Fall and winter preps

[hollohas]

To expand on what Grey said above, diapers too if you have littles. Diapers were sold out everywhere as well last go around.

And I don't know if anyone mentioned it already, but dog food. My Chewy orders were delayed by weeks for a couple months in a row. They are back to shipping on time, but it'd be a good idea to have an extra bag or two just in case there are delays again. Can't have fido eating your precious human food if the grocery is going to run low again.

Edit: I caught up, looks like it's been covered!

[TheGrey]

To expand on what Grey said above, diapers too if you have littles. Diapers were sold out everywhere as well last go around.

And I don't know if anyone mentioned it already, but dog food. My Chewy orders were delayed by weeks for a couple months in a row. They are back to shipping on time, but it'd be a good idea to have an extra bag or two just in case there are delays again. Can't have fido eating your precious human food if the grocery is going to run low again.

Edit: I caught up, looks like it's been covered!

Cats, too! I was annoyed with Chewy- seriously, we've been customers forever and I finally canceled my Autoshipment after five weeks of being overdue for the food and cat litter.

[Hummer]

The stores are now back to normal stock levels on most things, especially foods, TP and other paper goods. Still, 70% and 91% isopropyl alcohol is scarce, and hydrogen peroxide is trickling in. No simple ammonia product at all. We use a good amount of all those so I keep looking and buy when I can. Sam's hasn't had it's good, low cost carpet cleaner since February. I like clean carpets. Any sanitary and cleaning supplies are important. We keep stocking up as we can and shop almost exclusively in Grand Junction where the Covid risk is lower.

We're keeping up on vehicle maintenance so we don't have to deal with it later. We have extra wheels and new tires mounted if imports get cut off. Store fuel if you can safely do so. I'm having our propane tanks topped up now while prices are low, including the spare tanks. Just filled the 300 gal. diesel tank but need to move and fill the 300 gal. gasoline tank.

If you have income now is the time to build preps. Supplies that will sustain you over several months and more. We're still in the early stage of the pandemic and things could get more serious by October-November. I expect a war like situation if not a hot war coming. Protect yourself, your family and friends.

[TheGrey]

Good points all, Hummer! Our nearby Kings is still out of pasta on most days- not that I buy a lot of pasta, but I've got it on hand in case our young neighbors with children run low of things. Certain varieties of canned beans are also limited, oddly, and I haven't seen much of certain types of soup since February. Strange.

I asked a worker at Sprouts of they have any idea if they'll be having Roma Tomatoes on sale 2/$1 like they have every year about this time, and she said they not only have no idea, but they sometimes don't get the shipments in that they're expecting. Eeeep. I may have to bite the bullet and pay $.88/lb like they have on sale now.

[Erni]

This May have been covered but not sure.
How do I store large bags of goods? Looking to store in the basement and worried about critters. Buckets? What type and where?

Also I heard that flower goes bad and oxidizes. How do you store it?


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[Gman]

I would imagine food grade buckets and Gamma Seal lids would be a good start.

[tactical_2012]

Pick up some 5 gallon mylar bags with O2 absorbers and cheap buckets with lids to hold them is your cheapest route.

Look at this on eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/324166729003

Use a straightening hair iron to seal the bags. I picked one up at Goodwill for $3 have sealed tons of bags with it

[hatidua]

I would think that planning for the future would be fairly easy based on what was in short supply in Feb-April of this year. Nobody is going to die from running out of toilet paper, but food comes in handy from time to time. Rice/beans are cheap and with an adequate stash of salsa/hot sauce can be pretty tasty.

I would guess that everyone on this site has enough lead to risk the integrity of their foundation, so get some food and don't go around licking door knobs and you will likely be as prepared as you can be.

If you like profiteering, get a few cases of N95 masks and 'supply' those that didn't think ahead.

[TheGrey]

This May have been covered but not sure.
How do I store large bags of goods? Looking to store in the basement and worried about critters. Buckets? What type and where?

Also I heard that flower goes bad and oxidizes. How do you store it?


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Hi Erni!

Yes, depending on what type of flour you have, it can go bad within about 3 months (that's the average on the 'net) for whole wheat/whole grain flour. You can bypass that issue by putting it in the freezer. You'll want to freeze bags of flour for at least 3 days, to kill any weevil eggs that are in it. I've found that freezing it in 4-cup amounts in ziplocs means that I can stack them nice and flat, and when I need flour I don't need to pull out the whole container. All-purpose flour and bread flour will keep a bit longer- up to a year, they say. I'd still keep it in the freezer if you can.

Things like almond flour and coconut flour can live on the shelf safely enough, until you open the container. Then it stays in the fridge.
As far as keeping foods in large bags- it depends on what types of foods, and what types of critters you're worried about. If you have a chance of having mice or rodents in your basements, those buggers will chew through a plastic food-grade bucket at the worst possible time.
If you're worried about moths and insect-types, food-grade buckets will be helpful. You can get 5 gallon buckets that are food-grade at Home Depot or Lowes.

I don't care for using buckets, personally. I can't see what's in them, can't see if the food is okay, and in order to check, I have to open it up. That exposes the food inside to air, which undoes everything you've worked hard to achieve- unless you have the foodstuffs in smaller containers inside the bucket. What type of stuff are you storing?

It also depends on how you plan on treating your food storage. Thus far, I've found two distinct types of food storers: the type that stash food away for their emergency stash, and they don't touch it- it's for emergency only; and the type that cycle through their storage, replacing as they eat it. I prefer the second type, so I know what we have, know that it's not expired, and know that we store only what we can and will eat. I can our food, so I can see at a glance what we have through clear jars.

What type are you? Emergency-only, or cycle-through?

[Erni]

Grey, great question. Staring to think I don?t know.

Here is my goal. Get the family ready for a 6-3-6 prep. Six weeks of eating well to smooth over disruptions in supply chain like we saw earlier in the year. Three months of eating ok in case of 2020 dialing things up past 11. Six months of getting by total nourishment, so the last 3 months can be rice and beans and vitamins but honestly don?t know. (After 6 months well.... we are all going to have bigger problems)

We are blessed with a large pantry that can feed us well for several weeks with shelf stable foods, and a freezer we are filling up. Pantry is being worked by my wife to bring it up to 6 weeks. She finally saw the light. I want to get to 3 months of shelf stable foods that we normally eat and will be rotated and replaced, sort of our own store.
The last 3 months of food is is what I am trying to figure out. Rice and beans in buckets? Rotate it yearly- donate to food pantry and buy new? Flour and lard? Yeah, not sure what to do here. This is meant as sustenance to be augmented with whatever can be found and not meant to be great eating.

Any guidance appreciated.

So part of me here is thinking this is a bit much, but even my Los Angeles based friends who have never even considered prepping are stocking up something fierce. That includes a new garden, generator and deep freezer to name a few.


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