Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: September 8 ~ 14, 2019

ReneeT

Veteran Member
Good morning, All! Hope everyone is having a good day out there!

I woke up way before the alarm today, anxious to head to my last work day before vacation. Had plenty of time to lollygag around on the computer, so went in to work's scheduling app to put in for my vacation pay.... and discovered that I wasn't on the schedule for today. Called work to make certain, and it appears that my vacation started yesterday - woo hoo!! (And poor, poor Hubby - the Honey-do list is already 6 items long for today!)

The grandkids were here yesterday, but I managed to get some items organized in the pantry in spite of the help :lol: Stairs have been an issue since my knee surgery - guess I should have left well enough alone! - so Hubby has been doing most of the toting stuff downstairs type work. Nothing had been put on the shelves; it was all still in bags, waiting to be put away. I spent quite a while unbagging, sorting, dating, and rotating items into stock. Hubby got home from his shooting match in plenty of time to carry 12 boxes of home canned meat (chicken was on sale a couple weeks ago), peaches, and soup down to the long term pantry... and to carry up a box of way outdated items I found pushed to the back of a shelf - yup, somebody didn't rotate; oops! (Which led to me looking at can rotaters on Amazon for a while this morning... note to self; if using can rotaters, need 14" shelving.

Intermittent rain in the forecast for today, so we may work on cleaning inside the shed a bit more - won't be able to burn anything, but can at least get a pile made for tomorrow, and get the canning jars that are under the shed porch moved into one of the two store rooms in the shed. What else we do on the list is up in the air after that - maybe we will run down to Menards to look at shelving materials - the shelving boards will easily fit in the van since I don't like shelves higher than 6' (darn this gettin' old stuff, anyhow!!) so the rain won't be a problem.

Hubby has decided that he wants to move all of his reloading gear into the current storeroom - which means that the downstairs bedroom will be turned into the storeroom instead - after everything comes out, the carpet is ripped up, and the floor sealed. And if we are going to seal that floor, I need to put 'heavy metal screening' on the Menard's list as we will need to have the windows in that room open while we are sealing the floor, which means re-screening. The current screens are not mouse proof - and when it comes to mice, I'm like Mr. Jinks in the Pixie and Dixie cartoons - I hate meeces to pieces!! Maybe I'd better get some more peppermint oil while I'm out as well... Except it also deters snakes, and I'm a fan of snakes since they eat mice... decisions, decisions!!! Guess I'd better go find my shopping list and update it!

You folks all take care out there; stay safe!
 

Digger

Veteran Member
The bear came back. It was headed to my hives for the 5th time when I saw it in the yard. I was in the yard too! Hubby was in the process of opening the safe when the bear showed up again. Thank goodness his friend had loaned us a rifle. My sons American bulldog ran between me and the bear. She ran it up a tree in the yard. Hubby shot it. So that ended our bear story. Thank God!

The big hive is fine and storing honey. The split hive is still struggling. I would have lost it but I moved some capped brood from my untouched hive. Now my queen is back to laying so I am hopeful I can get them back up to speed.

We planted food plots for the wild life and more clover for the bees. Our clover has done really well. The white clover is still blooming. The bees have worked it all summer. It has been wet all summer and is just now getting really dry.

I canned a few tomatoes. I said I wasn't but hated to let them go to waste. I am trying to use up the extra since it is just hubby and I.

We bought propane for the next year. It was only 1.099 a gallon. We have not seen that price in over a decade.

I have a big list for the store. I want to get most of my staples for the month. We will see how that fits in hubby's plans.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Due to the hurricane, not much in the way of prepping got done. What we were able to do was test our preps. Result?

All worked. Needed a few more snacks, but everything worked just fine. Yes, we did have some discomfort due to lack of AC, but it wasn't bad. We have a few fans that we could hook to the generator ( if I got it started).

Issues:

I failed to drain the gas from the generator from before and it wouldn't start. I am now cleaning it up and getting it back to operations.

This week news: We are now at 4340 peppers for the season and the 3rd planter for the peppers is now on line. I didn't get any pictures of it yet.

The week's haul.......
 

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20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Here is the new garden all done but the topper for the blocks. We should begin to generate produce by June / July of next year.
 

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prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I had to get some art supplies at Walmart, so I picked up my normal 2 bags of flour and 2 bags of sugar. I also bought 10 more cans of potatoes (50 cents a can is the cheapest around here by far). This time they had sliced potatoes as well as the whole new potatoes, so I got some of those as well. Still no diced potatoes. I also bought 3 more boxes of pasta. I should be over there again later this week to get my second shingles shot and will get some more flour, sugar and pasta, and see what they have in potatoes after I check my shelves to see what I still need.
 

Digger

Veteran Member
We went to Walmart to get our staples for the month. They had several empty spaces on the shelf. I wanted the large size of our coffee, but they only had the small. I had peanut oil on my list. There was none at all in any brand or size. Weird. Those were the only two things I did not get. But there were many holes on the shelves. Maybe because it was Monday, but I don't know why no peanut oil.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I had to get some art supplies at Walmart, so I picked up my normal 2 bags of flour and 2 bags of sugar. I also bought 10 more cans of potatoes (50 cents a can is the cheapest around here by far). This time they had sliced potatoes as well as the whole new potatoes, so I got some of those as well. Still no diced potatoes. I also bought 3 more boxes of pasta. I should be over there again later this week to get my second shingles shot and will get some more flour, sugar and pasta, and see what they have in potatoes after I check my shelves to see what I still need.

I haven't been able to find diced potatoes at Walmart in a long time. I love using the diced for hash browns and in soups and stews. The only canned potatoes they have are whole potatoes and sliced potatoes. So, I buy the whole potatoes and dice them up myself.
 

Journey

Contributing Member
I was at WM yesterday and there were only a couple of bags of off brand flour and no cornmeal at all. Shelves totally bare. Same thing with any cooking oil - nothing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. I did get four bags of sugar though, those shelves were packed. And quite a few cans of soups, spaghetti sauce and fruits. There was quite a lot of name brand k-cups on clearance. I bought Gloria Jean’s butter toffee 18 ct. box for $7.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I haven't been to WM in a couple of weeks, so no clue what it is local. Try ordering from Walmart online, they often have things that might be out at the store.

Judy
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
We went to Walmart to get our staples for the month. They had several empty spaces on the shelf. I wanted the large size of our coffee, but they only had the small. I had peanut oil on my list. There was none at all in any brand or size. Weird. Those were the only two things I did not get. But there were many holes on the shelves. Maybe because it was Monday, but I don't know why no peanut oil.

My Walmart didn't have any peanut oil either. There was plenty of coconut and olive oil but the corn and vegetable oil was about half full. One entire shelf of bottled water was empty. The garden area where they usually have Halloween and Christmas decorations already out only had a few clearance garden items in it. They had marked down the fire ant killer and wasp spray I went after. Evidently somebody doesn't know we have the things year round.
They didn't have any ginger ale, but that's not unusual. The soup aisle looked like somebody had had a tantrum in it, items were strewn everywhere in no kind of order. I did finally find some of the soup I wanted. They only had 1 variety of the cat's new food and the entire cat food area was pretty bare.
 

Digger

Veteran Member
We just committed to buy half of a friends 1180 steer. We are just not happy with the store meat. Our Harps used to just carry prime cuts. Now they have select mixed in and it is a crap shoot as to what you get. We should be set for awhile.
 

prudentwatcher

Veteran Member
I bagged up 33 more packets of oatmeal in mylar w/oxy absorbers and stashed them away.

I also took care of that container of small sticks I gathered last week. Everything was broken down into manageable pieces and everything fit into a kitty litter bucket. This is the first of what I hope will be several containers of sticks. I ordered a little wood burning stove, much like a hobo stove, as a backup cooking source, and it should arrive by the end of the month. I will experiment when it arrives and see how much fuel it actually uses.
 

moldy

Veteran Member
Managed to get one photo album scanned in and copied to both print and USB.

Did any of you know that there is dessert hummus???? Mmmmm - just made some snickerdoodle to take to work tomorrow with some apples. Gotta love it when something tastes really yummy and is (at least somewhat) good for you.
 

Nancy in OK

Senior Member
I went to WM this morning. Empty shelves were everywhere. In the cooking oil aisle, I got the last gallon of peanut oil. Corn, canola and vegetable oil was completely gone. That area is 4-5 shelves about 6-8' long. Completely empty except for a few bottles of WM brand oil-like maybe 6 bottles in all that space. It has been like this the last few times I have gone in there. I haven't been able to find any angel hair pasta in months. Canned goods had a lot of bare spots. I am beginning to believe they are downsizing to only WM brand on food. We have a pretty big store. They had 2 cashiers in front!!! There are probably 20 cashier checkout. Over 1/2 or close to it have changed to self checkout. WM is going to lose this customer if I have to self checkout!
 

Digger

Veteran Member
We went to the packing plant and gave instructions on how to package our beef. We also bought a chest freezer and it was delivered yesterday. I think we are cutting hay today. I hope my buyers come get it off the field. But hubby made a hay platform for the tractor to stack bales on. It is really just a big pallet. But it makes my hauling much easier. He can raise it up to the stack in the barn where I need to place them. We just used a regular pallet last cutting and it worked good. This one will hold more bales.
 
I just had to chime in to add that although I vary my shopping between several large stores, I am not finding the empty shelves that you friends are writing about. Rarely is there a product that is down to only a few cans. I suppose the prices are rising, but no shortages where I shop. (I don't shop at WM....it's too huge a store for this old lady to navigate!)

Yes, I am sure that given a little more time, shortages will be more evident...hence, I
am doing some still doing some stocking up...especially a bit extra for my family who cannot do this, for one reason or another.
 

ivantherussian03

Veteran Member
A busy summer is ending. I met my goal and replanted 160 trees, all spruce trees. Hopefully they will grow and anchor the top soil on the hill. I replaced the windows in my house. Business has been good this year. I got halibut at the coast, for fish and chips....yum yum yummy! I packed 30 salmon and plenty of moose. Garden is fabulous, expecting excellent potato harvest, along with onions, squash, and cabbage. Next is smoking meat. I wish winter could hurry up.
 
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