Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: June 9 ~ 15, 2019

[ReneeT]

What prepping is everyone up to this week? Remember, it does't have to be something you can hold in your hands; if you can't afford to buy something, learn something new instead!

Picking up my part of the work peeps group buy today; so comforting to know I have a group of like minded people where I work on the off chance I ever get stuck there for a lengthy period of time!

I plan to pick up a flat of strawberries on Monday or Tuesday - still can't bend my right knee well enough to crawl down the rows to pick my own, though I may try... Strawberry jam, strawberry puree for making fruit leather or for flavoring lemonade or other drinks, and strawberry shortcake are on work list.

Hoping to get a few things planted in the flower bed turned garden bed tomorrow as well - one 10' fence of pole beans, two cherry tomatoes, a bell pepper (might grab a second one), a container sweet potato (old horse trough), a few herbs, and my beloved zinnias are going to have to do me this year. I also have a flat of about 50 coneflowers I need to plant out somewhere - they will likely go in a row to grow a bit, then be transplanted out next year.

It's a work weekend, so I'm headed out early to pick up donuts for the crew... Take care all; wishing you a safe and productive week!

 

[prudentwatcher]

It was supposed to rain yesterday, so we didn't take the grandkids to pick blueberries. Didn't rain a drop until last night, so that was a bust. Still might have some next weekend, so we will see.

Did some errands today. Hit a different Dollar Tree and bought six more jars of the coconut oil at $1 each. Not really sure how much I need, so don't know how much to get. It lasts for a long time.

Also hit the liquor store and bought 2 bottles of bourbon and 3 small flask size bottles of bourbon (all in glass bottles). Those go into the cabinet for LTS or trade/barter.

Went through one of the closets last night and pulled out 4 comforters and 4 sets of sheets we no longer use (we use a duvet now with only a bottom sheet). I did keep one older set of sheets I liked and all of the blankets and pillowcases, but all of this other stuff has been stored for at least 10 years. Time to donate it and have some extra room. It helped me organize my candles, lamp oil and flashlights so I could actually see what I had, instead of having stuff stashed everywhere. I also got rid of 2 big cans of potato soup mix that expired many years ago.

 

[SAPPHIRE]

Not sure what you use coconut oil for...…..cooking?......but we use the refined kind for skin moisturizer.....soaks right in and feels great...….only use organic unrefined for cooking and also eating a bit for brain food...….we're not able to stock up/prep a lot but have bought this and that on sale/clearance/close outs/etc...picked up 8 oz. glass bottle of maple flavoring from sfherbs.com at local discount store for only $2.99....online it's at least $6 plus shipping...may not need it but wowee...extracts at retail are expensive IMO......picked up some whole black peppercorns (larger size) for half price of $6+...we use pepper all the time...SPICE PRICES ARE RIDICULOUS...small jar of garlic ghee for $2.99...some canned lite apricots for 99 cents (our local retail doesn't carry apricots at all)...just what I see when I can...

Sure could use some sturdy shelving...…….

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I finally managed to get a bit of yard work done this morning. DH mowed the yard. With all the rain we've had, everything was about to get out of control. I had to remove tree saplings from my flower beds! Weeds had almost overtaken them, too. Once, I finished with that, I washed two loads of laundry, and hung them on the clothesline. It sure felt good to be back outdoors for a change. I can only do a little bit at a time, so I feel like I have accomplished something!

 

[ReneeT]

This has been multivitamin and feminine hygiene stock up week; CVS had a sale.... I did two transactions - 2 - 50 ct boxes of tampons; and 4 - 34 ct boxes of tampons (which I think should last the family female a year plus) plus two bottles (2 months worth for Hubby and myself) of vitamins. All items were Buy One/Get One 50% off. I used a combo of 6 - $1 coupons (newspaper inserts), $6 off $30 purchase scanner coupon, $8 Extra Care Buck from last week's Boost Sale, $5 Extra Care Buck from the first purchase rolled to the 2nd one, $5 pharmacy reward Extra Care Buck, and a $3 off $15 vitamin purchase scanner coupon - came out paying $8 and change total between the 2 purchases; got back another $5 Extra Care Buck. I plan to go back later in the week and see if they have a good deal on multivitamins for the grandsons; I have scanner coupons for $2 off $8 vitamin purchase, $4 off $20 purchase, and a bunch of scanner coupons - and Hubby told me that he loaded another 142 coupons on to my card last night (why he gets email from CVS, I do not know...)

 

[prudentwatcher]

The generator was delivered and a trip to Home Depot was made to get "proper cords" (according to SO).

A trip to Petsmart was made and $100 was spent buying cat food. It sure doesn't go as far as it used to.

My couple of cans so far this week were 2 10 oz cans of chicken breast, on sale BOGO at Publix.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

With all of this talk about pork getting scarce, is anyone else, besides me, going to be making a stock up run for more pork? I have a little space left in my meat freezer for a bit more. Bacon, tenderloins, pork chops, and hams are all on my list. I may pick up a few more cans of smoked ham, too. I've already stocked enough SPAM to feed an army with.

 

[20Gauge]

I have been repairing things around the house this week. Going to do some work at one of the rentals tomorrow.

 

[Marseydoats]

Southern Breeze, thanks for the reminder on the bacon! Is there some trick to freezing tenderloins successfully? Mine always seem to freezer burn. I can freeze beef just fine but don't have much luck with pork.
Dh quit drinking soft drinks 10 years ago but didn't want me to give away his stash. While I was cleaning out the pantry, I realized that they're leaking. That is going to be a huge task because it involves shifting roughly half the stuff in the pantry to get to them. Not looking forward to it.
I've got 1/4th of a toilet paper wall started, I used to have a 10 foot stack but I don't think I'll ever get that much ahead again.
Walmart doesn't sell the Sun dish liquid that I usually buy anymore, so I was going to just get the Great Value store brand, but it was 40 cents more than the name brand for the same size.Something else I looked at, the Great Value brand was priced considerably higher.
The blackberries are ripening early this year so it looks like I will be working on them and the blueberries at the same time.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Southern Breeze, thanks for the reminder on the bacon! Is there some trick to freezing tenderloins successfully? Mine always seem to freezer burn. I can freeze beef just fine but don't have much luck with pork.
Dh quit drinking soft drinks 10 years ago but didn't want me to give away his stash. While I was cleaning out the pantry, I realized that they're leaking. That is going to be a huge task because it involves shifting roughly half the stuff in the pantry to get to them. Not looking forward to it.
I've got 1/4th of a toilet paper wall started, I used to have a 10 foot stack but I don't think I'll ever get that much ahead again.
Walmart doesn't sell the Sun dish liquid that I usually buy anymore, so I was going to just get the Great Value store brand, but it was 40 cents more than the name brand for the same size.Something else I looked at, the Great Value brand was priced considerably higher.
The blackberries are ripening early this year so it looks like I will be working on them and the blueberries at the same time.

I always buy the vacuum sealed tenderloins that have already been seasoned. They last a long time in the freezer without getting burned. I have come across one or two in my freezer that kept getting pushed to the side way down deep in my freezer that have been over a year old. They were still fine. If you want to take an extra step, you can put them in large freezer storage bags before freezing. I write the dates on mine, so I can always use the oldest first.

If you have a Sam's Club near you, you can buy big bottles/jugs (90 fl. oz.) of Dawn dish wash, and dilute it in smaller bottles half and half with water. It still works great. I do it all the time. That way, I don't have to store as many smaller bottles, and one jug winds up making me around 8+ regular sized bottles of dish wash in the end. You can mix it in different proportions with the water, until you find what works best for you.

Also, at Sam's, you can buy huge jugs of Echos laundry detergent that smells like lavender. It's all natural, and makes great shampoo. Killing two birds with one stone!

 

[nomifyle]

Southern Breeze, thanks for the reminder on the bacon! Is there some trick to freezing tenderloins successfully? Mine always seem to freezer burn. I can freeze beef just fine but don't have much luck with pork.
Dh quit drinking soft drinks 10 years ago but didn't want me to give away his stash. While I was cleaning out the pantry, I realized that they're leaking. That is going to be a huge task because it involves shifting roughly half the stuff in the pantry to get to them. Not looking forward to it.
I've got 1/4th of a toilet paper wall started, I used to have a 10 foot stack but I don't think I'll ever get that much ahead again.
Walmart doesn't sell the Sun dish liquid that I usually buy anymore, so I was going to just get the Great Value store brand, but it was 40 cents more than the name brand for the same size.Something else I looked at, the Great Value brand was priced considerably higher.
The blackberries are ripening early this year so it looks like I will be working on them and the blueberries at the same time.

I've noticed that Walmart is not carrying lower priced food items. May be because the Dollar stores sell it cheaper. I think you can get the Sun dish soap at one of the Dollar stores.

Judy

 

[Marseydoats]

I always buy the vacuum sealed tenderloins that have already been seasoned. They last a long time in the freezer without getting burned. I have come across one or two in my freezer that kept getting pushed to the side way down deep in my freezer that have been over a year old. They were still fine. If you want to take an extra step, you can put them in large freezer storage bags before freezing. I write the dates on mine, so I can always use the oldest first.

If you have a Sam's Club near you, you can buy big bottles/jugs (90 fl. oz.) of Dawn dish wash, and dilute it in smaller bottles half and half with water. It still works great. I do it all the time. That way, I don't have to store as many smaller bottles, and one jug winds up making me around 8+ regular sized bottles of dish wash in the end. You can mix it in different proportions with the water, until you find what works best for you.

Also, at Sam's, you can buy huge jugs of Echos laundry detergent that smells like lavender. It's all natural, and makes great shampoo. Killing two birds with one stone!

I gave up my Sam's Club membership because it is just too far away for me to go more than once a month, and they had gotten to where they didn't offer much of anything that I wanted. Mom & I used to share the cost of a card and shop together, and it just wasn't any fun to go there after she died.
I think I have seen that Echoes detergent at Walmart. I'm deathly allergic to lavender, but will see if they have it in another scent. I can't handle those huge jugs anymore with my arthritis, that's why I have a ton of smaller bottles. I had saved a smaller 32 oz detergent bottle and was transferring detergent into it from the huge jugs, and told dh NOT to throw it out, and that he was to use the detergent out of the big bottles. I might as well of saved my breath. He used all small bottle and when I dumped a bunch of recycles into the bin, I saw it fall down into the bottom where I couldn't retrieve it.
I have been working on cutting up sensitive paperwork from the filing cabinet, which is overflowing, and dh looked at me like I was crazy yesterday, and I told him it would be a lot easier if we had a paper shredder. He said he had one and he thought I just wanted to do it by hand! It is so nice to just stuff all that paper in there and watch it disappear!

 

[Marseydoats]

I've noticed that Walmart is not carrying lower priced food items. May be because the Dollar stores sell it cheaper. I think you can get the Sun dish soap at one of the Dollar stores.

Judy

Thanks! I will check there next time I go!

 

[ReneeT]

Finally got my mini-garden leveled, raked, and marked for planting yesterday - but between raking soil and filling water balloons, and shoveling soil and filling Nerf water guns, and measuring rows and hooking up more hoses for water fights.... Yeah, the grandsons were out Hoping to get the planting done this weekend - their are still fields that have not been planted yet around us, so I will hope for a late fall and at least a little fresh produce to enjoy. May have to wait until fall to plant the yellow beets as those are the ones I eat the roots from; will go ahead and plant the red ones in a shaded area for beet greens though. We have started eating our way through stuff in the freezer so that it can be replaced with fresh - I'll be canning some pork roasts I found - cut it in to cubes, pack it in the jars, add a tiny bit of salt and pressure can - makes good BBQ for sure. I'm also planning to go up to the Amish store on Monday to pick up a few basics - tapioca, salt, wheat, oatmeal. Something is telling the lizard portion of my brain to store more long term stuff.

Alarm going off; time to head out to work; Y'all stay safe out there; things just feel funny...

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I gave up my Sam's Club membership because it is just too far away for me to go more than once a month, and they had gotten to where they didn't offer much of anything that I wanted. Mom & I used to share the cost of a card and shop together, and it just wasn't any fun to go there after she died.
I think I have seen that Echoes detergent at Walmart. I'm deathly allergic to lavender, but will see if they have it in another scent. I can't handle those huge jugs anymore with my arthritis, that's why I have a ton of smaller bottles. I had saved a smaller 32 oz detergent bottle and was transferring detergent into it from the huge jugs, and told dh NOT to throw it out, and that he was to use the detergent out of the big bottles. I might as well of saved my breath. He used all small bottle and when I dumped a bunch of recycles into the bin, I saw it fall down into the bottom where I couldn't retrieve it.
I have been working on cutting up sensitive paperwork from the filing cabinet, which is overflowing, and dh looked at me like I was crazy yesterday, and I told him it would be a lot easier if we had a paper shredder. He said he had one and he thought I just wanted to do it by hand! It is so nice to just stuff all that paper in there and watch it disappear!

I can understand about lifting those larger jugs. Was just passing along some ideas to save you a little money if you liked the ideas. To manage my storage space, I look for ways to save on space, and money. If there is a way to find more than one use for a product, or stretch farther, it saves me money and space in that regard.

I hate you are allergic to Lavender. My herbal medicine cabinet is stocked with Lavender Essential oil.

 

[20Gauge]

I gave up my Sam's Club membership because it is just too far away for me to go more than once a month, and they had gotten to where they didn't offer much of anything that I wanted. Mom & I used to share the cost of a card and shop together, and it just wasn't any fun to go there after she died.
I think I have seen that Echoes detergent at Walmart. I'm deathly allergic to lavender, but will see if they have it in another scent. I can't handle those huge jugs anymore with my arthritis, that's why I have a ton of smaller bottles. I had saved a smaller 32 oz detergent bottle and was transferring detergent into it from the huge jugs, and told dh NOT to throw it out, and that he was to use the detergent out of the big bottles. I might as well of saved my breath. He used all small bottle and when I dumped a bunch of recycles into the bin, I saw it fall down into the bottom where I couldn't retrieve it.
I have been working on cutting up sensitive paperwork from the filing cabinet, which is overflowing, and dh looked at me like I was crazy yesterday, and I told him it would be a lot easier if we had a paper shredder. He said he had one and he thought I just wanted to do it by hand! It is so nice to just stuff all that paper in there and watch it disappear!

Use a burn barrel?

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Use a burn barrel?

We burn all of our paper garbage. Saves on trash bags. Once we stated doing that, we cut down on trash that gets picked up weekly to one bag, two at the most.

 

[Marseydoats]

I can understand about lifting those larger jugs. Was just passing along some ideas to save you a little money if you liked the ideas. To manage my storage space, I look for ways to save on space, and money. If there is a way to find more than one use for a product, or stretch farther, it saves me money and space in that regard.

I hate you are allergic to Lavender. My herbal medicine cabinet is stocked with Lavender Essential oil.

I appreciate all the ideas! Thank you for the reminder to stock up on pork. That completely slipped my mind. I have been buying extra sugar every week because I knew it was going to go up, and it did. Over 30 cents a bag in less than 2 weeks. I made a big Aldi run and stocked up on bacon, sausage, and dog food. Luckily the pork hadn't increased in price yet.

 

[Marseydoats]

Use a burn barrel?

I burn all the paper in the fall and winter. My grass is so dry it's crunchy and we have a county wide burn ban right now. I'm deathly afraid of fire.
I just have this urge to get things done, I get that way sometimes. And I have enjoyed stuffing paper in the shredder. I guess it doesn't take much to amuse me.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Did a lot of thinking about a shopping list and what it should include, for both short-term and long-term. Hit the Dollar Tree today after work--got pb crackers, animal cookies, pasta, popcorn (the old fashioned kind, not microwave--enough to fill up a half gallon jar), some salsa, some more gnocchi, a bunch of toothpaste for "sensitive" teeth, a bunch of those microwave cake in a mug mixes (4 to a box for $1--are $2.50 at WM), some scalloped potato mixes and some more water. The grocery store list is a lot longer and will take more time, but I could afford more of the shorter term stuff now. I have lots of LTS food put away, but this is to help feed the grandkids and offer some variety. Still working on cleaning out the really, really old stuff that has gone bad to make room for the newer, fresh stuff.

 

[moldy]

Y'all stay safe out there; things just feel funny..

.

You're so right about that!! I'm just trying to get back in the swing of things at home, start my business, and keep on keeping on. I have decided to get more involved in politics - at least at the local level. If I don't become involved, I have no right to complain in my opinion, because I didn't even try to change things. Even though, I think I know down deep that nothing much will change. Just not at the 'screw it all' level yet, I guess.

It seems that the discount groceries (and even Aldi when I have access to it) prices are going up - the thrift store prices are going up for sure. I went to our Kroger affiliate and bought strawberries for 1.25 a pound (a bunch are in the freeze dryer) and coffee for $5/24 ounces. Got a free bag of rice at Safeway. I will be going back to scouring the ads instead of relying on the outlets. The garden is barely making much - we didn't plant much either, but it seems overly cool and wet here compared to a 'normal' June. Guess I will just see what we get.

 

[Digger]

The flood on the Arkansas River is over for us. Now the clean up is underway. There is lots of damage and lost crops. The main roads mostly stayed open. Levee breaks caused some major road damages in those areas. I have to do my contract work for the Game and Fish before the end of the month. We will see how some of those areas faired.

We cut half our hay field. We made about 135 square bales. I have about 60 in the barn to sell. I sold 75 off the field a couple dollars cheaper since we would not have to handle them.

I had a bee hive swarm. I could not catch it. But the hive still had several swarm cells, so I tried splitting the hive. There were still lots of bees. This one hive has been crazy about raising brood. I really hope my split works. I will have 4 hives if it does work.

Black berries are starting to ripen. I want to make some jelly. My father in law loves it and my mother in law does not feel like making jelly anymore. She is 86 and has not been the same since she got cancer about 3 years ago. We are going to mow their yard today.

 

[Deena in GA]

I'm catching up with the thread here at the end of the week. I have a canner full of squash going right now. Have done several batches this week, so feel good about that.

The grands have been picking blackberries wanting me to make some jam, but they eat more than they save, so the freezer bag is filling up very slowly. We don't have that many of them around our property anyway. I need to find some place that has more to make sure we get enough for jam.

The deer got into our tomatoes (the only thing we have planted) and ate two of them completely down to the ground. Most of the others are missing most of the plant. Sigh... I put extra fencing around them after that, but don't know if that will do any good. I'm hoping the tomatoes that aren't completely eaten away will come back.

 

[Illini Warrior]

I'm catching up with the thread here at the end of the week. I have a canner full of squash going right now. Have done several batches this week, so feel good about that.

The grands have been picking blackberries wanting me to make some jam, but they eat more than they save, so the freezer bag is filling up very slowly. We don't have that many of them around our property anyway. I need to find some place that has more to make sure we get enough for jam.

The deer got into our tomatoes (the only thing we have planted) and ate two of them completely down to the ground. Most of the others are missing most of the plant. Sigh... I put extra fencing around them after that, but don't know if that will do any good. I'm hoping the tomatoes that aren't completely eaten away will come back.

if the tomato plant roots are intact and there's some leaves & branches left they'll eventually grow back - lot quiker that when you planted them as bedding plants >>> not surprised they'd eat the actual tomatoes - but I'd thought they would have moved on to more tasty veggies rather than eat the actual plants ...

 

[Deena in GA]

if the tomato plant roots are intact and there's some leaves & branches left they'll eventually grow back - lot quiker that when you planted them as bedding plants >>> not surprised they'd eat the actual tomatoes - but I'd thought they would have moved on to more tasty veggies rather than eat the actual plants ...

Thanks! I thought they would probably come back, except for the ones that were eaten all the way down. The deer didn't move on to more tastier things because this year tomatoes are all that got planted so far. We had decided to give our garden a year off and not plant anything, but then couldn't stick completely to that. We did start redoing a long raised bed with the intentions of planting something there, but hubby has been feeling so bad and I've been overwhelmed with other things, so that hasn't gotten done.

 

[SAPPHIRE]

...been reading and watching vids on YT about potential food shortage/ration/price surges and found some 100% Montana whole wheat flour on clearance, some turbinado sugar on clearance, two 8 oz. maple syrup jars on clearance, and small pouches of Birch Bender pancake mix on clearance...keeping my eyes opened for bargains...…

sometimes I think dh and I won't be here to use the stock, but our prices keep hiking...and this was before all the flooding...…….

also bought some sm. jars of dried chip beef (not favorite) but it needs no fridge and keeps quite a while...…….