What did you do today to prep...

[TexDaddy]

4 hours OT today.

[nelson96]

Ran out of windex and made a batch with white vinegar and water. The mix worked better than the commercial stuff.

This is exclusively what we use to clean countertops and floors.

[SteveandTracyinKY]

Picked up 16.75 hours of OT over the last two days. At time and a half that is a little over 25 hours of paid leave on the books. Gotta get my time built up for the baby. Also its good to have available paid leave, especially with all my medical issues. Been trying to get the freezer filled with frozen water bottles to take up the extra space. Just had a leaking intake gasket fixed on the truck, and now its running better than ever, and ready for winter.

[rikkrack]

Got another 5 ricks of wood (10 total now) and stacked. Worked out deal with local guy, if I help cut and haul will get more wood stored up.

Made homemade French bread for the first time. Much better than store bought. Now time to make cream cheese spinach dip for Thanksgiving.

Taught another prepping class, may have gotten some more new listeners as a result.

Met another homesteader who is trading me duck eggs to incubate and bee hive tips in exchange for chicken eggs to incubate and aquaponics tips. So next year we will have bees and ducks.

Stocked up on groceries and LTS. Finally got tax rebate (FROM MARCH) and stocked up. Great deals on turkeys so we will have some stored up.

Ordered my pressure canner and 2 inverters recommended by Steve Harris. Completes our list of items we need for homestead completion.

[Adam Campbell]

Since the last time I posted in this thread…

Went grocery shopping with the coupon binder for the first time in several months, and while I didn't do very well overall, I did get the system down so this will be much quicker in subsequent weeks.

After clipping coupons yesterday I have a list of about $50 worth of food for about $20 using coupons to pick up at the store around the corner from me. This will definitely help me kick the habit of constantly going "out" for lunch from the office when I have quick, easy things to bring from home.

Came up with a better way of meal planning for the house, even though I live alone most of the time.

I am taking notebook sheets, one each for "entres, sides, snacks/deserts" and just listing anything I can think of that I have everything I need already in the house. This will stop me COLD whenever I am just wandering around the kitchen / pantry saying "Man… I don't have anything to make!!!" like I do all the time. I will not only know what to make for a fancy dinner, but sandwiches and snacks that take less time than ordering a pizza takes!

I am also putting my favorite recipes into a "cookbook" of sorts (just a Google Doc to share). I will probably make it a shared link from my docs account when I have a chance.

Cooked enough pulled pork to have leftovers for several weeks — need to portion them out and put in the freezer to make it last since I will get sick of eating nothing but THAT for the next 2 weeks.

Picked up a huge tenderloin on sale to cut up and freeze. I'll have enough porkchops from it for at least 4 or 5 meals, plus a large roast end for pulled pork when my new supply gets used up.

I've been thinking a lot about food and meal planning these days since I can see that is where most of the "waste" money I spend goes, AND I'm also getting sick of eating out as much as I have been. I need variety and the good healthy home cooked food in me right now. Being better with the food budget will offset the extra gas I will need for my new job.

Oh yeah, I think finding a new job counts as "prepping" since I am getting a pretty significant raise to go with it. I need to find my own health insurance, but I will have a better policy than the junk ones we can get through my employer, AND still have more money in my pocket.

Getting out of debt is a huge priority for me right now, and it has been a struggle this year. However, there are various scenarios I see playing out over the next year that will put me in a much better position financially and I can see myself getting debt wiped out or extremely under control in the next 2 years.

Took my 3 year old and a 2 year old friend of his out for a hike / biking / etc., last weekend. It is fun watching how much they love going on hikes. My 3 year old son is already going on 4-5 mile hikes without any problems or complaints. I am thinking that he will be ready to dabble in some backpacking this summer since he enjoys hiking and camping so much.

And now that I got a new job, and decided to get more organized with the food and meal planning — I am going to start getting my house the way I want it to be and sort out that area of my life more than it is.

I made a huge list on a separate sheet of paper (one for each area of the house) listing all of the things I want to accomplish in each. The basement is the only room left where I have major disorganization problems right now, so that is very high on the list. It is one of those lists I do not intend to accomplish everything on, it is a "pie in the sky" kind of thing, but semi-realistic.

It is the kind of thing to look at when I am sitting around wondering what I should be working on when I have a rainy weekend day, or the "stay"cation I am taking from my job next week.

I did get some more of the "junk" cleared out from my basement this past weekend and I did see the difference it made, but there is a long way to go. If I plan on living in this house for one more year, or even 6 more months — I want to make sure I am feeling GOOD when I am home instead of having a "panic attack" looking at the mess in certain places. Having the entire house project about 75% - 80% finished makes me feel good, but it is not where it should be yet. Getting to 100% will mean I am more organized, prepared to respond much much faster to any "event" that may or may not take place.

[LibertyBelle]

Hubby, his dad, and our two oldest went hunting on the farm this afternoon, and between the four of them, came home with two more nice sized deer for the freezer.  And I scored a box of 70 back issues of Countryside and Small Stock Journal magazines from an estate sale. These were from the earlier years and all but two were ones that I didn't already have. They were in individual protective wrappers and in mint condition, and I got them for less than $1 each.  Life is good.

[FromScratchWoman]

Hit some pre black Friday sales and scored some nice oil lamps for cheap cheap grabbed six, five more gallons of lamp oil, electric meat slicer(for when i get flat out tired of using the non electric), two savage pistol grip 10 gauge shotguns for $169 each at wallyworld(our Christmas gifts), picked up the last of the ranch panels we need for the new goat pasture, split and stacked another half cord of wood..spent less than $450 if we don't count gas

[MattR]

Been a while since I posted.   Went to the Springfield, MO "Get Prepared Expo".  Got to meet many nice people, including Margery Wildcraft.  My wife, son and I went to 20hrs worth of trainings all included in the cost of the ticket.  Best weekend ever.  Learned more in one weekend than I could have ever imagined possible.  I highly recommend going to one in your area if you ever get a chance. 

Picked up 12 #10 cans of Mountain House. 

Got some books on gardening.

Added to my knowledge by replacing my dishwasher myself. 

Took advantage of sales on can goods and added to my food storage with Thanksgiving specials as well as rotated some older, but still good, stock to give to the boy scouts scouting for food program. 

Made homemade bread. 

Picked up a 5 gal metal gas can from the local flee market for $8, just needs some paint.

Purchased a Berkey Filter.

[ncjeeper]

Picked up a big buddy heater and some 1lb propane bottles.

[Bennington1776]

Had a great day of training, knife defence.  Arms are slightly bruised.  Well worth the basic knowledge learned.

While on lunch break I was able to get some additions for my short term storage to include chicken breasts for $1.39 a pound.

Picked up the last of the items I needed to make laundry soap, borax and a couple of 5 gallon buckets.

It was interesting to see the Wal Mart I was at was almost completely out of ammo but still had some Hostice products.

[Frugal Upstate]

Today I'm getting a piano from a neighbor. It's costing me to have it moved professionally ($200)-but that's it.  It's an old fashioned upright   It will be great for my son to practice on (he's taking lessons) but also it's a form of musical entertainment that doesn't require any batteries or electricity--unlike the small portable keyboard we already have. 

Of course it is completely not portable!  But hey, that's what guitars and harmonicas are for-right?

[Adam Campbell]

Pretty busy night last evening. Went on a couponing run and had to go to 2 grocery stores because some "food hoarder" like me cleaned out the shelves of what I came in to buy.

I ended up with $54.22 worth of food for $21.22 (almost 61%) — not bad for my 2nd outing with the coupon binder! I'll never be one of those fools on TV spending 80hrs a week on my grocery shopping, but my goal for 2013 is to be financially organized. Running my kitchen as efficiently as a good restaurant kitchen (on a small scale), and eating out less is another.

Came home and thought I would bring up a small amp and some speakers from the basement since they were not being used, and my house re-organization project is taking high priority right now. What I intended to be an hour of work ended up being a 6 hour project, but I was able to make use of a few pieces of furniture, and remove 2 big pieces taking up space in the house.

After repurposing things in the house to accomplish some tasks I originally thought I would need to spend money to accomplish, AND getting more cleaning / organizing done at the same time was a nice boost.

My lack of Cable and High Speed Internet from the cable company are not bothering me in the least. My bill had crept up to over $150/mo and now I have a portable internet connection for $50 that is fast enough for everything I need, plus I moved my antenna around and picked up a bunch of new TV channels. After hooking up an antenna, using the Roku box for internet content, including this podcast, a media server set up on my "family" computer, and some other trickery I have much more "entertainment" available for 1/3 the cost every month, AND a fast enough internet connection to do any WORK that needs to get done.

Right here is a potential $300/mo savings give or take, depending on how organized I get with cooking to the point I never go out to eat for lunch when I am at work anymore. My new job is located a lot further away from any neighborhoods conducive to eating out for lunch like the place I work now.

I am hoping the new income, while simultaneously continuing to cut costs (without giving up too many things I enjoy) will help me get out of debt, and at LEAST get my monthly budget in tune.

[ttubravesrock]

Right here is a potential $300/mo savings give or take, depending on how organized I get with cooking to the point I never go out to eat for lunch when I am at work anymore. My new job is located a lot further away from any neighborhoods conducive to eating out for lunch like the place I work now.

I am hoping the new income, while simultaneously continuing to cut costs (without giving up too many things I enjoy) will help me get out of debt, and at LEAST get my monthly budget in tune.

Don't tell my coworkers, but I have a 2x2 filing cabinet system in my cubicle (four drawers total). As you probably know, filing cabinet drawers are pretty deep.  I don't have that many files.  I keep all my files at the front of my cube so that if you were to open it a foot or so, you would never know what's in the back.  If SHTF while I was at work and for some reason I could not leave, I have enough food to feed myself for approx. 2 weeks. That's a little over a month's worth just feeding myself for lunch. It's not all cheap junk food either.  Yes, I do have plenty of Ramen back there, but I also have instant rice, instant potatoes, homemade jerky, big bags of peanuts, pistachios, and cashews, tuna, homemade jam and some other good stuff.  I also have things like bags of flour, sugar, salt, and a seasoning 'missle' for making things tastier.

Here's a link to the spice thing. http://www.amazon.com/GSI-Outdoors-Spice-Missile/dp/B005045C7C/ref=pd_sim_sg_1

Everything I have here except for the standard bread, lunch meat, and cheese with mayo and mustard meets the following requirements:

1. good shelf life
2. low profile
3. tastes good
4. doesn't HAVE to be cooked (technically the ramen, rice and potatoes are edible just by adding water and waiting).

I also keep a fully stocked GHB on the floor under my desk.  It looks like a typical laptop bag.  In my truck (which I keep at least 2/3 of a tank of gas in), I keep a fully stocked Action Packer (Large size to account for the snow gear) full of food, supplies, lights, camp stove, snow gear (2xboots, 2xcoveralls, 4xsocks, 4xhats, 4xgloves). The boots actually stay outside of the action packer.  Rolled up in a tarp next to the Action Packer are two sleeping bags, two wool blankets, and two more winter jackets each with a pair of socks and a pair of gloves in the pockets. These would be used as pillows.

Sorry... I just went off on a major tangent...

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to say that you can save a lot of money on lunches at work by keeping a good stock of food at work.  I use my stock to supplement what I cook and bring from home.  That way if I forget to pack a lunch or wake up late I don't have to choose between skipping lunch or going out.

[cheryl1]

Today I am sitting in the woods, waiting for at least 100 pounds of deer meat to go walking by. No luck yet.

[nelson96]

Today I am sitting in the woods, waiting for at least 100 pounds of deer meat to go walking by. No luck yet.

Good luck . . . .  That would suck on a day like we're having here today 

[meapplejak]

Today I am sitting in the woods, waiting for at least 100 pounds of deer meat to go walking by. No luck yet.

Nice lol

[theBINKYhunter]

picked up my worms for my home-made worm tower. my kids liked them which is cool... my wife not so much... lol.

[AngusBangus]

Met a fellow TSPer... Paul in Frederick, MD.

Though my brother-in-law lives in the area, Paul and his wife are the closest thing to family that my sister-in-law has in the area. They treat her like a sister. Though Paul and I had to bear a few "crazy survivalist" jabs over dinner, everyone was happy to talk about inverters, water, preps for blackouts/ice storms, and my garden successes and (funnier) failures.

I THINK Paul's wife might go a little easier on him after meeting another nut (me) and his beautiful wife who are pretty normal but do things to live a better life even if times get rough.

Regardless, those two are living the ideals of building community and I'm proud to have met them.

[Doomtrooper]

Love my family, got an early Christmas present they got me one of the Fieldline Tactical backpacks they saw at walmart. Think this is going to be my new get home bag that I take in the car.

[TexDaddy]

We all got brand new wool socks. I love warm feet. (Mine that is.  )

[Saint-TyR]

We picked up a new Daniel Defense M4-V7 and ordered lead to go with it from BulkAmmo.com. Now on to the next project.

Stay Safe!

[Hootie]

added 15 gallons of gas to my preps

[Frugal Upstate]

Operation "clear out the deep freeze for Mr Buck" commenced.

Canned 20 1/2 pints (ie jelly jars) of hot venison sausage, 6 pints reg sausage/ground venison mix, 3 pints chicken & 3 pints cubed venison.

Next up-pork & ham

[TexDaddy]

8 hours OT yesterday and 8 more today.

[chezrad]

Woke up this morning and roasted some Costa Rica green coffee beans on my homemade Rocket stove on the back porch. (just to see if I could) It was interesting in that the beans released more oil then I've ever gotten on the electric stovetop inside. I think it was due to the concentrated heat. If you do this, remember to stir constantly.

[Smurf Hunter]

P-mags were only $9.99 at the local big box outdoor store Black Friday sale.  Got there at 6am, and was home in 30 minutes with a pile of polymer goodness.

[ncjeeper]

P-mags were only $9.99 at the local big box outdoor store Black Friday sale.  Got there at 6am, and was home in 30 minutes with a pile of polymer goodness.

Good score. Im prepping by staying the hell away from all those psyco shoppers today on black friday. Sometimes laying low and out of sight is the best thing you can do.

[TexDaddy]

I rotated the gasoline stores and picked up a few extra LTS items on sale at the grocery store.

[Canadian Prepper]

There's no Black Friday up here for me to contend with, but I picked up a Remington 870 Express Tactical (with Ghost Ring sites and ported Remchoke tube) that was on sale for less than $460 after taxes.

While adding this shotgun hardly ranks near the top of preparedness measures, the idea of a relatively compact shotgun that could double for upland game, turkeys, deer (with slugs) and perhaps even beaverpond ducks with the right choke tubes seemed too good to pass. It could fit nicely into my Eberlestock pack or a scabbard. The white dot on the front site makes it very easy to acquire and yet it's small enough that I think that I could easily swing and shoot it like a regular shotgun when using shot on game.

I should point out that even though I'm in Canada that we're already beginning to experience shortages of popular firearms due to the political climate and gun buying south of the border. Had I not purchased this gun today, the store would have probably sold out within days and it could be several months to a year before the item becomes available again, probably at a higher price. I'm told that popular guns like Ruger 10/22s are selling out almost as soon as they arrive on dealers shelves and that overall available stock is diminishing. My only other option for the shotgun would have been to purchase one sight unseen from Cabala's Canada if they still had them in stock for about another $125 extra (shipping and higher price).

I don't mean to distract people from other more important preps, but just mean to point out that some foresight when it comes to purchasing firearms that you've already had an eye on might save you some wait time and money.

[Bolomark]

ordered some Pri-G GAS treatment (all sold out on the shelves everywhere here). ordered Mylar bucket liners and some freeze dried food.