12 pages of complaints about how food prices are going up?
Stop yowing about prices going up and do something to provide for your family!
Start canning, drying and freezing food right now.
Start stocking up on jars immediately - when you do you weekly shopping put in a case of quart jars and a case of pint jars. Repeat every time you go shopping. Start saving glass jars from things like pasta sauce - they're great for putting aside dried foods.
If you don't already have a dehydrator it's time to find one on Craigslist or buy one new. Here are two sources of the one I use.
http://www.harvestessentials.com/excalibur.html?gclid=CNqx7u2y174CFZRcfgodSEMAXg&ad=13171016416
http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/dehydrators?gclid=CKCZoP2y174CFQWTfgodhJQANw
At the same time invest in Mary Bell's dehydrating books, they are worth their weight in gold.
http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Bells-Co...&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Mary+Ellen+Dehydrating
Be ready to buy in wholesale amounts and put it by for your family.
Ask around and go out for a Sunday drive to see what you can buy direct from the farmers and farm stores. We get tree fruit from our UPS driver lady who lives on a fruit farm. We get tomatoes and zucchini about ten miles away and apples by the bin (900 lbs for $90) and invite everyone over for a grand squeezing, apple buttering and canning session.
It takes time and work and talking to everyone to find the bargains that make this worthwhile. It also takes time and energy - but the truth is you cannot get the quality and the quantity that you will need buying tin cans at Krogers or Walmart.
About the only exception is the tomato sauce that goes on sale for 35 cents a can, or especially the Hunts sauces, the big cans for around 79 cents. I've tried and cannot beat those prices. It is also a good idea to stock up on cans of beans and peas and corn when they come on case lot prices of around 50 cents a can. Since fruit doesn't go that low canning your own peaches, apricots, apples or other fruits is well worth your time and money.
If you don't know how to can and pressure cook food, this is the time to learn. Buy the Ball Blue book
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...&sr=1-1&keywords=ball+blue+book&condition=new
Amazon is crazy expensive on this - go to Wal-Mart where it is usually around $6.
There are classes springing up everywhere from Manhattan and Queens right on down to the small towns - go and learn how to produce those lovely rich looking jars filled with food you can hardly wait to eat. This year is the one to see if you can put aside enough fruits and vegetables to carry you through the inevitable rough times this winter.
Fruits and vegetables are all well and good but you need protein, too. This is where learning to pressure cook food is essential. Once you've mastered the pressure canner and realize it is safe and easy to use, you can put up all kinds of food to tide you through hard times. You can put up soups, plain chicken, chicken in sauce - we do chicken in chili Verdi and a couple of tomatoes for a quick meal when we don't have time to really cook. You can put up pork in chili and even actual chili and beans. Buy dried beans even if they are over $1 a lb and can them - instant salad makings or chili or even a side dish .
The point is that the more you have stocked up, the more time and attention and thought you put into getting ahead of the zooming prices, the better the future will look.
And before anyone pulls the sad face and says oh no I don't have any money or any time - well I don't have it either. You have the choice and the responsibility to either be proactive or to sit back and whine.
Someone on this board, I think, told the story of two couples talking, and one couple commented on the other people's stores of essentials.
"Well, I know where I'm coming when things get bad."
The man of the house said "Not unless you know the magic passwords."
The couple asked what the magic words would be?
"I'm bringing my own food." The gentleman replied. "Only then will the doors open."
You'd better have your own supplies - the free food pantries are running so low they can't take care of the people already on their lists. Food stamps have gone up in amount, but not enough to take care of the raises in prices. Think how many posts there are about Krogers and Wal-Mart and other stores not having anything in stock - empty shelves, no meat in the meat section.
Now get busy and good luck!
Stop yowing about prices going up and do something to provide for your family!
Start canning, drying and freezing food right now.
Start stocking up on jars immediately - when you do you weekly shopping put in a case of quart jars and a case of pint jars. Repeat every time you go shopping. Start saving glass jars from things like pasta sauce - they're great for putting aside dried foods.
If you don't already have a dehydrator it's time to find one on Craigslist or buy one new. Here are two sources of the one I use.
http://www.harvestessentials.com/excalibur.html?gclid=CNqx7u2y174CFZRcfgodSEMAXg&ad=13171016416
http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/dehydrators?gclid=CKCZoP2y174CFQWTfgodhJQANw
At the same time invest in Mary Bell's dehydrating books, they are worth their weight in gold.
http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Bells-Co...&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=Mary+Ellen+Dehydrating
Be ready to buy in wholesale amounts and put it by for your family.
Ask around and go out for a Sunday drive to see what you can buy direct from the farmers and farm stores. We get tree fruit from our UPS driver lady who lives on a fruit farm. We get tomatoes and zucchini about ten miles away and apples by the bin (900 lbs for $90) and invite everyone over for a grand squeezing, apple buttering and canning session.
It takes time and work and talking to everyone to find the bargains that make this worthwhile. It also takes time and energy - but the truth is you cannot get the quality and the quantity that you will need buying tin cans at Krogers or Walmart.
About the only exception is the tomato sauce that goes on sale for 35 cents a can, or especially the Hunts sauces, the big cans for around 79 cents. I've tried and cannot beat those prices. It is also a good idea to stock up on cans of beans and peas and corn when they come on case lot prices of around 50 cents a can. Since fruit doesn't go that low canning your own peaches, apricots, apples or other fruits is well worth your time and money.
If you don't know how to can and pressure cook food, this is the time to learn. Buy the Ball Blue book
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...&sr=1-1&keywords=ball+blue+book&condition=new
Amazon is crazy expensive on this - go to Wal-Mart where it is usually around $6.
There are classes springing up everywhere from Manhattan and Queens right on down to the small towns - go and learn how to produce those lovely rich looking jars filled with food you can hardly wait to eat. This year is the one to see if you can put aside enough fruits and vegetables to carry you through the inevitable rough times this winter.
Fruits and vegetables are all well and good but you need protein, too. This is where learning to pressure cook food is essential. Once you've mastered the pressure canner and realize it is safe and easy to use, you can put up all kinds of food to tide you through hard times. You can put up soups, plain chicken, chicken in sauce - we do chicken in chili Verdi and a couple of tomatoes for a quick meal when we don't have time to really cook. You can put up pork in chili and even actual chili and beans. Buy dried beans even if they are over $1 a lb and can them - instant salad makings or chili or even a side dish .
The point is that the more you have stocked up, the more time and attention and thought you put into getting ahead of the zooming prices, the better the future will look.
And before anyone pulls the sad face and says oh no I don't have any money or any time - well I don't have it either. You have the choice and the responsibility to either be proactive or to sit back and whine.
Someone on this board, I think, told the story of two couples talking, and one couple commented on the other people's stores of essentials.
"Well, I know where I'm coming when things get bad."
The man of the house said "Not unless you know the magic passwords."
The couple asked what the magic words would be?
"I'm bringing my own food." The gentleman replied. "Only then will the doors open."
You'd better have your own supplies - the free food pantries are running so low they can't take care of the people already on their lists. Food stamps have gone up in amount, but not enough to take care of the raises in prices. Think how many posts there are about Krogers and Wal-Mart and other stores not having anything in stock - empty shelves, no meat in the meat section.
Now get busy and good luck!
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