3 month supply

[Truegrits]

amightyfortress, thanks for the laugh... :lol:

[KrazyKay]

This is something I've been feeling strongly about, building a food storage... so strongly I admit I'm now a little behind on some bills - not so far behind I'm in serious trouble, but just a month or two on a few, lol. But my family has about a 2 month supply of food as well as 64 bottles of water per person. I have 2 of those big blue water barrels in my back yard that I haven't filled yet. That water in the barrels (after I get them filled) will be for cleaning... but I don't remember how much chlorine to put in there with the water. I think these water barrels hold 30 gallons of water each - I could be wrong but that is what I seem to recall I was told when I got them. Does anyone know how much chlorine to add to keep the water clean enough to use for cleaning (clothes, dishes, baths, etc.)?

amightyfortress, I loved that youtube video, it reminded me of growing up and my mom would make something from the food storage that only she and my dad liked, lol.

[GingerGolden]

adding more and more salt.

ruined a stock pot full of bean soup, and we had to toss out 9/10 of it, that is when we got rid of the clear glass salt shaker, got the metal ones and filled it with rice. The salt shaker we used to season with was put in the cupboard, the metal salt shaker with rice only was left on the stove. She would shake away, taste, and think she had seasoned the food. Living on the Oregon coast, my spice jars always glumped up. This is from the moisture in the air. I just added rice to all of my spices. I would make little rice bags from tea bag material. (get from a Food Co-op or an herbalist) Works great.

Mawmaw's tip for curing to much salt.

Toss in a few cut up potatoes and they will soak up the extra salt, unless you just have total brine from an overdose of salt.

[amightyfortress]

I thought it was hysterically funny when Bernanke, Bush, and other politicians started talking about these tax rebates and other temporary spending measures to stimulate the economy. How do you "temporarily" spend anything? What, were they planning on getting it back from us later? Were they going to return a few tanks for a refund? I would sure like to do that in my house. I would like to be able to do temporary spending. I think my wife actually does that sometimes -- I have never seen anyone who returns so much stuff. But the fact is, once you have spent money, it is spent. There is nothing temporary about it.

Be that as it may -- sooner or later we are going to have a recession, probably sooner if the economic indicators are accurate. This recession will probably be deeper than most recessions of recent years and longer. I don't want to get into the whys of all this, but it is not something that the government can really control. People start expecting a recession, so they pull in their belts, and sure enough, the recession happens. Duh.

Anyway, keeping your food storage is a great way to even out the effects of economic fluctuations. In time of inflation, you are always saving money by buying in bulk and living on last year's prices. In recession, you have a cushion that can be very valuable when business is bad. It is the poor man's way to invest in commodities, and it is a sure winner. (As opposed to the rich man's investments in the commodities market, which is a sure loser -- why do people think they can consistently out-guess General Mills and R.J. Nabisco in the commodities market? They can't.)

Your food storage takes advantage of the fact that a penny saved is equal to two pennies earned. Half of what you earn goes to taxes, but you pay no taxes at all on what you save. This is why those who diligently acquire and maintain a food storage manage to have a much smaller food bill than those who do not.

That is so true. Food inflation is going up so fast. The 20 pound bags of rice I bought for $7.99 are now over $16. Corned beef hash I paid .99 cents a can for is now $1.29. 39 cent vegetables are now 55-65 cents each. There isn't an item on my shelves that hasn't gone up tremendously in price--including the BIG boxes of powdered milk that make 20 quarts that I purchased for $5.99 and are now selling for $14.99 (sure glad I bought three years worth).

I'm not planning to quit eating--I'll need the stuff anyway--so I keep plenty on hand. All that savings is tax-free "profit".

I keep a little over a 3 year food supply (working on upping that to a 7 year supply). At my house, I'm still enjoying 2006 .39 cent a can tuna :)

[GingerGolden]

I agree, about 3 weeks ago, I was grocery shopping way down in Mississippi and compared to some other states our price of living and pay per work is lower, they say.

My youngest loves hotdogs.

I went to pick up some of the big packs that she likes.

They had been about $4 with tax before and this time they were almost $8.

Of course, I left them where they were and opted for the lower priced item sitting beside it...