Prepping/stocking supplies

[Hinotori]

Lids are hit or miss here, but I have seen them often enough. Hubby told me to get more, but I have 180 boxes. I think Im good.

I kind of went wild a few months before the shortage happened because I had a really bad feeling about lids. I'd buy a dozen every grocery trip.

Then I started cleaning house and found boxes of lids Id put away in many different places. It all added up. That was on top of the 60 lid boxes Id known I had before that. I use a lot of lids canning fish and was making sure I had enough. Can't reuse those lids as they always bend badly removing them.

 

[tortoise]

Last year, I can't tell you how many stores I called and went to looking for lids. I even ordered from Amazon and they were supposed to be Ball brand but they were a cheap China knock off. I had to return them and ended up ordering them from Ebay. I should look into that again

Rumor has been that Ball lids would be restocked April 2022. They had manufacturing problems. You should be able to get them soon. I have found some decent off-brand lids and some that are better than Ball. I'm not convinced the canning jar lid shortage will last much longer, but if it does we have some decent alternatives. If you are looking for long-term stocking, remember that lids should be used within 1 year of purchase. (however, my older lids sealed just fine)

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Looks like we are at the abnormally dry, which I totally believe. This snow is just being sucked up into the ground and/or evaporated.

I did hear about the reservoir that supplies electricity to lots of individuals but I didn't hear the what if.

I did hear projected dry/drought areas again this year and growing. We have been stockpiling on meat of all kinds here. I can't believe how expensive it has gotten, at one of the local farms we buy from it is $19/lb for steak.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Ran through Wally World this morning. Stocked up on about 6 months of paper products. Prices are up, but the shelves were basically full.

Ball canning jars in ample supply. Both Golden Harvest and Ball lids were plentiful. I bought 8 dozen. I think I have 20+ dozen lids now stashed away.

 

[flowerbug]

Be nice if they quit flood irritating almond trees in California. Hubby saw a lot of that happening around where he worked when he was sent down there.

Flood irritation wastes water. They quit doing that over in NE Oregon back in the 80s because of the waste. Almond trees are water hogs and shouldn't be grown there anyway. All the people who go on about how much water cows drink and then pour themselves some almond milk are hypocrites.

irrigation is the word i think you meant there.

in some areas CA needs to recharge the acquifers and flooding areas to soak in is one way to do it. they are also doing experiments to see if such practices have a negative effect on almond trees, alfalfa and grapes (and perhaps others i've not heard about yet).

some years they have had extra water that they could not store in their reservoirs and so it makes sense to transport it to places where it can be soaked in instead of letting it all flow out to sea. they're working on building out what they need to accomplish this and also figuring out the best places for doing it.

not that during other times they shouldn't conserve water or use it more efficiently. compared to many areas the SW uses much less water than they used to per person and they'll keep improving as they bring various recycling plants on-line.

 

[Chic Rustler]

oh! I added whole milk powder and heavy cream powder to my pantry. It helps a lot when grocery trips are infrequent. I like cooking with heavy cream powder and it saves a fortune compared to buying fresh. I haven't bought fresh cream since.

thats a good idea!

 

[Rammy]

You can make a candle out of Crisco, the solid kind.

 

[tripletfeb]

Hi all! My hubby and I are thinking and trying to stock up on things. But we are total newbies! Any advice on good food products to stock up on? We did see Keystone canned meat products and they looked good, thoughts?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hi and welcome from Texas! I'm not familiar with Keystone products but there are threads on this forum pretty well dedicated to stocking up. I'll attach a couple of links.

Best foodstuff to stockpile?

As the title says, what do you consider the best foodstuff to stockpile? Considering things like essentials, stores well and long, etc.

www.sufficientself.com

Top 100 Items to Disappear First During a National Emergency

We've seen the list before but I printed it out and have been marking things off as we get them. It's a nice reminder! Top 100 Items to Disappear First During a National Emergency 1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy...target of thieves; maintenance etc.) 2. Water...

www.sufficientself.com

 

[tortoise]

Hi all! My hubby and I are thinking and trying to stock up on things. But we are total newbies! Any advice on good food products to stock up on? We did see Keystone canned meat products and they looked good, thoughts?

Hi @tripletfeb ! Welcome! The best foods to stock up on are those that you already eat and that promote health for you. Think more like "deep pantry" instead of bunker. After you have a deep pantry, then you can move on to longer-term food storage if you're interested in that.

If you don't have any food storage now, then pick up a couple extra non-perishables whenever you can to add a week worth of food, then another week, etc. Balance out your pantry, if you stock 10 pounds of pasta, don't forget some sauces or sides to make a healthy meal. Surviving is underrated if you are debilitated by malnutrition (speaking from personal experience here...)

As discussed on other threads, we also need to account for changing buying patterns when people panic. 2020 gave us good lessons on what can be expected. If you bake, stock up on yeast (keep it in the freezer) because people panic buy it and the supply chain is slow to recover, for example.