Posted on 07/24/2011 1:08:37 PM PDT by Mamzelle
All of my usual stores are rearranging and changing what they put on their shelves. I'm sensing that the big uptick in prices will start to arrive shortly, maybe before Christmas. I'm interested to hear what the impressions of FRugal Freepers. What are you seeing? What will you be buying in quanity before TSHTF?
I want to try growing wheat but don’t really know how. Can I use the wheat berries I buy, or do I need to buy seed?
I was behind a nicely-dressed, upscale looking woman in Publix yesterday with 3 kids, using getting the WIC items and using EBT. I heard a couple of comments about her from people in the line next to me.
Out in the parking lot, she and the kids got into a late model Chevy Tahoe with $1000 wheels, and drove off.
Kimmie..thank you for the info. It’s greatly appreciated.
I need to restock the peroxide and alcohol, too.
Clogged highways are what’s going to get most people. Get yourself a good map of the local backroads and plan out various routes. Don’t count on the gps to work. Check your local chamber of commerce or travel center. Here, they have free maps of each county that are very handy. I try to get updated ones every couple years and ones for surrounding counties several counties out.
Very welcome!
Flour
Coffee.
G&A!
We were behind someone at ingles the other day and they used ebt and wic and then went and got in an escalade.
Oh I posted my experience not because I felt bad for the welfare recipient, but that the comments are no longer being kept to oneself.
Even a year ago, you may have heard someone sigh...but now the words are starting to fly. Especially if the customer behind, is buying hamburger and generics to make ends meet, and the WIC/EBT is buying steak. Or driving off in a fancy car, or salon nails, or kids with their own cellphones...
I was noting there was a time when we would be disgusted, but silent. Somebody is going to snap. And you know what, it won’t be at some rally somewhere...it just might be in the grocery line.
Wine. I’m getting a nice little wine cellar going....
Hopefully Baraq will come up with a “gas stamps” program to alleviate the pain of $4 gas.....
Shhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t give them any ideas.
My wife taught me to shake the cans softly from side to side and listen to the amount of liquid in each can.
More tuna= Less liquid.
I still don’t know why I didn’t think of that first.
“...get...incandescent light bulbs. ...shelves in a spare closet; 40w, 60w, 75w, and 100.”
To greatly extend the life of incandescent bulbs get a Lutron (or equivalent) Dimmer to replace each light switch in your home.
The Dimmer has a (thinner) switch toggle and a lever on the side of the toggle. Maximum bulb life extension can be expected when it is switched on/off at the minimum dimmer setting - less mechanical stress on the filament.
Use a 100w where you would normally use a 60w or less but set the lever to 60w or less of illumination.
Be careful not to exceed the total wattage of the Dimmer (600w?) if/when the lever is raised to maximum illumination of the bulbs of a multiple bulb fixture.
In my main room I use a 100w bulb in a lamp which is controlled by a Dimmer being mostly set to 60w thereabouts. It is set higher up to ~100w only when I sometimes need the greater brightness. It is set to minimun for use as a night light.
When going out expecting to be back after dark I set the Dimmer to minimum. The current ordinary 100w bulb has in the lamp a few years so far.
Extend the life of your filaments - get dimmers. :)
Thanks for the tips. I’m a home grown chigger as is my brother. We’re fairly familiar with the ‘back’ rock roads. But I’ll tell you, this may sound paranoid, but the level of law enforcement has increased substantially in this rural area. The state patrol recently ‘absorbed’ the ‘water’ patrol (those are the enforcers of ‘safe’ boating on our rivers around here-so they say) and they have complete police powers now. The point being I’m not sure that they won’t block even the remote back roads. In any case we are preparing.
Any suggestions on a good one?
A few must-haves:
Ammunition.
A water source.
Plenty of potato seed. (Note: the spuds you buy in the grocery store are treated with a chemical to keep them from sprouting. Stock up on certified seed until you’ve grown enough yourself to provide a continuous supply for your family’s use and to plant next year’s crop. You can plant the treated ones, but only a tiny fraction of them will grow. Once they do, of course, you’re on your way to building up a seed stock that isn’t treated. You will, of course, have wasted an entire growing season or two to accomplish that. You might get real hungry in the meantime.)
Plenty of wheat seed, and a good stock for daily use.
A good stock of all kinds of heirloom (not hybrid) garden seeds of all sorts.
A grain mill. (Some will work on electricity or with a hand crank.)
If you have the place to raise them, chickens and hogs. Those are two great sources of protein that can, if necessary, fend for themselves quite well feed-wise. The hogs will also provide the fat for producing lard for cooking and soap for cleaning, two really important needs for any household.
A good woodstove, preferably one you can cook on if necessary, along with a reliable source of wood. Better make sure you have the tools set aside for cutting and splitting it as well.
I was going to mention Nido also. I got a big can about six weeks back for about $14.50. Evap. milk, condensed milk, and shelf stable milk. Nido is WHOLE fat powdered milk as opposed to the non-fat powdered like Carnation.
I suggest canned butter for real SHTF stock. It’s expensive though -Red Feather brand. One can = approx. 3 sticks @ approx. $7.50. I’ve heard that some Asian food stores carry canned butter.
Dried powdered whole eggs. Last a long time and are supposed to be very decent nowadays.
Coupons are getting super scarce too. And even the online ones are lousy now.
Stock up on vitamins - ladies, trust me and buy “pregnancy” vitamins (shelf) cause they are more complete than any of the others in the same price range. Plus, if SHTF, it would be nice to share w/pregnant family member.
You may be intimidated to try, I know I was, but Mylar/oxygen absorber food storage is CRAZY easy and quite affordable. So, you get a 25 lb. bad of rice, split it into a bunch of 4 cup batches, put it into Mylar bags, each w/ an oxygen absorber, seal and label. Will last safely for years.
Honey last literally forever. Very valuable to have.
Buy HEIRLOOM seeds. Heirloom seeds are important for several reasons, mainly that the seeds can be harvested from what you grow and used to grow next years food. Commercial seeds (from hybrid foods) cannot reproduce the same as parent plants, if they will grow at all.
Learn to grow something even if it’s just potatoes in a big pot on the sunny back porch.
Yes, for the home canners: lay in big stock of lids. Also sure gel.
Sugar in my area just went to a FOUR LB. bag for the same price of a five lb. bag the month before. Good thing we brought six bags awhile back w/coupons. We don’t consume a lot of sugar - but I’m glad I listened to my gut.
I bought seeds, and planted them. Some of what I have harvested, I can use to plant next year. I don’t know about the wheat kernals - it would depend on how they are processed and treated I think.
You can buy vaccumed packed wheat berries that will last for 15 years to use to make flour, in case the shtf.
I just started gardening last year, mostly to avoid pesticides and E-coli from fresh produce. I am growing all my favorites using heirloom seeds. Then I save the seeds from the best crops to plant the next year.
Should things get really bad, I should have enough seed to be able to grow food for our family including grown children and grandkids, and maybe some to help out the neighbors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.