2019- MARCH Prepping Updates

Started the new thread.

Regular grocery run today, restocked what we used and Husband added canned meats and soup to the LTS.

Husband and I tunneled to the back of the garage and did a bit of decluttering - we passed a large, metal pattern drawer on to a friend (The ones you see in fabric stores that hold paper clothing patterns). Since I am downsizing my sewing room, and I haven't used it in the 10 years I've had it, it was time to let it go.

A couple weeks ago, I started a "craft box" for a niece who is homeschooling - lots of goodies from my sewing room (buttons, yarn, ribbon, sequins, jingle bells, plastic canvas, etc). I've added felt, pony beads, and assorted other things, too. Plan to add more.

Added to the cash stash at home.

Received my latest order of 50 pounds of lentils, 25 pounds of chickpeas and 100 mylar bags (gallon size with zipper top.) Still need to bag up the dried beans, but at least I have enough bags and buckets to do that...just need to find the time. Still reorganizing my LTS space so I can squeeze more stuff in, just in case....

Went down to the city for a VA appointment (blood work), took the wife so she could do some shopping at the mall. Went to lowe's and picked up some extra stove pipe and elbows to have some more extras. Also got some concrete anchors and lag bolts, I'll be using them down at camp this spring.

After watching the girls go by at the mall, took the wife to lunch at Hoss's.

Too busy to do much of anything prep-related. Our daughter's getting married in about 6 weeks and I'm STILL not 100%, after my flu experience. Only thing I DID do, was to toss about 20 cans of cream of chicken soup, that dated back to 2006. I figured commercial cans that were 13 years old might not be a good thing to keep anymore .

Don't feel bad, ReadyMom - we tossed all of our canned goods that remained in the LTS. Most were in the 5-10 year old range. Probably weren't "bad" but they'd definitely lost some of the nutrition (10% per year). They were food security and they served the purpose. We did eat down a lot so it wasn't too stressful.

Got the car's idiot light turned off yesterday while I was in town. The issue was already taken care of, but the mechanic couldn't get the light to turn off. Took it to our other mechanic and he was able to check to make sure the issue was repaired and he turned off the idiot light.

Planted 4 more lime seeds. I have 3 coming up now. They are only about 2 inches tall.

And wonder of wonders - my orange tree is blooming like crazy! We do keep it inside, but the room it is in is only about 4-50 degrees unless one of us is in there...so it's amazing that it's blooming!

It's been nice the last three days so I hauled out the generators and ran them for about 30 minutes, then cleaned them up and filled with gas for the next time. Garlic is up about 2 inches since it's been so warm out.

Tried to rake the yard but it's like a ice rink, thawed on top but still frozen underneath.

Went to the grandsons junior wrestling in the district playoffs, he took all 3 matches and is now heading to the states at the University of Pittsburgh this weekend, hope he does well.

Got a letter in the mail for my 50 year class reunion set for June, can't wait, seems like yesterday that I was in school.

Bagged up the lentils in mylar and got them in 5 gallon buckets labelled, dated and stacked with the other LTS buckets. Picked up some more pasta sauce that was on sale for our short to mid-term preps (2-3 years expiration dates.)

Otherwise it was more of a food pantry weekend as we bought and donated a bunch of cereal, pasta and canned goods that were on deep discount at the local markets. I try to make the supermarkets regret any loss leaders they put on sale without limits - pasta at $0.77 per pound? I'll take 30 please.

I found a GREAT deal at our local discount grocer:
Cornbread stuffing: 8/97cents
Muffin Mix (Pumpkin Spice) .07 cents/pkg
Cookie Mix (Pumpkin Spice) .07 cents/pkg
Jello Instant Pudding Mix 3/1.00

I know they mixes were fall flavors & at expiration date, but since I also know shelf life is a LOT longer than those dates, I bought a LOT! They only need 'milk' to mix, so it would be a good way to use powdered milk up, too.

The dog got sick with pancreatitis so now he's on 3 meds, has a case of special dog food and we have to change his diet some. I got some advice from my vet tech SIL - made him some chicken and rice meatballs for treats, he loves them. I'll be trying sweet potato next for treats. When he comes off the meds, we'll be looking at different foods for him.

Grocery shopping today:
Restocked what we used
1 case of bottled water for the car
2 packs of plastic soup containers

LTS:
2 gallons bottled water
Canned goods to replace what we tossed

I scored a bunch of toddler clothes and a pair of boots for the niece - $20.