some homemade cookies and sweet breads from a co-worker whose Hubby supplements his social security by baking - and thank goodness he does, because otherwise there likely wouldn't be any homemade goodies for our Christmas dinner today! I'm going to hit Ye Olde Wally World on my way home to see if they have a few things that are on my stock up list - still waiting for printer ink to come back in to stock - I've got two of black and color but I'd like a few more, just in case.

Dang - alarm is squawking - better gulp down this cup of coffee and head out! You all take care, stay safe!
 
ginnie6

ginnie6

Veteran Member
Not sure what is on the prep list this week. Its a crazy week here. I am headed out in the morning to my dd's for a last before baby visit. Going to try and help her do a few last minute things to get ready. Then when I get back my truck goes in the shop for a few days. Stupid engine light is on and the code reader says something about torque converter. Its a love/hate relationship with that truck lol. One thing I am going to do is print off those lists of things to disappear first and start checking that. I also printed off a pdf on timing knots. Never know when that might come in handy.
 
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Marseydoats

Veteran Member
ginnie6 said:
Not sure what is on the prep list this week. Its a crazy week here. I am headed out in the morning to my dd's for a last before baby visit. Going to try and help her do a few last minute things to get ready. Then when I get back my truck goes in the shop for a few days. Stupid engine light is on and the code reader says something about torque converter. Its a love/hate relationship with that truck lol. One thing I am going to do is print off those lists of things to disappear first and start checking that. I also printed off a pdf on timing knots. Never know when that might come in handy.
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I'm sure that you're smarter than I am, and you have teenagers with nimble fingers, but years ago somebody gave me a "Book of Knots" (I think that was the name of it, or something similar), and the directions for quite a few of them were wrong. Dh & all the farmers I know have a 5 second debate about what they're going to use to tie a load down on the truck and will stand on opposite sides and have it finished before I even understood what they said. It takes a lot of practice to tie knots properly. As bad as my arthritis is, it's all I can do to tie a quick release knot most days.
 
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ReneeT

Veteran Member
Thanks, Hiwall - I'll be printing that out for my boys! Since it's from the Scouts, I'm sure Hubby has it in his handbook - but I'm not sure where the handbook is!
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Tomorrow is commodity pick up day, its always interesting to see what we are blessed with.

I have almost half of a freezer cleaned out. This is partially due to getting a large amount of pork chops and steaks out for DH to grind up, they are too tough to chew. And then I found a couple of large bags of pork fat in the bottom for DH to render. All this freezer space will allow me to go through and organize two more freezers.

Slowly but surely I'm getting other things organized. The case of crackers that I vacuum sealed is now in the she shed and a case of hard candy is almost vacuum sealed and it will head out there too. I'm putting these cases in large clear plastic bags, sucking the air out and twist tying them closed, hoping this will help keep the jar rings from rusting. I have things that I stored in plastic, and sucking the air out, stored in a tote that have stayed in good shape for over 12 years that were stored in an outside shed in Louisiana weather.

DH is going to build my brother a cabin in the woods. When he gets it done we are going to move a double bed out of the back room. When that's done, DH said he would put shelves down the middle. Darn if it won't almost be like grocery store isles. I would be in prepper heaven.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Stopped by Office Depot to get a desk calendar and printer ink. Found the calendar but had to order the ink from Staples when I got back home.

Also dropped into the Dollar Tree. Mainly got stocking stuffer type stuff for the grandkids, but also got a lot of medical stuff as I am redoing our bug out bags over the holidays and the old ones have out-dated meds in them. This particular Dollar Tree had been hit hard on the food areas, and most other areas as well. For instance, they had almost no toothbrushes or toothpaste left, which is something I have never seen before. Just thought it was a little strange.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Picked up commodities today. We were blessed with 3 whole chickens, a bag of red/black grapes, a bag of naval oranges, dried plums, potatoes, a bag of frozen mac n cheese, a bag of leg quarters, 2 bags of whole almonds, spaghetti, a can of peaches, mixed fruit, corn, and diced tomatoes, peanut butter. This is one box, we get two. Truly blessed and I'm very great full.

Also stopped at walmart, lots of cars in the parking lot. I missed the door nazi who tells people they have to wear a mask. Therefore, I went in unmasked, my choice, its till a free country. I really didn't need anything, although they did have a few cases of canning jars, I got one, no lids. I also bought some more totes with locking lids. I don't think the locking lids will actually keep bugs out so I'm going to put gorilla tape around the lids.

Last night I found two cases of sardines in mustard that did not get put where they belong, we are good on sardines for a good while. Almost all of my tuna is in olive oil though not all.

While at walmart I found a couple of back packs that were originally $28 on sale, one was $3 and the other was $8. I'm redoing our go bags. And I also bought a bright green fishing tackle box for first aid supplies.

I watched a utube video on dehydrating canned fruit, so I bought fresh lemons to squeeze over the fruit to retain the bright color.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
briches

briches

Veteran Member
Just put in an order for a prep I wasn’t expecting to pay for right now - a cpap machine. I’ve had enough of getting misfiled by the medical supply company I was using and decided to purchase one outright.
Enough was enough.
That was a big expense so at least need to “count it”as a prep item. :jstr:

Thankfully I’ve got the money in savings - just hate dropping that much on a “non fun” item. :jstr:
 
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Digger

Veteran Member
I canned up the roosters i had butchered. I precooked them, deboned them, and canned the meat in broth. Some jars have just a little meat. Some have the jar half full of meat. I made 12 qts and 3 pts. I used my Tattler lids and all sealed. I have not had a problem getting them to seal since I changed to only using new rings. I think the rubber gasket would get caught on the rough old rings and be pulled as i tightened the ring.

We tested the canned cuties yesterday. They are ok. They were a little bitter, but not bad. It was more the cooked texture that we did not care for. The slices were softer than fresh. But they would be good for manderine orange cake.

We exchanged our mattress for one we tried at the store. The new one did not seem as firm as the one we laid on at the store. So after a week, we tried a different style at the store. Paid a second delivery to exchange it. They delivered on Saturday. They brought it in a box and unrolled it on our bed before noon. We were told to wait 4-5 hours to put sheets on it and it would be good by then. The box says to wait 24-48 hours for it to fully expand. But we have to go to bed Saturday night. Google says it wont hurt to sleep on it. It was awful! Sunday night was a little better. But there seems to be no change since Sunday. We went in the store before picking up our grandson and told them our problem. I guess we are getting a 3rd mattress with no delivery fee. And i told them i want the one off the showroom floor that we laid on. After the disaster with the 2nd mattress I know the first one was not fully expanded or was defective. It was not as firm as what we laid on at the store but was the same model.

We also got city water installed at my in-laws. My hubby's brother and nephew helped get that done thank goodness. All us older folks were sore for a couple of days. But we rented a track hoe to do most of the digging. And hubbys brother borrowed his in-laws small tractor with a blade to cover the line. So we only had a little shovel work.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
In my quest to get better organized, I found more cans than I thought I had of Vegetarian vegetable soup. I used it as a base for a bowl of soup, but it really has to be doctored up. I get these in my second set of commodities called the 40" box. I think they put those nasty little things in the box to help come up to 40". But they can be used and I will use them. I'm blessed.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
aviax2

aviax2

Veteran Member
Other than ordering the last few Christmas gifts that I still needed to order and a 2021 planner/calendar for me I haven’t been able to focus much on prepping. With 3 kids here all day, it’s way too easy to get and stay distracted LOL. One or both of the boys usually want to sleep over one or two nights a week and honestly at their ages it’s not bad at all. I told hubby we’re going to take it and enjoy it while we can, probably won’t be too long until they don’t want to hang out with us old folks.

One of the gifts I ordered was Nesco original jerky seasoning and cure for DH‘s uncle, that’s the kind he likes and has been unable to find locally and he doesn’t shop online, now he’ll be able to do 18 lbs of meat. Went ahead and ordered DH a box too so he’ll be ready if he gets a deer or use some homegrown beef. Planning on adding a few rolls of t.p. too since his aunt had made a joke about asking for t.p. and p.t. for Christmas!

Oh yeah, we had to get someone here again yesterday about the refrigerator. AGAIN. It’s keeping food cold enough but the ice makers seem to be kaput. Waiting on a call from Lowe’s to see what they’re going to do this time.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Ran across a 10# bag of rice that I's forgotten about that pantry moths had gotten into. I put it in the freezer for a few days and let it come to room temperature for a couple of days. Today I sifted through it and got all the buggies out, put it in mylar with bay leaf and will add 02's to it. If I share rice it will be some of this. If I ate rice I'd eat it myself, I figure any stray bugs are just added protein.

I'm working steady to get all my boxed foods in mylar. I have a good supply of different sizes, including quart. I priced 50 quart zip mylar and they have gone from $24.95 in march to $34.95 now. Glad I stocked up. I'm using the quart size for stuff like pasta roni, etc. One box to one bag.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
BeeMan

BeeMan

Just buzzin along
My prep this week is two surgeries, right inguinal hernia and prostate removal. According to both surgeons I‘m not supposed to lift anything heavier than a small glass of water. Such is life, better than the alternative, that and “This too shall pass” is what I keep telling myself anyway. The wife is taking good care of me, so far, and I’m trying really hard not to test her patience.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
BeeMan said:
My prep this week is two surgeries, right inguinal hernia and prostate removal. According to both surgeons I‘m not supposed to lift anything heavier than a small glass of water. Such is life, better than the alternative, that and “This too shall pass” is what I keep telling myself anyway. The wife is taking good care of me, so far, and I’m trying really hard not to test her patience.
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Its good to get things like this out of the way, praying for a speedy recovery.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I was thinking I might need more mylar bags, but I did a count of what I have and I'm good for a good while. I did order some o2s just in case. I think that's the last of my orders for awhile.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
briches

briches

Veteran Member
BeeMan said:
My prep this week is two surgeries, right inguinal hernia and prostate removal. According to both surgeons I‘m not supposed to lift anything heavier than a small glass of water. Such is life, better than the alternative, that and “This too shall pass” is what I keep telling myself anyway. The wife is taking good care of me, so far, and I’m trying really hard not to test her patience.
Click to expand...

Adding you to my prayers for. A speedy and complete recovery!
 
M

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
I got a gift card to TJ Maxx (a store I never go to) as a gift, so I figured I would just go and get some warm winter socks. I had never even been in a Home Goods store before, I'm not a shopper. WM, Aldi, and the local feed store are pretty much the only places I go. I was pleasantly surprised. I got a really nice pair of warm winter boots, Totes brand, and they are the most comfortable boots I've ever worn. I didn't want to take them off to pay for them! I put them right back on as soon as I got out to the truck. I figured as soon as I wore them half a day, they would start rubbing my feet. Nope, they are great! I also got some warm winter socks. I will go back to this store, even though it's too far away to shop regularly, they had good prices and some things I liked. It's really hard for me to find clothes that fit...
Also went to a Neighborhood WM that I only go to every once in awhile since it was on the way home. They had Spam and Excedrin and I hadn't been able to find any for weeks. Got 3 new water bottles. One of mine started leaking this week and another one is odd shaped and I can't figure out a way to wash it and actually get it clean.
Dh told me that he did NOT have an old computer in the junk room, so I fished it out, and he actually let me take it to the recycle. Along with the remotes to a tv that we haven't had in 10 years or more. Every little bit helps.
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Winn Dixie opened up a store near us (after closing down two stores near us in the last couple of years). It beats driving to the other side of town to go shopping at their other store. Couple of decent sales this week. Bought 2 bags of sugar ($1.89 each and then had a 55 cent off coupon for each), 5 lbs of potatoes were BOGO, and a 1 lb of Jimmy Dean bacon was $2.99 (normally $8.99!!!!). I got three of those. My freezer if full, but I made sure I found room for the bacon!
 
paxsim2

paxsim2

Senior Member
Placed an Instacart order for our Christmas snacks and dinner.

Dh was in direct contact with someone with covid we found out Thursday. I'm taking Sambucal, vitamin C and D. He has a blood disorder that would activate if he catches this virus and his body starts killing his platelets. Our hospital here is full but he is usually is on the medical ward, his last stay was very short. They gave him platelets and he came home an hour later, quickest stay yet.

I had help a couple of days so I did some more organizing, working on laundry and we killed the varmint that found a bag of flour I'd forgotten. The snow is gone and the wind is busy drying things out. Need to fill up the bird feeders and dump water out of some of the planter boxes.

Stay safe and warm everyone!
 
O

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
I've noticed this time of year Progresso Soup goes on sale. They have a very few "lite" varieties and a good selection of GF depending on where you shop. Hit the grocery store this am and picked up a nice assortment. Easy to prepare, shelf safe, comfort food. The only thing I don't like about them is their high sodium content. YMMV.

I figure if things get interesting I can take a canned soup with meat and dump it over rice or pasta to make a quick filling meal for the family.
 
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ReneeT

Veteran Member
OGM, soup also makes a decent pot pie base. When tired but wanting comfort food, a can of soup dumped in a small cassarole dish and popped in the oven until simmering, then topped with some homemade frozen or drop biscuit dough and baked until the biscuits are done makes a decent supper.
 
E

etdeb

Veteran Member
briches said:
Just put in an order for a prep I wasn’t expecting to pay for right now - a cpap machine. I’ve had enough of getting misfiled by the medical supply company I was using and decided to purchase one outright.
Enough was enough.
That was a big expense so at least need to “count it”as a prep item. :jstr:

Thankfully I’ve got the money in savings - just hate dropping that much on a “non fun” item. :jstr:
Click to expand...
Where can cpap machine be purchases
 
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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I was productive today. I made and canned 5 pints of ghee. Then I melted (a little at a time) a pound of parrafin wax and made a bunch of fire starters using the cosmetic rounds from Dollar Tree. A little at a time just moves you right along.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Last time I went to walmart I found some stackable totes that I like, but they only had four. Getting them at walmart.com makes the price over 3 dollars more for each one. I found 6 at a different walmart so I ordered them for pick up. These are 30 qt, they had three larger ones of the same stackable type and I bought them too. The 30 qt ones are perfect for stacking one gallon mylar bags in. I'll use the larger totes for many many quart size mylars. I've made a lot of head way in the last three days mylar bagging foods. I'm making a big push to get everything out of the living room and actually finding the sofa.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
O

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
ReneeT said:
OGM, soup also makes a decent pot pie base. When tired but wanting comfort food, a can of soup dumped in a small cassarole dish and popped in the oven until simmering, then topped with some homemade frozen or drop biscuit dough and baked until the biscuits are done makes a decent supper.
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I love casseroles for using up leftovers.
 
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