Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: January 17~23, 2021

philkar

Veteran Member
This may be the wrong place to ask but I am going for it. We have chickens as I am sure many of you do but I want to grow ALL of our chicken feed. They are free range for the most part. we can grow enough corn and wheat for them but wondering about sunflower seeds for higher protein consumption. They are so hard to harvest and process though. Anyone have experience with such? Thought about fish as we have limitless supply of fish but would have to process that I would think.

Open to any thoughts!
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Cary's high cholesterol and high BP are hereditary. Almost every male on his Dad's side of the family has had issues going back to his grandfather and uncles. Until now, his BP and chol have been well under control with meds. Don't know why he has seen an increase. It may go back down on it's own, and his doctor hasn't said anything about raising the dosages, just watch what he eats better.

Sorry for getting the thread off topic. I was just in shock over the list of foods Cary isn't supposed to eat any longer. Ya'll have been very helpful.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Thanks! That's good to know. It's not that Cary eats a lot of fried, high fat foods to start with, and I don't use an extreme amount of salt when cooking.

You should see the list of foods the nutritionist gave me at the hospital that Cary is not supposed to have! It makes up 95% of everything I have stored. No egg noodles, except no-yoke egg noodles. Care to guess how many regular egg noodles I have? Same with rice. Only brown rice, but all I have is white. No canned meats, except tuna in oil, unless, it's canned chicken without salt!!! Reading all of this has sent me almost into shock. Cary has told me that he will continue to eat out of our pantry, but eat smaller portions of the fats and limit his salt intake. More fruits, nuts, and veggies to make up for his limited amounts of red meats. I think we can manage, but it's going to require me to be more careful with planning our meals.
INHO nutritionists spew wrong headed information. Good butter fat is so good for anyone. Although I do feel like processed canned meats are poison.

Sorry you are going through this, but please, please do your own research. When DH was in the hospital three years ago the nutritionist came around telling me that hospital food is healthy. It will kill you. I told her she was nuts, she never came back to DH's room.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

Cag3db1rd

Paranoid Pagan
Cholesterol is your body's bandaid. When there is inflamation in your circulatory system, cholesterol comes to cover it up and protect it until it heals. High cholesterol is a symptom. The hard part is ferreting out the cause of inflamation.
 

Cag3db1rd

Paranoid Pagan
When DH was in the hospital three years ago the nutritionist came around telling me that hospital food is healthy. It will kill you. I told her she was nuts, she never came back to DH's room.

God is good all the time

Judy
I had a nutritionist try to tell me that white rice and white potatoes were okay for me as a t2iddm person. I stopped listening and started doing my own research.
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I had a free afternoon today, which is extremely rare. I broke up the pile of sticks I had been collecting and filled two more 35lb size kitty litter buckets with twigs for my little wood gasification stove. I am up to 12 buckets now. It is my third method of cooking in a grid down situation.

I also spent time melting down some old candles and made another 150 or so fire starters using those round make up remover pads from Dollar Tree. I had used some of the first ones I made in our newly refurbished (and finally repacked) BOB's. So I have about 200 now in a nice airtight container for use or for barter purposes. I have plenty of the pads and a lot more wax to make more if ever needed.

I considered it a fairly productive afternoon (about 2.5 hours) for an "older" lady :)
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Prudentwatcher: I really need to gather up sticks for my rocket stove, but every time I try I can't seem to get them broken up, I'll try harder.

I had to order a log grate for our wood stove. I replaced the original one (purchased in 2014) in 2019. The last one has only lasted less than a winters use. I was able to track down the one I ordered in 2014. There was only one available on amazon, so I ordered it. I did a search and found one at Rural King. I ordered that one too, so now we have back up, DH blessed ordering two, I think I'm finally getting to him about having extras.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
This may be the wrong place to ask but I am going for it. We have chickens as I am sure many of you do but I want to grow ALL of our chicken feed. They are free range for the most part. we can grow enough corn and wheat for them but wondering about sunflower seeds for higher protein consumption. They are so hard to harvest and process though. Anyone have experience with such? Thought about fish as we have limitless supply of fish but would have to process that I would think.

Open to any thoughts!
I fed mine a combination of corn, barley and oats. They also got any bugs they could catch along with garden and kitchen scraps. If their egg shells got thin I'd add some crushed oyster shells to their fed. Weeds are an acceptable fed supplement.

If the feather dusters like sunflower seeds and know where they are, they can get them, themselves. I haven't done it but would crush up some seeds and just toss them and the seedheads into the pen and let the chickens do what they do.
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
Prudentwatcher: I really need to gather up sticks for my rocket stove, but every time I try I can't seem to get them broken up, I'll try harder.

I had to order a log grate for our wood stove. I replaced the original one (purchased in 2014) in 2019. The last one has only lasted less than a winters use. I was able to track down the one I ordered in 2014. There was only one available on amazon, so I ordered it. I did a search and found one at Rural King. I ordered that one too, so now we have back up, DH blessed ordering two, I think I'm finally getting to him about having extras.

God is good all the time

Judy

surprised your hubby hasn't DIY fabricated one for your stove - the cast iron grilling plates from the propane gas grills can be readily salvaged >>> they'll last a good long while .....
 

amazon

Veteran Member
I bought a few things today to replace what we've used: canned dog food, chicken, chips, water, lantern, stabil, crackers, distilled water, canned tomatoes. At my WM there was no lamp oil and the camping section was pitiful, maybe 40% of what they used to have. I also got my hubs b-day presents, Carhartt bibs, jacket and sweatshirt. I bought another heater buddy and another propane tank last week. We want to sell our house in the spring. I'm torn on how much more to buy knowing it will all need moved and stored elsewhere....

Have a good weekend!
 

Cag3db1rd

Paranoid Pagan
Ran a load out to the BOL of things I want to keep safe and things I need out there. One thing that is very important to me is my djimba drum. If I am in a hurry to bug out, I'm not going to be thinking musical instruments. I will miss that drum later when it and my irish flute are my only sources of music when the net goes down. Also a sealed tote of books. Trying to talk to hubby about setting up foot lockers of clothes and shoes out there, but he's fighting me on it.

Ordered 10lb of soy wax because parafin was way more expensive and hard to find at local stores. I'm still working on my firestarter project. So far I have a 5 gallon bucket of them.

Took my rabbits out to the BOL as well because apparently my friend who owns the place trusted someone to sell him female rabbits, and they were all male. So, now he has my girls, and he will choose 1 male and butcher the other 3.

I'm having some overwhelm and loneliness issues right now. I am trying to keep enough of everything to bug in for as long as I can. Hubby wants to act like everything is okay. My friends that are close are not preppers, offgridders, survivalists, or anything of that nature. My only friend who is into this id the one who owns the land my BOL is on. His wife isn't into it and is threatening to leave him if he doesn't put a 2000 sq ft house out there with full grid tie. Hubby gets mad if any of his luxuries are taken away as well. He also gets mad talking about prepping. I feel so lonely being the only one I can talk to.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Ran a load out to the BOL of things I want to keep safe and things I need out there. One thing that is very important to me is my djimba drum. If I am in a hurry to bug out, I'm not going to be thinking musical instruments. I will miss that drum later when it and my irish flute are my only sources of music when the net goes down. Also a sealed tote of books. Trying to talk to hubby about setting up foot lockers of clothes and shoes out there, but he's fighting me on it.

Ordered 10lb of soy wax because parafin was way more expensive and hard to find at local stores. I'm still working on my firestarter project. So far I have a 5 gallon bucket of them.

Took my rabbits out to the BOL as well because apparently my friend who owns the place trusted someone to sell him female rabbits, and they were all male. So, now he has my girls, and he will choose 1 male and butcher the other 3.

I'm having some overwhelm and loneliness issues right now. I am trying to keep enough of everything to bug in for as long as I can. Hubby wants to act like everything is okay. My friends that are close are not preppers, offgridders, survivalists, or anything of that nature. My only friend who is into this id the one who owns the land my BOL is on. His wife isn't into it and is threatening to leave him if he doesn't put a 2000 sq ft house out there with full grid tie. Hubby gets mad if any of his luxuries are taken away as well. He also gets mad talking about prepping. I feel so lonely being the only one I can talk to.
I have no friends that are preppers except the ones I've met here on FB. Fortunately DH is somewhat on board, at least he realizes he needs back ups to things. We live at our BOL so everything is here. I got out of dodge years ago.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

moldy

Veteran Member
This may be the wrong place to ask but I am going for it. We have chickens as I am sure many of you do but I want to grow ALL of our chicken feed. They are free range for the most part. we can grow enough corn and wheat for them but wondering about sunflower seeds for higher protein consumption. They are so hard to harvest and process though. Anyone have experience with such? Thought about fish as we have limitless supply of fish but would have to process that I would think.

Open to any thoughts!
When we grow sunflowers, at the end of the season we chop off the heads and lay them somewhere to dry (anywhere from the old trampoline to the greenhouse!). When dry, i have harvested the seeds for human use. for chickens, i think i would just throw the whole heads in their pen.

I didn't get the house cleaned to my satisfaction earlier this week, so that and grocery shopping (local sstore has cheese for less than $2/lb!) is the plans for today. my sinuses are driving me nuts, so i'll do a nasal rinse first. A client wants me to make a coffee substitute for her and also some stuff for her sinuses, so that's also on the list.
 
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SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have no friends that are preppers except the ones I've met here on FB. Fortunately DH is somewhat on board, at least he realizes he needs back ups to things. We live at our BOL so everything is here. I got out of dodge years ago.

God is good all the time

Judy

We live at our BOL, too. Small house on a little land with no close neighbors. Very rural. Besides you all here on TB, the only other preppers we really know are our oldest DS, DDIL, and her mom. They live about 2 miles from us. Cary has a best friend who plays at being a prepper.

Cary and I, both, have been working on prepping since Y2k. Seriously prepping for life without grid services, and stocking a pantry that will always be a year's worth of food at any given time. Cary is as much on board as I am. He takes care of the "man" things, and I take care of the house and food storage. It's a team effort.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I just received my orders of 6 12oz cans of BBQ pulled pork, and 3 34oz jugs of mixed nuts to add to the pantry. Walmart online is the only place I can find the BBQ pulled pork, and Sam's had their nuts on sale, so I ordered 3 of those for Cary. I have him on a nut and fruit diet, instead of all the sweets he normally eats.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
We live at our BOL, too. Small house on a little land with no close neighbors. Very rural. Besides you all here on TB, the only other preppers we really know are our oldest DS, DDIL, and her mom. They live about 2 miles from us. Cary has a best friend who plays at being a prepper.

Cary and I, both, have been working on prepping since Y2k. Seriously prepping for life without grid services, and stocking a pantry that will always be a year's worth of food at any given time. Cary is as much on board as I am. He takes care of the "man" things, and I take care of the house and food storage. It's a team effort.
DH does the man stuff too, but there are some things I need to learn to do in case he can't. Starting the generator and all that entails is at the top of the list. If I don't we'll be sitting in the dark and be cold.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
DH does the man stuff too, but there are some things I need to learn to do in case he can't. Starting the generator and all that entails is at the top of the list. If I don't we'll be sitting in the dark and be cold.

God is good all the time

Judy

I certainly understand that. I need to learn to do much more "manly" things, too. One of my greatest fears if Cary isn't around is how to do our online banking. I have absolutely no clue how or what to do. Cary is the accountant in the family so, I've always relied on him where all of our finances are concerned. He gives me my grocery budget money every two weeks, and he takes care of the rest.

Since this scare with sepsis, he has promised me that he would try and teach me how to take care of our finances online when he receives his next paycheck. I'm a slow learner, especially when it comes to technology.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I certainly understand that. I need to learn to do much more "manly" things, too. One of my greatest fears if Cary isn't around is how to do our online banking. I have absolutely no clue how or what to do. Cary is the accountant in the family so, I've always relied on him where all of our finances are concerned. He gives me my grocery budget money every two weeks, and he takes care of the rest.

Since this scare with sepsis, he has promised me that he would try and teach me how to take care of our finances online when he receives his next paycheck. I'm a slow learner, especially when it comes to technology.
That is something I'm better at than DH, although he does handle his own money and like wise I do too, my money is my money and I do pay my fair share.

God is good all the time,

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
That is something I'm better at than DH, although he does handle his own money and like wise I do too, my money is my money and I do pay my fair share.

God is good all the time,

Judy

Since I've been a homemaker all of our married life, I've never had an income. I just let Cary deal with everything. It was so much easier, before everything went electronic, and he switched everything over to it.
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Re: Man work/Woman work
Have the Hubby make a step-by-step list for each chore - or you make it while he does it - and throw it in a notebook. If it's chaos, it's going to be harder to remember how to do things, especially if it's something you don't do often.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Since I've been a homemaker all of our married life, I've never had an income. I just let Cary deal with everything. It was so much easier, before everything went electronic, and he switched everything over to it.
Dear lady, it is not hard. I keep a list for what has to be paid every month, actually in a notebook, and a separate list for every month. I go directly to the website for whatever has to be paid and make the payment there. DH uses bill pay with the bank and I do not like that. I feel I have more control doing it my way. I make the payments either from my debit card or my checking account. Learn from CaryC how he does it because I know you are debt free and what he does is working well.

Then again I say its not hard because I've done it forever. Ten years ago I had not debt, I only had to pay utilities. Now I have debt but I'm chipping away at it.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
Our generator is seriously contrary and hard to start. Last month dh had to jump it off with the truck to get it going. There is no way I could start the thing by myself, which is another reason I am so glad my good neighbor moved back. He is always glad to help in any way he can, including running the chainsaw when dh's mare did something stupid and got herself tangled up in some deadfall. It took all 3 of us to get her out.
I try to be as helpful to him as he is to us.
As far as banking, dh doesn't even know which bank we use. He doesn't know where the feed mill is either, but since he doesn't drive, it really doesn't matter.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Dear lady, it is not hard. I keep a list for what has to be paid every month, actually in a notebook, and a separate list for every month. I go directly to the website for whatever has to be paid and make the payment there. DH uses bill pay with the bank and I do not like that. I feel I have more control doing it my way. I make the payments either from my debit card or my checking account. Learn from CaryC how he does it because I know you are debt free and what he does is working well.

Then again I say its not hard because I've done it forever. Ten years ago I had not debt, I only had to pay utilities. Now I have debt but I'm chipping away at it.

God is good all the time

Judy

I'm sure that I can learn to do this. It's just going to take Cary having much patience with me while I learn. He's tried showing me how it's done before, but it looked to me like a holy mess that I couldn't make heads or tails out of. He has his way of doing it, but it is all too foreign to me. He gets paid twice a month, and that makes paying our bills more complicated. Some comes out of the first check, and some come out of the next. Some are automatically paid through the bank, and some, he has to go online at the bank to pay.

Yes, we are debt free. All we have are monthly utilities, insurances, internet, and Direct TV, plus our phones.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I'm sure that I can learn to do this. It's just going to take Cary having much patience with me while I learn. He's tried showing me how it's done before, but it looked to me like a holy mess that I couldn't make heads or tails out of. He has his way of doing it, but it is all too foreign to me. He gets paid twice a month, and that makes paying our bills more complicated. Some comes out of the first check, and some come out of the next. Some are automatically paid through the bank, and some, he has to go online at the bank to pay.

Yes, we are debt free. All we have are monthly utilities, insurances, internet, and Direct TV, plus our phones.
Twice a month does not sound complicated, but then again I've been dealing with all my life. My parents taught me how to handle money. I guess you just have to convince yourself that if you don't learn how to do this and Cary is not available to do it then you will be in a world of hurt.

There are things that DH tries to teach me to do that I just have a mental block about doing. One is keeping the brush cut, I didn't do it before him and its not likely it will get done if he isn't available. But that is not as important as being able to take care of your finances.

You are a savy lady and you will figure it out.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

John Deere Girl

Veteran Member
It's always a good idea for both of you to know when each bill gets paid and the budget. I've always taken care of all things financial except for investments. I'm in the process of learning that now. It's also very important to know the information about life insurance policies, health insurance policies, and have medical power of attorney taken care of. Sometimes those are overlooked and make a bad situation worse.
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
We don't know any other "preppers" IRL either. We keep it just between us.

confirmed my first newbie prepper the other day >> first time in decades >> met him in the sporting goods department of Wally World - he'd just picked up Aquatainer water jug off the shelf - asked him if he had checked for the threaded faucet they ship inside the jug (POS steal them alllll the time) - he hadn't and we talked about cleaning the jug and getting it ready for use >>> confirmed he was getting ready for some crap coming down ....
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Like I said, Cary gets paid his first check of the month on the 1st. That's when my lessons begin. I'm mentally already getting geared up for it. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the stress of everything else we have going on right now with his upcoming surgery.
 

aviax2

Veteran Member
I received most of my order although 1 order ended up being 4 shipments and they all ran a day behind. The one that was supposed to arrive today got delivered somewhere else “GAH”!

Starting our marriage out both young and dumb I finally decided one of us had to learn how to budget, plan and take care of business and since I too have been a homemaker and stay at home mom for the most part, I learned. Neither of us had been taught zip! I learned as I went and many times DH would spaz out about my plans but little by little he saw I was right and quit fighting me. When I had to have surgery about 15 yrs ago I went over everything with him ‘cos I knew I wouldn’t be able to take care of things for awhile. He did great and I took it back over once I had recovered until he retired, and he now takes care of it all. Between regular bills etc. college for our daughters and farm stuff, I was burned out.

Now I’m the one who needs a refresher course but I’m telling ya, I really don’t want to LOL! I preferred doing things old school with paper and pencil and he does everything on his computer, but he still pretty much uses the system I started so I can hopefully figure things out if needed.
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
if you want to to take all the hassle out of paying the bills - buy a homeowner version of Quicken - pain to get it loaded up and fine tuned >>> but after that it does everything for you right thru to filing your own income taxes ...

you can do a simpler version by just using a digital monthly calendar - again a pain to get it filled out initially - but it's all there on the computer each month with links to the bill paying sites ....

if you don't want to go that route - just set up a "Bills" category on your internet bar >>> load that up with your bill paying link addresses and the date each month to pay ....

getting more dangerous every year to be sending out checks by snail mail ....
 

Illini Warrior

Illini Warrior
Why not just use auto-pay for all the bills?

just asking for trouble there >> gives that entity full boat access to do whatever they want - just try to get your $$$ back from the phone company for some billing problem - dare you !!!

and it's a totally different system between letting them keep your financials in their records and paying them monthly with that very same financial source >>> and if you are using a credit card to make monthly payments like utility bills - any $$$ theft thru that source might not be covered - it's not like your card or #s got pinched during a normal transaction ....
 

briches

Veteran Member
Like I said, Cary gets paid his first check of the month on the 1st. That's when my lessons begin. I'm mentally already getting geared up for it. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the stress of everything else we have going on right now with his upcoming surgery.

With the added stress, I’d suggest writing things down. That way you’ll be able to remember. I’m not saying that to undermine you - just tips that help me until I get used to something new (especially during times of stress).

For my budget and bill system, I have a combination of “old and new”. I use a notebook and write down bills that get paid with the first paycheck and then the second one. (I get paid twice a month so pay bills at those times).
I pay my bills online through my Wells Fargo app. I mark in my notebook when I pay them (and on the bill) and then burn the prior months statements.

I have certain side savings accounts that I put into monthly for larger yearly expenses (insurances, “emergency fund”, regular savings, etc)

This system isn’t fancy but certainly works for me.
I know you can do it!
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
I'm sure that I can learn to do this. It's just going to take Cary having much patience with me while I learn. He's tried showing me how it's done before, but it looked to me like a holy mess that I couldn't make heads or tails out of. He has his way of doing it, but it is all too foreign to me. He gets paid twice a month, and that makes paying our bills more complicated. Some comes out of the first check, and some come out of the next. Some are automatically paid through the bank, and some, he has to go online at the bank to pay.

Yes, we are debt free. All we have are monthly utilities, insurances, internet, and Direct TV, plus our phones.

I'm sure that you have better than my two tin cans with a string internet, but maybe you could get Cary to show you how to log in to the bank before you actually start paying bills. In my case, logging in can take 15 minutes or more, and I have threatened many times to throw this expletive deleted computer out the window.
I'm sure that you can do it! Good luck!
 
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