Why are you stocking some items?

[valmom]

LOL, Marianne- my SO thinks I will poison her, too. She doesn't eat my yogurt or drink the kombucha. She'll buy yogurt and eat it, but not mine.

I have to think about stocking stuff. I have skills for a bunch of things, and knowledge of more, but it's that transitional period that will kill. Of course, we would probably be robbed blind of anything we stockpiled around here, in spite of SO's police skills.

I really need creative storage ideas! This house has NO mouse-proof, dry storage in it. :/

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

pudding mix,

wait.. there's pudding involved???

all good points, Marianne, but if you have room might as well??? besides that gal you mentioned probably wont last so we can all raid her stash for shampoo if it comes to it. (just kidding)

on the other end of the spectrum are the oh-so-city folks i know who are stocking up on flour and sugar, dried milk, and basics like that....but who dont have any idea how to use them/cook. i dont think either of them have ever even made a loaf of bread before - or pancakes - or anything that doesnt involve the microwave.

me: um.. so why dontcha start learning how to cook with that stuff now?
them: no way, i'm to rich to do any actual cooking myself like all your poor folks (paraphrased but not too far off)
me: but whatcha gonna do if you have to use some of that stuff?
them: we'll be just fine.

* OFG pictures herself, TBM, and the assorted few who we'll let into the compound having a hearty dinner of roasted chicken, fresh veggies, milk, home brewed beer/wine, and lots of chocolate pudding - not from a box. cut to scene the city folks: eating badly prepared, burned on one side, raw on the other pancakes.......*

or something like that.

 

[Marianne]

But so true!

 

[FarmerChick]

lol Ohio
no one gets my stash of shampoo....diff. between some is the one with the stash being a city gal and the one in the country.
being country now, I shoot to save my 'poo.


it is all in the attitude of how you can survive a disaster.

 

[Wifezilla]

Wifezilla, What are the raw materials you are stocked up on?????

I have a 5lb bag of baking soda I found at Bargain Mart for $3. I have several boxes of borax. I think I have a dozen bars of zote soap. I have washing soda. Lots of salt. I have a couple of buckets of lard and a bunch of fat that needs rendering in the freezer. I try to keep at least 5 gallons of vinegar on hand. I have a couple pounds of bees wax. Ditto on palm oil. I still need to get lye, but I figure I have plenty of hard wood (maples in the yard), so I could make ash for lye in a pinch.

So I can make lotion, no-poo, soap, cleansers, laundry soap, etc...

Hey you experts out there...am I missing anything?

 

[mrscoyote]

Chocolate !

 

[k0xxx]

Okay, I'm curious...

If you are stocking up for a major crisis situation, why would you stock toilet paper? Wouldn't it be better to have a 5 gallon bucket, toilet seat, stash of rags and a plastic coffee can with a lid (for storage of used rags)? Little to no cost, less space used, etc.

Instead of buying gallons of shampoo, cases of cream of chicken soup, etc, wouldn't it be better to stock up on the necessary ingredients to make your own from scratch? I mean, at some point, all the shampoo would be gone and then wadda ya do? I think I'd rather have food instead of shampoo, even if I got it for $1 a bottle. Ditto for TP, paper towel, etc.

So that would mean stocking up on ingredients like baking soda, borax, vinegar, dry milk, etc. And printed copies of how to make soap using wood ash, etc etc.

I'm not trying to be snotty or anything, honest. And not criticizing if that's what you choose to do. But some of the stuff I've read on other forums as well as this one, has me wondering...

I think the one that really had me shaking my head was the gal that started her emergency stash with 34 boxes of Tide, bottles and bottles of her favorite shampoo, conditioner and her favorite shower gel. (slap, slap, slap)

My wife says that I have enough TP to take care of half the county for a year, if they all had a stomach virus. We have alternatives to TP, we have two alternatives to the toilet, and we even have a way to keep using our current toilet by hand pumping water into a raised water tank if we want. However, I see the TP as more of a connection to normalcy in perhaps what would be a very un-normal time.

We have hard and soft wheat, that we grind regularly to make bread, pasta, and cakes. We have baking powder, and cream of tartar and baking soda to make our own baking powder if needed (1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon corn starch - optional). We have plenty of the basics to cook from scratch, which is what we usually do anyway. We have rice, corn, legumes, salt, vanilla, honey, CHOCOLATE, seasonings, and much more. There are some things that just help make things seem a little better than they are during a crisis, though. Shampoo may be one of those things for some.

Having the basics and not knowing what to do with them is just sill, I agree. Maybe some of us will have a future in bartering our teaching skills for some of these items.

 

[Wifezilla]

I don't use chocolate in my soap. That is for internal use only

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Apparantly we're stocking up on children - LOL - but that equates into little helpers from the moment they start toddling around.

I'm stocking up on:
fels naptha
arm & hammer washing soda
borax
diapers
old towels/washclothes to use for wipes
condoms
adding a few more chickens (but not a hundred)
getting a pair of Pilgrim Geese back
goats
turkeys
toilet paper (because it's just easier, but have the butt clothes for wipes in an emergency)
batteries
basic food staples for cooking from scratch
canning jars for preserving foods
Like minded, good, caring friends.

And there are other things I can't think of right now. Reason: Would rather be prepared than caught unawares.

And I live by the motto of the Little Red Hen - the ORIGINAL story.

Be the Ant people. Be the Ant.

 

[Wifezilla]

condoms

A quick trip to the urologist by hubby and you don't have to worry about those. Snip snip!