Prep of The Day Thread

Pickling beets today.

Since my beets aren't doing very well, I picked up a bushel box of beautiful beets (tops off) from my local farm/market store yesterday while out shopping.
Added another 25lb bag of Jasmine rice to the stores along with a few cases of various canned goods, several pounds of pasta, about 20lbs of split chicken breasts ($1.79/lb), 3 nice chuck roasts and a few bottles of olive oil.

Filled my gas cans with 93 octane non ethanol gas ($6.06/9)/gal, from a place where I used to buy that had closed for a couple of years and is now reopened and very handy. This saves me about 15 miles one way driving to my secondary source.

Came home to a FEDEX delivery sitting at my door, 500rds Wolf Green Tip M855. Loaded all those in new mags last night. My ammo purchases have been few and far between since March of 2019. Some CCI Mini Mag .22LR, a little bit of X39 and this M855.

EDIT: Canned 14qts of "no salt" pickled beets. That used up about half the bushel. Doing the other half today with salt and in pints.
 
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Finished off pickling the rest of the bushel of beets, this time with salt in the brine. 4qts and 12 pints.

Put 4 new blem PSA Phosphate 1:8 5.56 w/BCG and CH uppers on the shelf, along with 4 PSA MOE carbine complete lower parts build kits. The uppers have a couple of very minor finish flaws but everything else on them checks out fine.
 
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Tomorrow, we're making green tomato relish. Picked up a bushel of nice large green tomatoes from my local farm market, along with half a bushel of green bell peppers, a dozen orange and yellow bell peppers and about 15 lbs of large "sugar onions". Will save some of the tomatoes for one of my favorite dishes, fried green tomatoes.

Pulled 60 pint jars from the storage shelf and washing and inspecting them tonight. I sterilize them in a pot of boiling water just before filling with boiling hot relish, then cap and let cool.
Probably won't use them all but I hate running out of jars with a 1/4 of a pot of relish left.
 
You guys have any preferred vendors for mylar bags? Looking specifically preferably 7mil 1 gallon bags that don't have the annoying ziplock. Bonus if it comes with 300 or 400 cc o2 absorbers. Can't find em anywhere
 
I have to say all these reports from independent news sources about farmers/truckers/ranchers and their warnings
finally got my butt moving to up my preps from a 3 week supply to something more substantial

For example
* City Prepping
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLjKfNf_sVE

* and this
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN9V1CKDuLw&t=1088s


So I bought fifty 1 Gallon Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and a hair straightener (I mean bag sealer) and plan to hit up Walmart today for the obligatory
rice/wheat/oats/beans and whatever the wife thinks she wants. I already have some 5 gallon containers with gamma seal lids.

Meantime wifey has been planting a small vegetable garden which we will expand in August plus we're building relationships with some local farms.

If you asked me if I would be a "prepper" 3 years ago I would have said you were mad . . . . . and yet here we are . . . .
 
Good start. Cover your basic sustainment needs first.
Water, food, shelter.
Clothing, medical, defense.
Expand on those.
Knowledge is power and skills are more important than stuff.

If you can hunt, fish, and forage you don't need to farm as much.

Do you can? Dehydrate? Can you have chickens? Or rabbits? Or goats?

For shorter term food storage most dry goods will go several years without mylar and O2 packs if humidity is low.
Cool dry place


Be aware that plastic pails are not rodent proof and subject to being chewed thru and ruined.

Buy what you eat and eat what you buy. If you don't like say rice and beans dont buy so much. Get something else you will eat.

Late to the game?
Hey at least you're in the game and now ahead of 98% of the rest.
 
kijangus said:
I have to say all these reports from independent news sources about farmers/truckers/ranchers and their warnings
finally got my butt moving to up my preps from a 3 week supply to something more substantial

For example
* City Prepping
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLjKfNf_sVE

* and this
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN9V1CKDuLw&t=1088s


So I bought fifty 1 Gallon Mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and a hair straightener (I mean bag sealer) and plan to hit up Walmart today for the obligatory
rice/wheat/oats/beans and whatever the wife thinks she wants. I already have some 5 gallon containers with gamma seal lids.

Meantime wifey has been planting a small vegetable garden which we will expand in August plus we're building relationships with some local farms.

If you asked me if I would be a "prepper" 3 years ago I would have said you were mad . . . . . and yet here we are . . . .
Click to expand...

Better to start late than never. [thumbsup]

BTW, A dry clothes iron and a piece of wood to back it works better for sealing bags.
 
Knob Creek said:
I have bought from these guys before. So here you go:

Gallon 7 Mil Premium Century Mylar Bags
Click to expand...
Thank you. I was worried about the Amazon ones because there seems to be a lot of comments about them being 7 mil for both sides combined. The place I use to source them from seems to only carry the 5 gallon ones, which I do use for bulk rice storage but I want to get more of the 3-4 use rather than larger sizes that I would have a hard time getting through before spoiling.
 
Make sure to put your dried beans, rice, and flour each in the freezer for a minimum of 3 days to kill any parasites/eggs. Then let sit out to lose any moisture before you repackage. I prefer the 1-lb packages of dried beans and 5-lb packages of flour. There are also some brands of rice that come pre-packaged in 1-lb Mylar bags, so after the freezer and letting it dry, I just put those in buckets.
 
Picked up 3 brood hens with clutches from a very nice woman in W Mass. The hens are Bantams. The chick's are 3 type mix. Mostly bantam and Olives. We were at only 20 chickens and 1 rooster which was too low for me. I was getting ready to use my incubator this month then found these on Craigslist. $60 for 22 total.
20220716_192209.jpg

20220716_191916.jpg
 
xtry51 said:
Picked up 3 brood hens with clutches from a very nice woman in W Mass. The hens are Bantams. The chick's are 3 type mix. Mostly bantam and Olives. We were at only 20 chickens and 1 rooster which was too low for me. I was getting ready to use my incubator this month then found these on Craigslist. $60 for 22 total.
View attachment 638898

View attachment 638899
Click to expand...
We have had a few of those/ They lay a decent size egg for a small bird but they are broody nearly all summer.
I ordered some and should have 8 chicks next week. I've never done the mail order thing so I hope it works out OK.
 
What is your Faraday cage setup?

Like many, I’ve been thinking a Faraday cage is a good idea, so I’ve been experimenting with a few concepts —

I have a JobBox for tools in the garage. I lined the bottom and sides with cardboard, I placed some one inch foam on the bottom and then set several ammo cans inside. Inside of the ammo cans are spare Petzl headlamps and Olight rechargeable flashlights, spare rechargeable battery packs, and misc other small electronics. I also keep a few spare solar rechargeable outdoor landscaping lights in the JobBox.

Clothes Dryer. My clothes dryer is located downstairs and central to the house. When not in use for its intended purpose, I keep my Jackery power bank and an ammo can inside the dryer. Inside the ammo can are my GMRS radios.

I’d like other creative ways to create Faraday cages for my Jackery solar panel and my dual fuel generator. What do you guys do for Farady cages? Do you think my concepts will work? I figured they are better than nothing… thoughts?
 
Mtn_Guy said:
What is your Faraday cage setup?

Like many, I’ve been thinking a Faraday cage is a good idea, so I’ve been experimenting with a few concepts —

I have a JobBox for tools in the garage. I lined the bottom and sides with cardboard, I placed some one inch foam on the bottom and then set several ammo cans inside. Inside of the ammo cans are spare Petzl headlamps and Olight rechargeable flashlights, spare rechargeable battery packs, and misc other small electronics. I also keep a few spare solar rechargeable outdoor landscaping lights in the JobBox.

Clothes Dryer. My clothes dryer is located downstairs and central to the house. When not in use for its intended purpose, I keep my Jackery power bank and an ammo can inside the dryer. Inside the ammo can are my GMRS radios.

I’d like other creative ways to create Faraday cages for my Jackery solar panel and my dual fuel generator. What do you guys do for Farady cages? Do you think my concepts will work? I figured they are better than nothing… thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have two, the small metal trash can lined with cardboard and a large microwave from the 80's my aunt was tossing out. The microwave imo is the best as its pretty much not going to let anything in.
 
My wife is in NC and her mom got multiple bags of fresh mushrooms on the real cheap and wants to can them. We can greenbeans and tomatoes and even have done meats but never mushrooms. Anyone do it and have an easy and successful recipe/method. Lots of recipes on Google for plain mushroom canning but how about marinated.

Edit

There is bread in that bag pictured. I guess she has 10 bags of store packed mushrooms 🍄
Screenshot_20220729-144657_Message+.jpg
 
GM-GUY said:
I just ordered $600 in canning lids and rings (50% regular and 50% wide mouth) - showing on sale from Mason and I already have a bunch of jars I saved from my folks and grandmother. I bought a pressure canner several years ago, a book on how to do it (my grandmother didn't need a book as she did it for 70+ years when she passed at 92.5) and the salts, vinegar and assorted you need for it.

Last week I added more flour and sugar to my preps (total now 120lb flour and 100lb sugar in vacuum pack bags) Don't forget your salt, baking powder, baking soda, dry milk and cooking oils.

This is looking to be a long term (think a year or more) of scarcity - not even getting to power shortages this summer and heating costs this winter.

*Example of scarcity: Flour stock was depleted to 1/2 pallet at BJ's and Sugar was down to a single layer on the pallet - I did not see anymore stacked on the high shelves.
Click to expand...

DO NOT BUY FROM MASON ONLINE

I had to initiate a credit card dispute as it’s been two months and my lids & rings are still in NJ (been there for two months) and the only replies I get from them are automated tracking numbers. All out of China now, no US contacts.
 
xtry51 said:
Just used the vacuum sealer yesterday for the first time. This thing is amazing.

View attachment 647719

View attachment 647720
Click to expand...

Wholy hell. I've got the VP215 and have trouble moving it around for oil changes.

Get yourself a dedicated shelving unit and find locking casters for it. Then buy a couple quarts of oil and change it FREQUENTLY for the first six months or so.

Have had my VP215 for just over a year now. Love it, use it all the time. Bag price is insane compared to a standard vac sealer.
 

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