Are You Stocking Up On Food?

[jenifry]

I think it is best to be prepared for what you can, and pray about what you can't.

 

[jenifry]

Oh and I know how to brew beer and make soap, so we will be clean and snockered at my place.

Can I come over??

 

[71stbrew]

So I didn't mean to insult anyone My hubby and I work 40 a week each and can barely afford groceries and bills. I wasn't saying anything about not working for your living. I have personal fears about the lack of biodiversity in our food supply. I couldn't feed my fam for very long on my stock. So the point in this, I felt (and I could be wrong) could we be saving against the worst?

 

[arienwolf]

I don't feel the least bit "picked" on.

I know a lot of people are going through the same things. I am glad I have been able to grow and consider these hard times in depth. I have learned a lot this past yr. Most of which is, It IS great to eat home grown veggies. And make my own orange juice. I remember growing up as a kid with my grandparents living off of the land... but that type of feeling got lost in the yrs of work,money and the want of things not needed. I wish I could sell 75% of the things in my house so I can have more room and more $ for important things. Like a trustee wheelbarrow and some rain barrels. A few more fruit trees. etc.

I am not "prepping" for the end of the world. I'm prepping out of necessity. Or at least, being THAT much more on the "self sufficient" side.

By the way your garden is nice. I too do not have Acreage. I live in a very small lot. With a Pebble yard. lol. I have made my little garden in the back. And a small one in the old flowerbed area, they got taken out and now I plant herbs in the front. I have 5 chickens Had 6...

Please send some of those sweet potatoes my way!! On a better note, My potatoes were a dud this yr, Any tips??

I planted them in a mini ditch and reburied them when they grew and as they grew but Out of 9 red potato plants I got maybe 2lbs of potatoes?????!!!! What are you feeding your potatoes!?

I was going to cross them off but, I love potatoes. They go great with anything.

So percentage wise I think if catastrophe struck tomorrow, I have a 3month food and water storage so far, 15%-25% about. One Yr being great supply.
lol And I love rice, rice also goes good with anything.

Rice with beans, rice with chicken, rice with peppers, rice with tomatoes and basil, rise with soup, greatest thing about rice is you can boil it with a little bouillon and garlic and it will taste delicious. Cant forget stuffed peppers!

 

[redhen]

Yep..i can(recently learned) and dehydrate and freeze(have 3 freezers full of people and animal food) and coupon shop..

 

[redhen]

Oh and I know how to brew beer and make soap, so we will be clean and snockered at my place.

LMBO!

 

[Mattemma]

I have been stocking on everything on those rare occasions when I have cash for it.Prices will continue to rise.Sometimes walmart has meds,creams,and powders under $1 so I get a few things here and there.Soaps,toothpaste,toilet paper.Dh laughed when I got 12 packs of toilet paper,but hey they were $5 instead of $9.98 so I saved!

If feed wasn't so high I would be getting more chickens and rabbits for meat only. Meds are always good to have.Food items that can store a long time.Canned and dehydrated.Things you would want to eat.I have come across a lot of prepper sites that give recipies for those foods you store like rice,beans,red wheat berries.

Wine and other booze. I have a wine and beer making book too! Gardens are getting bigger every year,but so are the number of pests.Stink bugs are crazy this year. Saving those seeds each year.GMOs and weed resistance is in the news. I want my normal seeds and will pull the weeds.No spraying on my lot except from those planes high above! Don't forget to plant some fruiting trees and bushes.When the costs go up you will be in bounty if your plants survive.

Yeah,we could be saving against the worst,but what other option is their? Pretending life is great in this country?

Like with storms it is recommended you have supplies and items to get you through bad times.Well think of this as prepping for a storm. It is human nature to want to survive.Some will give up.See a lot of that in Greece right now with suicide rates up I opt to survive. I lived without comforts when I stayed with my grandma in a small village.You find ways to make it,or if need be you can wait in line for the hand out when things get bad.We saw what happened to the poeple after Katrina.Government help wasn't so good.

So how do you store water without it going bad?

 

[Mattemma]

For long term storage I use 5 gallon buckets with large Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers.

Do you have a recommendation on the mylar and oxygen absorbers? I looked on amazon and a few camping sites. Hard to decide. Did you get the thick or thin mylar bags?

 

[bakerjw]

Last year I planted several varieties of hops. My son likes to brew his own beer and doing it with our own hops sounded like a neat thing to do.

I've had very good luck with Impak at sorbentsystems.com

For 5 gallon buckets I get 20MFS30 which are 20"x30" foil mylar bags that fit 5 gallon buckets. I also use the OAP1500/50 oxygen absorbers (2 to a bucket).

They also have some small bags which are good for flour and other grains such as barley.

If you do store flour and corn meal, don't get the self rising kind. I vacuum sealed some in a mason jar and didn't know that it is constantly reacting. The reaction is what causes it to self rise. When I broke the seal to the jar the contents erupted on me and half the kitchen. It was a funny mess because I was covered in corn meal. Except where my sun glasses were on my face.

 

[jcatblum]

I don't consider myself a prepper but I do like to have plenty of stuff on hand. However growing up I was 30 min from any grocery store & now I am 45 min- to an hour from my preferred stores. So yes we stock up on things. I do have an acre garden, and they provides an abundance of many things (weather & critters permitting). I am still expanding my garden style to include more items that can be stored long time, biggest challenge is having enough space to store things.
I hate the thought of factory raised chickens, but last yr when a local store had 5-6 lb broilers for $2.50 each I did buy 60 of them & we now only have 4 left.
I LOVE using 5 gal buckets with gamma lids. If you have an Azure Standard drop near by they can be a great source for stocking things like oats & raw sugar. Also this site is a great list for what to purchase at sams club while stocking up on foods
http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/frugal-living/shopping-wisely/sams-club
Couple yrs ago I stumbled on the list & was surprised it included things I never thought about buying at Sams. It really changed my shopping list. You don't have to buy it all at once, but even if you can put $20 a month aside for bulk purchases you will be surprised how fast you will have a major stock pile. For several years I was a major coupon shopper, but I reached a point where I had plenty of everything - paper products, bath, laundry, can goods, etc. I was donating a car load of stuff to the food bank monthly, enjoying chasing deals. thankful I built my stockpile long before the extreme coupon show aired. That show really ruined coupons for me. Stores have changed their policies & coupons are harder to come by. Use to I could easily save $400-$600 a month in coupons but those days are gone IMO.
I still stock pile lost leader items. This summer when my families favorite hot dogs were less than half price I didn't hesitate to buy a few cases. They will last until next summer when I find another hotdog sale. If you get into stockpiling don't let food to bad, watch exp dates. And keep an inventory list of what you have stocked.
Oh-- Big lots, bread store & save a lot can occasionally be a good source for deals. Few months ago found name brand instant oatmeal for $1 a box that didn't exp for 18 months so I picked up a dz boxes of each flavor. After any major holiday our bread store always has brown & serve rolls for 10c a pk so I get a few dz for the freezer.