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!

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!

Panties...

Ha ha!

Hello Everyone...Please make sure that you include underwear in your preps. Personally, I am not skilled enough to make my own underwear or they would look like that nylon job in the photo.

If you have little ones prep their underwear, socks and shoes in increasing sizes. The same also applies to bras and tank tops.

Just a thought.

Q&A with TheSheChef and Afroprepper 09/12/11 edition

Hi Everyone!

Just another Question and Answer thing that Mr. Man and I do every now and then for those questions that hit us in life and on line

Click here to watch!

Thank you!

I'm here now! Mr.ManTalked me into It

I have a youtube page now.
Mr.Man aka Afroprepper talked me into it.

I'm really nervous in the video and I feel like I look like someone being questioned by the police. LOL.

But I'm going to do some "what gets on my nerves commentaries," "stuff i love," "cooking vids" and "roadtrip vids".

You tube is fun and scary and I think I already have my own troll. I think I'mma name him Frankie. It's funny I have over 30 subs already and I work so hard on this blog and barely have 43 subs. I'm not giving up my bloggin no way no how - I'm just working in partnership with Mr.Man to take the food stuff by the leash. I don't do the politics thing unless it just appalls me.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

August 2011 Preps, Halfway Through!

I know some of you have seen this and some of you haven't. This is the quick pic of our canning. There was 1 full case to the side that I coudn't include in the photo because I didn't want the table to bow lol.

We've been canning since March 20th and have given away about 20 jars. But we still have 22.5 cases of canned food. It is the best addiction ever and it puts your mind at ease to look at the "food room"

Lemon Juice and Acetone...keep it on the shelves, keep notebooks too folks.












I really try to buy domestically made stuff.













Last week this chicken was only 1.89 a lb. But this last WEEKEND boneless skinless breast was only $1.49, the drumsticks and thighs were only .68 cents a lb. UNBELIEVABLE.









Tonight we also went to purchase more ground chuck (our local store here does 90%lean for chuck) and it was holding at $1.88/lb. All I know is that I have this feeling that prices are going to hike astronomically because our prices here are UNBELIEVABLY cheap.







Canning Chicken is one of my favorite things out there. I like how it looks, how it makes the house smell and how it tastes.










I already reviewed this. Just click on the receipt below so you can feel the amazement.












There's my jardiniere and peaches in the background. I just have to keep it up.












Proof is in the Pudding.

Click on it twice to enlarge the pic.













Walgreen's is getting harder and harder to hustle.

Contact Solution: 8 bucks with instant $8 rebate
BPA free baby spoons: $1.09 clearance
Lindt Choco Truffles: $1.50 each
Aquafresh Whitening: $1.29 clearance
Johnson 500pc Q tips: $1.99





I recently started watching youtube videos on how to make your own laundry soap. Last week while I was out shopping I was just keeping an eye out for Fels Naptha/Octagon soap. I didn't find any here in the West Valley so I stocked the Lirio laundry bars (white for whites and yellow for coloured clothes)

The fels is only $1.39 at Food City in the East Valley and the 400g lirio is only .89 cents


The borax was about 2.60 a box and the washing soda is close to $3 a box. Even just having this much would make at least 110 gallons of laundry soap following the most basic recipe.









We stopped by Wally World to pick up my briquets for my brother. Well Mr.Man and I habitually cruise their clearance. Well I saw this coconut oil but I said it's still pricey. Well as we walked away from it this little Asian lady made eyes at him and said What do you Want Hunny I will mark it down for you! He said I will take these for $2...she said Ohhh only $2.50 is my Max Hunny. He said, "I'll TAKE em"




I was helping my brother organize his pantry, house and garage and I found this 25 compartment organizer thrown in the corner of his 3 car garage. I noticed the corner just needed a bit of duct tape and said Hey Can I take this and he said take it.

I'm going to use it to divvy out my first aid kit a bit. The other week Mr.Man got a pretty deep thumb cut and I had to dig inconveniently.


I had that $8 coupon for walgreens. So I went in there to use it before it expired. I found these baby wipes 3 - 100 packs for only $2.50. I also found Keri Lotion for 5.99 with a $5 rebate. Next to Cetaphil and Jergens, Keri is my next choice. I ended up paying $4.78 and they gave me a $5 instant rebate. LOL.

The white choco nestle chips were only 95 cents each at the local dollar store.



Hydrogen Peroxide was only 99 cents a quart at the 99 cent only store. That is one of the best prices I've seen for 32 ounces. We still have a few cases of hydrogen peroxide so I figured 5 quarts would suffice.








We went to the East Valley to drop off some canned stuff and things I got for the Father In Law while I was in Asia. I was really pushing my luck asking Mr.Man to stop at the Asian store when he barely got off a flight from a 4 day bachelor party. But he's a good sport and he went.

The sake was only $6.47 a bottle but they only had 2 left. I also picked up shredded seaweed, wasabi powder, toasted black sesame and salt, green tea incense and good rice flour.

While contemplating what to can I decided to throw a batch of creamcheese brownies for the boys and girls at Arizona Shootersworld - since they are SO nice to us.









While that baked I went outside to push the cucumbers aka WEEDS around - and don't you know I found a cucumber. A nice big 8 inch one that was happy to see me...









I looked again and saw this 5 inch one...













And sleeping under the other side was one more.

It's not much but at least our ghetto garden finally yielded something. I just wanted to can SOMETHING from our first gardening attempt. Looks like I'm gonna get my chance. Thank you Bees for working and thank you Mr.Man for not giving up!