Starting a new thread due to length. Previous thread: Todays Flu Prep
I ordered a case of powdered eggs from Honeyville today Honeyville
I figured I would beat the rush since the ABC show is airing tonight.
I got my case from Honeyville too, I doubt many people who watch the movie will have a clue about powdered eggs. I didn’t think about it till reading it on someones list here.
I don’t think there will be a run on the stores but I didn’t get to the grocery store this weekend so I think I will go tonight while everyone is watching the movie and then watch it later on the tivo.
Ordered 200AA batteries from FYE for $35, may not last quite as long as the name brands but for $.17 a battery I will manage. Made my BoB lists last night, now I just need to work on them.
I’m focusing on getting a radio now….
That reminds me I need to order eggs too and a few other dehydrated items. Next, it’s filling my new freezer. Coscto here I come - good thing htey don’t take Visa or I’d really be in trouble.
I just bought 8 one gallon cans of coleman fuel for my dual fuel stove and lamp. I do not have a storage shed, so I am going to keep them in the garage. Since Walmart keeps them stocked in the store, I figure as long as they don’t spring a leak, they should be ok.
Anyone see a flaw in this. I could keep them under the back porch, but am afraid the cans would rust with the rain etc. Thanks
NJ Jeeper-at 14:06 I found some inexpensive NATO gas cans online. they are super strong and airtight. the only problem I have found is that when the barometer changes they are so airtight that they will get a vacume or have pressure so I have to be careful when I open them. They are about 5 gallon and around $10 ea.
NJ Jeeper – at 14:06
Make sure there are no ignition sources in you garage, ie water heater with pilot light, etc.
You might consider storage under your porch double bagged in trashbags.
No ignition sources other than starting up the vehicles, lights and garage door opener. I thought about the bags, but wouldn’t the summer heat and humidity cause condensation and rust, or am I just being to worried about this. I like the under the porch idea though, seems safer. That is where I will put my 8 5 gallon plastic gas cans when the time comes.
Jon C, I bought the coleman fuel, since coleman customer service said the fuel would last 5 years if unopened. This way I do not have to use the fuel additive and possibly clog up the coleman equipment. They did not recommend the additives. Anyway I will run gasoline in them when and if I run out of coleman fuel. The gas will have sta-bil. BTW, a mechanic of small engines said that the new gas these days does not store that well, and I should consider higher octane with the sta-bil to get a good product after 6 months storage.
I got my powdered eggs from a restaurant supply store (gordon food service)for 24.25 for 20lbs.When I went to pick them up the price had nearly doubled to 47.49 for the same amount.Luckily I still had my order slip for the cheaper price and they honored it.Still cheaper than online.I will have to arrange to dry can them,but I know a woman who has the canner. Jon c,I noticed a few days ago you had questions about stocking cigs.I would suggest making a humidor from a medium lidded tupperware dish.Then take a tiny lidded tupperware container and drill or gouge many holes in that lid.Into that place a wet sponge.This will keep loose tobacco moist.Many smoke shops carry all the makings to roll filtered cigs for 1/3 the cost of packs.The roller itself is less than 10 bucks.A person can refresh loose tobacco but cigs are pretty much toast after they go stale.Also having to roll your own may help in the cutting down or quitting aspect which would of course be the best idea.
malachi-14:33 Thanks. You are right that quitting will be the best idea. It would not be easy going cold turkey but to ease into it. BF might just save my life. Hehe.
Had to be at least one positive to it all…LOL…Its got me cleaning up my act a bit as well.:)
Must store massive wine collection NOW!!!!! hehe
I was just checking out Walton Feed, Survival Acres and Honeyville for some basics:
Survival Acres has an interesting “survival basics” package: You get I dont’t know how many giant buckets of very basic food stuffs, mostly grains and beans. It is supposed to supply 2200 calories and 94 grams of protein per day for an entire year (one person). Cost $319. Weight - get this - 597 POUNDS! You can bet the UPS man would hate you after ordering that. But can you imagine eating that for entire year!
Hoenyville had a great combo pack of dehydrated fruits and veggies - you get six basics for signifcantly less than ordering them seperately.
Survival now requires a $25 minimum order. It seemed like the prices had gone up here as well but I don’t have proof.
I bought some things I did and didn’t need. Nowhere to put them yet. (At least we don’t have to worry if I have a tidy-desk-mind.)
(and, I got to slip another essential worker some website addresses no one had told them to look at yet)
Funny you mention the wine…I had bought a “pandemic amount” of red wine flu killer in early February.I just cracked the last bottle yesterday!!!!Guess I need like 6x that amount!
Since I don’t really need any more preps, I am working on things to barter with.
1. Coffee (I can get them in air sealed bags and should last a long time)As a solder this was great to have. Normal people would like it even more.
2. Small bottles of Alcohol (All sizes, since I don’t drink I will rely on the liquor store suggesting)
3. Cigarettes (I have used this before in war areas and it proved to work well. I remember my commander in shock once, since I had everything we needed in one day) so I know comfort items for bartering work great.
Anyone know how “box wine” stores?
nopower….. what is FYE ?
I always wanted to try to make wine.We do beer and some mean ginger ale here.Planning to have plenty of beers for trading.
For those who ordered powdered eggs from Honyville — what is the expiration date for the eggs? I’ve gotten some from a local store, but two cans have no date and one is 5/07. Just wondered if they were longer online.
I just ordered live and asked. 5 years unopened, 6 months opened - but best refrigerated, when opened. She also seemed to agree that if I vacuum sealed the balance, after opening, that it would extend the 6 month life. She also mentioned that they just got a new tractor trailer in because it has been flying off the shelf. Guess the word is out :)
Thanks preppiechick! I’m heading for the site now…
malachi – at 15:09 I have made both beer, rootbeer and wine. Let me just say that beer and root beer were MUCH easier than wine. I have heard it said that you really need to know your chemistry to make good wine. Also, you have to be extremely careful about cleaning the equipment. Not worth the trouble as far as I’m concerned.
Glad to help. I couldn’t find any info on their site - this info came from the lady who took my order. Very helpful! I did find this link from backwoods home:
Also had a good canned cheese recipe. I don’t can (not yet - after i botched strawberry jam recipe, years ago, i’m deathly afraid, and no co-op/ext. here) but it’s what i would do, if I canned! Also, saw aonther link, when i googled powd. eggs shelf life, that mentioned opening up can with a side-edge can opener, so that it leaves a lip and can reseal with the metal lid (keeps it fresher than plastic). Another thing to buy(side can opener) (sigh)…
NJ Jeeper - one good idea for outside storage. There are large plastic storage containers by Rubbermaid, etc. that are often shown for use of pool gear, etc. We keep all the kids outside toys in one at my in-laws since they have no garage space. That thing is outside 365 days a year, and other than a few spiders, everything has stayed dry and in good shape. I don’t know if it would fit under your porch, but it looks completely normal and no one would ever think to look inside for precious fuel.
Thanks Laura B, I will look at that tomorrow. If I put a hole or 2 in the bottom corners and slope it on the gravel to that corner, any liquid could drain out into the gravel and evaporate. We do not smoke or cook on the porch (yet) so not much chance of ignition.
Fluwikie rocks! Hope we can get on tomorrow after the movie. Maybe it will be a non event like all the other shows. We can only hope some people start to get ready for this or hurricanes, or whatever comes next.
NJ Jeeper- 14:31 I see about the coleman fuel. The only thing I worry about that is that the cans are really thin. How about putting them into the big ammo cans. they are thick and waterproof. p. s. and cheap.
I think if I get a pretty good plastic container, that should work. We have no traffic and such under the porch, no kids or pets.
I asked this question on another thread, but wondered, has anyone bought and tried the butane cans that go with the one burner stoves? Got it for hurricane season (can cook inside should it be a rainy storm)but don’t know how long each of the cans (7.8 oz) lasts. I’m guessing this butane stove will come in handy with BF by not calling attention to the fact we have food.
does butane create carbon dioxide?
Most liquid gas dispensed in the US is propane ( not even sure if it is legal to sell butane anymore ). Yes anything that burns can create co2. Propane, however does not create much. Even if you have a “ vent free “ appliance it is a good idea to have a little fresh air. What you have to worry about is carbon monoxide. Like when people use charcoal to heat the house with. Deadly. Kelly
Evening Dusty
When I bought my butane stove as a backup couple of months ago, also bought a dozen cans of fuel to go with it, 3 cans came with stove. All the same brand fuel. Length of burn time depends on the BTU of the stove, mine is almost 10K BTU, a can, according to the website I bought this from, should last about 1 1/4 hrs. at full heat, more if lower flame, and other stoves have about 7900 BTUs, can should last longer. Did try it out, 2 cups of water boiled in about two minutes. Googled, web site I found said butane puts out little or no carbon monoxide, you may want to check on that claim.
This seemed like a reasonable way to go considering the low cost of stove and fuel. Do not think we will be without electricity for long periods of time, and imagine the butane stove would be more than sufficient to warm up an MRE or rehydrate some dried foods to hold us over till the juice is back on, or even cook something quick.
I got an LED lantern (4 D batteries) at Sportmart today. It has a dimmer switch! $29.99 The bulbs are supposed to last for almost 100,000 hours.
Jane – at 17:36 100,000 hours.
Yes that is the bulbs but not the batteries.
Thanks NauticalMan! I’m thinking it was a good choice for quick heat-ups. We’re out of electricity a lot with hurricanes and sometimes (as in with Francis) it rains non-stop for days during or following a storm so it’s hard to cook outside. These stoves and the butane are flying off the shelves here!
Bought on ebay - 4 packs (4 to pack) G.I. Can openers. 2 for my home 2 for my daughters. Paid $8.50 shipped. I have 2 of the Swingaway but wanted some of these as well. Also picked up a great pack of AA (4) + AAA (8) recharable batteries for $20 to go with the solar battery charger at Sam’s. Ordered the C’s ( 10 for 29.95) and D’s (8 for 48.95) from an online store. Need these for the shortwave radio and flashlights, also will work in the portable cd.
I guess we are all contributing to the economy before TSHTF.
Still on my list - Solar oven - darn sould have asked for that for Mother’s day instead of the Lazor quit smoking treatments *** sigh I guess on my list for all the $ I save from not smoking LOL
It’s never a good day to quit smoking (only smokers know what I mean)
RA said: Big Lots also has a 25ft. white (marine/drinking water safe) water hose for $5.99.
Can someone tell me why I would need one?
Waiting for order of Freeze dried food and a wheat order. I now have my grain mill and my Bosch mixer and I have made bread, it turned out great, what fun. Working on the water, just got 2 30 gallon barrels. I bought a Aqua water filter. So I am starting to feel better like I can stay home and will have food and water. We are all better off than the average person out there!!
I’m workin-on-it
Plan on using the food grade hose to fill my water barrels when the sky falls in. Regular hoses allegedly have some bad chemicals in their makeup.
NauticalMan- The regular hoses I bought at Lowes come with a warning label saying that they contain LEAD. That’s a sufficiently bad chemical to cause me to forget the petrochemical plasticizers and other things I would be willing to overlook. Thank you China for bringing lead back to our children via hoses made over there.
Ok, I’ll look at them — check for lead content — and then decide! I have a Berkefeld (Mission) water filter to put drinking water through, so maybe I’d just stick with that, only it takes it awhile to do a large quantity of water if you need it.
Hi-I’m new so hope I’m not repeating anything. For PreppieChick- I’m wondering what went with the strawberry jam? Did you use the Ball Blue Book? Its a thin little manual sold anywhere they sell canning equiptment, less than ten bucks, its really great. I have two incase I lose one.
As far as making wine-Ive made several gallons and I am SOOOO not chemistry inclined. I think a lot of current manuals make it much more complicated than it needs to be. Try looking in your Library or used bookstore for some of those wonderful 70′s “back to basics” type books.
Ive learned so much from flu wiki- a huge thankyou for all who share their ideas.
A question that keeps bugging me — What are your plans for keeping your hair cut if going out in pubic is not good?
I can just imagine what I’d look like if I tried to whack this stuff off myself -aaaggghhh!- I keep my hair very short, and get a trim about every 6 weeks.
Would it be possible to cut it in back myself with barbers clippers-woah, what if no electricity….?
Hm, full shaved heads become popular for ladies?
AlabamaPrepper – My thought also – I keep my hair short (former Marine) – I do a trip to the barber about every two / three weeks. But after watching the movie last night it sure seems that the barbers (and hairdressers) were still open for business as no one in the movie needed a haircut so maybe this is one thing we don’t have to worry about.
I have my own clippers and “buzz” my hair when it starts getting long enough to get curly (maybe 1/4 inch or so). But then I only have a fringe around the edge anyway. Used to be, I’d get it cut maybe twice a year and it would really friz out on the sides. The women in the lab called it my “mad scientist” look.
I saw some manual clippers from china online for $10. They called them navy clippers, I assume because they are used on ships. I think I am going to order a set.
Just think of it as beatnik look is back,and get some leather ties for your hair….and grow beards….. sounds good to me, although i havent cut my hair for years, neither has my husband.
I have really long hair but if BF hits I will probally cut it for ease of staying clean.
My hair has been all lengths from a buzz cut to down to my shoulders. It won’t bother me if it gets long again while we SIP. In fact, that probably will be the least of my worries.
We haul water. In the dessert. Any water saved by going to my old Navy cut will be important. We can use the water saved to keep my wifes long hair clean. Man, I love her hair. Sorry, I digress.
Yes, i agree im sure the length of our hair will be the least of our worries.
On another note i am going to get a hot water jacket for my cook stove so i can heat water from my stove and then store it beside my stove in a barrel. This will be great in the event if the power going out, we can still have hot water. Any thoughts?
There is a cool, on demand water heater made by a company called Zodi. It runs off those little green propane cylinders and a 12v batt to pump the water. I have used one camping and it worked well.
I would rethink your hair length only if someone in your group gets sick. The last thing you want to be doing is trying to lean over someone who is sick to tend to them & have long hair fall in your face & you try to brush it away or pull it over to one side — then you’ve contaminated your own hair!
I bought a dozen shower caps to keep all hair from being exposed.Then I found a medical supplies store that sold hospital caps 100 quantity for $2.00. I also have sealed type safety goggles, tyvek suits, long sleeved cuffed hospital gowns and because I couldn’t find boot covers I bought rubber boots and plan to have a tray of bleach mixture to walk through. Of course I have masks N95 and latex/nitrene gloves (not vinyl). I feel this is adequate PPE.
Prepping Gal,
Check for shoe covers here & if the link doesn’t get the listing of coverings, just search www.labsafety.com for ‘shoe covers’:
I started wearing my hair long, in a braid or pinned up in a clasp years ago. I worked in a school system where there was lice (yuck)got lice with my fancy hair salon do, never got it with my plain do it yourself braid, stays out of my way, can be tucked under a cap. You can go longer between shampoos with longer hair also. I have a solar shower bag which holds maybe a gallon? and after a couple of hours in sun the water is plenty warm enough for shower/longhair washing. You can get by with an amazingly small amount of water. Once we had a water problem (long story) and tempory no running water, my husband spray painted a 55 gallon drum black, set it in the sun and we had plenty of hot water for bathing/housecleaning.
jon C at 14:30, glad to hear your Zodi works for you. We had one and were very disappointed with it. The water would only get tolerably warm after 20–30 minutes of letting the pump recirculate the water through the heater, then after just one season the pump quit working and couldn’t be repaired. Maybe we just got a crummy unit (after all, EVERY company turns out a lemon once in a while), but I couldn’t recommend a Zodi to anyone.
I think if someone in the family gets sick, then unfortinatly we all do. I dont think it will have anything to do with my hair. This virus is nasty and i am not going to let anyone in my family get it. I plan on complete quarantine, and hope for the best.
FYI preppers — just saw a promo for the show NUMBERS on CBS on Friday — a murder victim has bird flu!
Kim at 20:59 I have the two burner model and had to turn off the second burner because the water got too hot. You must have got a lemon. You can get a replacment pump at walmart in the boating/sporting good section. It is just a pump for boat bait wells. The only problem I had was I used some water once that had sand in it and it clogged the shower head. I just had to clean it.
My wife and I just ordered a tipi. It will be fun to sleep in in the summer. Now we can fill up the bedroom with preps.
Just started fulfulling my monster list for my 6 month food plan. Started with the “A” and “B”s; 12 jars of artichoke hearts, 700 slices of precooked no frig bacon, 24 cans of black beans, 5 cans of baking powder. Just the tip of the iceberg and just those few items filled my grocery cart!
What kind of bacon? I looked a non-refrigerated bacon but it had a June 2006 expiry.
I bought 2 packages of bacon, but the expiration date is July on one and August on the other. So I’m going to get to live it up this summer! Got 3 wide-mouth thermoses and I’m SO tempted by the idea of the Kelly stove, that boils water with twigs or bark (or paper?).
Got some more food grade hoses and a couple of collapsible 5 gallon water containers at Big Lots today. That kind of fills me in on hoses, buckets and water carriers. Also picked up a flat of 1 qt canning jars. Interesting thing to me is that the cost of putting stuff away in Seal-A-Meal bags vs canning jars is almost the same, even using brand new jars. And rodents have a much tougher time chewing through a canning jar.
Picked up fly paper, and about 1/3 more supplies. We put water into half gallon plastic containers and put them in the chest freezer. They will help to keep it cold and we can drink the water later. I am not putting lots of frozen things away…just some.
Prepping Gal – at 16:52
The safety goggles, what brand, model etc., and where did you ge them? Whay that one over others?
Living in the upper midwest, heat in the winter months is my biggest concern. Our home is modern with 2 LP fireplaces - no woodburning units! If the supply chain fails to the point of unavailable natural gas, we get mighty cold in January.
Can a gas fireplace handle a continuous low-burn wood fire… low but continual heat output? Obviously disconnect gas, remove ceramic logs etc..
It may be possible to keep a room livable in this manner.
Other Ideas?
Thanks to all, this great source of information is certainly appreciated.
newbie,
Someone suggested putting up a tent inside the house, and at least sleeping inside of it.
Get a stove insert and remove one of the gas arrangements, have the chimney cked. Get in some wood…don’t count on delivery of natural gas. Anyone who lives in a cold climate has to have an alternative to modern technology. Take it form an older than dirt New Englander.
Newbie- Rather than do what you describe, which probably would not work due to the lack of adequate chimney, why not just buy a couple of propane Mr. Heaters. The Mr. heater unit runs on a single 1 lb propane cylinder for about 3–6 hours, and can kick out up to 9000 BTUs. Then you need only acquire sufficient propane to run for as long as you think will be required. Adapters are available to run it from a 20 pound barbeque tank, which would then last 60–120 hours of heat. If you didn’t run it all the time, it would work out to 1 tank (20 lb) per heater per week, more or less.
Just a thought.
EOD - got them from Canadian Tire - not sure if you are in USA or Canada. The reason I chose these ones were that I did a lot of looking on the internet and came to the conclusion that if I can’t try them on then how do I know if they will fit. Also I was having a hard time finding anything at medical supplies stores etc. These goggles have sealed rubber/foam around the outer edges and grip your face with adjustable band around your head to tighten. They fit tightly around my nose and at the outer part of my eyes.I read that you could be infected through the eyes as well as nose and mouth.
Jv - thanks, we have planned on that. But 3 kids under 10 and −20 outside…things will get a bit serious. My fear is that the stress on our systems will make us easy prey for this bug.
I’ll seal a room, and use all that gear I bought back when I was single - still I believe we need a reliable heat source. We have plenty of woods around the house need a way to use it!
I may just need a “pot belly” unit installed in one room.
Eccles - 00:38
You know… I have a few (3) 50gal propane tanks left over from gulp…y2k. Plan to use them to cook & heat water. How safely can they be used in a closed area?
Sometimes a rock has to make direct contact… Sometimes answers come just by asking the questions.
Convert the natural gas unit to propane & use what I’ve got!
Thanks for this forum to hatch ideas!
Trader Joes had soemthing very cool yesterday - little frozen cubes of prechopped garlic, basil and cilantro. They are larger than gambling die (not that I play craps or anything) but smaller than ice cubes. It’s very small so would take up no freezer space and would add some flavor to boring foods.
Getting an estimate finally today on a standby generator. I know we can’t afford one (will probably have to go gas-powered), but I’d like to have amore definiteve number in my head - something to shoot for. Maybe dh will get an unexpected bonus.
Felcia - I saw your list. I can only imagine the looks you got buying so much bacon! What’s the shelf life on that stuff?
Eccles – at 00:13 Around here we put everything in glass jars, including Grandma’s teeth.
LOL I can see it now MAX huddled in his bunker “What do you mean you dident pack the jar of teeth? I clearly saw it on a list somewhere!”
Whether you can safely burn wood in a natural gas fireplace depends on whether the gas fireplace is a conversion from a wood fireplace or is original construction. See fireplace safety.
I learned the hard way that regular (AC) fans can extract too much juice from a battery (was running a Xantrex 1500). Switched to a fan that runs off of DC. Doing much, much better. DC fans that are large enough for personal cooling are hard to find. I’m using an Endless Breeze, by Fan-Tastic Vent, and I’m running it off of a much smaller battery (Husky battery charger). After the initial surge, the voltage meter shows the fan to be drawing very little current. IMHO, DC fans are the way to go in a power outage.
Newbie,
Fireplace gas or wood burning really don’t heat your house very well. All the heat goes up the chimmney. I would look into taking out the gas fireplace all together and putting in a woodstove. You get much better heat that way. And if the fireplaces are on different levels, it would be better to replace the one on the lowest floor.
At Well Sweep farm, the 77 year old proprietor took us for a guided tour of his wonderful lifes work. He grows most of his food, and fed his family on this. He has a root cellar. Carrots kept in damp sand for the whole winter solid and fresh, not limp as it would be in a fridge. Apples and pototoes from his own gardens. His Herbal gardens with winding and formal brick walks are spectacular. He said his mother kept things fresh in blue canning jars. She died and three years later they were still using that parsley. He had an herb outside his front door which had a pineapple scent, was it Pineapple sage? I’ll have to look in his catalogue. Anyway a leaf of it will lift up your spirits if depressed. A simple leaf, a sniff of it and suddenly, everything is easier. When he bought the property it had been used as a barn for sheep and other animals. He had to rip everything out and washed everything down with lime wash which cut out the odor. His wife who was working in the gardens and greenhouses this entire time, came out with Rhubarb Punch and anise cake. Before we left I spoke to her and told her how much we appreciated this trip and what a great thing the two of them had accomplished. Hard, hard, hard work went into this, and the man mentioned it was with the Lords help, so the two are devout and have created their own Garden of Eden. If anyone likes herbs google Well Sweep up. He has lemon grass for example, one customer had driven for three quarters of an hour(so had we) to get there specifically for the lemon grass. Another farm (Apple and Peach, Bee hives and a small farming operation were a similar younger couple. Hard, hard, work. A certain aura eminates from these people. They are not simple or uneducated, quite the contrary, well read, knowledgable. On the first farm the woman had worked for the Rutgers experimental labs. I learned more about apple culture in this hour than in my entire life.Did you know they dust the leaves with calcium and other nutrients as the tree absorbs nutrients, especially the calcium. If you are going to garden, visiting farms like these might give you some ideas. Cyrus Hyde at Well Sweep was a gentle man, and they have seminars. I think Cherokee Indian Lore today, as well as an herb sale. I passed special one day plant sales all over Warren County. I mentione the Terhune Orchards with their Morris Dancers, their kite flying and other special occassions to the young woman at the Apple Farm, and they were friends. She said they aid each other as much as possible. Those of you with children might seek out these roadside farm stands, the people that run them are special folk.
Just got my copy of “Making the Best of Basics” by Stevens — very impressive. Would recommend as part of anyone’s preps.
Dude – at 00:17
Argghhhh! Fly control. I can’t believe that I forgot that. During certain times of the year flies are a real pest here. Have got to find those little … and disgusting once they’ve done their job … sticky paper things that you can hang to catch flies. I think Dollar General has them 4/$1.
Thanks for the reminder. Its the little things that fall through the cracks.
Will be spending time today trying to repack what I could salvage of the food from our other house (explanation on a separate thread). Wasn’t as much as I would like, but finding a place for it amongst my already crowded primary digs is going to be a challenge.
I’m continuing to add recipes to my eprep collection and its helping me to further “flesh out” my food storage plans.
Will continue to add staple items for as long as I can. With our large family, we’ll eventually use them all up. But definitely need to allot more space for munchie items.
Found something else today might be yummy - Pregresso makes a canned clam sauce for pasta, long shelf life. I assume I am going to be really tired of pasta and rice and this might make a nice change for DH and I (kids would never touch it!)
Someone mentioned flys. On the TV show Texas Ranch House that was a major problem because of food and manure located too close to the house. It was disgusting with flies in everything. I live on 2 acres and I think I can find a place for garbage and/or compost. Hate to think of human waste having to be disposed of but we have a septic system so that won’t likely be a problem. We have a pool to draw water from for flushing. But what are you going to do with all your waste material. How about burning barrels? Just thinking as I type; we have some metal barrels out back, that might help keep quantity down. any ideas?
We burn our trash, recycle as much as possible and compost. You would be surprised how much cam be composted. Human waste can be burned. the problem with burning is smoke that may let bad guys know where you are.
I also think burning barrels are a necessity. They are kinda hard to get though. There are fire regulations on them, you have to have a permit to use them, people say. Anybody has ideas on this?
I don’t know if this link will work - it’s from plowandhearth.com. It’s a fireplace screen for outside use. It’s not large but might prevent things from escaping if you burnt garbage on your driveway.
Maybe you could jigger something else with other non-flamable materials - alum. sheeting? we live in the woods so I worry about things blowing away. Our town has a no-burn law but I see people breaking it all the time. And if my garbage is piling up, go ahead and come give me a fine!
Oh - I just thought. My grandpa used to burn garbage in large steel drums- the big 55+ gallon types. Not sure where he got them (he used to work in the steel factory and was on the volunteer fire dept.). He was a depression survivor/immigrant who never let anything go to waste and thought it was foolish to pay someone to haul away his trash when it burnt quite nicely thank you very much. And he never started a forest fire!
lauraB,
Please read and follow the instructions for formatting links at the bottom of the page.
It might be a safer burn if you covered the barrel with hardware cloth (more or less 1/2 inch mesh) so there wouldn’t be any burning particles going up in the air.
Please be careful what you burn. A lot of “garbage” these days has synthetics that can make you sick if you inhale them. Or just plain smell bad. Also, don’t burn pressure treated wood or painted things.
when i was a kid, we used to have an incinerator in the back yard. Was just a big metal drum that had been chopped about to enable things to be burnt in. for disposing of tissues and other possibly contaminated things that might be a good idea
My duaghter (12) and I have been working on the trash thing for a while as an ecology project. Heres some things we’ve come up with:
Compost! its amazing what you can compost-you can even compost small amounts (i.e.) ordinary white household paper-like junk mail-just no glossy or colored paper. Newspapers, cardboard definatly!
With a couple of teenagers and a couple of dogs, we realy don’t have any food leftovers. we compost veggie kitchen scraps, we’re (mostly) vegetarians so no meat scraps, styrofoam/plastic meat packing waste.
we use cloth shoppng bags, I save the occasional plastic shopping bag that comes our way for small garbage can liners, and in my prep storage.
we recycle everything we possibly can.
Heres a thought- when buying bulk items, unfortantly they often have extra packaging- say 6 cans of soup shrink wrapped together. We are discarding that extra packaging now while there is still garbage services.
Be careful bringing in cardboard boxes, especially if you find a great prep bargain at a salvage store, or from some grocery stores that package things in carboard boxes. They can hide and/or draw insects like pantry moths or roaches.
On a different note-farm stands are fantastic! I love the pick-your-own places also.
Lily, your friend at Well Sweep has chocolate mint, you should sample some of that. VERY easy to grow (except can get invasive) and the smell will drive you crazy if you’re a chocoholic like me! YUMmmm!
Prepping Gal and Laura B, thanks for the head’s up. I was kind of racing through the store and it didn’t occur to me that the shelf life on the bacon was so short. I returned it today. I guess I’m going to have to look into getting some cured bacon that is stored by hanging up in I guess a coolish dry place. Really don’t know much about bacons and hams, sausages, etc that are stored in this way without refrigeration. Does anybody?
Felicia – at 23:48 For any kind of shelf life you really need to go with canned products. I get canned hams at Dollar General for $2. Not gourmet by any stretch, but better than nothing. Cured hams, bacon, sausage, etc. have a short life and are difficult to keep from spoiling. My advice, start learning to love canned ham and Velveeta sandwhiches.
Felicia - We tried a Smithfield ham years ago - cured the way you mean - and we really did not like it enough to buy it again, as it was rather expensive and VERY salty, which is how they are supposed to be, but we just did not care for the taste and my husband, who is a salt lover, did not even like it that well. I recall you had to soak it in water before you ate it to get some of the salty taste gone. I would second what Hillbilly Bill said - canned hams may not be the best but they have a long shelf life and I think they are rather good cooked in different beans and in soups. I have not tried cured bacon or sausage.
Watching in Texas – at 10:09 The bacon is just as salty, it really is an acquired taste that I have no desire to acquire.
Sorry if I was out of line last night….
Another note on sanatation-for cat owners- I switched our kitty litter from well, kitty litter to cedar chips-like you would buy for hampster cages. Just scoop the pop out once a day-I just flush that, then empty the box about once a week and use for mulch for flowerbeds, trees, etc-NOT food plants. Helps keep roents and DEER aay from shrubs and roses! Much cheaper and you can get it in big bales and smells better too-if you like cedar, and no waste for pickup.
If you switch do it gradually so kitty gets used to it.
After this is all over you can have a bonfire of all your trash. First a picnic to get rid of all your preps,(you can start over with fresh stuff) then at dusk a big bonfire in a safe location. (Nothing around to catch fire) Roast some potatoes, tell stories about your experiences and feel good that you have survived.
I used to buy canned bacon imported from Hungary. It was a tall can that opened about 1 1/2 inch down, with a key (like old sardine cans). But I haven’t been able to find any lately. A Google search just turned up other people looking for it. :(
HB at 10:11 - no problem, took it as a compliment and I can always use those! Yeah, we were really disappointed in that Smithfield ham - it started out like oooh, a Smithfield ham and then we ate it and it was more like oh, hmmmmm, a Smithfield ham, uh, hmmmm. I think you are right, it is an acquired taste - some people probably just love them. I’ll take the canned hams any day!
Watching in Texas – at 13:58
Don’t go the Smithfield route. Try something that has been cured in other ways. There is smoking, brining, a combination of the two, straigt salting, etc.
I grew up on what my grandfather cured in his smokehouse. The stuff is from western KY … smoke cured is all I know but there could have been other steps to it. I’ve never even thought to ask my mom.
Look for slices of “country ham” in your grocery and try that. It is pricey buying it by the slice but it might give you a better idea of what you want in a cured ham.
I just fry the stuff up and use the drippings and some coffee to make what is called red-eye gravy … which you dip homemade biscuits in. Yum-yum. But yea, too salty for some … but when I fix country ham I make the side dishes without sodium or use something neutral like white rice and blackeyed peas to go with it.
Whenever I went to Williamsburg used to stop at a cured meat store to pick up their sausage which was the best I ever had, but the hams, forget it. Yet I brought some back for a neighbor around xmas and they loved it. Its all in your tastebuds and what you learned to like growing up. Husband to wife, you never get it right. Wife burns the food. Husband delighted, just like mom used to make it.
There are instructions for curing hams & bacon in a Prep guide at http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5757 including any inexpensive test cure for beginners.
It covers smoking aswell. Infact it covers just about everything.
Well, because of this new possible indonesian cluster I went out and bought my first round of food preps today. It took me 1.5 hours and I probably have half of what I need for a 3-month supply.
I’m more concerned about water. I can fast, ration, and practice caloric restriciton on the food. Humans can fast safely for 40 days if they have enough water.
ricewiki – at 18:44
Check Canadian Preppers thread for water jugs.
Thanks ANONyyZ
Ricewiki- I just bought a bunch of collapsible 5 gal. jugs at Big Lots for 3.99 each. They may not be Famous Name brand, but if they hold water, then that should do ya. And even with your low budget, a couple of $3.99′s ought to be in-budget.
If it is just you, then two of these should hold a week and a half’s worth of aqua.
I bought one 5 gallon kerosene can and four 5 gallon gasoline cans today. I filled them all and treated the gas with STABIL. And to think I thought buying food preps was expensive…
I made lists. Yeah, I know I’m way behind the rest of you, but you wouldn’t believe how much time it takes to keep the wiki running.
Melanie: Doesn’t really matter where you are as long as you are moving in the right direction!
I’ve been getting a container vegetable garden and a compost heap going. Also more bucket runs to the supermarkets, primarily to have more water storage containers. Our fire season has started in earnest, and next on my list is a bug-out bag. I took early retirement in January; if I were still working full-time, I doubt that I would have found the time to prep other than a case of bottled water and a few canned goods.
Eccles – at 18:59 (in thread: New suspected clusters in Indonesia2) but I thought it was an interesting problem
Woodstock and Anon_22-
I am handling my stocking up at this moment like the TV game show Deal or No Deal. Each time I come across an expensive but possibly needed prepping item, I just visualize the host saying:
Would you trade what’s left in your pocket for this possibly critical piece of prep gear? think carefully, DEAL or NO DEAL?
And then I review the current situation and make my decision accordingly.
Well, anyway, it works for me.
Eccles, do you want to elaborate on this? I get a weird narrowing of focus and feel convinced that item x will be crucial to our survival. And want one for my daughter, too. It’s very hard to resist some of these impulses. It helps to picture dh finding it. <g> Make-do and do-without was how I grew up. But right now the Kelly stove looks like a really good thing. sigh.
Thanks for all the info on cured/smoked meats. I don’t like salty hams, so yeah, I think I’ll just substitute fried ham in my menu plan for bacon and use the canned hams, or just forego the breakfast meet altogether. As Ecles pointed out, I’m probably at risk of fattening my family up during quarantine anyway. I did buy about 12 large packages of bacon bits which are called for in some of my recipes and they will be a good change from canned ham, chicken and tuna.
“meat” of course, not “meet”. Bad grammar - shudder!
Jane- What I was getting at was just that for any purchase, there is the decision between doing without some piece of equipment or stack of supplies if the time is close, vs the realization that money is a finite commmodity and once spent, is gone. Hence, I view each buying opportunity like the contestants on Deal/No Deal. I COULD buy it now, and have it, but then maybe I won’t be able to buy X. Of course, if I don’t buy it now and all hell is about to break loose, then I have just lost the only opportunity to get it.
It’s just like accepting the banker’s deal on that show. Take a known position now, or else maybe have less to show later.
I just got back from a 200 dollar trip to Wally world and Krogers. Bought 48 rolls TP, 6 bottles 91% isopropyl, 12 qts UHT milk, 40 lbs rice, 10 lb sugar, more beans, canning lids, acetaminaphin supositories for sick room, 12 cans shredded beef barbecue, flypaper, 9 cans stir fry veg with meat, case of cream of mushroom soup, pectin, yeast, clothespins, safety pins, more mantles for coleman lantern, another pump repair kit (one for stove, other for lantern), and other.
This Indonesia cluster may or may not be H2H, but it’s making me realize it could go that way at any time.
I finally made the leap and bought a water purifier. I hope I have made the right choice for I got one with filters, did purchase extra filters. If the Indonesian cluster turns out to be H2H I’m immediately going to order more filters. It will give me 6 months of clean water at 32 gallons a day ( that’s assuming there is a water source)with my current purchase so I will have enough for my family and can share with neighbors in need if we come to that. Reading through these threads is very helpful in getting ideas, put the fly paper in my list and I still need to get eye droppers. My Grandmother would say for the want of the nail the shoe was lost, for the want of the shoe the horse was lost. Thanks to all of you, I feel that I am thinking of more “nails” to get.
Thanks for the link RPF - at 16:15
I downloaded the .pdf and I see what you ‘covers just ablout everything’ I had not seen this before. It is a must read!
Table of Contents
SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT IN THE EVENT OF A PANDEMIC. ………………………………………………………….1 HOW TO READ THIS DOCUMENT………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 MAIN BODY OF DOCUMENT ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5 1 WHAT IS A PANDEMIC, HOW LIKELY IS IT TO OCCUR AND HOW BAD MIGHT IT GET? ……………………………………………..5 2 VIRUSES, FLU AND THE BIOLOGY STUFF………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7 Viruses in general. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 Flu Virus in particular. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 What medicines are available to fight this flu?………………………………………………………………………………………………….7 3 HOW MIGHT SOCIETY REACT? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..10 How will people react if it reaches their community?……………………………………………………………………………………….10 What of the moral, legal and ethical questions? ………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Health systems……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………11 4 IF IT ALL GOES PEAR SHAPED WHAT CAN I DO TO PROTECT ME & MINE? …………………………………………………………..12 Prepping……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………12 Things you can do now………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..12 Experiment ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 Pets…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 Gardening …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………14 Water………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..14 Money……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 Financial Prepping (Kindly supplied by Florida1 of Flutrackers) ……………………………………………………………………..14 Security …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 List……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………15 GLOSSARY……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..16 LINKS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………17 Pandemic History……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17 General Bird Flu Information ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………17 Sites to check for the latest situation updates…………………………………………………………………………………………………..17 General …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17 Suppliers …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..17 APPENDIXES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18 APPENDIX A – PREPPING ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18 4 FOOD STORAGE TIPS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18 Poultry and eggs ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18 Curing ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………18 Sausages……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………20 Smoking…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21 Cheese ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………21 Jam…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..21 Fruit & Veg. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………21 Books………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..22 MEDICAL PREPPING & PATIENT CARE ………………………………………………………………………………………………………23 Equipment lists…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..23 APPENDIX B –MORE DETAILED FLU BIOLOGY………………………………………………………………………………………….25 Meet the virus…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….25 RNA and Protein expression. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….25 How does infection occur?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..26 HA binding ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..28 Neuraminidase (NA)……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………29 Links…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………30 APPENDIX C – THE 1918 FLU PANDEMIC & OTHER LESSONS FROM HISTORY………………………………………31 Age Mortality Profiles…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………32 APPENDIX D – EXPERTS & INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING. …………………………………………………………………………..33 Who are the experts and what are they saying?……………………………………………………………………………………………….33 The WHO Plan …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..33 The UK Plan………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………34 APPENDIX E – A PERSONAL VIEW & CONCLUSION. ………………………………………………………………………………….37 Planning assumptions. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..37 What do I think is a likely scenario and what do I recommend?…………………………………………………………………………38 My Plan?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..3
I finally broke down and bought a solar oven, something that I have wanted for years! Yippee!
A solar oven? Haven’t heard of one of those. How much? How does it work?
Today I finally got some collapsible 5 gal water storage containers. I bought 6–7 and now I will be able to store water to cover me for a month. Big deal! I can’t believe how difficult water storage is logistically. I’ll be moving soon too so don’t want to start buying bigger containers or water itself…
Still in kindergarte. Bpught a bunch of tuna in tear packaging to use in baskets if I decide to give out gift baskets of preps, Half Price. Other half price itmes for ditto. Was meandering around the mall trying to figure how to use it if need be in a pandemic. Lots of indoor outdoor parking. Stores could be boarded up to avoid breakins. They do it when they are changing vendors. Lots of marble floor for cots. Restuarants, food courts. Wouldn’t have to use even one floor. Could accomadater a lot of the sick if it comes to that. Of course this will never be. But each of us should think about things like this even if it seems far out. I doubt that Apple store like the idea of my commandeering their little store as a command post. Don’t know who runs apple anymore. S. Jobs?
My prep for today was to re-organize my preps. I’m storing my stuff in rubbermade totes. When I started I stored everything together by type, all the soup together, all the pasta together, etc.
After reading here the other day, I decided that the better way to store it was to distribute it into all the totes evenly. So I’ve ended up with 11 totes in all that are currently at about 10–14 days of food each. The nice thing is, it is easier to increase my total days by adding new items to the totes to increase the number of days each tote will last. The totes are only about half full so I think I can probably fill each one to about 30 days and then I would be set for almost a year. I should note I am only including 2 meals/day in these totes, breakfast and dinner. I have other totes that are filled with lunch/snack type stuff and will probably leave those as is. Along with totes for cooking supplies, medical, etc.
I bought the SunOven for $189. You can cook and bake in it. “Even though it is called an oven, food can be baked, boiled, and steamed at cooking temperatures of 360° F to 400° F.” “There are two ways to cook in a SO. If you refocus the oven to follow the sun every 25 to 30 minutes, cooking times and methods will be very similar to cooking with a conventional stove or oven. Or a SO can be used for slow cooking, much like a crock-pot. You can prepare your dinner, put it in the GSO, point the oven where the sun will be approximately halfway through the time you will be gone. Leave, and come home to a tasty, slow-cooked dinner. If you run late, there is no need to worry; the SO will keep your food warm, moist, and fresh for hours.”
Like I said, I wanted one of these for years so I am glad to finally be getting one! Erika
Wine is very easy to make. I lived 7 years in saudi Arabia, a country with no legal alcohol(although they drink(scotch) like fish)…….just get a case of real grape juice, take some sugar(1/2 cup) and dissolve it in hot water, add a little bakers yeast( 2 tbsps) and mix all together in a 5 gallon jug. Place a plastic tube out the top and tape around it. In 21 days pour the liquid part back into the grape jars. Let it settle and drink. Will have a kick!
OMG - I went to Costco yesterday and it was PACKED! I never go on the weekend, but my wine-snob dh wanted to check out what wines they carried and could only go yesterday. I acted casual and chated up a few customers in line (LONG LINES!) and cashiers - they all said the only time they’ve seen it like that was right before the holidays. However, scanning carts there wasn’t much there I’d call prep material - maybe lots of TP, but that’s about it. I did notice the end-aisle display of tuna-fish was looking low. Was everyone just buying stuff for Mother’s Day and gardening supplies like me?
Erika, Have you used your oven? Where did you get it? Let us know, please.
Maybe someone talked about this. Staples office supply store has free delivery on all orders of 50.00 or more. Besides paper ink and all office supplies you can get cups, napkins coffee/tea accessories. Also bandages aspirin pepto-bismol tisuus toilet paper and many more items from there catalog in bulk and it would come to you free. I think the prices are higher but in a pinch you could order items from them. I also think you can do the same with Office Depot. Not sure.
I just ordered the SunOven so I will report back after the first use. I live in Florida so there is plenty of fuel to check it out. I ordered this one because I liked the fact that you can cook and bake in it. I looked at a lot of plans for building one but neither DH nor I are handy and I wanted something that would last. One of the least expensive plans I viewed used a windsheild sun reflector - to get your creative juices flowing for do-it-yourself types.
OK…I need some input on this topic….LARD I bought two pounds this weekend. Although it was in the cooler section, it said that it did not need to be refrigerated. I put in it in the fridge anyway. Now, we are on the “store what you eat - eat what you store” plan. Just where would lard enter into this? No way does that ever fit into my wife’s diet, and I certainly don’t need extra fat in my diet right now. Does it ever spoil? It’s sorta like Velveeta cheese to me, use only in emergencies.
Grandma - I bought my .5L bottled water in cases from Office Depot. They are more expensive per case then the wholesale clubs but I had a pallet of 30 cases delivered right into my garage without all the additional time and lifting at the store. I am using those cases for daily use and picking up a case or two everytime I am at the store to rotate my stock.
If you buy from Office Depot, checkout www.jumpondeals.com for a $30 off $150 or a $40 off $200 coupon (helps to bring it down to a reasonable price per case). The only thing is, if you are picky about the brand of bottled water, you should place a small order to see what type of brand your region stocks. Here in FL we Zepherhills, which is what I prefer. I wouldn’t be happy to get 30 cases of “Cyrstal” water, but in an emergency water is water.
Lard is good to use as a shorting/oil substitute-heat a skillet on LOW and let a little (Tablespoon or so) then procede as if it were veg oil. It just has more flavor (and calories) than oil or shortning. Use in place of butter/shortening for biscuits-it makes a fabuluos pie crust and is espeicailly good for meat pie-has that smokey savory taste. People used lard back before commercial margerine and veg oil- also butter was very time-comsuming to make. My great aunt used to can sausage patties in lard- (On a woodstove no less!!!)and she lived an amazingly long time.
We bought two large tubs of lard to make Navajo fry bread.(I twisted the arm of one of my Navajo friends to give me his recipe) I cooked some up sat. yummie! Made it in a cast iron skillitt on wood coals. You can throw some beans on top or go all out and add tomatoes, cheese, salsa, Navajo taco city. Getting hungry just thinking about it!
jon c at 11:41 Are you free to share this recipe? I would love to have it.
If you partially cook sausages and pack them into a large jar, melt the lard and pour over them they will keep without refrigeration. I read this in a sausage making book and he said they keep ‘indefinately’ what ever that means, I have tried it for a few weeks while camping and it worked perfectly.
JJackson – at 11:51
This is true. I grew up eating these sausages and no one was ever sick. The lard seals out all the oxygen.
On the other hand, my grandmother and mother always completely cooked their sausages. The heating was only a re-heat to drain off the grease and to warm them back up.
Kathy in Or- It is at home, but I will call my buddy and get it again. I will post it on this thread in a little bit. Jon
I think you need to cook enough to sterilize and when you fill the jars bang them to make sure you remove any bubbles.
Hillbilly Bill – at 08:52
Use lard like you would any cooking oil … just melt it first. However, I think it has a quicker “flash point” so melt it on low heat setting.
I grew up using lard that my grandparents rendered themselves … and I’m just shy of 40. So it isn’t that long ago that it was a common kitchen item. However, it is a meat product, not a plant product like most of today’s cooking oils. If someone in the family has a heart condition, you may need to take that into consideration.
HillBilly Bill, I have never cooked with Lard but I can say the best fried chicken I ever had was fried in lard. What a good idea to buy some for preps does the package have an experation date on it???
I still make my own lard. Melt pork fat slowly with a little water over a low heat skim and cool. The best lard is made from the solid fat layer just below the skin.
JJackson – at 12:28
Isn’t that the area called the “fat back”? <grin> I can just remember my grandmother talking about it.
I witnessed enough slaughters to know that I’m glad they were doing it and not me … they had to retire from farming in the early 80′s due to being driven out of the market by the big agri-corps. But boy, oh boy, was all that stuff good. But work … oh my goodness.
I always get lard when I have a hog butchered. Best baked goods you can imagine.I store it in the refrigerator to keep longer. I do know you are supposed to keep it in a dark cool place. Lard, though it contains saturated fat, may not be as bad for you as butter as 1 tsp of butter has more fat than 1 tbs of lard. Here’s the nutritional breakdown:
Butter, 1 tsp butter (5g) Calories: 45 Protein: 0.4g Carbohydrate: 0.0g Total Fat: 5.0g Fiber: 0.0g
Lard, 1 Tbsp lard (13g) Calories: 115 Protein: 0.0g Carbohydrate: 0.0g Total Fat: 2.8g Fiber: 0.0g
Olive oil, if stored properly, will last at least 2 years, and is much better for you.
Navajo fry bread- (I asked for the simplest, least ingredients, recipe) 3 cups flour. They use bluebird brand flour here. 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup warm water. put all dry ingredients in bowl. add water and kneed into dough. it should be soft, but not sticky. add flour or water to get right consistancy. In a large frying pan add enough lard to fill pan about two inches. make small thick 5 inch across tortilla shapes. carefully place in hot lard. cooking time varies according to altitude. enjoy.
Jon c at 12:44 Thank you for the fry bread recipe! It sounds good and I think if the lights go out it will be easy to make over a fire.
you are welcome
Love Texas – at 12:24 The package has no expiration date on it. I’m assuming it lasts as long as radioactive waste.
I guess my first post was unclear. I know what lard is and how it is used, but cooking in our house is done with extra virgin olive oil, not rendered animal fats. DW has cholesterol issues and I have high blood pressure. I know I need to store some fats to go along with long-term rice and beans. If it will last forever then it is not a problem, but if I have to use it up then I have no idea what to do with it.
Kathy, jon-
Navaho fry bread sounds very similar to a favorite county fair food, in new england, fried dough. Except after frying, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon, or drizzle with real maple syrup, maybe even top with fruit topping. I make it at home, for the kids (Ok, me too ;) !!!) with bread dough or in desparation, flattened canned biscuits. I’ve also seen them occasionally at midwest fairs -called elephant ears. Fills you up, gives you a treat, and easy ingredients - definately on my shtf menu plan!
preppiechick at 13:34
Yummy,we call them elephant ears here too.
I think they can be topped with a number of things. I have heard of people making little pizzas out of them. Hmmmm I should start making that earthen wood oven soon. heHe. canned food toppings
I think they can be topped with a number of things. I have heard of people making little pizzas out of them. Hmmmm I should start making that earthen wood oven soon. heHe. canned food toppings
oops
Hillbilly Bill: We grew up not that far from the German border in the Netherlands. Our favorite neighbor was an older German lady who always had a big pot of ‘schmaltz’ = Lard on her countertop. Whenever we would walk by she would give us a piece of bread with a lard mixture on it. I remember it as being delicious. It had pieces of bacon in it and it tasted salty. She always had it out on the countertop so it did not need refrigeration. Her whole family was skinny so apparantly it did not make you fat. Any German people on the board that know a recipe for schmaltz?
Hillbilly - there should be some sort of expiration date on it. I know Crisco (similar) keeps for a fairly long time, unrefridgerated even if opened. The only time I use Crisco is for two certain holiday dishes. The rest of the time it sits on my shelf. I think I’ve had the same can for two x-mases now. It’s not heart-healthy but does taste awfully good, especially in baking.
Boonct… where in the Netherlands? I lived in Brunnssum.
Anonymous at 14.21: I was born in Enschede. Since 18 years abroad, now in this fantastic country: the USA!
Boonct – at 14:10 I have heard of the same thing here in Appalachia, a jar of cooking grease (animal fat) is kept on the counter right by the stove. Hot dripping from the skillet are poured in the jar after meat is fried.
lauraB – at 14:11 Well, I know that lard will give flavor if/when we are down to the very basics and you have to have a certain amount of fat to feel satisfied. What I would like to find is some kind of canned salt pork or something like that. Everything I have been able to find is pickled. I do have several cans of corned beef, that has a high percentage of fat content.
Veg. shortening stays good longer than lard, at least in my experience. I’ve always kept it on the shelf and never had veg.shortening go bad. I do keep a coffee cup of bacon grease in the fridge, not brave enough to keep it out on the counter though. That’s the best stuff to fry an egg in, and I like it in greenbeans too. Hubby would rather have what he called “fatback” fried and put in the beans instead. Don’t ask me what fatback is, cause I really don’t know. It’s salt cured, looks like very fatty bacon, but tastes different. >blech< LOL
Fat back is also called salt pork. It is salted but not smoke cured, like bacon. It is used commonly in the cooking of the US South and in Latin American cuisines.
But I have only been able to find it refrigerated. I do like it in soup beans and also with green beans, but DW has become the cholesterol cop lately.
Speaking of things that are bad for you. I wonder how long pork rinds keep. MMMMM deep fat fried salted fat. My wife lets me have one bag a month. sorry, I degress again. (Slowly creeps to the corner guarding his crispy vice.)
Ricewiki @ 14:05 : A solar oven? Haven’t heard of one of those. How much? How does it work?
RW, if you google ‘solar ovens,’ ‘solar oven plans,’ etc, you will find a bunch of websites that show how to make your own from materials as simple as cardboard boxes and aluminum foil (there are also much more intricate designs available for free online). My dh is a grad student (you know *that* life, I know!) so we’re going the budget route.
My dd’s and I chose this last month for our summer project; we’re going to try several designs and see which works best for us. We’ve made s’mores with only solar cooking before so they are pretty jazzed to see what else we can do. I was thinking more along the lines of not having to heat up the kitchen in a Texas summer (TX seems like a perfect place to practice solar cooking, lol), saving on the electric bill (both using the oven and needing AC to cool the kitchen), science & cooking practice for the kids….and, oh yes, extra cooking options ‘just in case.’ ;o)
There are also solar oven recipes available online, and I saw several notations referring to being able to heat water hot enough to pasteurize it…that one really made me take note!
Many, many more sites than these, but I have bookmarked to use first: http://solarcooking.org (The FluWiki of the solar oven sites. This has a bit of everything: free plans, recipes, forums, resources, etc) http://www.solarnow.org/pizzabx.htm (make a solar oven out of a pizza box…perfect first attempt for a student, lol!) http://journeytoforever.org/edu_sc.html (designed for schools to use as a teaching resource, a good beginner site with many links to plans, other sites, etc)
Oops, sorry, forgot to format the links: SolarCooking.org Pizza Box Solar Oven Solar Ovens
bump up get rid o troll BS
bump
OK. New day, new postings. Besides, all that stuff up above didn’t sound Kosher anyway.
I just got in a shipment of stuff, which included two weatherband radios and a whole heap of Tyvek hooded coveralls. Just add mask and goggles and you too can look like the creatures from the original release of Invaders From Mars, starring Leif Ericsson.
I bought 6 more five gallon gas cans today, I already have the STABIL on hand. I will have to wait for payday to fill them up however :-) Maybe if I hit the multi-state lottery I could finish my gasoline preps…
I just got back from Kroger’s and I am, once again, able to report that there are no runs on bottled water, canned goods, etc.
Eccles - I love really bad B-rated sci-fi movies;-)
Maybe I can get suited up, with all of the PPE and use my camcorder to make “The Attack of the Eccles From Mars”
Or maybe I’ll just shelve the stuff and pray I never have to even anticipate having to use any of it.
Eccles - hmmm….not sure whether to get out the popcorn or run for the hills;-)Let’s go with shelving and never having to use.
I discovered a problem the other day. With my mask on my dog barks at me. Anyone else see how their dog reacts with thier mask on? I think I can get him over it.
Eccles, since this is a prepping thread, be sure to add some “killer” tomatoes to your stockpile to go with your B-rated sci-fi outfit.
And here I allways thought Leif Ericsson was an invader from Denmark.
Those of us who have propane stoves in our homes may want to call up our propane companies and arrange to have our propane tank filled at once, and more frequently than usual thereafter. Expect to pay a service charge, of course. It might also be a good idea - I say might be, not is - to find out what plumbing you would need to have in order to run your normal stove from 20 pound “gas grill” tanks. This would be something you would want to prepare in advance.
WARNING - CITY / UTILITY COMPANY NATURAL GAS IS UNDER MUCH LESS PRESSURE THAN PROPANE. IT IS NOT SAFE TO CONNECT PROPANE TO A STOVE THAT NORMALLY RUNS FROM NATURAL GAS PIPELINES RUNNING TO THE HOUSE. CONVERTING A STOVE FROM NATURAL GAS TO PROPANE IS A JOB FOR A PROFESSIONAL.
Just so you don’t blame that scorched ceiling [at least] on me.
I managed to get a lot of little prepping steps done today:
The bonus for the day was finding a box of “Tap Lights” in an upstairs closet. Remember those? I was planning to buy some lights that would provide indirect lighting in the event of power outages. Now all I need is some spare bulbs and some more rechargeable batteries. A good day all around.
HIllbilly Bill 20:55 scored 3 free food grade buckets with lids from the grocery store.
Who do you approach at grocery store with a request for empty food grade buckets?
cabingirl - I gave the women in the deli my best charming smile and asked them to save any buckets and lids they were going to throw away for me. They re-use the smaller 1 and 2 gallon ones to do catering, but I got 3 gallon ones today and they also have 5 gallon buckets as well. I stop in once a week and gladly take anything they give me.
Hillbilly Bill,
Thanks for the tip. I’ll give it a try.
Put two new shelving units in the garage to hold some prep bins. I moved my existing shelves out 18″ and put the new shelf behind it so the back stuff is somewhat hidden. Going to the range tommorow for some practice and fun :)
As I always say, it never hurts to ask.
About the 5 gallon buckets — Try your local Walmart deli. Ours will sell you the bucket with or without a lid for $1.00. They held the cake frosting, so they smell sweet. I’ve two of them full of rice. :^)
Or try your grocery store bakery — their huge icing buckets are great - you just have to wash all the greasy icing residue out really really really well!
jon- I hear ya about the port rinds. Maybe you can store some in those metal popcorn cans. Remember to store one little bottle of hot sauce in each can ;-) About the dog - make it a game. Put it on, take it off while playing with them.
The Sports Authority has 100 qt coolers on sale for $29.99 (not tax this week in Florida) Also at my Walgreens yesterday I picked up an eyedropper to use with clorine for $1.99. Sams has a multipack rechargable battery pack for $19.98 (4 AAA’s and 8AA’s) again no sales tax for the next 10 days in Florida.
Erika- You might check out www.mcminone.com. They have rechargeable AA and AAA batteries for a very good price if you need to get some more.
My prepping this weekend was checking out the new wireless multi-camera infrared security system. A very Ecclesian type of prep, to be sure, but gives me some eyes where I might wish I had them some day.
Eccles - Does this camera system work on 110V, and any idea how much juice it draws?? I’d like the have a couple cameras to cover my blindspots when I am inside, especially when my hurricane shutters are up, but I always figured the power would be out when I need them. I’m thinking of getting a couple of batteries and an inverter to supplement my generator so I might be able to run them if they don’t draw alot of juice.
Nopower-
The cameras and monitor all run from wall cubes and can be AC or battery powered. the cameras need 9V at 200 ma each, and the monitor need 12V at 1A. These can be handled by a modest solar system for continuous operation, or you can just deploy when needed for a bit of extra vision when and if needed. All of the units use the little cylindrical connectors found on most battery operated products these days, and it should not be a problem to rig an appropriate power cord. My standby battery packs can all plug into the cameras directly (they contain multi-voltage power supplies, and fairly hefty batteries).
I went to Lowe’s on my lunch hour and bought six more 5 gallon gas cans and some shelving units. I don’t even want to add up what all I have spent on Panflu preparations and the most expensive items are still to be bought. Prepping sure does do a good job of disposing of my disposable income.
start new thread