Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: February 14 - 21 2026

Does anyone here use a "butter crock" for storing your butter on the countertop to keep it spreadable? I came across them online, and thought about buying one. Cary's mom used one, but my mom always kept our butter in the fridge in a covered butter dish.

I would love to have one, but only if they are recommended and safe.
 
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summerthyme said:
We've used one for years. They work well. A bit of a pain to clean every few days, but it keeps butter fresh, and away from pets or bugs...

Summerthyme
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Ok, thanks, Summerthyme! I'll get one. I've seen some very nice ones online. I wish that I had not given away Cary's mom's crock, but I never thought I would need it. It would have been an antique by now, and it came from Germany. It was pretty, too. I have always thought that you had to keep butter refrigerated, until I came across these crocks. I'm learning something new all the time!

Do you melt the sticks of butter and pour into the crock?
 
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No! You won't like the texture if you melt it. Just let stick of butter sit out at room temp until it's soft enough to mold with your hands...then I cut/break it in half and use the wrapper to protect it while pressing it into the top half of the bell. Add cold water to the bottom, and replace the top.

The water actually provides a seal that keeps dust, etc out, and helps provide mass for temperature modulation...even in a very warm kitchen, the butter doesn't melt like it would in an open dish.

Summerthyme
 
summerthyme said:
No! You won't like the texture if you melt it. Just let stick of butter sit out at room temp until it's soft enough to mold with your hands...then I cut/break it in half and use the wrapper to protect it while pressing it into the top half of the bell. Add cold water to the bottom, and replace the top.

The water actually provides a seal that keeps dust, etc out, and helps provide mass for temperature modulation...even in a very warm kitchen, the butter doesn't melt like it would in an open dish.

Summerthyme
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Thanks, again!
 
My fridge has a place for butter in the door. It's slightly warmer than the rest of the fridge.

I used to leave my butter in a ceramic bowl with a plate over it. It was fine during the winter, but it would go rancid quickly in the summer because inside temps sometimes reached 90 degrees.

If your house doesn't get that hot in the summer, it'll probably be just fine or you can put it in a cooler spot.
 
Meemur said:
My fridge has a place for butter in the door. It's slightly warmer than the rest of the fridge.

I used to leave my butter in a ceramic bowl with a plate over it. It was fine during the winter, but it would go rancid quickly in the summer because inside temps sometimes reached 90 degrees.

If your house doesn't get that hot in the summer, it'll probably be just fine or you can put it in a cooler spot.
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That's what I'm afraid of. Our house does get rather hot during the summer. If we aren't home, the a/c isn't running. It might work during the winter, but I don't think it will in the summer. Not down here.

I took my covered butter dish out of the fridge a few hours ago and put it on my countertop. It has almost liquified!
 
nomifyle said:
Thinking about it I don't really need room temperature butter. I don't spread it on anything. I also go through it pretty quickly putting it in my coffee. And besides I live in hot and humid Louisiana.
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I use a lot of "softened butter" in different recipes, especially the bread recipes. Cary also uses softened butter to spread on his biscuits and cornbread. It would be wonderful to have already softened butter ready all the time. I can always put it back in the fridge if it begins to get too soft.
 
I have three butter dishes each holding one quarter of butter. I keep one on the table all the time. My house is not warm enough during heating season to make the butter soft enough to spread! One butter dish is not suitable for summer as the bottom does not allow space if the butter melts, it would run out on the table. One is glass, one Pyrex and one Pfaltzgraff (which is the one I can't use in summer).

We ended one Bible study today and will start Proverbs next week. I think that will have a lot of interesting discussion.

Another warm day although it got windy midmorning (17 mph) and tomorrow is supposed to be VERY windy 30 to 35 mph. We are also under fire warning starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow. I took a letter to the mailbox about an hour ago and could smell woodsmoke. Even 17 mph winds with how dry it is could be very bad and people seem to have no sense about the danger.

I washed sheets and towels today and still need to put sheets back on the bed. Everything else folded and put away.

I need to do therapy exercises and then fix spaghetti for supper. Ground beef is already browned so only need to heat with sauce and cook pasta.
 
A small rant about pre-retirement:

I think I'm going to pass on attending any further "easing into retirement" classes. I went to one in-person and one online. I left both after about 30 minutes.

I have a life outside of my jobs. None of my jobs have ever been my identity, just what I did to earn money. Apparently, the opposite is true for many retirees, and they have a lot of problems in the first months after they leave their jobs. It's also hard for some who did 80% or more of their socializing with co-workers, which isn't at all true in my case.

I was just trying to be more prepared! But I think I'm ready for that part.
 
What a beautiful day today! Worked outside all day and continued our prepping. All parts pulled together to expand our rain catchment system. Starting next years woodpile while it is still cool and rethinking what food we preserve and how we preserve it. And finally all fruit trees and vineyard pruned. What a job! Hope everyone is at peace in these tumultuous times.
 
Meemur said:
A small rant about pre-retirement:

I think I'm going to pass on attending any further "easing into retirement" classes. I went to one in-person and one online. I left both after about 30 minutes.

I have a life outside of my jobs. None of my jobs have ever been my identity, just what I did to earn money. Apparently, the opposite is true for many retirees, and they have a lot of problems in the first months after they leave their jobs. It's also hard for some who did 80% or more of their socializing with co-workers, which isn't at all true in my case.

I was just trying to be more prepared! But I think I'm ready for that part.
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I think the best preparation for retirement is to figure out what your retirement income will be and live on that for a year saving your actual income into an emergency fund.

One issue of retirement that most people do not consider, especially corporate types with health insurance, is the cost of Medicare premium deduction, supplement policy premium and separate RX policy premium and those premiums increase annually. Then there is the fact RX are rated by tier with each tier requiring a larger payment on your part and some RX are not covered at all. Dental is not covered. Eye exams/glasses/lenses are not covered although the medical part of an eye exam is covered. Hearing aides are not covered. The emergency fund can help with getting a handle on all of this.
 
Meemur said:
Connie, I look at it this way: if there's enough wind, it blows all of the neighborhood leaves out of my yard! Wind is my secret helper.

It's not windy here, yet, but it'll increase as the cold front moves in. Winter will be back on Thursday. In the meantime, I'm doing what I can outside.

I snagged a box of raspberry Paczki and will distribute those to friends later. Happy Fat Tuesday!
(Pictured: a lemon custard Paczki)

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I'm jealous! No place to get them here. I used to get them at Hy-Vee back in Kansas City each year.
 
Finally resurrected a desktop computer. Unfortunately the sound doesn't want to work. It was fine when the hard drive messed up causing me to set it aside. It had a 500 GB drive. It now has a 4 TB drive,m eight times the original capacity. It was a challenge getting an older computer to accept that large of a drive. Good thing I've been working on computers for about 30 years. At worst I will add a sound card. I've got a USB sound card dongle somewhere. I can get another from Amazon if needed. They are just a few dollars.

Over did it the past two days and paying for it today. Medical appointments the next two days. Will try to make the Senior Center on Friday for lunch since it will be pot roast, one of my favorite meals from there.

Got up early yesterday. My wife and I went to the monthly food drop at the 7th Day Adventist Church parking lot. The truck from Harvesters was over an hour and a half late getting the. The volunteers worked really hard to get everyone through quickly. Thee\re had to have been close to a hundred cars total. We were near the end and we were 15 minutes early. Got a lot of good produce. Got a whole flat of kiwi fruit that my wife loves, three heads of iceberg lettuce, two huge heads of cabbage, a bunch of yellow onions, 10 pounds of potatoes, and quite a few other things. Also got six pints of buttermilk and three pints of sour cream. I guess I need to get off of my butt, go upstairs, and get a potato to bake. Plenty of sour cream for it!
 
Anna, I've been addressing the financial aspects for the past two years, and I'm going to meet with a CPA and a fiduciary advisor in late March to make sure everything is on track. I'm still learning about the tax stuff. Yes, it seems like every time I turn around, the gov't wants money. I haven't filed for ss, yet. I will do that next month. I'm not starting it until June.

FF, if I had a transporter, I'd send you a box.
 
It's been an odd day. I got a text from BIL that had been delayed from the day of my dental woes that was really sweet and kind. Then I saw the big boss at work and she was so happy to see me! "I'm surprised to see you back so soon!" The wind has been terrible with several small fires that thankfully were under control quickly. Our sheriff even sent out a thank you to all the farmers who helped by plowing fire breaks.
 
I spent 10+ years living on less than I will get when I retire. I'm taking the time now to stabilize our situation so that we will be better off when that time comes again. I learned a lot in that time. I'm learning as much now. Just different lessons. Life is full of lessons.

Fingers crossed for a more peaceful day today.
 
It's going to be a beautiful day to be out, today. 70 degrees with a slight southerly wind blowing. We might break a record on our high temp, tomorrow. The record is 77 degrees, and our forecast has us at 79 degrees. We will most likely pay a price for it, though. Rain will be moving in on Friday with more winter like temps.

Shopping, today. Several stops to make in 2 small towns. I have a few extra items to get, too. Household items. A "butter crock" is on my list, plus a slotted ladle, a small wicker basket, etc. Hopefully, I'll be able to get those at Walmart. If not, I'll order online. Sam's order goes out, today, too. Cary decided to do our 2nd half of the month's bills, himself, this morning. Some changes were made in January, so he's doing the bill paying, until next month. Letting things settle, so to speak.

Tomorrow, we have to take Mom to the Cardiology Clinic in Tupelo. She's having an ultrasound done on her heart to make sure her heart is pumping normally. She's been having some issues. They may schedule more tests. It just depends on what the ultrasound shows. She's 85 yrs. old with several health issues. While in town, she might want to do some shopping, too, if she feels up to it.
 
It's 52 degrees! The wind is starting to pick up. Snow is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
I'm taking my pocket weather radio with me today, and I'll keep an eye on the sky.
I'm also taking my warm jacket. It's the sort of day we can end up with wind chills in the 20s.

I don't think it's going to get warm enough for tornadoes to form, but we have February tornadoes in the past.
 
Meemur said:
It's 52 degrees! The wind is starting to pick up. Snow is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
I'm taking my pocket weather radio with me today, and I'll keep an eye on the sky.
I'm also taking my warm jacket. It's the sort of day we can end up with wind chills in the 20s.

I don't think it's going to get warm enough for tornadoes to form, but we have February tornadoes in the past.
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There were several tornadoes in South Mississippi just a few days ago. I saw some photos of the damage. Glad we didn't get any of those. It is that time of year, though.
 
Currently 54º/feels like 40º with 34 mph winds steady and much higher gusts. Iowa has had tornadoes every month of the year. Ours was late June, my cousin's was March same year. It means we need to pay attention to what's going on. My aunt and uncle got hit in the middle of the night by a small tornado and theirs was the only home destroyed in town.

I have Bible study at 4:00 and my back is acting up so walking half a block may be more than I can manage. I will give it a try. Of course, the wind might blow me over if I get hit with a 50-mph gust even if my back doesn't trip me up. At least it is bright and sunny which makes the day a feel good one for me!

I need to plant my pepper seeds today. I went down and got the pods prepared with soil and put them in water to hydrate yesterday so it's just a matter of planting and making markers for each pod. I have the heat mat and grow light in place ready to plug in. Only issue is will my back cooperate so I can do the stairs.

Edit: Wind and fire advisories have ended. However, we are now under a winter storm advisory with 2 to 5 inches of snow. That much snow is not an issue but add any even a small amount of wind (we ALWAYS have wind here) and you have whiteout conditions. This starts at 3:00 p.m. Thursday through 9:00 p.m. on Friday. Guess our Spring break is over.
 
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Currently 70 after a high of 71 degrees. Humidity is only 25%. I really feel for all of the people affected by the wind driven wildfires in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Having lived in the Texas Panhandle for 40 years, I have seen this sort of thing way too many times. I remember watching cattle being driven through an intact barbed wire fence into an adjoining plowed field in order to get them out of danger. I helped fight some of the fires when I was much younger. Not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.
 
Back from shopping. I'm tired, too. I got everything on my list, except the small wicker basket. I didn't have it written down on my list, so I was almost done shopping when I realized I had forgot to get it. I didn't want to go all the way back through the store. I'll get it on my next trip. It's not that important, anyway.

Everything is dated, rotated, and put away. Cary is getting a bag of frozen pizza rolls for his supper, tonight. I'm too tired to eat. Maybe, an apple with peanut butter, later.

It was a beautiful day to be out and about.
 
I put this above as an edit but decided to add it here. Wind and fire advisories have ended. However, we are now under a winter storm advisory with 2 to 5 inches of snow. That much snow is not an issue but add in even a small amount of wind (we ALWAYS have wind here) and you have whiteout conditions. This starts at 3:00 p.m. Thursday through 9:00 p.m. on Friday. Guess our Spring break is over.
 
Yes! I saw that for your area earlier, Anna. They keep increasing the amounts of snow. I'm working at home tomorrow, so for once I don't have to worry about the weather. I also stopped at Fareway on the way home and got more popcorn. I'm set!
 
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