Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: March 15 ~ 21, 2020

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good Morning, All! Hope everyone is doing well this morning. Getting the prep thread started for the week; and waiting to see if the shopping chaos continues before I make any shopping plans. I left work Saturday morning thinking "Oh, maybe I should stop in and pick up a few items just to make sure..." Looked at the parking lots as I drove by and said "Nope; we're okay for now."

Not sure if it's all Wal-Marts or just my local ones, but all of them in the area are now closing at 11pm and opening back up at 6am to allow for restocking. I will admit that I'm wondering what our local Aldi looks like right now... may or may not stop in Monday morning after I get off work - not to stock up, just to get the normal eggs, lemonade, and 1/2 & 1/2; don't think that right now is a good time to be pushing a buggy load of things out the door.

Oops - apparently I forgot to click the post button after I started typing this, this morning! Gonna go ahead and post as-is; time for a before work nap. Y'all stay safe out there; and stay sane if you can!
 

Kathy in FL

Administrator
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For those that haven't prepped already regardless of reason, the following are some ideas for places to go:

Restaurant supply stores - We have one in my area called Gordon Food Stores. Prices aren't like Walmart but the meats, dairy, and freezer foods are good. If you don't have room in your freezer but have a dehydrator, this would be a good place to get large bags of frozen veggies … they are pre-blanched … and put that dehydrator to work.

Meat/Butcher stores - I just took a large order of chicken and pork chops to split with my parents and brother. In my area boneless, skinless chicken breasts were $10 for 10 lbs. or you could get a 40 lbs. box for under $20.

Check the ethnic aisle of Walmart. They have a true powdered milk called NIDO in large containers. They also have canned cream. Lots of seasonings as well. Kasha is a buckwheat product that is good as pilaf. Lots of kosher items for the Passover season. Etc and etc.

Big box (and little box) hardware stores can often surprise you. I got a lot of bleach there. There are pool supplies as needed. I found gloves in the paint department (they may be gone or limited by now). Have duct tape? I consider it a staple good around our house and business. You may be able to find saniwipes in less obvious places. Need a bottle opener? Get a 50 cent paint can opener, they're great and I probably have a gazillion of the things all over. They have brown paper towels like in the old bathroom dispensers … or had them ... when I was there yesterday.

Autoparts stores may have the industrial paper towels.

Pet supply stores have puppy pads and other hygiene items as well.

I'm sure other people can come up with even more outside of the box places.
 

Dinghy

Veteran Member
The Aldi near me was wiped out. No toilet paper, and hardly any cans except pineapple, tomato sauce and some chili beans.
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I've been busy this weekend. Spent some time doing some upgrades on security to our garage, making it more difficult to break in to. Also did some security upgrades inside the house and we discussed things like keeping all the doors locked, even when we are home.

Went strawberry picking with the grandchildren. I've been away for a few weeks, so it was nice to spend our normal Saturday together. Today I turned some of those strawberries and some frozen blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries into 8 pints of mixed berry jam that is now cooling on the counter. I have enough frozen berries to make 8 more pints, which is what I would do if we were going into a lockdown situation.

Stopped at a CVS this morning, my only outing for the day. Really just curious, but did want to get a gallon of milk. I went to the one that always is the best supplied. I did get milk, a couple of 6 packs of the small cans of coke (can't have bourbon and coke without the coke!), a box of Froot Loops and a box of Cheerios (both big boxes on sale for $1.99-I like to eat them dry as snacks), and some vitamin D (bogo). They were out of tp and sanitizing wipes, but did have some water, paper towels, sanitizing spray stuff, and plenty of food. Oh, also got some laundry detergent that was on sale. So that might be an "out of the box" place for people to get some things.
 

ginnie6

Veteran Member
I'm done shopping till Thursday. Hoping by then the crowds thin out some and they get some things in stock. I'll go early and if the stores still out of things then I'll head to the next town over and hit a produce stand that sells in bulk. I don't need toilet paper but I admit its been the first thing I check on when I go in a store. I stopped today at Sams club to get dh his supply of Mtn Dew. They had plenty of that and plenty of paper plates, plastic silverware. One cooler for fresh meat was filled with fruit trays. Heard there was a run on milk and frozen chicken. No rice or beans but I did pick up a pack of rotel. Plenty of sugar and smaller bags of flour.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I need to do my regular grocery shopping tomorrow. I'm thinking it may be an effort in futility. Sigh.
Don't stress, you are prepped. Get what you can and anything you have forgotten you can probably do without. I just remembered this morning that I didn't extra of the soft spread "butter" that DH likes. But I do have a good supply of butter. He has a hard head and will probably do without. LOL. I did my panic buying last summer and fall when there was no rush. I was only panicked because of my experience without power for four days last May. God bless.

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Don't stress, you are prepped. Get what you can and anything you have forgotten you can probably do without. I just remembered this morning that I didn't extra of the soft spread "butter" that DH likes. But I do have a good supply of butter. He has a hard head and will probably do without. LOL. I did my panic buying last summer and fall when there was no rush. I was only panicked because of my experience without power for four days last May. God bless.

Judy

Oh yes, we're prepped. No panic buying. I need more things that are fresh, though. Eggs being the most important thing. My doggie treats that our baby loves, and I would like to add to my storage of flour, cornmeal, canned milk, and of course, more cut meats. We eat canned meats a lot, but I always try to keep a good stock of other cut meats in my freezers. They are full, but I, maybe, can take other things out to make room for more meat. Am planning on canning the flour and cornmeal.

I'll report back here, after my trip, tomorrow.
 

summerthyme

Administrator
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Don't stress, you are prepped. Get what you can and anything you have forgotten you can probably do without. I just remembered this morning that I didn't extra of the soft spread "butter" that DH likes. But I do have a good supply of butter. He has a hard head and will probably do without. LOL. I did my panic buying last summer and fall when there was no rush. I was only panicked because of my experience without power for four days last May. God bless.

Judy
Judy... you can make your own spreadable butter. (My mom did it for years, but it was because she believed all the bull about saturated fats, but didn't want the hydrogenated fats in margarine).

You need 1/4 cup of a bland vegetable oil... sunflower works well, many recipes recommend canola... per stick of butter.
Warm your butter until it's soft enough to work, In a mixer with a whip atrachment, or a food processor, blend 1 stick of butter with 1/4 cup oil until light and fluffy. If you put it into the tubs you usually buy it in, he probably won't notice any difference!

Summerthyme
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We just got back from our shopping trip in a small rural town. It's barely big enough to have a Walmart super center. I was afraid the Walmart would already be cleaned out so, I stopped at a Dollar General closer to my house, and picked up a few items. The store was badly picked over, but I did manage to get what I needed. Went on to Walmart, and I have never seen anything like it! Almost everything in the store was cleaned out! I still got most of what was on my shopping list, though. I had to stop at another grocery store in town to see if they still had what was lacking on my list. They did. YAY! So, we are set for the duration, and will now be locking down.

As we were inside Walmart, our DS called, and told us there was a confirmed case in the county!!!!
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I stopped in at our local Publix during lunch, just to see what it was like and to pick up a couple of items. They were out of the normal tp, wipes, eggs, and canned pasta, but they had almost everything else on the shelf and in pretty decent supply. I bought some tortillas, some oreos, some iced tea, some butter and some potatoes.
 

CnMO

Veteran Member
Be sure and stock up postage Stamps. ,envelopes, and more of your bank checks if running low.

Looked at San Fran lockdown list of what is opened. They will keep postal service deliveries going.
 

BluBloc

Contributing Member
Hit aldi 2 weeks ago when it was full. People stared as I bought canned goods. Now those shelves are pretty bare
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Had to pick up a prescription, so stopped by CVS again. Still no tp or sanitizer, but did get more cereal, some fruit cups, some laundry detergent and some baby wipes. Trying my best to stay away from folks, but sometimes you don't have much of a choice.
 

moldy

Veteran Member
Talked with Mom and 2 of the kids today. All have 2 weeks worth of groceries if not more and plans if they are quarantined. I"ve been making elderberry syrup and tinctures and trying to keep from stressing this week. Both DH and I will continue to work as long as possible - I still worry about my other 2 children, but they have chosen to drift away. Sorry if this is fragmented... this week has been rough as I have probably been exposed multiple times and we have our first official case in our little county.
 

Digger

Veteran Member
We topped off the propane tank again. We had plenty till next fall, but hubby wanted to go ahead since things are uncertain. He bought a new 5 gallon gas can and filled it. He also fixed 2 cans for the chainsaw and weed eater.

Something is eating my sweet peas soon after they come up. My spinach has not come up as of yet. More work to do in the garden and I need to set the live trap. I have a game camera that needs to be put out too.

Stores here are still hit and miss on supplies. Our local grocery said they have been hit hard for 6 days. I have not been in for a couple days, so I don't know how it looks now. Hubby is not rolling his eyes at my prepping any more. :) I told him I thought it was time to mostly hunker down. He has more than one underlying risk factor.

I guess I have been more stressed than I realized. I started coming down with shingles. No rash yet, just painful burning sensation. Once it dawned on me what it might be, I called the dr office. I described it over the phone and they called in a prescription. I am on day 3 of 14 of treatment. Not really better, but not worse either. Still no rash or redness, just pain. It is not so painful that I need to take Advil or anything. I can still do my normal activities, but I get tired in the afternoon.

My niece I mentioned has come around some. Not entirely, but taking a step in the right direction. She has quit ranting that it is all blown out of proportion. She has a little extra supplies at home and they are staying home mostly. They had the first confirmed case in their county yesterday. Her youngest likes to garden. So they are going to start work on that this week. But she still thinks her son will go to California to college and play ball this fall. Time will tell on that one.

Be safe and careful out there friends.
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Zipped in to the Evil Empire (aka: Wal-Mart) yesterday late afternoon on my way to pick up the grands to snag a few items for the grand-dog and for some Honey-Do projects in the event Hubby's work shuts down. Parking lot was moderately full for a Friday night; but there were 8 semis parked over to one side; usually there is one or two. Not sure if they were overnighting or waiting to unload - none were reefers, and none were running so I was voting for the drivers being on their rest periods.

I did not see any overloaded cards when I did a quick aisle cruise - minimal bread and that mostly buns or odd stuff, about 1/8 of the egg area was stocked, milk was heading toward empty and what there was was mostly whole milk - I did grab a half gallon to cover the grandsons' needs this weekend as I didn't want to open a new bag of dry milk. Flour was empty, sugar was wiped out, canned stuff was low but coming back, plenty of cake mixes, etc... in the baking aisle but one lone box of Jiffy baking mix and a couple boxes of generic pancake mix. Cereal was pretty low but they did have several varieties with one or two packages of each. I'm thinking that they may be bringing stuff out of the back slowly rather than fully stocking shelves. I saw one TV in a cart, otherwise electronics was empty (I was there to get headphones as the grandkids video games drive me nuts). No one in any of the clothing areas. No one else in paint/hardware. Camping/fishing had a few people in the aisle, and I was one of a few perusing the garden seeds. Had an older gentleman ask me what I was picking out - told him green & yellow beans, dry beans, tomatoes, pumpkins and corn.

Hmmm.... Hubby just came through and said we need to go to Rural King; I'll stock up on a couple more bags of food for the grand-dog while we are in town, and see if I can pick up some more yeast, and also some popcorn, which is the only hole I've found so far.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I called the council on aging to find out about the commodities that I get monthly. The one I have to go to town to pick up is giving it out in the parking lot of the local movie theater and the other one not at all, its usually delivered to the local senior center. If any one really depends on that one they will be disappointed. This particular one has been skimpy in the last few months, but I'm greatfull for what we get. I'm planning on going to town on Monday afternoon to do the pick up and while in town I'll stop by walmart, mainly just to check it out. DH would like to have bananas, but we are good on everything else.

I love Rural King, but the nearest to me is 500 miles away, they are not in the south that I know of. That and Aldi, none in Louisiana.

Judy
 

Nancy in OK

Senior Member
If you need yeast, you better get it now. It is the new thing after toilet paper. I went to 2 dollar generals, 3 grocery stores in 3 different towns, 1 farmers market and Braums before I found a loaf of bread for 95 year old friend. All grocery stores here-no bread, potatoes, milk, butter, meat, toilet paper, fresh produce, hand sanitizer or Lysol products. They have started opening the first hour for 60 years old and above. Walmart is at 6:00 a.m. This has been going on for 2 1/2 weeks. Now no yeast, flour or sugar. If I didn't have our own beef and 3 freezers full of veggies, meat and fruit and a deep pantry, I would be having a nervous breakdown. I have never seen so many women with the "deer in the headlights" look. Hopefully people will wake up and think very differently when this is over. The Walmart here has been stripped daily. People from Dallas(130 miles away) from the little town of 1700 people here have come here and stripped the little grocery store.
 

onmyown30

Veteran Member
Check the ethnic aisle of Walmart. They have a true powdered milk called NIDO in large containers. They also have canned cream. Lots of seasonings as well. Kasha is a buckwheat product that is good as pilaf. Lots of kosher items for the Passover season. Etc and etc.
I was telling a non preppier friend last night to do this. She has 2 younger kids who drink milk. She texted late saying she was finally going out to stock up! (A little late dear friend)

We are pretty well prepped here. I started topping off late January and been organizing and buying extras up to now. This week I did buy extra nicotine patches for hubby and some zzzzquil for me. Just a couple extra months worth! Oh and I finally found bread flour in stock!! My mom was so happy when I brought her some!!
 

mikeabn

Finally not a lurker!
For powdered milk, esp for kids, add some vanilla pudding powder to the mix. Worked with my urchins when they were little.
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Our ethnic 'aisle' at WM is about 5 feet long, but then, we have a small ethnic population in both daughter's town and my work town. Daughter's WM had no Nido; work town WM had only one can of Nido Kinder, which is more like a dry formula mix. I store powdered milk, and use it as is in recipes like pancakes, bread, etc..., but if I mix it for drinking, I use warm water to get rid of the gritty texture and add a few drops of vanilla or a tablespoon of instant vanilla pudding mix when preparing it for better flavor.
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Just read online that some fool at my local Walmart spit on the Roma tomatoes last night! 130# had to be thrown out!

I saw that this was the latest 'teen' stupidity (and I use teen because that's what the article said). A few nights in the slammer would probably change their attitude.
 

Nancy in OK

Senior Member
Our ethnic 'aisle' at WM is about 5 feet long, but then, we have a small ethnic population in both daughter's town and my work town. Daughter's WM had no Nido; work town WM had only one can of Nido Kinder, which is more like a dry formula mix. I store powdered milk, and use it as is in recipes like pancakes, bread, etc..., but if I mix it for drinking, I use warm water to get rid of the gritty texture and add a few drops of vanilla or a tablespoon of instant vanilla pudding mix when preparing it for better flavor.
Be sure and check expiration date on Nido. I bought some in February, got home and it had expired in2019.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We are well prepped and have been in isolation for a two weeks or more. But I look at Walmart online everyday to see if we can buy more stuff before money gets worthless (most things out-of-stock). I have many shipments coming now but Walmart shipping is now waaay slow (totally understandable). They also put limits on many food items there (again understandable).
 

philkar

Veteran Member
I have never looked at NIDO. Thanks for the info. I have more questions...anyone in the South refitting your home... or making adjustments is a better term... for the heat in the summer if we have limited power options? We generate some power but not enough to run air. Have a second source for power but it is dependent upon propane which will be limited I am sure. Thinking of whole house fan or attic fan. But have NO other ideas. After working outside on a hot day I want my family to be able to cool off and regroup. Will make for happier family I am sure. Would you share your thoughts? Also while we are at it...I need to rethink my floor cleaning routine. Addicted to my vacuum. Hardwood floors but hate grit? Some area rugs. Guess those will have to go if no power?
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Ya'll do know this thread is from March 2020?

But, yeah. We took up all carpet in our house, and replaced with ceramic tile and hardwood. I didn't want to be stuck without a way to vacuum if we had no power. I take out area rugs, beat them, and let them stay out all day to freshen in the sun. The smaller ones, I throw in the washing machine, and hang to dry.
 

John Deere Girl

Veteran Member
Ya'll do know this thread is from March 2020?

But, yeah. We took up all carpet in our house, and replaced with ceramic tile and hardwood. I didn't want to be stuck without a way to vacuum if we had no power. I take out area rugs, beat them, and let them stay out all day to freshen in the sun. The smaller ones, I throw in the washing machine, and hang to dry.
We did that too. Carpet traps so much dirt.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We have all harwood in our current house with a few rugs. We both like it that way.
 
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