60 minutes fall-out

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Has anyone heard of any increase in preparations since the 60 minutes show? My wife was in the small amish general store she visits every one to two weeks. We know the owners well. She said the store was unusually crowded and the owner stated people were mentioning something about a 60 minutes show. I was in Lehman's last Saturday and it wasn't crowded at all...the shelves were full. I wonder if that has changed this week?

-- lparks (lparks@eurekanet.com), May 27, 1999

Answers

I was out walking the dogs yesterday, and my neighbor mentioned her parents in Florida didn't want to visit this Christmas after watching the 60 min. show, they were a little freaked out. She asked me if she could borrow the video I recorded. I'd say Yes, a few grasshoppers are awakening! Be ready to calm them down to take action, and not panic!Aloha!

-- Justin Case (justin case@Aloha.com), May 27, 1999.

Early GI tend to think in terms of converting all wealth to gold.

It may be worth suggesting to recent GI that food and water are important.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), May 27, 1999.


Much of the recent declines in technology stocks are due to the 60 minutes show. Maybe some people are finally starting to wake up!

-- @ (@@@.@), May 27, 1999.

and then they'll probably go right back to sleep,we are a nation addicted to that all powerful narcotic amnesiac,television.

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), May 28, 1999.

I haven't noticed anything changing around here as of yesterday. Hypermart had an abundance of dry-milk with expiration dates of September, 2000, so I picked up another big box along with more olive oil, pancake mix, etc. Six months ago they had NO dry milk. I didn't check out the camping section.

Kroger still has a sale on drinking water for $.50/gallon and pork & beans @ 3/1.00.

Just to provide conversation, I also noticed that Kroger still has an abundance of canning jars, etc. I'm not into that myself. I could kill folks on the stuff I NORMALLY cook without trying to can stuff. Heck, I don't even cook half the stuff I grow in my garden. If you don't like fresh, uncooked veggies, that's YOUR problem. [grin]

I suspect Zoobie is correct. The 60-minute special was either met by some as "ho-hum...anything GOOD on?" or not seen at all because folks were outside during the airing, enjoying the lovely weather.

Anita

-- Anita Spooner (spoonera@msn.com), May 28, 1999.



When buying canned goods, its important to interpret the product codes that are stamped onto the cans. Although you hear that things like pork&beans "generally" last 2 years, a lot of the stuff on sale have older packing dates. (If you go over to www.prepare4y2k.com you can find a link to where someone has nicely written up how to interpret various canner's packing codes, which differ as there is no uniform standard.)

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.om), May 28, 1999.

Hi, King of Spain.

The pork n'beans I purchased yesterday are of the Campbell variety and they ALWAYS clearly mark their expiration dates. Even at 3/$1.00 they don't expire until April of 2001.

I'll save the posters the trouble of searching out a link somewhere else and provide the guidelines that I felt were no longer necessary.

If any of you are stocking Kroger brand canned goods, this is what their code means. There are two lines stamped on the can. Ignore the second line. The first line will have something like 7H826 (canned 8/26/97) 7 Year canned H Manufacturing plant 8 Month canned 26 Day of month canned Also, Kroger is recommending the following as maximum shelf life: Soup 3 years Fruit 2 years Tomato products 18 months Vegetable 2 years Tuna 5 years Canned Meat 3 years ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------

Home Depot sells a small 8 oz. bottle of "kero-Klean" kerosene fuel treatment that "reduces odor, cleans wicks, reduces condensation, extends wick life, and increases efficiency of kerosene." The stuff is cheap and does seem to help. It is sold for kerosene heaters but works well in lamp oil or kerosene. Treated Kerosene and lamp oils do seem to burn cleaner in any lamp we have tried with this product. Kero-Klean comes in several scents. Our favorite is Pine. (We usually buy unscented anything if available!)

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Before I list specific manufacturers there is one fairly widely used code key that may be useful. Some processors use a system where all the days of the year are listed 1-365 (366 for leap year) as the first three digits in the code. This number is then followed by a single letter such as "B" and then by a single digit that represents the year. Some examples of this might be: Packing code Date packed

045B97 February 14, 1997 101H98 May 1, 1998 134K96 July 4, 1996 252U98 October 31, 1998 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------

ARMOUR STAR CANNED MEAT PRODUCTS Vienna Sausage, Stew, Chili, Deviled Ham, Potted Meat, Slice Dried Beef, Soups, etc. but does NOT include Armour Star Roast Beef or Corned Beef. The code is on the bottom of the container. The first letter is the month of production; A=January, B=February, C=March and so on. The following two numbers represent the day of the month it was processed and the third number indicates the year. Example: A code of B148C23 would be B=Feb, 14 = the fourteenth day, 8=1998. B148C23=February 14, 1998 and the last three characters would be plant or processing line locations. Armour Star Microwaveable Meals have a two line production code on the container lid. The second line is the is date and uses the same code as above.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ BUSH BROTHERS & CO. Baked beans, chili, etc. A five digit code on the bottom of the can. The first digit is the month, the next two digits is the day of the month, the next number is the year and the last digit is ignored. Example: A code of 50173 deciphers to be: 5 = the fifth month or May 01 = the first day of May 7 = 1997 3 = last number is discarded. Thus 50173 is May 1st, 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- DEL MONTE Canned fruits, vegetables, etc. I'm not sure if it applies to *all* product lines. A five character packing code, usually on the bottom. The first character is a digit representing the year. The next three characters are digits representing the day of the year the product was packed. The last character is a letter and may be ignored. Example: A packing code of 8045B deciphers to be: 8 = 1998 045 = The 45th day of the year or February 14th. B = A plant code. Thus 8045B is February 14th, 1998. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- GENERAL MILLS: The manufacturing date is coded to their fiscal year that begins on June 1st and ends on May 31st. Interpret the code as follows: The first character of the code is a letter and represents the month the product was made. The second character in the code is a number which represents the year the product was made. The following two characters are numbers that represent the day of the month the product was made. The remaining characters following identify plant location and shift information. Example: A packing code of E731B would translate as follows: E = October 7 = 1997 31 = 31st day of the month B = A plant location The following is their 12 month cycle. The letter "I" is not used because it can be confused with the number "1". A = June E = October J = February B = July F = November K = March C = August G = December L = April D = September H = January M = May ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- HANOVER FOODS CORP. Small whole potatoes, green beans, corn, etc. A five digit code on the bottom of the can. Omit the first digit. The next digit is the year. The remaining three digits are the day of the year the product was packed. Example: A code of 28304 deciphers to be: 2 - discard this number 304 = the 304th day of the year or October 31st Thus 28304 is October 31st, 1998 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- HEALTHY CHOICE: First character is a number, second is a letter with the remaining characters being a lot ID. The number is the year it was packed with the letter being the month, October = A, November = B, December = C, January = D, and so on through the year. The recommended shelf life is 2 years.

HORMEL PRODUCTS Their packing code is a letter followed by five numbers. The letter is their plant location and the numbers are the dating code in a MM- DD-Y format. Example: A code of G07048 decodes to mean: G = plant location 07 = July 04 = The fourth day of the month 8 = 1998 The can was packed July 4, 1998 at plant location G. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ McCORMICK HERBS & SPICES: (See also http://www.mccormick.com/info/oftenasked.html ) There should be a four digit number of the bottom of the spice package or extract bottle. On foil packages, it will be around the outside edge. This code is more complicated than other manufacturers so read closely. Example: Using a number 3604 as the packing code: To derive the year, take the first number and add 5 (3 + 5 = 8) so 1998 is the year of manufacture. To derive the month and day, divide the last three digits by 50 (604 w 50 = 6 with 4 remaining). The six indicates the last whole or complete month before the month of production, January, February, March, April, May, and then June. The next month, July, is the production month. The 4 remaining is the day it was produced. Therefore a packing code of 3604 means that product was packed July 4, 1998. While not as precise, you can save considerable time by just finding the year. The last three digits representing the day and month will increase as the year grows.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------- PROGRESSO FOODS Canned soups, beans, etc. Two lines of code on top of the can. The top line, the first two characters are the date portion. The first character is a letter indicating the month and the second character is a digit indicating the year. Example: A packing code of L7N18 1211 (this is the first line) would be: L = 12th month or December 7 = 1997 N18 = ignored 1211= ignored. Thus a packing code of L7N18 1211 indicates the can was packed in December of 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------

Anita

-- Anita Spooner (spoonera@msn.com), May 28, 1999.


Anita,

Excellent post, thanks for the info.

-- lparks (lparks@eurekanet.com), May 28, 1999.


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