I just thought that maybe we could uplift our spirits with a little humor about how we are labeling our preps. My daughters were over yesterday and noticed the box on my shelf labeled “Christmas ornaments from uncle Tom And aunt Cherry.” They were confused and quite interested in the contents of the box. I explained to them that the Tom stands for “turkey” and “Cherry” is code for Chicken. Now they are absolutely sure I’ve lost my mind.
As they looked through the boxes they had a great time trying to figure out the contents. “Ugly wedding ashtrays from Uncle Grabill” holds the meats from Grabill’s cannery. It’s been great fun thinking of codes. Of course, in my inventory list, each item says what the label on its box is. My favorite is the box of old postcards from my husband’s aunt in fruitville. Any guesses at what’s in that box? Please share your creative ways to disguise contents. Personally, I love the #10 Provident Pantry labels and would rather line them up all neatly and have fun looking at our stash but I know that wouldn’t be a good idea!
I’m not quite as clever as you — most of my boxes simply have one letter [B = Beef ie soup, stew, canned beef, etc] I have about 4–5 boxes stacked in a closet that way. Guess my favorite code is the one I used on the box of scrumptious pie fillings from Barry Farms. I used the Greek symbol for Pi. Closest I can come with typing it is II, however you’all know it has a line with a loop that goes across the top of the two vertical lines.
How clever you BOTH are! This is an area that I’d not thought of, simply because I don’t have kids, just cats & they can’t operate the can opener-yet.
But, I have put some supplies in an outside storage on our condo property that is considered to be a community-owned storage facility. I have boxes of bottles, plastic & glass, filled 3/4 full with water — both for prep and in case something spills in there because it’s far enough away from the condo buildings that you can’t get a garden hose out to the shed.
I also have Clorox bottles, Lysol in spray cans, and most of my big water containers (empty) wrapped up in garbage bags, which I could label as well. Then there are the real Christmas deocrations in there as well.
I think I’ll take advantage of this good labeling idea & have a little fun with my boxes and bags too, since we have to ask the condo association to replace the very doors that secure all this stuff because they’re about to fall off!
I know it’s paranoid but I really don’t want people seeing the extent of my supplies. I do have one shelf unit that has canned goods in clear view and I’m hoping if we have an intruder, they’ll think that’s it. I’m trying to make all my large quanities of freeze dry, cases of food, etc. blend in with our junk in the basement. Masks, gloves, and medical supplies also have bogus labels. My nature is to neatly box and label everything so making it look sloppy is killing me!
P.S. I never really noticed how many people actually go in our basement until this summer. We have the termite inspector, furnace cleaner, and electrician who’s doing the wiring for our whole house generator. (Actually, there were 3 electricians.) I don’t want them taking note of all our stuff.
My friends and family members send me their empty plastic Tidy Cat containers. I store a lot of different things in them with minimal codes inked on the lids. I sent some to my son who lives in an apt and has a basement storage unit. Im sure his neighbors wonder how many cats he REALLY has….
That’s the best idea of heard of yet. Wish I had a source who has cats! How clever!
Those plastic litter tubs are great for storage. As soon as I get one empty I have a use for it.
I’m working on it—Fellow cat person! I wish there was a way to get in touch with you, I have lots and lots of catfood coupons that I am not using. I have bought tons of dry food and just simply cannot use any more right now. I’m going to have to throw them away, which to me is a terrible waste.
Lots of Friskies $1.00 off a bag of dry. I had a bunch of $1.00 off Tidy Cats litter that I couldn’t use and left them on the shelf in the store, I bet they got thrown away.
I only have my actual email address which I can’t put out for obvious reasons.
If you are interested, we might can come up with something…
Alabama Prepper @ 13:08--you can get a free “disposable” e-mail address for just that sort of thing from Yahoo, G mail, hotmail or a few others.
Galt
Interesting notes about reusing the cat litter buckets. I’ve been interested in doing so, but afraid that they might not be food grade and might leach something into the items placed in them. Does anyone know for sure?
I was thinking about putting extra cat kibble in the buckts, but, again, I don’t want to put my cats’ food in anything that might eventually harm them. Does anyone know about this? Do you line the buckets with something when filling them?
I’d sure like to use some of these buckets myself. Thanks for your help.
I also wondered about that, so I sent them an email. I am currently using TdyCat Crystal Blend that comes in a large jug.
Got the following reply;
Thank you for contacting Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.
The fragrance used in litter can be absorbed by plastic, as such, litter containers should not be reused if the lingering odor is a concern. (for food)
So, not a great lot of help,there. I am using the big buckets I had saved for stuff that is prepackaged. Have washed out 1 jug, filled with water for a test run, so far 3 weeks later, don`t see a problem. But then, I seem to have misplaced my microscopic eyes somewhere, so who knows?
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