Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: September 13 ~ 19, 2020

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good Morning, All! Hope everyone is doing well this week - it's so reassuring to know that other folks are doing well and keeping up with their prepping.

Co-worker Buddy will pick up my Sunday papers for me on his way to work, so I will check the ads and coupons on my lunch break at work tonight. The store did not have the Italian chicken breast on sale again this week, so I am watching for other deals instead. Nearby IGA has beef roasts on sale; if I manage to get up to the pool this week, I will stop by and see what they look like; maybe pick up a few to can if they aren't too fatty.

Nomifyle, I keep some of the Velveeta cheese sauce packets on hand as well - it makes a quick mac and cheese side dish when the boys are visiting (Hubby cooks on the weekends the boys are here, plus Mondays) and I also use it in the cheesy chicken veggie soup I make to carry to the soup suppers at the Legion Hall. I haven't noticed them at either of our nearby Dollar Tree stores, but I get them at Dollar General. At my local DG, you can either buy them as one packet for $1, or 3 in a box for $3 - I keep an eye out for the occasional Kraft 'Spend $X, get $X off sale (I think the last one was spend $12, save $3) and stock up then.

Tell y'all what - If I decided I have to do some last minute stocking if disaster strikes, I'm heading for Dollar General - they have a little bit of a whole lot of things that would come in handy - food and other items! If you happen to pass by one, turn around and stop in - mosey down the food aisles and see what you think.

My vacation starts tomorrow at 0730 - unless the boss is fast enough to catch me to do my annual evaluation before I slip out the door; in which case I'd earn a little extra $ and not have to wander around Rural King or WM (or take a nice nap in the van lol!) until Aldi opens. Guess this vacation will be a stay at home and get things done vacation although I do have some options the 2nd week. The next vacation in October will definitely be a stay at home one because there is NO way I'm going very far from home 2 weeks before the election!

Well, I've got a short person messaging me that he needs - NEEDS!! - to go to the store to get some stuff for his school lunches, so I reckon I'd better find some town clothes and head on over.

You folks all take care out there; stay safe - and as sane as you can :lol:
 

paxsim2

Senior Member
I need to stop in at our Dollar General more, it's been awhile since I've been in one.

Continuing to prep, I tried a sample pack of freeze dried food and I plan to order some more. It would be nice to have on hand. I'm almost comfortable with the food preps but I need to fill in some gaps in otc meds. One of the things I try to do is order toilet paper or dog food with every order. Need to bump up the water storage a bit and refill the propane tanks.

My husband is working from home for the next month due to his immune system so it's nice to have the company. :)
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
Got my mammogram done so my doctor won't holler at me next week at my appt (it was scheduled in April but got cancelled because of the virus and I had not rescheduled).

Picked up some more cold meds on a BOGO. Made a trip to Winn Dixie as they had chuck roast on sale for $2.99 a lb. (weekend special). Everyone else is selling for $5.99 a lb. and I just refuse to pay that. Bought three small ones as there are only the two of us and packaged them for the freezer.

Have had an awful headache all weekend that is just kicking my butt. Makes it hard to get anything accomplished.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Thanks ReneeT, I keep forgetting about Dollar General. There is one about 15 miles from me. I may take a 20 dollar bill and go see what I can get for that.

DH is working hard on his smoke house, he loves to build things.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have a Dollar General about 5 miles from me, back out on the main road, that I pass every time I go into town shopping. I've just got out of the habit of doing so. That's the first place we went after being locked in for two months. I just felt the need to venture out, slowly at that time. Found some great deals there.

Some of you were talking in last week's thread about buying Velveeta in packets. Tell me more, please. I don't think I have ever seen those. I always keep a few 1 lb bricks of Velveeta in my freezer, but individual packets would be even better. I may have just been overlooking them. Is the cheese already soft and creamy?
 

mawmaw

Veteran Member
Again this week preparing for a storm !! Think this one will give us weather a hurricane/Tropical storm rain and winds for 2 days straight !!!
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Again this week preparing for a storm !! Think this one will give us weather a hurricane/Tropical storm rain and winds for 2 days straight !!!

Are you in LA or MS? We've got thunderstorms, wind, and rain in our forecast, too. Nothing compared to what's down on the coast, though.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I have a Dollar General about 5 miles from me, back out on the main road, that I pass every time I go into town shopping. I've just got out of the habit of doing so. That's the first place we went after being locked in for two months. I just felt the need to venture out, slowly at that time. Found some great deals there.

Some of you were talking in last week's thread about buying Velveeta in packets. Tell me more, please. I don't think I have ever seen those. I always keep a few 1 lb bricks of Velveeta in my freezer, but individual packets would be even better. I may have just been overlooking them. Is the cheese already soft and creamy?
I have to really look to find them, its a bag of cheese. I found two here at the house and they have japlenos in them which DH would not eat and I would have to be hungry to eat something with that in it.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I have to really look to find them, its a bag of cheese. I found two here at the house and they have japlenos in them which DH would not eat and I would have to be hungry to eat something with that in it.

God is good all the time

Judy

Are these bags like bags shredded cheese come in? Or, is it a powdered form of cheese in bags? I use the Velveeta brands of hamburger helper, and they have a packet of Velveeta cheese in the box. It's very smooth and creamy that you just squeeze out of the packet. I was thinking it was something similar to those.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Are these bags like bags shredded cheese come in? Or, is it a powdered form of cheese in bags? I use the Velveeta brands of hamburger helper, and they have a packet of Velveeta cheese in the box. It's very smooth and creamy that you just squeeze out of the packet. I was thinking it was something similar to those.

its a liquid in the bag and shelf stable. this link is from amazon which is much more expensive that the dollar tree.

God is good all the time

Judy
 
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WanderLore

Veteran Member
Finished almost all the insulation in the cabin. Small bit of a small wall and then the ceiling.
Got last bit of most produce out the garden and cooked hamburgers, brussels, green beans from garden and taters. Will still be a ton of tomatoes and brussels. Going to get the rest of the green maters I think and let them ripe inside.

We are putting up a real heavy duty swing set for the grands. One hole dug and 1 post in and the rest of the lumber comes tomorrow.

Horses were both on the back porch this morning! Made a mess. Got that cleaned and back porch stuff put away.

More work on outside of cabin and got a little butane cook stove and bottles of butane so I can make coffee in the morning lol.
General cleaning in and out, pruning, bedding. On and On. This country living is a young persons game I sometimes think.

Had check up and labs. Mamm scheduled in Oct. Doc wouldn't do any more tests like CT etc for back or annual chest CT.Did refer me to pain clinic for injections in L5. See how that goes.

Just general every day stuff. Tons of harvest. Pumpkins and squash are out of control. Sunflowers are ready so getting to those.
Pooped out. Hugged hubby and now out in cabin watching The Stand on portable DVD. Going to be long day tomorrow. Son is off 2 days so will make a dump run and help with swing set.

Hugs to you all Dear Ones.
 

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Got the canned goods all arranged on those metal shelves this weekend but found at least a paper grocery bag worth of bad stuff to throw out.
I didn’t realize salsa in jars would go bad? Three of them turned very dark, almost black. Commercial brand name salsa, too.

However. I was pretty disheartened to find out hub told me our refrigerator was not very cold. Yep. It’s out.
Soooo.... yesterday, I was moving anything that would spoil into a little spare frig we have in the basement. Thank The Lord we had that down there!!!!

I’m scared to death my giant extra freezer will be too overloaded and we’ll lose that half hog, PLUS all the other meats and preps I’ve got crammed in there! The only thing I didn’t have any more energy to deal with was about ten bags of frozen veggies to move out of the upstairs. I literally didn’t care anymore.
And some oddes and ends like pickles, and random condiments. *** Sigh.....***
They’ll still be chilled , I just hope they don’t sour or go bad until the appliance guy can get here. Hopefully, today.

Took the wind right outta my sails, I’ll tell ya. Then I got snappy at hub and we had a late night argument. I feel bad.
:(
Let’s pray today is better. Thanks.
 

psychgirl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Oh I forgot. Our cable has been out for a week. The repair guy for THAT is coming today too.

I didn’t mention buying any new preps because the extra 150$ I got on my paycheck ( that was exciting!) went to getting the headlight and the thing it goes in in my car (?) fixed. That was Friday.

When it rains it pours. Lol.
Sorry for the whining. I think my throat is scratchy too.
:(
 

school marm

Senior Member
The new house has a partial basement which is now a dedicated food storage room. I've never had one of those and am pretty excited about it. So I've been getting it all organized. Taking inventory will be a lot easier now. There is still a whole lot of work to do, but we are so grateful to live in such a beautiful and very conservative area.

I also canned a batch of salsa and loaded up on canned goods with the local grocery store's case lot sale.
 

coloradohermit

Veteran Member
My manual hydraulic wood splitter hadn't been working - the pusher not retracting - and a friend figured out the problem so now I'm back in work mode. Turns out I had put too much hydraulic fluid in it. Who knew??

Wed is my second cataract fix and I'm really looking forward to it. I had no idea HOW bad my vision was until the first eye got done!
 

thompson

Certa Bonum Certamen
Tell y'all what - If I decided I have to do some last minute stocking if disaster strikes, I'm heading for Dollar General - they have a little bit of a whole lot of things that would come in handy - food and other items! If you happen to pass by one, turn around and stop in - mosey down the food aisles and see what you think.
YES.

Like the others who've chimed in, Dollar General is an overlooked gem of a place to shop. When we lived very rural, the closest place to get grocery items was a smallish DG and we shopped there regularly. I had gotten out of the habit of stopping there once we moved to town but several months ago decided to stop by one on a whim to see what they had. This one was quite a bit bigger than the one we'd shopped before and had a bigger selection of pantry items. I picked up quite a few things I didn't know I needed (ha!). While I love my H-E-B, a person could do pretty good if DG was the only food store they had available. I try to make a point to stop in once a week when I'm out and about doing other errands. Even when H-E-B and Kroger/Walmart have rather skimpy product on the shelves I've never seen that at DG.


On another note.. Banker's boxes, the kind that have a separate removable lid and cut-out spaces for handles, make really great storage for preps you can't find a place to stash elsewhere. They are very strong, can be stacked and don't reveal the contents of what you have to the world if you have people over. They can be loaded to the top with cans, yet with the handles can be easily moved if needed. I wouldn't recommend using them in a damp basement, but in a spare room they can stack in a corner and if there are Nosey Nellies that sometimes visit, no one would need be the wiser as to what is in them. Could be fabric, could be art supplies, could be some spare computer parts! You can get a LOT of things in those. If you use them, it makes better sense to try and fill the boxes with all of one item, or group like items (like tuna, salmon, canned crab/shrimp, etc.), all green veggies, etc. Mark the contents of what's inside on an index card taped to the front or top so you know what's in each box and can re-use the boxes to your needs. If you just label them with a magic marker it ends up looking messy if you need to cross off contents inside. Another plus to storing items this way is if you had to leave in a hurry (fire, flood, etc.) it would be lots easier to pick up items already boxed than trying to unload shelves from the pantry.

I've had a deep pantry for .. forever. Even when I've had a huge walk-in pantry that was stuffed full, if I found a good sale and wanted to stock up, it was always a trick trying to figure out where to stash the extras. Some people use the Rubbermaid totes, but I don't like those nearly as much as I do the boxes, simply because the boxes have straight sides and most totes don't, so there is always wasted space. The totes I had loaded up with fabric and notions got too heavy for me to move safely by myself because they were so big.

Just a thought..
 

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Oh heck, Psychgirl; everyone needs a whine now and again; Heaven knows I've done a rant or two on these pages lol!

If y'all aren't already bored with the Dollar General theme we've got going, I'm going to add in the incentive of those Dollar General $5 off $25, good on Saturday only coupons that frequently show up on the receipt or are available pretty much every week on the app - those knock the cost down even more.

I know purchases can be tracked with the app, so I usually try to get a paper coupon, but if I don't, I don't worry too much about using the app - whoever might be tracking it is gonna be over there scratching their head and saying "What on earth does that woman do with all that laundry soap and chocolate? Yo! Bill! Can you make anything dangerous from laundry soap and chocolate?" (Other than a pms-ing woman doing laundry, that is :lol:)
 

mecoastie

Veteran Member
Sold some ammo. Ordered the parts to finish the sugar shack chimney. Last bit for that. Got the chicken run cleaned up and it is going to get repaired this week. Hopefully Saturday I will pick up a larger portable garage for the rabbits. Not ideal but I dont have the time or money to build them a real shed this year. It will need some reinforcement for snow but that is straightforward. Looking hard at a 40 volt chainsaw. I keep going back and forth. I have a couple good solid gas saws but I like the idea of a smaller saw and there is no messing with fuel. Going to be close to get it all done before my Oct 1 deadline.
 

amazon

Veteran Member
Sold some ammo. Ordered the parts to finish the sugar shack chimney. Last bit for that. Got the chicken run cleaned up and it is going to get repaired this week. Hopefully Saturday I will pick up a larger portable garage for the rabbits. Not ideal but I dont have the time or money to build them a real shed this year. It will need some reinforcement for snow but that is straightforward. Looking hard at a 40 volt chainsaw. I keep going back and forth. I have a couple good solid gas saws but I like the idea of a smaller saw and there is no messing with fuel. Going to be close to get it all done before my Oct 1 deadline.
My Dh has this one.

He likes it for smaller jobs. Easy to use.
 
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nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Going thru the spare room, making more room for canned goods...they are currently stacked floor to ceiling in the kitchen and living room, and the wife isn't pleased with that aspect for some odd reason! ;)
My DH feels your wife's pain. Stuff everywhere, but I'm working on it.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

briches

Veteran Member
Sold some ammo. Ordered the parts to finish the sugar shack chimney. Last bit for that. Got the chicken run cleaned up and it is going to get repaired this week. Hopefully Saturday I will pick up a larger portable garage for the rabbits. Not ideal but I dont have the time or money to build them a real shed this year. It will need some reinforcement for snow but that is straightforward. Looking hard at a 40 volt chainsaw. I keep going back and forth. I have a couple good solid gas saws but I like the idea of a smaller saw and there is no messing with fuel. Going to be close to get it all done before my Oct 1 deadline.

I just learned to operate a chainsaw for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was electric, but I’m still counting it. Lol. It was GREAT! I think it might have been a 60 volt. I got A LOT cut with it. It wasn’t so heavy I couldn’t operate it. I also used a pole saw. Fun tools!
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I just learned to operate a chainsaw for the first time a couple weeks ago. It was electric, but I’m still counting it. Lol. It was GREAT! I think it might have been a 60 volt. I got A LOT cut with it. It wasn’t so heavy I couldn’t operate it. I also used a pole saw. Fun tools!
DH is 77 and he's gone to electric chain saws, he has a generator that he built a little trailer for and can easily move around. He has done a lot of cutting with his electric chain saws. The regular chain saws just became too hard to start.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I finally got around to going to Dollar General. I only wanted to spend $20, LOL, I spent $31. They had the Velvetta Cheese Sauce in a box of 3/$3. I got three boxes, two pkgs of pepper gravy (I've never been able to make gravy with flour, but I'll give these a shot), a few packages of Knorr Pasta Sides, two cans of chicken bouillon (this is something I've not stocked because I have a good supply of powdered and cubed bouillon, two packages of top ramen (I've never eaten it before and I got it for the quick noodles), 2 cans each of cream of mushroom and chicken soup (I only COM soup in one dish and I never use COC soup in any thing because I just don't cook that kind of food, too processed and not healthy) and two cans of Campbells tomato soup. And four cans of evaporated milk.

The reason I bought these soups and the evaporated milk is because I got a book called "100 day pantry", with recipes from canned foods from the grocery store. Lots of rice dishes that DH would not eat and really only a handful of things that I would cook. I'm always looking for recipes to cook from my pantry. I'm a plain cook, meat and vegetables mostly, in a stir fry, soup or just on a plate. I've made corn bread muffins a couple of times lately, but I tend to eat too many, so I just avoid making them, that and biscuits too. I went several years without ever eating a biscuit and still don't eat them very often. I made biscuits from scratch earlier in the year and they turned out pretty good, but again I tend to eat too many. I purposely never learned to bake because I'd probably weight half again what I weigh now. All of my relatives that are good cooks are big big women.

God is good all the time,

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I looked for those Velveeta packets, yesterday, in two different stores. Nothing. I was disappointed. I went to Food Giant and Sam's. I have several blocks of Velveeta in my freezer, but wanted the single packets to make mac and cheese. I have a recipe to make homemade cheese sauce, so it really isn't a big deal if I can't find them. Will keep looking, though.

I was proud of myself, yesterday. It was our twice a month shopping day. I managed to go everywhere I normally go without buying a single thing for storage. I just bought what I had used out of my pantry over the last two weeks. I saved a lot of money, too! When your house and storage barn is bursting at the seams, it's time to stop adding, and just start using.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I looked for those Velveeta packets, yesterday, in two different stores. Nothing. I was disappointed. I went to Food Giant and Sam's. I have several blocks of Velveeta in my freezer, but wanted the single packets to make mac and cheese. I have a recipe to make homemade cheese sauce, so it really isn't a big deal if I can't find them. Will keep looking, though.

I was proud of myself, yesterday. It was our twice a month shopping day. I managed to go everywhere I normally go without buying a single thing for storage. I just bought what I had used out of my pantry over the last two weeks. I saved a lot of money, too! When your house and storage barn is bursting at the seams, it's time to stop adding, and just start using.

I just can't seem to help myself buying a few things here and there for storage. I use to get a brand of chili that DH likes for a dollar, the brand is Southgate. They are no where to be found. I bought a can of Clover Valley hoping I could use that brand to replenish what I've used of the Southgate. DH did not like it, his stomach just can't take much in the way of spices. The can of Clover Valley I had to add a can of beans and ground meat (pork) for him to be able to eat it. That helped.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I just can't seem to help myself buying a few things here and there for storage. I use to get a brand of chili that DH likes for a dollar, the brand is Southgate. They are no where to be found. I bought a can of Clover Valley hoping I could use that brand to replenish what I've used of the Southgate. DH did not like it, his stomach just can't take much in the way of spices. The can of Clover Valley I had to add a can of beans and ground meat (pork) for him to be able to eat it. That helped.

God is good all the time

Judy

I didn't think I could help myself, either. But, when things started spilling out into our floor space, because of a lack of not being able to put it anywhere else. I thought it was time to stop. Plus, for the last two months, I've been using money out of our cash emergency fund to stock up to the point where I am now. It is time for me to be concentrating more on building that fund back up than it is to buy more food. Believe me, it was hard, and the temptation was there to buy more stuff, yesterday.
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
It's a good thing I did all my shopping this morning. They changed our prediction of rain from Sally from 3 inches of rain to 6! I don't keep any extra of the old horses feed this time of year because it has such a high fat content, it molds. I went ahead and got him some more. If it rains that much we'll be flooded for awhile. Just an inconvenience. Hopefully the power will stay on, but at least it's cooled off.
Dh had eaten all of his junk food and started on mine. He didn't like my cookies so he fed them all to the dog. :bhd:
Off to plant rye grass seed, that usually guarantees that it won't rain for a month!
 

Digger

Veteran Member
Hubby went to the dr for blood work. He told the dr he still has issues with his blood pressure being low. He used to take 5 pills a day for it. He is taking 1 and 1/2 pills a day and it is normal at that dosage. He still has very little energy. The dr thinks he very well may have Covid-19. He said test were only 37% accurate. Hubby had stomach issues and low oxygen also when I took him to the ER. But he is still here and getting better slowly.

We went to Kroger. Lots of fresh meat today. Prices were noticablely higher, even sale prices. I mostly just replaced things we had used. But I did buy the last 2 cans of the brand of salmon i use. It was just under $5 a can. It is much higher in our little town.

I bought some more chicken feed. The scratch grain is back to the old formula. But they only had one bag of the lay pellets I prefer. They get more on Tuesday.

I went to the sheltered workshop that I like to use. The men and boys summer wear was on clearance. Saturday they will put out the fall men and boys clothing. I bought a few things for me and hubby. I also bought for the grandsons for next year. All clothing was $1. I like men's shirts just fine to work in around the farm. Women and girls goes on clearance next week.
 

amazon

Veteran Member
I ordered back up parts for my canners, 2 gaskets, a regulator, and a gauge. Also ordered a new chain for electric saw. I went to WM and bought 12 cans of generic salmon at 2,39 each. I wanted to buy it all....No pumpkin. Wish I'd bough more Sunday. I'm sorry, but going forward if it's there, and there aren't limits, I'm buying as much as I need. : )
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
How would you store the velvetta cheese sauce. It comes (obviously) in a plastic package. The best by date is less than a year. Any ideas on how to best store the packets would be appreciated.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
How would you store the velvetta cheese sauce. It comes (obviously) in a plastic package. The best by date is less than a year. Any ideas on how to best store the packets would be appreciated.

God is good all the time

Judy
Likely last longer if frozen
 
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