Thinking beyond 36 toilet rolls .and water bottles.A question for townfolk.

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How long are you laying in supplies for ? Three months,six momths a year?

Imagine this:

Your stash is running out and the bad news is still coming in.

What are you going to do ? Join the food line ?

Needs thinking about.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 31, 1999

Answers

Chris...I have been preparing us for a year without JIT foods. Hubby has prepared us for at least a year off the grid. I think I am prepared, but every time I go to the dollar store I get a case of TP and paper towels. Every now and then, I think of some thing I "can't live without" and off to WalMart I go. Like more seeds. Can't have too many seeds. I need about 10 cases more of canning jars, but they are in short supply around here and about $8/cs. I have been picking up jars at the yard sales and hubby has brought several cases home from the landfill. If WalMart hears that a jar is broken in a case, the unopened cs goes into the land fill. One day at a time, I guess. We will know soon whether or not we have too little or too much.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie @aol.com), May 31, 1999.


Speaking of canning jars....I found a huge display of regular quart canning jars (Golden Harvest brand) at Big Lots last week for $3.99/case of 12. I'm embarrassed to tell how many cases I bought, and that's in addition to the many I already had! Don't know if you have this store in your area (they sell close outs, etc.), but it's worth a look if you do. They also had plenty of lids. The cheapest price I had found for jars was close to $7/case and that was at WalMart, so this is a good price. They didn't have the pints like I was looking for, but I'll keep going back to check.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), May 31, 1999.

For some reason our Big Lots never has canning jars. Occasionally they have lids. I keep checking Big Lots but they don't seem to get much worth while. The landfill is our provider. Yesterday was a Bonanza day. Older people move down here and die or go into nursing homes or move back north with kids. The kids flly down here on Friday, clean out the house which all goes to landfill, and are back at work Monday morning. Yesterday he came home with a tool box of tools (quite common) two leaf blowers and a weed eater (all like new and work) a set of Revere pots and pans, about 50 new candles, two large boxes of yarn and an almost new Vita Mix. Its missing the lid, but I am sure I can order one. I wore two of those things out back in the 70s before I got my stone wheat grinder. Oh yes, 5 cases of canning jars. Its like a treasure hunt for the guys at work. But if they are pushed they have to just bury it all and some of the stuff that gets buried will make you cry. A lot of stuff we don't need or want and we give to others or barter. We had a gas powered leaf blower and I bartered that for a set of steps of expanded metal that I needed.

Got lots of tradin' stock??

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie @aol.com), May 31, 1999.


Taz, Snap!Picked up a Coleman lamp this afternoon for US equiv of 4 Dollars.Spent last two hours cleaning it up.Needs a new glass shade & the pump plunger,which seems to be aluminium, needs replacing.

I put the question to make people think beyond March 2000.It is very easy to get caught up in the "buying thing" without realising that items not directly of use inside the house(such as fencing,nails etc,decent size transport may be just as important in the long run. Some of us who have land have prepared for the long haul but many town folk really need to think about the consequences of prolonged disruptions now.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), May 31, 1999.


Chris:

I've obtained enough dehydrated, freeze-dried and canned foods to last at least four years. My stock of TP and Ivory soap will last at least three years. Many other items I'm slowly stocking up, paycheck by paycheck. I'm looking for bargains more than ever. My residence is resembling a warehouse more than ever.

However, the huge amount of items I possess (now more than 200,000 matches!) will be shared with family members, friends and neighbors. That's why what I have won't last long. If I kept these provisions all to myself, I could survive for a long time. But when I share, I'll end up starving with the grasshoppers.

And yet, there is cause for hope. I have thousands and thousands of garden seeds, a new tiller, extra parts, gear oil, transmission oil and Coleman fuel (in case gasoline becomes unavailable) to grow fresh vegetables. I have backups and low tech alternatives ready now before the bad surprises happen.

I've done my part to stimulate the local economy, but not on the same level as those Teanie Beanie Baby collectors visiting McDonalds daily...

-- dinosaur (dinosaur@williams-net.com), May 31, 1999.



We bougfht all our canning jars at the local thrift stores. Average price is about 25 cents each. Go check them out!

-- freddie (freddie@thefreeloader.com), May 31, 1999.

We get 'em at the thrift store, too. bought a thousand or so at 15 cents apiece, giving bunches to my sister, friends. Get apple boxes from the produce departments, cut boxes to 7 inches tall, and cut dividers from the cardboard scrap. 15 quarts fit in a box, and now you've got solid, portable cases, easier to handle than singles.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), June 01, 1999.

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