Prep Genrl WEEKLY PREP THREAD, FEB 24-MAR 1

[prudentwatcher]

It's going to be a slow week. Fed-Ex should be delivering my order of freeze dried fruits and veggies from Emergency Essentials tomorrow. That was $100 of my tax refund for a 6 can special.

No sales on anything I want or need. Milk and sodas, but those are short term things. I'm caught up on laundry and bills and my big freezer is stuffed.

I do want to thank whoever posted about the Mturk program at the work at home question posted a week or so ago. I signed up, got approved and this is my third day of doing HITS. I'm not going to get rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I'll be able to pay off some bills and put some money aside for future trips with my earnings throughout the year. Off to a good start!

So what is everyone else up to this week?

 

[moldy]

Dealing with a sick cow and working a lot.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Work is getting frantically busy. April, May, and June are normally our busiest months for turning units but we've had so many evictions ... in a three month period we've had more than we've ever had in a single year ... that work has stacked high and deep preventing me from really doing what I want/prefer to do in terms of prepping. Because of our family size and the size of the rotating pantry we keep there's a lot more pre and post prepping to going shopping than most people would probably realize except for someone else with a large family on a budget/menu system.

Me being more involved in the business is paying dividends however and while on the one hand I find it frustrating, on the other it is rewarding and also helps hubby which in and of itself pays dividends.

However to calm some of my "getting behind" worry I just got back from an Aldi run. Man, it is a lot easier to drop $200+ there than it used to be and mostly all I got was canned goods to piece out my home-canned stuff. Their variety is down and so is the amount they keep stocked. Just buying 24 pkgs of yellow rice I cleared out 2/3 of their stock of that item. Pintos were $1.79 for a two pound bag. Great northerns were about the same. Two pounds of black beans were $2.37 which really annoyed me. But I suppose I'll pay it because it is better than other places and it keeps me from having to break into my seal buckets.

I need to make a run to GFS and get some more frozen fruits and veggies so I can put my dehydrator back to work. I'm running out of my dried, oriental stir fry mix. I'm also almost out of plaintain chips. Just a matter of finding the time and money. But its like that for anything these days.

Also trying to help son who got side swipe week before last. It didn't do a lot of damage to the car but getting a Mustang put back to factory specs isn't cheap and the dealership tried to shaft him. Hubby and I went with him this morning and I gotta say it is a pleasure watching my hubby work. By the time he was finished he'd saved our son almost $400. God the man is sexy when he does his thing. I am so very fortunate and blessed.

Oh and Bill Engvall saved my sanity last night. Roll your eyes if you gotta but sometimes a good comedy skit is just the thing after a badly stressful day. If you get a chance what his skit on when he went up in an F16. OMG ... too funny.

 

[ReneeT]

Make sure you wear your mask when you do the terminal cleaning of those units, Kathy - we sure don't want you sick again!!

I'm off to a slow start this week; didn't pick up my coupon inserts until Monday night, had to stay over 2 hours for a class when I got off work Tuesday morning, then, since I ended up on call for Tuesday night, needed to limit my lollygagging so I could get home and fall into bed. Stopped at Aldi's since they don't open until 9am so I can rarely hit them after work unless I hang around town for an hour or so; picked up half & half, mayo, cheese, and a tin of these darned cookies I seem to be addicted to lately. I toss my change into a jar each day, then the 3yo grandson helps me sort for denomination and we toss it in the tins - minus his perccentage, of course

Whipped in to Walgreen's next:
Transaction 1:
1 - Mucinex 5 ct allergy tabs @ $7.50
1 - Nasonex 60 ct allergy spray @ $11.99
1 - qt bottle bleach @ 99 cents
Total: $20.50
Used:
1 - $5 Mucinex coupon
1 - $2 Nasonex store coupon
1 - $5 Nasonex manufacturer's coupon
Total: $12
Paid $8.50 + tax; got back 3,000 bonus points (worth $3+) for the Mucinex that I wasn't expecting, and I will also be able to send in the receipt for a $2.50 rebate on the Mucinex.

Transaction 2:
1 - Mucinex 5 ct allergy tablets @ $7.50
1 - Nasonex 60 ct allergry spray @ $11.99
2 - boxes quart freezer bags @ 99 cents each
1 - qt bottle bleach@ 99 cents
4 - dozen eggs @ $1.29 each
6 - pkg Burpee brand herb/flower seeds on sale for 65% off, at assorted prices, totaling $4.82
Total: $32.50ish
Used:
1 - $5 Mucinex coupon
1 - $5 Nasonex coupon
1 - $2 Nasonex store coupon
Total: $12
Paid: $21+ tax; got back 3000 bonus points (worth $3+), and can send in the receipt for a $2.50 rebate on the Mucinex

Hubby has terrible allergies in the spring, and again when the goldenrod blooms; I'm glad to be able to get the allergey meds ahead at sale prices. I still have some stockpiled from last year's sale/coupon shopping, so these will go to the back of the med locker. I shudder at the thought of running out of meds in an emergency situation!!

Here in a bit, I'm heading out to pick up youngest grandson for an overnight stay. Will stop at CVS for a gallon of milk - $2.49, but will hold off on any other shopping there - or anywhere else - until I take him home and trade him for his older brother tomorrow.

 

[Tennessee gal]

Kroger has Proggesso's light creamy potato with bacon and cheese and their light Pot roast veg, soups on sale 10 for $10.00 this week. I bought 12 cans and may go back for more.

 

[ReneeT]

A couple of weeks ago, a friend at work contacted me about helping her donate 14 large packages of incontinent briefs; her mother had passed on, and they had to clear her apartment within a few days, so I took them home with me to see what I could do. Today, I stuffed 4 packages in a bag, and on my way to take littlest grandson home, I stopped by the Senior Citizen's Thrift Shop and asked if they could accept them - they were delighted, and agreed to take all of the packages whenver I could bring them in. I was in a rush, so just dropped off the 4 packages I had with me; then headed to daughter's to trade littlest for middle grandson. While I was waiting for the bus to drop off MGS, I kept thinking about a small computer desk that had been sitting near the door at the thrift shop - with a $5 price tag on it....

And I kept thinking about it while MGS and I ran a couple of other errands; then finally went back to get it. And then found out they were having a sale on kid's clothes. And books. And robes. One desk, 1 pt fleece pjs with Batman on them, 3 jackets, 17 assorted long sleeve shirts - cotton knit, thermal, fleece, sweatshirts; up to 4 sizes bigger than MGS's current size (poor LGS lives in hand-me-downs lol!), 2 pr shoes, 1 cotton robe, 6 preschool workbooks (letters, number, shapes, colors, reading, and critical thinking) and $10 later, I was trying to figure out how to stuff everything in the back of the wagon (those winter emergency kits take up a lot of space!)

I have 2 stacks of totes in my store room, each tote labeled with size and season; a tote for shoes/boots with an itemized list of type/size of footwear, plus 2 cardboard boxes for items the littlest one has finally outgrown. The boys are currently in 12 month and 3T/4T sizes, so the totes are winter & summer18 month, 24 mo/2T, 4T, 5T; then 2 huge tubs crosswise for the footwear and a divided size 6/7/8 tub. I'm trying to figure out how to get Hubby to take the two big tubs off the top for me - without admitting that I brought home another two bags of stuff today

 

[SackLunch]

How to rotate peanut butter- Recipe

On last week's thread (I'm always behind)

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?

SATAY SAUCE!

• Place in your blender:
• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• To taste (I use about 1 Tablespoon) green or red Thai Chili Paste (This not the sweet sauce that comes in bottles. This is the paste that comes in small cans at the grocery store or tubs at the Asian store. Each brand has a different "heat" level, so proceed carefully.)
  
• One 16 or 18-ounce jar of peanut butter.
• Fill the empty peanut butter jar with very HOT water and add to the blender.

Blend until smooth.

This is tasty over cooked noodles or rice with stir-fried veggies. It makes a nice dipping sauce as well. Stores for weeks in the fridge--just stir if it separates.

 

[ReneeT]

Thanks, SackLunch - this recipe sounds good!

 

[moldy]

fter being incredibly stupid this morning and breaking my rear window on my car (sigh - and losing my temper and having to apologize to my family....), I made up some stuff for the next several weeks: (all homemade) hot chocolate mix, vanilla coffee mix, and peppermint mocha coffee mix (all just need hot water - from the woodstove to make). I also made smoothies for the girls to have for breakfast over the next week. thinking of making some hot pockets or muffins to have for breakfasts, too. I reused the same bowl and blender without washing between for the mixes, and the smoothies (blender). I need to menu plan (it's a lifesaver on work nights) and get things prepped for the week.

The cow is much better, but we lost one of the smaller calves (belonged to DD 17). It's snowing and blowing, so I'm thinking it's gonna be mostly inside work.

 

[Walkin' Away]

Moldy,
May I be so bold as to ask for your coffee mix recipes?

Thinking to myself...they may be very useful for prep supplies that are in storage.

Thanks in advance...

Have a Blessed Sunday afternoon!

Walkin' Away

 

[moldy]

Instant Latte Mix
1/3 cup instant coffee powder
1 cup instant dry milk powder
½ cup dry powdered creamer
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup dry instant vanilla pudding mix (about ½ of a small box)

Mix all together in a bowl, then run thru your blender to make the powder finer. This will help it to dissolve better, and just make it feel better in your mouth. Make sure your blender is DRY before you start to run the mix thru. Use ¼ cup of mix to 6-8 ounces of hot water.

Variations:
Mocha: use chocolate fudge instant pudding mix
Chocolate Peppermint: use instant chocolate pudding mix, add 6-8 crushed
red and white mints
For an almond flavor, I suppose you could use pistachio pudding – sounds
good, I just haven’t tried it.
Pumpkin Spice: use instant pumpkin spice pudding (available at the
holidays – if you like this, stock up then), add a pinch of cinnamon and
cloves.
You could make lower sugar versions by using sugar-free pudding and sugar
substitute.