Prep Genrl PREP THREAD - 3/2/14-3/814

[moldy]

With things in Ukraine heating up - what are all of you up to? I made a run to middle size city today and hit the thrift store and discount grocery. I also need to clean up the new dehydrator.

This week, (when it warms up a tad) I plan to prune my fruit trees, asparagus, and herbs; prep supplies for transplanting peppers and starting tomatoes, maybe start cleaning the chicken house, and get some magnets down the heifers! (been trying to do that little chore for a week now!)

 

[SAPPHIRE]

I'M WISHING I HAD MORE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...just going to do what is doable..........................and pray.

 

[LeafyForest]

We have a new, very large Walmart, about ten miles away, so decided to see what it was like, what it carried, and
was very surprised that they carried emergency prep food, all from Augason Farms, which we had never seen in any
other Walmart store, so picked up about ten cans for a start. May go back again this week and see if they have
anything more.

 

[anna43]

This is a stay at home/no shopping week, but I'm thinking and planning!! When we get out tax refunds we intend to spend at least some of it on food storage and buying meat for the freezer.

I've never bought cans of freeze dried meats and since they are pricy, I'm hesitant. Do any of you have experience with these? Did you like them? How are they used in cooking?

 

[ReneeT]

More clothing and coupon shopping to this time this week:

Stopped after I got off work Saturday morning at a local consignment store that was having a Dollar Day - picked up 3 white shirts for myself, to wear under my scrubs at work (I'm death on white shirts), 3 heavy winter coats in sizes up for the boys, 4 assorted weight jackets, 2 hooded sweatshirts, and a pair of long johns ditto - $13. Stopped and filled the car with gas in our local town - price was still $3.39/gal; bigger town price had been $3.54/gal.

Back in to work Saturday night; got hit with an ice/sleet/snow storm that started very early morning on Sunday. I ventured out after I got off work that morning to the nearby gas station where I picked up my 'big city' newspapers for the coupon inserts; then, with a forcast of 2-5" more snow and winds 25-30 mph, I turned around and headed back to work and claimed a bed so that I could be sure to be at work that night. Got in a couple hours of overtime Monday morning as one of the RNs couldn't make it in - down south got hit harder with ice, so I stayed until the boss got done with some meetings, etc... and was able to take over. I'll enjoy the extra $ on the paycheck, and since 2 hours were about the same amount of time I saved by not driving home and back in on Sunday, I really hadn't spent any extra time than I otherwise would have.

Only made one stop on the way home from work Monday morning - CVS, where I bought:
4 - bags M&Ms @ 4/$12
2 - bags Whopper malted milk eggs @ 2/$5
2 - bags Hershey chocolate eggs @ 2/$5
3 - Reese's peanut butter eggs @ 87 cents
1 - bag Gold Emblem jelly beans @ 99 cents
Total: $23.86 + 24 cents tax = $24.10
Used:
1 - $2/3 bags Hershey's candy (2 Hershey eggs, 1 Whoppers)
1 - $3/2 Hershey candy store coupon
1 - $3/$15 purchase of candy store coupon
2 - $1.50/2 M&M coupons ($3)
1 - $1/3 Reese's products any size
1 - $5 ECB
1 - $3 ECB
1 - 75 cent ECB
Reese's eggs were buy one, get one free so that deducted 87 cents
Total: $21.62
Paid: $2.48; got back $4 ECB on M&Ms, $1 ECB on Hershey's candy, 99 cent ECB on jelly beans, and, for some reason a 74 cent ECB for buying Cadbury, which I didn't buy but the cashier said to keep anyway.

Then I returned to the counter and bought:
2 - Fixodent @ $4.99 - if Hubby doesn't need these, I will donate them to the food bank
Total: $9.98 + 67 cents tax = $10.65
Used:
2 - $2.50/1 Fixodent coupons ($5)
1 - $4 ECB
1 - 74 cent ECB
Total: $9.74 (cannot pay tax with ECBs)
Paid 91 cents out of pocket; got back a $4.98 ECB ($2.49 for each Fixodent)

Then:
1 - Nasacort 60 ct allergy spray @ $11.99
1 - 4 pk CVS C batteries @ $7.49
1 - 10 pk CVS AA batteries @ $7.49
Total: $26.97 + 58 cents tax = $27.55
Used:
1 - buy one pkg batteries; get one of same price free sale deal = $7.49
1 - $2/$10 battery purchase store coupon
1 - $5 Nasonex coupon
1 - $5 Nasonex store coupon
1 - $4.98 ECB
1 - $1 ECB
Total: $25.47
Paid $1.50 out of pocket

Think I am pretty close to being set for candy for the 5 Easter baskets (if I can keep Hubby out of it!), although I might buy some to donate for the local Easter Egg hunt - if I can get a good enough deal on pre-wrapped stuff like mini candy bars or something.

Today, I took daughter and grandson's out to lunch; had a 20% off coupon through the local paper, took in the boys sippy cups from home, ordered water to drink with our meals, and shared our meals with the boys, so it ended up being just $8 + the tip, which daughter left. Brought oldest grandson home with me, but by the time I went through my bank's ATM and took daughter through her bank's drive up, both boys were snoozing, so I didn't stop anywhere else on the way home. Thinking about going over to the Y tonight for aqua aerobics - I haven't been since I had the not-Flu virus and slipped on the ice at work and aggravated my ACL a few weeks ago; feeling creaky so need to get out and do something, even if it costs me a little gasoline to do so!

 

[ReneeT]

Well, since we went to town to go to the Y, I stopped in at Walgreen's since it was Senior Citizens day and I had some items I'd planned to pick up this week anyway. Senior Citizen day discount is 20% on the various Walgreen's brand items, and 15% on most other items. I bought:
8 - Dawn dishwashing detergent 9oz @ 99 cents each - $7.92
6 - Reese's cups (Easter) @ 59 cents each - $3.54
4 - Orbit gum (Easter) @ 75 cents each - $3
1 - Tampax tampons 18 ct @ $3.99
3 - Sharpie Markers @ 39 cents each - $1.17
Total: $23.16 + $1.32 tax = $24.48
Used:
4 - $1/2 Dawn coupons ($4)
2 - $1/3 Reese's coupons ($2)
2 - 75 cents/2 Orbit coupons ($1.50)
1 - $2/1 Tampax coupon
1 - $3 store coupon that I'm not sure where came from, but that's what it says on the reciept??
15% discount on $23.16 - $3.47
Total: $15.97
Paid $8.51 out of pocket

The Sharpies will come in very handy - the ones I got last year on sale are about worn out as I use them to mark wintersowing containers, vac bags for the freezer, canning jars lids and the boxes I put home canned food in, lables for various boxes/jars/buckets in the pantries, and use by dates on commercially canned/boxed goods. Not to mention that they seem to wander out to the shed (on their own, of course!) and never find their way back home to the kitchen

 

[psychgirl]

I'M WISHING I HAD MORE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...just going to do what is doable..........................and pray.

I'm RIGHT there with ya,

...but on a brighter note...I get 2$ back from Fed tax returns this year.

 

[Kathy in FL]

I am so busy I can't stand it but the alternative would be even worse in this economy. I swear to goodness, the government is going to paper work us to death. It is like drowning in ink and toner. Ugh.

Plus I am prepping for middle child to graduate highschool and turn 18 the end of this month. We homeschool so it isn't like this wasn't the game plan all along but it is freaking me out a little to be over 50% of the way to having all the kids grown. Lucky for me then next two down are a freshman and fourth grader so I still have time before the empty nest slaps me in the face.

As for my prepping this week, with what little time I have I am trying to finish up a couple of projects that have been hanging over my head for years. Yeah, yeah ... MJOTZY for those that remember that bit of ancient history. I've been re-reading it and breaking it down into months then I'll try really hard to finish the story. It was almost there anyway. It is still weeks to get that finished because it has to be done right but it is in process. I just couldn't settle to any of my other stories until I get that one knocked out. The stress was giving me an ulcer and I was dreaming the story all over again. So, there you go. The other project is the cookbooks for my kids that I have been trying to finish up forever and a day as well. I hope to have those finished before summer starts as well.

As far as physical preps, the cookbook is mostly a "prep" type thing so I'm going to let it could. LOL. But I've also been filling in gaps here and there that have developed because I haven't been able to cook from scratch as much as I had been. And with softball season starting up the beginning of next week, spring productions underway, and everything else in the kidlet world going on time is becoming even more precious. I've been drinking way more cola than I should but it seems to be the only way I can stay awake long enough to get most of my to-do list accomplished on a daily basis. Gack ... this time of year is always a madhouse and then there is summer which is even worse. And let's not leave out all of the dancing on the world scene that is going on. Crazy days ... craaaaaaazy days.

 

[ReneeT]

I'm trying to stay busy enough to ignore the dancing, but figuring that our country is going to be the one ending up with egg on their face. I about had an apoplexy yesterday when I saw John Kerry saying we'd give the current regime in the Ukraine a billion dollars, so had to stop reading - I'd like to still be here to care for my family when the crash comes

Gas was $3.74/gallon as grandson and I came through town on our way home from the Y last night - up 35 cents/gallon since Saturday!! I need to pick up some silver eagles for birthday gifts and was waiting for the 2014 ones to come out, but I'm going to have to check the price and see what it's doing - price of silver seems to rise when fuel prices rise I left a $5 bill on the clip on our newspaper box for the carrier last night; their margin is so slim that an increase like that has to hurt.

Took grandson home today, then stopped at Dollar General to pick up some canned dog food for the stockpile as it was looking a bit low. Pedigree was on sale for $1/22 oz can, which will feed the dog her two meals a day (with table scraps added in.) I THOUGHT I had coupons for buy 3; get 1 free; and when I looked through my small coupon file before I left home today, I thought I counted 6 coupons. Before I put them in my cart at the store, I opened my file again and looked at the coupons - but only found 5; one of them was a buy 3; get 1 free; the other four were buy 1, get 1 free - woo hoo! So I loaded 12 cans in to the cart and pointed it toward the checkout. As I was explaining my coupons to the checker, an older couple came up behind me; they had 4 cans of the dog food in their cart. We got the coupons finished up and I was expecting to pay $7 & tax, but the cash register deducted another $2 - there was a deal I hadn't noticed that if you bought 10, you got $2 off your order, so my $12 worth of dog food only cost me $5. Then, as I was handing the girl my money, she said "Oops - here's an extra coupon - two were stuck together; do you want to go get two more cans?" I declined and handed the coupon to the couple behind me, and told them about the $2/10 cans deduction - as I left the store, they were heading back to pick up more cans.

I'm very well aware of how blessed I am; I try to share those blessings in at least a small way when I can.

 

[coloradohermit]

I just finished checking out the online weekly sales ads for the local stores to make my list for the Friday trip to town. Kroger has Bumble Bee chunk light tuna for 59 cents/can and Safeway Folgers for $6.88 and has corned beef on sale. Sales aren't quite what they used to be, but are better than what they're going to be.

 

[eXe]

I picked up more canned goods, stocked more wood on the wood pile, and started the very beginnings of my garden this year. We are starting to get warm enough where I can get it going.

Next weekend we plan on doing a bit more planting in the back yard area.

Thankfully lots of new little side jobs have been opening up, so hopefully some money will be rolling in in the near future for extra preps.

 

[SAPPHIRE]

Gee ReneeT, I've done the same with coupons.....funny how some people are so appreciative and some just stare as if they've never had someone offer a wee bit of help......not even a thank you.....so I just say "oh well"...

The Lord is so good to help stretch my budget too..........glad I don't have a dog (eats too much) but we do have a cat......who will plainly tell me off if it's not fed "on time"..............

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Bought garden seeds, probably enough to plant a small truck farm. They should be more than enough for this year and next. I tried to make sure they were heirloom varieties that were suitable for the area we live in. These seeds are now stored in glass jars so hopefully they will be safe from rats, mice and other vermin.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Not much on sale this week, but I continue to work full hours at the tax place. Only a little over 5 more weeks of tax season and paychecks left.

I will hit Publix and get toilet paper and paper plates (both on sale) this weekend and stock up. I will also hit another store near where I work and stock up on some canned goods.

The truck got 2 new tires last week.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Did something that I've been meaning to do for a while and that is try all of the variations on the Amish Friendship Bread starters simultaneously to see what the differences are between them, if any. It is actually a science experiment for my 10 year old son with the end result being something that is actually useful rather than just a throw-a-way type thing.

The different ones that we are trying are:
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (traditional one)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Gluten-Free)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Gluten-Free and Casein-Free)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Paleo)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Potato Flake)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Sugar-Free)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Vegan)
Amish Friendship Bread Starter (Yeast-Free)

 

[SAPPHIRE]

Kathy..........I think your avatar should be a busy bee.......................you have more energy than most.............take care and I hope you can put your feet up for a while!!

 

[moldy]

Spending way too much time looking for tax returns from last several years. Note: Being well-organized can save you time and money (and time is money). Did manage to get my pruning done yesterday and most of the electric fence around the garden taken down. Next week, will start (ugh!) cleaning out the chicken house. Dh thinks we may run short of manure this year.

 

[Tonic]

Found an apple grower that had scratch and dent apples for sale. 800 lbs for $50. He called them livestock apples. Well, we do have chickens. Making dried apples, apple sauce, apple jelly (some with habenero), and apple cider. The chickens get apples strung on a coat hangers hanging on their pen. We attracted a skunk that got in the pen but couldn't get out.