I worked for a while on organizing my family tree for printing. Seems like having hard copies for many digital documents might be a good thing.
Then I found a couple of boxes of forgotten denim and flannel. So now there are boxes of denim and flannel squares, ready to be sewn into quilts.
And tomorrow my grocery order includes pork that is on sale ($2.29 / lb.), cabbage, carrots and onions. More "meals in jars" will be canned over the weekend, this time in quart jars instead of the pints I have been using. A few packages of ham are thawing to use along with the pork.
So, when my son asked what I had been doing, and when I told him, he remarked I have the attention span of his dog, Oreo, who loses her mind over squirrels and bunnies. :)
I know he is right. I have always had many more interests than any one person could possibly manage. But now I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.
Anybody but me having that feeling like the proverbial second shoe is about to drop?
For you youngsters - The idiom "wait for the other shoe to drop" is a common expression that refers to the feeling of anticipation or anxiety when waiting for something, usually negative, to happen.
And when that shoe does hit the floor - and we all know, deep down, even if we will not voice it, the shoe is now mere inches off the floor and the crash is on the way. So perhaps a variety of interests could just serve us well. The more we know how to do for ourselves, the better off we will be.
I'm not talking about the folks who are busy practicing their Paul Bunyon woodsy skills or are all excited about 'living off the land.' I wish them well with that fantasy. I'm talking about knowing how to garden, preserve food, fill their annual deer license for meat in the freezer, raise hogs for meat and chickens for meat and eggs, keep a milk cow. And if you can't do those things - kinda doubt my landlord would be happy to find a pig in my living room and chickens in the kitchen - figure out how to adapt.
Watch the grocery sales. Find a good deal? Buy as much as possible. (I do not leave some for the next person. If the next person wanted what is on sale, they should have been at the store sooner.) Grocery store meat may be canned. So can frozen vegetables. They last longer in jars than in the freezer. Buy flour. Freeze the bags for a couple of days to kill any creepy crawlies and their eggs. Bake bread. Leave expensive packaged cookies on the shelf and find Mama's recipe for chocolate chip or ginger snap cookies.
Do whatever you can for yourself.
Nobody is coming to help. In fact, those who are supposed to care about "we the people" are the very ones promoting this mess we are in, to say nothing of doing their level best to send our kids into battle.
I think the phrase I will practice is, "NO! I WILL NOT COMPLY!"
Stack and pray. We're gonna need it all.
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Better to know a little about a lot of things than to know a lot about only one thing, Vicki! Millions of years of evolution have taught dogs to chase whatever's in front of them to keep their bellies full!!! ...We can learn from them...
ReplyDeleteAn add to what you said about freezing flour; I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Foodsaver vacuum sealer for just such things! Put the four in the Foodsaver bag, vacuum seal it, and then throw it in the freezer for a spell. The bugs and eggs will be gone, and no NEW bugs will be able to get into your flour! This works both ways in the pantry. You won't import new bugs into the pantry with your new flour. If there are already bugs in the pantry, they won't get into your new flour! This works for pretty much anything bugs can get into. Boxed pasta immediately comes to mind. I vacuum seal three boxes of "long pasta" like spaghetti and linguini in a large Foodsaver bag. I make the bag a little long so that when I cut the bag and remove a box I can reseal the other two in the same bag. Vacuum sealed pasta will last a LONG, LONG, LONG TIME on the shelf!!!
And you "youngsters;" don't let the thought of "prepping" overwhelm you! Do what you can with what you've got. I started with a simple question; "What if the power goes out?" and went from there. It's a rabbit hole, I know, but it's one where you can decide how deep you want to go! Just don't stand there and do NOTHING!!! That shadow in front of you; the one that looks like a shoe; the one that's getting bigger... That's the other shoe dropping... DON'T be under it!!!
Glad to see you back, Vicki! God bless!
Pete...Thanks for the additional information about storing flour. Makes sense to me. And reminds me that I need to buy more bags for the vacuum sealer!
DeleteI find that if I remove product from the paper or cardboard and even the plastic wrappings, it cuts down on the bugs. The one and only time I had an infestation of little black bugs was when I had purchased several plastic bags full of dry beans and just tossed them into a closet without repackaging. The only thing I can figure is that while sitting in a warehouse, bugs laid eggs on the bags, and they hatched after I bought them. Got rid of the beans and the bugs disappeared. Since then, everything is repackaged.
It is easy to become overwhelmed with the prospect of building up food and supplies. We need to remember that it all doesn't need to happen all at once. A little bit at a time adds up more quickly than we think.
Nobody is coming to help. Stack and pray. God bless!
Bugs got into our pantry when we were stationed in Miami; weevils, mostly. They got into EVERYTHING. If it wasn't in a can or a jar, it was in the trash. They actually chewed into plastic bags containing things like brown sugar and noodles. The vacuum sealer bags have proven to be much more bug-resistant, being about twice as thick as normal packaging. So far, so good with those.
DeleteWe store quite a bit of flour, beans, and rice here at Rancho Whybother; too much for the bags. For those of you out there who have the space, We use food grade five-gallon buckets with Gamma-Seal lids for bulk storage. Gamma-Seal lids snap onto the buckets with an O-ring seal, and have screw-on lids, also with O-rings, that are easily removable even for someone with arthritis! If you have a donut shop or bakery nearby you can usually get food grade buckets that once held flavorings or fillings for a couple of bucks!
We also have a couple of "Curtec" containers. These have screw-on lids with O-ring seals, and can hold 50lbs of flour, and about 100lbs beans or rice.
https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=131705&v1=&v7=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwx-CyBhAqEiwAeOcTddMmRXCvqVVfdnD6oAJCe2pxYkIYssP-sMHDUuLqG61FvN-rrhBlGxoCJGIQAvD_BwE
Yes, these are INSANELY expensive... IF you buy them retail... If you live near a feed store that sells veterinary supplies though, you can get them for about $25.00. They're used to package nutritional supplements for horses and are food grade. They're essentially new, having only been used once to get the product to the store. I used to be able to get these FREE until the feed stores realized they were sitting on prepper gold (dammit...). They're BIG. They're STACKABLE. They're DURABLE.
No Vicki, no one's coming to help. It's up to US to take care of US. ...Powder dry, larder full, and Bible open...
Thanks so much for the information, Pete. I have some buckets gleaned from a local bakery a few years ago. The bakery is, sadly, now out of business. I mostly rely on canning jars, freezer bags and vac sealing, depending on the product. I am limited on space so creativity is necessary to find room for everything. And with this ugly inflation we are living with - the one that has increased my rent to half my income - I do what I can with what I have to work with. I know others reading your suggestions will find them useful as I have, and I thank you for being so generous with your information!!
DeleteYou all be safe and God bless.
ReplyDeleteHead on a swivel these days! Take good care, my friend and may God bless you and yours!
DeleteValuable advice, Viki. There is a book that you might be interested in. "Cooking on the Oxcart Trail" by Jan Smith (2016). A fictious account of a families' journey by oxcart from Kansas to Fort Abercombie ND in 1858. Each short chapter ends with a recipe (including one for crow in wine sauce). Food was mostly what they could hunt or fish, and leftovers would spoil in a day or so without refrigeration. So, breakfast was concocted from these. A good read.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Don, for the 'heads up' on the book. I have always been an avid reader - often mysteries but other subjects as well. The book you suggest sounds like something I would enjoy. Crow in wine sauce. Yummy! Can't mock it, though. I had relatives who shot squirrels from the trees to make stew when they had nothing else.
DeleteAnd by the way - I am lucky to have copies of letters written by ancestors as well as family history and an account of a covered wagon trip from New York to Minnesota back in the 1800's. Fascinating. Interesting to see how that compares to the book.
Take good care and stay safe. Gonna get bumpy out there, I fear.
Squirrel mode indeed! I started a project when I was trying to get something in a closet. I'm one to put things wherever they land some times. This is going to give me the chance to put like items with like items. Or at least that's the plan.
ReplyDeleteYes, slow and steady and at a turtle's pace is my focus. Head on a swivel is right. Stay safe everyone.
SJ now in California
SJ...I tend to toss stuff from my grocery order rather than take the time to properly put away, especially when I am busy with another project. Yep. Squirrel. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on about the turtle's pace. Describes my days to a T. :)
Hi Vicki,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who will buy everything on the shelf if I find a good deal. I, too, think if someone else wanted it, she should have gotten to the store sooner. Though I'm usually clearing out the clearance shelf, so I think I'm doing the store a favor by buying items they don't want in the store anymore. Like this week I got about a dozen bags (6 oz) of dried apricots for $1.35.
I got a squirrel yesterday, too. At least my bedroom is a little tidier now.
Jennier...We here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes have what we call, "Minnesota Nice." Meaning we go out of our way to be friendly, wave at oncoming cars on rural roads, help our neighbors when we can. For me, that included leaving some product on the shelves for the next guy.
DeleteNo more!
I find that if I don't get what I need while it is still there, chances are pretty good I won't get it at all. Gradually - or perhaps I just didn't notice - Minnesota Nice has sort of vanished into thin air. At least in the metro areas. Add to that the ongoing supply chain problems, the ever increasing food recalls for one reason or another and the fear of cow farts (really?) and I can see no reason at all not to get as much as I need for my family when the product is available.
So sad that it has to be this way. I am noticing that people are grumpier than they used to be, too. Sign of the times, perhaps.
Great score on the apricots!!