Nov 2011 Personal Preps

[Watchman]

Out of the frying pan folks!

[Watchman]

Because I'm a direct grocery distributor to stores, I see first-hand that prices are rising - and most people are not aware or don't want to know - and do nothing about it.

We were servicing one of our convenience stores (a large truck stop) and parked next to the entrance was a trailer that was loaded with local Russet and red-skinned potatoes. A 50-pound bag for $10, which works out to 0.20 per pound. Maybe biting off more than we could chew, we bought a bag of each. China Mart sells russet potatoes for 0.89 per pound. Tomorrow is a LONG work day for us canning potatoes.

We also supported local farms by the purchase.

[Toepopper]

Thats a real good price and those spuds will store well if you can keep them in a cool place, save yourself the time and effort of canning them. I have 4 large boxes filled with the ones we grew this last summer.

[SS5R]

We just finished our potatoes from last year. We kept them in a wooden box in the basement with a wood lid that has holes covered with screen for ventilation. The Russets and Kennebec white potatoes kept well but the red and blue potatoes did not last as long. Maybe you could can the reds and store the Russets.

[Watchman]

We're going to can half of them and [estimate] will end up with about 40 quarts. Half will go in flats in the pantry. Even though it is cool, it is not down to the best storage temperature - around 40 degrees. As the season goes on, yes. Will make delicious baked (or fried) potato skins for supper tonight! I get to do the scrubbing, wife will peel the spuds, and we will both work on canning them. Oh, by the way, I get to carry the other 50 pounds down to the basement.

[Toepopper]

It might be a good idea to save a small amount for seed stock just in case you are forced to plant something to feed yourselves with next spring. Potato's are easy to grow and seem indifferent to what kind of soil they get planted in, within reason.

[Watchman]

Was able to pick up 30 cans of protein-rich Kidney, White and Garbanzo beans at our local Smith's for 0.49 each. Get used to the higher prices but don't let the b******* beat you.

By the way, price creep is already on the rise......from 16-oz cans to 15, 15.25, and 15.5-oz cans. We also were able to get 16-oz bags of frozen vegetables for 0.59 each. It was amazing considering they had already raised the price of 12-OZ BAGS to $1.69.

I want to tell you about something we are getting ready to do. Wife thinks we are getting too much sausage in the freezer so we are taking it and going to cut it into 1-2-inch chunks and can it. One time we did this, we had 2-year-old [in the freezer] sausage - we canned it and at the 9th year we used the last jar. One thing about canning is that it leaches a very large percentage of the fat out of the sausage. Most of the sausage is without liquid in the canning jar and a thin layer of fat covers it. When you open the jar and cook it (20 minutes minimum) just drain off the excess fat. We have chicken we canned 6 years ago and are still using it.

If the red Chinese or anyone else figures how to hack into our electrical grid and destroy or cripple it, we ain't going to have any electricity to run our freezers.

[side_job]

2 more ranks of wood stacked, brings me up to 6 for my southern Missouri preps. I think that should do as supplemental.

[Watchman]

A couple of years ago we were able to get 4 cans of vegetables for a dollar. Yesterday we considered ourselves fortunate to get 2 cans for a dollar. Anyway, we stocked up on green leaf vegetables (spinach) and some more carrots. Yes, I'd like to can our own but we have not had time for a garden this year. My Little Debbie district manager wants us to turn everyday operation of our business over to our son so we can go back to gardening. We laid a bunch of Armenian cucumbers on him two years ago and he can't stop talking about how good they were.

Thanksgiving preparations. Wife is making pies (apple and pumpkin) this very moment from apples we grew and dried 7 years ago and pumpkin from pumpkins that our church was going to throw away. We are also having our home-canned Yukon Gold potatoes and green beans, all from two years ago.