Anxious and stocking up...
So with the election a week away and Covid cases climbing, I am feeling apprehensive. Our family has had some "what if" conversations, and we decided to spend some money to stock up on essentials (dry goods, toilet paper, and a few treats) just in case things get rough again. We realize that we are fortunate to have the luxury of stockpiling.
If you need to stock up, but are short on money, call your city hall or county offices. They may be able to direct you to local resources for help. Food shelves, churches, even schools can help depending on your circumstances.
Comments
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I have buying a few extras each week since March. I can do that without hurting the wallet.
Its been said that a person should have 6 months of food stocked up - just in case.
This year I have included more dried products and food that can be made without electricity or on an outdoor stove.
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We don't have room for 6 months worth, but 2 months maybe. We're looking into digging a root cellar next year.
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It is a good idea to be ready wherever you are. There are places that have gone into lockdowns again. I don't remember where in the world this was, but just yesterday, I heard one place was going to be in lockdown for a weekend, another was a month.
I am not saying this to panic everyone. Far from it. Just prepare sensibly and within what you can feasibly do.
For us up here where snowstorms can keep us holed up, we have been preparing as we usually do, with a bit extra as we move forward.
Since spring, we "shop" at our "store" in our basement. Our basement store contains some extras that we keep circulating. We add a bit more each time we shop.
We also have direct from neighbor/farmer/friend resources that we can fully count on for grain & meat. Our cows keep us in the dairy end.
Where we might see issues is in the veggie dept, since our garden was a flop this summer. That, and our apple picking ended up being infested with apple maggots. I ask owners about this before picking...always...and were assured otherwise, but these were the worst I've seen yet. :(
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We always keep a 4-6 month supply of food. My parents grew up in the Depression and it was just the way we were taught. I freeze quite a bit but am moving more towards dehydrating.
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New Jersey is one of the places being locked down again. For us, another lock down in Minnesota wouldn't be a huge surprise, but I want to be prepared in case of supply chain breaks, or riots, or just plain bad weather.
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I can see another COVID lockdown. What's making me nervous is possible civil unrest disrupting the supply chain. To that end, I added $25 to each grocery budget to stock up on needed items, like flour, sugar, canned veggies, extra meat for the freezer.
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I have also been picking up extras to add to the regular stockpiles, but in rural areas where getting to town can be a challenge in winter, this is a way of life. I've maybe done a bit more than usual. Our bison order will be ready in about 2 weeks. We have lots of chicken, pork and lamb in the freezer as well as well as veggies & fruit. When the lakes freeze we will have access to trout, kokanee (landlocked salmon) and burbot (freshwater cod). Still need to go pick up our winter's supply of local apple juice and a couple of sacks of spuds. Also have herbs (culinary and medicinal) on my drying racks to put away. My stock pile of additional tinctures and medicinal herbs just arrived in the mail.
If all it takes is a little extra shopping to help with anxiety, that's awesome. I know I feel better when I look at my pantry and full freezers.
I had to giggle at your basement "store" @LaurieLovesLearning. My daughter lives three properties over and has a tiny house with very little storage. So my basement really has become a "store". She usually brings cash, too. :)
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We usually do a stock up run once a month, but with moving into a new home in August, we ate down a lot of stuff so we wouldn't have to move it. And the new home is a small acreage, and in getting things ready for winter, stocking up got put on the back burner.
I'll be glad when we know the outcome of the election. And really glad when there is a vaccine we can trust.
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Our "store" has goods stashed in bug hinge top rubbermaid containers. This keeps everything free of dust & mice. They are also stackable. Our basement is unfinished.
The kids get a kick out of it when I tell them to go shopping.
That's so good, @torey, that you can help your daughter out in that way.
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We usually add one or two meals that will keep to our shopping list. Our go to storage right now is 5 gallon buckets, which are ok, but I prefer them for things like oatmeal, wheat, rice, etc..
And, as @LaurieLovesLearning was mentioning, it is a good idea to always be ready for your 'something'. Here in Florida, it is hurricanes.
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@monica197 That depends on what you eat, and how many people are in your household. For us (6 of us), it includes big bags of flour, because I bake our bread, etc from scratch. I also like to have dried beans at all times, and canned tomato sauce, tuna, applesauce, salt, yeast (and/or sourdough starter), rice, oatmeal, peanut butter, and some type of fat (lard, coconut oil, olive oil, whatever you use). I usually have fresh onions, potatoes, eggs, and pumpkins on hand, too.
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@monica197 As @Angel has said it depends on what you like and how you cook. If you are a baker, don't forget other basic baking supplies for your bare bones pantry list. Baking powder & baking soda, Herbs & spices. Dried fruits; apricots, dates, raisins, cranberries. Coconut. Chia seed. Cocoa (and maybe some chocolate chips) for treats. Pasta (if you don't make your own).
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@monica197 , I also agree that it depends. Hub and I love to cook and need to have a huge variety of ethnic cuisines to rotate amongst or we get miserable pretty quickly. (Not good for prepping, I know, but it reflects the days of poverty when restaurant meals were reasonably priced and trying a new restaurant was the only recreation we could afford, since we had to eat anyway.) Vital for us is a massive store of herbs, spices and condiments. It's amazing how the same few basic ingredients can be made into very different meals depending on how they're prepped and spiced. I'm also growing and drying basic herbs like oregano and rosemary. Our own herbs make foods from simple potatoes to homemade mole sauces taste so much better than when made even with premium store bought organic herbs. Our own homegrown herbs have thus earned a place on our "vitals" list. They're probably more medicinal, too, and remember that our food should also be our primary medicine!
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I was never raised to be prepared but my husband was and I was very grateful for that when Covid hit last spring. He has always insisted on having at least 6 months supply on hand of food and every day essentials. We were happy we didn't run out of toilet paper! LOL These times do make me feel very anxious as well. I try to give it to God but I often get in the way and find myself worrying.
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I’m trying not to panic!!Thats why I’ve been up till 1am canning apples, making applesauce n butter and dehydrating. Lol. I found some great food grade baggies for the sauce. And later juices.
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@monica197 care to share recipe for mole? Would love to have a good one.
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You know, preparing without panic can make preparations more enjoyable & help reduce stress.
You are doing yourself a favor and giving yourself a constructive & positive distraction by doing so.
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@kfoto I sure would love to have some apples to work with. We had freezing weather several nights in a row after the apple trees had set fruit. The orchards here in South Jersey have 10-25% of their normal crop because of that and the apples we do have don't look like they will store well.
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@Gail H we’re in California and the season has been weird. I got coastal apples which were ok. It look like they had a hot season. Then I got mountain apples which also had Washington apples they were tart but sweet. This is the first season that I’ve been able to can and dehydrate. I learn how to make sauce in the instant pot. 8 mins done and not 48 hours that my grandpa taught me. Yummy.
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@Suburban Pioneer Looks like we all want a mole recipe! It's one of those things I love when done right but have never attempted myself but would like to.
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My parents both lived through the big war so the tales of having only a bushel of carrots to eat or a barrel of fish were enough to make sure I always had lots of extra food stored. Now that I live in Ecuador and we have food year round it's not as much of a big deal but we still bought a freezer and planted yucca which takes quite a while to mature but it is like storage food in the ground.
I started using a portable bidet to save on toilet paper, not that we ever had a shortage here, but it is nice to be clean. We also installed a large water storage tank as we don't have our own water source.
Basically we've made our home a much better place to hang out and spend time at. We used to travel more and I miss the beach but until all this drama blows over I prefer to stay close to home where I'm prepared for almost anything.
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As they've gone on sale I've bought some of the 4Patriots kits. They are very compact and some even come in a tote. You can easily store 2 months supply for one person under a twin bed and have space left over. They run attractive sales periodically and offer financing on some of them.
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OK, there are many varieties of mole, but here's my basic "go to" recipe (note there are a lot of approximations in here because I almost never measure anything, I cook mainly by taste and eye):
about 1/4 cup total of half olive oil and half high-quality (NOT Crisco-type!) vegetable shortening (shortening is best, but sub safflower oil if you don't have shortening)
Couple teaspoons dried oregano
1 fat or two small cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves (fresh if you can get them)
5 whole cloves
1 large yellow onion
about 2 big cloves of garlic
About 1/2 tesapoon ground cumin
About 1/2 cup roasted, salted pumpkin seeds. (Almonds are a good alternative)
About 1/2 cup dark raisins
2 dried chiles negro
3 dried chiles guijillo (you can also use other popular dried chiles like California to vary the flavor a bit, this is just my fave combo)
About 2 teaspoons Better than Bullion No Chicken broth base
About 1/2 teaspoon Better than Bullion No Beef broth base
About 1 1/2 oz. stone ground dark chocolate (pure chocolate, almond flavored or guajillo chile flavored, your choice. I've always used 1 Taza stone ground chocolate disc per batch of mole, but Taza has gone very politically correct and I'm looking for a replacement company that's just into ethical food without the added drama and politics. So far not having much luck, sadly. But, seriously, any quality pure chocolate (as close to 100% as you can get) will certainly do.)
- Lay out your dried chiles in a shallow pan (like a crepe pan). Warm them gently over a low heat until fragrant and pliable. Be patient, heat gently 'cause they like to burn! If you accidentally burn a chile, throw it away and start over. Watch out, then can whiz past the 'just right" stage really quickly!
- While the chiles are toasting, melt and gently heat the oil and shortening mix in a medium sized pot
- While the oil is warming, chop the onion coarsely. Add to a food processer and puree.
- Watch those chiles!
- Pour about 2 cups of HOT water (just boiled is fine) into a shallow pan. Whisk your now fragrant and less stiff chiles right from the frying pan into the hot water. In the process, think about how many times in life that's happened to you! :-)
- Soak the chiles until they're soft, pliable and well hydrated.
- While the chiles are soaking, pop the garlic into the food processor to keep the onion company, and whiz away.
- To the warmed (not frying hot, just "simmering" hot) oil, add the cinnamon stick(s), bay leaves and cloves. Stir around for a few minutes to infuse the essential flavors into the fat.
- While the fat is being flavored up, add the nuts to the onion/garlic mixture, and whiz them all together.
- When the chiles are soft and hydrated, open them up and rub the seeds and stems off into the soaking water. Tear the chiles into several pieces each, and whiz in several batches with the onion mixture,
- The stuff in the food processor should now be resembling a paste. Strain the chile soaking water and pour into the paste in small amounts until it resembles a fairly thick sauce and the processor can still work easily.
- Break the chocolate into chunks and add to the food processor. Whiz again.
- Add the seeds/nuts to the food processor and.... you guessed it - whiz once more. Add more chile soaking water if the mixture gets too thick.
- Finally, add the raisins and whiz into one glorious goop.
- Add the cumin to the hot oils and stir. Cumin goes in last because it burns easily. Give it a minute to get fragrant, then proceed with next step.
- Scoop the goop into the hot, flavored oil. Stir briskly to incorporate the oil into the chile goop. Thin with chile soaking water to desired consistency. Thereafter use plain water for thinning.
- Add the broths to the sauce, stir to incorporate. Thin to desired consistency and simmer for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors "mature"
- Now for the fun part: Taste Test!!! Adjust seasonings as necessary, particularly if you like more salt. If you're really sensitive to bitter flavors, add more salt as salt masks bitterness. Some people like a little more sweet, so you can add a pinch of dark unrefined sugar if that floats your boat. It's your creation! Make it how you like it. *Note - it will be very flavorful, but not spicy hot unless you choose really hot dried chiles to start with. Try it this way first, then adjust spiciness to your particular taste level. We don't like it *spicy hot* ourselves, just a more soothing level of heat so the other flavors can also shine through. But, it will ultimately become your own personal recipe, so go for what you prefer!
OK, I hope this will help you achieve a great mole in your own kitchen! Once you do it a few times, it should take you no more than 90 minutes from start to ladling it over cheese enchiladas, freshly steamed potatoes or even tacos for something different in place of salsa. You can even use this as a great base for regular Tex-Mex style chili. Just warm some olive oil and shortening, add a bay leaf and some dried oregano, then throw a chopped onion and a couple of chopped garlic cloves into the oil, Stir in some cumin and cayenne powder when the onion starts to brown, then add the mole. Simmer briefly, then add one 28-oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes (I recommend San Marzanos). Squish each tomato to a pulp between your fingers while adding to the pot. Stir, add two cans of beans of your choice, simmer, and season with salt to taste. If you want, omit one can of beans and add one package of sauteed Soyrizo (vegan chorizo) to the pot, instead. Let me know how either of these recipes turn out for you!
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I have bought extra paper goods. The only one I use a lot of is facial tissues, Puffs if I can get them. I have extra of sugar, flour, wheat berries. Have some sardines, need to stock up on canned salmon. Need to order extra dried fruit. Have big jars of almond butter, extra coconut oil, etc. Want to get a big bag of rice and one of beans (dried). Really don't use much from cans. Have meat in the freezer. For the winter that is fine. If power goes out, it can be put in cooler and placed outdoors, usually.
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Went to salvage stores and stocked up- much more wallet friendly
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I have been more anxious lately as well. Every time I check my supplies I think I will be ok, but I still feel uneasy an hour later.
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Sounds a little like the part of my book where the ladies had to hit the store. :P
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Being completely new here and from Europe - may I ask why are you stacking up?
We have another lockdown at the moment, red numbers everyday, but our stores are open and stacked.
I still have a food suply for a month, but I do not know why schould I buy more?
Did you have any issues with the food supplies? Do you expect that something will happen?
I do not want to be rude, please do not take my questions this way, I would just like to understand, cause around here everyone is acting like everything is ok (but I am also a bit anxiuos).
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A friend just posted a picture of an empty meat department in a grocery store. My mother said she is having trouble finding oatmeal.
It is hard not to be anxious, but these things are a warning to stay well stocked.
DDP
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I have been keeping us pretty well stocked since March. I have always prepared for who knows what so it hasn't been that different. I really haven't felt like I was short on anything and still have a good stock since I replenish very consistently.
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