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

[ReneeT]

Morning, All! Sorry for the late start - been having 'net outages this morning. Power has been fine; 'net has been blipping in and out. Lots of wind this morning.

I briefly succumbed to a 'Sky is Falling' moment and picked up an 8 mega roll pack of Charmin when younger grandson and I ran in to Dollar General last night to grab on sale laundry detergent for daughter - and - Horrors!!! - the tp wasn't even on sale! Hubby still hasn't made it to the wholesale place to pick up the tri-fold paper towels we use; I had asked him to see if they had cases of TP available and gave him a wrapper from the type we use at work that isn't too bad. I did pick up some extra Vitamin C at Dollar Gen per Hubby's request as it was on sale BOGO.

Plans for this week are to file all the stuff that ended up on the kitchen table over the past couple of weeks (okay, maybe a bit longer than that) - hopefully most of it will go in the round file, but I'm pretty sure there are a couple of things I need to fish out for taxes. I started to do it yesterday when I woke up from my post work nap, but daughter dropped the boys off before the coffee was even done dripping, so I didn't get it taken care of, but I did unearth a Boy Scout Camp Card that is good until the end of the year - it has a tag for Rural King for a free case of water when you spend $25; between the grand-dog and filling the birdfeeders, I should be able to stock up on 6 or 7 cases before it expires.

Okay - the net is still blipping, so I'm going to get this posted before it goes out again.

You folks all take care this week, stay safe out there!

 

[psychgirl]

We’re also having serous wind storm here in central Indiana!! It’s wicked!

I hope we don’t lose power!!

Might go to Kroger today but I really don’t neeeed to, lol!

 

[aviax2]

We had wild winds here last night too. It started about dark and howled all night, waking us up several times. It was fairly breezy today but has calmed down now.

DH decided to make a Kroger trip yesterday afternoon since the grandkids will be here five days a week now. He managed to get most things on the list with the most important item (to me) was Cranberry Celebration from the deli, I love that stuff. He added a case of beef broth that they were out of last week, 3 nice half pork loins @$1.29 a lb, and some cheeses for stocking besides the regular groceries. A turkey was on the list but they were out of what I wanted but I do have one whole turkey and a couple of turkey breast in the the freezer. Some of the other sale items for stocking up were gone and he didn’t think to get a rain check, oh well, along about Tues. before the sale is over he may be ready to get out and away for awhile LOL!

Some time was spent after Sunday dinner trying to get things set up for the grandsons virtual classes, cross your fingers for us that all goes well.

 

[ReneeT]

Got my fingers crossed for you, Aviax!! I'll just admit to completely giving up on common core math - daughter said older grandson was explaining to one of his friends how to 'carry the one', etc... after the boys spend an afternoon with me supervising their math...

 

[ginnie6]

The weather's cooling off here so that means I need to go thru the closet and change out clothes. That is a job I dread! Dh and ds both got grocery gift cards as a bonus and gave them to me so I plan on adding some more preps tomorrow. I also have some apples to turn into applesauce sometime this week.

 

[aviax2]

Renee- My daughters will tell you that common core math is just stupid! The boys should (once schedules are set up) have 4 online zoom classes each, every day so hopefully DH and I won’t have to be in over our heads too much. And oldest grandson loves math and is good at it so if little brother has trouble, big brother can help him out. At this point I’m more concerned with technology issues.

 

[school marm]

It was a productive week. Smith's had honeycrisp apples on sale, so I bought a box to dehydrate. I finally finished my manuscript and got the cover designed worked out, and the book is now for sale on Amazon. Worked out a very good substitute for Cool Whip that uses garbanzo bean juice and powdered sugar. (Seriously. Garbanzo bean juice--AKA aquafaba--also makes a fabulous chocolate mousse.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Hopefully she'll come up with the right treatment for my frozen shoulder. And since I'll be in town, I'll do the weekly shopping two days early. I'm really wondering what I'll find--whether the peeps here are panicking as well. It will be mostly normal shopping for us, though I did notice we were a bit low on molasses. I can live without it, but DH might die.

 

[nomifyle]

Picked up commodities, two bags of shrimp, now I have to figure out what to do with it (I like it boiled, but DH probably wants it fried). There was so little else in the boxes that they were handing out MREs. No matter, I'm greatful for what we got.
Went to the dollar tree, didn't get much, didn't need much. Their cleaning and laundry products section is less than 1/3 of what it use to be.

Also went to walmart, mostly to get motor oil for DH and to get cans of Media Crema. I was excited to hear that adding vinegar to it makes sour cream. I did pick up a 12 pack of scotts 1000 sheet rolls, although I did not need it. I also picked up 4 Jacks cheese pizzas. We have plenty things to add our own toppings. That was all of Jacks that they had.

It was Monday mid afternoon and the stores were not crowded. The shelves were not bad. They did have papertowels and TP, but there were big open spaces in that section.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[Digger]

We went to town to get the 3 year old grandson. We sprang for another oil less fryer. Our old one is very old and rusting through in places.

We picked up a Turkey for Thanksgiving and 4 cans of rotel to put back. I splurged on a pot of mixed mums too. They also had 25 pounds of sugar marked down to $6.50. I bought one even though I really didn't need it. It will keep and I might need to share with the kids and I have the bees to feed too.

 

[nomifyle]

I forgot I bought sugar for the bees. If I hadn't then DH would be getting into my stored sugar.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[ivantherussian03]

I made a list of jobs in mom’s house-remodel. I organized by order of completion. Even organized the Shopping trips to the home improvement stores.

 

[coloradohermit]

I'm going shooting today with a friend. I haven't shot any of my go-to guns since DH and I moved back into town 5 years ago. It'll be good to have a refresher practice and a gun nut friend who can answer any questions I come up with.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We made our bi-monthly shopping run, yesterday. Went to Walmart, Food Giant, and Sam's. No shortages at all. No panic buying, either. Everyone just seemed to be doing normal shopping. No place was crowded. The stores seemed rather empty of shoppers.

I added a 6 can case of chili, a 12 can case of green beans, 4 cans of Bacon Spam, 2 cans of pork BBQ, and 4 family sized cans of chicken noodle soup to the pantry. Everything else I bought was to replace what we have eaten over the past two weeks. We eat solely out of the pantry, so am continually restocking what we eat every two weeks, plus I also can't seem to help myself by adding extra each time I go shopping. Our bedroom has now become my over flow pantry.

I also got my Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas ham, plus a pecan and a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. They went into my almost empty freezer.

 

[nomifyle]

I thought about getting a ham the other day, but decided against it. We have so much food anyway. Neither of us like turkey at all, so no biggie there. My cousin raises turkeys so if I really wanted one I could get it from him, I wonder if it would be as tough as our chickens are. Oh well, I wouldn't get one from him.

Holiday meals are just DH and I, I'll fix something that we'll sit down together to eat. We don't have any close family here and for some reason none of our children are speaking to us. Maybe they got tired of me telling them to stock up on food.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[briches]

Let’s see .... since I posted last week, hubby and I have gotten four turkeys at 29 cents a pound, our concealed carry permits have come in, and I slowly (by some standards) continue to increase the pantry.

Food Lion had Progresso soups for $1.00 can, and so I bought ten of those.
Yesterday while at food lion I was able to buy ten cans of soup, three boxes of cereal and two large cans of diced tomatoes for $9.50. I love coupons!

I keep making my lists, sticking to budget, and when something gets used up, try to buy two to replace it (for non food items).
I have a decent supply of my prescription meds, and just got more c pap supplies.

I pray for wisdom daily that God will help lead me to what’s needed next. I’m thinking it might be “longer need items” (more seeds, fishing essentials, etc).

Slow and steady .....

Next time I go to dollar tree, I plan on buying some more shelf stable milk. I tried one, and it’s not too bad. Would be nice to have a few in my pantry.

 

[briches]

I meant to add, if you need help with some of the “new math” coming out, please feel free to pm me. I’m an elementary teacher and would be glad to help if I can. My state isn’t common core, but math does look differently for some than what I learned.

 

[WanderLore]

Our little farm is now paid off completely! All other debts as well. Stocked up as much as we can. Coal, hay and truck fuel today. Then we are done.

 

[briches]

Our little farm is now paid off completely! All other debts as well. Stocked up as much as we can. Coal, hay and truck fuel today. Then we are done.

GREAT job!

 

[Marseydoats]

I've had a box of stuff for the Good Will sitting in the pantry pretty much since lock down started, but I never go in that direction. I finally found another donation site I could drop off at. I checked thru the box to make sure that dh hadn't disposed of some of my clothes in it (we very nearly got divorced when he threw out my Jack Daniels hat, and I'm not kidding) and found 3 cartons of salt that had somehow gotten knocked in there. So I have salt that I didn't know I had, and I was happy to get the box out of the floor.

 

[hiwall]

Bought almost all the stuff today to make a hoophouse/greenhouse like the one Sierra Don posted about. Our small town was out of the wood fence posts so I will just pick those up later. I am ordering the plastic cover online.

 

[ivantherussian03]

On Covid watch, virus is spreading Doom. Stores are barren. Winter is about 6 or 7 weeks late. Fur looks to be prime soon, but I will wait. I thought this year I will hunt foxes near to town while waiting for freeze up. Then get them tanned. While doing that I can get beaver meat for marten traps, while water is open.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Not really prepping related. I had to take my mom for a doctor's appointment, yesterday. It went well, but she has to go back on Monday for a CT scan. She has one on her liver (Lupus related) every 6 months. In the process, she let me know that we have 3 more family members sick with Covid, and one of those has died. We are a very large clan on Mom's side of the family, and this Covid bug is running rampant through it.

Should it get worse in our area, We are going to go back into "our own choice" lock down for awhile, barring any doctor's appointments. We have enough food and supplies stored to last a long time. I'm still planning to host Thanksgiving meal at our house with only Cary, myself, DS, DDIL, her mother and sister. We're gonna wait and see how it goes come Christmas. I'm not even making plans that far ahead right now.

 

[nomifyle]

Not really prepping related. I had to take my mom for a doctor's appointment, yesterday. It went well, but she has to go back on Monday for a CT scan. She has one on her liver (Lupus related) every 6 months. In the process, she let me know that we have 3 more family members sick with Covid, and one of those has died. We are a very large clan on Mom's side of the family, and this Covid bug is running rampant through it.

Should it get worse in our area, We are going to go back into "our own choice" lock down for awhile, barring any doctor's appointments. We have enough food and supplies stored to last a long time. I'm still planning to host Thanksgiving meal at our house with only Cary, myself, DS, DDIL, her mother and sister. We're gonna wait and see how it goes come Christmas. I'm not even making plans that far ahead right now.

We are still staying close to home. There are a lot of cases around here. I even halfway wore a mask when I went to town the other day. One couple that we know, he is 80 and she is 77. He's pretty sick. And another couple in the same age range are sick, but not as bad. We are having ribs for Thanksgiving for the two of us. We are thankful everyday. I don't need anything from any store.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[moldy]

Our stores are well stocked, but....I wanted to buy a case each of onions and sweet potatoes and have to wait until another truck comes in tomorrow. Talking to the kids and cleaning today.

 

[20Gauge]

We have been working hard at getting the planters done before the new year. Once the new year hits, we are in the busy season and then summer hits and nothing can be done by anyone sane or rational in the heat of Southern Georgia. So we are off to the races.

He is what we did this week. We poured two pads of concrete 5*10 to expand the parking area. We have 4 more on one side and then 8 on the other side. this will allow me to work / park out of the dirt for the first time ever.

We also poured not one but two walkways. The 2nd one needed an inspector and you can see what she left as a sign of her approval (cat helping out)

The other thing we have been doing is getting the 5th and 6th planters ready. I should have the 6th ready to fill by the end of the week. That means all I will have to do is fill them with compost and we can plant.

Also if you look closely, you can see the new statue the wife got.

 

[nomifyle]

Ugh! The hot water heater went out, I was doing laundry and moved the laundry hamper in front of the door to the hot water heater. It was really dark so I got a flashlight and egads there was water on the floor. As best as we can tell the HWH is about 14 years old. God is good all the time, at least it happened now rather than later. Apparently it had not just started leaking there was black mold on part of the wall in that closet. I sprayed the floor and wall with straight bleach and put a fan in there to dry things off. Tomorrow when DH gets the new unit he will pick up some Kilz to paint the wall and floor before installing the unit.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[briches]

Got an additional 20 cans of chunky soup at food lion today. On sale for $1.50 can. I also had a $20 off coupon.

Slow and steady.

 

[prudentwatcher]

We've been out of town for the past week as my father passed away on Veteran's Day. Not much prepping got done, though as joint owner on some of his accounts (split three ways), my bank account got a pretty decent boost when I deposited some checks today.

I did manage to convince my brother to increase his stored food supply, which he did after he dropped us off at the airport. He had about a month stored and went and spent another $400 on shelf stable food, so I breathe a bit easier. He has money, he just doesn't like to spend it, but he didn't argue with me at all about it.

My late father's girlfriend of the last several years doesn't keep much on hand as she doesn't really like to cook and with my father's health issues it was easier to take him out and try to get him to eat something, so they ate out all the time. I convinced her to go shopping for herself and her pets. She is not in the best frame of mind right now, but she did some shopping (forgetting half of her items) and was going back again for more. She has the money now to get things and I appear to have convinced her to stock up for at least a while. The virus is going crazy in her county, so hopefully she listens well.

My shopping starts tomorrow. I will be off to Sam's to pick up some things and then will pick up a few odds and ends here and there. The checks should clear by mid-week and I will be doing some shopping online for a few things then too. Most of the money is staying in the bank or in metals, as we are prepped for a long while. It is time to hit my "nice to have" list.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We've been out of town for the past week as my father passed away on Veteran's Day. Not much prepping got done, though as joint owner on some of his accounts (split three ways), my bank account got a pretty decent boost when I deposited some checks today.

I did manage to convince my brother to increase his stored food supply, which he did after he dropped us off at the airport. He had about a month stored and went and spent another $400 on shelf stable food, so I breathe a bit easier. He has money, he just doesn't like to spend it, but he didn't argue with me at all about it.

My late father's girlfriend of the last several years doesn't keep much on hand as she doesn't really like to cook and with my father's health issues it was easier to take him out and try to get him to eat something, so they ate out all the time. I convinced her to go shopping for herself and her pets. She is not in the best frame of mind right now, but she did some shopping (forgetting half of her items) and was going back again for more. She has the money now to get things and I appear to have convinced her to stock up for at least a while. The virus is going crazy in her county, so hopefully she listens well.

My shopping starts tomorrow. I will be off to Sam's to pick up some things and then will pick up a few odds and ends here and there. The checks should clear by mid-week and I will be doing some shopping online for a few things then too. Most of the money is staying in the bank or in metals, as we are prepped for a long while. It is time to hit my "nice to have" list.

So sorry for the loss of your Father.

 

[Illini Warrior]

Ugh! The hot water heater went out, I was doing laundry and moved the laundry hamper in front of the door to the hot water heater. It was really dark so I got a flashlight and egads there was water on the floor. As best as we can tell the HWH is about 14 years old. God is good all the time, at least it happened now rather than later. Apparently it had not just started leaking there was black mold on part of the wall in that closet. I sprayed the floor and wall with straight bleach and put a fan in there to dry things off. Tomorrow when DH gets the new unit he will pick up some Kilz to paint the wall and floor before installing the unit.

God is good all the time

Judy

sounds like you are near & around the heater alot >>> still might want to think about a retaining tray that the new heater would sit in and catch future leakage - for those with a more remote located water heater there's water alarms that would signal the problem ....

 

[Millwright]

sounds like you are near & around the heater alot >>> still might want to think about a retaining tray that the new heater would sit in and catch future leakage - for those with a more remote located water heater there's water alarms that would signal the problem ....

Check the T&P valve first.

It may be leaking by and dumping on the floor, if it's not piped outside.

A drain pan is a must.

 

[nomifyle]

We discussed the drain pan and DH said he would have to drill a hole in it for the pressure release something or another. The other unit was old and rusted out, he said the new one should be fine for the rest of our lives. He had a mobile home set up and repair business for many years and he's good at what he does.

He did paint the lower half of the closet, including the floor with Kilz.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[Illini Warrior]

Check the T&P valve first.

It may be leaking by and dumping on the floor, if it's not piped outside.

A drain pan is a must.

my sister actually had a relief valve blow out completely from the water heater - didn't trip under the overload pressure and it finally stripped out - luckily the heater was somewhat blocked off from the rest of the utility room and nobody was there when she blew ....

the new heater all come with a new valve - just make sure it gets used - not uncommon for the old one to get transferred
and re-used .....

 

[hiwall]

my sister actually had a relief valve blow out completely from the water heater - didn't trip under the overload pressure and it finally stripped out - luckily the heater was somewhat blocked off from the rest of the utility room and nobody was there when she blew ....

the new heater all come with a new valve - just make sure it gets used - not uncommon for the old one to get transferred
and re-used .....

The water heater temperature-pressure relief valve should be manually tripped by the homeowner occasionally. These valves do stick over time and when stuck they do not do their job. Once a year just pull the lever a couple times to trip the valve.

 

[coloradohermit]

Today is pressure canning day. I had gotten a boneless turkey breast, which I baked this morning, and it's 3 pints in the canner. I'm also doing a pint of leftover baked chicken thigh, a couple slices of leftover meatloaf, and some baked salmon. I didn't think about it til after the canner was started, but fish has a longer canning time. Oh well. It was well baked before hand so we'll see if/how it does.

For the second load, I'm slow baking a nice chuck pot roast and a corned beef. That'll be the afternoon project. It's nice to see some room in the freezer. ;-)

 

[aviax2]

Well Monday was a tad bit hectic but the grandsons were champs and managed to get it done. The rest of the week went smoother for them although there continued to be schedule changes EVERY day. So far the hardest thing I had to help them with was to pronounce and explain the word endure to youngest grandson and explain debit vs credit to oldest, so not too bad at all.

I‘ve had an awful round with vertigo this week with Monday and Tuesday being the worst. I’m still having to watch moving my head so I don’t lose my balance. Ugh, I hate this.

DH has made a few trips shopping the sales this week. We have a ham for Christmas (or for whenever in case everyone wants beef instead). He got a few more pork half loins, pioneer gravy mixes in different flavors, crackers, a few more cake mixes in flavors we don’t use as much as white, yellow and chocolate which we already have.

prudentwatcher- So sorry for your loss. Glad you’re brother is listening to you.

 

[summerthyme]

Aviax2... just FYI, vertigo and "blacking out" briefly both have been reported as an early (as in, several days before any fever, body aches, etc show up) symptom of COVID by several people I've spoken with, including my hubby.

Summerthyme

 

[nomifyle]

Aviax2... just FYI, vertigo and "blacking out" briefly both have been reported as an early (as in, several days before any fever, body aches, etc show up) symptom of COVID by several people I've spoken with, including my hubby.

Summerthyme

I've had vertigo off and on for years, I attribute it to some meds that I take (by choice) or a violent allergic reaction to something I smelled or ate.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[moldy]

Picked up my 50 lb of onions and 40 lbs of sweet potatoes. Paid less than 30 bucks.

 

[aviax2]

Aviax2... just FYI, vertigo and "blacking out" briefly both have been reported as an early (as in, several days before any fever, body aches, etc show up) symptom of COVID by several people I've spoken with, including my hubby.

Summerthyme

My youngest daughter told me she had read vertigo was a symptom too. I’ve had inner ear trouble since my early 20’s so I really think it’s that (or maybe hoping?). I‘m thinking my allergies and a possible sinus infection set this off.