Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: May 10~16, 2020

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Happy Mother's Day to all you sweet folks who fill the Mom spot in all our little one's lives :rs::rs::rs:

Just got home from work; filled the hummingbird feeders - or maybe I should say oriole feeders since that's who's hogging them - and plopped down for a few minutes to relax from the drive before I head to bed.

Did a few CVS deals yesterday - 300 water balloons, 4 - 6pks Boost, 2 - 6 pks Ensure, and some leftover Easter Candy; Used a bunch of coupons and rolled the extra care bucks I got from the first three deals; spent less than $30 total out of pocket and came home with an $8 extra care buck that I forgot to use; maybe they'll have another good deal this week.

Ground looks almost dry enough to till - if it doesn't rain today, I may be able to get in the front garden tomorrow and maybe get those strawberries and raspberries planted in the two days after that before we get another deluge! Got a few plants that I'm going to put in the small garden next to the house but I will have to put chicken wire cages around everything to keep the bunnies and squirrels from chowing down - blasted varmints!

Well, my brain is about mush; reckon I'd better go get cleaned up and head to bed so I can go back to work this evening. You folks all take care - stay safe, stay happy, and don't let the crazies make YOU crazy too!
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Made a stop at Walgreens to load up on candy and laundry detergent :) Everything was BOGO.

Then went to Dollar Tree for the first time since all of this started. Got some more boxed milk, enough pasta to fill another gallon mylar bag, some rice, some pudding, and some boxed Kraft mac and cheese. Dollar Tree was actually pretty well stocked and they still had tons of boxes in the aisles to unpack (they get their shipments on Fridays).
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
I usually take some vacation about this time to get my garden in and a get a bunch of other spring chores out of the way. I had planned to transplant my tomatoes into big planters, but luckily I didn't. Looks like we're predicted another week of freezes. I usually haul out all my spring/summer clothes and pack away the winter ones, mine and the livestock's, but I had to dig a turnout rug out of storage for the ancient gelding a couple days ago. This weather had been crazy.
I did buy myself a new Stihl pruning saw, and it is like a mini chain saw, and I think I am really going to like it. I can't run it more than 30 minutes at a time with my arthritis so I wear out well before the batteries do, but I have cleared more brush in an hour than I had done in 3 doing it by hand.
Bought some more work gloves online, none to be had locally.
And I found a local farm that sells organic veggies direct to the public. Looking forward to giving them some business.
 

Old Gray Mare

TB Fanatic
Another shopping trip and more cans tucked in the pantry for a rainy day. Nothing special, just a few of this and that. These are canned foods we're eating anyway.

I doubt anyone would look at our shopping cart and think; "Preppers". By buying just one or two "extra" cans each shopping trip the pantry is starting to look a little more respectable.

While the future is in the Good Lord's hands, each grocery run I feel we push the wolf a little further away from the door.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Went to fill a hole in our preps. Having a bike and being in shape to use it. I now have the bike. It needs a bit of work, but it is an older one that actually has heavier gauge metal and won't bend on the first bump.

The down side? Apparently I got more of a BMX or something like that style from the pawn shop. It has a V shaped rim that requires an elongated stem on the inner tube.

So the new tubes I got don't work. Now to go find long stem tubes.......
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We got the rest of our garden planted today. Now, if we could have some warmer weather, things would be perfect, LOL. I planted one tomato plant in a large garden tub on the back deck. I want to see how well it does compared to being planted directly into the garden in full sun. Deck is in partial shade, except for full sun in the morning hours.
 

Digger

Veteran Member
Added a honey super to the 2 hives I bought. I looked in the hive I caught. They are doing great. I will add them a honey super in the next day or two.

I planted some more in the garden. I still need to plant okra, peas, and melons. But I am running out of room. I will squeeze it all in somewhere.

We went to Neighborhood Market. They had the Bush beans my husband likes. We added 4 to the pantry. Vienna sausages were all gone. And other canned meats low. But we scored the last blueberry English muffins in the shelf for hubby. I bought 3 cans of hot cocoa. I like it in my coffee and I had opened my last can. There was meat in the fresh meat counter. But not full. They seemed to be getting back to more normal stock wise.

Our state is slowly opening back up. Though we never completely shut down. Our county has had 48 cases with 42 recovered. No new cases in several days to a week. No deaths in our county either.

I bought a towel and matching hand towel at Dollar General. We had friends over for dinner Saturday and I realised I didn't have any matching towels that weren't really showing their age. I have not bought any on about 20 years. Last ones we got were from hubbys parents for Christmas. This new set will only come out for company. I usually buy my cloth napkins at the thrift store. I have a lot that are getting thread bare. But I am afraid to toss them at this point. We will just keep using them. I have several good ones too.

My favorite thrift shop is open again, but I have not been. I don't plan to go for awhile yet, except to drop off a donation. My daughter took some of the clothes I brought there home for the grandson. He had a growth spurt. So far, you can still buy clothes at Walmart. I don't know if Penny's or Belks is back open or not.
 
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SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We decided to plant more squash, okra, and cucumbers tomorrow if the rain holds off. Not planting any beans or peas this year. I plan to get those from the Farmer's Market that are locally grown. I would love to get fresh corn from there, too, but I don't have any room in my freezers. We eat it on the cob, which takes up a lot of space.

We went to visit my mom today. First time in over two months that I've seen her. She has been in self isolation, too. It was a happy reunion! No masks for a change.
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
We have managed to find some hand sanitizer, but nothing else on the "list". I have ordered more masks, both cloth and paper. We still have enough Lysol and bleach and gloves, but I would certainly like to restock.

Stopped by a discount store today. Managed to find lots of snack type foods. We have plenty of food for meals, but have been eating way more snacks. I'm not going to worry about it too much right now and got more cookies and some more baking mixes. I also got some potting soil and a bigger pot for my aloe vera plant which needs to be repotted.

Got my hair cut yesterday for the first time in 9 weeks! Feels great :) Now, when I get my massage next week, I should feel like a human being again.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We have managed to find some hand sanitizer, but nothing else on the "list". I have ordered more masks, both cloth and paper. We still have enough Lysol and bleach and gloves, but I would certainly like to restock.

Stopped by a discount store today. Managed to find lots of snack type foods. We have plenty of food for meals, but have been eating way more snacks. I'm not going to worry about it too much right now and got more cookies and some more baking mixes. I also got some potting soil and a bigger pot for my aloe vera plant which needs to be repotted.

Got my hair cut yesterday for the first time in 9 weeks! Feels great :) Now, when I get my massage next week, I should feel like a human being again.

I need to restock on gloves. We've still got plenty of masks. We've been using the same ones over and over, and spraying them down with Lysol. Leave them outside to dry. We started out wearing the N95's, but switched over to the regular surgical masks.

Yeah, we've been eating a lot more snacks and sweets than normal, too. My waistline shows it, too! It's become an every night thing. Watching TV, and eating snacks. It's CaryC's fault, though, LOL!

Cary needed a haircut when our lockdown began. he went over 3 months without getting one. When it got to ponytail length, I told him that either he was going to cut it, or I would. So, I gave him one, and it looks rather nice if I do say so. It'll do, until he can get back to his barber. I told him that if I mess it up, he could always wear a ball cap.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Couldn't find any inner tubes for the new bike. Apparently they are not shipping on time.

So I got the wife involved as she is the tire person in the family, (does it at work all day long). She said to pull the valves and replace them. I told her my tool couldn't get them out.

What does she do? She pulls a screw driver version and removes both of them in about 3 seconds flat. Put new valves in and all is good. I still will get a new set of inner tubes to put away.

It really really sucks when the wife has cooler tools than I do. I told her so and she laughed. Then gave me one of her spares.

My man card got a bit tattered this week...
 

moldy

Veteran Member
Helped DH pull up fence posts and cut up a couple downed trees Tuesday. We also got our tomatoes planted. Only 34 plants this year. With no kids at home, I don't need to can quite as much. I have a couple things to do in town today, then since it's raining, I'll get caught up on computer stuff and work on spring cleaning. I need to get a few more things planted, but I'm not sure how wet it is outside.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I had a disaster in my pantry yesterday. I went to get a can of Spam to make fried Spam, fried egg, and cheese sandwiches for our supper last night. I picked up an older package of 9 cans that I planned to use out of. To my horror, all the cans were bulging. I immediately started going through all of them, and wound up having to throw away about 20 cans! Ouch! Now that Spam is sorta scarce, I'm almost in a panic. I still have a few cans that I've bought recently, but my confidence is now shattered. I guess I need to go through my other canned meats, today. IIRC, they are all within, or only, a year old. All the Spam that got thrown away was 3 years old. I simply over bought, and didn't use it up fast enough.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I'm surprised that three-year old Spam went bad. But who knows what changes the company might have made to the processing or the can itself. Quite a loss.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I'm surprised that three-year old Spam went bad. But who knows what changes the company might have made to the processing or the can itself. Quite a loss.

I was surprised, too. I stalk it up to those pop top lids that just don't hold up. Spam has always had those type lids, but they must not be as good as in years past. I didn't go out and panic buy when the virus first got started, because I knew I had enough canned meat stored already. Now, I have a huge hole in my pantry that I may not be able to fill for awhile. I've only got 12 cans left. But hey, that's enough for once a month for a year!

I'm now in the process of going through all my other canned meats. So far, I haven't found any that are bulging. They're not in pop top lids, though.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We do not eat Spam here though we do joke about it sometimes.
Like - "We will know it is the end-of-the-world when we have to eat Spam."
We have both eaten it in the distant past. We do stock a lot of canned chicken. It can be used for so many things. Some tuna and some canned ground beef plus whatever is in the freezer. We are good for quite a while. Everybody likes different things to eat.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Ok, I'm finally finished with going through all the canned meat. Nothing else was bad.

One of my problems is that I over estimate how much food we will need for a year. I buy too much, and just keep on buying. I try to keep everything in my pantry rotated, but can't go through it all in a year's time, so it stays on the shelf much longer than a year. Some things we eat more often than others. I don't know how to prevent that, since I'm always afraid we won't have enough. Since this has happened, Cary isn't too happy with me right now. All the money lost.
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
All the money lost.
Was the money all lost for your house insurance because you never used it?
How about your life insurance that you didn't use, was that money lost too?

I have really beefed up our pantry with spill-over into our storage room. But I keep buying though I have now switched over to additional LTS food which will last many years.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
I had a disaster in my pantry yesterday. I went to get a can of Spam to make fried Spam, fried egg, and cheese sandwiches for our supper last night. I picked up an older package of 9 cans that I planned to use out of. To my horror, all the cans were bulging. I immediately started going through all of them, and wound up having to throw away about 20 cans! Ouch! Now that Spam is sorta scarce, I'm almost in a panic. I still have a few cans that I've bought recently, but my confidence is now shattered. I guess I need to go through my other canned meats, today. IIRC, they are all within, or only, a year old. All the Spam that got thrown away was 3 years old. I simply over bought, and didn't use it up fast enough.
I had never heard of spam going bad. That has to hurt.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Was the money all lost for your house insurance because you never used it?
How about your life insurance that you didn't use, was that money lost too?

I have really beefed up our pantry with spill-over into our storage room. But I keep buying though I have now switched over to additional LTS food which will last many years.

I see your point. Still, we both hate to see the waste. I need to plan better for future storage. I'm not planning to buy any more canned meats, until we use some of what we have up. I've got canned chicken breasts, tuna, roast beef, smoked ham, chili, stews, soups, canned ground beef, and pulled pork BBQ, plus what Spam I have left. All other meats are in my two freezers.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Was the money all lost for your house insurance because you never used it?
How about your life insurance that you didn't use, was that money lost too?

I have really beefed up our pantry with spill-over into our storage room. But I keep buying though I have now switched over to additional LTS food which will last many years.
Funny you talk about insurance and the money "lost" having it.

There are cases where it pays to have insurance and others where it doesn't.

The problem I have found with people is that when they don't get insurance, they also fail to save to replace the insurance.

For example, was talking to a person I know and he has a low cost cost, falling downer style he often have in the south. He just got the place and is happy as he no longer pays any rent. So the first thing he does is get quotes for insurance. $1200+ per year. His house is only worth $25k. So I ask him, why don't you just put $xx dollars away each month to rebuild / replace if the house burns down? You would have thought I was talking gibberish.

He only thought to have it or not. Not to self insure.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I have a cousin that lives in Florida, her homeowners insurance was through the roof. Now she self insures, and has been for a good long time. She is so savvy about handling money. She pays cash for everything.

Judy
 

ginnie6

Veteran Member
It really really sucks when the wife has cooler tools than I do. I told her so and she laughed. Then gave me one of her spares.

My man card got a bit tattered this week...

Don't feel bad. Dh got a greenhouse last year for "us" to use. I couldn't get in it though cause he was always in there. This year though I started all our seeds and had them coming up like crazy. He started some of the same seeds and they didn't come up. So now I get to start all seeds because apparently I have "the touch."

I hit up the local produce supplier again this week. They are wholesale but will sell to the public if you buy a case. No problem! This week I got carrots and lemons to split with a friend and bananas for my freezer. Plus the regular shopping. I'm buying what we eat and just getting a few extra. Doesn't look like prepping at all but my pantry looks nice. I really do need to slow down on freezer items though since I have to save room for the squash and zucchini that are coming.

I also started our okra in the greenhouse. Hopefully in a few weeks it will be ready to plant. That is if I still have "the touch" lol.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
I have a cousin that lives in Florida, her homeowners insurance was through the roof. Now she self insures, and has been for a good long time. She is so savvy about handling money. She pays cash for everything.

Judy
You can only do it if you own it outright
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
I had a disaster in my pantry yesterday. I went to get a can of Spam to make fried Spam, fried egg, and cheese sandwiches for our supper last night. I picked up an older package of 9 cans that I planned to use out of. To my horror, all the cans were bulging. I immediately started going through all of them, and wound up having to throw away about 20 cans! Ouch! Now that Spam is sorta scarce, I'm almost in a panic. I still have a few cans that I've bought recently, but my confidence is now shattered. I guess I need to go through my other canned meats, today. IIRC, they are all within, or only, a year old. All the Spam that got thrown away was 3 years old. I simply over bought, and didn't use it up fast enough.

I'm so sorry. I would have cried.I know good and well that I have Spam in the cabinet that's over 5 years old because dh WILL NOT rotate. He always uses the newest stuff first. He's never going to change, after 30 years I have given up. 12 cans would not last us a month!
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I'm so sorry. I would have cried.I know good and well that I have Spam in the cabinet that's over 5 years old because dh WILL NOT rotate. He always uses the newest stuff first. He's never going to change, after 30 years I have given up. 12 cans would not last us a month!

We eat Spam on a fairly regular basis, too. We like it sliced really thin and fried on sandwiches. It was a huge loss, but I will try and replace it over time. I guess I don't need to stock as much this time, though. I don't want it going bad, too. Like everything else, the price probably has gone way up from when I bought it last. I hate to see how much money it's going to take to stock back up!
 

moldy

Veteran Member
Transplanted thyme today, sold some plants to a neighbor, saw a client. Helped DH put up fence and oiled the corn planter. I"m hoping we can get corn in tomorrow, and the rest of the garden in soon.
 
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