Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: June 19 ~ 25, 2022

When I was helping with commodities, they handed out recipes once telling how to make gravy with the juices in the can, adding the pork and serving over rice, pasta or mashed potatoes.

Uh-Oh - daughter just sent me a text asking me if I'm awake and caffeinated.

Could be worse, I guess - she didn't ask for bail money

I started a pot of coffee before I sent her a text back asking "Do I have to think, or do something physical?" I'm hoping it's think, because I woke up twice today with nuclear powered Charlie Horses in both legs. Note to self - see if Hubby has magnesium in his med cabinet.

I hit three different stores this morning looking for boneless/skinless chicken thighs for the cat - nada. I did finally find a majorly overpriced 6 ct package with bones/skin, so threw it in the cart. That was my third store trip looking for chicken in the past 10 days. I have several cases of home canned (no salt) but would rather hold those back, just in case. I did pick up some canned cat food at both the Evil Empire and Rural King, so I don't think the cats are going to starve...

Looks like I have to pick up the grandsons and grand-dog tomorrow morning, and keep them for a few days; daughter is going on a trip. Guess I can check the Evil Empire in her town for chicken since I'm going that direction anyway. I don't have to be back to work until Monday evening, so maybe I can get a few things done here at home - other than keeping the hummingbird feeders filled and watering the garden; those are my two biggies. I do have to run the boys to town on Saturday - their great Uncle is taking them to a 'Jakes Event' which apparently has something to do with turkeys and hunting, so I will be able to get some things done in the yard and gardens as they will be gone for a good part of the day. I think I'm going to have to give up and hook up the sprinkler to water the gardens - hate to because then I'll have to till to keep the weeds down in between the rows. If I just water the rows/plants, I can do a little bit of hoeing and be done. I just don't have time to water on the days I work - I don't have energy enough left when I get home from work those mornings, and having to get up early to get it done takes away from my sleep time.

Well, Hubby's home so I'm going to chat with him for a bit; then head back to bed - you folks all take care out there - stay safe!

I found out some years back that if you tape bubble wrap over a window...it will keep heat in during the winter and heat out in the summer...I have a window in a hall in this old house..and I put bubble wrap over it..from the wood to the wood not just on the glass and it really works..not hot in the summer or cold in the winter.
There is a blind over the bubble wrap

I forgot to add that Repels-Al ...works DH put it around the garden fence and no more ground hogs in the garden

hd5574 said:

I found out some years back that if you tape bubble wrap over a window...it will keep heat in during the winter and heat out in the summer...I have a window in a hall in this old house..and I put bubble wrap over it..from the wood to the wood not just on the glass and it really works..not hot in the summer or cold in the winter.
There is a blind over the bubble wrap

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you can also place clear plastic wrap over the entire window - they sell heat shrinky-dink kits for the purpose - before the final sealing across the top fill the void with styrofoam peanuts >>> dynamite insulation and you still get light thru the window .....

Watering and gathering cucumbers from the gardens this morning. I'll be able to make a nice cucumber salad with them tonight. Going to be another hot and dry day. Cary added another rain barrel and 3 #10 washtubs to our rain catchment system set up on the back deck this morning to go along with the 2 rain barrels and 650gal water tank. We have more plastic 55gal barrels he is working to add, also. For the most part, these additions will be used only for watering the gardens, but can be used through our Berkey if we have to. In a SHTF situation water is our weakest link in our overall preps. I wish we could afford to have a well bored, but no one around here does that anymore, plus the cost is outrageous to hire a company far off to come in and do it. We have a creek down at the bottom of the ridge that we live on. I guess that and the rain catchment system is our only backup plan for water. I don't cherish the thought of having to haul water in buckets uphill from the creek down below, though. I can't imagine doing that as we get older and in this heat! Will be praying for lots of rain to keep all those tubs and barrels filled.

Levi and I dug some of the taters in the cabin yard and they came up good. Little reds.
Neighbor kid came down to play and enjoys going out to garden and picking stuff to eat and watching things he helped plant, to grow and produce.
Watering every morning and evening. We're in a semi drought.
I'm really surprised that all of what I planted in cabin yard and fence is doing so well. Hubs said on a cooler day he would dig me out a square plot in front of coop, to plant in.

Oh boy. Took break from cleaning and see Roe was overturned. We are supposed to go to the big city tomorrow for son's wedding. His wife actually is having it held in warehouse part of an LGBTQ bookstore.
Omg.

Wanderlore - will be praying for you! Be careful!

I agree the shrink wrap kits work..
But have gotten tons of bubble wrap free in packages.
So for those who would rather due free...bubble wrap works.

SouthernBreeze said:

Watering and gathering cucumbers from the gardens this morning. I'll be able to make a nice cucumber salad with them tonight. Going to be another hot and dry day. Cary added another rain barrel and 3 #10 washtubs to our rain catchment system set up on the back deck this morning to go along with the 2 rain barrels and 650gal water tank. We have more plastic 55gal barrels he is working to add, also. For the most part, these additions will be used only for watering the gardens, but can be used through our Berkey if we have to. In a SHTF situation water is our weakest link in our overall preps. I wish we could afford to have a well bored, but no one around here does that anymore, plus the cost is outrageous to hire a company far off to come in and do it. We have a creek down at the bottom of the ridge that we live on. I guess that and the rain catchment system is our only backup plan for water. I don't cherish the thought of having to haul water in buckets uphill from the creek down below, though. I can't imagine doing that as we get older and in this heat! Will be praying for lots of rain to keep all those tubs and barrels filled.

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I feel the same way about hauling water. A few years back I bought a wagon with wheels for going over less than desirable turain. Even with that a lot of the movement would be hilly. I'm just not too sure I can do it nowadays. We do have several (maybe 10) of the icb totes, one is painted dark and is designated for potable water and I have a burkey. I do have and rotate a decent supply of bottled water, but that will only go so far.

The new water heater has to come out because its leaking somewhere. And he just turned the damn thing on yesterday, but it was already leaking before that. He did replace the floor under it and once out can easily replace that if necessary.

My friends that have been sick got tested yesterday and it was negative, but they were told that it might not be accurate. They got lots of meds to help clear up whatever they had. We are still hanging in there, feel a lot better and I am having normal allergy issues.

All of the canned foods at wm.com is still on pick up only. I did catch a few things yesterday including a canister of gatoraide thats in and out of stock.

nomifyle said:

I feel the same way about hauling water. A few years back I bought a wagon with wheels for going over less than desirable turain. Even with that a lot of the movement would be hilly. I'm just not too sure I can do it nowadays. We do have several (maybe 10) of the icb totes, one is painted dark and is designated for potable water and I have a burkey. I do have and rotate a decent supply of bottled water, but that will only go so far.

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We have a garden wagon on wheels, too. We could just use the paved road in front of our house to get to the bridge down below our house, but it would still be a huge chore to get down to the water under the bridge to fill up the buckets. I don't think I would be able to pull that wagon with buckets filled with water back up the hill right now, not to mention if I was older. Cary probably can still do it now, but........I do keep cases and cases of bottled water in the pantry room.

Ladies, you can pull the wagon with a riding mower with a small load of water, or as much as you want with a full size tractor.
After Hugo, I had 33 horses to water in 90+ degree heat. I scrubbed out trash cans as well as I could, loaded them in the back of the truck, and bucket bailed water out of the pond. One of the 70 year old ladies in the neighborhood carried water from the tanker that the NG brought in, in milk jugs for her cows, for several days until somebody noticed what she was doing, A huge tree had crushed her car and she said she didn't want to bother anybody. Some of the local farmers already had a livestock water delivery system going, so they just added her to the route.
You'd be amazed what you can do when you don't have any choice.

I finally remembered to replace the battery operated fans that died last summer. The 5 hour power outage last week helped!
They've been tested and put away until needed.

Marseydoats said:

Ladies, you can pull the wagon with a riding mower with a small load of water, or as much as you want with a full size tractor.
After Hugo, I had 33 horses to water in 90+ degree heat. I scrubbed out trash cans as well as I could, loaded them in the back of the truck, and bucket bailed water out of the pond. One of the 70 year old ladies in the neighborhood carried water from the tanker that the NG brought in, in milk jugs for her cows, for several days until somebody noticed what she was doing, A huge tree had crushed her car and she said she didn't want to bother anybody. Some of the local farmers already had a livestock water delivery system going, so they just added her to the route.
You'd be amazed what you can do when you don't have any choice.

I finally remembered to replace the battery operated fans that died last summer. The 5 hour power outage last week helped!
They've been tested and put away until needed.

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You're right! I don't know why I didn't think of that. Cary pulls that wagon behind the lawn tractor all the time. Getting the buckets filled, and back up a steep embankment to the wagon will still be a problem, unless we can clear another path. That's totally possible.

My daughter headed out to the St. Louis airport this morning to catch a flight to Denver; I was about sick with worry until she called me a bit ago and was off the plane and out of the Denver area - she said no 'rage' other than normal STL traffic. She's only going to be gone 3 days, so then I get to worry about her coming back in to St. Louis... I did my best to hide my worry from the grandsons, but they've already called me on being grumpy once, so I'm just going to try to chill.

For emergency use water, I have a 1000 gallon tank that the rain water from one area of our machine shed drains into. I also use this water in my canners as it is soft water and not likely to mess the canners or jars up. The water is not filtered as it goes in to the tank, but the water is usually clear - no trees nearby for nesting birds, etc.. I do boil the water before I use it in the canners; and will do the same for drinking water. I have materials for a double bucket secondary strainer that will sit on one of the IBC totes; and then the Berkey comes into play after that. I was raised on cistern water - and we'd occasionally have to have water hauled in - it's certain that we would have had to do that this year if we relied on a cistern. Our household water currently comes from a rural water cooperative water tower that is about 6 miles from our home. I'm not sure how much pressure there would be; if it would push the water that far... If TSHTF, I will first fill my water bobs, leave Hubby at home filling jars, then head to the nearby state park camping area that is on a different tower and fill all my 5 gallon water jugs. I'm not a fan of bottled water, so I rotate the cases through daughter's house; I keep about 10 cases on hand at home. I also have some water 'canned' - I put in a jar of water if I don't have enough jars of food to fill a canner. I often re-use a lid when I do this - there is a local Amish trick to bring the lids to a boil with a spoonful of baking soda to 'freshen' the sealing compound. I figure if the water doesn't seal, it's no big deal; and if it does, I'll have sterile water for various uses beyond drinking - wound care, etc.. I also saw an interesting water harvesting thing on line that is a box with a piece of glass on top - it is supposed to collect water by condensation; I didn't have time to finish the video so need to look a little farther in to it. I have a large, square stainless steel pan we used for pressing cider, that has a spout on it that can be opened and closed; plus a piece of glass from an old picture window...hmmm

I left for daughter's house early this morning to pick up the boys, so had time to hit Wal Mart before I went to her house. I finally found boneless skinless chicken thighs - there were 6 packages; and I will admit that I grabbed three of them that were between 4-5 pounds each. I'm going to run them all through the crock pot; and freeze containers for the cat. And the humans - I cook and can or freeze them to human standards so that we can use them in an emergent situation. Or a non-emergent one I've been known to use the cooked chicken thighs for chicken Alfredo, chicken and noodles, chicken biscuit stew, chicken salad... Dang, I'm starting to sound like Bubba in Forrest Gump

Middle grandson decided he wanted to cook something, so we make BBQ meatballs, green beans with potatoes, corn, and corn bread - the whole pan of corn bread disappeared, but there are a few leftovers - enough for Hubby to take in his lunch tomorrow, and maybe enough for my lunch as well. I don't know what he is going to want to cook on Sunday

I have to have the boys back in town at 0700 to drop them off at their Great Uncle's for the day so they can go do 'guy stuff'; the other grandpa just had surgery and Hubby works tomorrow so Uncle stepped in, bless his heart! After I drop them off, I will probably zip over to Wal-Mart since I need a new sprinkler, and will see if they have more chicken in stock. If so, I'll see if I can get enough to run 7 quarts through the canner. The feral cat also likes the salmon and whitefish canned cat food 'pate'; I wonder, if I put a trot line in the lake, would I get some type of fish I could cook or can for her... Catfish are common to catch on trot lines; and you also get the occasional carp on the line. I clean and cook catfish, but haven't done anything with carp other than throw 'em back in the lake.

Well, I think I'm going to go prop my feet up and read a Kindle Unlimited book that popped up on my tablet - probably need to run these boys through the tub as well.

Take care all; stay safe out there!

You can also get a gasoline engine, trash pump it has a small engine like chainsaw....it has 2 hoses .. put one in the water and fill your containers with the other hose.. we have one that we used to empty big mud puddles on a dirt woods road years ago

You can just as easily pump water to a container with them. Had a friend who watered his garden that way, he pumped water from the creek to containers in the back of his pickup.

DH said Northern tool mostly likely has one cheap. You can use a long hose to get the.water up the hill to the containers... best to have containers with some type of lid to keep the water from sloshing out.

I didn't even think about the wagon that DH has for his lawn mower, plus he has a tractor.

DH drained the new hot water heater into the bath tub. Its was only slightly warm but I jumped in (standing Up) and got a good bath and washed my hair. I have to be careful not to fall but DH put up a couple of grab bars and has two more to put in the tub area. This shows me I could easily take a shower, getting in and out of the tub is getting harder and harder. The water was not very clear but I bathed in it any way. But by the time the tub was full from the hot water heater it was pretty funky, I think that must have come from the hose he was using.

I called the manufasturer and got an authorization to exchange the hot water heater, DH took it right away, 100 mile round trip. He wants to get it in this weekend. I'm going to ask him to set it a little higher than 90 degrees, that's barely luke.

I placed an order at wm.com for 35 dollars and its coming in four boxes, they are losing money that way. Still no canned food though.

Boys had the first 4 strawberries that were ready!
Their friend was over so I had him pull some potatoes for me, and he made two loaves of fresh bread all by himself. I just told him each step. He's 9. He has a few vegs growing here he planted. This is stuff he isn't likely to get at home. He really enjoys all the homestead stuff so the 3 boys have plenty fun.
He is very picky eater. But our deal is he has to try something new every day. He is really enjoying eating the peas and other stuff he planted himself.
We have wagons and hydrants and a hand pump at one well. I have water stored too. Plus berkey and other filters. Thats my concern for the animals, water.
We must traverse many miles into a large liberal city, right into downtown, tomorrow for the wedding. Right near courthouse, 2 blocks from an abortion mill. They took the deal of using the warehouse as it was offered in place of other venue that closed. That or lose the money.
Son wants me to have a little dance for everyone with him, in a cowboy hat, to Garth Brooks. Oh boy. I'll have to load up on tylenol.
Everyone stay safe and watch yer 6.

Slow and steady continues for me here …..
I have ordered a few things off Amazon that have been on my lists for awhile - new tennis shoes (not really a true need yet, but price was good, and I’ve been walking daily so will be nice to have another in rotation), new underwear, and another power bank charger to have.

Each time I go to the grocery store, I pick up a few extras.

My dollar tree/dollar general list is getting longer for the next time I go to one.

I got up with a really bad headache this morning. It must be the heat. We're keeping the house cool with the ac, but it's still hot, hot, hot.....when you have to go outside. I got up, and took a shower this morning, did a bit of house cleaning, washed a load of laundry, and hung them on the line. When I came back in the house from hanging them out, I was already wet from sweat all over again. It sun dried my hair, though, LOL.

I've got a running list for my Walmart and Sam's shopping. I keep it on my kitchen counter. I'm always "adding to and taking away from" it over a 2 week period based on needs and/or priorities. I can't think of any new food items I want to add to the pantry. I'm just continuing to stock up on things I already have. Things we eat more of, I add more, things we eat less of, I buy less. I try to always keep a balance.

We haven't been to Sam's in over a month. Cary has a reason to go into big town after payday, so we'll be going there as well. I also want to stop in at the big farm and ranch place to pick up all new garden seed for next year. I still don't like the fact that Sam's won't deliver parts of my order, so when I do get a chance to go, I'll try to stock up more on those things I know they refuse to deliver, or have in the past. I don't order enough from Walmart to worry about them not delivering. I go there every 2 weeks anyway. I just get what I need then.

I was talking to Cary about having to go down to the creek to get water, using the lawn tractor to pull the wagon. He laughed, and said that if we're in bad enough shape to have to go to the creek for water, we probably won't have any gas left on hand for the lawn tractor. Our supply will be depleted by then..........If it gets bad enough for us not to have water, we won't have the means to get gas, either.

eta......Cary and I were also talking about the possibility of the country getting locked down again this fall and winter due to several different factors. Monkeypox, civil unrest, Covid, something else the government comes up with, etc.....Are any of you making any special plans for that possibility? Anything differently than the last time we were locked down? Lessons learned?

DH got the newest hot water heater in and installed. The other one was set at 90 degrees and the water was luke. This time he set it at 105. that should work, but we'll see. I am kinda getting tired of boiling water to wash dishes, but I will if I have to. It hardly took him any time to get it done, practice makes perfect.

I've got a couple of loads of clothes I need to get done, still trying to head Helen's warnings. Even if by some chance nothing happens its still a good idea to have things in order.

We actually had a few rain drops yesterday, I went running through the house yelling its raining, its raining. Barely enough to wet the front walk, but it was rain.

We seem to be eating the same thing all the time because I'm not using up much. For the 21 days I didn't turn on the central ac we ate mostly cold stuff. I cooked a whole pound of elbow macaroni and had several cold pasta salads, mostly with fresh tomato and a small can of chicken with ranch dressing. Dh wouldn't eat it and he had pb&j and hot dogs and eggs. Now that the house is pleasant I need to do better about his food.

One thing we got in commodities that was unusual was diced potatoes. Up until a year or so ago I'd never used them (not being a potato person), but some one mentioned them and I bought some (a lot) and they are great to add to things and DH said they'd be good to fry, so I hid them. Come to think of it a can of diced potatoes and a can of mixed vegetables (not the kind with celery in it) would make a nice side dish.

I haven't really talked to DH about the possibility of our running out of water, he tried a few years back to drill a well, so to speak, with well point in three different places and he didn't get much. My mother always said that my great grandparents could never get a good well back here. There is a creek in the woods across the road, but we've never been back in there. I did when I was little, we'd play back there and we were always cautioned to watch out for snakes. That's probably why in the almost 12 years that I've lived here that I haven't gone there. That and that I'm really a city girl and am afraid to go deep in the woods. I always thought I was a country girl until I actually moved back to the country, haha.

We haven't been to sams in several years, there was really nothing there that I couldn't get anywhere else except a case of Perrier in the glass bottles, at a decent price. Maybe a couple of years ago a friend picked me up a couple of cases and I still have one left. There is actually enough fizz left to help with an upset stomach. Last week when I went to walmart they actually had two cases of 12 bottles of Topo Chico, I bought both cases. I'd not seen cases of bottles in a couple of years. It is also great for an upset stomach or just a treat to drink.

I use the canned diced potatoes to make potato salad.

Judy, there is one thing that Cary absolutely loves and that is fried potatoes. I stay stocked up on cans of diced potatoes just for that purpose. I drain all the liquid out, and pour them out in a frying pan with a little bacon grease, and brown them up a bit. It doesn't take long at all, and he has his fried diced potatoes. Sometimes, just before the potatoes are completely done, I'll add some chopped onions to them. I also like the canned diced potatoes to use in soups and other recipes that call for diced potatoes.

Barb and SB...great ideas for canned diced potatoes. .saves work, time and energy...

hd5574 said:

Barb and SB...great ideas for canned diced potatoes. .saves work, time and energy...

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The fried potatoes I mentioned is my favorite method of making hash browns. I have lots of the dehydrated hash browns, but we like these better. They also make a great ground beef hash, since we don't like store bought canned corned beef hash.

nomifyle said:

Helen's warnings

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Are you talking about Monkeypox, Judy, or something I've missed?

SouthernBreeze said:

Are you talking about Monkeypox, Judy, or something I've missed?

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I was wondering the same thing. Thank you for asking.

Also, now adding some diced potatoes to my list.

Have I mentioned I love this section of the board?

SouthernBreeze said:

Are you talking about Monkeypox, Judy, or something I've missed?

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nothing in particular, I don't remember her warning about monkeypox. I just support her but don't always get what she is saying. do you know what she said about monkeypox?

I've just headed her warnings about number of days, or trying to anyway, what with two hot water heaters going out, its hard to keep up, plus I'm always tired.

nomifyle said:

nothing in particular, I don't remember her warning about monkeypox. I just support her but don't always get what she is saying. do you know what she said about monkeypox?

I've just headed her warnings about number of days, or trying to anyway, what with two hot water heaters going out, its hard to keep up, plus I'm always tired.

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The only posts that I've seen her make, since she's been back is in the monkeypox thread, but I don't go all over the forum. I thought I might have missed something else she said somewhere else. She just posts a lot of tweets in that thread, but I don't consider them warnings of any kind.

I love the canned diced potatoes, I use them for my creamy vegetable soup.

I finally managed to get back to a spot where I thought I saw mulberry trees a couple of years ago. They are mulberries, and there are a lot of them. It’s down along the river, and it doesn’t appear that anyone has been down there. Used to be a homeless encampment in that area, so I made hubby go with me, but we didn’t see anyone. Picked a couple of quarts of berries, no more til I figure out what I want to do with them. Has anyone made jam with them?

skwentnaflyer said:

I finally managed to get back to a spot where I thought I saw mulberry trees a couple of years ago. They are mulberries, and there are a lot of them. It’s down along the river, and it doesn’t appear that anyone has been down there. Used to be a homeless encampment in that area, so I made hubby go with me, but we didn’t see anyone. Picked a couple of quarts of berries, no more til I figure out what I want to do with them. Has anyone made jam with them?

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They make excellent jam or jelly. We prefer jelly, only because of the seeds in jam.

SouthernBreeze said:

They make excellent jam or jelly. We prefer jelly, only because of the seeds in jam.

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There are certainly a lot of seeds. I made a batch of muffins and they came out pretty good

skwentnaflyer said:

There are certainly a lot of seeds. I made a batch of muffins and they came out pretty good

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I have a huge mulberry tree in my backyard that was loaded with mulberries this year. I didn't get a single one, because a bunch of coons raided the tree overnight! Stripped it almost bare of berries. Birds got the rest.

SisterIL got here and is settling in. BIL/SIL/neice also came to help. It was so nice to see everyone. I ended up needing to get IV fluids on Friday due to just feeling bad; I feel slightly better now, but eating and drinking is a challenge. I would appreciate continued prayers. I keep thinking "If I can just get thru the next 3 weeks (last week of radiation, and 2 weeks post), I'll start feeling better."

praying for you dear Moldy.

Praying for you moldy!

I’m praying for you moldy!

Prayers offered for you, Moldy; I hope you are able to get some good rest!

Made it to the city and back well.
Almost no traffic and downtown was all but deserted.
My son and I pranked the wedding lol.
He called me up to the dance floor for the mom and groom dance.
I hobbled up, way bent over, with my cane, slow.
Everyone was saying oh poor thing..
Then I tossed my cane to my grandson and put on my hat and son and I boogied to Garth Brooks lol.. everyone loved it!