Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: August 13 ~19, 2023

[kyrsyan]

Exactly. Only store what you eat now. When I started my pantry, and still today, I plan to keep right on eating what we always have in a SHTF event. Also, I try to stay realistic about the amount I store away. Some things, I have gone overboard with, and probably will have to get rid of some of it, if it's not used by next year. Like the gallons of syrup I mentioned earlier. We hardly ever eat pancakes, so it was unrealistic for me to buy up so much of it.

If it is maple syrup, real maple syrup, there are many more things you can use it for other than pancakes. I've used it in baking. And sometimes in sausages that I freeze.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

If it is maple syrup, real maple syrup, there are many more things you can use it for other than pancakes. I've used it in baking. And sometimes in sausages that I freeze.

It's just Log Cabin pancake syrup. I can't think of any other way to use it. Cary can't eat sausage.

 

[SAPPHIRE]

Same here...s-l-o-w-l-y going through old preps........when dh began his spiral down...all my focus was on him...I just ignored all the organization/rotating etc. since he couldn't eat most of what we had prepped and I certainly didn't want to eat a flat of green beans/etc. by myself......my metabolism/appetite has completely changed. Throwing out old food is needful but some of it is in the "grey area"........can't do it by myself, the old body won't bend much anymore...sons help about once every twelve days......kinda discouraged with all the "must do" and the real limits of health..........UGH

 

[summerthyme]

It's just Log Cabin pancake syrup. I can't think of any other way to use it. Cary can't eat sausage.

That stuff will keep forever. Since we live where we can make our own pure maple syrup, I'll refrain from giving my opinion of actually consuming the stuff!

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I think we all have to be realistic about the amount we store, and we have to realize that some things just get too old and need to be thrown out, unless it's commercially sealed in #10 cans. Even those have a certain shelf life and have to be kept stored in ideal conditions.

Oh, and Summerthyme, I have no idea what pure maple syrup tastes like. I would love to have some, though. No maple trees down our way. I know what real sorghum molasses taste like. We have plenty of sorghum here. It's still good to know that my syrup will last a lot longer than I expected it to.

 

[nomifyle]

Exactly. Only store what you eat now. When I started my pantry, and still today, I plan to keep right on eating what we always have in a SHTF event. Also, I try to stay realistic about the amount I store away. Some things, I have gone overboard with, and probably will have to get rid of some of it, if it's not used by next year. Like the gallons of syrup I mentioned earlier. We hardly ever eat pancakes, so it was unrealistic for me to buy up so much of it.

I have a few bottles of syrup from the DT that's about three years old. It lasts forever, although I don't make pancakes or waffles any more. You can still pour it on something else to improve the flavor. I just tossed some pancake mix that had some serious age on it. That does not last forever. The bag was and DH said it had mold in it. He did something with it for some of the animals.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I have a few bottles of syrup from the DT that's about three years old. It lasts forever, although I don't make pancakes or waffles any more. You can still pour it on something else to improve the flavor. I just tossed some pancake mix that had some serious age on it. That does not last forever. The bag was and DH said it had mold in it. He did something with it for some of the animals.

I only keep a couple of boxes of Bisquick in my freezer. It will keep for a long time in there. I know how to make pancakes from scratch, too. We just don't eat a lot of pancakes and never eat waffles. I have other syrups stored too. Cary loves some hot biscuits over a plate of butter and syrup mixed together, with a side of bacon.

 

[kyrsyan]

It's just Log Cabin pancake syrup. I can't think of any other way to use it. Cary can't eat sausage.

Then I'd find a food bank and donate it before it's out of date. I've had to do similar when diet changes have occurred. Or a family in need that was willing to take things.

As far as real maple syrup, we have a few small containers of it. Some I bought. Some from my aunt in Vermont. Son loves it so I save it for him.

 

[kyrsyan]

Hot. I started sweating into my eyes, and that bloody burns. And I somehow got paint near one eye. More painting done. And a lot of nosy lookie lots. Geez. Mind your own business folks.

Anyways, son is in a good mood and looking to remain in one so I'm getting his lunch made. Then more painting. And some planting this time.

Horseradish arrived. One to use in recipe, one to plant. One is really large so I need to see if I can make it multiple starts. And there are some strawberry plants that finally seem strong enough to go in the ground.

But I may take an hour to work inside and clean things up for the new fridge arrival.

 

[anna43]

When our health changes, the food we can or cannot eat changes. That is why I've been getting rid of beans, beans and more beans. I actually love beans and so did my late dh so we used to eat them a couple times a week, so I'd stored lots. Now, it toss, toss, toss. I haven't started on the dried beans yet because I feel those could be valuable for sharing if things go SHTF fashion. Everything is stored in containers in the basement, and I run a dehumidifier all the time the furnace isn't running so things keep well. Still with the purge I now have 17 empty buckets and empty shelf spaces.

I moved all the home dehydrated foods stored in the basement to a shelf outside my pantry room so I will see them each time I go into the pantry. Some of my dehydrated stuff is quite old but I give it the sniff test to decide whether to keep or toss. Most of what I tossed was extremely old or things I'm not supposed to eat.

When I'm satisfied with the pantry purge, I am going to start on the freezer section by section. I also need to inventory what I keep in the freezer and get rid of the old stuff. It's a huge chest type and I'm sure there are many thinks lurking in the bottom that need to go. It also needs to be defrosted but doing the purge and defrost at the same time would be overwhelming, so I'll do the purge bit by bit and when finished move on to the defrost. I know I have a pork tenderloin, three (at least) bags of chicken and some venison that needs to be thawed and canned. Big project for winter days.

Something important to remember when you're purging, best by dates do not matter on many things. Some stuff keeps forever. And even though I don't care for pancakes. I keep syrup on-hand because in a SHTF situation you can feed a lot of people with pancakes made from scratch and syrup.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

When our health changes, the food we can or cannot eat changes. That is why I've been getting rid of beans, beans and more beans. I actually love beans and so did my late dh so we used to eat them a couple times a week, so I'd stored lots. Now, it toss, toss, toss. I haven't started on the dried beans yet because I feel those could be valuable for sharing if things go SHTF fashion. Everything is stored in containers in the basement, and I run a dehumidifier all the time the furnace isn't running so things keep well. Still with the purge I now have 17 empty buckets and empty shelf spaces.

I moved all the home dehydrated foods stored in the basement to a shelf outside my pantry room so I will see them each time I go into the pantry. Some of my dehydrated stuff is quite old but I give it the sniff test to decide whether to keep or toss. Most of what I tossed was extremely old or things I'm not supposed to eat.

When I'm satisfied with the pantry purge, I am going to start on the freezer section by section. I also need to inventory what I keep in the freezer and get rid of the old stuff. It's a huge chest type and I'm sure there are many thinks lurking in the bottom that need to go. It also needs to be defrosted but doing the purge and defrost at the same time would be overwhelming, so I'll do the purge bit by bit and when finished move on to the defrost. I know I have a pork tenderloin, three (at least) bags of chicken and some venison that needs to be thawed and canned. Big project for winter days.

Something important to remember when you're purging, best by dates do not matter on many things. Some stuff keeps forever. And even though I don't care for pancakes. I keep syrup on-hand because in a SHTF situation you can feed a lot of people with pancakes made from scratch and syrup.

One of the things in my pantry that I've purged not too long ago was a batch of dill pickles I made 10 yrs. ago. They didn't stay crisp, but I just left them on the shelves thinking that they would be ok in an emergency. No, they got tossed, and I had open space on the shelf and 12 empty quart jars that I could fill with something that I use more often. We only use dill pickles on hamburgers. Why I thought I needed so many jars is beyond me. We had an abundance of cucumbers that year.

I have 2 medium size chest freezers. One is for meat only. The other is for flour, cornmeal, pancake mix, cases of mac&cheese, butter, and cheeses, cake mixes, onion soup mixes, ice cream, and a few bags of frozen veggies. Everything kept in rotation and dated. The second freezer is really old, so I don't trust it to hold all of our meat. Almost everything in it can be taken out and thawed without causing any harm, if need be, or kept in a cooler, until I can replace the freezer if it dies.

 

[kyrsyan]

Pickles have a limit. I'll give them 3 years. If I haven't used them in that time, typically they need to go because they end up tasting nasty. Commercially canned pickles actually go nasty faster. But I will also cut back on the amount I make the next time then. I actually have not done pickles this year because I still have plenty from last year. I will do one batch of horseradish garlic pickles because I've gotten them in the store and liked them, so I want a homemade version.

Cucs this year are being eaten and shared. The overgrown ones go to feed a friend's chickens.

I still keep tripping across items that were canned before the diet change. A friend and her sons love to eat anything I find. And generally it is items that I've either already decided to not can again, or items that I've created new recipes for and there was an oddball jar tucked in the back.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Pickles have a limit. I'll give them 3 years. If I haven't used them in that time, typically they need to go because they end up tasting nasty. Commercially canned pickles actually go nasty faster. But I will also cut back on the amount I make the next time then. I actually have not done pickles this year because I still have plenty from last year. I will do one batch of horseradish garlic pickles because I've gotten them in the store and liked them, so I want a homemade version.

Cucs this year are being eaten and shared. The overgrown ones go to feed a friend's chickens.

I still keep tripping across items that were canned before the diet change. A friend and her sons love to eat anything I find. And generally it is items that I've either already decided to not can again, or items that I've created new recipes for and there was an oddball jar tucked in the back.

I don't plan to ever make any more pickles. Even the pickled banana pepper rings I've made won't last much past a year, before they get soggy, even storebought ones. For our dill pickle needs, I keep 2 small jars. One in the fridge that I'm using out of and one in the pantry. We just won't eat soggy pickled anything.

 

[nomifyle]

We have some dills we've gotten in commodities, we don't really care for them.

DH had bad cramps in his hand a couple of weeks ago and I opened a jar girkins that have been in the pantry for a good while for him to drink the juice. He tried one of the pickles and it was soft with no crunch. They need to stop taking up room in the fridg.

I've been giving some thought about jars that have been sealed for three or four years, especially crackers, they made need to get the smell test. Might be able to get large jars that way and save my money.

I ordered a couple more cases of the 1/2 gallon jars that were supposed to be here on Thursday and are now delayed until tomorrow. And they've been on the truck for two days, I may need to cancel them and save my money there.

This prep forum is just the best to help think things through.

 

[kyrsyan]

So the news that still hasn't completely mentally processed... the ICR recount came through on my students loans. I hadn't gotten any paperwork. I was refreezing my credit reports when I noticed that something didn't look normal.

So me being me I went digging because I sure as heck did not need issues popping up. I've been trying to get an accurate "time in repayment" for almost two years. I was digging into this before Biden's announcement, and his announcement caused them to freeze everything.

My parents want to set their will up a certain way but Dad absolutely won't do it if I still have student loans hanging over my head. That was why I started looking in the first place. Although, honestly, I will be perfectly happy for them to live long enough that none of what they're planning comes into being because it was all used for them.

Anyways, as of Monday, a giant portion of my loans were determined to be outside of the repayment time limits. That was why my credit report looked wrong.

I'm thrilled, and massively stressed at the same time. Those loans have been hanging over my head for over two decades. I couldn't make any plans for my future without calculating in how they would affect things in a negative way.

Seriously. I wouldn't even consider getting attached to someone or remarried because of the guidelines on those loans. The instant I got married, my spouse's income was attached. And a whole bunch of other stuff.

It's going to take me a while to process all of this. But I needed to share the news. When the math came down, it turned out that over 50% of my total was interest that had been rolled into the principal.

Don't Get Student Loans.

 

[summerthyme]

Kyrsyan... I can only imagine the relief you feel! How wonderful to finally get that off your back! Our son paid one loan TWICE... after he'd paid it off, they came back three years later and said he still owed it, and nothing he sent changed their minds! It was "only" about $1800, but that's a lot of money for a young man just starting out! To this day, everything in their finances are in his wife's name, because it screwed up his credit so badly. I hate student loans with a purple passion!

I posted this in the heat thread, but decided it fit here better...

Meanwhile, in north central NY, it's 63 degrees, with occasional showers, and sweatshirts and jeans are comfortable unless we're working hard. Still darned humid, but temps going into the 50s tonight.

This is much more like mid September weather, and I'm getting a bad case of the squirrels! I harvested the experimental bed of Copra onions, grown from seed... despite not thinning them enough, I got around 20# of onions off 40 plants. Half will be replanted for seed for next year... Copra plants are no longer available from Dixondale Onions, but if I can grow my own, that will save me $90 or so a year instead of buying plants. The Walla Walla sweets are almost ready, and the Patterson storage onions, which we don't like nearly as well as the Copras, probably will be ready to harvest in 10 days or so.

One variety of potatoes have died down (naturally, not from blight... first time in many years), so I've started digging them. I got half a bushel off 5 plants yesterday evening... and we've got 6, 80 foot rows! Uh, oh... this is gonna get interesting.

Last year, our yields were awful, and the potatoes were small, misshapen and scabby. This year, there are many that weigh 8-12 ounces each, and they are all blemish free. No hollow spots or gray interiors, either! The only difference was we added a ton of wood chips to the pure sand soil, and I used about a tablespoon of Osmokote Plus (shhhh... my DDIL doesn't know; she thinks all fertilizers destroy the soil!) per plant.

Hubby got a ripe peach out of the orchard... oh, my! There's only half a dozen fruit on the tree, but they're better than any grocer store peach we've ever had! Apples are coming on... I just put sticky traps on a bee hive which had Japanese hornets move in... they haven't found our honeybees, thankfully, but they're eating the almost ripe apples right on the trees!

We're just trying to enjoy our warm weather while it's here... winter is coming.

Summerthyme

 

[kyrsyan]

Dad had some really bad experiences with student loans when I was a kid. And I... well my trust level isn't real high. So I'm waiting for the paperwork. And that paperwork will go in the fire safe.

It is hot here and only going to get hotter. Next week is supposed to top 100 for most of the week. I'm going to switch my water timer over to daily for the week.

Friend is coming at crack of dawn tomorrow. We are hoping to have the entire framework built in a couple of hours. Then I can get back to painting so that next weekend is just making the doors. And then moving on to another biggish project in the backyard.

 

[connie]

I quit storing pancake mix. My homemade recipe is much better and simple.

I have time to cook. As I continue to age I may use more convenience foods. Not ruling that out.

It's good to know that I'm not the only one that has had to purge stored foods. It is truly a learning process.
Sometimes I wonder why I even bought and stored certain things. I will have to reevaluate my stored dried food after winter and see what's left. I will have to put it in a more visible place so that I get in habit of using it.

 

[Digger]

We came in from picking up the grandkids and had a message on the answering machine. The tractor tires hubby ordered were in and they needed payment to ship them to us. Got that all taken care of and they should arrive soon. They are front tires. Hubby ordered them 7 months ago. I am glad we didn't wait till we had to have them.

Our daughter that is being laid off Sept 1st has 3 job prospects with the same company. All are remote jobs. One that they seem most interested in her for would actually be a promotion. When they did her phone screening yesterday, they told her that they received a positive management recommendation on her that morning. This position is a new account so there are several positions to fill. I am praying they pick her to fill one.

We had some beautiful cooler weather early this week. We began cutting up the downed trees into fire wood. We have a lot of one cleaned up. It will make us a lot of wood.

 

[patriotgal]

Spending the entire week with family at the lake. Fortunately we all get along well and the golden rule is doing what you want to. Ebb and flow has been good. Sometimes we are all together. Sometimes one family hangs out together. Sometimes you just want to be alone.

Everyone has pitched in with chores. DD and I are fine tuning our grocery lists for group getaways. Overall we did good. Biscuits and pancakes from scratch. More bacon next time. More sugar for sweet tea. 3 gallons a day takes a bit. Little more beer. We have been dealing with extreme heat so lake activities planned around certain parts of the day.

Caught minnows in the creek for fishing in the lake. Plenty of art stuff for talented grands who like to draw. Plenty of chargers for electronics. In SHF situation, electronics time would probably be spent foraging or resting. Played outdoor games in addition to lake sports. Installed solar electronics on coded gate.

Will be doing a winter version of group getaway in Jan or Feb. Biggest challenge meal wise has been making sure we have sufficient food for teens and early 20's males. I am used to cooking in mass quantities for them but DD was not. She is about to have teens to feed. My current preps have this covered. She will be modifying hers.

We leave tomorrow. I have 2 chest type freezers. One of them needs to be emptied this coming week. Will be canning the meat. Going to give one large one away and replacing it with a smaller one. I like the idea of using smaller one for flour, etc. Need to toss some evaporated milk that has gone nasty. Need to fill a few condiment holes. Good on sorghum and honey. Used much syrup this week.

Am so glad my family is grown and I don't have school age children. Protecting their innocence as much as possible while still preparing them for our psycho world is a daily tightrope walk. I have been blessed by this week and it leaves me grateful in so many ways. Yes I could have been finishing remodel. Could have done a lot of things. But we chose to just stop and make memories. They are priceless and do not expire.

Blessings to all. Prayers always going up for everyone.

Edited to add: white noise machines are wonderful. We were gifted one last year and brought it with us. Couple of the grands have them. They block noise that might otherwise keep you awake or wake you up early. A grand watching minions for the 55th time, late night movies, midnight kitchen raiders and early risers.

 

[kyrsyan]

Welcome to menopause sleep patterns, 5 to 6 hours. My body can do this week if I'm walking daily. I'm not walking daily.

I put the new med at my bedside. The plan is to take it as soon as I wake. It takes between 60 and 90 minutes to start working. And it worked. First time I've had a morning blood sugar crash in a long time. So I'll be stocking keto trail mix packs in the nightstand again.

And I am back inside after 2 and a half hours. We have the side framing done. Next weekend is the end framing. Until then, painting and more painting.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

More triple digit heat for us today and into the foreseeable future. I've hung my laundry outside to dry and that's it for outside, today. Cary picked 2 more tomatoes off his late plants.

He and I worked in the pantry room this morning, too. I moved all my remaining home canned green beans to the kitchen pantry. That left a big open space on a pantry shelf. I filled it with jugs of pasta that I had stuck in other places. It's a bit more organized now. I found a plastic container with minced garlic I had bought back in 2021 that was bad. It got tossed. I won't be replacing that, since I grow my own garlic every year. It comes back from the bulbs each Spring. I just dig it as I need it year around. I didn't see anything that I really need to replace on my next grocery run, except more jars of salsa and mayo. Everything else should do us for a long time. We're going to be eating some of it down a bit, before buying to replace. I'm certainly not adding anything.

No cooking, tonight. It's too hot. Using a couple of cans of tuna from the pantry to make tuna salad for sandwiches. We still have chips to eat with those. I checked the dates on the tuna this morning while reorganizing. The oldest I have are dated 2021, so they're still good, but I don't have many of those left that are that old. We stocked up again on it this year.

 

[patriotgal]

I have had sleeping issues for years. Used to just get up and clean house. Rarely sleep for 5 hrs. Every so often will be exhausted enough to sleep 7 hours. Took sleeping pills for short time. Don't like being that unconscious for hours. Now I just deal with it.

Our painting is all done except for trim. Will be doing that in the a/c while our temps go nuclear again this week.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Because of my anxiety issues, my doctor put me on a prescription drug that I take at bedtime several years ago. 75mg of Trazadone. Plus, I drink a small glass of red wine every night, too. That puts me to sleep, but I usually wake up around 3 am, and can't go back to sleep. Most mornings, I'm up by 5 am ready to get the day started.

From the looks of our extended forecast there is no rain in sight. We are entering our dry months. Usually, the drought is broken by tropical weather systems, but none on the radar for us anytime soon. Just hot.

 

[nomifyle]

Its Saturday already and it was just Monday, the time is flying faster and faster.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Its Saturday already and it was just Monday, the time is flying faster and faster.

LOL. Yeah. We had Monday, then Wednesday, and now it's Saturday. Seems like we're only having 3 day weeks now.

 

[nomifyle]

Because of my anxiety issues, my doctor put me on a prescription drug that I take at bedtime several years ago. 75mg of Trazadone. Plus, I drink a small glass of red wine every night, too. That puts me to sleep, but I usually wake up around 3 am, and can't go back to sleep. Most mornings, I'm up by 5 am ready to get the day started.

From the looks of our extended forecast there is no rain in sight. We are entering our dry months. Usually, the drought is broken by tropical weather systems, but none on the radar for us anytime soon. Just hot.

I've been taking Trazadone for sleeping for years and years and years. I couldn't turn my head off, so I guess that's where the anxiety comes in. Works wonders. I wake up really early on a rare occssion and can't go back to sleep. I have a couple of other things I can take to get back to sleep but that's also very rare. DH takes it too. As far back as I can remember I've had sleeping issues. When I was going through menapase it was the worst. Maybe that's when I started taking it.

105-107 for the next ten days at least. We need that tropical storm to come here.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I've been taking Trazadone for sleeping for years and years and years. I couldn't turn my head off, so I guess that's where the anxiety comes in. Works wonders. I wake up really early on a rare occssion and can't go back to sleep. I have a couple of other things I can take to get back to sleep but that's also very rare. DH takes it too. As far back as I can remember I've had sleeping issues. When I was going through menapase it was the worst. Maybe that's when I started taking it.

105-107 for the next ten days at least. We need that tropical storm to come here.

That was me, Judy. I could not turn off the tv in my head, going from one thing to another. Just as soon as I would lay down, the tv would come on in my head. Rinse and repeat of whatever came into my mind. The Trazadone and wine stop that enough for me to get to sleep. On rare occasions, it doesn't work. Those are the nights I just get up and make my bed on the sofa, so I won't keep Cary awake all night.

 

[moldy]

Started having sleeping issues right before menopause, and it continues....but not as bad. I use melatonin and occasional benadryl.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Started having sleeping issues right before menopause, and it continues....but not as bad. I use melatonin and occasional benadryl.

I tried to ween myself off the Trazadone a couple of years ago. I tried Melatonin and Benadryl, but that didn't work. I fought with it for a while and had to go back on the Trazadone. I could tell my anxiety was getting worse then, too. My script is for 150mg, but I only take 75mg.

 

[kyrsyan]

Oh wow. Glad I held off starting the new med until now. Head is foggy. Bad enough that I checked my blood sugar. It is lower which means my body had adapted to the higher blood sugar. It's going to take a few days for my brain to adjust.

I am so glad I got mowing done last weekend and don't have to do it in this heat.

Today I have to empty the fridge and get things clear for the appliance guys. So that is the rest of today. And it's too hot outside right now.

 

[anna43]

According to Sutton Daze vacuum sealing flour does not expand its storage time. I guess I need to get the deep freeze cleaned out so i can store flour in there. Freezing takes flour storage time to indefinite. I'm still going to transfer flour to half-gallon glass jars though won't bother vacuum sealing.

A neighbor came over last evening and dug my peonies. I'm keeping my mother's day peony that came from my g-g-grandmother, but the rest are going. Another evening she's going to take part of each of my hostas which have gotten quite overgrown. I have a couple of other things in the peony bed that I want to move before I have my mowing guy start mowing that area. It has become more quack grass and creeping charlie than flower bed and its time for it to be gone.

My sugar baby watermelons are looking good. Not nearly ready for harvest so time will tell. Cantaloupe is okay but not great. The volunteer cantaloupe vines are all over the place but only a couple melons as far as I can tell. The large tomatoes are starting to turn. A couple of the yellow are about ready for harvest. Box Car Willie tomatoes are HUGE and so are the plants. This is my first time growing that variety so I'm anxious to taste them.

I have quite a few pints of pickles and relish that I need to dump. I think I'll dig a hole in one corner of the garden and dump everything there. One step at a time and eventually it will be done.

I'm thinking of using some plastic dish pans instead of baskets for the back of the bottom cupboards. I have several so would not have to buy any for the initial trial. If it works for me, then I'll use that idea on to other areas.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

According to Sutton Daze vacuum sealing flour does not expand its storage time. I guess I need to get the deep freeze cleaned out so i can store flour in there. Freezing takes flour storage time to indefinite. I'm still going to transfer flour to half-gallon glass jars though won't bother vacuum sealing.

I've learned from experience that neither cornmeal nor flour will last very long, even vacuum sealed, stored in anything other than a freezer. That's where I store all of mine. I, once, stored some away in half gallon canning jars and sealed them, but later, thought better of it. I emptied the jars back into gallon freezer bags and put them back in the freezer. A 5lb bag will fit nicely in gallon freezer bags. I'm using out of a bag of flour that's dated 2019, and it's still just as fresh as the day I bought it.

 

[connie]

I keep flour and cornmeal in freezer or refrigerator. Just don't use it that fast with only 2 of us especially in summer when I try not to use oven much.

Have heard of 4 people here with CV in past week. Thankfully I am mostly home. Taking my Vit D, C, and zinc.

 

[nomifyle]

Dish pans are a better idea than baskets, thanks for the suggestion. I have a lot of stuff in my small amount of kitchen cabinets that just taking up space.

I ordered two more cases of 64 oz canning jars. After a three day delay they finally arrived. There were broken jars in both cases, walmart gave me a refund. I was able to salvage some of them. The boxes now have all kinds of broken glass in them though, but I don't always use the boxes to store the jars.

I also ordered two 3 gallon stacking water jugs that came today too. LOL DH was not impressed.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I keep flour and cornmeal in freezer or refrigerator. Just don't use it that fast with only 2 of us especially in summer when I try not to use oven much.

Have heard of 4 people here with CV in past week. Thankfully I am mostly home. Taking my Vit D, C, and zinc.

Yeah. When I pull a bag out of the freezer, it goes directly into my fridge. That's what I use out of. It won't last long if you put it in a canister on the countertop for a few months, plus it might get bugs in it. I don't use cornmeal or flour that much during the summer, either.

 

[connie]

I have developed arthritis in my hands. It makes it difficult to handle heavy/ large glass containers. I store everything in glass, not plastic, in pantry. Gallon jars still ok for pastas. But even half gallons are now heavy for dried beans or rice. I am having to make adjustments as I age.

I used a basket I already had that was about 6 " tall in bottom cabinet. It holds less used gadgets. Just slide out a bit and grab what I need.

 

[kyrsyan]

I used caffeine, deliberately, to give myself enough energy to get at least some of the prep work for the new fridge done. It wore off about an hour ago and I'm wiping out. That was much quicker than I expected. But fridge is almost completely clear. The remaining items can be pulled tomorrow, after they notify me that they are on their way. I have a pile in the living room of things that were on or around the current fridge. And friend reminded me that they are going to have to take the doors off to get it out. And probably take the doors off the new one to get it in.

Now, I'm going to go get a drink and chill. I need to fold laundry. And I have more laundry going.

 

[philkar]

I have had sleeping issues for years. Used to just get up and clean house. Rarely sleep for 5 hrs. Every so often will be exhausted enough to sleep 7 hours. Took sleeping pills for short time. Don't like being that unconscious for hours. Now I just deal with it.

Our painting is all done except for trim. Will be doing that in the a/c while our temps go nuclear again this week.

My last child had heart issues at birth. I rarely got more than 45 min of sleep at a time for many months. It became such a part of my life that once I could sleep I couldn’t! I too used to clean house In the middle of the night! I soon realized that all of this was just for a season and a reason that I didn’t understand so I tuned up my spiritual ears. For me it was a great time of spiritual growth. Not saying this is for anyone else besides myself. But I am the kind of person that when I thought I had no time after 2 kids realized when I had my third child I had had a lot of time with 2. Same thing with sleeping! May you all have a restful night!

 

[philkar]

According to Sutton Daze vacuum sealing flour does not expand its storage time. I guess I need to get the deep freeze cleaned out so i can store flour in there. Freezing takes flour storage time to indefinite. I'm still going to transfer flour to half-gallon glass jars though won't bother vacuum sealing.

A neighbor came over last evening and dug my peonies. I'm keeping my mother's day peony that came from my g-g-grandmother, but the rest are going. Another evening she's going to take part of each of my hostas which have gotten quite overgrown. I have a couple of other things in the peony bed that I want to move before I have my mowing guy start mowing that area. It has become more quack grass and creeping charlie than flower bed and its time for it to be gone.

My sugar baby watermelons are looking good. Not nearly ready for harvest so time will tell. Cantaloupe is okay but not great. The volunteer cantaloupe vines are all over the place but only a couple melons as far as I can tell. The large tomatoes are starting to turn. A couple of the yellow are about ready for harvest. Box Car Willie tomatoes are HUGE and so are the plants. This is my first time growing that variety so I'm anxious to taste them.

I have quite a few pints of pickles and relish that I need to dump. I think I'll dig a hole in one corner of the garden and dump everything there. One step at a time and eventually it will be done.

I'm thinking of using some plastic dish pans instead of baskets for the back of the bottom cupboards. I have several so would not have to buy any for the initial trial. If it works for me, then I'll use that idea on to other areas.

Wondering if that vinegar will mess up garden growth? Guess it depends on how much pickled stuff you have. I have used straight vinegar on difficult weeds.