Let’s move on to the rest of North America, shall we?
Hi i”m in the jacksonville area
I’m in the North West corner of the state. Any body else out there? I will check here every week or so.
Also prepping in NW Arkansas ….. Looks like we have a lonely site here - not much activity. About the same as I see in the grocery stores. Have not been able to pick out anyone shoping that I would consider a fellow prepper yet..??
So glad to hear from you. I was begining to feel like I was the only one. Well, know at least one other up here will be well prepped. I am still gathering supplies but I think I’m “almost” done.
pbq - Good to hear from you! Almost completed prepping here also. Just need to do the “last minute dash” for the items we do not use on a regular basis (so will not be “cycled through”) i.e. powdered milk, powdered potatoes, and a good freezer stock up.
I’m here, in Stone County. Saw one other woman with a lot of water and a strange look in her eye, that’s all. I’ve had comments on the amount of dog food in my home :) Everyone at work thinks I’m just nuts, and I tried discussing all this with one of my best friends, who also thinks I’m nuts!! How comforting!
I am also from western AR. I just began prepping, but have been lurking here a bit. Have you heard of any planning going on in your communities?
No, getNready, I haven’t heard of anyone prepping for anything. Since we don’t have earthquakes, hurricanes or other natural problems except for the rare (we are up in the mountains) tornado, I suppose people are somewhat complacent. I have lived in places where there are lots of typhoons, earthquakes, volcanos, etc., and even there I was only one of a few that had survival kits (I thought I was doing great for a 3 day situation) sitting at the ready. Now I mention BF and everyone’s thoughts are with the birds. A lot of my friends work for Tyson you see. Its not the birds I’mm worried about. Hopefully though just my mentioning BF and humans will get them thinking. In terms of community planning I have not heard anything either. I think our counties and cities are so busy with new growth and the traffic problems that BF is the last thing on their mind. Have you heard anything? Arkie, my firends think I am going overboard too, so I just play along with it and point them to Oprah, and other mainstream info. Hopefully they will prep some on their own. Toolmanthom, I used to live in Jacksonville- about 35 years ago.
pbq-I have not heard of any local planning either. I also refer folks to mainstream info. Friends have listened, but do not know what they have actually heard. :o) Have we had our state summit yet? I have looked but could very easily have missed.
I’m in central Arkansas. I detect no interest or concern around here. I read John Barry’s book, “Rising Tide,” followed immediately by his book, “The Great Influenza,” about three months before Katrina hit. As you can imagine, having read the book about the 1927 flood and New Orleans had a great impact on me as I watched Katrina’s aftermath on TV. When New Orleans residents were evacuated all over the US, it occurred to me that after those individuals were trapped in awful and unhygienic conditions in close quarters at the Superdome for days, the evacuation could be a very efficient way to spread any disease they had been sharing and incubating, much as soldiers in WWI unknowingly spread the flu after being in barracks before being shipped out all over the world. I was a bit of a paranoid mess for a few weeks, but once I went through my “adjustment reaction” I came back to the middle and now am a cautious, well-prepared observer of the entire thing. My preparations will serve my family well in an Arkansas ice storm or power outage. None of my family members seems in the least concerned, however, I was able to prevail on my elderly parents to make sure they had extra medication on hand. I also find myself evaluating other people’s carts at Wal Mart and Sam’s, though…
Yes, I too look at other’s carts when at the store and wonder if they are doing what I am doing when I see more than 5 or 6 cans of one thing. We are also well prepped though I will make a last minute run for extra items that go bad quickly. I would like to find some alfalfa seeds for sprouting and haven’t. Still trying to figure out how to run my CPAP on batteries though. That is my biggest challenge. I must have it or I quit breathing 130 times an hour and that makes for a BAD mood the next day- not to mention fuzzy thinking after a few days. Any ideas? I’ve looked at the thread about CPAP’s and haven’t figured it out yet. I showed my husband some of the ABC news shows and he is on board with this. Not like I am but he is showing intrest. He was always supported my “prepping personality” but now he is starting to think about it more. YEAH!
PJ-I also see my preparedness as being the right thing to do no matter what the situation. I also look at people’s carts…but so far I am the only one I have seen with a 20lb bag of rice and a stack of Dak hams. :o)
BTW Love camping and hiking at Petit Jean
I too look in other’s carts at the store. If I see 6 or more can of one thing I wonder if they are doing what I am doing. We are almost prepped. I am running into a few challenges however. One is how to work my CPAP on batteries. I quite breathing 130 times an hour! and that makes for a BAD mood the next day and fuzzy thinking after a few days. I’ve read the thread about CPAPs but nothing is working for me yet. Does anyone know where I can get alfafa seeds for sprouting? Otherwise we are fairly well prepped. Even enough for my grandkids for a while. My hunky hubby is on board with this too. He just has to check his amno.
I too look in other’s carts at the store. If I see 6 or more can of one thing I wonder if they are doing what I am doing. We are almost prepped. I am running into a few challenges however. One is how to work my CPAP on batteries. I quite breathing 130 times an hour! and that makes for a BAD mood the next day and fuzzy thinking after a few days. I’ve read the thread about CPAPs but nothing is working for me yet. Does anyone know where I can get alfafa seeds for sprouting? Otherwise we are fairly well prepped. Even enough for my grandkids for a while. My hunky hubby is on board with this too. He just has to check his amno.
Didn’t know this would repeat or I would have had more original thoughts!
Didn’t know this would repeat or I would have had more original thoughts!
pbq-every once in a while my hubby makes a suggestion of something we should probably purchase, but doesn’t really want to talk about it. It did help that ABC/FOX etc. have done stories. Have not got him to visit the Wiki yet. At least he doesn’t put the brakes on my purchases. Not well prepped yet, but am nickel and dime’n our way there.
pbq-I would contact a local natural foods/health food store or even farmers Co-op for the seeds. If they do not have them, they may know who does.
Yes, getNready, I have and they (the natural food stores) are out. Will try again in a week or so. In the meantime I will try the farmers co-op here later this week. Thank you. My hubby does the same thing. He will think of something but doesn’t like to really talk about it. Our guys sound similar about this.
Yes, getNready, I have and they (the natural food stores) are out. Will try again in a week or so. In the meantime I will try the farmers co-op here later this week. Thank you. My hubby does the same thing. He will think of something but doesn’t like to really talk about it. Our guys sound similar about this.
Yahoo!
We can post again!
Bob’s here from NWAR - Eureka Springs!
-bob
So glad fluwikie is back on line!!! Avian Flu Talk is so difficult to read. That black background is terrible for old eyes. Plus I think Fluwikie is a tad more upscale. I just got back from a large shopping trip. I am prepped for 6 months of food for my family plus 1. Who ever that may be. I am still getting water and my hunky hubby will start to research off grid opportunities (solar perhaps) for our electrical needs the 1st of July when he is off work for a month. So glad to hear from you bob. Petitjean, getnready, are you still here?
Stone County checking in…
Another prepper in Arkansas here. But, we have always had a supply on hand since we work at home and often don’t get into town for weeks at a time anyway. We are in Newton County, where many people keep supplies anyway has a matter of tradition. Living off the land at least partly is part of the lifestyle here, so it’s difficult to tell whether people are prepping or just doing what comes natural(like my Arkie accent? :-D).
PBQ -I’m here! Did you get your seeds? :o) Hi Arkie..and Mountain. I am not a natural prepper but started recently..but I am aiming for 3 mos. A bit overwhelming but I am trickling along.
Good Morning GetNReady, Well I ordered my seeds 2 weeks ago from “value nutrition” on line and still have not gotten them. Starting to worry they have forgotten my order. You will get there. Prepping for 3 months just takes time, money and storage space!! Do you have children to prep for? Or is it just you and hubby? We have 1 adult child that will be staying with us and one 12 year old grandchild. I have prepped with the idea to be able to take someone else in (after a couple of days in our garage to make sure they are not contagious). You just never know who might show up and it would be terrible to turn away a child. I figure my friends are on their own. They have been warned so it is up to them. Though I do have quite a bit for our older son because I know he is not prepping and he has children to feed. I plan on a quick trip to his house after about a week after stores are empty to offer my “nutty” preps. Did you see that Dateline special on NBC last night? What did you think? MountainLady, you are already ahead of us. Just living that country lifestyle is a tremendous advantage over us city folk. I am such a city girl, that I even think, I’m getting too prissy. I do love living in town but I need to be more self reliant. I am going to Petco today to see if they have 5 gallon pails. I have heard they do and that they are easy to open. Where as the pickle pails from fast food places are very difficult to open. Prep on!
Hey PBQ, glad to see we are all gathering again!
I have one child at home PBQ. How do you know you have food safe plastic pails? I have a method for my prepping..I do a little of a lot of things…but at the same time I focus on one thing that I want to “finish” for example. I am finished buying oatmeal, rice and beans. I am NOT a chef by any means…so I am going to have to buy convience foods as well. I did see the NBC show. I have not heard any talk at the office today…Everything helps..but I think that bird bug has to hit our shores before folks MAY take more notice. We become so immune to the entertainment slant on news, that it is hard to take the threat seriously when you see it on tv IMO.
The pails are marked on the bottom with HDPE with the number 2 in a triangle above. That means they are food grade but unless you buy from a company you know it doesn’t mean they haven’t stored something toxic in it. That why I like the pickle pails- you can tell-nothing but pickles! But they are very difficult to open and I am hoping that these will be easy. What is IMO? Not up to date on computor lingo. I got my seeds today! Yeah! Hey Arkie, where in Stone County are you from? Isn’t Mountain View there? My sister was born in Mountain View. I lived there for a few years in the fifties. Don’t remember too much—now or then!:-)
PBQ-I hope it means in my opinion…I am never sure. Thank you about the bucket info. I do not know anything about sprouting. Heard it mentioned here, but have no clue. Guess I will check out the sprouting.com and see if I can figure it out. Read somewhere on here about being careful about ecoli? Not sure my six year old could be induced to eat a sprout. :o)
Sometimes you can get food safe buckets from places like McDonalds or Burger King for a couple of dollars.
Thanks for the info on how to tell about other buckets.
Oh, and IMO means in my opinion. :-D
Sorry about the above anonymous at 19:09, forgot to put in my handle.
Woodstock, thanks for the post. I’ll check it out. Well, sprouts are easy to grow and the E Coli thing can be remedied with a little citric acid in the water, that and starting with clean seeds.
I checked out Petco and Petsmart today and came up empty handed. They had plastic containers but they were very, very expensive. The small container (about 5 gallons) cost 20 −23 $. Well I can get a husband and a screwdriver for the fast food ones instead of paying 23 dollars. So I will start my fast food rounds Wed. for more containers at one dollar.
Hey, What happened to everybody?
For those of you in NWAR, Websters is selling 55 gallon food grade (used to hold fruit) for 8$! Yeah! We just have 1 but I am talking my DH into another one next week if there are any left. (Storage is a problem.)
Hi PBQ, sorry I haven’t checked this thread lately. Yes, I’m near Mountain View. It’s beautiful up here, especially after all that wonderful rain! Where is Webster’s? Mountainlady, where are you in AR? Still haven’t seen other preppers around here but folks tend to be fairly stocked up in the mountains anyway. I have been working on my sprouting, it’s going quite well. My favorite is alfalfa, but I’ve been doing chickpeas too.
Arkie, Websters is in Rogers. They make jams and jellies. Yes, the rain was wonderful. I like cool days. It was a nice slow rain. It has been years since I’ve been to Mountain View. Last time I lived there was in 1958 I believe. I bet its changed. :-) Are people still doing a jig at the square on Friday nights? How long have you lived there?
I got some seeds for sprouting too but have not done anythjing with them. I guess I should try again as it was the 70′s the last time I ate or grew sprouts.
Mountain View is growing, unfortunately! We just had the 44th Annual Folk Fest and it was huge. Everything is still hoppin’ on weekend nights at the square. Now that we have a new superduper Wally World we have a second stoplight. Yuck. All you need for your sprouts is mason jars and pantyhose :)
PBQ etal~ I am here. I am in NWAR as well. I may have to check out the 55 gal. We had a lil’ mini summit this past week I saw on the news. I hope it does not all just turn into a paper chase and that someone actually does something like help hospitals stockpile gloves/masks etc. I wonder if UARK has a pandemic plan. I am a dreamer…
GetNReady, I went to that summit! It was about getting people to think about how to get services to the public in a pandemic. Most of these people are from EMS, Police, schools and colleges, retirement homes, DHHS and hospitals. What they did do was to introduce the concept of a pandemic to people that had never heard of it. Stuff that you and I would have read here (on fluwikie) in our first hour. Its purpose is a paper chase. There is no money right now for anything. This is just to get people thinking about options. This is a first baby step. Hopefully we will have time to take larger steps but large, slow and lumbering are the very defintion of goverment entities.
One presenter suggested that they prepare for 2 months with 50% of their work force out. All of the others just told of how a virus works and the economic impact for our state. I did not learn anything new but I did walk away with the idea that a lot of people were enlightened! I even wrote down fluwiki’s address for some people. While they are not yet preparing as I have, they are starting (at least on paper) to sort some things out and prioritize services. They will tell co-workers about prepping for their work situations and then they will figure out about prepping for themselves and even more people will be ready for the next pandemic. Maybe we will have time.
PBQ-Thank you so much for the update. I know that it has to start as a paper-chase…I just hope that it promotes action in the long run. I sure hope we have time. I am so glad that you felt folks were being enlightened. Have you heard anything about local school districts starting to look at this?
I’m in SW Arkansas. Only know a few people prepping.
Welcome Arklatex and New birdie~thank you for the link! Have you had any luck with friends family ?..getting them to consider prepping?
OH, GetNReady, it depends upon what you mean by luck. As far as getting family to stay a month ahead on necessary meds and have some extra supplies, yes. As far as prepping the way wiki folks prep, no. We have talked a bit about hospitals being overwhelmed, etc., but I wouldn’t say I ‘ve made great strides. Just small steps. Then again, that’s something.
I’m so glad we are getting more people here! Everyone that preps is one less potential foe and one more family that might survive! Hello new birdie prepper and arklatex. Thanks new birdie for the site I emailed it to my mom.
new birdie~ every small step counts! I agree PBQ, very nice to see our Arkansan wiki community grow!
Just looked at a file that said a family of 4 needs to prepare a little over 2000 meals for 6 month SIP. I am overwhelmed now. I thought I had 6 months but now, I don’t know. Maybe meat (tuna,etc.) only once a day and even then I don’t have 180 cans of meat. The first 2 weeks we will be working on ref and freezer but still…that’s only 40 meals or so. Oh, it just occured to me that they were saying 2000 meals but they counted 4 people as seperate meals. OK, I get it now. Not so overwhelmed. Still though…I think a trip to Sams is in my future for canned meat. The more I get the more I want. Will I ever be finished prepping?
PBQ — it is totally overwhelming, isn’t it? It’s hard to prep for the long term. I just bought two cases (only 24 jars) of chili at wallyworld because it was reduced to 50 cents a jar, but even that won’t last very long. I don’t think we will ever finish, because we will keep replenishing and using our stashes, but you’ve done a great job so far just because you have something!!
We have “new” large size cans of aged cheddar cheese sauce at our local grocery store… I was really worried about lack of cheese, now I have some stashed. I’m putting in a garden!
PDQ I have set up menus- each menu set to eat weekly or biweekly. So every menu is set up for 12 or 24 meals.(This is for 4 adults, 2toddlers and a baby.) Planning on 6 months for lunch and dinner 372 meals. I have menus in notebook with everything for each meal listed, as I finished prepping for that meal I mark 100%. I have finished prepping for the first 300 meals with only a few odds and ends for the rest. I finised breakfast menus several weeks ago. Garden is coming up.
.CAnned about 60 jars of meat and broth this past weekend. My biggest hole was meat. Still have alot of meat in freezer to can.
About hospitals prepping, our hospitals in SW Arkansas are doing nothing, nothing to prepare. We have people waiting for rooms most days, if the BF was to hit where does everyone think those people would go. Who would take care of the patients. Between hospital personnel not coming to work, being sick themselves or their family sick, I think the number to take care of the sick will be greatly reduced. I think if our family becomes ill we will try to take care of them being home.
Anyone else from SW Arkansas.
Arklatex — Either here or on the food storage thread (and probably better there), could you post for us a sample meal or menu, please? It sounds like you have a great system.
Vegetable soup with cornbread
vegetable soup 1 qt canned hamburger 1 qt canned tomatoes diced 1 qt canned potatoes 1 can green beans 1 can purple hull peas 1 can corn 1 can carrots onion to taste
mix together, simmer for 30 min
Cornbread 2 c cornmeal mix powder buttermilk water
Beef tips and rice 1 qt canned beef chucks
Beef tips and rice green beans biscuits
1 qt beef chucks 1 can cream of mushroom soup 3 cups cooked rice mix together
2 canns green beans
Will answer any questions that I can
2 c flour baking powder salt soda crisco powder buttermilk
Thanks, Arklatex! I like the ideas. I have never canned any form of meat, so I will have to purchase meat in cans, I think. I’m a bit afraid of that. The beef tips look tasty! I appreciate your help.
New Birdie
When you can your own meat it is much cheaper. A quart of canned meat equals two pounds, making home canned much cheaper than store bought. I purchase roast when on sell of less than $2/pound and cut into chunks.
This weekend I canned chicken, puchased two 10# bags of legs and thighs. for $6.00. This made 11 quarts of broth, and 8 pints chicken, and I have enough broth and chicken letf to make a big pot of chicken and dumpling. This works out to about $.75/pt for the chicken and 11 qts broth for free.
There are several sites on the internet that are good for finding recipes for food storage.I have learned alot from them.
Arklatex — thanks for the information. I will look around for some meat canning information and also look for some info in my Ball canning book. I’ve only done peaches and tomatoes…..
New Birdie
Wanted to let you know, purchased 6oz back of dehydrated hash browns this morning at Super One for $.88, serves 5,(Hy-Top, store brand) we had breakfast for supper tonight and they were really good. Husband said I should stock up.
Had never tried them before.
Arklatex — Thank you for the tip! I was thinking of you anyway since some really bad weather rolled through Texarkana today. I will look for these — I wonder which stores carry Hy-Top since I’m not familiar with Super One up here. Still, I appreciate it so much!
I bought some Bush chili in Jars at wallyworld for 50 cents a jar. We are going to try it tomorrow or Saturday — but I thought I could donate it someplace if it’s not good.
I work nights so I slept through the storms. DD said their power has been of since 1pm, they live about 15 minutes south of us.
I think that Super one is a sister store to Brookshires.
We tried the Bush chili last year, DH likes it, I thought it was so so. Good price.
Arkie – at 10:05 30 April 2006
Sorry to take so long to get back to this, been busy working.
I live a ways south of Harrison in the mountains. Hence, mountainlady. :-D
As someone that has lived off very little, here are a few suggestions.
If you can stand vegetarian fare, TVP (textured vegetable protein, from soybeans) in plain, chicken or beef flavoring is very cheap, tasty if you season it right (it absorbs flavors well), and full of protein. It comes dried in chunks and granules, so it can be stored easily and just thrown into anything you want to add protein to. You may have to add more water to your recipe, since it soaks up water like crazy.
There is also nutritional yeast (do NOT confuse with Brewer’s Yeast, which tastes awful), cheezy tasting flakes that will add B vitamens to your meal. It goes well with anything that cheese would go well with, or things like soups, rice and lentils, potato chips (excellent combo), popcorn, etc.
Both of the above are usually found in health or natural food stores.
Tofu can be bought in the fresh produce section in grocery stores in containers that can be stored on the shelf in a cool place. There is only one kind like that, in opaque white soft sided containers. It comes as extra firm, firm, and soft. Soft can be blended to make fake cream filling and other things like that. I personally just like to slice the firm and put a little soy sauce on it, but some might like the slices friend up with some stir fry veggies for a complete meal when combined with rice.
And that ends my suggestions for now.
I am vegetarian, and I cook my spaghetti with TVP and spinach, it’s delicious! So the first thing I stocked up on was spaghetti sauce canned base (I add a lot to it), TVP, and whole grain spaghetti. Don’t forget to get the whole grains and brown rice as much as possible, much better nutritionally. We don’t have the long-storage type of tofu here, but if I get to a “big town” maybe I can get some. I have some Brewer’s Yeast but my first cooking attempt with it was disastrous (a flat bread that sounded wonderful on paper) but I could start using it in soups. I’ve also had a lot of luck with Vegemite, which evidently doesn’t even need to be refrigerated, but tastes marvelous! South of Harrison is fairly close to my neck of the woods. Did you know Blanchard Springs Caverns has space for 1000 people to shelter if ever needed? Supposedly they also have a list of names that they would corral… presumably needed community members…
Gosh Blanchard Springs Caverns- haven’t been there since 64. Arkie, you must be very healthy. Eating 2 of the best things tomato sauce and spinach. That one of my fav’s too. Don’t the Aussies call peanut butter -vegemit? Is that what you are talking about?
Just popping in to say “Hi.” Reading about the menu plans etc. I have started with trying to keep a spreadsheet of purchases and estimating the # of meals I can get from them. I am trying to finish off 3 mo of Breakfasts then I will finish lunches etc. ( I already have many lunches, dinners, etc.) It helps me keep going if I feel like I am completing something. I did the happy dance when I finished my TP purchases. :o)
Getnready- I also use the spread sheet with menus to keep up with what I need to purchase. It has been the best way I have found to fill the wholes in my pantry. If you are planning menus for a group of people it takes alot more supplies than I first thought.
My next hole to fill is fruit. Six months of fruit is alot of fruit. Puchased a dehydrator and plan on experimenting with drying banana chips. If thats a success will try other fruits. I have peach, plum,apple and pear trees, hope to can some of each this year.
What are your breakfast menus. We are planning on muffins, french toast, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal cereal, toast, hashbrowns, fruit, if we have any warning I plan to stock as many fresh eggs as I can. We have powdered eggs and I am freezing some. I have canned sausage, ham, planning on canning bacon in the next few weeks.
PBQ- Vegemite is indeed Australian (the English have a version called Marmite) but it is not peanut butter… it’s a yeast butter-type spread. It’s useful for all kinds of things, but my favorite is to use it in soups and beans.
oops, Sarah = Arkie :)
arklatex- My cousin dried fresh strawberries from her garden and they were delish! (a strawberry chip so to speak.) My breakfast menu is mainly oatmeal, my daughter LOVES it and eats it every day now. It is easy to make, cheap in large quantities and with a lil cin/sugar/raisens something I love as well. We also have grits, cream of wheat and pancake mix. Dried fruit to throw in most of the above. Where did you get your powdered eggs..I still need to get some of those.
Hi to all! I live in Illinois and have been reading along, mentally “prepping”. Finally decided to check out camping stores to see if the supplies were diminished here. Sure seems like a lot of inventory is still available throughout Northern Illinois. Your recipes are helping my EXTREME mental block about shopping for 6plus months. I have 5 kids 14–24 and seniors to think about. My husband thinks I’m crazy. He has stopped screaming after 3 weeks of my reminding him to foot the bill for these prep.s I wonder if anyone knows about a cannery here. Also is organizing prep. support groups a BAD idea?
I have dried many fruits. All worked well, even kwiwi. The problem I had was drying fresh ginger root for tummy upsets. It molded in the bag.;-( I’ve dried bananas, apples, strawberries, pears (my fav)and lots of veggies for soups too.
I need powdered eggs too.
I bought my powdered eggs in bulk, from bulkfoods.com. They have wonderful products! I have also tried their dried carrots, all sorts of fruits, and the peanut chips. Happy shopping!
I think prep support groups would be a great idea! Perhaps folks could even get together and learn to can, etc.
You could also make purchases in bulk lots and divide them up. Might get cheaper shipping charges that way.
Purchased my powdered eggs from honeyville grain, along with dried carrots, celery, and imitation milk.
PDQ when you dry your fruits, what do you dip them in???
arklatex, Nothing. I don’t dip anything in anything. I even dried bananas plain- they are quite chewy but taste great. The color was fine too, did not turn brown or black. I have heard that honey makes a good dip for fruit but never tried it. Sounds messy doesn’t it? I figure I’ll add it when I need to, later.
Do you have a food processer or mandoline? That makes for the most uniform slices. Very easy to do but it takes time to dry. More than you would think. The only way to tell if your items are dry is to feel.
One thing that has held up too, are zuchinnies (sp). I have dried them uncooked and sauted (no butter). Both fine. I have bought frozen bags of broccoli florets and dried them- they are doing fine but don’t try to put them in a vacum sealer. I have never gotten one to hold a seal with broccoli. I have never tried potatoes.
I have also made my own soup mix- dry onions, carrots, celery (I cut celery lenghtwise not across because when it dries it gets so small it falls to the bottom)- whatever you want to have and combine them into one bag. Just open it cook with water and bullion or broth and add spices and canned chicken. Maybe throw in a few noodles or rice. Handy to have. I had never dried anything until I started prepping for this. Now I am just waiting for fruits and veggies to come into season. Some things though like the frozen broccoli is just so much easier and cheaper to buy already cut up and ready to dry- no cutting!
If you can buy a couple of extra rings to go in your dehydrator so you will be able to dry larger quantities. If you like doing this then buy 2 dehydrators because you will want to do this all the time! I don’t like to wet pack can but I love drying things out.
I got a catalog from beprepared.com and they offer group purchase specials. I haven’t ordered from them so I don’t know anything about them, but I thought I’d mention it here, esp. since some of y’all live close together.
I need to make a spreadsheet and get organized. If I can make it through busy work stuff this week then I can hopefully get onto that.
PBQ — I got a small container of powdered eggs from Kroger and haven’t tried them yet, but I wanted to try them before I got a giganto can. I’ve seen the cans at survival acres and nitro pak websites, as I recall (at least at one of their sites if not both). :)
I will look at bulkfoods.com, Sarah. Do they ship quickly? Lots of places are way behind, esp. with Mountain House and Alpine Aire foods.
Bulkfoods has always shipped very fast, thus far they haven’t been out of anything, in the limited items I order.
Oh, new birdie prepper I wish we had a kroger here. Nothing but WalMart and Harps for grocery stores. Let me know how you like the eggs.
Hey there GetNReady, I read on another thread that your husband is retired military? So is mine. Air Force. He retired in 84 I believe. We were stationed Little Rock, Okinawa, Scott, Tucson and Portland OR. He drove c-130′s.
Arklatex, I wish I was as organized as you. I need to learn how to do a spreadsheet. I’ll ask hubby next week.
PBQ- puchased a dehydrater about 6 weeks ago and have not used it. Bought it at gander mountain. I need to get it out and at least get one batch going. I read in the instructions about the honey dip, thought I would try it on the bananas, could not understand the instructions. It read like you would dip in the honey water, then rinse Does this sound right, or just dip in honey water, pat drip and dehydrate.
Trying to sell our house, had an open house today. Have been busy trying to get everything ready.
My son is in the Air Force, just got back from Kuwait in March, his second tour, they told him two weeks ago that he will be going back in September. This will be the third Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Birthday that he missed being home.
PBQ- puchased a dehydrater about 6 weeks ago and have not used it. Bought it at gander mountain. I need to get it out and at least get one batch going. I read in the instructions about the honey dip, thought I would try it on the bananas, could not understand the instructions. It read like you would dip in the honey water, then rinse Does this sound right, or just dip in honey water, pat drip and dehydrate.
Trying to sell our house, had an open house today. Have been busy trying to get everything ready.
You can download an excel spreadsheet that already has many prep items listed per catagory. You put in how many people your preping for and they give suggested amounts. You can also add any items to the spreadsheet. I would never been able to set one up from scratch.
My son is in the Air Force, just got back from Kuwait in March, his second tour, they told him two weeks ago that he will be going back in September. This will be the third Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Birthday that he missed being home.
the above was posted by Arklatex
Sorry to hear about your (who are you? you are listed above as anonymous) son having to go back. You must miss him very much. Worry too. Kuwait is so much nicer than some other areas over there. These young men and women sure are getting a terrible life lesson. Wish they didn’t have to go. I remember when my husband went to Viet Nam. Hard- very hard.
I don’t know how to use the honey dip but Why would you dip and then rinse? Doesn’t make sense does it? I would add honey when you need it-at the time you will eat it. If you try dipping- let me know how it turns out.
Sorry to hear about your son having to leave again so soon, Arklatex
Ark-where did you download the spreadsheet? I have made my own. Very rudimentary, but I am keepting track of everything. PBQ-Hubby was airforce/then air guard And like I mentioned on the prep thread..Wally world has those “complete meals” in the hamburger helper area. We like the chicken/gravy/potatoes/biscuit topping.
GetNReady-I cannot find where I downloaded my spread sheet, it is 15 pages. I thought that it came from a Yahoo group of LDS food storage. It might be possible for me to email it to you.
I will look for the complete meals, I think that DD has some of them. Told her this weekend that we have to get together and inventory what we have. My spreadsheat has not been updated completly in ages and the items in my freezers are not on them. She has never inventoried her supplies, just buying what they like.
Arkie – at 08:00
What I suggested is Nutritional Yeast, not Brewers Yeast (which tastes awful)
Mine says,”Imported Yeast… grown on molasses… wonderful nutty flavor!” So it doesn’t say whether it’s Brewer’s or Nutritional. I must have just figured it was Brewer’s.
GetNready, Our youngest son likes those complete meals you spoke of. They are easy for him to prepare for himself. I think they are handy too but the ones I’ve bought don’t seem to have much of a shelf life. I am not a very good rotator of stocked items. I need to be more organized. I bought a great 2 gallon water container at a garage sale this morning. I love garage sales. Thrill of the hunt.
How do you have your preps stored? Do you have a seperate room? With shelves? I just have mine in the stuffed in the kitchen cubboards and in the bottom of a closet. The only things I stock in the garage are paper goods because it is so hot in the summer. The kitchen cubboards are stacked full and I have to take out everything from that cubboard to look in the back. Not at all smooth. We only have 3 rooms (they are quite large rooms but no nooks and crannies- living, dining, kitchen area, master bedroom and guest room) and the garage. So finding a better solution for the long run is important. If this hits this year or early next I’ll be fine because I’ll start using preps. But to have to empty out all my cubboards to donate itmes (that will expire soon) is going to be terrible.
I use my kitchen shelves/small pantry and my closets. No room in garage. I am being very creative with space. And finding where I wasted much before. I know the complete meals do not have as long as other things. But it is something we could work into our week so it would be no problem to have them for us. I have not started working stuff in yet, as I do not have my 3 mos yet. Hope to finish breakfasts this month. Water is my true weakness as I have not stored any and only have one 5 gal container. We do not drink soda, so do not have the liter bottles to use. May have to start buying some for that usage. I have to admit that on all my low cupboards I have installed those slide in out baskets. You lose space..but easier on the ole knees. :o)
We are a convenience food family so I am really trying to prep that way. Water thats the kicker. I do have a small veggie garden so that is nice.
This Indon. cluster has me antsy.
GetNReady, We have those pullouts in the cabinets too and love them. My kitchen is 20 by 14 feet so lots will fit in but I still need to figure out something. Maybe I should just bite the billet and take everything out of the guest room closet and fit shelves into it. Where would I put extra blankets and such? Oh well- tamarra is anotha’ day.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the Indo Cluster. I know we will see several of these and larger ones too, before we should really worry. If you have your basic preps ready than you are doing well. As far as water goes could you ask any neighbors to save theirs for you. You could tell them you are doing a new craft project or are starting seedlings in them. I’m sure they will save for you. That might be a start. Good Luck.
Our next large purchase will be propane tanks. I’m thinking of several 20#. The 100# ones each weigh 175 pounds and I don’t feel comfortable handling those, nor does DH. I don’t know how many yet. Need to figure that out before we buy in June or July.
PBQ-We put shelves in our guest room closet. Great for all our “stuff” photo albums, extra blankets etc. I have not filled them yet…but I am sure I will. Only propane here are those 1 lb bottles. :o) For my lil one burner propane cooker and my lil propane heater for camping. I will have to do that on the soda bottles. Of course DH would love the excuse to buy soda.
Arkie – at 18:36
Yes! The yeast grown on molasses is the right kind, nutritional yeast. Tastes great.
Hey, all. My wallyworld has large(6 gal and 8 gal) water storage tanks in the camping section now, so if you need to get some, GetNReady, you might feel better about things. I am antsy about Indonesia too. Y’all take care of yourselves.
As for space, I’m not putting anything into our hot garage unless it’s paper, too, and in tubs for protection from varmints — our cats are too lazy, I fear, to keep all of the critters away, or else they might shred the paper towels themselves. I haven’t got any out there yet but that’s a next step.
NBP-Will drift to Wally world later today and see what I can find. I have no room in my garage for ANY thing PREP wise. I thought I might get DH to put some boards down to floor some attic for me to put paper products…otherwise..we just stuff them where we can. :o)Happy Mother’s Day to the Mom’s!
GNR — Happy Mom’s day to you too! What better present than some jugs of water, eh? I got mountain house food pouches for my bug out bags for my birthday……so there’s a good present for a prepper. :) Anyway, see what you can find. There are blue square ones and then teal/green-blue rectangle ones. The blue ones hold a bit more but are cube shaped. The other ones are skinnier. This morning I watched (sheer luck) the BYU tv show Living Essentials, and they said that current water storage says no need to pretreat if you have muni. water going in the jugs. They did say to rinse them with a diluted bleach solution first, and to rotate every 6 months.
I think that the attic is a good idea — I don’t keep anything in ours, currently, as it is just too hot and hard to climb that ladder.
Good luck.
Happy Mother’s Day to you all.
PBQ — Happy day to you, too. Been meaning to tell you that I still need to try those eggs — I haven’t forgotten them. Oh, and I did have to drive to another town for Kroger, but imho it’s worth it every now and then to hit Kroger. They do have nice stuff and the K brand canned veggies are often very cheap — I bought a few flats when they were 50 cents a can.
GetNReady-I finally found the website for the spread sheet that I use. http://standeyo.com/News_Files/Hollys.html, go to food storage link on the left, then food storage software, the US version. If you have excel on your computer you can update the spreadsheet on the computer.
Hope this helps.
PBQ -
I left a message for you about CPAP on the ‘other’ website.
-bob
arklatex-thank you, I will go there and check it out. Appreciate the help. Went to Aldi’s today and grabbed some canned fruit. I can never have enough mandrin oranges.
Hope the spreadsheet is what your looking for.
Peaches on my early peach tree are getting ripe. Will start canning peaches in the morning. Nectarines on one tree should be ready within a week.
Your right you can never have to much fruit.
bob, What other web site? What thread? Are you talking about avianflutalk dot com?
Logan County here…. Drop in this site from time to time. I dont know of ANYONE other than me that is prepping. My mom is sort of coming around. Nice to see so many other people from this area!! About Sprouting seeds.. http://www.sproutpeople.com/ this where I get mine. Site is very informative and they have a ton of organic seeds. I LOVE my sprouts, I eat tons every day….
Welcome onmyown32, What part of the state do you live in? Glad to have you on board.
onmyown32, I went to sproutpeople dot com and it looks like a great site. I think I will order mine from there next time. I got some from valuenutrition dot com and they were not as prompt or knowledgeable as I would have liked.
I’m in Logan County in a pretty small town, moved here about 10yrs ago from Ny…..Love it here!! Also for sprout seeds try http://www.wheatgrasskits.com/ I got some alfalfa seeds that sprouted very nicely..they dont have as much as sproutpeople but prices are good and shipping is low.
I try not to read too much online about birdflu anymore…just a quick check a couple times a week now. Get to anxious if I do. I guess other than my mom, noone knows I prep. Once my dad came over to help with something and looked in the computer room and was like MY GOSH you have enough water…I keep the extra water on extra shelves in here. I work at home, sell on ebay…I turned one room into my ebay/computer room and 3 wall are shelves all the way up. (like grocery store shelves) Over the years as I changed inventory I’ve need less space. So now use that as one of my prep areas…(spread it out around the house..) I figuere being prepared is important. I am a single mom with 2 kids (5 and 7yrs old) Right now, I have the extra funds I prep like crazy, over the years it has come in handy. Business can slow down, ex might be behind in support…At least I know my kids wont go hungry…
Welcome onmyown32! Arklatex-I have two peach trees. This is their third year, so I was going to try and let them grow peaches. We sprayed..but they still ooze with lil’ holes….Any suggestions as I love peaches and was so crushed…..
i don’t spray mine. I probaly should, and I say that I’m going to spray them every year, but never get around to it.
I put up 5 quarts of peaches this morning, have enough picked for about 5 more quarts tomorrow.
Oh I’m so jealous of your peach trees. How Wonderful for you both. GetNReady I hope you find someone to figure those little holes. Call your local extension office, they are usually very helpful. You’ll be all set for next year.
Onmyown-where is Logan county? NE? SW? I sure don’t know where things are like I should. Keep checking in from time to time.
PBQ-I will call them. We did not spray last year and had the same issue. Some varmint. And I LOVE peaches.
Found a dehydrator at a garage sale this morning. Now I have 2. Will be using lots this fall. I don’t like to use in the summer because it just doesn’t make sense to me to run the air and to run an oven (or dehydrator since they get so hot) at the same time but then I remembered we have an electrical outlet on our back porch so… I can set one up outside when the weather is warm for those summer season specials! GetNReady, I bet peaches dry very well if you slice them thin.
PBQ-I have never used one. May have to try that. Maybe next year..I will have healthy peaches…
For all of you in or close to NWAR. I bought some #10 cans of stuff from Mountainwinds on the AR thread at avianflutalk dot com and they mostly look good. He has lots of cases of wheat left if any of you are interested. We met at a truck stop near 540 in Mountainburg last Sat. morning. I haven’t gone thru everything but I’ve only had to throw away 1 can that was bulging. The rest look fine. We opened one can of apple slices and after letting them “air out” they look fine. He is selling a case of 6 #10 cans for about 10$. A great deal I think.
GetNReady, You must be dissapointed about your peaches. Next year will be better. Now you have the hang of it.
Arkie, I found some TVP and I will make that with spaghetti sauce for one of our meals when we need to. Thanks for the tip.
PBQ, the way I use the TVP is I first add a little soy sauce to the dry TVP, and after that has soaked in (don’t saturate it) I add some spaghetti sauce. That starts softening it up, and then you can cook it into the final sauce. It’s delicious, and has a meaty texture, people swear I put meat in the sauce!
Thanks I will try it. Since you mentioned soy sauce, could I add the TVP to rice? Well, do you think it would taste good? I don’t have any beef at all for the SIP. Hubby loves the stuff and if I can “fool” him then great. Have you used it in other ways? Thanks.
I am also going to increase my drying fruits and veggies time here in the next couple of months. Was going to wait for fall but…
I am, within a couple of weeks, getting the final bit of my food prepping done- if we go to Level 4. Which I think we will. Even the WHO can’t keep this down for long. Another thing Hubby is doing is to get plywood at Lowes. They will cut it for you the size of your windows! Just pick it up! Take care all.
My house has board shutters, but I would have a time trying to unscrew them from the wall… they are semi-permanently “opened.” Could be done, though. I have not tried the TVP in any other recipes, but it might be nice in a rice dish like a stir-fry, with some mixed-in veggies. I’m having trouble storing enough water- no 55-gallon drum, so just all these gallon containers all over the place! And of course I will fill up the bathtub at the last minute.
Don’t forget about your hot water heater, Arkie! Stone County is not that far away. If you can make a shopping run over here Websters is selling 55 gal. barrels for 8$. They kept fruit and such in them so they are food grade and at only 8$ what a steal. Do you have a water purifier? I know their are lots of streams there. Bleach will kill all the bad critters. Are you with family? Send the guys out to the streams to collect water in 5 gallon containers. Maybe when you fill up your bathtub you could fill up any containers (pitchers, jugs, bottles, etc.) you have. When I was a little girl we used to drive to Marshall Batseville,etc and Dad knew where all the springs were located along the road. We would stop and get a a drink from the springs. At a lot of them was a metal cup that everyone used. This was before fast food and “germs”.
Can’t wait to try the TVP in sauce.
Hi ya’ll, we are staying at the lake for two weeks so I don’t see a computer very often. Have put up a total of 20 quarts of peaches. Ran out of time so I have put 8–9 gallon bags of whole peaches in my freezer, just washed and dryed and froze. Have never tried this before, planning on taking enought out this weekend for a pie, so can let you know if it works. I still have two late peach trees to go, our plum trees are looking good. Only a few apples on the tree.
Finally started using my dehydrator, have put up over 40 pounds banana chip, everyone loves them. They are eating them almost as fast as we can dyhydrate them. Cann’t wait to try other fruits and veggies.
We bought a three burner stove at Lowe’s that a grill sits over 2 burners, ordered a griddle that also sits over two burners. Have been using it to cook everything at the lake and it works great. Planning on using it for an alternate cooking souce if needed.
Arklatex, I’ve made banana chips and I like them but hubby thinks they are tooo chewey. Are yours? Well he may just have to eat them anyway. Right now I am drying asparagus, peas, carrots and onion. I will keep the asparagus in a seperate bag but will put the peas, carrots and onions together for soups. Yummy on a cold winter day.
Thought you guys would like to know…
The Times Record- “LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas health workers may be able to contain a possible influenza outbreak and Arkansas families can do their part by preparing in advance for a pandemic, state health officials said Tuesday.
A flu pandemic could kill more than 3,500 Arkansans and affect 500,000 more, according to national Centers for Disease Control statistics. Those numbers could be substantially lower if Arkansas works quickly to prevent the virus from spreading, officials of the state Department of Health and Human Services told members of the House and Senate Interim Committees on Public Health, Welfare and Labor.
DHHS officials said Arkansans can prepare for a flu epidemic and other disasters by stockpiling food and water.
A federal DHHS recommendation is for a two-month stockpile, but Dr. Nate Smith of the state agency said after Tuesday’s meeting that a two-month stockpile may not be practical. A pandemic could last between six and eight weeks, he said…”
…”the Legislature, in a special session last month, authorized $6 million for Arkansas’ participation in a federal antiviral stockpile program. The money will be used to purchase flu-fighting drugs that could be used to treat about 25 percent of the state’s population.
State Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, said DHHS should also plan for temporary shelters if hospitals are overrun with patients and for ventilators to use on flu victims in the event of an emergency…”
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2006/05/31/news/news10.txt
MaMa-caught this on the news…however, the tv news did not provide any places to refer folks for for information. A big let down. ….I think I will email them with more info actually…
I’m glad that we’re talking about prepping for more than 72 hours in Arkansas. Hope people are listing and not just planning on making a big Sam’s run when TSHTF.
Y’all notice that the USA discussion forum is missing from Avain Flue Talk this morning?
-bob
Thanks for the post, I emailed the link to my family.
bob, The state forums are now on pandemichelp dot org . You will find all your old friends there. See you soon!
PBQ-sorry it took so long to answer, just got in from lake. Banana chips are a little chewey, everyone in the family likes them. Our problem is they eat them as soon as they come out of the dehydrator. I dehydrated 1 gallon and a pint last week.
My project this next week is to start dehydrating veggies. Have you used frozen veggies to dehydrate. I have looked at broccoli at Sams. Plums are ripe on my trees so will need to make plum jelly this week.
Hope you had a good time at the lake Arklatex. What lake did you go to? Was it here in AR? Did you think about prepping at all or were you totaly relaxed? I hope the later.
Yes I have dryed frozen broccoli. It is great. Quick and I think inexpensive. No chopping. I just get the bags of florets. Will work for soups and with rice. I had some dryed for months now and no problems with it. I have however, not been able to successfully put it in my food saver vacum bags. It must poke holes in the plastic and release the seal. It’s just never worked for me. So I just put it in regular zip baggies. I’ve also dryed frozen corn, zuchinni (though I’ve just done a couple of loads of fresh). I bet your plums will dry well too if you wanted to make a batch.
All those bananas I made- no one will touch them- except for me. I haven’t eaten a banana for years because I don’t like the texture. But these chips are wonderful! I’ve been eating them like there is no tommorrow. I ordered 2 cans from honeyvillegrain dot com so I kept on eating them and now I’m down to less than a pint! I sure hope the ones from honeyville are good now that I’m hooked on ‘em.
One thing I am working on right now is drying ginger root. It is so good for upset tummies. I make a “tea” with a couple of slices of ginger and a bit of brown sugar, you can’t tell the difference between real tea and this! It is so fabulous! The kids love their special tea when they get tummy aches and it “cures” them right away! Anyway I tried drying it and the ginger just molded in the bag- not pretty. Right now I have a batch drying that has been sugar coated. Easy to do but right now more of the sugar is at the bottom of the dehydrator then on the ginger. I will let you know how it looks after it been in a baggie for a couple of weeks. I hate to resort to the ready made candied ginger as it is so expensive for the amount you get.
PBQ-have you tried putting your broccoli in regular freezer bags and leaving the top open then putting them in your vacum sealer bags. That’s what I do when I vacuum seal meat that has bones in it, the inner bag protects the outer bag.
As a matter of fact Arklatex, I did try that on the asparagus but have not on the broccoli- will try next time! Tell me all about the meat (any meat) you have dryed that has bones! Have you used it? I’m waiting on pins and needles! Can’t wait.
I have not dried any, just making suggestion on how to keep holes out of vaccum bags.
Sugared ginger lost its seal too. I will try the bag within a bag and see if that works. Thanks.
Took broccoli out of the drhydrator this morning. It sure did shrink. Bananas are going into the dehydrator before a go to work.
Tried to use my canner yesterday, could not keep a good seal. Could not find anything wrong with the gasket. Started and stopped it about five times.
Going to purchase new canner tomorrow and order another gasket. I also have my Mother’s old National canner, thought since ordering I would replace the gasket and pressure gauge on that one too.
My DH is suppose to be picking plums today for jelly, if not I will pick in the morning and a jelly making a will go.
Plum jelly sounds sooo good!
Hi I’m a fellow Arkie living in south Logan county. The link to this site was posted on a soap making board I’m a member of and I’ve spent the last few days reading. I’m a complete newbie with some of the terminology but I’m learning and until now didn’t realize there was a name for what I’ve been doing. I don’t know anyone else who is prepping and I’m strongly encouraging family members to keep extra food, etc. The sad thing is that so many in this area are barely getting by as it is and have nothing extra to prep with. I could never turn someone away who is starving.
I’m a natural gatherer and have been stockpiling for years because we were self employed and our business was seasonal. Even though DH and I both have jobs now, I can’t break old habits and have always found a certain security in having full cupboards. You would never know by watching me shop because I’ve been slowly buying extra for a while now but I have a ways to go. I mostly only buy items that we use on a regular basis anyway but most of the things we like and use are perfect for buying in bulk.
Thankfully we live in the country with a nice size creek running through our property with a swimming hole that is spring fed. My parents are next door and have a couple of stocked ponds so we do have a nice supply of fish. One of my grown sons is a skilled hunter and we always eat what he harvests so that would be another source of food. I have a huge pecan tree in my yard that always produces a nice crop and a yard full of squirrels that I would only eat if we were starving. My parents always grow a garden. My DH is very resourceful and can fix or build about anything and I make candles and soap. I can see that I could learn a bunch from the rest of you though and need to work on my gardening and preserving skills.
Welcome Aunt Bee-not many of us posting from Arkansas. I live in Miller County. My Mom and Step Dad are not prepping, she thinks I’m a little touched worrying about the BF. My DD and her family live close and she is prepping as much as they are able with me taking up the slack.
My DH is also a skilled hunter, we always put up several deer each fall. We are also gardening again this year.
My greatest worry is my three grandchildren, they are all three and younger. Hope we are all worrying for nothing, and get to pig out on our preps.
Hope to visit with you again.
Glad you are here Aunt Bee, It sounds like you have a terrific place, a great set up and a supporative family close by. Everything you need but a few canned goods. Good for you. I’m glad you started reading us.
Isn’t Logan county near I-40 between Fort Smith and Little Rock? Sorry for not knowing AR cities and counties like I should.
Arklatex where is Miller county? Near Hope? It is wonderful that you have your grandchildren so close.
Sorry for the anon post -that was me PBQ.
Thanks for the welcome PBQ and Arklatex.
I hope we are worrying for nothing too but I’ve had this urge to be prepared in any event ever since 911 and Katrina just reinforced the fact that we are pretty vulnerable. We don’t have any little ones to worry about now but I can understand the concern for sure.
Logan county is just south of I-40 and I am about thirty miles from it as the crow flies but these hills and curves make it a longer trip than you would expect. I tend to think more in terms of minutes instead of miles and we are about an hour from Fort Smith…kind of southeast. Little Rock is about 2 1/2 hours away.
I notice that some of you are military folks. I’m an Army brat myself and fondly remember the Army issued cases of c-rations kept in my parent’s bedroom closet when we were overseas along with the plan for evacuation. Chocolate bars in a can were so tempting and there were even cigarettes. MRE’s were nowhere to be found in the early 60′s.
PBQ-Miller County is in the SW corner of Ar.
Arklatex, I was thinking that’s where you would be from. Your name is a clue.:-)
Aunt Bee and Arklatex, Do you have any ideas why we have such a large population of women in their 40′s, 50′s and 60′s here and prepping in general? Is it some kind of “mother thing” or what? Do men not see problems or is it just that they don’t want to talk about it? Ideas?
It’s hard to say exactly why so many are in our age group. Maybe because we have more time without little ones to care for and maybe because we have more disposable income. We’ve spent years cooking, buying everything our families need and taking care of them so it’s just natural that we will be the very ones making sure we have all our bases covered in case of disaster. You make two points that pertain to me and my family…it is a “mother thing” and my husband doesn’t mind talking about it but only to a degree and he isn’t at the point of making plans yet but encourages mine. That’s ok because I’m working on his list ;).
It’s hard to say exactly why so many are in our age group. Maybe because we have more time without little ones to care for and maybe because we have more disposable income. We’ve spent years cooking, buying everything our families need and taking care of them so it’s just natural that we will be the very ones making sure we have all our bases covered in case of disaster. You make two points that pertain to me and my family…it is a “mother thing” and my husband doesn’t mind talking about it but only to a degree and he isn’t at the point of making plans yet but encourages mine. Things just don’t look serious enough to get him motivated yet is my guess but that’s ok because I’m working on his list ;).
Sorry about the double post…went back to add another thought and guess I accidentally posted twice.
I really don’t know. This is the first time that I have ever prepped for anything. My DH doesn’t think prepping is important, however, I told him that I was going to make sure that our three grandbabies did not go hungry if the SHTF. If I only store what we eat, the food and supplies will not go to waste. He makes fun of the “BF closet” but it has savedd us several trips to the store.
He does little things to help. Last week one of DH’s friends offered him propane tanks for free, he went and got two this weekend, they are the old style so I will take to Wallie World and exchange. He also helped with our alternate cooking plans.
Wish he would get more involved.
I was just curious about why women were the “starters” in this area. My hunky hubby is more than happy for me to prep but the idea to do so would never have crossed his mind. He is so busy with work??? Maybe that is why our guys are not totally into this -because they are busy thinking about other thengs like the paycheck? Men do not multitask well.
Aunt Bee, My mom lives in Russellville near you and while they (mom and her DH) are not prepping right now because of a house remodel they plan too as soon as the house is finished.
Thanks for helping with the question, and Arklatex- congrats on those free propane tanks!
PBQ I know plenty of women who aren’t making the slightest effort so it may say more about our personalities and priorities than anything else. Maybe we got a bigger dose of the gathering gene. I think I was born with a list in my hand and like the security of having all my ducks in a row. I know this makes me sound very organized which I am not…that’s why I always need a list. I would hate to have to rush out in case of a disaster and try to guess what I should be buying and in what quantities…that would be if the shelves weren’t already empty. My parents are right next door and I’m encouraging them and they agree but I guess they just haven’t reached the point yet that they feel it’s time.
arklatex that was a great find. DH and I were just saying that we need to buy a couple tanks. You can’t beat free.
Aunt Bee, I like your gathering gene theory. I do believe I have it too. While I have never prepped for anything like I have for this, I have always had a “little extra” on hand “just in case”. DH and I have lived many places and have been through every natural disaster except a tidal wave (how do you spell tsunami? :-)). Volcanos, typhoons, earthquakes- we’ve seen it all with our kids. Now however I feel as though I need more- much more. I don’t know if it because I am older and more settled so I have a place to store prep items or just getting paranoid in my dottage but…whatever it is it makes me feel more secure about life in general and what might happen.
How long a time are ya’ll (Bee and Arklatex) ready for now and how long do you hope to be prepared for?
Hi y’all newbies! Or should I say newcomers? :-D
When it comes to the gathering gene, my hubby has it in spades. He’s the one that got me started on stocking up, just on general principle. We are self-employed with an intermittant income, feast or famine, so we have to stock up to get by when there is no income. That is why my hubby was so into it. I didn’t grow up with it, so never did. I used to move a LOT and there was no room to stock up in the vehicles, so never did it to speak of.
When I moved to Arkansas I met a lot of people that had gardens, so they did it as a matter of tradition. I had started gardening before that, but not nearly as seriously.
When I moved in where I am now with my husband, suddenly there was a lot of room, in comparison to cars, to store goods. For years I sorta made fun in an affectionate way of his stocking up tendencies, but gradually saw the wisdom in it when we had some hard times. I was grateful we had the food backup. Now, I am into it in a big way with the threat of a pandemic, or whatever, and he is super fine with it.
We don’t garden ourselves now (it’s so much work!), but could if we needed to with our two good sized garden areas as a backup. I did it organically for years. I figure letting them lie fallow will lower the pest population, so don’t feel bad about it.
mountainlady, Aren’t you from Stone County? You must have had an intresting life. Yes, gardening is soooo much work. I’m with you- I’ll go to the farmers market and buy, though I have had gardens in the past. Nice that you are here in the AR forum mountainlady.
PBQ-we could last six months comfortable, if we had to could stretch a few weeks longer. I am seriously thinking about stocking up on extra beans and rice, so we could go a couple of months more on a limited budget. I figure if we have plenty of beans, rice and flour, we could really stretch our food supply if we thought it necessary.
Been canning butter tonight (10 pints), browning HB to can in the morning (about 20 pounds. Local store has chicken leg quarters $.25/lb with a 15 pound limit, hope to go back at least one more time to stock up.
Starting this weekend planning on canning breakfast meats. I have alot of bacon, sausage in freezer that i need to get out. My problem my quart jars are mostly small mouth and I would like to have the large mouth for sausage patties and bacon. I’m just going to chunk my ham so regular jars will be ok.
How long are you prepped for???? Are you planning complete meals with meat and veggies, or alot of rice, beans etc?????
Mountainlady thanks for the welcome. Being self employed for years is what got me buying extra in the first place. Our business was kind of seasonal too and I just felt better knowing we could go a few months on what was in the pantry and freezer although that was a different kind of prepping. We knew we could buy the few extras we needed and didn’t have to try and think so much in advance or plan meals. I tried to use everying up about once a year and start over again…that won’t be possible now.
I’m not nearly as well stocked as some of you and just got the urge to get really serious about this about a month ago. I’m up to about three months on most items and some as much as a year but there are many items I’m lacking. I just finished my master list yesterday of every single item I buy on a regular basis…hoping this will make grocery lists easier in the future. My next job is to estimate how much we will need for a three month period of each item and add to my supplies in three month increments. If I find a good sale and I can spare the funds, I’m buying a year’s supply on items that have a long shelf life. I work and have a small business too so I don’t have the time to do all the food presevation many of you are doing but would love to be able to, especially canning the meats. That would make my life so much easier on a daily basis. I’m planning more complete meals but will definitley invest in the rice and beans too, just in case. That’s pretty cheap peace of mind.
By the way, I’ve always meant to try the dried corn. Well I bought some yesterday and cooked it for supper. We liked it pretty well so I’m adding it to my list. I found real grated parmesan cheese, not the powdered stuff, in a glass jar at the supercenter a few days back but I haven’t tried it yet. One thing I use a lot of is the real Hormel bacon bits to season beans of all kinds. Dollar General has a good price on them and they add a lot of flavor to those dried beans. The jar is small enough that you could easily use them up in one meal if there was no refrigeration.
Holler Hound Dog, mountainlady, GettiNReady, Arklatex, Arkie and all Arkansas Folks. It seems this thread is getting a little long and slow to load. Anyone know how to start a new Arkansas thread? Glad so many of us are exchanging ideas and info!
no idea how to start a new thread
I started a new thread.
Oops…better post the link to the new thread:
http://www.fluwikie2.com/pmwiki.php?n=Forum.FindingOtherPreppersArkansasII
Here ya go, Aunt Bee:
The new “Finding Other Preppers Arkansas” can be found right here.