What have you done to prep today?

[Devil Soundwave]

I'm not a huge soup fan tbh - find it a chore to eat. I'd miss Brocolli most in my favourite pasta dish with a blue cheese sauce, but hey.

Seems canned Brocolli DOES exist, but God only knows where to find it. Appears to be Italian, so I have asked my other half to take a look whilst she is over there for xmas.



EDIT - DaMN, it's Spanish. http://www.anedu.es/lang1/broccoli.html



Here's one of those cans I picked up:



Oh yeah, I also got a bunch of cans of tuna in brine also. I don't eat it normally (haven't in over 15 years), but I figured if TSHTF I'd rather have it than not. I can see myself really appreciating a nice bit of tuna in some pasta if protein gets too expensive/hard to get.

At the very least I can trade it, and whenever it is a couple months away from expiry, my big brother gets a windfall of tuna!

[Tourney64]

TSHTF is already happening. Gas prices have spiked. Food prices are rising rapidly. Oil prices are rising. Prepare while you still have time. If things don't get really bad, then eat the food before it spoils. No harm done. Already Nickelless has saved some money by stocking up on food at lower prices. These increasing prices are during an economic slowdown, which you typically don't see are a warning of much worse things to come - hyperinflation.

What will happen in 2011 when everyone is paying 20% more for healthcare (this is what me and several people I know have had their insurance cost rise by), and gas is 25% higher. They will have less money to spend stilimulating the economy, which will mean higher unemployment. Interest rates are rising for the Treasury, which will hurt the economy. These things will also increase the debt. California is bankrupt, and do we let them fail or do we bail out their 600 billion debt. California is the 5th largest economy in the world.

I wish I was more like Nickelless, but I can't stand carrots. I have been getting ridiculed from my wife for stocking up on food too. I am waiting for the day that I can tell her "I told you so", but I also hope it doesn't come.

[Nickelless]

Tourney, since you and I live only an hour or so apart, maybe we need to get together and go on a preps shopping spree and maybe we can help each other with ideas. I'm up around Indy about every week or two. I'm making a non-food Walmart run sometime in the next several days to pick up a few items I don't have much of in my bunker at the moment--duct tape, super glue and ni-cad rechargeable batteries, among other things. PM me if you'd like and maybe we can meet at a Walmart or over coffee or something like that.

[97guns]

i love this thread, im an avid prepper but the only thing i added today was 15 pounds of pinto beans. this past week was a pretty good week for sales thoughand i added:

20 cans of canned salmon 2/$3
20 cans of albacore tuna .77
15 pounds of chicken thighs .74/lb
10 pounds london broil 1.75/lb

[justoneguy]

Nickelless,
how are you going to charge those ni-cad batteries if the power goes out?
also I took advantage of this freezing cold weather to prep 2 ways.
i pressure canned 25 lbs of beef.
and I jacked 2 gallons of hard cider.

[Devil Soundwave]

What on Earth is London Broil? I live in London and I've never heard of it!

At the weekend I went on a reccy and got 20 cans of brown Lentils in tomato puree (Valfrutta - premium Italian brand) and 20 cans of red lentils (D'Aucy - premium French brand).

Very pleased as both are "luck of the draw" scores not usually seen here.

Also got 12 bottles of Valfrutta Salsina (raw tomato sugo/pasata with garlic and herbs in) which was a real coup as they where only 60p each and have dates until 2013 (usually about £2).

[97guns]

london broil is a cut of beef, maybee called this only here in the US?

[Verbane]

From http://www.askthemeatman.com/london_broil.htm

Let's get it straight, London Broil is a Cooking Method -
NOT a cut of beef!!

But, many grocery store meat departments and butcher shops sell a cut of beef labeled London Broil.
What cut of beef is it usually?

It is usually Top Round Roast.

I use this for stir fry, kebabs, and its typically very lean so Jerky also. I watch for sales, I never buy for more than $2.00 per pound.

[97guns]

yeah london broil doesnt make for good bbq but i agree its one of the best cuts for stir frying especially when cut pretty thin. with meat that good and priced as it is, i much rather eat this stuff than hamburger meat.

[Drill Baby Drill]

I Bought a solar powered generator, this baby is gonna come in handy.

[Nickelless]

I Bought a solar powered generator, this baby is gonna come in handy.

Sweet! Where'd you get it? Got a link?

[97guns]

added 6 bottles of aspirin

[Pennybug]

Dear God soundwave... brussel sprouts? What are you preping for? A suicide escape plan? Seriously... in a SHTF situation... if I had brussel sprouts to eat... It would get me to thinking about taking a .40 cal Tylenol. Ok... seriously... I'd eat them to stay alive. But if I did, there better be poo coming from the air vents 1st and I'd have to be out of ammo.

[Nickelless]

Pennybug, the key to prepping is stocking up on what you eat anyway. That's why I have a few pounds of carrots:




Seriously, one of the problems that too many people create for themselves is stocking up on what everyone else says they should get instead of what they actually eat. Personally, my favorite vegetables are carrots, spinach and tomatoes, so I've been dehydrating a lot of spinach and carrots and I'm about to order a case of tomato powder from BulkFoods.com. (High-sugar foods like tomatoes, apples, bananas, etc., are very hard to dehydrate because of how sticky they get when they're heated, so I prefer to buy those pre-dehydrated.) I've also been buying a couple pounds (yes, pounds) of spices every payday and putting the spices in mason jars, because they'll stay fresher much longer that way. I've got literally hundreds of recipes for different soups that I'm just starting to experiment with using rice and beans as the base ingredients for the soups. The bottom line is that what any of us stock up might not be what anyone else stocks up, but if it's what we normally buy and eat or use anyway, what's it matter if other people think we're weird?

[Devil Soundwave]

Controversial I know, but I love sprouts.

The canned ones even more so, as they are kinda squishy, which is exactly how my Gran used to cook them - boiled them to death until they where soft and going yellow!

Also, green veg is good for you, and I wouldn't want to be stuck with just peas.

[Pennybug]

I agree nickelless... I was just raggin on Soundwave! I really can't imagine having tons of carrots like that either... but like you said... if that's what you eat... then that's what you should stock up on! I've read too many posts in other locations where people go and stock up on stuff they don't eat like tuna (me... I got TONS of it! My wife makes the BEST tuna casserole and we keep enough ingredients to make that stuff up for... well... I'd say until the war is over!) And speaking of this...I see where you got some tuna soundwave and aren't a big fan yet. Try this... you may grow to LOVE tuna like me:

Take a large size glass casserole dish
Boil enough ribbon noodles or some kind of short/wide noodles to almost fill the dish up. Drain the noodles.
Put one can of cream of mushroom and one can of cream of chicken and one can of tuna in with the noodles and mix. (my wife adds peas here sometimes too)
Put this in the casserole dish and cover it with shredded cheddar
Bake it in the oven until the cheese is nice and melted
Serve it with some peas on the side (or in your case... God help you... brussel sprouts)... and ENJOY!

It's simple and GOOD! Best of all... minus the cheese (although you can store this too)... you can store all these items for many years as well as make this using a dutch oven and a camp fire.

This is EXACTLY why you don't follow some others strict guidelines on making preparations and why it MUST be a custom thing!

Soundwave... Ironically... Peas are what I have the most of!

[Devil Soundwave]

Oh, it's not a case of me not liking Tuna, I just consciously chose to stop eating it about a decade ago. I used to eat Tuna sandwiches every day! Just got a little sick of it, and was really put off by finding a fricking tuna eye in a can once.

[Copper Catcher]

What on Earth is London Broil? I live in London and I've never heard of it!

At the weekend I went on a reccy and got 20 cans of brown Lentils in tomato puree (Valfrutta - premium Italian brand) and 20 cans of red lentils (D'Aucy - premium French brand).

Very pleased as both are "luck of the draw" scores not usually seen here.

Also got 12 bottles of Valfrutta Salsina (raw tomato sugo/pasata with garlic and herbs in) which was a real coup as they where only 60p each and have dates until 2013 (usually about £2).

London Broil is a North American beef dish made by broiling or grilling marinated Flank Steak, then cutting it across the grain into thin strips. The origin of the name is obscure; the food is unknown in London, England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_broil

[Nickelless]

Oh, it's not a case of me not liking Tuna, I just consciously chose to stop eating it about a decade ago. I used to eat Tuna sandwiches every day! Just got a little sick of it, and was really put off by finding a fricking tuna eye in a can once.

I don't buy tuna because of the mercury risk, but I've got an ample supply of canned chicken and mackerel. Mackerel tastes just like salmon, IMO, and it only costs about half as much.

[Nickelless]

Last night I finished vacuum-sealing about 60 pounds of oats, which should last me for about 10 months if I have it every morning for breakfast. Of course this doesn't include my morning coffee , but I think almost 60 pounds of oatmeal for just $49.28 is a pretty darn good deal. I just vacuum-sealed it in mylar bags and stuck it in my bunker.

And yes, in case you're wondering, the date on the photo is intentional.




Seriously, though, I think this one instance alone proves how cheaply food can be stored--10 months worth of breakfast for one person would just be 2-1/2 months worth for 4 people (assuming they like oatmeal), but for less than $50, how in the world can people claim that food storage is expensive?

[68Camaro]

I asked the mylar bag people if they had channelized versions of them. Didn't get a reply. Haven't had time to follow-up. Anyone aware if they exist from any supplier?

[Pennybug]

Hey nickelless... I'm digging the mylar bags. Hadn't seen those for personal use yet... so I haven't thought of using them. OBVIOUSLY more advantagous when compared to clear plastic. Where do you get those from and do you have to use any fancy vacuum system or will a standard high in department store setup work?

About the coffee... you should see my father in law's stash o' coffee! He's got more weight in coffee than I got in ammo (and I ain't light on ammo!) Although I do need more ammo...

[Nickelless]

I get my mylar bags from SorbentSystems.com--they have pretty decent prices and I'm about to place another order for bags in the next few days. The vacuum-sealer I bought from them is the Snorkel-Vac model. I've had it about a year and a half and have been extremely happy with it. If you get a Snorkel-Vac, I'd be happy to give you tips on using it.

[Pennybug]

I get my mylar bags from SorbentSystems.com--they have pretty decent prices and I'm about to place another order for bags in the next few days. The vacuum-sealer I bought from them is the Snorkel-Vac model. I've had it about a year and a half and have been extremely happy with it. If you get a Snorkel-Vac, I'd be happy to give you tips on using it.

That seems to be a pretty impressive setup! And cheaper then many other lower end models too. I just bookmarked that and will be considering it. I plan on getting a vac system within a month or two (sometime before spring anyways.) Can that system work with vacuum canisters and such? Have you used storebought bags on it before or does it require special bags? Thanks for the heads up on this!

[Nickelless]

No, the vacuum-sealer doesn't require special bags per se, but the sealer is only about 11 inches wide. The bags I typically use are I think 10 inches wide by 14 inches long. I haven't used store-bought bags because I don't know of any regular store that sells mylar bags in bulk quantities.