What have you done to prep today?

[involuntary tentacle]

It might be good to go easy on the tuna and load up on canned chicken instead--chicken doesn't have the mercury risk that tuna has, since tuna are near the top of the fish food chain and have mercury and other toxins accumulate in their tissues.

but tuna is cheaper than canned chicken! i might be a little off, but at a ratio of 2.5:1!

And as far as canning, check out some of my food-dehydration posts both here and on SurvivalPrep.net. Dehydration will greatly extend the shelf life of food, shrink the amount of space that food takes up and--the biggest selling point, IMO--you aren't going to have to worry about losing the vacuum seal on jars of dehydrated food and thus running the risk of botulism. I've been recommending the Nesco brand of dehydrators to people for a long time--I have 12 of them (well, 10 that are working well and two that are starting to die from old age). PM me if you'd like help getting started with dehydration.

is there a particular nesco model you use?

Also, it'd probably be much more cost-effective if you get a vacuum sealer (I bought the Snorkel-Vac model from Sorbent Systems) and lots of mylar bags. A couple weeks ago I bought almost 60 pounds of oats from Walmart for less than $50 and vacuum-sealed the oats in mylar:
If you do your own vacuum-sealing, you can save a TON of money instead of buying already vacuum-sealed cans of dry or dehydrated items.

you can only pack dry items in the mylar bags right? and how much am i looking at for a decent sealer that wont fry on me in the first month?

#10 cans are cool and easily stacked, and according to these labels have a shelf life of 30+ years... but i just looked up the prices of can sealers.... holy sh... tried some of the rice we got from the mormons... we gotta eat that stuff first haha... i like my calrose and jasmine rice. ill store those instead.
what kind of shelf life can you expect from mylar bags and oxygen absorbers?

[involuntary tentacle]

looked up the snorkel-vac. not a bad price at all for what it is.

but i think before i get into bagging stuff, i want to get my water storage figured out.
id like to buy some black berkey elements to start and make my own tank out of some stainless steel pots or something.
then i need to figure out exactly how i want to store the water. 55 gallon drums or a bunch of PETE bottles...water buffalo haha... not sure yet.

wish i could win the lottery or something. being the only person prepping in the house sucks. money wise.

[Nickelless]

looked up the snorkel-vac. not a bad price at all for what it is.

but i think before i get into bagging stuff, i want to get my water storage figured out.
id like to buy some black berkey elements to start and make my own tank out of some stainless steel pots or something.
then i need to figure out exactly how i want to store the water. 55 gallon drums or a bunch of PETE bottles...water buffalo haha... not sure yet.

wish i could win the lottery or something. being the only person prepping in the house sucks. money wise.

Taking care of water storage doesn't have to be an either/or situation with regard to also stocking up on food. Starting small on water storage is better than not starting at all. If you have a membership to Sam's Club or Costco, you can get bottled water for less than a dollar a gallon, and it really doesn't take up much space, IMO. Here's 24 gallons (four cases of six 1-gallon bottles) that I picked up for less than $25 two weeks ago at Sam's:



My suggestion would be to get at least two weeks worth of water for every person in the house. Figure a gallon per person per day. Starting off by showing them how little space water storage takes up is a good first step before trying to convince them about harvesting rainwater.

For that matter, I'm hoping in the next few days to go live with a site that is basically "Prepping For Dummies." In the year or so since I launched SurvivalPrep.net, I realized that way too many people think that "survival" is just something for "survivalists" and not something that EVERYONE should do. So that's why I decided to boil things down to the basics I'm launching StockingUp.net in a few days so I can try to make the case to more people that, well, stocking up is just the smart thing to do. Maybe it will help your family as well.

[68Camaro]

I think that's a great service, great idea, takes it away from the media hype against survivalist types. Phrasing it as "stocking up" will resonate with another group of people, and if they can be even a little more prepared, then that is that much less strain on society when disaster strikes.

[Mossy]

I think that's a great service, great idea, takes it away from the media hype against survivalist types. Phrasing it as "stocking up" will resonate with another group of people, and if they can be even a little more prepared, then that is that much less strain on society when disaster strikes.

LOL, I used to post in one of the rural news groups, back when I had an ISP with news feed, and got into some very silly arguments with people who insisted that they were "NOT survivalists", even after I wrote that the news media was full of manure about what "survivalism" was. Plenty of rural and frugal people who prepare for hard times are quiet survivalists, they just don't know it.

[franklin]

I planted some more berry vines and fruit trees, along with picking up some Coleman fuel. The small town to my left has a small Walmart that still had the old price on the fuel, $6.00 per gallon can. The one in my town went up yesterday to over 9 bucks.

[Devil Soundwave]

I picked up ten cans of Arrid brand antipersperant for 50p a can, plus 30 cans of Valfrutta (premium Italian Brand) Borlotti Beans witha long date, 3 cans for £1.

[involuntary tentacle]

bought another 12 can carton of spam... two weeks ago it was $2.28 per can at Walmart... still holding at the same price today.
I believe that when SPAM starts to creep up in price, people WILL take notice.
ive only used 8 cans since my last purchase of twelve cans. just glad im not using it up sooner than I can buy 12 more
i would just buy the walmart brand (it tastes the same to me), but I cannot find any information on the BPA content of the cans. at least spam has VERY LITTLE.

according to this anyway: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic ... tudy_finds

Among items at the bottom, containing less than the 0.2 ng/g limit of detection: fresh ham, sliced chicken breast, fresh salmon, five of the pet food offerings, Hormel’s spam, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup 2.5%; Similac Advanced Infant Formula, Chef Boyardee Mac and Cheese, Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna in Water and Hunt’s 100% Natural Tomato Paste.

And if anyone is buying spam cheaper than $2.28 a can, please share your source



also got some bandaids. cut myself the other day and used up the very last one. i want to get more medical supplies when i get the chance.

[justoneguy]

all i can say is " LDS Cannery" YOOOOHOOO + yehaw.
i love that place

[Devil Soundwave]

I believe that when SPAM starts to creep up in price, people WILL take notice.

I believe that one of the very best barometers of effects of inflation are teh prices at McDonalds. If they can continue to churn out that crap at a buck a pop, we're probably not in meltdown yet. As soon as the dollar menu becomes the buck-twenty menu, we're all doomed.

[68Camaro]

Good point, though don't focus solely on the dollar menu - it's a loss leader to draw people in to the store. Watch the prices on the regular menu. By the time the dollar menu becomes the buck twenty menu we'll be well into full bore meltdown, and it'll probably go to the two-buck menu faster than we can blink.

[Slaphot]

They can also just make the dollar items smaller to keep them at a buck.

[Mossy]

They can also just make the dollar items smaller to keep them at a buck.

Had I the sense, I'd have kept track of burger size and contents over the years. I'm pretty sure the local McD has gone to a smaller burger and bun for the more expensive items as well as increasing the cost.

[68Camaro]

They can also just make the dollar items smaller to keep them at a buck.

Had I the sense, I'd have kept track of burger size and contents over the years. I'm pretty sure the local McD has gone to a smaller burger and bun for the more expensive items as well as increasing the cost.

Interesting timing on this - just stopped by Burger King for a quick lunch, where I've recently been getting the "buck double" off the "value" menu. Two small patties with one piece of cheese in between (in contrast to a double cheeseburge, which is two of each). Just as good as a double-cheese in my book, less fat and calories per unit of protein, and cheap.

Well, it's now gone. Replaced with a "single stacker" which is one patty, one piece of cheese, and one piece of bacon. I'm assuming the piece of bacon is cheaper than the patty. The next one up, the double stacker, is an old "buck double" plus bacon, and it is now $2 instead of $1. Twice the price for one extra piece of bacon. I think we're seeing the inflation in action as we speak.

[involuntary tentacle]

watch out for hawaii when spam prices start creeping up... will we see egyptian and libyan style protests and violence erupt?

[AGCoinHunter]

Forgot to mention this a few weeks back when I made the purchase. I bought 2 - 55 gallon food grade barrels for $35 each. They previously had stored the syrup used in coke products. I plan to make one into a rain barrel and the other into a composter. Currently have one rain barrel so now I will have two barrels "disguised" to water the garden with and as a fall back as a water supply. Also doesn’t hurt that I live on a lake... just a pain in the ass if I had to haul water up the hill to my garden... Composter will help with enriching the poor ground where I live now and help to curb my reliance on fertilizers/bagged manure for the garden. I really one use Miracle grow but would like to cut that out completely...

Also started pickup up food specifically for long term storage. Got some canned chicken in bulk which I will rotate out with newer stuff as I go. Also picked up 45lbs or jasmine rice at Sams for around $26. I plan to store it in mason jars with oxygen absorbers. Also picked up a starter kit from the LDS cannery today as well as 100 pack of oxygen absorbers.

Also purchased a Nesco dehydrator from amazon for $49 bucks. Picked up 2X the expansion trays for $13 each. Plan to kick in the storage this spring/summer with the garden.

Also, back in the fall I planted an apple tree and two blueberry bushes in my back yard. Will be a few years before they yeild but its better a little late than never.

[Devil Soundwave]

Today I went for a trawl through China Town and picked up a couple 1kg jars of Skippy imported from the good old USA. Much better than UK peanut butte; smoother and sweeter.

I also got a big catering bottle of Tabasco sauce to add to my store cupboard - I love that stuff.

[coinking2005]

I went into town today Grocery shopping. I had an extra $30, so and picked up some more canned goods to put in our food stash. Been doing this just about every week, getting a good jump on it. Good thing we have an Aldi's, Dollar Tree and a local discount Grocery chain.

Today's extras:
3- 16oz Cooked Canned Ham
4- Chunk Tuna in Water
2- Cans of Treet (cheaper little brother to Spam)
2- Cans of sliced Carrots
3- Cans of Cut Green Beans
2- Cans of Pork-N-Beans
2- Cans of Sliced Potatos
1- Can each of Chunked Chicken, Ham & Turkey
1- Jar of Italian seasoning
4- Cans of Reduced Soduim Chicken Noodle Soup.

Food Stacking on a budget!!

[Verbane]

Also, back in the fall I planted an apple tree and two blueberry bushes in my back yard. Will be a few years before they yeild but its better a little late than never.

Apple trees require cross pollination. You'll need at least one more tree of a different species. Some species pollinate better with others. Some ornamental crab apples work well also. I put in an orchard of semi-dwarf trees started getting crops in three years.
This link should give you a start http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8301.html.

Also, some Blueberries are self pollinating, some are cross pollinating. You'll want to check those also. Self pollinating will produce berries on their own, but yields will be better if they are cross pollinated.

[Mossy]

Apple trees require cross pollination. You'll need at least one more tree of a different species. Some species pollinate better with others.

Ah, no. They need to be pollinated from another cultivar.

To simplify: Each seed produces a new "cultivar", so an orchard full of "red delicious" is actually a bunch of root stalks with a "red delicious" graft on top.

I've seen "apple trees" that had several different cultivars grafted on the same root stalk so it might grow "Granny Smith" on one side, "Red Delicious" on another, who knows what else on another (can't think of the names now). That sort of thing is much better for someone with a small area, but would probably need to be special ordered or custom made.

[franklin]

Actually there are some cultivars that are self-pollinating. I have several Ein Shemer trees that are low chill (good in TX) and don't require another pollinator, although I do have other varieties.

[Verbane]

Actually there are some cultivars that are self-pollinating. I have several Ein Shemer trees that are low chill (good in TX) and don't require another pollinator, although I do have other varieties.

Agreed, but the layman won't be able to easily find good/trusted stock for self pollinators. My assumption is the tree came from Lowes/Home Depot. AND self pollinators always produce better yields when crossed anyway.

My goal here is to get Joe-treeplanter to have enough knowledge to put a couple trees on his 20'x30' lawn and grow food

[Mossy]

Actually there are some cultivars that are self-pollinating. I have several Ein Shemer trees that are low chill (good in TX) and don't require another pollinator, although I do have other varieties.

That's new. Thanks.

Still, the two cultivars on one trunk is a good idea for the small lawn, even if one or both are self pollinators.

[Verbane]

Apple trees require cross pollination. You'll need at least one more tree of a different species. Some species pollinate better with others.

Ah, no. They need to be pollinated from another cultivar.

To simplify: Each seed produces a new "cultivar", so an orchard full of "red delicious" is actually a bunch of root stalks with a "red delicious" graft on top.

I've seen "apple trees" that had several different cultivars grafted on the same root stalk so it might grow "Granny Smith" on one side, "Red Delicious" on another, who knows what else on another (can't think of the names now). That sort of thing is much better for someone with a small area, but would probably need to be special ordered or custom made.

Yes, I should have said cultivar rather than species, I said species specifically because the majority would understand it. I'm not looking to get into a big discussion about orchard plantings....

What I'm saying is, If you plant a Red Delicious you also need a Golden or Gala or Jonathan....

As far as multiple graft trees are concerned, anything commercially available is typically grafted to Dwarf rootstock for impatient growers. The problem is limited life span and difficulty in training/pruning for this type of tree.

[franklin]

Another reason to have more than one variety is for the old "don't put all your eggs in one basket" reason. Some are better at tolerating unkind conditions, such as insects, disease, etc. and a later or earlier bloomer may avoid a late freeze which could impact those blooming at that time.
Variety is the spice of life.