Food Storage Build Up

Last Friday, when I got paid, I had my check left over from the week before. So I decided to go to the store and stock up on some food. We had already been to the grocery store on Sunday, so it wasn't the usual shopping trip. 

I  believe I have mentioned before that we got a can rack. It rotates the cans so that we don't have to take everything out of the pantry and put the new stuff in and then put all the original stuff back in. We would go to the store and it would take me over an hour just to put groceries away. This is a much smoother and easier process. Just drop it in the top. All of the sections are adjustable so I can move it around to fit whatever can size we buy. The box and paperwork said it would hold something like 200+ cans. I don't know if it will actually hold that many. I should count them. (I need to anyway so I can update the inventory list.) 

Anyway, I made a trip to the store to see if I could get enough to top off the can rack and finish filling the containers I store the beans in. I spent about $100 and succeeded. Well, almost. I am a few cans short as a couple items I bought, I bought the store out of but not enough to fill that row. I also bought several bags of beans and some popcorn. (I love popcorn. Not the microwave kind, the kind you pop on the stove!) 

I got all the cans in the rack and pulled the bean containers out. Dumped the current contents out into a bowl and dumped the new beans in. Put the original ones on top and back into the cabinet they went. 

I realize that most people can't do that. I am fortunate enough that we could. It is a good feeling to know that no matter what happens, whether personal, local or regional, we will be okay for a time without having to worry about food. No where near a year's worth or anything like that, but definitely enough for a while, especially if it just the two of us, but even if my son is still here.

Next on the list is getting some cat and dog food built up. We almost always have a second bag of food that is not opened yet, but will be nice to know that we have more than just about 30 days worth of pet food. My goal is to get to about 60 days. 

So what about you? Do you have enough to get you past some tough times? At least a week's worth? If not, get hoppin' before it's too late! 

I'm Ba-aaack!!!

So after a rough couple of weeks, I am back. Life in the Trailer household is back on track.

So after the crazy drivers on Friday when my husband had his dental work, I figured that his mouth hurting and not being able to eat well would be the only problem. Well, we all know what happens when you assume something.

On Saturday, the adhesive they used to hold the plate in was long gone. He was told to keep it in for 24 hours at least. He woke up in the middle of the night with the plate in the bed and not his mouth. It would not stay in place the whole day on Saturday. It rubbed his gums where the teeth had come out. He couldn't eat anything. I make a lot of home made stock, thankfully, so at least he could drink something nutritious. I didn't eat much either. I felt bad eating in front of him when he was so hungry and all he could get in himself was stock. He was in quite a bit of pain on Saturday as well. I tried to do what I could, but there isn't much to do for that except make sure he had ibuprofen. We don't either one take prescription pain meds. He doesn't like them and I can't take them.

The ibuprofen helped some, but definitely did not get rid of the pain. So in a stoke of stupidity, we decided a couple of shots of whiskey would help get rid of the pain. Well, it did work. The stupidity came in because neither of us had eaten anything solid. So, after a couple of shots, you can imagine just how much it affected us. My husband went on to bed. I was on the phone with a friend, so I stayed up longer. And continued to drink. That's where the real stupidity came in. I was drunker than Cooter Brown by the time I went to bed. I woke up with what I thought was a hangover. Which I obviously deserved for being that dumb. I got out the Pedialyte and drank the whole container. Then started on a second one. Then I realized I wasn't dehydrated any more. I just didn't feel good. I still attributed that to being hung over. A mistake I won't make again.

I realized the next morning that wasn't the case. I won't go into details, but for three days, instead of me taking care of my husband, he was taking care of me. That was not how this was supposed to work!! It wiped my ass out. It took almost a week to recover. Add in to that not sleeping because of storms and still more fireworks, it was rough.

I still haven't had a really good nights sleep. I have laid on the floor and slept on the floor more in the last month than I have in the last year. I have had nights that I have had heartburn so bad, I had to sleep sitting up, which is also uncomfortable. At least I can take a nap if I need one!!

In addition to all of that, both of us have just felt bad the last couple of weeks. Since we had cut out most of the sugar and chemicals out of our diet we had been feeling a lot better physically. My headaches had virtually vanished. I hadn't been having much heartburn, hormone or gut issues. Just felt better. But since my husband was so limited on what he could eat, I was focusing on fixing what he could. I ate what he ate. Big mistake. Basically, I did it to myself, though. That is another mistake I won't make again.

Now on to the good news!

My husband had his follow up visit. His mouth is healing really well. He was able to move to the paste to hold the denture in. It finally stays in all day. He is figuring out how to chew with it and is able to eat a lot more foods now. Since he can eat more food now, I have been able to go back to fixing the foods we normally eat. In the past few days, we have gone back to low sugar, organic and chemical free foods. The difference in how I feel is dramatic.

The garden is still doing well. We are getting all kinds of squash. Delicious. The beans are just about done, so I will be pulling them this week and replanting the ones with the short maturity dates so we can get another round out of them before I plant the fall garden. Sadly, the corn is not fairing well. The winds from the storms have pretty much knocked it all down. It hasn't seemed to kill it so I left it out there to see if any of the corn will be salvageable. The peanuts are doing fabulous, and we have some winter squash and watermelons coming right along. The tomatoes are producing, albeit slowly, but producing.

We bought a fryer at Kroger. It was on sale for 20% off and I had a coupon for another $10 off. Woohoo! I have been wanting one for a long time. So on Sunday night, I made fried fish with a beer batter coating and French fries. So much better fried and not baked. I bought mushrooms and onions when we got groceries planning to dehydrate them, but now I think I will make fried mushrooms and onion rings.

We also added quite a bit of food to our deep pantry. I have a can rack that we bought that will hold and rotate about 200 cans. We have it almost full. Which doesn't count the stuff that I can and that doesn't fit in the can rack due to the shape of the can. I realize that wouldn't go too far feeding the three of us, but it would be better than nothing, and more than most people have.

Last night for dinner was lasagna mess. I just use whatever noodles I want and instead of taking the time to layer it, I throw everything in the pot I made the sauce in, mix it up and dump it into a baking dish. Easy, peasy, cheesy.

I talked to my sister yesterday. Fertile Myrtle is pregnant with number five!! I am excited for her! She has four girls, so her and her husband decided to try one more time to see if they can get a boy! She is having a lot of morning (all day) sickness like I had with my son, and she didn't with her girls, so they are really hoping that is a sign that this one is a boy. And of course her husband feels bad and keeps apologizing saying he did this to her! I am pretty sure based on what I learned in biology class, that it took both of them! I am just glad that he cares that much about her.

We bought a thunder shirt for the dog. We have had several people tell us that it has worked wonders for their dogs for storms and fireworks. We bought it last Friday. I am glad we did as it stormed all night Friday night. I didn't go to bed until about four in the morning. Then had to work Saturday. That was a long day. The thunder shirt is helping I think. He doesn't seem to mind wearing it. He also seems to calm down faster when I sit or lay down with him. He is still scared, but not shaking so bad and his heart doesn't pound as fast. I plan on putting it on him a little bit each day and kind of randomly. I don't want him to equate the shirt to storms and get scared just because I put it on him. Hopefully we will see a difference soon. I would love for him to not be so scared. That can't be good for him.

Sunday night, my husband and I got back into game night. We played Connect 4. We always have a blast when we have game night. I have a ton of board games and card games, dice and dominos. We used to have game night every week. I am not sure when exactly or why we stopped, but I think this will be put back in our routine. Maybe every Sunday, along with a fish fry! Now we just need to get into fishing and catch our own!

I have to run to Walmart today to pick up a couple of things. I hope to get out in the garden after that. It is cloudy right now, and if it stays that way, it will make it nicer to work out there. I am hoping it stays nice out for a while at least so I can wash the dog's rugs and have enough time out there with him so they can dry.

I think that is pretty much everything for right now. I'll see you all tomorrow!

P.S. Supper tonight is meatloaf with those aforementioned fried mushrooms and onion rings.

P.P.S. I am thankful for health and feeling good. Obviously, feeling good makes for a better mood and outlook and easier to accomplish things.

Water Woes

We occasionally test our preps to see where we are with things. Nothing drastic like turning off the power to the whole house or anything like that. Just create a scenario and set our guidelines, like a storm has come through and knocked the power out: what do we do? We try to work with the scenarios that are most likely for us and power outages are the most frequent. Living in a trailer park, we are not exactly high priority for the power company.

Also, we think about things that have happened to us previously that we had to figure out what to do. An example of that is when I was a child, the area I lived in had an earthquake that disrupted the water supply. We had to go to the local grocery store and get water from the national guard and other .gov agencies. For a week. In the summer. We had to share bathwater, not flush the toilet every time we went to the bathroom and all the things that go with not having water. Eeeewwww.

Obviously, having water is a huge priority. We don't have anywhere to store large barrels of water. I'm pretty sure even if we did, the floor wouldn't support them. So we started buying jugs of water every time we went to the store. One gallon and two and a half gallons. At one point we had nearly 100 gallons of water set back. It felt good to know that while it wouldn't last forever, we at least had a head start and wouldn't need to rush to the store or stand in line if for some reason the water was out.

Then the jugs started leaking. The two and a half gallon jugs started first. I kept an eye on them and as soon as they started leaking, I would try to "rescue" the water by putting it in mason jars or anything else I could find with a lid. Then we just used them up. It wasn't long and the gallon jugs also started leaking. So we have started using them up as well. The jugs that the water comes in from the store definitely will not last long term. Not even really short term, unless you purchase them right before you need them. Lesson learned.

We have found a couple of solutions to this problem. One solution that we have found is large 250 gallon containers. There is a place about an hour or so away from us that sells them. We first purchased two that needed to be cleaned out. Another lesson learned. They still are not clean. Clean enough that we can hook together a rain catchment system and I will water the garden with it. Not clean enough that I would drink it. Even after running it through our Berkey. I just would not trust the water. Next time we are up that way, we plan to purchase an additional two more that are already cleaned.

Check in your area. Do you have something like this available? If not, do you have a bottling company near by? Check with them and see what they do with the empty syrup barrels. Or someplace that bottles maple syrup. Apparently, that is one of the previous lives of the containers that we found.

Another solution we found was on amazon. We plan on getting one and seven gallon reusable water containers. Puts us back at finding somewhere to store them, but once I have one in my hot little hands I will be able to figure that out.

Even though I am not aware of any time that the water has been unavailable in the area that we live in, I feel much better knowing we will all have plenty of water to keep us hydrated and hopefully at least reasonably clean. Even if we have to share bathwater again.

P.S. Supper tonight will be the steak and veggie kabobs. I am ready for them now!

No Room at the Inn; Storage Space Part One

We have not done a lot for stocking the past few weeks. We have picked up a few extra things at the store since this time of year there are a lot of baking and food items that go on sale for the holidays. We always buy water when we go to the store. We originally were buying water a gallon at a time. Then we found the 2 1/2 gallon containers. That is what we buy now. They definitely stack better.

But where to store all this water? The past couple of days I have been trying to tackle that problem. Most folks do not have any where near enough storage space to store all the things that they want to stock up on. Especially water. It is bulky, heavy and just plain hard to store out of the way. Should you skip it and look at things you can store more easily? ABSOLUTLY NOT! It should be a priority. So let's look at all the places you have and never thought about. Of course, this may mean it's time to purge your home. This is a good time of year for it anyway, what with the new gifts that you have.

My first suggestion is to think in 3-D. Don't look at the floor in a room and say that you have no space. You have walls, too, don't you? You do have a least one or two closets in your home, right? Now is the time to think outside the box, so to speak. Let's look at all the ways you can add storage in your home for all the things that you are going to start stocking up on.

Let's start with your closet, or your children's or spare room closet (if you have a spare room closet, you are already ahead of the game). What do you have in the closet and how much can you get rid of? Take a good long look at the clothes and shoes in there. Decide what you can purge. If it's in good shape, send it off to your favorite charity. Did that clear up some space? Next, think of the ways you can take advantage of that space. How much space do you have under the clothes hanging in there and the stuff you have stored under it? Could you add a small shelf under there? Put some items for storing underneath and shoes on top. If your wife doesn't like the way that looks, put it in a box or tub, closed up and put your shoes on top of that. Need to sell the idea? Look Honey, now you don't have crawl around on the floor looking for your shoes, here they are all set up together nice and neat. Now keep them that way so the idea doesn't get taken away, lol.

Let's move on to the width of your closet. When you got done purging, do you now have extra space at the end of your closet vertically? Can you stack some items in there? How about enough space to actually put some shelves? If you are going to take over a woman's closet space, I would recommend that you make this as nice and neat as possible! If you can add some shelves, put water in the back and other items in front. This way you can still see what you have stored in there. You can even take some material or an old sheet and hang on the front of it to cover it up and keep the illusion of neatness.

Now, move on to the bathroom. But the bathroom is small, I hear you now. So is ours. We have no hall closet or bathroom closet. So how to solve that problem? Shelves. Last year when we redid our bathroom, we added shelves on the wall. I put a small wooden crate on the shelves to hold washcloths and hand towels. As long as you keep your towels folded, it will look much neater that you think. If you do have a closet that you put all of your bathroom necessities, you can still add shelves. We also added shelves around the bathroom about a foot down from the ceiling. We have added baskets to the shelves to hold extra storage items. Baskets are a great way to store bandages and other medical or miscellaneous supplies. They keep everything neat and organized and look nice (have you noticed the theme of keeping it all organized and neat yet?). It doesn't have to be baskets if you or yours don't really care for baskets. Any container that will hold the items is going to work. Maybe you like old cigar boxes or pretty bowls. Although if you go with bowls, I would suggest not getting clear ones. you aren't trying to advertise here. One thing to keep in mind when adding storage to the bathroom is to keep to items that will not be harmed by the humidity in the bathroom.

Do you have a laundry room? Or just a laundry area? If you have a laundry room, lucky you. If not, I am right there with you. Again, what can you purge? Do you have 10,000 bottles of different cleaners? Why? Get rid of them or use them up and don't replace them. There is virtually nothing that you cannot clean with plain old vinegar and baking soda. And bonus, you can show your kids a science project when you mix them together! Just use common sense with that. :) Now that you have room by eliminating all those extra bottles, you can store useful items there. Think extra vinegar and baking soda, think toilet paper, paper towels, etc.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. As I will show you in future posts, you have even more space than this. Stay tuned for more ideas. If you have an idea that I didn't cover, send it along and share. Everyone could use more ideas. Who doesn't need more space?

Beans and Rice? Maybe Neither.

One thing that is said over and over with trying to get prepared is "there is no money". There is almost always a way to find the money to prepare. If preparing is something that you actually want to do, you will find a way. Kind of like if your kid needs braces and you weren't planning on that. You will find a way to come up with the money. Think about your wants versus needs. Do you need to have steak for dinner? Do you need to go out to the restaurant? Do you need that new (fill in the blank here)?

We all seem to think that, well, we deserve it. We had a rough week at work. The kids were awful this week. My boss is an idiot. Well, of course your boss is an idiot. That goes without saying. I don't care where you work, that is likely the case. Bad week at work? What if you had no job? What if you were not able to get to that job? On and on it can go.

Start today. Don't put it off any longer. Take a look at what you can pick up today. Or maybe this weekend if running to the store or library is not an option during the week. When you make out your grocery list, add a few extra items that you already buy. Look for sales and stock up on something. It doesn't need to be double what you normally buy. Just one or two extra every single week will add up before you realize it.

Let me give a little advice, though. Do NOT stock up on beans and rice. Unless of course they are already part of your diet. If you don't like beans or rice now, why would you think that you would like them when you are under a whole lot of stress? Do not think that you can suddenly change your diet to something that you don't like when things go bad. You will simply not eat. Stock up the foods that you and your family already eat on a regular basis. Do not underestimate the value of having normal-for-you foods on hand. Just think about that. When you have a rough time of something now, what do you reach for? Ice cream? Cookies? Chips? Some of these items may not be something you can keep on hand all the time. In my house, if I buy chips of any kind, I have two options. I can put them in the kitchen where my son will have them devoured in about 30 seconds. Or I can hide them. He can't eat what he doesn't know is there. I do have to make sure to get them out of hiding before they go stale though or I have wasted my money. (Not an issue here, my son would eat junk food over any other single option.)

If you do eat beans and rice, as we do, then by all means stock up on them. Find new and creative ways to cook with them. The same old boring stand-by's will be just that. After how many meals will you decide that you simply do not want to see another bean or grain of rice? This is called appetite fatigue. You can starve to death if appetite fatigue sets in. Even with piles of food around you. I know you say that won't happen to me! Well it can. Think about it this way. Make a big pot of soup. Or chili, or whatever. Now, that is all you can eat for the next seven days. Every meal, same thing, over and over. How many meals will go by before you simply cannot eat another bite? That would be a good thing to know. I have tried it. I can go about three days, max. Sometimes, less.

If you have kids, think about some of their favorite foods. These items are some of the first thing you should stock up on. It can be a great comfort for your children to have a meal of their favorites. If you can keep your children calm in an emergency situation, even if it's just a power outage, that leaves you free to deal with things.

Another thing to keep in mind when starting your stocking: think about items that do not need to be cooked. Some of these things would be canned soups, canned meats, etc. May not be the tastiest cold out of the can, but would sure beat going hungry.

One more thing. Rotate. Rotate. Oh yeah, one more thing. Rotate. It does you absolutely no good to stock up on anything if you put it on the shelf and it goes bad before you ever open it up to eat. (See why stocking up on what you already use is a good idea?) Think FIFO. First in, First out. That will save many dollars that you don't have to waste on lost stocks.

Get started today. Or this weekend if you must wait. But do not put this off. Get to the store. Get to the library. There is all kinds of info out there to learn. Find it.

Hard times are coming our way and we all need to get ready. Be vigilant.

What Did You Do?

So, did you do anything this weekend to prepare? No, I hear you saying...

Well, did you go to the grocery store? Did you buy exactly what you need for the next seven or so days until you go back? Or did you buy a few more items than you needed? If so, then you prepared some.

Well, did you do yard work, house work, etc. to "Prepare" for winter? Then you prepared some.

Well, did you get out and hike or camp or do any physical activity? Then you prepared some.

We went to the grocery store and stocked up on some sale items. It is that time of year that there are some really good sales with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. This is the time of year to catch those loss leaders and really stock up. Don't know what a loss leader is? Look at the front of your local grocery store ad. See that really good, don't want to pass it up, deal? Like turkey for 60 cents a pound? That is a loss leader. See that ad for butter for $1.99? That is a loss leader. The store will lose money if all you do is come in and buy that particular item. What they are counting on is for you to come in and buy that "super" sale item and lots of other stuff along with it. Then they make their profit.

What would be ideal, is having enough stock in your kitchen to only shop sales and loss leaders. Are we there yet? Heck no. But to me, that is a goal worth having. To buy only when I want to! That is my kind of shopping. The more I save, the more I have. Or can have.

The more I can have, the more prepared I can be. If I save money each time I go to the grocery store, by buying the items I normally use that are on sale, the better off I can be. If I buy an item on sale, butter for example which I use a lot of, then I should buy it every time it goes on sale. Especially when it is a loss leader. Then I can put it up and have it for future times when it is not on sale. If you buy items that you normally use when they are on sale, why not buy a couple of more?  Each time you do that, you are adding to your stock. That makes you more prepared.

We also dehydrated some carrots and some cherry tomatoes that we bought. We chopped more wood for the fireplace. We bought some kerosene for the heaters. We made sure that we were caught up on laundry. We made a trip to Walmart (uggg I do not like Walmart) for the things that we couldn't get at other stores (at least for as cheaply as we could there). All this for life's uncertainties.

So, tell me, what did you do to prepare?