BY #44: Better with a sandwich...

My BY for the day: Can of tomato soup (add water)

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: Toasted cheese sandwiches...hence the post title. :)

Yeah, I almost didn't get this posted today. Almost doesn't count too often, as they say... :) And I have nothing more to say at this point.... :)

BY #43: Serving of fruit

My BY for the day: Can of pineapple

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: I happen to like pineapple all by itself, and figure a can would be good for breakfast. For those who like it with ham, or Spam, you might want to change things up with the addition of a few chunks of pineapple. Not my preference, but hey, it's not all about me... :)

Yeah, not much more to add about that. Just again that you need to think about what you would need to store that would help fill you up and give you enough energy to deal with whatever you have to deal with in an emergency situation...

BY #42: Again with a possible main dish

My BY for the day: Can of chili

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: Well, if I weren't planning on using this as a main dish, it sure would be nice to put it over some hot dogs that I was storing in the freezer...along with the buns in the freezer...and drinking the frozen juice from the freezer. Ah, one can dream, can't one?

If you are new to the BY series, or just starting, I would suggest cans that would possibly serve as a main dish, and if I were super-motivated and had the means to do so, I would also choose to get enough of the cans to feed everyone in the group I would be responsible for in an emergency situation. If you get a meal's worth of cans a day, starting today, you will still have enough for 11 days' worth of one good meal a day, or most likely be in a good situation for a 3-5 day emergency situation...

Hope everyone's BYs are going well!

BY #41: In unexpected places....

My BY for the day: Dinty Moore stew (15 oz.)

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: Mashed potatoes so that I could make shepherd's pie--think I may have mentioned this before in this series, but this is our stew of choice when it comes to shepherd's pie. I remember pretty early on in my marriage when I tried another type of stew over potatoes, and the results, shall we say, were less than encouraging. Yeah, we abandoned that idea pretty quickly, but when I saw the recipe for shepherd's pie on the back of the Dinty Moore stew, I tried it, and the type of stew made all the difference. Can't imagine that just having the potatoes over the stew instead of under it made all that much of a difference, but  I guess one never knows... :)

As for the title, I got this can for $1.50 in a store where I had gone Christmas shopping. You know, one of those stores that is basically for clothes, accessories, toys, etc., but also manages to put aside a couple of shelves of food that almost seem like an afterthought. The Dinty Moore stew was on sale for 2/$3.00, where it apparently is usually $2.19/can, if memory serves. Just for kicks I had looked at the limited food shelves at a similar store, and they had "cream of" soups for $.59/can, and the cheapest I have seen them recently where I usually grocery shop was $.75/can. So if you need a can of something for your BY series or otherwise, you might want to check out the cans available where you are doing other shopping--you might be pleasantly surprised...

BY #40: Enough to go around...

My BY for the day: Campbell's chicken noodle soup (add water)

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: The standard crackers, but if I wanted more options I would throw in some peanut butter to go along with them. That jar (or jars) of peanut butter would probably additionally come in handy to go on apples, the defrosted bread, or by the spoonful...

With the group I would probably be planning to feed, I would need more than one can of soup to feed them,  and even with a small group, seconds are nice, right? Whether you're adding more sides, or more soup, make sure that there will be enough to go around...

Buying ahead, blogging ahead: BY #39 for Dec. 16

My BY for the day: Canned chicken

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: Homemade bread for a sandwich, maybe? I think I've already mentioned casseroles and soups, and cracker sandwiches. In any case, it's a good protein.

Noticed when I picked this up that there are actually cans of canned chicken that are already flavored. Since I don't usually use canned chicken, and the cans I have are really for storage, I don't think I'm brave enough to stick a flavored (one example was lemon chicken, if memory serves) can that I've never tried before into my storage for the BY series. Maybe another time...

But I am curious--have you tried the flavored canned chicken? Did you like it? Would love to hear...

BY #38: Just peachy...

My BY for the day: Can of sliced peaches

If I were adding anything to go along with this, it would be: I think I have already mentioned cold cereal, oatmeal, granola bars--anything that would reasonably go along with it, and add some calories as well, since a serving doesn't have that many. The can I have says that there are 80 calories per 1/2 cup serving, with about 3 1/2 servings per can. Eating a whole can might be somewhat filling, but you can s-t-r-e-t-c-h your cans by dividing the servings and adding them to something else.

If I ever repeat myself on these posts, please forgive the repetition--can you believe we're already on day 38? This is the most consecutive blogging I've done in a long time, if not ever. I realize that it is really basic, but what I want from it is for people to either bulk up the food they have in storage with some easy-to-fix, everyday type, easy-to-eat items, or to just start some storage. Long time readers may recall that dairy products have long given me sticker shock in terms of prices--and not so long ago I saw a 2 lb. block of cheese for $9.99. It was, thankfully, not the only cheese available, and there were some 2 lb. blocks for closer to $7.00, but to me that is still really high, and this is at the store that I consider to have the best dairy prices in my area. The way prices are going up, and the drought, and other factors combined make me worry about other items giving me sticker shock sometime in the not-so-distant future. Just hoping that I (and everyone else) will be able to have some storage that will help fill in the financial gaps if the prices do go up...

I don't know what to say about what happened yesterday, except that my heart and prayers go out to everyone affected in Connecticut.