At the beginning of May, I decided to not buy anything at the grocery store or liquor store for a month and just live off my pantry.
First, how did I do? Well, I failed. First – I bought carrots and celery. I have a new fridge and it froze the carrots and celery I had, so I replaced them.
Then, closer to the end of the month, I needed eggs, limes, onions, and cream. So I failed again.
But, this was still far less than I usually buy in a month. This was a silly challenge, but definitely led to some insights. I definitely identified areas I need to improve:
I need more varieties of frozen and canned vegetables. I need to keep more onions and garlic on hand.
I also need to better organize my pantry and freezer. When I got my new fridge, I discovered that I had two open packages of frozen peas. I have solved this problem by putting a plastic tray in the freezer and putting open vegetables in that bin.
I need to do better in terms of rotating stock and making sure I use things up. I have cassava flour and maseca corn flour that needs to be used up. That is a goal for next month.
I think this is a good exercise to make sure you are using up pantry items and I will likely do it again.
Have any you tested your pantry? How did it go?
I am woefully unprepared for disruptions.
This unfortunately.
The next place will have a chicken coup and large garden as a minimum.
I saw a really sexy chicken coop the other day. I can’t wait til I have land outside the village.
Q.Q
Just moved into an area with an HOA, no chickens allowed. It was one of the least restrictive I could find…
I wonder if I stealthed one in if I’d have any issues… They seem pretty lax on enforcement of the rules. How much do chickens stink?
I think it’s the noise that will attract attention. We’re not supposed to have chickens in our neighborhood, but someone does in a small coop next to their house. You’d never know it was there, but one of the other neighbors complained about the noise. I think they had a rooster.
Okay, well, I wouldn’t want a rooster anyway.
You may discover you have raccoons…
One of my buddies I play cards with just had 12 of 13 birds wiped out in one night.
A rooster will at least raise a ruckus when that happens.
Guinea hens are also useful, but both of those options are noisy.
There’s some entertaining local battles in some of the suburbs. The new hipsters moving in and the old timers living there both keep raising chickens, even when it’s officially banned (some suburbs allow it, others have regulations, others have it banned).
The other day I saw a mobile chicken coop. It was like a tall cart and had wheels. I wonder if they sell those.
Chicken tractor
The radio station I used to work at had this mobile broadcasting trailer that took around to events, it was shaped like a boombox. When I started working there I asked what had happened to it. When the trailer it was built on was no longer road worthy they sold a to guy who used it as a chicken coop.
Chicken coup?
It was supposed to be a chicken coupe!
Obligatory.
Chicken coupe?
2 Chickens 1 Coupe?
Chicken coup-ay?
Same here. My wife is allergic to stocking up and moving didn’t help. I had an awesome stock built up in Buffalo, built a 50-foot long storage shelf and made a portion of that non perishable food. Sadly, no basement here.
Anyone who has lived in both climates can understand why equatorial regions naturally trend towards poverty. Can’t work hard when it’s 90 degrees and it’s all going to spoil and turn into insects anyway.
This was an interesting idea. I’ve heard from multiple authors and podcasters that you should treat life as a series of experiments, and with each one, as long as you learned something, you succeeded. So I wouldn’t say you failed at anything here.
Every so often we do clean out the pantry, but not in an organized manner like you did. One thing that is overdue is cleaning out our 3 freezers. We will put the contents from all the freezers on the garage floor, throw out anything bad, and reorganize (put all the beef together, pork together, etc.)
Our pantry is a hot mess.
Did you check the thermostat?
I used to do this, and I would always find I needed to purchase vegetables, which is what got me started on the hydroponic growing thing. Trying to be low carb and vegan there’s not a ton of shelf-stable pantry items.
I did, however, successfully avoid buying spices for a good long time because I had an entire cabinet full.
This. I’m diabetic so I’m on a low carb diet. The most shelf stable foods is carbs,
I guess even most canned beans are too high in carbs?
I know there’s a range of carbs in beans, and I’m sure the preservatives that pack them in don’t help.
True.
But nuts, seeds, most nut butters, jerky, canned veggies, summer sausage, protein chips, no sugar chocolates, coconut stuff, shelf stable almond milks, etc. have a decent shelf life.
One issue with the cabinet full of spices is that they do degrade over time. The difference between freshly ground cassia (or if you’re going fancy… cinnamon) and the grocery store brown dust is a revelation. The Spice House (really good spice shop, stayed out of politics, related ownership to Penzy’s), has started doing free shipping “flatpacks” which are envelope sized packages of spices/blends.
I don’t really have a pantry. I shop like a European peasant.
Real peasants have a pantry for winter. Do you even subsistance farm, bro?
We keep very little in the pantry. Most of what we eat is fresh or frozen.
If the SHTF, I hope my neighbors are well stocked!
Interesting experiment, Tulip. I should probably bring in some staples (rice, etc).
Get your wheat products now while they’re still affordable and available.
I don’t eat any wheat, so that’s not a big deal. But I’m sure the shortages will spread to other stuff. If nothing else, the transportation costs will pummel a lot of products.
The pasta section at the store was wiped out last weekend.
And prices will likely be going up. From the North Dakota Wheat Commission weekly update:
I hope my neighbors are well stocked! – I assume you are better armed 🙂
Last Friday we took delivery of a 21.7 cubic foot freezer.
Now to fill it up with salmon, birds and moose.
Animal is going to eat well this apocalypse.
It doesn’t hurt that we’re in a small, tight-knit community. We’ve got a guy who is a master woodworker, two guys with lots of hunting guns and ammo (the woodworker and me) a guy who is a small-engine expert, a lady who raises chickens, and so on. Plus almost everyone has gardens and/or greenhouses.
It Something Bad Happens, I think we’ll be OK for a while.
I hope a generator is on the menu. A friend of mine came back from vacation to a shit-ton of ruined meat.
Yuppers. Place is already wired for it. Plus the freezer is in the garage, so maybe 1/3 of the year it’s below freezing ambient and the freezer won’t even run. (Yes, the one we bought is made for this – it’s “garage-ready.”)
We have a generator now, but I’m slowly coming around to solar panels and possibly a Powerwall or two. It feels like grid access is being interrupted more and more across the country. And this interruption as intentional as the push to drive up gas prices. Solar would provide protection beyond a generator from sustained grid failures or purposeful price spikes.
I’ll probably be replacing the roof in the next 5 years or so, and then give adding panels a hard look.
The issue with the batteries is that they are expensive and don’t last that long (7 to 12 y ears)
I’ve pondered them as an addition to the panel setup I’ve got underway, but I can’t justify the cost yet.
Financially it doesn’t make sense. Or as Go Green Power.
But I don’t know… I’m starting to try to decouple my reliance on the system as much as possible even if it doesn’t make sense. Like my $1,000/gallon milk or $50/dozen eggs (factoring in all my startup costs and learning lessons). Not necessarily striving to be off grid but striving to not be reliant on the system.
I’m less inclined on the battery backup then on adding solar. But 15 years from now, we may look at the powerwalls as a bargain for reliable power even if needing to be replaced every 10 years. We’ll see how that shakes out.
If I had the cash I might do it as a hedge against grid reliability. Right now I’m just hedging against rate increases, which are looking to be significant.
21.7 cubic foot – how much is that in liters?
614.4756.
no one needs more than 200 liters.
also is not everything frozen anyways in Alaska?
You’d really hate summers there.
Canned goods and dry goods are the way to go. LOTS of canned vegetables. And if you can deal with it, canned beans, beanie weenies and deviled ham. Powdered milk also. That and big bags of rice last forever.
I can live a month on canned and dry goods here. Sadly I may be forced to implement that diet (southern poverty diet) when things go to hell. I was not a fan of it when I was young and starving. Less so now.
I will say I salute your attempt to go a month! Like others said, life is a series of lessons. It’s harder than you think to go a month on pantry food.
It was easier than I expected. I do have canned vegetables (beans, tomatoes, artichokes, pumpkin). As well as frozen. I included frozen as part of pantry, where pantry means stored food.
It would have been easier this month as the garden is starting to really produce.
Yeah, we’ve been stocking dry beans and rice, stored in food-grade sealed containers down in the cellar. I’d guess we have a 4-5 month supply. Canned stuff (except what we’ll start canning ourselves) doesn’t really work for us, as Mrs. Animal has a very, very low tolerance for sodium, and most canned stuff is loaded with the stuff.
My wife keeps at least 2 months worth of canned goods in our pantry.
She uses fresh fruits and vegetables all the time and the cans rarely, so I guess they are more of a stockpile than actual food right now.
Have any you tested your pantry? – I would starve in 3 days
We are trying to stock up at Costco at beginning on month and only go to grocery for bread/milk type items. And eat down our pantry/freezer before restocking. So far, so good, but its been a short term experiment so far.
Yeah, we’ve been dipping into the freezer more. I vacuum pack everything, so it lasts a reasonably long time, but it still makes sense to rotate stock.
Being a mercenary probably sounded really cool at first.
British men who fought for Ukraine sentenced to death
I’ll wager that they are part of the deal (along with oil and grain) to get Russian accounts and assets unfrozen when this sad thing is wrapped up.
The unlawful combatants bullshit is finally coming around to bite the west in the butt.
Have any you tested your pantry?
I have several things that will likely expire before I use/consume them. But the pantry is full.
Are you saying that there was absolutely nothing you could make and eat without those ingredients?
you can’t make an omelette without a few eggs
No, but I didn’t want to.
I have a decent amount of frozen chicken at the moment. I need to reorder a side of beef.
I should probably have a little stock of rice, beans, lentils, and salt to complete my Jr Prepper stash.
Long term storage.
that website looks far right to me you should be on a list
We’re all already on a whole bunch of lists.
No doubt.
One more couldn’t hurt.
Thinking of the feds playing bingo.
Be careful with those. They’re often wildly optimistic with regards to kcals/day, as well as being very expensive.
Paul T. Martin’s Prepared Citizen Guide has a shopping list that will cover 2500 calories and 50 grams of protein per day, for 30 days, for under 200 bucks. It’s worth looking at.
That sort of thing has always seemed weird to me. Buying something you wouldn’t normally eat seems likely to make a bad time much worse.
I’ll eat pretty much anything if I’m hungry.
One thing I learned in SERE training (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) is that after skipping about two meals, you’ll eat anything.
https://www.farmersalmanac.com/cooking-wild-edible-cattails-25374
Mmmm…cattails.
Martin covers that exact problem. You have to modify the base grocery list to your taste. For instance, he lists canned mandarin oranges as one staple. I hate oranges, so I substituted an equal calorie value in canned peaches.
He also suggests a couple of good emergency cookbooks.
Peaches. Triggering on so many levels. NSFW but apparently safe for public television.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q42HIt_Zn-c
30 days at only 50g of protein is gonna be rough.
It’ll keep you alive and able to physically function. You sure as hell won’t gain any muscle mass on it.
You can supplement the base shopping list with other stuff – I understand that most protein powders are fairly shelf-stable. Myself, I love canned tuna and buy it 48 cans at a time.
I have mackerel and sardine. Also good and last a long time. And yeah a few bags of whey protein isolate would be good.
Ready Citizen Guide?
She needed another role that serves no purpose in which she will do nothing of value.
Vice President Kamala Harris will lead a new “Caribbean Climate Partnership” being rolled out Thursday at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles after the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico decided to snub the event — meaning Harris can’t talk to them about her work addressing the “root causes” of migration. …
“The president will announce and then the vice president will lead a Caribbean Climate Partnership that’s focused on two things: First, greater energy security as we go through the transition by getting Caribbean countries access to low carbon energy sources. And second, climate adaptation and resilience,” Sullivan said.
OFFS
What do these words even mean anymore?
“free shit”, or, in the case of elections, “fraud”
after the leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico decided to snub the event
*smiles*
Does anyone remember world leaders refusing to meet with Trump or his administration? Because all the talk of lowering our standing in the world, I don’t.
Why do I have the suspicion that Kamala asked for this, because she wants to go to the Caribbean?
I read that as a newspeak way of saying she’s spending a few weeks in Punta Cana on the beach.
That’s some A-Team level shit.
I was expecting “3,000 rounds fired, no injuries”
I love it when a plan comes together.
The KPVT is no joke. The 14.5mm cartridge is about twice as powerful than the .50BMG – it’s really more of a light cannon than a heavy machine gun.
I suspect that the recoil would spin that sedan like a top…
Did they drive two tires over a ramp and flip it over in slow motion?
This dishonest cunte is painful to watch.
“I also get asked, ‘Look, the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square?’” Biden said. “Well, guess what, if we do the same thing they do, our democracy would literally be in jeopardy and that is not a joke.”
“Literally”…
“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said. “This is a MAGA party, a very different Republican Party and you find people who are worried, I believe, that if they vote for rational gun policy, they’re gonna be primaried and they’re going to lose in a hard-right Republican primary.”
“Hard-right”… And that’s Ultra-MAGA to you.
“rational” now means “anything I want, anytime I want it, regardless of whether anyone agrees with me.”
Yep.
It’s really not worth engaging with people who have the mentality (and manners) of spoiled children denied a new toy.
“anything I want”
You got it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvR1YgT7QYs
Keep it up asshole.
Much like how the woketarians energized the Mises Caucus into a party takeover by demonizing them, Biden is turning people into permanent DNC haters with this rhetoric. There will be no reconciliation.
I love how “make America great again” is being somehow demonized. Like America first was.
The transnational elite is indeed, transnational and elitist.
+1 unity government
“this is not your father’s Republican Party”; well, that’s true. But, it’s also not your father’s Democrat party.
Blatant 1st Amendment violation, let’s see if anyone notices.
https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/twitter-and-the-department-of-homeland?s=r
This fails to surprise me, I’m sure several different layers of several bureaucracies have been doing this along all big tech avenues, and many smaller competitors. Why do you think they shifted all so seamlessly into ‘it’s a private company’ mode?
Same thing happens (openly!) in the explicitly media landscape (TV and newspapers).
Muscle for the DNC! Whaddaya talkin’ ’bout?
New fortification tactic: Arrest all MAGA/non-RINO GOP candidates before the election.
What a fascinating piece of propaganda.
Researchers at Wayne State University use gelatin to demonstrate how AR-15 styles weapons create an “explosion inside the body” compared to handguns. CNN’s Josh Campbell reports.
At least it doesn’t blow the lungs out of the body like a 9mm, or so I am told.
If you are interested in some actual data on terminal ballistics, Lucky Gunner did the definitive private test here:
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/
This one might.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg6kcw6o9kk
Does anyone have Westernsloper’s Candied Jalapenos recipe written down?
Neither of SP’s Thanksgiving recipe posts seem to be working at the moment.
westernsloper’s Candied Jalapenos
There was a place in Phoenix (can’t remember the name) that topped one of their burgers with candied japs and it was great. I had to try and duplicate it and this is what I came up with.
10 japs sliced
6 baby carrots sliced longways into 1/4’s
1 c water
1/2 c White Vinegar
1/2 c Apple Cider Vinegar
1-1/2 c sugar
Bring liquid to boil, add sugar and dissolve.
Add japs and simmer/slow boil/reduce until mixture is bubbly and thick (couple hours or so).
Jar it up and refrigerate. Top burgers, pulled pork, anything.
SP’s note: I bet this would be killer on a leftover-turkey sandwich!
Danke
Those are awesome. I love making candied jalapeños.
https://www.glibertarians.com/2021/11/5th-annual-glibertarians-thanksgiving-recipe-round-up/
Who wants to tell him?
Crazy thought, but those 20 million AR-15s now in this country could sure arm a lot of Ukrainians.
This person is dangerously ignorant/delusional.
Didn’t congress pass a “defence” budget that was more than the military asked for? If so, how about using that extra money to buy back the millions of AR-15 and other assault weapons in the US. I hear Ukraine is in the market for more military weapons. Win-win?
Look fat,
I didn’t buy the gun to sell it back to you! Get on the ground and give me twenty! I’ll beat you one handed!
How to say you’re not that bright without saying you’re not that bright.
Sulu sucks. Kirk is the best.
“Do not dumb here.
Not dumb area here.”
I don’t why I even clicked on it. Morbid curiosity, perhaps.
Amazing how after all he’s been through, he loves big brother even more. That’s as crazy as if the leading proponent for a totalitarian world government was a Jew that survived the Holocaust.
Solid gold Jerry!
aimed at objectively and judiciously seeking the truth
And I’m the queen of England. Isn’t it fun to pretend?
*hovers over link*
Huh. Surprised to find out that’s the Bee.
Another winner
Conservatives Call For Return To Traditional Strip Clubs With No Kids Or Drag Queens
And one more that the Tesla owner in me appreciates.
Tesla Employees’ Cars Will Now Drive Them To Work Against Their Will
I misread the subhead as ‘Tulip tests her panties’.
I know that makes me a total dork. But I still laughed.
Apparently, she’s been using the same pair for a month?
So this is weird. I was booking flights into Newark, NJ for a business trip and I need a car because I’ll be going to multiple sites. Flights are a reasonable $350 or so round-trip. Rentals cars – most are sold out. The only one left is Hertz who want $1,200 for a 4-day rental.
I may end up flying into a different airport (Trenton or Allentown) just so I can rent a car.
Rental car shortage. They panicked and sold off a lot of their fleet during COVID.
Also getting new vehicles is a nightmare.
And used vehicles have climbed in price as well.
I was recently quoted a trade-in price on my vehicle the other day that is equal to what I paid for it, in nominal dollars, four years ago.
As I mentioned a couple days back, just dropped over $1,000 on our 2009 Honda, which sucks. On the plus side, KBB value went from, like, $2,800 a couple years ago to well over $6,000 now!
Buckled and took the 4runner in for service on the AC. Gotta keep the beast running cause we are not in the market for a new vehicle.
Do NOT, under any circumstances, rent from Hertz unless you want to be charged with grand theft auto: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/02/11/hertz-customers-car-theft/
Yikes, we were going to rent from Hertz just recently, except we had to cancel our trip.
So that’s why OJ was running through the airport back in the day…trying to return the keys on time I guess.
Second time I ever rented a car, I was on a work trip (I was right out of college) that got extended from two weeks to two months. I never thought about it; assumed our travel agent would take care of extending the rental.
Late in the trip, I got a panicked call from one of our executive assistants saying she got a call from National Car rental telling her they were having a bench warrant issued for me for GTA. Luckily we got it resolved without the law.
Fox news is claiming high support in American for gun control. Fucking liars.
GOA campaign for today: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=17165
*America
That explains why they were fêting the Bloody Lincoln the other day.
Fox is a bunch of war mongering, big spending, pro gun control controlled opposition. Think CNN but for the ignorant right instead of the ignorant left. In other words, a bunch of lying douchebags (excepting maybe Carlson).
???
And it’s owned by men with NYC socialite wives. I’ve heard there’s pressure to keep things acceptably easy for them to socialize.
Yeah, the wives thing too…and based out of NYC…and squishy and vapid…I think I might have more in common with Jimmy Dore and Aaron Mate than them.
I like Carlson and Gutfeld alright. Stossel still work there?
Forgot about Gutfeld and I don’t think Stossel’s still there. I could be wrong about that one though.
Acta non verba.
GOA campaign for PA residents: http://www.votervoice.net/Shares/BC5krAGEBCwVXAXAENa7FAA
Thanks. I’ve been spreading these around to my contact lists.
(for some reason GOA isn’t sending me updates, even though I’m a member)
Hot chick playing with soccer ball.
Well, if there’s one thing I like, it’s a hot chick who is good at handling balls.
She did that in heels. wOw.
-1 to that mook walking down the hall and not noticing.