Prepping on the Cheap: The $5 a Week Shopping Challenge

SHTF Plan ^ | 7/10/12 | Tess Pennington

[Kartographer]

Here are 52 stock-ups – one for each week!

15 packs of Ramen Noodles 6 cans of mixed vegetables 5 cans of fruit 6 cans of tuna 4 cans of spaghetti sauce 5 cans of diced tomatoes 4 pounds of rice 3 pounds of kidney beans 5 cans of kidney beans 10 cans of baked beans 3 cans of chilli 12 cans of generic condensed cream of mushroom soup 12 cans of condensed tomato soup 4 pounds of white sugar 10 boxes of iodized salt 6 bags of dry pasta 2 jumbo boxes of raisins 1 pound jar of honey 2 cartons of molasses 15 boxes of baking soda 5 jars of spices 48 bottles of water 5 cans of apple juice 2 jars of peanut butter 10 boxes of macaroni and cheese 3 cans of flaked ham 3 cans of flaked turkey 4 cans of flaked chicken 1 canned ham 3 bottles of barbecue sauce 500 tea bags 120 herbal tea bags 1 large canister of iced tea mix 50 packs of generic cool-aid mix 10 boxes of instant pudding 20 boxes of gelatin mix 10 cans of corn 3 cans of beef stew 5 bags of dehydrated onion flakes 5 bags of garlic powder 10 packets of gravy mix 2 cans of spam 10 cans of Vienna sausages 2 bags of beef jerky 5 pound bag of flour 3 pound bag of cornmeal 4 pounds of dried black-eyed peas 3 jars of sauerkraut 3 pounds of steel cut oats 2 pounds of powdered milk 3 pounds of brown sugar 30 bouillon cubes

[Kartographer]

Take a look at this:

Ammo Can Rocket Stove

http://www.bearridgetradingpost.com/2011/07/ammo-can-rocket-stove/

I built one it and it wasn’t hard at all.

Here is a thread on it:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2850938/posts

[Kartographer]

This is a picture of the one I built

[kimmie7]

All but the ramen noodles look good - ramen will eventually go rancid.

[Titan Magroyne]

That looks really good. One difference that jumps out at me, Kartographer, I notice you split the feed tube hangover into tabs to secure it flush against the side of the ammo can, plus a flat framing plate as a burn grate. Far as practical use, do those changes work better for you & are there improvements you’d like to make to the stove you made?

[To Hell With Poverty]

Oooh, where in Walmart do you find these things? I’ve never come across them before, and powdered butter does dound tantilizing. Butter is sort of right behind coffee on my list of what keeps life livable.

[Kartographer]

Actually I didn’t go to all that work to cut those tabs. I just brought a couple of pre-made duct fittings. I did i mostly to make sure the vermiculite said in (Though I cut the opening pretty much right on the mark so there was much of a crack.) and to give it a more finished look.

I been promising to fire it up and give a report of it’s performance I guess I need to do that. I’ll try tomorrow and ping everyone with my report.

[TEXOKIE]

Thanks for the link! That hotdog/pasta thing is clever!

I also like the DIY pasta recipe. My mother in law taught me how to make noodles without a machine, but have lost the piece of paper I wrote it on, and I’d forgotten proportions and she’s no longer with us. I’m also thinking of experimenting with modifying yours with reduced amounts of wheat flour and use some low gluten flours (coconut flour/rice flour/soy flour, etc) to help me out with my carb counts.

Thanks again!

[Titan Magroyne]

Certainly makes for a neat appearance. Did you get to try it out? I really like that stove’s flexibility in fuel, not to mention it’s compact, stable design.

[MrIndi]

Thanks for the list Kart. Here's the problem:

I was recently diagnosed as celiac. Made all my prepping supplies non usable. When you start reading the labels you would be surprised as to the amount of food that contains some form of wheat and/or flour.

Gluten free foods..fugetabotit! Prices are outrageous!

Basically, I'm having to completely reconfigure my stores with more attention paid to separate ingredients vs. processed bulk foods. (rice, beans, dehydrated veggies and meats, etc..)

[Kartographer]

Check the gluten free stuff at Honeyville Grain. they have a 20% off sale right now and shipping is just $4.99.

Code word: sizzle

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/

[MrIndi]

Thanks!