Prep of The Day Thread

I have a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer. I’m going to try this soon, thanks. What’s the turkey/pork fat ratio?
That will work. I have one that is almost thirty years old. It has ground a lot of meat. I am adding almost 40% pork. I am a big fan of fat. It may kill me in the long run but I will die with happy taste buds :)
 
Received 6 more truckloads of free woodchips today from the tree company. Will be busy tomorrow moving, mixing and turning the piles.

How did you get them free? Just call up a local tree company? I would think they'd use the wood chips for mulch or something to sell
 
The past three days I've brought in and cross stacked 1/2 a cord of dry split wood from the woodshed. It's nice not having to retrieve it from outside for a couple of weeks and it dries out even further by the stove.

Froze 25 lbs. of boneless chicken breast and leg quarters in portioned bags.

Turned the woodchip piles, mixing in 5 truckloads of new stuff.

Added 6 cases of canned goods to the shelves.
 
How did you get them free? Just call up a local tree company? I would think they'd use the wood chips for mulch or something to sell

The tree company that drops them here is contracted to the local electric utility company to keep the rights of way clear of trees that might fall onto power lines. By having my place to drop their chipped trees and branches, it saves them a 40+ mile trip to their own yard every time their truck is full.

I've been one of their drop off points for several years. It all started by just stopping at a spot where they were cutting and telling them the address to drop off at. The tree company doesn't deal in woodchips. They may deal with the larger firewood but I get a lot of that also in each load.
 
The tree company that drops them here is contracted to the local electric utility company to keep the rights of way clear of trees that might fall onto power lines. By having my place to drop their chipped trees and branches, it saves them a 40+ mile trip to their own yard every time their truck is full.

I've been one of their drop off points for several years. It all started by just stopping at a spot where they were cutting and telling them the address to drop off at. The tree company doesn't deal in woodchips. They may deal with the larger firewood but I get a lot of that also in each load.
I have often wondered if you could modify a pellet
stove to burn wood chips.
 
I have often wondered if you could modify a pellet
stove to burn wood chips.
Uniformity of size and shape, along with having a large space under cover ( and time ) to dry the chips might be the biggest problem. There is also the issue of spontaneous combustion to think about.

Pellets are made of dried sawdust and a binder pressed together under controlled conditions whereas chips are just chips (mostly chipped green ) and have a lot of splintered edges that might tend to bind them up in an auger.

Probably cheaper and easier to just get a regular wood stove and burn wood. Chips will either flare up if dry enough or smolder like hell unless they are burned in a firebox with a fan.
 
Completed another +100 gallon fresh filtered water storage bump (20 x 5 gallon jugs).

I like these as they come with tamper resistant teeth rings, rubber tightening wrench and chlorine dioxide drops to prevent long term slime build up. They’re also quite manageable and can be stacked 5 high, so you can stash them in very tight and otherwise unused spaces.

You can live for a month or more without food.

You can only live about 3 days without clean fresh water.

You’ll need a long term water source in case SHTF of course and a way to purify (fire pit with 10 gallon lobster pots for boiling water) and filter, but I think it’s important to have a starter supply in case you didn’t get much notice and wanted to hole up until the first wave of roving thirsty hoards started dying off.

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Amazon product ASIN B07YLYQG2LView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YLYQG2L/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_4XHV253E8FNSMD6BG53F
 
If anyone has any thoughts/experience with encrypted comms options I'm all ears

Thinking ptt/portable ham like options.....if its not at least aes 256 its crap from an encryption perspective

Encryption options cost BIG money. I removed it from my list of "needs" a long time ago.

Use of a daily one time code sheet to encode certain information would be much cheaper. Information is usually time sensitive so if the listener can't decrypt it fast enough it's pretty useless.

Training people to not give out info in the clear is the hard part.
 
I finished setting up my truck for the winter. I'm a New England newbie, so I would appreciate any tips on additions etc.

I have an E-tool and tow strap, shackles and general towing stuff, a pretty decent tool kit (I try to use just the tools in the truck when I'm doing maintenance etc), tire pump, fire extingisher, fix-a-flat, extra bulbs, tall insulated boots, a head lamp, several pairs of work gloves and extra oil in the cab. I also have a get home bag/survival kit with a poncho, some 550 cord, a morakniv, space blanket, some survival bars, a micro stove and fuel, fire starting stuff, and a water filter. The bed has some traction mats, another (full-size) shovel, a bow saw and extra blade, some rubber shoe covers, chains for all 4 wheels, a 2 gallon rotopax gas can with gas, a 20 degree mummy bag, another poncho and a poncho liner. The 5' Z-lite mat is for my dog.
 

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Sorry, probably talked about dozens of times, but I don’t want to search.

What are you guys doing with coffee? Short term and long term?

I have no idea how long it lasts in storage. Thank you all. Instant may be the best option.
I have a few months of instant I get at Sam's club. I keep a month or so of K-Cups and nespresso pods (which really are better, especially nespresso), but instant isn't bad and stores well.
 
Sorry, probably talked about dozens of times, but I don’t want to search.

What are you guys doing with coffee? Short term and long term?

I have no idea how long it lasts in storage. Thank you all. Instant may be the best option.
I drink Cafe Bustelo black, so coffee is pretty easy for me. I order it by the case in vacuum packed bricks that make about a pot a day M-F. I have a few weeks worth on the shelf, but wouldn't hesitate to stack more for longer term concerns. For austere conditions, I would suggest getting a French Press and an old school kettle, then you just need ground coffee and water.
 
I finished setting up my truck for the winter. I'm a New England newbie, so I would appreciate any tips on additions etc.

I have an E-tool and tow strap, shackles and general towing stuff, a pretty decent tool kit (I try to use just the tools in the truck when I'm doing maintenance etc), tire pump, fire extingisher, fix-a-flat, extra bulbs, tall insulated boots, a head lamp, several pairs of work gloves and extra oil in the cab. I also have a get home bag/survival kit with a poncho, some 550 cord, a morakniv, space blanket, some survival bars, a micro stove and fuel, fire starting stuff, and a water filter. The bed has some traction mats, another (full-size) shovel, a bow saw and extra blade, some rubber shoe covers, chains for all 4 wheels, a 2 gallon rotopax gas can with gas, a 20 degree mummy bag, another poncho and a poncho liner. The 5' Z-lite mat is for my dog.
Pretty well thought out setup. You may want to consider having some water in sealed mylar pouches that are rated to withstand a range of temperatures. The kind that are stocked in lifeboats. I have personal experience with Datrex brand water pouches - left some in the trunk of my car year-round for 7 years and they were 100% fine. Yes you can filter found water, but this gets you on your way quicker.

Also think about how often you have your pup with you. Might not be a bad idea to add a small rodent resistant sealed container of dog food to your GHB.
 
Sorry, probably talked about dozens of times, but I don’t want to search.

What are you guys doing with coffee? Short term and long term?

I have no idea how long it lasts in storage. Thank you all. Instant may be the best option.

Any steel canned ground coffee last at least 10 years. I've been drinking coffee made from 2012 for this whole year. Do not buy plastic cans.

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Another one: whole house NG gen….stocked up on oil and air/oil filters. They need an oil change every 125-200 hours depending on the unit.

Running full time, that means about once every week or two.

In case of an extended outage it’s good to have everything you need on hand for your max likely duration. See: Texas outages for example.
 
Here is some cheap coffee in metal cans.

Hills Bros Original Blend Ground Coffee, Medium Roast, 30.5 Oz. Can – Full-Bodied Classic Rich Coffee Taste, Balanced for Optimum Caffeine Amazon product ASIN B011VQ8ILEView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011VQ8ILE/ref=cm_sw_r_awdo_navT_g_ZS5N5Z0FG3K3YESABMH9
Good price Good Coffee.

But why is it listed as "Decaffeinated"

Item FormGround
BrandHills Bros
FlavorOriginal Blend Medium Roast
Caffeine ContentDecaffeinated
Roast LevelMedium_roast
 
Good price Good Coffee.

But why is it listed as "Decaffeinated"

Item FormGround
BrandHills Bros
FlavorOriginal Blend Medium Roast
Caffeine ContentDecaffeinated
Roast LevelMedium_roast
I really need some long term coffee. I can't imagine going through caffeine withdrawal in the zombie apocalypse lol
 
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