Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: January 13 ~ 19, 2019

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, all! I am sitting at the island counter in my kitchen, listening to the grandsons discuss topping options for pancakes (syrup vs Nutella vs apple jam vs peanut butter vs......) as they chow down while watching Tom & Jerry cartoons on TV. Our other plans for the day include building snowmen and canning chicken - poor Hubby has to add clearing the driveways with the tractor to his list.

It's snowing again - we were up to 10" when I checked around 5:30 last evening; I'll take the ruler out with me when I go to clear and fill bird feeders here in a bit, but doubt if it's much more than that. Hubby and I will take the boys home early afternoon so that we are back home by dark; I'll admit that I'm not looking forward to going to work tomorrow morning, although our roads did at least get plowed yesterday - the mailman was following right behind the plow

BRRR!!! That was a chilly trip outside - discovered that I need to dig out my taller boots I took a break from typing to go take care of the feeders as the crows were up on the porch looking in the door!! Now they are perched on the compost frames, carrying on about the kitchen scraps I dumped in there - crazy birds!! Love my crows and blue jays - they are my early warning system that someone or something is out and about.

I checked out the drug store ads online when I got back inside; nothing much at Walgreen's; CVS has Boost and batteries on sale so I will likely stop there when we take the boys home this evening. I also looked at a couple of grocery store ads for next week that shows they have roasts and ground beef for a reasonable price so I may pick up a few roasts to can, plus some ground beef to prep into meatloaf mix for the freezer. I'll probably snag a case or two of canned diced tomatoes at 49-59 cents/can as well, just to have on hand in case.

That will probably be the extent of my prepping for this week as I am tucking back any extra cash to pay my yearly fee at the pool on or around Feb 1 - the price went up this year, and they raised the age for the Senior discount so I no longer qualify for that; but if I pay it in February, I save $40, plus get a free month for paying for a year; I'll take that deal!

Well, Hubby is headed out to start the tractor so has shamed me in to bundling back up to shovel the walks and around the van...

Take care all; stay safe out there!

 

[prudentwatcher]

I FINALLY started to clean out my office!! Several boxes of stuff headed to the dump, with many more to come I feel better about that.

Made up a pan of chicken and rice (all from preps) to take for lunch this week.

Bought some canned peanuts for the pantry. They are short-term preps as they never last long around here. BOGO at Publix--4 cans of the Spanish redskins.

I feel for those of you who have snow. I live in Florida and we took the grandkids to pick strawberries yesterday Yes, hate me all you want! I hate the summers here, but the winters are nice. Not enough strawberries to put up, but plenty to eat for a few days. The kids are twins, almost 4, and are expert blueberry pickers, but had never picked strawberries before. They had a blast!! The playground at the upick place was also a huge hit.

The laundry is done, stuff for the week is organized, and we are going to order a pizza and watch a movie. Busy week ahead. Haven't read the ads yet, so still might find something interesting.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Working on replacing way out of date OTC drugs. At least things like BandAids, tweezers, antibiotic ointment for wounds and medical grade alcohol don't need replacing. Picked up Benadryl, Imodium and a cough/fever reducer. Those were my first priorities. We already have aspirin in date but plan to replace other OTC analgesics next ASAP.

I've been weeding thru stuff, way too much stuff. I was reminded recently hearses don't come equipped with luggage racks. Bagged up some of the kids clothes and other stuff. Hopefully someone else in the community can get some use out of it. It was a hard project to get started. Way too many memories kept getting in the way of progress. It was actually very freeing and satisfying to pass the stuff on to potential new homes where it can be used.

 

[Deena in GA]

We hit up the Christmas clearance at Walgreen's again yesterday. They had gone to 90% off, so we got more wrapping paper and a few more gifts. We would have bought more, but the first one we went to had a lady at the register who had just cleared them out. She had two buggies overrunning with merchandise.

We also added more toilet paper to the stash and are up to 37 12-packs. Looks like Publix has a pretty good ad for this week and they are offering $10 off of a $50 gas card when you spend $50. We go in and only buy the bogo's, get enough to make the $50 and get the deal on the gas card. Works out great for us! We get the Shell card because we also have their store card that gives us $.05 off a gallon.

 

[summerthyme]

OGM... almost all OTC meds are safe and effective for years after their ":use by" date. We've used naproxyn, ibuprofen, tylenol, benadryl, sudafed, various "cold and flu" combos... some as much as 10 years past the "use by" date. They worked as expected.

The one exception is aspirin. Fortunately, it's cheap enough that I just toss it and buy fresh every couple of years. It also is "nice" enough to tell you when it's gone past... if you sniff the open bottle and it smells like vinegar, they're too old.

Another tip... buy small bottles of the standard OTC stuff at the Dollar Store or other inexpensive source. Then, buy big bottles (WalMart, Sam's Club) IF they are cheaper per pill (always figure the unit cost!! Sometimes, the large containers are NOT cheaper!!).

Keep the small bottles as your "working supply", in the medicine cabinet or wherever. (the medicine cabinet is probably THE worst place in the house to store meds... warm, humid conditions aren't what you want!). Store the large "prep" bottles in the best conditions you can find... as cool and dry as possible. When the small bottle gets emptied, don't toss it- refill it from your "stock" bottles. It really helps keep the clutter down in the bathroom, and keeps your meds supply much fresher.

Summerthyme

 

[ReneeT]

Split chicken breast (bone in/skin on) is on sale at a local chain grocery in my work town. I know I said I wasn't going to prep much this week, but 99 cents a pound is a really good price. I had to go to town today for a doctor's appointment and hit the store to pick up one item for the staff potluck at work this weekend.... and lucked on to the sale ad I snagged 3 packages for a total of 17 lb; I will cut the meat off the bone and can it tomorrow; will also cook down the bones/skin in a pressure canner and can the resulting broth. They were out of older grandson's favorite cereal that was advertised on sale, but while I was searching for it, I found packets of instant potatoes (not my thing, but Hubby asks for them as he can make them at work) Idahoan brand for 55 cents each so picked up a dozen.

I'll probably pick up more chicken each evening as I get off work Sat/Sun (unless I can con Hubby into stopping), and try to get at least 3 more cases of pint jars of chicken plus at least a case of quart jars of broth canned before the sale ends.

 

[ReneeT]

6 quarts of chicken broth, 9 pints of chicken breast, 9 pints of beef chunks (stew beef), 6 - 3/4# vac bags of meatloaf mix to the freezer done today, plus at least one more mixed canner load of beef chunks and chicken breast to run tomorrow - the hour in the pool at 2 this afternoon left me too tired to do much more than hit the store for the roasts, then can the beef and prep the meatloaf mix after I got home. Hubby put all but one of my canners on the top shelf in the store room, then stacked some canning jar boxes in front of them - I would have had to move the jars and drag the short stepladder in from the shed and down the stairs to get one of them down, so decided to run what I could with the one canner.

I have the scraps from the roasts in the pressure cooker - lots of fat on one of them to cut around! - so I will strain the broth off and let the fat rise. I'll use whatever meat I can pick out and the broth to make beef hot shots for supper tomorrow; will probably put the fat in the freezer for later use.

We plan to go back to the pool tomorrow, so I will pick up enough more roasts to do another canner load of beef tomorrow as well. I'd like to get more chicken, but don't want to make the trip to that town to get it tomorrow; would ask Hubby to pick it up after he gets off work tomorrow but then it would have to sit in the fridge all weekend as I have to work. I guess I'll try to get some after work on Sunday - it can keep me occupied next Monday

 

[ivantherussian03]

Working hard, with temps down to minus 20 and wind chills down to 50. The cold spells only last 2 or 3 days. I am building my trap line slowly, marten sets first, then fox and lynxes. Fur is coming in. I am looking for moose antler sheds while running around, and doing well there. I have delivered two full sled loads. I have over 100 marten traps out, but my goal is 150. I am busy.