Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: July 26 ~ August 1, 2020

[ReneeT]

AUGUST??! It can't be almost AUGUST!! Where in the heck has this year gone?!

Up early this morning so I can have a little peace and quiet before the boys wake up - although the dog was the one that woke me up; cold, wet puppy dog nose to the back of your neck will do that When I opened the door to let him out, I could hear the rumble from a lot of boat engines; the noise was even louder when I went out on the porch filling the hummingbird feeders - must be a fishing tournament on the lake today.

I need to hear the rumble of a tiller engine here in a bit, but it is going to have to wait - it's still too wet out there. I don't want to wait too long though - it's supposed to get up in the 90's today. I still need to mow down one area where I planted beets that suddenly popped up with a ton of red root pigweed before I start tilling. Guess I could let it grow and harvest the seed heads as amaranth.....Nah!! Plenty of pigweed elsewhere on the farm if I want to do that - I don't want to be tilling it out of the gardens for the next billion years!

We are looking at rain tomorrow and then a couple of showers during the week, and I have an odd work schedule coming up - one on, two off, two on, one off, one on, two off - I swear I'm not going to know what day it is or if I'm coming or going! Anyway, that means that the tilling needs done today; and then I need to get some more mulch put down in the garden . The yellow pole beans are still sprawling across the ground rather than climbing, so I may till them out as well - I put the darn things up on the fence, they wait till I turn my back and flop on the ground. I guess I could just plant green pole beans on their fence, and then plant yellow bush beans where I till out the pigweed and hope for a decent fall crop. I do need to find a place to plant my fall beet crop as well since it's nearly August.

Had a pretty good day yesterday - finally got caught up on sleep after a crazy work week and being up for 30 hours on Thu/Fri. I woke up feeling pretty good so got a few things done around home before I headed to town to pick up the boys. Had to make a run to pick up some mulch for daughter - WM had some on sale for 98 cents/bag, and the Hyponex stuff was $1.50 a bag. When I take the boys home this afternoon, Hubby and I will pick up several more bags for around here.

Once Hubby got back from his shooting match, he helped me can peaches - I peeled and filled the jars, he put 'em in and out of the canner. We only did three batches - total of 15 jars. I'm using a stock pot with racks in the bottom to can them in rather than the normal water bath canner - I can get a batch of 5 jars ready in the time it takes to process the first batch. This last half bushel Hubby picked up were small, and just didn't ripen well - he got them on Monday and they were still hard after 5 days out on the counter. I'm going to have to take a look at the next box I get to make sure they aren't the same instead of just putting the box in in the van - I'd like to put up at least 100 pints, plus another 20 jars of jam - if I can find enough of the low sugar pectin I like to use - the Sur-Jel brand in the pink box. Maybe I can get the guy at the grocery store to order it for me...

Once we were done with the peaches, we started in on a couple of bags of dark cherries that my co-worker buddy bought on impulse, ate a few of, and then decided to bring to me. We washed and then pitted both bags, then I ran them through my small food processor - small one due to the large one being hidden somewhere in the storeroom - or at least we think that's where it is; it could have migrated to daughter's house like my rotisserie Once they were all chopped, I dumped them in a half gallon jar; they filled it about 2/3 full. I added black cherry juice from Aldi to finish out the half gallon; and we will make it in to jam later today or sometime tomorrow before I take my pre-work nap. I'm going to have to soak my hands in bleach water once it's done - the skin on my thumbs and fingers are stained black from the cherry juice; doesn't look good for my patients.

Hubby's job today or tomorrow while he is off work is to find out why my big rain water tank isn't filling with rain water - I hope like heck it doesn't have a crack in it. I guess we need to pull it out of it's corner and check it, but that's gonna mean moving a bunch of stuff - ugh! Maybe I could hook up one of my other tanks for now but I really want to find out what is going on with the big tank.

Well, my coffee cup is empty; reckon I'd better give it one more refill, then head out to get started on that row of pigweed. You folks all take care - and stay safe out there, people are getting plumb crazy!!

 

[Jmurman]

Today is breakfast with my uncle and his new wife. 80 years old and he gets married lol. Afterward, I'll spend the majority of the day prayerfully viewing this week's sermons and resting. Im still trying to figure out the best way to organize the preps I've accumulated over the years.

Question;

How do you store your dried beans? I have a few buckets which I've stored beans using mylar and oxy absorbers. Now I read where these beans might not be able to soften up. So, HOW do you sore beans for the long haul? Vaccuum sealing?

 

[Marseydoats]

I did inventory of the preps and thought I hadn't done too badly considering everything I have going on. Husband went behind me and pointed out stuff I had missed. But both of us missed transmission fluid and oil for the generator... He finally realized that things aren't going to get any better anytime soon and went ahead and ordered some tractor parts that he'd put off getting, because when they get here, he has to tear down the tractor, and who in their right mind wants to do that when it's 100 degrees... But they were back ordered as well.
I have literally 100 tomatoes on 4 plants, but they won't get ripe. I'm tired of buying store tomatoes. I think every one of mine is finally going to ripen at the same time and the chickens will wind up getting a heck of a lot of them. The heat has been unbearable and I'm barely able to take care of livestock and water my plants when I get home from work.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We have finally finished redoing our deck! Looking forward to a break, before starting another project, especially in this heat and humidity. We got all the yard word done, yesterday, and if we don't get rain soon, we won't have to do it again for awhile. Brown crunchy spots are already appearing all over the yard.

I've also been cleaning and reorganizing some in the pantry room. It feels good to know everything is cleaned and properly organized. I still have a bit to do, but then, I guess no one is ever completely finished with that task.

Our small garden is finished. A late start, heat, and dry weather has done it in. I'm still getting a few tomatoes, but not enough to can. I've got a couple of squash in the fridge, and the vines are dying. No more blooms. Same with cucumbers.

I'm looking forward to having our DS, DDIL, and her mother coming over later this morning. We try to get together with them at least once a week. A good time had by all.

 

[moldy]

Renee, just tell your patients you were canning. It starts all kinds of nice conversations.

 

[nomifyle]

Today is breakfast with my uncle and his new wife. 80 years old and he gets married lol. Afterward, I'll spend the majority of the day prayerfully viewing this week's sermons and resting. Im still trying to figure out the best way to organize the preps I've accumulated over the years.

Question;

How do you store your dried beans? I have a few buckets which I've stored beans using mylar and oxy absorbers. Now I read where these beans might not be able to soften up. So, HOW do you sore beans for the long haul? Vaccuum sealing?

I'm going to be in a world of hurt if my beans stored in mylar using o2s don't soften. Everything I've read says that the best way to store them for years and years. Although vacuum sealing is also good too, but for say 50 pounds of beans thats a lot of jars and space.

As for your uncle getting married at 80, he's a lucky man to find love in his later years. When DH and I got married he was 70 and I was 67, our 6th anniversary is coming up. We are greatful every day for having found each other, its very sweet and precious.

God is good, all the time.

Judy

 

[nomifyle]

We have finally finished redoing our deck! Looking forward to a break, before starting another project, especially in this heat and humidity. We got all the yard word done, yesterday, and if we don't get rain soon, we won't have to do it again for awhile. Brown crunchy spots are already appearing all over the yard.

I've also been cleaning and reorganizing some in the pantry room. It feels good to know everything is cleaned and properly organized. I still have a bit to do, but then, I guess no one is ever completely finished with that task.

Our small garden is finished. A late start, heat, and dry weather has done it in. I'm still getting a few tomatoes, but not enough to can. I've got a couple of squash in the fridge, and the vines are dying. No more blooms. Same with cucumbers.

I'm looking forward to having our DS, DDIL, and her mother coming over later this morning. We try to get together with them at least once a week. A good time had by all.

I wouldn't worry about your garden not doing well, its good that ya'll made the effort. You will do better next spring. I just texted the lady that I got most of my plants from, for some reason nothing that we've tried to start does a thing, for fall planting.

We didn't go to church this morning, DH had to put down one of our older goats because he could not stand up, which has been going on for awhile, just too painful for him to stand or walk. I just heard the shots, makes me sad. But we do have a baby from him, so he will go on through little Buckie. That's two in a couple of weeks that had the same issue, the other one died on her own.

God is good, all the time.

Judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I wouldn't worry about your garden not doing well, its good that ya'll made the effort. You will do better next spring. I just texted the lady that I got most of my plants from, for some reason nothing that we've tried to start does a thing, for fall planting.

We didn't go to church this morning, DH had to put down one of our older goats because he could not stand up, which has been going on for awhile, just too painful for him to stand or walk. I just heard the shots, makes me sad. But we do have a baby from him, so he will go on through little Buckie. That's two in a couple of weeks that had the same issue, the other one died on her own.

God is good, all the time.

Judy

I'm sorry to hear about your goat. I hate when we have to put animals down. It's never a fun process.

Yeah, we're hoping our garden will do better next spring, if we can get it planted earlier. Rain and cold weather kept us from doing so this year. We were still having freezing temps when most things should have gone in the ground. We didn't plant much anyway, just to have some things fresh to eat. I may try a fall garden that should be started at the end of August for us.

 

[ReneeT]

Congrats to your Uncle and his Wife, Jmurman!

Moldy, the one that would likely to notice is manic as all get out - I'd have to listen to it over and over! I'll use a light bleach water plus scrubby pad wash and it'll all be good. I already got part of it off by trying to convince a bleach tab that it needed to dissolve in the washer

Well, the 30' row of pigweed got pulled because the mower couldn't handle it. All of the rows and a double row around the edges of the garden got tilled, so it looks much better. I still have the tomato area to hand weed; it got too hot too fast and I was done for as far as outside work went. I will say that next year the darn tomatoes are gonna be 6' apart each direction, and the whole dang area is going to be mulched. We've got rain coming in tomorrow, so I'm going to sneak out tomorrow morning and plant a row of mixed yellow and green bush beans. I HATE picking bush beans, but it's better than no beans a'tall - I've got lots of blooms on the others, but very few, very tiny beans set on. It's been so darned hot that it's probably cooked the blooms on the vines.

 

[ivantherussian03]

I remodeled mom’s bathroom. New fan wired into a timer. New smooth drywall texture. White paint and new chalking. Man, it looks nice. Every-time I look at it or think about it, I feel pride and my father’s approval.

 

[prudentwatcher]

I like this knitting on a little loom. I do it while watching youtube videos. I have finished 2 hats for adults, 1 for a toddler, and am working on one for a child. I have a loom for scarfs to practice on next and I have a set of looms for the really bulky yarn on the way from Amazon.

Got a new pillow today-a nice one. The old one was just holding my neck up too high (I'm a back sleeper) and was straining my neck and shoulders. This one should be a lot more comfy. I also then popped in to get printer ink at Office Max. Boy, the shelves were pretty bare. I did manage to find my ink, but not the extended cartridge that I like to get.

I also stopped in at Walgreens to pick up a prescription and got some more cereal and more laundry detergent. Two boxes of the cereal and a box of poptarts went into a box that I started for the local Catholic Family Charities for their food bank. I used to do that a lot more, but have been kind of focused on my preps this year and haven't done much for them. Time to start back up.

 

[hiwall]

I spent some time working on our driveway gate today. Strengthened the hinge side of the gate and post. Then I got a treated-wood fence post (had some on hand) and cut one end at an angle which I then used as a brace on the other gate post so if someone rammed the gate the post would hold better. We never close our gate but I am getting ready for bad times. Placed a fair sized order for mostly more food from Walmart for shipment.

 

[summerthyme]

A few comments...

To ripen tomatoes on a reluctant plant, take a pointed shovel and "root prune" *halfway* around the plant... try to push the shovel into the soil 8" or so, about 12" out from the stem of the plant. It's not as easy as it sounds, at least, with the size my plants get to! But it works. Don't cut in a complete circle, just halfway.

What this does is stress the plant, which "thinks", "oh, no! I may be dying! Must ripen fruit quickly so the seeds will sprout next Spring!" Generally, every mature tomato will ripen in a week.

If you only do one plant of the 4, it should give you ripe eating tomatoes without 4 plants worth all at once!

Also... feeding ripe home grown tomatoes to the chickens?! Sacrilege! Toss them in the freezer as they ripen. Freezing ruptures the cell walls, releasing most of the water, and also loosens the skins. We snip a corner of the bag off after thawing, and drain the water off, then run them through the Squeezo strainer. But if you don't have one, you can simply mush through the fruit by hand, pulling the skins out (or run the whole mess through a food processor or VitaMix, and puree them all.

Then make Marinara or spaghetti sauce... or dehydrate the pulp.

On the hard bean issue... they *should be* fine of they were stored in mylar with O2 absorbers. But if you end up with some that don't soften completely, freeze the partly cooked beans. Then thaw and finish cooking. Freezing ruptures the cells and makes a huge difference in how soft they get. I've even been freezing my canned pints of barbeque baked beans... at least one variety of the 8 different dry beans I used (All 15+ years old, stored in glass jars in my root cellar... it's a wonder any of them softened!) stayed pretty crunchy. I thought freezing would break the seal on the jars, but it didn't. Anyway, once thawed, reheating and simmering for 30 minutes or so gives us decently tender beans. I'm sure if I put them in the oven for an hour (too hot right now), they'd be perfect.

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Because of the awful humidity down here during the summer, we have problems with mildew on our front porch railing and step railing, plus all the decorative trim work. It's painted, but the rest of the house is real cedar siding. So, today, I went to work. Finally got finished, and what a job that was. It'll be good for another year, hopefully. Washed a load of laundry, and hung those out on the clothesline. It's already too hot to be outdoors doing anything else, so I'm taking a long break.

While eating lunch, I decided to start a list of all the clothing, beddings, housewares such as towels, bath cloths, sheets, cooking utensils, all things for the house, etc. that I might need in the future that may not be available or too expensive. I think I've covered just about everything that I want to get, or get more of. A lot of things I have are in good shape at the moment, but what about next year, or the year after? Then, there are things on my list that are just worn out, and need to be replaced. I'll start with those first.

I feel like others do. Time is running out.

 

[aviax2]

DH and I found a large bag (25 lbs. I think, maybe 50) of great northern beans in the basement pantry. Sigh, it was in a box it was shipped in so out of sight, out of mind for me. We moved into this house 10 yrs ago and I know I bought them a year or so later, might be a good time to see how hard they are.

I got most of my Sam’s order in last week, still have a few items to go. For some reason someone thought it would be a great idea to pack 2 large containers of cocoa in with over 8 lbs of masa mix and a two pack of large mustard bottles. Ugh, the cocoa containers had the tops mashed off and the inner seal broken. What a mess. I went ahead and vac sealed the remaining cocoa in canning jars. Will probably be putting in a call to Sam’s once I get the rest of my order in and see what kind of shape it’s in.

SouthernBreeze that’s exactly what I’ve been doing too. Our washer went kerplunk a few weeks back and although we really didn’t want to go to the expense of replacing it right now, we did. One thing that DH knew was wrong, that part alone was going to be $150.00 and the machine was 23 years old, so we decided we’d better get one while we still could.

A few months ago when I heard about cotton shortages I went ahead and bought a few sets of sheets from the My Pillow guy when they were running a special and had DH get some new jeans, socks, etc. that he was already needing. Also got some new kitchen towels since mine were getting threadbare. Still need to make time to get a few things for myself but since I rarely leave the farm (especially these days) and have no close neighbors I don’t dress fancy LOL.

I’m not the easily spooked type but I have to say I’ve never felt this way before.

 

[blackguard]

Did an extra grocery run, moved a pair of 55 gallon barrels into the basement after cleaning them out and sterilizing them. Got them filled with water to increase my on hand storage capability. Been working on getting a chicken coop ready for birds. Still have a little ways to go on it but making progress. Been a good week so far. Trying to get a variety of projects done.

 

[MissionBend]

I have been trying to find jeans for hubby and having a real hard time finding them either in brick and morter stores or even online! Also was able to move some shopping bags hubby brought in back to our freezer/stock room and started trying to get the stuff out of the sacks onto the shelves. Didn't make it very far, will hopefully get more done tomorrow.

 

[nomifyle]

Made a treck to town. Went to Save a lot, no real shortages to be seen except the frozen vegetables, they looked pitiful. I did get a case of my beloved green limas at 89 cents a can which is the best price I've found in the last year. There were no limits on anything.

Then I went to Super 1, signs for limits all over the canned foods and beans and rice. Lots of fresh vegetables at decent prices. I didn't get much there because their prices are higher than walmarts. No Goya products at all and they had a large hispanic section.

Finally at walmart, empty spaces on paper products and not all that much in the canned foods sections. Although I did get 4 cans of diced potatoes, which I something I've never fooled with until someone mentioned several months ago that there was a shortage on them. I mainly went to walmart to get drinking stuff. No Sam's cola, but I was able to get 6 bottles of the tampico orange drink that DH likes and two canisters of gatoraid, the last they had. Added two more cases of bottled water, 6 1-gallon bottles of purified drinking water. And two bottles of V-8 juice (just in case I need to make a bloody mary). The soups looked skimpy although I did pick up two cans of Annies Tomato Bisque, I love that stuff. I managed to delete my list on my walmart app, so I forgot to look in the canning section for jars

My two 50# bags of dog food finally got delivered, I ordered them two weeks ago.

This time I went to town by myself and I did not feel uncomfortable about it.

God is good, all the time.

Judy

 

[Meemur]

I'm still working on acquiring more wool hiking socks (summer and winter weights). I know where to order them, but I'm trying to buy them locally so I can inspect them. I should probably quit buying anything other than food for awhile once that is finished.

My gardens are fine. I've got tomatoes in containers on wheels along the driveway. I wheel them into the garage if there is too much rain or hail. Honestly, I'm not worried about regular food at this point. The better cuts of beef are in short supply and expensive, but there's plenty of pork, flank steaks, and whole chickens around.

Lastly, I added two more LED flashlights and more AA and AAA batteries to my collection. I tossed out the three really cheap flashlights that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, along with broken electronics, including an aged crank radio (I have a newer one). Now, I've got a refreshed emergency shelf in the basement. I also hung a padded tote bag next to the shelf. In the extremely unlikely event I need to leave the house, I could sweep my emergency equipment into the tote bag in seconds.

 

[Marseydoats]

A few comments...

To ripen tomatoes on a reluctant plant, take a pointed shovel and "root prune" *halfway* around the plant... try to push the shovel into the soil 8" or so, about 12" out from the stem of the plant. It's not as easy as it sounds, at least, with the size my plants get to! But it works. Don't cut in a complete circle, just halfway.

What this does is stress the plant, which "thinks", "oh, no! I may be dying! Must ripen fruit quickly so the seeds will sprout next Spring!" Generally, every mature tomato will ripen in a week.

If you only do one plant of the 4, it should give you ripe eating tomatoes without 4 plants worth all at once!

Also... feeding ripe home grown tomatoes to the chickens?! Sacrilege! Toss them in the freezer as they ripen. Freezing ruptures the cell walls, releasing most of the water, and also loosens the skins. We snip a corner of the bag off after thawing, and drain the water off, then run them through the Squeezo strainer. But if you don't have one, you can simply mush through the fruit by hand, pulling the skins out (or run the whole mess through a food processor or VitaMix, and puree them all.

Then make Marinara or spaghetti sauce... or dehydrate the pulp.

On the hard bean issue... they *should be* fine of they were stored in mylar with O2 absorbers. But if you end up with some that don't soften completely, freeze the partly cooked beans. Then thaw and finish cooking. Freezing ruptures the cells and makes a huge difference in how soft they get. I've even been freezing my canned pints of barbeque baked beans... at least one variety of the 8 different dry beans I used (All 15+ years old, stored in glass jars in my root cellar... it's a wonder any of them softened!) stayed pretty crunchy. I thought freezing would break the seal on the jars, but it didn't. Anyway, once thawed, reheating and simmering for 30 minutes or so gives us decently tender beans. I'm sure if I put them in the oven for an hour (too hot right now), they'd be perfect.

Summerthyme

Thanks, Summerthyme, but I have to put my tomatoes in those big nursery planters, and I was in a hurry and didn't put enough thought into where I put them. I knew I wasn't going to be able to maintain a path to the greenhouse, so I shoved them in the old chicken coop that we planned to either repair or tear down in the fall, and there's not enough room in there for me and the plants, much less a shovel. I will file that away for future reference though. I have such a problem with raccoons that my tomatoes have to be locked up.
There is NO room in my freezer either. All these are salad tomatoes, and I eat them like grapes, so I should be able to eat most of them. My slicing tomatoes died from the heat again, never even set any fruit.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Biggest prep is packing my parents up and moving them down the street from us. We still own our old house ( the one from MJOTZY) and afternoon the tenant leaves on the 31st we will go in and do all the normal fix up and the add a few things for mom and dad like hand holds in the bathroom, upgrade the appliances, etc.

My own personal peeps are always in rotation as normal. If I can get the freezer emptied I want to get a large meat order in but that will probably after the parental unit move the middle of August.

 

[summerthyme]

Thanks, Summerthyme, but I have to put my tomatoes in those big nursery planters, and I was in a hurry and didn't put enough thought into where I put them. I knew I wasn't going to be able to maintain a path to the greenhouse, so I shoved them in the old chicken coop that we planned to either repair or tear down in the fall, and there's not enough room in there for me and the plants, much less a shovel. I will file that away for future reference though. I have such a problem with raccoons that my tomatoes have to be locked up.
There is NO room in my freezer either. All these are salad tomatoes, and I eat them like grapes, so I should be able to eat most of them. My slicing tomatoes died from the heat again, never even set any fruit.

Can you get a big bread or butcher knife in there? All you need to do is sever some roots to stress the plant...

Tomatoes dehydrate beautifully, btw...and cherry tomatoes, dried to just the chewy stage, are like raisins (but you'd probably need to refrigerate them to keep l9ng if not dried crisp)

Summerthyme

 

[coloradohermit]

Today is the dog's overdue dental work. Having that done will put us in good standing for being prepped. While she's at the vet I'll run a bunch of errands and make one more grocery run.

 

[Jmurman]

Just got back from Costco. I needed some vac sealing bags. Now I can work on sealing my beans. I also picked up some of their beef base and vegetable base. The beef base makes a very flavorful stock for ramen bowls. That’s about all I can afford right now.

 

[MissionBend]

Thanks for the reminder! I need to get the vacuum sealer down and see if it still works then get some bags for it. Haven't used it in so long forgot about it...

 

[WanderLore]

Well the grown kids have decided to have mom and boys stay in the camper here while dad works on stuff and job while he has it. They will list the house and move what they want to keep into my cabin for now. Looking for place for their family. They are looking at either building a cabin or have one brought to a site and go off grid as much as possible. We have some time left as far as weather.
It's been so good having the boys here but setting up places for dogs has been a challenge.
Food stuff and so on is doing good. We will go Friday or the weekend and stock back what we used.
It was DH birthday yesterday. 67 and still works all the younger ones under the table.
We had a little grill out and party here at home. My birthday is 9 days later, 57. Don't feel a day over 80.
Horses are a challenge too. All dogs must be put up. Horses won't tolerate being separated and one is not trained well. So must be diligent and cautious for short time they are allowed in yard. Still haven't had but one short kid ride on new horse.
Garden is doing well if rain comes. Don't think I will have enough for canning tomatoes this year.
Only got 2 chicks that survived. Others hatched too soon or momma squashed them. But that's 11 chickens and the rooster so I'm happy with that.
Got a little bike with training wheels for $5.00 at thrift store and taught the boys how to ride it down the driveway. Good fun.
I'm pooped.

 

[Jmurman]

To those of you who shop at Costco, I just got the monthly flyer and the vacuum sealer bags are on sale at $29.99. I just bought one for $39.99. This is a good deal if you vacuum seal.

 

[paxsim2]

I put in an order with Amazon for a case of tp and paper plates. Reorganizing a shelving unit to hold more canned goods. Going to see if we can close our storage unit this weekend, not much in there so I want to stop paying for it. Planting more beans, okra and cucumbers to take advantage of the rains we're getting.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Picked up some more bottled water, some applesauce, some nuts and some jam (Publix BOGO's are great!). Since we had a storm go through here yesterday, I picked up a bunch more sticks and should have enough to fill another kitty litter bucket this weekend when I break them down. That is for my little twig stove to heat things up if needed.

 

[hiwall]

Walmart has delivered (through FedEx) one or more packages each day this week. I'm sure there will be more tomorrow too.
Everyday I check availability of items on my wish list at Walmart. When they have enough in stock to make up a free delivery order I do so. Even small orders often come in more than one box. They must be shipping from several different warehouses. I plan on continuing to stock up on mostly food. Have plenty for the wife and I but now planning on other family members too.

 

[briches]

I’ve been slowly prepping and adding. This week I ordered a case of tp, vitamins, trash bags, laundry detergent, meat for the freezer. I keep at it - slow and steady.

Headed out now for chicken feed and a run to Walmart.

 

[nomifyle]

I actually passed up a trip to Walmart today with DH. I don't need or want anything right now and if I did I forgot. I received my second order of ten 3 1/2 gallon buckets and lids yesterday and have another order on the way. I really like this size.. I have so much to get repackaged and stored, my goal is to not have anything not properly stored when I die. Its not looking good in that respect. Although to my knowledge I am not on death's door, but I'm getting older as I write this.

I haven't been buying olive oil for a few years now, ever since it came out that so much of what was/is on the market is fake. I've concentrated more on coconut oil. However I did order two cans of it, along with a gallon of peanut oil just in case we want to deep fry something, which is not often. The coolest darkest place is in my new 10x12 closet.

God is good, all the time,

judy

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I actually passed up a trip to Walmart today with DH. I don't need or want anything right now and if I did I forgot. I received my second order of ten 3 1/2 gallon buckets and lids yesterday and have another order on the way. I really like this size.. I have so much to get repackaged and stored, my goal is to not have anything not properly stored when I die. Its not looking good in that respect. Although to my knowledge I am not on death's door, but I'm getting older as I write this.

I haven't been buying olive oil for a few years now, ever since it came out that so much of what was/is on the market is fake. I've concentrated more on coconut oil. However I did order two cans of it, along with a gallon of peanut oil just in case we want to deep fry something, which is not often. The coolest darkest place is in my new 10x12 closet.

God is good, all the time,

judy

I've got a pretty good stock of olive and coconut oil. I'm hoping it won't get old and rancid, before it's all used, because I don't use it much. Maybe, to do things like stir fry, things that don't require a high heat.

For deep frying, which I do a lot of, I have vegetable oil, which I know isn't too healthy. I don't know what else to use, though. I don't like using peanut oil. To me, it leaves somewhat of a taste behind, unless used to deep fry fish.

Which reminds me to add more oil to my shopping list.

 

[Marseydoats]

When dh wanted to change the furnace filter. I realized that that was another thing I had forgotten to stock. Dad wanted me to go to Walmart for him so I picked up a couple packs while I was there. Added another month of canned dog food.

 

[ReneeT]

Picked up 2 more 2# bags of great northern beans at Aldi - limit 2. Didn't see any pinto beans, though. Also got two 2# bags of regular rice and one box of instant (works better in rice pudding for me.) Then I hit a sale at the IGA and picked up 10 more bottles of catsup to make home canned pork 'n beans - I'll probably wait until I'm off work on vacation to work on those.

Tomorrow, I need to put together a housewarming gift for oldest grandson's former girlfriend; she is moving to South Dakota so I'll make up a bag of household stuff to get her through the first few weeks of her new job, plus a little cash for groceries.

If - and it's a big IF - I have enough energy after I get off work in the morning, I'm going to swing by the orchard for another half bushel of peaches to can next week. I found several more boxes of wide mouth pints down basement, plus more in the shed, so I think I have enough to finish up the 100 jars of peaches I want to can. I plan to hit the Amish store early next week for 25# of cane sugar and some more coconut oil. Will also pick up another bag of each size of canning jars lids, plus a few spices that I would miss if things go sideways. I have been seeing regular mouth canning jar lids at one of the nearby Dollar General stores lately, but not many of them. They also had a few boxes of pint jars. This store is in an area that has some Amish families, so maybe they know to stock for them. This store also has a hitching rack out front for horse/buggies - it always makes me shake my head when someone parks there and then complains about the horse droppings - Helloooo

I found a full box of pints of applesauce downstairs that is a couple of years old; it's a bit dark but tastes fine, so we have been having applesauce muffins lately - they're pretty good if I do say so myself! I sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on the top and tell the grandsons that they are cupcakes and they snarf them right down I'm going to try to sneak some in to pancake batter next week when they are here. Thinking about cinnamon reminds me, I need to put 'red-hot candies' on the Amish store list - gotta can more of my bright red cinnamon applesauce this year than I did last year.

Well, if I'm going to get a nap in before I go to work (full house/high acuity per work buddy), I guess I'd better fill the hummingbird feeders and head to bed...

You folks all take care out there; stay safe!

 

[ginnie6]

Grocery day today. I got more pasta since dh would rather have that than rice, he likes the sea shell pasta too. I grabbed more dried beans. I got 8 more quarts of tomatoes put up last night and thought I'd have two more of beans but one of my jars broke. Not a temp break either just the whole middle of the jar. The dehydrator is full of peppers for dh's pepper mix too. I planted more green beans last week and noticed yesterday they are up. My green bean "tunnel" is not doing well this year so I'm going to tear it down this weekend and redo the wire and replant. I'd like to get more beans put up than its producing.

 

[nomifyle]

When dh wanted to change the furnace filter. I realized that that was another thing I had forgotten to stock. Dad wanted me to go to Walmart for him so I picked up a couple packs while I was there. Added another month of canned dog food.

Oh my goodness, I've forgotten about furnace/ac filters, gotta check on that.

I've got broccoli slaw mix in the dehydrator, along with carrot sticks and cabbage slaw. I put them in the dehydrator late last night and it only takes a few hours for things like that to dehydrate. I picked what may be some of the last tomatoes yesterday, gotta get them in the dehydrator.

God is good all the time,

Judy

 

[aviax2]

DH and have been working on tomatoes, added 14 quarts and 5 pints of tomato juice to the pantry. Also have enough tomatoes ready to can soup tomorrow, I’m just too worn out to do anything else today.

Added vitamins C and D3 along with some melatonin, sweetened condensed milk, grits, seasoning, dish liquid and more salsa for DH.

Why is it every time you think you’ve got things fairly well covered you realize there’s so much else that needs to be done?!

 

[briches]

Walmart run - distilled water for CPap, coffee, antifreeze for hubby to winterize his boat (won’t need for awhile but trying to plan ahead), shampoo/conditioner, apple cider vinegar, a few more odds n ends.

I’m trying to build with each trip.

 

[Marseydoats]

Got busy and forgot to order more shoes last week. I just got 1 pair to see if they fit. None in my size in stock anymore. Had to pay for New Balance, and I hope I get them, because they only had a limited number of those. Since my mail carrier refuses to deliver my parcels I tried Amazon locker this time and I'll see how that works out.