April 11TH..What have you done to prep tod

I'm studying vegan cookbooks to learn more about baking without eggs.

Liquid sweetners, mashed fruit, soy flour, dehydrated potatoes and oatmeal all work as binders. 1/4 cup binder and 1/2 teas baking powder help to replace an egg.

Purchased 12 cans green beans

Edited by arklatex - April 06 2006 at 6:16pm

Hi Diana Do you by any chance have the number or item number for QVC.  I would like to try those battery operated candles.  Have you tried your yet?  How do you like them? 

    I feel stupid asking this, but how do you print things off this site without everything having a black background?

Prepping was put on hold for over a week... had to deal with a sick kitty and then I got a charming stomach virus. Having assorted chicken soups, sports drinks, tummy meds and other goodies in my emergency pantry was a life saver.

Yesterday I bought:
2 cases of canned green beans
2 cases of canned corn
Canned peas and potatoes
Giant jar of peanut butter
Large container of raisins
10 cans of chunk ham and chunk chicken
Assorted canned pastas with meat
Canned Vienna sausages, pork barbeque, chicken and dumplings, tamales, chili, Spam
Assorted sugar-free drink mixes, like lemonade, that can be mixed with water

At this point I need to stop shopping, inventory what I have, and see if I've reached my first goal of 3 months' worth of supplies yet. Then I can move on to the next 3 months.

I also priced empty 5 gallon water containers. For me these smaller containers would be easier to deal with than the larger sizes.  

After you can meat it does not have to be refrigerated until it is opened.

Edited by arklatex - April 07 2006 at 1:33am

arklatex-Thank you! I think I want to try that, and of course, I always 'need' to go to WalMart!!-k

Theresa .... below is a note I found in the'Food' thread under Priority Preparations.  There are other calculators mentioned on that thread, but this sure does seem to be the best.  It's an 'excel' sheet and all you do is plug is your family#'s and how many months you want to store for and everything just pops into the columns on the sheet!  You can also cut/paste to add items they don't include that you want to have on hand for your family. Every time I go shopping, now I bring my receipt to the comp. and then update my sheet.  (I've also been deducting if we remove something from the prep. stock items) It's actually a little overwhelming when you see just how may pounds you really need to be stocking or how many cans, etc! I was way off in my own calculations. Hope it helps! -k 

My favorite tool (need MS Excel) is a Food Storage Planner that can be downloaded for free (in US and Metric versions) - it is more than just food and is completely customizable (not "protected") for your family size, # of months for storage, etc. The calculations are done automatically making it easy to inventory, shop and track needs.


This link is for the downloadable program mentioned above: http://standeyo.com/News_Files/FTP_Files/DFPlanImp.zip (US Version)
http://standeyo.com/News_Files/FTP_Files/DFPlanMet.zip (Metric Version)

Also look for a pdf called "Food Storage Cooking School" I think, if you are buying a lot of more expensive canned goods.

I cleaned out kitchen cupboards....I was amazed on what I forgot was in the back of some of my deeper cupboards.    More room for preps....yeah!  Went to Costco......

I have done absolutely nothing since last weekend. I am hoping to get some more preps on Wednesday. The family has been sick with the flu this week so it has really slowed down my preps.

  Today I bought 3-55gal. drumbs 10- 15 gal. drumbs all can be used for gasoline water or prep storage.  I bought several boxes of crackers  catsup mustard and cookies.  Found a place on our property where I would put out door porta pottie. 

    QUESTION: I've been buying ceral on sale, but what is the best way to store it to prevent pests????

After a little mishap caused by using the computer, microwave and coffeepot at the same time I've added fuses to my buy list.

Earlier today I worked on decluttering the pantry shelves. Everything I bought last week is either on the kitchen floor or still in the trunk of the car. I've never had so many canned goods and most of the shelves had become a convenient place to toss odd junk. 

I bought two ternips from the store.

I would suggest making up menus. I have about 25 different menus for lunch and dinner. When you decide what you want to eat, figure the amount of food to cook these meals.  sample

You might want to can your meat plain and put the seasoning in after opening so you will have more choices of how to use it.

Edited by arklatex - April 10 2006 at 12:31pm

Today I received some tea light battery operated fake candles that I purchased on ebay along with extra batteries. They are supposed to operate for roughly 100 hours on a single battery - CR2450 type cell.

Although they don't give off a great deal of light, they are inexpensive, renewable by replacing the batteries and perfectly safe to use. They even flicker a little.
No flame, heat or melted wax to worry about.

Figured we can set them around in the house at night or use them on the patio. Wind won't blow them out.

I just read that you can substitute flaxseed for eggs in baking. Grind 2 Tablespoons of flaxseed, add 6 Tablesppons of boiling water, let mixture set for 15 minutes, then whisk with a fork. This replaces two eggs in any recipe for baked goods and is supposed to work equally well (from"Feeding the Whole Family"- Cynthia Lair)

I'm working on learning how to bake bread. I don't want to store the ingredients until I know I can use them. So far I've made three loaves. One was edible but not good at all. Two were my first attempt at sourdough and the dog wouldn't even eat them.

I also plan to try my kids on powdered milk this week and try the recipes for homemade cottage cheese and yogurt from powdered milk. If they work, then I'll store it.

I really haven't stored anything yet. Still in the planning and learning stage which I guess still puts me ahead of 90% of the people.

Money is a real problem for us as far as prepping. I had thought I would be able to at least start putting canned goods away this month but then my husband had to have emergency dental surgery which we had to pay cash up front for last week. Now we can't even afford our regular food this month -- let alone extra for preps. At least I will get a chance to see if the kids really would rather starve than eat beans and rice.

I'd like to put in a garden and learn how to can but even that costs too much right now. Do you really have to buy all the special equipment to can? I mean the pressure canners, etc? Surely our ancestors didn't have electric pressure canners.

muttcats,

Edited by plainsman - April 11 2006 at 10:01am

I've got the dual fuel stove and assorted other stuff like that.  I have the masks and gloves.  I've got some canned food.  And I have a quick plan to hit the stores the minute I hear there are cases of H2H clusters.  I can't afford to stock up on food if the bird flu might not occur at all or could develop over the next several years.  But I'll be checking the news every day and be ready with my plan for action....

Muttcat, i typed a long post to you and got booted or something, will try again