Prep of The Day Thread

[Sauer Grapes]

So topped off today. Vac packed popcorn, red lentils, split peas, and more rice. Figured out sealing mylar bags I've had for years thanks to a video posted here.

Added fats (oil) crisco and Pastene olive oil. Added vitamins, picked ones with high vitamin C RDA's and also added D3 as an extra. Walmart had 1000 ibuprofen generic packs for about 13 bucks.

May I suggest an extra clothes washer soap, dishwasher soap, steel wool, scrubby pads, etc. As i found out yesterday, when cooking becomes more primitive, cleanup is going to be harder. I also amazoned a chain mail cleaner for my cast iron to match the one I have up north.

Today's haul:

View attachment 336981

Nice! Just a reminder that vit D is fat soluble so take it with a meal containing fats. Vits A, D, E, and K are all fat soluble. They can be stored in fatty tissue. You could take too much and have big problems. All of the other vitamins are water soluble, and if not needed will be excreted by your kidneys.

 

[not new guy]

Heading to the supermarket in the morning to try to fill a new 7 cf chest freezer. Will grab some meats, frozen vegetables, fruits, butter, cheese, potato products, waffles, chicken fingers and pizza - stuff the kids will eat - but what am I not thinking of? Breads maybe? Not looking to lay it in for 20 years or anything, just wondering if there’s anything to add that might not be an obvious candidate for a freezer. Is there an egg option of some kind?

 

[Fritz the Cat]

Heading to the supermarket in the morning to try to fill a new 7 cf chest freezer. Will grab some meats, frozen vegetables, fruits, butter, cheese, potato products, waffles, chicken fingers and pizza - stuff the kids will eat - but what am I not thinking of? Breads maybe? Not looking to lay it in for 20 years or anything, just wondering if there’s anything to add that might not be an obvious candidate for a freezer. Is there an egg option of some kind?

Ben & Gerry's
A few sacks of ice. A freezer works best when it's full and having a sack or two of ice on hand is always helpful.

 

[Varmint]

Heading to the supermarket in the morning to try to fill a new 7 cf chest freezer. Will grab some meats, frozen vegetables, fruits, butter, cheese, potato products, waffles, chicken fingers and pizza - stuff the kids will eat - but what am I not thinking of? Breads maybe? Not looking to lay it in for 20 years or anything, just wondering if there’s anything to add that might not be an obvious candidate for a freezer. Is there an egg option of some kind?

how about cooked food? Kids favorite pasta sauce etc. Bread certainly cause it doesn't really lose any flavor frozen.

 

[Varmint]

Ben & Gerry's
A few sacks of ice. A freezer works best when it's full and having a sack or two of ice on hand is always helpful.

sucky ice cream sold by 2A haters? Wtf man buy like Cold Stone or something if you like mixings I'm your ice cream.

 

[Palladin]

how about cooked food? Kids favorite pasta sauce etc. Bread certainly cause it doesn't really lose any flavor frozen.

We cook lasagna, stuffed shells, etc and freeze for 6 months or so.

 

[not new guy]

All good tips - thank you. I ended up just buying 5 cases of Poland spring water and will freeze it to keep it from going bad. It seemed easier.

 

[bob6180]

Why would you buy gallons of water and not just buy a couple 5 gallon jugs and fill them from the faucet?

They didn’t have any 5gal when I went though. Plus, I want my wife to be able to move stuff around and there’s no way -currently- that she can pick up and manipulate a 5 gallon container of water.

 

[FrugalFannie]

So topped off today. Vac packed popcorn, red lentils, split peas, and more rice. Figured out sealing mylar bags I've had for years thanks to a video posted here.

Added fats (oil) crisco and Pastene olive oil. Added vitamins, picked ones with high vitamin C RDA's and also added D3 as an extra. Walmart had 1000 ibuprofen generic packs for about 13 bucks.

May I suggest an extra clothes washer soap, dishwasher soap, steel wool, scrubby pads, etc. As i found out yesterday, when cooking becomes more primitive, cleanup is going to be harder. I also amazoned a chain mail cleaner for my cast iron to match the one I have up north.

Today's haul:

View attachment 336981

Which chain mail cleaner do you prefer? Do you think they are "all the same?"

 

[Baby Billy]

All good tips - thank you. I ended up just buying 5 cases of Poland spring water and will freeze it to keep it from going bad. It seemed easier.

Water tends to expand when frozen.

 

[Cowgirlup]

Heading to the supermarket in the morning to try to fill a new 7 cf chest freezer. Will grab some meats, frozen vegetables, fruits, butter, cheese, potato products, waffles, chicken fingers and pizza - stuff the kids will eat - but what am I not thinking of? Breads maybe? Not looking to lay it in for 20 years or anything, just wondering if there’s anything to add that might not be an obvious candidate for a freezer. Is there an egg option of some kind?

Learn how to make bread. No knead bread recipes are easy. B&M canned bread is good and the kids would probably like it. I'm not sure if they still make egg beaters but they are probably freezeable. $$$ Powdered eggs are available. I did a search and you can also crack eggs into a container and freeze them for about a year. It mentions the texture will change a little.

 

[not new guy]

I need to grab some balls of dough to throw in there. Hopefully grab some of the ones at the supermarket right before they thaw in the case.

 

[Coyote33]

The whole point of putting it in a glass jar is to avoid outgassing, otherwise you’d throw it in a plastic container and be done with it. Chlorine, unopened, in its original container will degrade relatively quickly, outgassing right through the plastic. ...

Not sure what the heck you are talking about here. They sell bleach and pool chlorine in plastic containers. I would not believe for a second that these things won't last for years in these containers.

I like my 5 gal pails with “honey bucket” lids.
@Cowgirlup, a 7 gal bucket will give less squat distance.
View attachment 337005

Wait, toilets are going to stop working too?



I plan on using my toilets through pretty much anything, up to and including full on nuclear war. It is water and gravity, both of which I don't anticipate running out of.

 

[NH_Realtor]

Learn how to make bread. No knead bread recipes are easy. B&M canned bread is good and the kids would probably like it. I'm not sure if they still make egg beaters but they are probably freezeable. $$$ Powdered eggs are available. I did a search and you can also crack eggs into a container and freeze them for about a year. It mentions the texture will change a little.

You can also dehydrate them. Scramble them up and pour into a dehydrator, let it do its thing for a few hours and it’ll break up into a powder once dry. From what I understand that’ll last about a year, but when I tried it I reconstituted them after about a month and they tasted just fine. Think it was a 1:1 powder to water ratio but can’t really remember as it was years ago.

 

[HuntMaine]

They didn’t have any 5gal when I went though. Plus, I want my wife to be able to move stuff around and there’s no way -currently- that she can pick up and manipulate a 5 gallon container of water.

I also have a bunch of empty gallons from milk that I just wash out refil and rotate. I agree 5 gal jugs are a bit heavy,

 

[Canndo]

Wait, toilets are going to stop working too?



I plan on using my toilets through pretty much anything, up to and including full on nuclear war. It is water and gravity, both of which I don't anticipate running out of.

I keep them in my vehicles. Great for camping. too.

View: http://youtu.be/uPYyKoJIq7o

 

[SpaceCritter]

Learn how to make bread. No knead bread recipes are easy. B&M canned bread is good and the kids would probably like it. I'm not sure if they still make egg beaters but they are probably freezeable. $$$ Powdered eggs are available. I did a search and you can also crack eggs into a container and freeze them for about a year. It mentions the texture will change a little.

I can make absolutely fantastic artisan European bread. Copious raves. And I can teach each and every one of you how to do it. It's not difficult, total time is large, but actual time on task isn't. It helps that I have an oven stone I can heat to 500+, have a couche de boulanger, and stock diastatic malt powder in my pantry (as well as SAF-red yeast).

I cannot eat a single bite of it, or I'm sick for two days.

 

[enbloc]

Speaking of 5-gallon buckets, they are one of the most versatile 'tools' out there. A virtual "Prepper's" Swiss Army knife.
You can use them for storage of food/water/ammo/ or make an impromptu toilet (Canndo ) You can use them as a seat and a 15" step stool.
You can use them as a sink or a mixing bowl and also use them as a fire pail if the need arises for a do-it-yourself 'fire brigade'.
If you fish, and need fish as a food source, you can even store live fish for a couple of days if you use the water source they were taken from. This is important if you do not have refrigeration
and have extra catch to eat over a few days. Oh, and they stack extremely well for tight storage. I also find them more useful and easier to sanitize than traditional water jugs. (which are made in China these days ) The Home Depot bucket is MADE IN USA.

Home Depot has "FOOD GRADE" white, 5-gallon buckets for $4.76. (Grab a lid for $1.76 more)
I used a mega-magic marker to write "POTABLE WATER ONLY" on a few and after cleaning them with soap and warm water, I use them as 'supplemental' water storage cans from filtered tap water
before storms or emergencies. With a lid you can stack them 3 high (15 gallons of drinkable water) and have a reusable container for the future. To draw water I just use a quart ladle
(also called a 'dipper') When cooking rice or making soup, I walk over to a bucket, open the lid and draw what I need. I use +/- 5 gallons per week for cooking and sanitize the bucket before each refill
"Easy-Peezy"...

 

[enbloc]

I keep them in my vehicles. Great for camping. too.

View: http://youtu.be/uPYyKoJIq7o

Are they suitable for an upper-decker and key storage...?

 

[Cowgirlup]

I cannot eat a single bite of it, or I'm sick for two days.

Life is so unfair. Good bread fresh from the oven is awesome!

 

[Sauer Grapes]

Life is so unfair. Good bread fresh from the oven is awesome!

There is no gluten free substitute that can approach real bread. I've tried so many different blends with subpar results.
I miss bread, especially with good butter.

 

[peterk123]

We just had a fresh loaf i baked this afternoon. I make two loaves every week. Nothing like warm fresh bread.

 

[fshalor]

Heading to the supermarket in the morning to try to fill a new 7 cf chest freezer. Will grab some meats, frozen vegetables, fruits, butter, cheese, potato products, waffles, chicken fingers and pizza - stuff the kids will eat - but what am I not thinking of? Breads maybe? Not looking to lay it in for 20 years or anything, just wondering if there’s anything to add that might not be an obvious candidate for a freezer. Is there an egg option of some kind?

Tons of cheddar bunnies (Anne's Mac n cheese from BJs. Same price as the Kraft crap, but actually eddible) and cans of powdered or condensed shelf stabilized milk.

Greenbeens and canned salmon will be eaten by our 6year old. Chicken and rice for the adults.

This is no different than hurricane season or winter storm season prep for me. Except for more vitamins D3, and some random bits. And more TP

I also grabbed a bunch of cases of Amazon basics wet wipes.

One single one can sort out a bad poop incident. They also make for great midrefreshes if showers can't be had.

Doing the mathz, they may also be more economical than toilet paper for laying in.

 

[enbloc]

There is no gluten free substitute that can approach real bread. I've tried so many different blends with subpar results.
I miss bread, especially with good butter.

It's also too bad that science has not come up with a pharmaceutical that makes gluten digestible and without the side effects of eating gluten-rich foods.

Think "Beano" for Celiacs...

 

[ILikeGlocks]

Finally broke out the vacuum sealer that my unsuccessful hunting ass had purchase & sealed a reasonable amount of steak & hamburger for freezing.

Earlier in the week, I collected some canned beans, bags of rice, bleach and some other items to make hand sanitizer.

 

[Sauer Grapes]

It's also too bad that science has not come up with a pharmaceutical that makes gluten digestible and without the side effects of eating gluten-rich foods.

Think "Beano" for Celiacs...

Supposedly there's something in the works with enzymes, but nothing to date has been acceptable. The only cure for us Celiacs is a lifetime gluten free diet.

 

[ILikeGlocks]

Supposedly there's something in the works with enzymes, but nothing to date has been acceptable. The only cure for us Celiacs is a lifetime gluten free diet.

Oof, sorry to hear. I have a good friend who has Celiac. She was a vegetarian for a while, but when she was finally diagnosed, she had to start eating meat proteins.

Funny story... I know her well & know she trained hard for triathlons and crazy endurance racing, but I always thought, man, she seems a lot bigger than others that do this sort of training (I am making no judgements, anyone here that has met me knows I'm a fat bastard). Anyhow, after her diagnosis & no gluten, she lost over 30 lbs in a month. Turns out, it was all swelling!

 

[Zarathustra11]

Nice! Just a reminder that vit D is fat soluble so take it with a meal containing fats. Vits A, D, E, and K are all fat soluble. They can be stored in fatty tissue. You could take too much and have big problems. All of the other vitamins are water soluble, and if not needed will be excreted by your kidneys.

I strongly recommend that anyone serious about building their immune start building up D3 in their body. Toxicity is highly unlikely, you would need to take 40-100k i.u.'s a day for months to come close.

D3 acts more like a hormone than a standard 'vitamin', but this makes it highly effective in important ways from other vitamins.

D3 can regulate your autoimmune response, and reduce the chances of secondary infection due to Cytokine Storm.

For some perspective: approximately 50 million died in 1918 as a result of the Spanish Flu, but they did not actually die of the flu. Most died of secondary infection caused by Cytokine Storm (pulmonary edema, hemorrhagic pneumonia, etc.) because their autoimmune system went into autoloop and was not regulated- they literally drowned on their own fluids from the inside.

I would not overlook this as part of essential preps. I also recommend having on hand Chaga mushrooms and Oreganol P73, among any number of others.

 

[Sauer Grapes]

Oof, sorry to hear. I have a good friend who has Celiac. She was a vegetarian for a while, but when she was finally diagnosed, she had to start eating meat proteins.

Funny story... I know her well & know she trained hard for triathlons and crazy endurance racing, but I always thought, man, she seems a lot bigger than others that do this sort of training (I am making no judgements, anyone here that has met me knows I'm a fat bastard). Anyhow, after her diagnosis & no gluten, she lost over 30 lbs in a month. Turns out, it was all swelling!

Wow, good for her for getting a diagnosis.......but sorry it's CD

 

[ILikeGlocks]

Wow, good for her for getting a diagnosis.......but sorry it's CD

The other cosmically weird part is that her trade was in baking. So, she worked for months in essentially a hazmat suit. I hope you are doing well (we met once at one of Len's meetups).