Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Experiment


Since loosing my job, I find myself thankful that we started prepping. We have very limited resources now but I'm back to work. It will continue to be a little tight,until my checks start coming in regularly. That should be in another 3 weeks. Which brings me back around to food storage! (My Favorite Topic!) I've not been able to continue onward with preps for now. Funny how weird that makes me feel. I keep thinking I am getting behind the curve and it's not a feeling I like. But things will get back on track!

We have been totally reliant on our food storage since unemployment bashed me in the face. (Here's where I WON'T bash my ex-employer , even though I could. I'm pretty sure she is aware of this blog , and some of the IP addresses look suspiciously like hers. Suffice it to say that I, unlike some, do not want to stoop to that level.)

Now back to the reason I decided to share my adventures in testing our food storage. Since we are on a forced break from actively prepping, I decided we might as well use this time in our lives to "Test" the waters. I wanted to see where the holes in our food preps might be. We have been using only our preps for the last 4 weeks and will continue to do so until the money is regular again. I have made two concessions in this. Milk and eggs. I DO have powdered milk and use it for cooking and recently for cereal. I just happen to LOVE milk and I decided that I will continue to buy it until

a) we can't anymore due to shortages in the food supply
b) we find a way to raise our own goats or cows
c) find a local source

Eggs are another thing. We have no place to raise chickens. I sorely wish we did. Hopefully some day! The old couple that own the park we live in raise chickens and alot of the time she has eggs for sale. Not always but most of the time. We kind of barter with them with veggies out of the garden. Barters not exactly the right word but it works like this. DH takes her veggies out of the garden which she loves. She is in her 90's and gets excited over a fresh tomato like a 6 year old and candy! So when we go to buy eggs....she won't take money for them.

I am happy to report that I am learning a few things during all this. I can see where my powdered milk needs to be stepped up. I have plenty for this "experiment" but not enough for longer term if we can no longer buy milk in the future. Flour is another concern. Again, plenty to get us through this, but not nearly close to even 6 months. Thats a BIG hole which we will certainly be working on in the future. Since I started making bread a few months ago we plow through it. (Sidenote... I have not bought one single loaf of bread since then!)
One of the things I found myself thinking in all this is that I want to focus more on growing herbs. I've piddled around with herbs but never got too serious. I need to change that. That is a renewable source that will continue to produce long after all the herbs in my cabinet are gone.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel like we have a good grasp on our food preps. We are headed in the right direction and have been gathering the "right" foods for us. I believe in storing what you eat and eating what you store. And now I KNOW it's the right way for us. We have not even noticed a difference in our meals. Isn't that AMAZING!!!
And so, other than a couple of obvious areas to work on, we are heading in the correct direction. LOL now I just can hardly wait to start prepping again. It becomes a lifestyle, or did for me. First thing I have planned is to replace what we have used. (of course)

Oh and on another subject, I want to give a shout out to my Mom!! That woman is so totally amazing. I received another note in the mailbox saying I had a package in the office. (Sound familiar?) I was blown away when I opened the box. My mom purchaced (and off my site-bless her twice) The Heirloom Organics Seed Vault! I LOVE YOU MOM!







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6 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that you have those preps to see you through and what a wonderful attitude you have about it too!
    I was thinking about those holes in the preps the other day too. I think that I'm begining to believe that there is no such thing as too much flour! lol Butter/margerine is one of my concerns, so I think I'm going to pick up a #10 can of butter each time I place an order at Honeyville Grain.

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  2. Funny you should mention butter.... I was looking at my margarine tonite and realized I need to make another "Note To Self" Also noticed that mayo needs to be thought about and added to that list.

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  3. i am very glad that your preps have been able to get you through this past few weeks and without any glitches...and glad to know that you were able to find the holes in your preps for the future - this has been a great prepping excercise!!! good work SCF!

    now on to that mother of yours...is she up to adopt a few more perhaps? cuz i would like you be adopted by your mother...put in a good word for me eh?

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  4. woops - that last should say "cuz i would like to be adopted by your mother"...so whaddya say - will you put in a good word for me?

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  5. Nothing like good old prepping to get us through the tight spots. I have had to fall on my preps many times in the past to get through which makes me (and all of us ) see the need to prep even more. I hope you get your paycheck in hand soon so you can get started back. Great job on all that you have done and learned during this. We all need to test the waters from time to time to see if we are really storing the right items. GREAT JOB !!

    Bullseye
    Code Name "Bullseye"

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  6. Your post is a great reminder to everyone on the importance of prepping. Regardless of one's belief in TEOTWAWKI, there will be a time in a person's life when their preps (my idea of an extra large pantry) will come to the rescue. Best regards to you and yours, Treesong

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