Well, I just returned from an out-of-state milestone celebration family reunion, and while I knew that I wouldn't be able to have regular access to the internet, it turns out I didn't have access to it at all until I got home. Makes it pretty hard to write a post... :)
Soooo, if anyone comes back and actually reads this, thought I'd write about a little experience that I had while I was gone that kind of underlines what kind of position you put yourself in if you are not prepared for what is maybe not exactly an emergency, but definitely an uncomfortable situation. Turns out that I got some kind of cold while I was gone, one of those colds that make your head ache painfully from the sinus pressure. Not fun. Also not fun that I didn't have any Tylenol, (I don't work for Tylenol, nor know anyone who does, but it is usually my pain reliever of choice) and had hours of traveling ahead of me. I did, however, have a layover in an airport, and so I went to one of the shops that tend to cluster in such places. They had Tylenol available for a price--24 caplets for $9.99 + tax. Yeah, a little pricey (read: exorbitantly expensive) for my taste, but what choice did I have at that point? That, and $2.30 for a bottle of water from another shop, and I had what I needed. When I told my husband about the purchase, he had about the same reaction that I had about the pricing, but he was nice about it. Yeah, he's pretty great... :)
That little expensive bottle is now sitting next to my economy size bottle on a high shelf out of reach of my children. When I think what I could have done to avoid this situation, there isn't that much that I would change, because we were together as a family in a small space for an extended period of time, and I wouldn't have wanted to take such items that I would have worried about with the children around, with only a small chance that I would even need them. I rarely need to take Tylenol, and it wouldn't have made sense to take it and then worry about it and possible chidren's access to it for the entire trip.
If I wouldn't necessarily change what I did, what exactly is my point? This makes me think that if prices can be this high simply because you are in a confined situation and have limited choices, about what could happen if you are limited in your choices, whether because of lack of choices in your area, or because you find yourself without the resources to go out of a very small region to find what you need. Those who have what you need get to set the prices. And if you need it enough (i.e. your sinuses are making your life miserable) you will have to pay their prices. Doesn't it make sense to look ahead and avoid such a situation for as long as possible, and have extra of the things you may need, by putting some in storage? I was fortunate enough to have been able to afford it, but it sure would be nice to have that money in my pocket instead...
Like I said, not exactly an emergency, and if I hadn't had the means to buy it, I would have had to suffer through hours more of travel with no relief. In the case of having no food or water on hand, for whatever reason-- disruption of the economy, transportation of goods, or just plain lack of products to purchase-- you/I/we would have an absolute emergency. And if we aren't prepared with some kind of storage, the resources available will likely go to whoever can afford them at a very high price--and if we can't afford the price, the resources will go to someone else, and we, unfortunately, will go hungry....
I hope that everyone who has the means to stock up will do so, even if it's just a little bit at a time. In the state that we were visiting, the price of living is much higher, and I got a little bit of sticker shock just looking in the canned goods aisle. Puts a new perspective on what I consider to be expensive here in Idaho. If you do have expensive prices on just basic canned goods, it would be difficult to get in a lot of storage, but please do what you can. Every little bit helps, and hey, if you are reading this, thanks for coming back! :) Now I get to catch up on what everyone else has been writing....
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Inside, outside (in that order :)
Well, first things first--we finally found our camera, which we figured was lost because little hands can hide things very well. Wasn't the first time we've been wrong, and probably won't be the last...turns out, judging by the location in which it was found, it is highly more probable that we attempted to hide the camera from the children, and ended up hiding it from ourselves...ah, well. Anyway, it's back, hence the picture above.
One of our children brought the plant pictured above home from school a while ago, and I have managed to keep it alive, which is cause for much celebration, at least for me. The stick stuck in the soil along with it indicated that it is a pea plant, and hopefully it will make it to the garden sometime in the not so distant and warmer future.
Having not had that great of a success last year with the yield in our garden, perhaps due to cold weather later than expected (i.e. snow in June, resulting in late planting) I am thinking seriously of taking Anonymous' advice in a recent comment to start my seeds inside. I'm looking into it more, and considering timing, etc., but it would be great to be able to give the plants a head start on survival in the great outdoors.
Hence my poll question this week--have you had success with starting seeds inside? What kind of plants have you found do well/better if started this way? I know that you can buy some varieties of plants already started, but it seems to me that knowing how to best start your garden plants yourself would be a valuable skill to have...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I tend to keep things way too long...
but oddly enough, this habit has worked in my favor the past few weeks. Here are a few examples:
--A few weeks ago, my hair dryer gave out and decided that it had had enough. I guess. All I know is that on a Sunday morning, about twenty minutes before we were to leave the house, it no longer worked. At all. Not a pleasing scenario in the middle of winter. So what to do?
Well, of course I notified my husband, who joined in the mad dash to find something that would help with the situation. At one point he had a little travel hairdryer, but we have not seen that in nigh these many moons, or years, or eons, whichever is closest, and we only had minutes to search. While he searched hither and yon in the other parts of the house, I looked through a stack of my belongings and pulled out my last hairdryer. Not as powerful. Tossed aside a couple of years ago for a newer model. Yet, when I plugged it in, it worked. Took longer than my quits-at-one-of-the-worst-possible-moments hairdryer did in its prime, but it did the trick. We were blessed to find it, since I hadn't remembered I had it, and to find it in time. In fact, I'm still using it. Living on the edge..... :) But it just goes to show, that yeah, sometimes when you think, "I should save that in case I need it sometime," you just may be right...
--More recently we took a trip down to my parents' house, and when it was time to return home, I left a pair of my shoes (the ones I use for everyday use) at their house. I tend to wear my shoes to the point of oblivion, so the pair of shoes that I am using until I am reunited with the pair left behind was in theory supposed to be gone, oh, say, last year. In my defense, I did throw another pair of shoes away at that time, but, true confessions, though I don't remember the exact thoughts I had, I'm pretty sure they went something like this: "I"ll keep these just in case..." Well, "in case" arrived, and they are making a brief and limited showing on my feet. They are no longer pretty, but they are still comfortable... :)
---Ok, and now the part that you have been waiting for, that is actually about food storage. Yesterday, I went to make meatloaf, and found that our cannister of oatmeal was basically empty. Having already measured some of the ingredients for the meatloaf, I was loathe to go to plan B. (Besides, at that point, I hadn't thought of one... :) So I went to the storage room and pulled out a silver food storage packet of rolled oats that we packed back in 1999. Thing is, back when we packed it, the labeling indicated that it would be best to use it within 5 years. Yeah, mathematically, that package was supposed to make its departure by 2004. But more recently I had read this page, and so I ran to the computer to confirm my hopes/memory and found that...wait for it...rolled oats now have a shelf life of 30 years. Now that's a good feeling....glad that that chart is there, and that some of my food storage has a longer storage life than I thought. Meatloaf and a good time was had by all...
Does it always work out this way? Hard to know, if you're still waiting for the part after the "just in case". But it reinforces to me the need to have a spare, if possible, of things that we need, and to know as much as we can about the food that we store. If we have too much of anything, we could just donate it, but if we end up keeping it, the day may come when we or someone else may need our spare, or just something to eat from our food storage.....
--A few weeks ago, my hair dryer gave out and decided that it had had enough. I guess. All I know is that on a Sunday morning, about twenty minutes before we were to leave the house, it no longer worked. At all. Not a pleasing scenario in the middle of winter. So what to do?
Well, of course I notified my husband, who joined in the mad dash to find something that would help with the situation. At one point he had a little travel hairdryer, but we have not seen that in nigh these many moons, or years, or eons, whichever is closest, and we only had minutes to search. While he searched hither and yon in the other parts of the house, I looked through a stack of my belongings and pulled out my last hairdryer. Not as powerful. Tossed aside a couple of years ago for a newer model. Yet, when I plugged it in, it worked. Took longer than my quits-at-one-of-the-worst-possible-moments hairdryer did in its prime, but it did the trick. We were blessed to find it, since I hadn't remembered I had it, and to find it in time. In fact, I'm still using it. Living on the edge..... :) But it just goes to show, that yeah, sometimes when you think, "I should save that in case I need it sometime," you just may be right...
--More recently we took a trip down to my parents' house, and when it was time to return home, I left a pair of my shoes (the ones I use for everyday use) at their house. I tend to wear my shoes to the point of oblivion, so the pair of shoes that I am using until I am reunited with the pair left behind was in theory supposed to be gone, oh, say, last year. In my defense, I did throw another pair of shoes away at that time, but, true confessions, though I don't remember the exact thoughts I had, I'm pretty sure they went something like this: "I"ll keep these just in case..." Well, "in case" arrived, and they are making a brief and limited showing on my feet. They are no longer pretty, but they are still comfortable... :)
---Ok, and now the part that you have been waiting for, that is actually about food storage. Yesterday, I went to make meatloaf, and found that our cannister of oatmeal was basically empty. Having already measured some of the ingredients for the meatloaf, I was loathe to go to plan B. (Besides, at that point, I hadn't thought of one... :) So I went to the storage room and pulled out a silver food storage packet of rolled oats that we packed back in 1999. Thing is, back when we packed it, the labeling indicated that it would be best to use it within 5 years. Yeah, mathematically, that package was supposed to make its departure by 2004. But more recently I had read this page, and so I ran to the computer to confirm my hopes/memory and found that...wait for it...rolled oats now have a shelf life of 30 years. Now that's a good feeling....glad that that chart is there, and that some of my food storage has a longer storage life than I thought. Meatloaf and a good time was had by all...
Does it always work out this way? Hard to know, if you're still waiting for the part after the "just in case". But it reinforces to me the need to have a spare, if possible, of things that we need, and to know as much as we can about the food that we store. If we have too much of anything, we could just donate it, but if we end up keeping it, the day may come when we or someone else may need our spare, or just something to eat from our food storage.....
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Under construction, and all that...
Those of you who stop by regularly may have noticed that I have been playing with the blog format. Wish I knew more how to get things exactly the way I want them--kind of liked the last format with the yellow background, especially because the lists, etc. were on the right. The lists, etc. are on the left in this particular format, but I like a white background if it doesn't look too stark...anyway, hopefully I'll find one that I'm happy with and stick with it for awhile. (Who knows, it may be this one... :)
Ah, it's starting to feel (and act) like Spring around here, so I've got planting a little bit on the brain. I just mostly don't want to have results like last year, when we waited too long to plant, and then got low/no yield on some of our crops as a result. Kind of hard to judge when you are having snow in June, because you don't want to ruin your crops before they even start, either.
It's interesting, and I don't know why, but suddenly I am getting a lot of seed catalogs in my mail. Yeah, 'tis the season for planting, and all, but these aren't just addressed to "resident", so it makes me think that I got on someone's mailing list somewhere.... I haven't really looked at the catalogs in-depth, but I know I want heirloom, non-hybrid seeds, wherever I purchase them. I do have some seeds in storage in a can, but I'm not planning on using them until much later, or there is little/nothing else available, whichever comes first.
When I was out shopping for something else yesterday, I saw a display of seeds, and stopped to take a look. The company was very complimentary about their seeds (no big surprise there) but there were not many, if any, that were immediately evident as being non-hybrid. At this point, I'd have to answer "no, but planning to" on my own poll question, but since we are in the middle of planning what would be the best crops to plant in our limited garden space, (that we are planning to increase this year) I don't feel bad. Yet. :)
Going through my mind: tomatoes, (not loved by all in the household, but a good source of vitamin C) potatoes, (now that you know that I live in Idaho, kind of embarrassed that I don't know the ins and outs on this one, but a nice, filling crop all the same, and that tote idea found over at Johnson Family Farm would be nice because it would increase our yields without taking up actual garden space) corn, and I would love, love, love to be able to grow garlic. Besides adding great flavor to food, when I get a cold and the like, eating a clove can help a lot. With getting rid of the cold, but not necessarily making new friends and influencing people. :) Worth it, though, garlic scent and all....
So what are you planting this year? I would highly recommend non-hybrid seeds, and to plant as much as you can...
Ah, it's starting to feel (and act) like Spring around here, so I've got planting a little bit on the brain. I just mostly don't want to have results like last year, when we waited too long to plant, and then got low/no yield on some of our crops as a result. Kind of hard to judge when you are having snow in June, because you don't want to ruin your crops before they even start, either.
It's interesting, and I don't know why, but suddenly I am getting a lot of seed catalogs in my mail. Yeah, 'tis the season for planting, and all, but these aren't just addressed to "resident", so it makes me think that I got on someone's mailing list somewhere.... I haven't really looked at the catalogs in-depth, but I know I want heirloom, non-hybrid seeds, wherever I purchase them. I do have some seeds in storage in a can, but I'm not planning on using them until much later, or there is little/nothing else available, whichever comes first.
When I was out shopping for something else yesterday, I saw a display of seeds, and stopped to take a look. The company was very complimentary about their seeds (no big surprise there) but there were not many, if any, that were immediately evident as being non-hybrid. At this point, I'd have to answer "no, but planning to" on my own poll question, but since we are in the middle of planning what would be the best crops to plant in our limited garden space, (that we are planning to increase this year) I don't feel bad. Yet. :)
Going through my mind: tomatoes, (not loved by all in the household, but a good source of vitamin C) potatoes, (now that you know that I live in Idaho, kind of embarrassed that I don't know the ins and outs on this one, but a nice, filling crop all the same, and that tote idea found over at Johnson Family Farm would be nice because it would increase our yields without taking up actual garden space) corn, and I would love, love, love to be able to grow garlic. Besides adding great flavor to food, when I get a cold and the like, eating a clove can help a lot. With getting rid of the cold, but not necessarily making new friends and influencing people. :) Worth it, though, garlic scent and all....
So what are you planting this year? I would highly recommend non-hybrid seeds, and to plant as much as you can...
Friday, February 27, 2009
Simple can be better in more ways than one...
For those who looked at my last post and thought, oooooh, noooo, just toooo long, please: 1) remember to check for winter clearance sales so that you can stock up on what's available for future use. I did find some boots for one of my children for next year for $5.00, so let's hope they will fit... :) 2) Also, although you will in all likelihood not gain and/or need the same benefits that I mention in that post that resulted from trying to spread my own purchasing power around, I just hope that everyone does what they can so that more people can keep their businesses/jobs--I see it as a win-win situation.
Oook, well, that was simpler, huh? And now I would like to share a couple of meals that we like around here, that are simple for a couple of reasons. One, they have few ingredients, which leaves more money for purchasing other items that can be put in storage. Two, they have ingredients that are easy to store. Oh, all right, and besides being simple, we think that they taste pretty good, too... :)
This first one is located in a cookbook put together in celebration of a small town that is very dear to my heart. (I have had the privilege of eating southern barbeque, can appreciate the effort and time that goes into such an endeavor, and realize that this may not be everyone's idea of barbeque. That said, we like this recipe, and it provides variety in flavor with very few ingredients.... )
BAR B.Q. PORK CHOPS
1/2 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. vinegar
Sprinkle chili powder
water
4 pork chops
Oven temp: 350 degrees Time: 1-1/2 hours
Mix ketchup, vinegar, chili powder and enough water to make 1 cup liquid. Place pork chops in a casserole and salt and pepper them. Pour sauce over the chops and bake in a covered casserole. Uncover for the last 15 minutes.
(Source: Nutrition and Nostalgia of a Century, pg. 243. Special thanks to B.F. for submitting the recipe. (If the contributor sees this and would like a full name display, let me know.)
That is the original recipe, although I have been known to throw it in the crockpot and let it go all day. If you use the crockpot method, you need to watch it towards the end, or your dish could end up dryer than you would like.
Don't know what to call the following--Italian Dressing Crockpot Chicken will have to do, I guess. Got it from my best source, (Mom) so just have memorized it. If, after the first or second endeavor, you don't need a recipe card, I figure you can't get much simpler than that... :)
Italian Dressing Crockpot Chicken
2-4 chicken breasts
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1-2 cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
Place chicken in bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle Italian dressing mix over top of chicken (how much you use will depend on how strong of a flavor you want--I would suggest 1/2 package-full package). Pour soup over the top of chicken. Cook all day.
This recipe is one of our favorites, and is great with rice or mashed potatoes or noodles. When we use less chicken, we break it up in pieces and put it over rice to make it stretch. The more soup you use, the more sauce you will end up with to stretch servings.
Well, true confessions--the food storage aspect is just an added plus to me. I have used these recipes for years because they had few ingredients, which led to easier preparation, and I really, really, really like easy. :) But the added benefit is that if you don't have as many ingredients to buy, you have more money to buy more emergency preparedness items... so if you try these, I hope you enjoy them!
Oook, well, that was simpler, huh? And now I would like to share a couple of meals that we like around here, that are simple for a couple of reasons. One, they have few ingredients, which leaves more money for purchasing other items that can be put in storage. Two, they have ingredients that are easy to store. Oh, all right, and besides being simple, we think that they taste pretty good, too... :)
This first one is located in a cookbook put together in celebration of a small town that is very dear to my heart. (I have had the privilege of eating southern barbeque, can appreciate the effort and time that goes into such an endeavor, and realize that this may not be everyone's idea of barbeque. That said, we like this recipe, and it provides variety in flavor with very few ingredients.... )
BAR B.Q. PORK CHOPS
1/2 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. vinegar
Sprinkle chili powder
water
4 pork chops
Oven temp: 350 degrees Time: 1-1/2 hours
Mix ketchup, vinegar, chili powder and enough water to make 1 cup liquid. Place pork chops in a casserole and salt and pepper them. Pour sauce over the chops and bake in a covered casserole. Uncover for the last 15 minutes.
(Source: Nutrition and Nostalgia of a Century, pg. 243. Special thanks to B.F. for submitting the recipe. (If the contributor sees this and would like a full name display, let me know.)
That is the original recipe, although I have been known to throw it in the crockpot and let it go all day. If you use the crockpot method, you need to watch it towards the end, or your dish could end up dryer than you would like.
Don't know what to call the following--Italian Dressing Crockpot Chicken will have to do, I guess. Got it from my best source, (Mom) so just have memorized it. If, after the first or second endeavor, you don't need a recipe card, I figure you can't get much simpler than that... :)
Italian Dressing Crockpot Chicken
2-4 chicken breasts
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1-2 cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
Place chicken in bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle Italian dressing mix over top of chicken (how much you use will depend on how strong of a flavor you want--I would suggest 1/2 package-full package). Pour soup over the top of chicken. Cook all day.
This recipe is one of our favorites, and is great with rice or mashed potatoes or noodles. When we use less chicken, we break it up in pieces and put it over rice to make it stretch. The more soup you use, the more sauce you will end up with to stretch servings.
Well, true confessions--the food storage aspect is just an added plus to me. I have used these recipes for years because they had few ingredients, which led to easier preparation, and I really, really, really like easy. :) But the added benefit is that if you don't have as many ingredients to buy, you have more money to buy more emergency preparedness items... so if you try these, I hope you enjoy them!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Additional advantages to shopping around
Heard from someone online that one of the stores that I don't visit all that often has winter clearance on clothes for 70% off the lowest marked price, so I headed over there last night, since it is one of those stores that stays open until later. It is basically an all-inclusive type of store, since you can get food as well as clothes as well as furniture... well, you get the point.
Well, I'm not the type (usually) that buys something just because I show up at a shopping establishment, and the clearance items had been pretty much picked over for the type of items I was really interested in. I looked at the clearance items displayed at the front of the store, and then at the clearance items in the children's section. Only a few things available that were only slightly tempting, so, nooooo.....but hey, I was already in the store, so I checked out the grocery section.
Most of the prices were similar to/slightly higher than what I would be willing to pay if I had to, and some were of the type that makes me wonder how anyone can afford to pay that much for that particular item, but I did hit a couple of winners. For instance, the canned pasta that is preferred in my family was on sale, down from 10/$10 to $.88/can. I bought a couple, and made mental note of the fact that it appeared from the shelf labeling that it will remain that way for a couple of weeks. I've been trying to work more on my 3-month supply, which differs from the long-term supply items because the goal is to have that length of a supply of the items you normally eat, rather than more of the staples (although rice and beans is now more normal around here than it was last year :) . Anyway, a couple of those went into the cart, as well as a bottle of shampoo for $.99. Granted, the bottle looked smaller than what I remember buying in the past, but we need to replenish the supplies on the soap shelf downstairs, since we seem to deplete them when needed....
Then I went to the local national grocery store and found out that the item that I thought was on sale this week that I wanted particularly was not on sale after all. Ended up picking up a couple of cans of Spam because they were somewhere in the realm of the prices that I would pay at the local national chainstore, and a couple of frozen items that were at a good price and that my children really like, and would help in the 3-month goal category. I don't store all that much in the freezer, because the electricity thing, coupled with the fact that we don't have a generator, makes me more inclined to invest in things that don't need refrigeration.
And now, more to the point, for those that are still reading, is what my husband said when I got home. He asked me if it was busy. It was not, at either store. It could have been the hour. It could have been the prices. Whatever the case, the slower goes the store, the more people's jobs are affected, and that is why, when I can, I try to spread my money around, other than just at the local national chainstore. It does seem like it is extremely difficult to beat the prices at the local national chainstore in many cases, and since the local national chainstore is also an all-inclusive type of store, it can be more time effective as well. But I still try to "spread the wealth" as it were, and support more local businesses. When I did that recently, I reaped a lot more than a price decrease...
A couple of weeks ago, now, I was out and about in the afternoon on a Saturday, and I went past the local crafts store. I knew that I had to prepare an item for the following day that required sewing of a sort, (those who may recall my feelings about sewing can imagine the gasp of horror that accompanies such a project) and having heard of a method that included a glue gun and very little actual stitching, I was planning to buy some glue sticks and try my hand at it later that evening. (Nothing like procrastination to improve an already stressful situation.... :) The parking lot looked busy, so I decided I would run that particular errand later in the evening.
In the meantime, I went several places where I probably could have ferreted out the needed glue sticks if I had been so inclined, but I wanted to give my business to the craft store, so I didn't. It got later and later in the day, and finally, knowing that the crafts store closed at 9:00, made my way there probably a little more than an hour before closing (I'm really good--make that practiced--at the procrastination thing). I asked for directions to the glue stick aisle. Couldn't find it. But I did find one of my neighbors, who was working there. She directed me to the glue sticks. She asked me about my project. She told me about a wonderful item that is a liquid that is permanent that acts like sewing, but isn't. And then she offered to do my sewing for me.
Yeah, she told me when she would get off work, and invited me to come over because what I had in mind would only take her about 2-3 minutes, and she already had her sewing machine out. I bought the glue sticks for future use, and took her up on her offer, arriving at the pre-arranged time at her house with my project in hand.
Turns out she is an accomplished seamstress. I saw some of her handiwork--she had been sewing quilts for her family, and they were absolutely gorgeous. She has a wonderful talent, and she did me a great favor. Since the project was for one of my children, she has done a favor for my family as well. She offered to help me in the future.
I have known for a long time that she is one of the nicest people that you would ever want to meet, but I only found out recently that she works at the crafts store. I wanted to help the business, (what little I can) but it turns out that I benefitted from my shopping habits more than they did in this case. The more businesses that stay in business, the more options (and hopefully price competition) we'll have. This experience just helped me realize that when we are supporting a business, we're supporting the employees, who may be our neighbors, as well. And it turns out to be a win-win situation all around....
I doubt that my neighbor will find this post. (You would probably be surprised to know how few people know that I have a blog, much less which blog it is.) However, my sincere thanks go out to her if she does. A talent is a wonderful thing, to share it is a wonderful thing, and who knows, as a result of her example, I may be prompted to try my hand at sewing again.... it doesn't hurt to try, does it? Well, in the case of sewing it has caused me mental anguish in the past, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try again anyway..... :)
Well, I'm not the type (usually) that buys something just because I show up at a shopping establishment, and the clearance items had been pretty much picked over for the type of items I was really interested in. I looked at the clearance items displayed at the front of the store, and then at the clearance items in the children's section. Only a few things available that were only slightly tempting, so, nooooo.....but hey, I was already in the store, so I checked out the grocery section.
Most of the prices were similar to/slightly higher than what I would be willing to pay if I had to, and some were of the type that makes me wonder how anyone can afford to pay that much for that particular item, but I did hit a couple of winners. For instance, the canned pasta that is preferred in my family was on sale, down from 10/$10 to $.88/can. I bought a couple, and made mental note of the fact that it appeared from the shelf labeling that it will remain that way for a couple of weeks. I've been trying to work more on my 3-month supply, which differs from the long-term supply items because the goal is to have that length of a supply of the items you normally eat, rather than more of the staples (although rice and beans is now more normal around here than it was last year :) . Anyway, a couple of those went into the cart, as well as a bottle of shampoo for $.99. Granted, the bottle looked smaller than what I remember buying in the past, but we need to replenish the supplies on the soap shelf downstairs, since we seem to deplete them when needed....
Then I went to the local national grocery store and found out that the item that I thought was on sale this week that I wanted particularly was not on sale after all. Ended up picking up a couple of cans of Spam because they were somewhere in the realm of the prices that I would pay at the local national chainstore, and a couple of frozen items that were at a good price and that my children really like, and would help in the 3-month goal category. I don't store all that much in the freezer, because the electricity thing, coupled with the fact that we don't have a generator, makes me more inclined to invest in things that don't need refrigeration.
And now, more to the point, for those that are still reading, is what my husband said when I got home. He asked me if it was busy. It was not, at either store. It could have been the hour. It could have been the prices. Whatever the case, the slower goes the store, the more people's jobs are affected, and that is why, when I can, I try to spread my money around, other than just at the local national chainstore. It does seem like it is extremely difficult to beat the prices at the local national chainstore in many cases, and since the local national chainstore is also an all-inclusive type of store, it can be more time effective as well. But I still try to "spread the wealth" as it were, and support more local businesses. When I did that recently, I reaped a lot more than a price decrease...
A couple of weeks ago, now, I was out and about in the afternoon on a Saturday, and I went past the local crafts store. I knew that I had to prepare an item for the following day that required sewing of a sort, (those who may recall my feelings about sewing can imagine the gasp of horror that accompanies such a project) and having heard of a method that included a glue gun and very little actual stitching, I was planning to buy some glue sticks and try my hand at it later that evening. (Nothing like procrastination to improve an already stressful situation.... :) The parking lot looked busy, so I decided I would run that particular errand later in the evening.
In the meantime, I went several places where I probably could have ferreted out the needed glue sticks if I had been so inclined, but I wanted to give my business to the craft store, so I didn't. It got later and later in the day, and finally, knowing that the crafts store closed at 9:00, made my way there probably a little more than an hour before closing (I'm really good--make that practiced--at the procrastination thing). I asked for directions to the glue stick aisle. Couldn't find it. But I did find one of my neighbors, who was working there. She directed me to the glue sticks. She asked me about my project. She told me about a wonderful item that is a liquid that is permanent that acts like sewing, but isn't. And then she offered to do my sewing for me.
Yeah, she told me when she would get off work, and invited me to come over because what I had in mind would only take her about 2-3 minutes, and she already had her sewing machine out. I bought the glue sticks for future use, and took her up on her offer, arriving at the pre-arranged time at her house with my project in hand.
Turns out she is an accomplished seamstress. I saw some of her handiwork--she had been sewing quilts for her family, and they were absolutely gorgeous. She has a wonderful talent, and she did me a great favor. Since the project was for one of my children, she has done a favor for my family as well. She offered to help me in the future.
I have known for a long time that she is one of the nicest people that you would ever want to meet, but I only found out recently that she works at the crafts store. I wanted to help the business, (what little I can) but it turns out that I benefitted from my shopping habits more than they did in this case. The more businesses that stay in business, the more options (and hopefully price competition) we'll have. This experience just helped me realize that when we are supporting a business, we're supporting the employees, who may be our neighbors, as well. And it turns out to be a win-win situation all around....
I doubt that my neighbor will find this post. (You would probably be surprised to know how few people know that I have a blog, much less which blog it is.) However, my sincere thanks go out to her if she does. A talent is a wonderful thing, to share it is a wonderful thing, and who knows, as a result of her example, I may be prompted to try my hand at sewing again.... it doesn't hurt to try, does it? Well, in the case of sewing it has caused me mental anguish in the past, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try again anyway..... :)
Friday, February 20, 2009
All substitutions are not created equal
Well, if I were in the mood to tell stories on myself, I guess I could talk about the time when I was living overseas, and:
--because there were no varieties of Rice Krispies, a decision was made to use puffed wheat instead in a variation of Rice Krispie treats. The result? The result was not good. Conclusion: puffed wheat is not a good substitution for Rice Krispies in the recipe for Rice Krispie treats. Bad substitution. Bad, bad, brick-like substitution.
--because there was no mixer available, the decision was made to try to make "no-fail divinity" in a blender. The chances of success? Hopes were high, I mean, look at the name of the recipe. The result? You may be surprised (or not) to hear that the results were not good. Conclusion: a blender is not a good substitution for a mixer when it comes to making divinity. Bad substitution. Bad, bad, total mess of a failure substitution.
Now, I'm obviously not against trying new things, (at least if you look at the above examples) but in an emergency situation you might not have the luxury of trying new things--either because you don't have the resources, or because the information is not available. And I'm not talking about fun things like rice krispie treats and divinity--I'm talking about things like eggs and white flour. However, if you know what substitutions can be made for common items in cooking, you can not only stock up on needed supplies, but you will know how to use them if the need arises.
Wendy, over at iPrepared, recently put up an excellent comprehensive list of many common cooking items in this post. I have not tried these substitutions as of yet, but I did make myself write them down in my emergency notebook before I let myself write this post. It took quite a while, but now it's in there! I am especially glad to know how to substitute for eggs, because as of this post I have no chickens on my property.... Many thanks to Wendy for putting so much valuable information up for all to share.
Just a note about this week's poll--lots of times, as I may have mentioned before, I put up questions that I'm thinking about that apply to my own situation. If I had to pick one of the options on the poll that is worrying me particularly at the moment, I would say it would be the one about time. I'm hoping things will still be available and affordable by the time that I am able to get all the provisions in that I want to get in. If you have the means, please get emergency supplies in as quickly as possible for your family. If you are already in an emergency situation, I hope that things get better for you soon.
I haven't said this in a while, but really, one of the reasons that I started this blog is because I don't want my children to go hungry in a crisis situation, and I don't want anyone else's children to go hungry either. We may not be able to get everything in storage that we would like to get, but everything that we can get in will end up being a big plus, emergency or not...
--because there were no varieties of Rice Krispies, a decision was made to use puffed wheat instead in a variation of Rice Krispie treats. The result? The result was not good. Conclusion: puffed wheat is not a good substitution for Rice Krispies in the recipe for Rice Krispie treats. Bad substitution. Bad, bad, brick-like substitution.
--because there was no mixer available, the decision was made to try to make "no-fail divinity" in a blender. The chances of success? Hopes were high, I mean, look at the name of the recipe. The result? You may be surprised (or not) to hear that the results were not good. Conclusion: a blender is not a good substitution for a mixer when it comes to making divinity. Bad substitution. Bad, bad, total mess of a failure substitution.
Now, I'm obviously not against trying new things, (at least if you look at the above examples) but in an emergency situation you might not have the luxury of trying new things--either because you don't have the resources, or because the information is not available. And I'm not talking about fun things like rice krispie treats and divinity--I'm talking about things like eggs and white flour. However, if you know what substitutions can be made for common items in cooking, you can not only stock up on needed supplies, but you will know how to use them if the need arises.
Wendy, over at iPrepared, recently put up an excellent comprehensive list of many common cooking items in this post. I have not tried these substitutions as of yet, but I did make myself write them down in my emergency notebook before I let myself write this post. It took quite a while, but now it's in there! I am especially glad to know how to substitute for eggs, because as of this post I have no chickens on my property.... Many thanks to Wendy for putting so much valuable information up for all to share.
Just a note about this week's poll--lots of times, as I may have mentioned before, I put up questions that I'm thinking about that apply to my own situation. If I had to pick one of the options on the poll that is worrying me particularly at the moment, I would say it would be the one about time. I'm hoping things will still be available and affordable by the time that I am able to get all the provisions in that I want to get in. If you have the means, please get emergency supplies in as quickly as possible for your family. If you are already in an emergency situation, I hope that things get better for you soon.
I haven't said this in a while, but really, one of the reasons that I started this blog is because I don't want my children to go hungry in a crisis situation, and I don't want anyone else's children to go hungry either. We may not be able to get everything in storage that we would like to get, but everything that we can get in will end up being a big plus, emergency or not...
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