What have you done to prep today?

[Nickelless]

I was sure as shootin' that someone had already rekindled this thread from the old site, but I don't see it. So to kick things off...

I've got my second 8-pound batch of frozen carrots in the past two days dehydrating at this moment, plus I'm cooking about a pound and a half of bacon to strain the fat and store it in a mason jar until further cooking notice. I've only got about a pint of strained bacon grease saved up at the moment (this is only the third batch of bacon I've done since I started straining and saving the fat), but I just found packages of bacon end pieces for about $5 for a 3-pound bag at Walmart, and given the potency of bacon grease in livening up food (and storing very well), I decided I'd get a couple packages and cook it up primarily for the grease, then crumble the bacon itself up and freeze it for later use. It looks like I'm yielding about a half-pint of strained grease per pound of bacon.

I haven't tried straining other oils yet because the only other oil I normally use is olive oil, and I typically use just enough to fry up whatever I cook (usually salmon patties). Are any of you guys straining and saving fats?

EDIT: I figured while I'd already had the prep work in place, I might as well go ahead and cook the whole 3-pound package of bacon. I'm ending up with probably a little over a pint and a half of strained grease (that's a half-pint jar in the photo above), plus two quart-sized freezer bags of cooked bacon that I'm sticking in the freezer for now.

[PreservingThePast]

How are you planning on storing this so it doesn't get rancid???

Back in the day, when I got married one of the gifts from my mom to help set up our household was a coffee can container of bacon drippings for seasoning.

However, it had to be kept in the refrigerator to keep it from going rancid.

In today's world, no bacon grease for me. Too many preservatives for my health. Anaphylactic(SP?) shock isn't worth it!!!

Good luck!

[Nickelless]

How are you planning on storing this so it doesn't get rancid???

Back in the day, when I got married one of the gifts from my mom to help set up our household was a coffee can container of bacon drippings for seasoning.

However, it had to be kept in the refrigerator to keep it from going rancid.

In today's world, no bacon grease for me. Too many preservatives for my health. Anaphylactic(SP?) shock isn't worth it!!!

Good luck!

Welp, I've got three test jars--one in the freezer, one in the fridge and one in my cool, dark, undisclosed location with Dick Cheney, er, I mean the basement! Of course, the basement is the wild card, but I'm thinking that with the lid on tight and no light and cool temps, the grease in the basement should be OK. I'll give it about six months and then check it out.

Sorry you can't have bacon grease, PTP! I'll eat some for you!

[PreservingThePast]

How are you planning on storing this so it doesn't get rancid???

Back in the day, when I got married one of the gifts from my mom to help set up our household was a coffee can container of bacon drippings for seasoning.

However, it had to be kept in the refrigerator to keep it from going rancid.

In today's world, no bacon grease for me. Too many preservatives for my health. Anaphylactic(SP?) shock isn't worth it!!!

Good luck!

Welp, I've got three test jars--one in the freezer, one in the fridge and one in my cool, dark, undisclosed location with Dick Cheney, er, I mean the basement! Of course, the basement is the wild card, but I'm thinking that with the lid on tight and no light and cool temps, the grease in the basement should be OK. I'll give it about six months and then check it out.

Sorry you can't have bacon grease, PTP! I'll eat some for you!

Nickelless.......please do!!! There was a time that I could not cook most vegetables without my bacon grease for seasoning. (For being Yankee born, but raised in the south, I sure took to Southern Cooking.) Loved my BLT sandwiches, too. The prospects of ever having to use an EpiPen on myself cured me of that. Let us know how the grease holds up from the basement. I think once you unfreeze the one in the freezer and put it in the fridge it may need to be used sooner than just a normally refrigerated can. We just always kept it in the fridge and added more grease on top as we cooked it out of bacon.

[Copper Catcher]

Nickelless I'm worried about you and all those carrots and bacon grease ...

In all seriousness I applaud you for trying to think and out think, and generally be prepared for all situations. But do you think you might be overdoing it a bit?

At what point do you put the preparation hat down and just focus on here and now?

I'm not slamming you in any way and by far you are probably the best prepared person I am aware of.

Also there are times I have that gut feeling, oh no probably don't have enough X on hand like I should. But then I stop myself and say: Ok, but without it would I really be fine...The answer most times is yes...

Being prepared is always a good thing but that is only half the battle...

[Rosco]

I agree With CC We have some preps, but getting ready for a three month trip to the Sun in small motor home leave Dec 16.
All the stuff in storage at home will not help If we can't get back
We are good for two weeks when the water tank is full, and mobile as we fill the tank to stay in the top 3/4 of fuel
Still looking at the battery fuel pump with 30 ft hoses do not have room to store it

We will run for home if financial mess gets going an hope to get by with $1,500 cash to buy fuel
Add to the stack when you can an be alert.

Peace to All

[Nickelless]

John and Rosco, there's a method to my madness that's really not time-consuming nor cost-prohibitive, even though I do tend to multitask. I just had a deadline editing job drop into my inbox that I need to finish in the next couple hours, but I'll have a lengthy reply to you guys later tonight (I've started writing it, just haven't had a chance to finish it). In the meantime, I gotta go earn my carrot money.

[Nickelless]

OK, here's what I started to type a couple days ago that I finally had a chance to finish...

Let me lay out a few details to give you guys a sense of how I look at prepping and my overall worldview. First of all, the "preparation hat" isn't something I wear like I can take it off and change into another "hat," so to speak--I don't consider prepping something I DO, but who I AM. It's my overall mindset on my allocation of limited resources, time management and attitude toward what I have or don't have. I don't approach each day with the question "What can I do to prep today?" but rather "What is the most prudent use of my resources currently at hand?"

I'm working in an industry that continues to be gutted across the U.S. and much of the world. I'm not taking my job or my next paycheck for granted. I don't like to spend money on stupid stuff (plasma-screen TVs, new furniture--the couch I'm sitting on at this moment is from the mid-'60s and has been in my family longer than I've been alive--you get the picture), especially since as I was growing up, my parents DID spend money on stupid stuff and put our family in one financial bind after another. My mom and dad got about $40,000 in 1987 after my dad's parents died, and less than three years later my parents filed for bankruptcy. And that's just one of many financial disasters my parents brought on themselves by overextending themselves buying all the wrong things and spending money they didn't have. My financial philosophy that I've developed over the past 15 years or so is to look back at what my parents did financially and go in the opposite direction. So far, that approach is working pretty well for me.

Fast-forward to now: I typically budget $150 every two weeks for groceries and other preps, and most of what I buy anyway has a long shelf/storage life or can be dehydrated and stored for a very long time. Instead of buying pre-made, packaged meals, I buy basic ingredients--frozen or canned vegetables, canned fish, bulk packages of (raw) chicken, bulk bags of rice, bulk bags of beans--and typically use up about one-third of what groceries I buy each payday and rotate the rest into my food storage. In a year and a half of really being serious about food storage, I've built up a comfortable supply of what I normally eat anyway, so it's not like I'm doing anything that I wouldn't do in the first place. I live below my means and can build up a surplus exactly BECAUSE I live below my means.

Back in mid-2005, I "woke up" to the realization that fiat money is toilet paper. Up to that point, as now, I was living below my means but what spare cash I had back then wasn't going to anything especially durable or valuable, if and when I did spend money. But after realizing that fiat money was, well, worthless, I started using as much spare cash as possible to buy silver. I don't tend to waste money per se, but if I don't have something definite in mind that I can do with excess cash, I tend to spend a few bucks here, a few bucks there, and pretty soon it's gone. But once I realized the intrinsic value of precious metals, I knew that was a good place to "park" my money. Over the following four and a half years, I bought silver on a regular basis and told myself that I'd hold onto it until I found something with more value or utility--and the only thing I could think of back then was land. Lo and behold, three months ago my fiancee and I found our perfect house--and more than just a house, it's our homestead--and sold my silver to get the down payment for the place my soon-to-be-wife and I could live for the rest of our lives. So living below my means while buying silver like crazy for a few years paid off!

Fast-forward to now: Now I have room for food storage and other things that I really didn't have room for before (although I did totally fill up two large wrap-around closets with my preps in my old apartment). Most other preppers likewise are increasing their stash of food and other preps as time goes on, because those of us who realize why we SHOULD prep--besides the fact that the U.S. is heading toward a currency collapse that has occurred in countless other countries following the same reckless trajectory we are on--it just makes sense to stock up what you use anyway and what you need, in ample enough supply so that you don't have to rely on so-called "just-in-time" inventory to give you what you just ran out of. Slickeast knows a few things about problems with JIT:

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1873

I'm not doing anything differently now than I was doing five years ago--I've just got more room to store things I use regularly and/or need. You guys are just seeing a few comments I'm making about a very few things that I'm sharing to try to get other people thinking about what will happen if they don't try to become as self-sufficient as possible as soon as possible. I give 10 percent of my income to my church, I save another 10 percent, I use 15 percent for preps and food storage, then I live off of the other 65 percent. This isn't rocket science nor is it difficult to do, it just takes dedication. So to make a short story long, live below your means and, in the words of Dave Ramsey, give a name to every dollar you earn and make sure it goes there. That's prepping in a nutshell.

[Copper Catcher]

Nickelless if only ten percent of the folks in America understood some of the things you have learned, abet the hard way it sounds, and practiced living within their means we would be living in a very different America. Alas, this is not the case.

While I think Dave Ramsey preaches good basic money management principles he also is clueless about gold and silver and does not see them as an asset. He is a buy and hold guy and thinks the stock market is the way to go. He want allow him self to think otherwise and is not open to others views, which is sad. He also does not own a credit card and enjoys telling everyone to cut theirs up. If you pay your balance every month I don't see a problem with having one.

The last few years I think many more people have become aware of how America is going full speed ahead over the cliff. When we all fall, and we will, the question remains what will be left of the pieces when we finally hit the bottom?

I think a key is all this is, as you have pointed out, allowing your actions to be your norm versus something you occasionally practice when it is convenient. Congrats for being true to yourself....many folks can't make that claim.

[Rosco]

Great Job Nickelless your are on track to retire early as I did At age 62, We have enjoyed the past 11 years and expect many more.
It Was with the help of God that his Plan has me enjoying life as I do selected good deeds . The Deeds do not earn me any place or thing, but keep me grounded and
Helping others who are mostly helping them selves. I choose to do this through Habitat for Humanity an help to Missions an to Missionary's, in addition to our church tithe.

Each should Make their own choices as to what or who they help.

Then as J W Rawles says Prepare! then also Prepare to Share From your store ( I may want a cup of your Good Coffee some day)

The Bible also says cast not your pearls before swine lest they be trampled in the dust.

I think that this is result of most government programs. The use it or lose it Causes a lot of Trampling

Peace to All

[Rosco]

Nickelless One Critical point With Your marriage Vows be sure to Agree on agreeing together as to the next step to take.

Neither a leader or a follower Be but Go Forth Together

Peace Russ

[agmoose]

Some great discussion so far in this thread. One of the things I like most about this site is reading the thoughts of like-minded folks. I'm fairly new to "seeing the light" and have only been prepping for a few months.

But - as for what I did today: Winn-Dixie had all of thier brand's canned veggies 20 for $10, limit 40. So I loaded up on corn, green beans, peas, carrots (YES CARROTS!!), and my personal favorite - lima beans. Well - I only bought 10 cans of peas - I hate peas, but if I were hungry I'd eat them. So - for $85 plus tax, I loaded up. I'm getting a dehydrator soon - so I'll be using some of the info I've picked up here in the coming weeks.

I'll go back tomorrow and get another $40 worth to drop off at the local food bank.

[Nickelless]

Nickelless One Critical point With Your marriage Vows be sure to Agree on agreeing together as to the next step to take.

Neither a leader or a follower Be but Go Forth Together

Peace Russ

My first obligation according to the Bible is to love my wife as Christ loves the Church. And my second obligation is to provide for her no matter what it takes, and in fact that's one of the main reasons I've really ratcheted up my prepping--a year's worth of food for one person is only six months' worth for two people, so I want to make sure that I, and we, use our resources as wisely as possible and that we keep on living frugally but smartly--living below our means, stocking up in preparation for hard times and sharing with those who are less fortunate than we are.

Some great discussion so far in this thread. One of the things I like most about this site is reading the thoughts of like-minded folks. I'm fairly new to "seeing the light" and have only been prepping for a few months.

But - as for what I did today: Winn-Dixie had all of thier brand's canned veggies 20 for $10, limit 40. So I loaded up on corn, green beans, peas, carrots (YES CARROTS!!), and my personal favorite - lima beans. Well - I only bought 10 cans of peas - I hate peas, but if I were hungry I'd eat them. So - for $85 plus tax, I loaded up. I'm getting a dehydrator soon - so I'll be using some of the info I've picked up here in the coming weeks.

I'll go back tomorrow and get another $40 worth to drop off at the local food bank.

Agmoose, I'd suggest you get a Nesco dehydrator--I have 12 (although one is now DOA from grease runoff from dehydrating chicken about a year ago), although I'm planning to take the plunge and order an Excalibur before the end of December, while they're still on sale--the 9-tray model is marked down to about $219. If you don't want to spend that much, you can find plenty of Nescos on eBay, which is where I picked up all of mine over about a three-year period.

And since I do a tiny little bit of food dehydration from time to time, these articles might help you:

http://survivalprep.net/tag/dehydrating-food/

PM me if I can give you any tips on food dehydration or food storage. FYI, I've been buying canned veggies recently because I've found some really good deals on them, but for dehydration I buy frozen vegetables and thaw them out and then dehydrate them.

[agmoose]

Thanks for the tips Nickeless. I'll probably PM you when I start dehydrating in a couple of weeks.

As for today - I made myself a nice little woodburning stove for my BOB out of a tin coffee can. Tried it out, worked great, made an excellent cup of hot chocolate!

[justoneguy]

Nickeless,
have you tried your year old un-refridgerated chicken yet ?
are you still alive ?
let us know all about it.
i just tried my year old pressure canned chicken still yummy.
kept it in the basement no refridgeration
as for today, i bought two 3 lb boxes of bacon, mmmmm bacon grease.

[Nickelless]

Justoneguy, I haven't had a chance to give my old preps a test-run quite yet and won't be home for a couple days. Tuesday is my next day off, so I'm hoping to give chicken, spinach and carrots a test-run then. I'm thinking about doing a video of the cooking process. I'll keep you guys posted.

[Jonflyfish]

Had some good sales in the meat dept these last few days so took the plunge and bought an All American 41 1/2 Qt pressure canner then canned 8 cases (96 jars) each of chicken breast meat and super lean sirloin burger. Next up will be canning various meals that take a lot of effort and hrs to properly prepare and cook for easy "dump, heat, serve" dinners when we are busy and/or tired after a long day at work. This adds to our already excessively huge food supply. But I always think that there is never enough. Maybe I'll one day be on the show "Hoarders" wearing my foil hat around the house.

[justoneguy]

has anybody here tried to can bacon ?? mmmmm
i love bacon and bacon flavor from the grease.
i see canned bacon for sale but, it's way expensive.
i'd like to be able to put some away

[Nickelless]

has anybody here tried to can bacon ?? mmmmm
i love bacon and bacon flavor from the grease.
i see canned bacon for sale but, it's way expensive.
i'd like to be able to put some away

Canned bacon isn't worth the price because what you get is the bacon but not the most flavorful aspect--the grease.

Here's what I posted on GIM recently:

http://goldismoney2.com/showthread.php? ... better!%29

Paper towel has been doing the trick quite well in straining the bacon grease, and I've gotten into a ritual of cooking about 12 strips of bacon one day a week (usually on one of my days off), making two BLTs out of eight of the strips, then I put the other four strips into a Ziploc freezer bag and freeze it for later use. Out of those 12 strips of bacon, I get enough grease to fill half of a half-pint mason jar:




Then I put a sticker on the jar with the date I started to fill it, put it in the fridge until it's full, then move it to my preps pantry and rotate new jars in as I fill them.

[whatsnext]

Bought beans at a discount subsupermarket. Saved about 30-50 cent a bag.

A family story I've heared a few times states that my fathers parents divorced over useing stored bacon grease from a jar. It was at least the spark.

I eat out of steel cans alot, but am trying to buy fresh more. Starting to use olvie oil instead of the cheaper stuff. It tastes better and you really dont need to buy the extravirgin stuff. The larger second press stuff is cheaper and still good.

[Caridad]

i packed an overnight bag for my family and i since we were going to be out of town but still in the same county! yes i packed as if we were going to a motel for the weekend. tooth brush. change of socks, undies, and shirts. meds came with us too.

[Nickelless]

Caridad, since you're in earthquake territory, do you normally keep a bag packed at all times anyway?

[rickygee]

I've been stocking up on canned goods.
Fish: tuna, sardines, salmon, kippers (herring)
Vegetables
Soups, Chili, Pasta with meats etc.
Fruit
Soaps, powders, vitamins, towels, bags, yada...

My main concern is a pre SHTF scenario of inflation. I'm an apartment dweller in a medium market size city. Just want to kinda hang on ya know.

In a SHTF/food riot scenario I'm buggin out to protect my daughter and grandson (or them,me ) taking whatever, however.

When TSHTF, and it will, we will need community/neighborhood support to survive. I hope I'll find it and I doubly hope I 'll be willing to help provide it...damn it's so easy to be selfish.

[Devil Soundwave]

I went to Netto which is a weird discount supermarket here in the Uk where they have random stock based upon what is being liquidated that week. I got a case of 12 cans of Valfrutta (premium Italian brand) green lentils in tomato paste, plus 12 cans of D'aucy Brussell Sprouts (premium French brand). Only 40p (60c) per can. Very pleased with the sprouts as canned sprouts are like gold dust here in the UK - very rare - not seen then in any of the mainstream supermarkets.

I really want canned broccolli as i love teh stuff, but I have yet to see such a thing - I guess it is too delicate for canning. I dare say I'll have to do without after the apocalypse.

Still, the sprouts are a winner as my green veg was previosuly limited to peas, lentils, and green beans. Hate spinach and asparagus so they are a no go.

As far as rotation goes, I have found myself eating a LOT more potatoes since I have been buying them canned as they are just so convenient. No faffing about peeling, just open can, heat, done. Very good value too at 26p per 350 grams; and just as good mashed, roasted or heated (boiled).

[PreservingThePast]

I went to Netto which is a weird discount supermarket here in the Uk where they have random stock based upon what is being liquidated that week. I got a case of 12 cans of Valfrutta (premium Italian brand) green lentils in tomato paste, plus 12 cans of D'aucy Brussell Sprouts (premium French brand). Only 40p (60c) per can. Very pleased with the sprouts as canned sprouts are like gold dust here in the UK - very rare - not seen then in any of the mainstream supermarkets.

I really want canned broccolli as i love teh stuff, but I have yet to see such a thing - I guess it is too delicate for canning. I dare say I'll have to do without after the apocalypse.

Still, the sprouts are a winner as my green veg was previosuly limited to peas, lentils, and green beans. Hate spinach and asparagus so they are a no go.

As far as rotation goes, I have found myself eating a LOT more potatoes since I have been buying them canned as they are just so convenient. No faffing about peeling, just open can, heat, done. Very good value too at 26p per 350 grams; and just as good mashed, roasted or heated (boiled).

You are very blessed to have occasional access to the canned Brussell sprouts. Love them and the only way to buy them here in the USofA, that I have ever seen, is either fresh or frozen--both of which are extremely expensive so I watch for the sales on the frozen and treat ourselves on occasion to them. Yes, the heat and pressure required to preserve the broccoli for canning renders it to mush.

Perhaps, try some cream of broccoli soup? When I could eat canned soup I would fix it for our supper and add a box or bag of frozen chopped broccoli to make it more hearty.