Hello Hello!

Hey everyone I just wanted to pop in and give everyone an update. We have been super busy with family stuff and also with school. Even my favorite past time of hard core prepping has fallen to the side momentarily.

I just finished my last final yesterday (Maths) and I think I got a low A so today I am taking advantage of some extra credit work she posted just this morning (haha 134 problems) but I am grateful that any Math teacher even hands out extra credit Math homework because that's pretty unheard of. I take any advantage given to me because that puts me above zero. I already got 2 A's in my other classes and then I'm off until the middle of January.

I have a few videos up on the youtube page but they are not really cooking focused. I will resume that this weekend as well as some canning.

I had an epiphany the other day - but I'll discuss that in my next blog!

Happy December Everyone!

This is how we do it...

In case you missed it...here is the video to recap.
New video coming up tomorrow on today's purchases.

Click here for the latest video!

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

No No No November Already? Got Preps?

Wow I cannot believe that it is already November 2011. UNBELIEVABLE how quickly the year has gone buy. It is going to be a mere 3 weeks until Turkey Day. As I did my slide show and recap for the month of October I realized I was so busy I didn't do as much as I usually do. I basically had it in my head that for the months of November and December I was going to kick it into high gear. For the last 11 months I have maintained a minimum of 50lbs of food a week in preps. 50 lbs is a regular week - 100 lbs is a more normal week and 400lbs is a fantastic week.

Some people ask how do I calculate what I need. I have a very basic formula - 1lb of food per person per meal. That is a REALLY high estimate and it assumes waste (there won't be waste) So let's say that it is Mr.Man and Me...for 3 meals that would be 6 lbs. Out of the 6 lbs you have to figure out bread - it takes about 1.5lbs of flour to make 2 good sized loaves and that would be 2 days worth or maybe not in an emergency. So lets say breakfast is oatmeal with nuts with milk and fruit. Morning snack is maybe a half sandwich. Lunch is a bean and veggie salad, and some tacos, afternoon snack is homemade trail mix or crackers and cheese, dinner is some form of stew with bread or rice. Truth be told a lot of these meals extend into secondary meals and I could make 4lbs of food work, but I calculate the 6 because if we start to do a LOT of physical labor we will also be more hungry. It is the easiest formula I could figure out.

Some of the more intensive folks do caloric content, fat content and all that. I'm not into all that because I can do a menu and make something out of whatever we've got. I personally don't think it's fair to tell people to learn yet another thing (caloric intake values) on top of all the other stuff they are trying to learn. I think 1lb per person per meal per day - and just make sure that you have veggies/fruits, protein, grains, cereals, fats. Follow the stupid FDA triangle just change their position. You can't go wrong with the formula. In fact you'll have extra.

So here we go - I had a good head start yesterday for November preps:

3 types of nails - 1/2-3/4 full over 10lbs of nails - only $5 per case. yeah you heard me. Those bostich nails alone are worth well over 50 bucks b/c they sell those about $1 per strip.

I love you Ace Hardware!














8 cases pints $10 each
1 case half pints (straight side) $7.50 ea

sugar at Wally world is still $13.48 a bag.

I went ahead and got a bag it's not getting cheaper that's for dang sure - in fact the price of it seems to be going up everywhere else.




I stopped at target for Halloween Candy and found these notebooks on clearance for 62 cents - I just picked a dozen of the prints I liked - that should keep me in notebooks for a few semesters. yaaay ME.









I found this Mitre box for Mr. Man...I thought 2 bucks sounded good. I don't know much about these things.











I've been wanting egg timers for awhile but they are always so dang expensive - Lucky me I found these last 2 for $3 each. Now I can tell myself onion is for canner, garlic is for oven. I left the bellpepper one. haha.








The staple gun seemed handy mine is just a plastic job. The staples were only $1. Seemed like a good price to me.











I found this at Ace hardware too - I'm just gonna throw it in my backpack...You never know right!











You can see a weird bowl in my photos of eggshells and veggie trimmings - that's my compost stuff from the kitchen lol.

You cannot imagine how happy I was to find this kitchen compost pail for only $7. Supposedly they are upwards of $50. All I know is 7 bucks sounded good to me haha.






I know how gross. i don't care - We like them and they were on sale this week for 99 cents - I had Wally World price match Fresh and Easy - I picked all the ones that expire dec 23 2011 and I'm still gonna freeze them.

I bought 20 pkgs - 10 for my house and 10 for my sisters house. I figure that's enough.




Got some new hair lotion for Mr. Man...2 containers of buttermilk (over $3) not on sale and a 4 pack of the pint jars the fancy ones I like for butter. I don't know why I like the butter in the odd looking containers.

jar lids - 99 cents price match

It was so weird they only had these 4 boxes of lids left in that whole store - super strange.


Pineapple was still 97 cents - so I picked up another 7. That should make at least 15 more pints. That should be good - it will bring our total amount of canned pineapple to 2.5 cases.











Finally I picked up ground lean (93%) for $2.49 a lb that is still expensive to me 5 wks ago ground lean was only $1.69. I also found this Italian Sausage 5for5 but it had an instant $2 off coupon - so 24 oz of Italian sausage for only $3 pretty good. The pork chops are a request from a friend who did us a favor so I'll be making his favorite dish - Pork Adobo!

That's it - that's my kick start - Everyone please go out and do something - do anything. Prices are going up 20-40% every single time I go to the store and I don't care if I do have the money I do not wanna waste it. Vitamins and basic body lotions are horrendously expensive. Please look around and see the silent anger and mortification in peoples faces with only 3-4 things in their cart because they simply cannot afford the things they once ate. Sad.

ps) I have been watching this one dude make excuses why he can't do as many preps as other people because he doesn't have the money and blah blah blah - M****f**** please. I'm just sayin - if you've been doing this for almost 2 years why have your preps decreased? We're on a very tight budget and we make it. Goodness gracious - if you don't have the stomach to be a winner just lay down and take it from the powers that be - HAHA.

October Preps 2011 Recap

This is just a link for any of you who might have missed a few blogs and didn't see what kind of deals I picked up.

Click here for link to video!

I must say October was a very lean month for preps, not just because we had unexpected expenses but also because I was extraordinarily busy with school and some changes in our home.

I'm glad we made it through October!

Everything starts with Effort?

So today they posted the final grade for Lit...I tell you what - I was late ONCE and she gave me an 88 for attendance LOL and most of my papers were 95s and 97s but for the last 2 papers she gave me 90s. Funny thing is I like her - she's been teaching for 30 years and still loves it and has a positive attitude - but I even told her you grade me much harder than you do the other children and she whispered,"because you are more talented." I mean seriously - I would turn in 6-8 page papers with full citations to everyone else's 3 page double spaced babble. HAHA. Nonetheless - I still got my A...I'm just disappointed that it was such a LOW A. It's almost like there's some luck involved.

Then I went to Criticism class this morning and he gave us back our tests and I got another 90. I was like What the Heck? He then said if anyone would like to stay and check their class standing I can review scores. I was really worried after that 90 - but my overall grade is 97% . Goodness Gracious - you see those are the types of scores that I am accustomed to. jeez. As my brother would say an A is an A whether it is a 90 or a 99.

I went to Ace Hardware between classes (I'll put that in the next blog) and picked some stuff up and then took off to Math class. I was on time but everyone was already in there...and grouchy as Mondays usually are grouchy. I got my both parts of my extra credit together to submit it and one of my study buddy's said,"Shhh, how did you do number 15?" I flat out said I'm not gonna do your work for you...so I told the instructor I"m going to give her the formula okay but I'm going to make her do the work. The instructor nodded. After I got all that sorted out I submitted the extra credit for the 1% raise in final grade which was to find advanced polynomials and show formula examples and define applications - meaning what it can be used for. I think I found like 5 types plus 25 subtypes and defined them. The instructor told me NEVER had anyone been that thorough in their research - most students couldn't even find them because it's not something you can google. I laughed and said,"then you should give me 2-3% for my effort." She laughed and said she may just do that. haha.

What amazed me was that only 5 or 6 people submitted the extra credit for plus 5 on your exam and only 2 or 3 people submitted advanced polynomials and even their submissions were a 1 sentence submission with no examples. The ones who couldn't find anything were referred to me on how to do the research. LOL.

It just amazes me how little effort people really put in. I don't get it.

I put that photo up top because that was from our last trip to Vegas the other February. Prior to our prepping life we took 4 weeks off a year to go on trips and vacations. YES a month vacation a year broken into parts. But now that we prepare ourselves and are more socially aware giving up that vacation is part of our effort to thrive. Jeez.

Piece Of Cake - NOT

My brothers so nice - he got me this cake pendant the other day - I love the dang thing it's so cute! I hate to admit it but I thought to myself I could buy at least 10lbs of beef with what you spent for it -but I didn't say anything I just thanked him and Mr. Man is making me a paracord choker so I can wear it. Awesome!

I got through my English Final and it looks like I have an A overall for the class she just has 1 more thing to grade. I took that yesterday - I did a paper on the effects of war on children from the point of being fatherless, orphaned or exposed to depleted uranium. I managed to finish the paper in 2 hours - pretty dang good. I heard some people trying to say that they were going to complete their paper in just 3 pages. I said why don't you just write the 6 pages and do it in less time instead of trimming your writing since there is no limit on length. No one thought this was a good idea.

On Monday I took my second math test so far this semester and I scored a 91. She handed them back today and only posted the grades yesterday. Even though I am a poor student at Math I study very hard because I am determined to get an A. I have to pay very close attention to the lectures, exercises and examples. I told the instructor today that I am very poor at Math and she laughed at me. I told her I'm not really getting a deep grasp of it - because I understand it but I am having difficulty absorbing it. She told me to relax and just keep doing what I do - THEN she gave an extra credit assignment for the test to the whole class which will give me an additional 5 points AND gave another extra credit assignment for a 1% total grade lift if you complete it. So if I maintain pace I will maintain my A - woo hoo - I feel like a thorn has been taken out of my side.

The critical essay class went easy this morning too!

The good news is I finally have Tuesdays and Thursdays off which will free me up for canning and making videos again! Woo Hoo.

Video's coming soon.

Unbelievable...Can't believe I found this stuff today

I got out of class around 430 - and decided to roll by the 99 cent store. I saw a lot of ads for Organic Spinach in town which means a LOT of overstock going to the local 99 cent only's.

We already went through 4 jars of lemon juice - so I picked up 4 more jars.

Yep 99 cents each






I flipped it to check if it was still 25% juice - NOPE it's actually gone up it is now 36% juice.
Awesome.











And it's STILL made in the USA.












They had these half and half organic salad mix packages. I love these coz they are half spinach and half spring mix...I also picked up a cute little Kleenex box for the bathroom - since Momma In Law will be in town in a couple days :)










I was looking for forks for Mr. Man's desk but instead I found these - Foldable Water Bottles non BPA. Only 99 cents each. I figure these would be great in the emergency bag.









Romaine Lettuce (3 heads per bag)
Earthbound organic spinach (9oz bag)

both looked fantastic today...

I can't believe I also found 21 foot parchment for only 99 cents. That is just disgustingly cheap.







Mr. Man loves pork rinds - so I got him a bag. They had Idaho potatoes - so I picked up another bag of those. I also copped 4 cans of water chestnuts (59 cents each) and some Kraft sourcream (expires 11/2011)...

I always get water chestnuts for Momma coz she loves them in her stirfry!

I got a few other things - chapstick and such...the grand total was $23.76. Crazy right?

oh and check this out I was having a conversation with the stockguy - Rafael and he told me that tomorrow they may have the 1lb organic spinach and DAK canned ham also for 99 cents and I should come by after 12. Right On. I might be able to go I might not - we'll see.

Let Me Put this HOOKER on Deck

So...I'm sitting in LIT class and these chicks are talking behind me and I'm like whatever doing some editing on my group mates paper...when all i hear is

"That's why I'm worried about having a kid because I am soOOO scared about what will happen to my body." LMFAOOO I must have turned around and said Bitch with that face the last thing you should be worried about is your body." LMFAOOO

Don't you know she looks like hatchet face but with a slightly darker blonde tint. LMFAOOO I am about to pee my pants here. She also has that WESLEY SNIPES eye where one eye is considerably smaller than the other and then she has that EMO ass hair trying to cover that shit. Really Bitch - Bwa jhahahahhahhahaha.... I love to hear ugly bitches really talkin noise - she was basically telling the other girl at her table that she was far too fat for her own good and ain't that some funny shit coz the girl she was talkin too is genuinely a pretty girl. Oh and get this her paper is gonna be written on INSECURITY...

Shut the Front Door...Bww ahahahahhahha. I've seen corns on peoples feet cuter than you bitch

Asian Delight & Ketchup - my youtube update

I went from being sidetracked to uploading 8 videos. I know it seems like a lot of them are Asian food - or Asian inspired food - but I figure that a lot of my viewers don't really know how to make these types of dishes and it would add variety to what they make. For goodness sakes - I don't know why I would rush and make a dirty 30s pie when everyone probably already has their own version - although maybe I'll make a shepherds pie when it gets a bit cooler.


Here is a list of the videos that I put up:

• How to make ketchup from scratch
• 
  
• How to can homemade ketchup in a pressure Canner
• 
  
• How to make Char Siu Style Chicken
• 
  
• How to make GYOZA filling, aka Dumplings, aka Yakimandu aka Deliscious
• 
  
• How to shape Gyoza
• 
  
• How to fry Gyoza (regular and traditional)
• 
  
• How to make wontons
• 
  
• How to make wonton soup

As a special bonus...below is a video of me shooting an AK for the first time LOL.
It's not as bad as I thought - truth be told I think it's easier to shoot an AK than a .40 cal. But you can't exactly put it in your purse huh - haha

Danggit...Sidetracked.

Sidetracked. I was really just gonna get a few ingredients to do a wonton soup video. Then I looked at the paper and saw "Large Tomatoes 3lbs/$1 - limit 6 lbs"

Then I looked at a recipe on pickyourown.org and I thought why shouldn't I make my own ketchup...My youtube buddies have really been pointing out how sinister and poisonous it is to eat out of plastic. So I ran my little sister to the eye doctor (can't have her driving around town with dilated eyes right), then we stopped by Food City and hit them up for the 3lbs/$1 deal. Of course it is limit 6lbs so we were planning on walking out and walking back in. But my little sister told me let's just bag up another 12 lbs and then we'll just walk around and get back in line. LOL. Well the cashier just laughed at us and said I'll just ring them separately for you!

AWESOME.

I had also picked up 6lbs before getting home. So I had about 28-29 lbs of tomatoes. for under 10 bucks. Terrific right. Truth be told it would actually be cheaper to buy it. According to this recipe - 25 lbs of tomatoes will only make 7 pints of ketchup. We'll see.
---
We also stopped by Costco today. The swiffer stuff was all $3 off. The foodsaver box of bags was 12 bucks off ($8 coupon +$4 manufacturer instant rebate), organic diced tomato buy one case get one free, log cabin syrup (no HFCS) 2 for $6. They also have these fabulous nordicware made in US sheet pans for less than 20 bucks.

I tell you what the general feeling in the air is one of anger, irritation and fear. I don't know how else to put it. I just get that feeling when I'm in the stores and people look absolutely stunned at prices and how little their money is purchasing. We Americans have been very spoiled for many many decades and most of us for all of our lives. There has always been incredible availability - and people come here from all over the world and MARVEL at how easily and inexpensively we buy food. The ratio of income to food has always been really low here - meaning regardless of how little you made you could always eat on some level and treat yourself to good steaks occasionally. The rest of the world has always had a high ratio income to high ratio food cost which means that even people who make good money can't always buy the volume or quality of food they want it just means they don't go hungry.

In the last few years and especially during the last year people have really felt the punch of food prices. The crazy thing about food prices is that once the prices go up - they STAY up. There is no way that I will see a pound of butter for $1.79 again. Not as a regular price without a coupon. American Greed will not let the teeter totter. I look at people and really ask myself - how could they NOT be stunned into action, into putting something away, into cutting back on stupid habits like fast food and starbucks. It's a personal choice of course and they can run butt naked holding chopsticks in their ass cleavage --- but unfortunately such recklessness affects us all.

And don't even get me started on how toxic all that shit in plastic is ANYWAY...

Nonetheless, I will keep on keepin' on.

School is going really well. I think I may be a little smarter than I thought because I am grasping things in a reflexive manner. I am actually sometimes surprised at how I grasp things because the answers fly out of my mouth or I can throw out a 1 page paper in under 10 minutes and move onto other assignments. I try to stay humble and just be quiet.

There is a girl in my math class who was also in my math class last semester. Well this girl and I were always "competing" on test days. When I got 100 she got a 96. When she got a 100 I would have a 94 and we went on like that back and forth all semester. So I never did see her after the final. So I asked her What did you get on your final in that last class? She said Oh I didn't do so well. I said how could you not do well - you never scored lower than a 92 on the tests? She said that she cheated. CHEATED!!! I said how could you possibly cheat? She said she had taken the same teacher 2x before and he let everyone keep their tests - and after failing twice she finally just started memorizing the formulas and answers. I WAS HORRIFIED. I will not lie but I do not look at her the same as when I thought she studied like I did. Well when this class started she sat in the back right corner. I sit in the front of hard classes because I will pay maximum attention and not waste my time. She did not sit by me - a crazy serial killer looking lady sat by me. The next time we came to class the crazy lady was gone, and 2 pretty girls sat by me and the cheater (someone had taken her seat)...I feel so bad for her everyday - to watch her struggle. The other 2 girls have a real grasp of math or strive to grasp it - the cheater girl is just dog-paddling in water full of sharks. It's sad.

Oh yeah, 2 days ago I was trying to sell 2 of my group mates on coming over so I could teach them to can and make bread. I told them i make .... and .... and ... All they heard was salsa - well the professor heard and she said I would like some salsa. So i brought her some. She is from Poland and as a European understands that food is better from glass than plastic. I tell you what she was so happy she gave me a hug and said OH my kids and I are going to enjoy this tonight and we talked about how when we leave the country we find ourselves gorging on fruits and veggies. LOL. I told her in the Philippines the peanut butter is still put in glass jars and the biggest one you can buy is 6 oz.

Sigh. It is horrifying that I am relieved to have preps!

October Week 2 - Food Prices Stink!

I think I'm done canning pineapple for awhile. Including the fresh pineapple purchased I canned 23 pints - gave 1 away and they ate 2 pints before i processed it. Of course these last 2 years so if I find another deal I will certainly make more..but for October 2011 - I'm done with pineapple.






4 days ago Big Lots had a 20% off everything event...I purchased this coffee for 3.90. Truth be told the original price last month was $3.50 a bag (1lb 10oz). It is not the BEST coffee - but it is good - an easy breakfast blend drip coffee. I also keep whole beans stocked up of the good stuff -the strong stuff...but for everyday use and for the price this is a good buy.

And it's not from China - it's from Australia.


Coconut Milk 64 cents each.
NoH are good products my grandmother used to sell them in her store. These are sugar added so it's better for drinks and desserts. I also have plain coconut cream powder put up for curries and such.








Here are the ingredients:
Powdered coconut
non fat dried milk
natural cane sugar

AND sugar is the last ingredient so that means it is the smallest ingredient. Good Stuff.






These were only 40 cents. my Mom is crazy about them. She absolutely loves this gravy. I find the ingredients to be iffy but in a pinch I'll take my chances.










These were $8 for 3 locks.
Word Locks you can set a word to be the combination. We are going to stress test these before we purchase anymore.










2.40 a bottle for the Paprika...
18oz bottle. I rarely if ever see it at this size - mcCormick is downsizing all of their 'large' spice bottles to 12 oz. When I did see this at Costco it was $9. Costco now carries roasted paprika in a smaller bottle for like $5+ each.







Solvent Gloves $1.20
Suede Burpee Garden Gloves $4












Baking Powder 40 cents













Pineapples $1 each













3 wide mouth pint jars 58 cents.

Afro periodically stops at Goodwill to go jar hunting. This month they were cleaned out...but here in AZ the first Saturday of the month is their 50% off everything event. He said that place was jumpin like a bar it was so packed.






We purchased another 2 cases of pints from Ace Hardware $10 each. Yeah - jars are something we NEVER find for cheap here.

It costs about 50 cents more to go to Ace Hardware but you know what - Ace Hardware stores are usually privately owned and purchased as a franchise - so we've decided to buy our jars at Ace instead of giving Wally World our money.



I bought another 25 lbs of bread flour - it went down about a quarter. $7.99 this week at Costco. Hardly anyone was shopping at costco on Tuesday. The people who were in there were just getting 2 or 3 things. It is amazing how little people buy these days. I remember when Costco first opened some couples had 1 cart each!





Kilner Jars.

$3.99 each. I just wanted something to put my salt in. I got rid of my cardboard container and the big jars like this at Hobby Lobby were like $8.








I don't know where they are made but it's a British company that owns it - they also have canning jars and I will be on the lookout for those. As soon as I get my hot little hands on some I will be testing them in the canner.









I know some of you could just get this in your back yard - but we can't LOL. It was a steal at $2.69. Regular price is like 6.19.

Doesn't hurt to have it.

They have some oakplanks on clearance but I want those to go down a LOT lower in price.





Jumbo Bath Poofies 3 for $2.50...the weird thing about these bath poofies the standard price used to be like 79 cents - now even at wally world the price is $2 for the Jumbo ones.

Gold Bond Foot Spray - handy for the BOB $3

Real Parmesan Cheese - $2.40




I bought 5 more coconut milk for a friend. Today it was 80 cents each. That is still a steal.











FoodSaver freeze 'n Steam bags - $4

I've never purchased these - I hope they were a deal - the foodsaver freezer bags are usualy 10-12 a box and that's for about 2 pieces. I hope I got a good deal.








Dawn Brand scrubbers. 99 cents. Regular 2.99. I think it's a good deal. Of course you can always get scrubbers at the dollar store but they aren't the same quality as these - plus these have the channel you can put dish soap in.

I just might have to go back and buy 5 more. I think 1 brush lasts about 1 yr in my house.




I found the canning section at Fry's. The jars were actually $2 more a case than the ones at Ace Hardware. Ridiculous.

Anyway..I found this pickling lime - it was $2.49. I don't know if that's a deal or not- I looked at the mrs. wages website and the price for 16oz is like $3.59 plus shipping and it no longer comes in this plastic bucket - it just comes in a resealable bag.

I like the bucket.


Imusa wok/cast iron scrubber.

Super handy - I have a bamboo one but I just can't seem to find it (see organized/disorganized prepper life). I will do a demo on this after I do some cooking this weekend.







Glass drinking glasses

39 cents each. It never hurts to have glass put up. For some reason our glasses always have less and less in the cupboard. I think it is just something that happens with time - glasses get broken and thrown away and it's not like you ever discuss that kind of thing.

I may go back in a week and check if they have more and if they are even cheaper.


Finally I got these really DELUXE reusable shopping bags for 99 cents. They are the super strong kind that you can spray down with bleach to sanitize the bottoms. I think they were normally $4 each.









Check it out they even have a 3 pocket divider for wine or jars or whatever and a velcro closure! Fancy huh. haha.











I got 3 prints - the polka dots, the fruit mix, the apple. There was another weird one with cocks (roosters) on it. I didn't really like that print.

Oh and check THIS out - Fry's no longer gives you a 5 cent discount for using your own bag. HAHHA. So what's my motivation then HEFFA? My own contribution to the green movement which is just all some bullshit business created by Al Gore and his Homies.

Gooooodness!