Are you Stocking Up or Preparing for an Emergency? Support Thread - Page 3

[velochic]

Originally Posted by fek&fuzz

I also need more candles. I burn them in the evenings anyway, but I want to have a stash for power outages.

Although I can make my own now that my dad taught me, I built up a stash of over 300 candles from after Christmas sales over the years. They are 75% off. I love to burn them too, so each Christmas bring my stock back up.

[EyesOfTheWorld]

Originally Posted by LizzyQ

I love those (Far East Brand, I think?)!! I always take those camping, and can be eaten right out of the package if need-be. I think I will buy about 6 of those for our BOB.

We don't have any candles.. well we have scented ones

I go through more diced tomatoes than anything else canned!

Do you have any good recipes for diced tomatoes? DH bought a bunch at Costco months ago for some unknown reason, and they're just taking up all my pantry space now! And of course, I'm overrun with tomatoes from our garden too, and the kids hate tomatoes. I need to get a canner ASAP so I can make sauce.

[Jenivere]

I could use my broiler pan for laundry, I never cook with it.

[aihcalappa]

Originally Posted by Jenivere

I'm hoping to find a washboard at one of the local antique shops but getting a plunger and some five gallon buckets is easy to do.

I told my husband I wanted to buy a washboard, and he told me you can make them for cheap with a piece of corrugated metal and a bit of wood. He's gonna make me one! :

[mamadelbosque]

I canned 97 quarts of tomatoes plus 18 pints this summer. I use them All. The. Time. I make them into salsa (blend with chili peper (1TBSP), then mix in onions, garlic powder, oregano, and cilantro to taste), spaghetti sauce (cook with 6-8oz of tomato paste, and spices (oregano, basil, parsley, garlic powder, lil salt & pepper), and a bit of vinegar/wine), and in lots of other recipes for other stuff! Sorry I don't have exact measurments, I never measure anymore!!

[A&A]

Originally Posted by karina5

But one thing I do wonder about, is how much time do I have? When do you think that everything is going to chaos? (sh*t hitting the fan, as I've read). I mean, are people trying to get things stockpiled by the end of the month? I don't know, it may sound like a silly question, but what is the "Stockpile Timeline" so to speak.

Astrological signs point to around the end of Nov.

(I realize that not everyone believes in astrology.)

[A&A]

Originally Posted by karina5

Wouldn't cash be worthless though?

Not necessarily.

Cash was still king during the Great Depression. Hardly anyone had any, though.

[StacyL]

Originally Posted by EyesOfTheWorld

Do you have any good recipes for diced tomatoes? DH bought a bunch at Costco months ago for some unknown reason, and they're just taking up all my pantry space now!

Best Marinara Sauce

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (or 2-14 oz. cans)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/8 C. olive oil
1 small carrot, grated
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 tsp. thyme, or oregano, or basil
1/4 C. water
salt, pepper

Saute onions and carrot in olive oil in a 3 qt. saucepan 2-3 min. Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, garlic, herbs, and season with salt & pepper. Cook over medium heat about 30 minutes until texure of oatmeal. Reserve about 2/3 cup (if you like some chunks), set aside and puree remainder of sauce in a blender or food processor. Return to pot, add reserved sauce and stir together. Voila! Can be served over spaghetti, with meatballs, chicken parmesean, or in a lasagna.

[quelindo]

I have a question -- we (finally!) have a decent chunk of money in savings. It's possibly enough to get us through a few months if DH would lose his job. It also happens to be about the exact amount we need to re-build our chimney and put in a high-efficiency wood-burning stove insert in our fireplace.

I guess I'm just freaking out that we'll lose the money somehow (it's in ING) and that we could have made a major home improvement with it (one that could have kept us warm in winter). KWIM? WWYD?

[StacyL]

Originally Posted by harpyr

I'm thinking of going on a big shopping trip this weekend and was wondering about vitamins. I have a feeling that a bunch of gummy vitamins probably aren't the most efficient or cost effective choice. Does any one have a recommendations?

Vitamins - Trader Joe's has excellent and cheap kids chewables, and cheap adult multivitamins.

I also bought a big container of Tang drink mix (NON-aspartame, real sugar kind) for a good vitamin C source. Vitamin C would become VERY important if food became scarce. I also thought the kids would enjoy it as a juice substitute if no juice were available.

[annethcz]

Originally Posted by Krisis

Oh my gosh, I am SUCH a geek. Look what I just found!

Make an oven from a CARDBOARD BOX!!!

I am so excited.

I posted this link on the other thread, but here it is again. This page has instructions to make a whole bunch of different solar ovens, most of them very cheaply.
http://solarcooking.org/plans/

[StacyL]

Originally Posted by New Mama

I have a question -- we (finally!) have a decent chunk of money in savings. It's possibly enough to get us through a few months if DH would lose his job. It also happens to be about the exact amount we need to re-build our chimney and put in a high-efficiency wood-burning stove insert in our fireplace.

I guess I'm just freaking out that we'll lose the money somehow (it's in ING) and that we could have made a major home improvement with it (one that could have kept us warm in winter). KWIM? WWYD?

Personally, I would never run my savings down to zero to make a home improvement. You should always keep some kind of an untouchable emergency fund, and right now you should have a portion of your emergency fund IN CASH IN YOUR HOUSE in case of a banking shut-down.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by New Mama

I have a question -- we (finally!) have a decent chunk of money in savings. It's possibly enough to get us through a few months if DH would lose his job. It also happens to be about the exact amount we need to re-build our chimney and put in a high-efficiency wood-burning stove insert in our fireplace.

I guess I'm just freaking out that we'll lose the money somehow (it's in ING) and that we could have made a major home improvement with it (one that could have kept us warm in winter). KWIM? WWYD?

Hands down, fix the fireplace! I'd rather me warm and broke then rich and freezing my arse off.

[quelindo]

Originally Posted by StacyL

Personally, I would never run my savings down to zero to make a home improvement. You should always keep some kind of an untouchable emergency fund, and right now you should have a portion of your emergency fund IN CASH IN YOUR HOUSE in case of a banking shut-down.

I'm working on that. Anyone know of any guidelines as to how much money and in what denominations?

[quelindo]

Originally Posted by Satori

Hands down, fix the fireplace! I'd rather me warm and broke then rich and freezing my arse off.

Lol. DH's job seems secure (or as secure as someone can say at this point), but then I worry.

The scenarios are:

A) DH loses his job, we've spent the money on the fireplace, and we're warm but can't afford to pay the mortgage.

OR

B) Something happens to the bank and we lose our savings, and we didn't get to fix the fireplace.

I guess I just need to weigh which seems more likely at this point...which isn't easy.

[StacyL]

Let's talk gas...

Let's say you can go about 300 miles on a full tank of gas. That is a pretty good distance to be able to travel from your immediate area, if needed, to evacuate from any dangerous situtation. I would store that amount of gas.

I have (3) 5-gal. containers stored. My tank is 20 gal. and if I never go below half empty, I can fill it up and have 5 extra gallons, and take my empty containers with me.

Also, at all times I carry an extensive First Aid kit in my car, including a dust mask for me and each child, contact lens solution & case, Swiss Army Knife, super glue, flashlight, water, and meal replacement bars, just in case TSHTF and I was not at home when it did, e.g. earthquake, terrorist attack, etc...

Super glue is great for holding a wound together when you don't have sutures!

[StacyL]

Originally Posted by New Mama

I'm working on that. Anyone know of any guidelines as to how much money and in what denominations?

I would say at least 2 weeks worth of living expenses, maybe a month is better. Then your dh can still buy gas to get to work if the banks are closed and you can still buy food. I wouldn't keep anything over a $20 for denomination.

[salmontree]

Thanks for all the vitamin suggestions y'all. Man do I miss Trader Joe's! When I lived in Portland I was right next door to one and that was the schiznit. Nada one up here in AK.

I think I'll stock up on Emergency and maybe Tang. I'll check around for some decent affordable multivitamins. Tang is funny.. it reminds me of my grandparents who lived through the Depression.. They always had plenty of Tang around.

[dubfam]

nak

Sooo...DH Filled up with Gas and got $500 cash out of the bank today...

I am thinking that if there IS a banking holiday, I am hoping that our utilities wouldn't get shut off (for non payment) since most people would be unable to pay. I would think they would accept checks or electronic payments that could be collected when the banks reopened. Am I being naive about that??
I am just wondering about the urgency of making sure that they are all current.

We are wanting to get a BOB ready...StacyL that is a good idea about car supplies...we are also in quake country, so you never know WHEN it could happen.

I organized our dry goods stock pile today and I was surprised how much we actually have. :

I was thinking it might be fun to share pics of our stashes and stock piles...I am going to try and take some of mine tomorrow. I think we have about a months worth of food. Just a few months ago we never had more than a few days worth. We are really figuring this out, and we are saving so much time and $$


.

[EyesOfTheWorld]

Thanks for the tomato recipes! Hopefully I'll get a canner this weekend and work on the ones taking over my counter (I also can't wait to go apple picking and can applesauce instead of freezing it this year), then start plowing through the diced ones crammed into my tiny pantry. That was the one downfall about this house as opposed to our old townhouse, the townhouse had a b-i-g pantry and I didn't want to give that up!

I'm mostly trying to stock up food as it's on sale, like I've always done, but now I think about if DH loses his job or food prices sky-rocket, at least we'll have a few months of food on hand; even if at the end we're not eating too well.

But I just had a thought reading this and looking at all the great links people have been posting to good info - if we couldn't pay our internet bill (I hope it never comes to that!) I wouldn't have access to this info, or AllRecipes (which would be the end of me!). So I'm printing off a bunch of info to keep in a binder, and finally organizing all my recipes I have online into my grandma's old recipe box, which I've been meaning to do forever.