Prep Genrl WEEKLY PREP THREAD, Feb 16-22

[prudentwatcher]

I went to Winn Dixie today to get some marked down meat. Spent $40 and got: 2 big rib eye steaks (we split one for a dinner), 2 large london broil (will be cut in 2 or 3 pieces each) and 3 packages of stew beef. Everything will be vac sealed in meal sized portions and frozen.

Nothing else decent on sale. Right now I'm catching up on laundry and have tomorrow to work on the pile of stuff on my desk.

What is everyone else doing?

 

[fairbanksb]

Got the garden ready for planting. I was going to plant today then I checked the weather. We have another freeze coming on the 26th. Damn!! Will this winter ever end. Bought a #10 can of freeze dried pork chops. They were delivered today. Just placed an order for a case of long term storage spices and a few cans of brown sugar.

 

[NINER]

Started seeds in the greenhouse. Prep the new garden space and have ran all but 250 ft of new fence for our critters.

 

[ReneeT]

Didn't manage to accomplish much of anything last week as I went in to work on Tuesday and promptly got hustled down to ER by my co-workers - must have looked even worse than I felt lol! Something ugly and viral, but not flu - 17.9 white count, temp 38.4, dehydrated, a BP 174/125, heart rate 120, and felt like I'd been run over by a truck. A BIG truck. Chest clear, urine clean, so 2 bags of saline, zithromyacin, and one dose of morphine - I scared them because I was on my back on the gurney with my head held off the pillow; they were freaking because they thought my neck was stiff, but I said "No, I'd have told you if it was; my head just hurts too bad to lay it down on the pillow." I think the ms was a gift for not making them do a lumbar puncture to check for meningitis since they were so busy lol! At least it took the bp and pulse down to a normal range... Went home with a script for Zithromax and spent the next two days in bed; sure was glad for the stockpiled Gatorade because I didn't even feel up to making homemade. Ended up not taking the Zmax because I was pretty sure it was viral, so it is in the stockpile for use in an emergency for URI/pneumonia.

Crawled out Friday morning to ride to town with Hubs to get my Jeep; didn't hang around to do anything while I was there, just came straight home. Back to work Saturday night; left way early as the weather was supposed to start getting nasty again, so stopped at CVS as I went through town and picked up 12 cans of Campbell's chicken noodle soup @ 75 cents/can - 3, 40 cent/4 coupons. I don't usually keep it on hand, but with Hubby having his teeth pulled, it will come in handy. Then popped in to Walgreen's and stocked up on 12 bottles of Purex laundry detergent - it was on sale Buy one; get TWO free; regular price $6 each, so 12 jugs for $24.

On to work then; got off Sunday morning and picked up my 3 'big city' newspapers for the coupon inserts/Hubby's puzzles. I'd already snagged 3 inserts at work, so had clipped some coupons from then that I needed. Popped in to CVS and picked up 3 - 9 roll pkg Northern tp @ 3/$15, 4 lg bags Valentine M&Ms on clearance @ $1.25 each (Easter baskets!), 3 reg bags Mega M&Ms @ 75 cents each (ditto), and one pkg of CVS diapers @ $7.99 - total: $30.25 + $1.60 tax = $31.85. Used a $4/$20 purchase scanner coupon I'd gotten when I scanned my card, 3, $1/1 Northern Coupons, 2, $1.50/2 M&M coupons, 1 buy two, get one free M&M coupon, $10 & $5 Extra Care Bucks from previous purchases - total: $25.75 off. Paid $6.05 out of pocket; got back $5 ECB for the tp, $3 ECB for the diapers, and 75 cent ECB for the Mega M&Ms. I will provide coupons and have my daughter and best buddy do the tp, diaper, and Mega M&M deals as well.

Home, slept like the dead, then headed back in to work. Stopped at Walgreen's on the way home and picked up 4 pkg Wags brand pull-up type diapers @ $5 each, 2 pkg Reese's hearts (my kids/grandkids don't care if they get hearts in their Easter baskets lol!) @ $1.50 each, and 6 chocolate covered marshmallow hearts (for Hubby) @ 25 cents each - total: $24.50 + $1.38 tax = $25.88 Used the $2/2 code in the Walgreen's February book for the pull ups so $4, a $1/2 Hershey coupon, and a $7 Register Reward for buying Melatonin a week or so ago - total: $12. Paid $13.88 out of pocket.

Poor youngest grandson - teething is giving him fits with his bowels; has since he started cutting teeth. After 6 poop messes in one afternoon - that ended up with him in the tub 4 of those times (thank goodness for a hand held shower thingy and a bleach stockpile!), I gave up on regular training pants and went back to diapers. I figure since he's just 18 months old, I have a while yet to go with teeth, so am stocking back up on them. At the price I'm paying, I can afford to donate them if I end up with too many. Of course, the LAST time I did that, I ended up with another grandbaby, so maybe not LOL! I will probably do the pull-up deal a couple more times on my way to or from work since $4/pkg is a pretty hard to beat price.

Little one is hollering; guess nap time is over!

 

[ReneeT]

Had to go in to town this morning for a 1.5 hour staff meeting; came home with a one quart old fashioned canning jar with the metal bail on the lid to lock it down - brought in by one of the speakers, filled with chocolate - which we soon took care of! It will come in handy for storing dried seasonings or teas in my pantry.

I did stop at Walgreen's and picked up two more packages of their brand of pull up style training pants at $4/pkg after sale and store coupons. Then, since I'm rarely in town during the hours the Salvage store is open, I decided to take advantage and stop by. I spent $22 and change and came home with quite a bit for my money:
2 - jars Ball low/no sugar pectin - each jar will make 22 pints of jam; $1 each jar. 6" of snow still on the ground and I'm dreaming of strawberry jam lol!
2 - 2 pks Certo liquid pectin - my daughter uses this in making homemade fruit snacks; mixing it in with pureed fruit and dropping it by blobs on the dehydrator sheets: 50 cents each box
2 - boxes of 12 coffee k-cups for the unit coffee machine; $5 each. I use one or two a shift, so these should last me 4 to 6 weeks - and hopefully not irritate my belly as much as the hospital swill does lol!
2 - boxes Maypo cereal; 60 cents each
4 - boxes chocolate Cream of Wheat cereal; 60 cents each These two are a change up from rolled oats for breakfast - helps with food fatigue.
5- 1# bags black eye peas; 40 cents each - very cheap protein! I will can these in pint jars this weekend; then use to make Hoppin' John
4 - boxes scalloped/au gratin potato mixes; 60 cents each. These can be used as is, to make a cassarole with the addition of ham, smoked sausage or chicken and some frozen or dehydrated veggies; or used as the base for a cheesy chicken veggie soup.
10 - pkg assorted dry 'salad dressing' mixes - Italian, Ranch, Garlic and Herb, etc... 10 cents each. I use these in pasta salad, mixed with vinegar and oil to use as meat marinades, sprinkled on ground beef or ground chicken before making burgers, to season crackers, make dip or topping for baked potatoes...

 

[fairbanksb]

Just placed an order for more freeze dried. I figured either I spend the extra money getting products with extra long shelf life or waste money as store bought products go bad and have to be thrown out. I know rotate the food. I just don't think about it and due to lack of storage space, products are pretty tightly stacked. I would have to empty half a shelf of retack containers just to rotate an item.
I order chicken base, beef base, tomato powder, cheddar cheese, mozarella cheese, powdered cheddar cheese and canned peanut butter. I had to throw away three jars of peanut butter. I bought a bunch of it when it was on sale. I opened a jar that was less than a year old. I took 1 taste and spit it out. That was money that I might as well have taken out of my wallet and put in the garbage.

 

[ReneeT]

What is the shelf life on the canned peanut butter, Fairbanksb?

We rotate peanut butter by dropping a tablespoon on top of chinese noodles to use under stir fry, or by making peanut butter cookie dough and freezing it in one cookie sheet size bags - my freezer is the go-to for daughter and her friends when they NEED! cookies, or an unexpected (what note in the bottom of my school bag?) bake sale rears it's head Grilled pbj sandwiches also show up on the menu when I need to rotate out a jar.

How do you all rotate peanut butter?

Today was the start of a local grocery store's new ad, so I slipped in on my way home from work to check for marked down produce from last week's sale. Got 8 oz button mushrooms for 69 cents, 2 green, 1 yellow summer squash in a pk for 69 cents, one of the 16 oz ready to steam bags of cauliflower, carrots and broccoli for 89 cents and a 1# bag of sweet mini peppers (12) for 99 cents. Probably 2/3 of the mushrooms have been sliced and are in the dehydrator, along with one of the green squash that was sliced thin and lightly salted. I'll wash the bag of mixed veggies (saving out a couple of broccoli florets), chunk a bit more than half of the other two squash and a couple of the peppers, toss in chunked onion, potato and garlic from the veggie bins. and chunk up a couple of the mushrooms. I'll use a partial packet of one of the 10 cent dressing mixes I bought yesterday, mix it with a bit of heated coconut oil, then toss the veggies in it and put them in a small roaster pan. I'll slice about 3 oz of smoked sausage thin and tuck the slices in with the veggies, then roast on high heat in the toaster oven until tender. This will provide at least 4 meals for Hubby and myself.

I'll use the rest of the mushrooms, the reserved broccoli, squash, and a pepper or two in bowl of pasta salad I'm taking to a work potluck tomorrow night I'll use another of the 10 cent dressing packets to make the dressing for the pasta salad.

I have a follow up at the cancer center tomorrow (so tired of driving back and forth to town this week - 50 miles round trip), so will check in at the market that frequently has the $2.99 ground chuck/ground round to see if they have any. If so, I'll get a pack and make up meatloaf mix, add in some instant rice (need to rotate) to part of it, and pack it into the mini peppers; then freeze for later crock pot meals of stuffed peppers. If no inexpensive ground beef, they'll hold in the fridge for several days, or until I get a chance to slice them for the dehydrator.

Dang!! Just jumped half out of my skin - tornado watch alert on weather radio. Barometer has been steady at 28.8 since I got up, thunder in the distance and clouds rolling in. Texted daughter, she and boys are already in basement; I'm sitting on the basement steps where I can keep an eye on the barometer lol! Something tells me supper might be delayed...

 

[Chili]

I bought 6/1oz silver rounds at I think $23.50 apiece. Bartered some motorcycle wrenching for dealership repairs on Wifes Equinox. Ordered a .308 & a 5.56 lower, and reloaded 50 rds 0f 5.56. Also bought an Army manual on improvised stuff at the bookstore. (cash purchase)

 

[SAPPHIRE]

WOW......ya'll are busy.........IMO peanut butter stores better/longer in glass jars........I'm going to eat up our plastic jarred nut butter.....but glass is best and stored in dry, cooler area......

I'm able to stock regular stuff.....but I'm picking up whatever I find marked way down and use coupons as appropriate.........I live in a shoebox........so mega pantry isn't possible....all the info concerning a dry Calif. produce valley is a bit scary.......NW of Denver is not a good place to garden....harsh sunlight...we're receiving very little precip....and our soil is poor here.

Whatever I find cheap (within limits) I buy and if I can't use it, it's passed on to a food pantry........I'm the only one in my famly doing any prep. so it's kind of lonely!!

 

[ReneeT]

One of the local grocery stores is running a sale this week on the Knorr's brand rice or pasta and sauce mixes; 10/$10. As a side deal, they have a coupon in the ad for $5 off a rotisserie chicken ($5.99) when you buy 10 of the Knorr's mixes. I picked up 10 assorted mixes and the chicken yesterday afternoon when Hubby and I went to pick up the 2 younger grandsons; between the four of us, we had about 1/3 of the chicken and 2/3 of one of the rice mixes for supper, along with some broccoli and home canned applesauce. I anticipate at least 4 more servings of chicken, plus a quart or more of broth from simmering the carcass. I may use another mix and part of the broth and chicken to make a cassarole later in the week. The sale is good through Tuesday, so I may repeat the purchase again, and freeze the chicken for a later meal.

Yes, I could season the rice cheaper myself But I'm honest enough with myself that I know I wouldn't be likely to do it myself; and Hubby would be even less likely - and he does a lot of the cooking due to my wacky work schedule (3+ - 12.5 hour night shifts a week.) I usually keep cooked rice on hand in the freezer for quick meals, but lately freezer space has been at a premium - and when my boys are hungry, they don't want to wait!! (Come by that naturally, they do lol!) So I do like to keep the mixes on hand in the short term pantry (current use out to a year); and like that they are fast to fix. I also like the assortment of flavors - I worry about food fatigue with the kids. Sometimes the mixes are spicier than we like, so I'll rotate some of my instant rice by tossing a half cup in with the mix. (I always keep instant rice on hand in the mid term pantry because it will cook quickly and requires less liquid than raw rice.) I'm going to try out a partial packet of one of these in my stainless steel, thermos type 'coffee' mugs and see how they do with just the addition of boiling water rather than cooking over heat. It would be a lot tastier than the box of instant rice I keep in my locker for emergencies! (First thing I do when I get to work is put a pot of water on one of the coffee machine's warmers - that way, if the emergency doesn't include the building falling down, I've got hot water to make instant type meals to eat if I have to walk to where I store my bike to get on home.) I'm also wondering how they would do in a mini crock pot for work - throw it in on first break (ha - if I get one); then have it ready to eat at lunch break.

Off to look over the sale ads for this week...