stocking up because of gas shortage or bad weather??

[kentuckyhippie]

not being able to run into town every couple of days got me to thinking about what I need to keep extra in case I'm out of gas or the weather gets too bad to drive. What do you all always keep extra just in case. I keep extra toilet paper, flour, meal, coffee, salt, canned milk, food for the critters, peanut butter, cooking oil and dried beans. I figure we could combine that with the stuff I canned and froze and live several weeks before we had to go anywhere.

[Oilpatch197]

I keep 15 gallons of backup gas, I just replenished supplies and paid $2.75 for Premium 93!

[sisterpine]

speaking of which, where does a person go to get say 50 pounds of rice and flour? like what kind of store etc. i am in montana. TIA

[Gary in ohio]

Even without all the crap going on right now, you should have a week or so of supplies if not more.

Originally Posted by kyhippie

not being able to run into town every couple of days got me to thinking about what I need to keep extra in case I'm out of gas or the weather gets too bad to drive. What do you all always keep extra just in case. I keep extra toilet paper, flour, meal, coffee, salt, canned milk, food for the critters, peanut butter, cooking oil and dried beans. I figure we could combine that with the stuff I canned and froze and live several weeks before we had to go anywhere.

[BearCreekFarm]

You can buy 50 pound bags of rice at Sam's Club. Or, you might see if there is a restaurant supply store in your area where you can buy things like sugar, rice, flour, etc in 50 pound bags.

[Mudwoman]

I also keep oatmeal, raisins, nuts, butter, spaghetti, canned tomatoes, and cheese on hand in addition to the items you mentioned.

[Sherrynboo]

I just bought a 25# bag of plain flour at Sam's for less than four dollars. They have self rising for the same price. It is nice flour too, not a lot of clumps in it. I don't normally go to Sam's as I refuse to pay to shop somewhere without a drastic decrease in cost, but a friend of mine took me with her.

[Cheryl in SD]

I always start checking the pantry and stocking up this time of year. We have been having dry pleasant winters lately, but we never know. I know we COULD be snowed in for days and even weeks. I don't like to worry about not being able to feed the kids if we are. I also try to get things that won't matter if the electricity is out. Four times in the last 8 years we have been out for at least a week. Water, food, wood and a source of light are all kept on hand every winter in this house.

Cheryl

[OldFarmGal]

If you buy large quantites, make sure they are sealed tight to keep out rodents. We had friends who stockpiled for Y2K, grew their own grain, the works. Stored the grain and large bags of meal, flour, etc. in their unfinished earthhome (where they resided w/o a source for heat.) Had the worst case of lice I have ever known anyone to have! Mice.

[mamakatinmd]

Sisterpine

The last 2 weeks I have spent gathering info and doing a spreadsheet on staple items. I am comparing Costco, Sam's Club, Bulkfood.com, Walton'sfeed.com, Superfresh, and DutchValley (they are a wholesale food distributor in Lancaster PA). Costco and Sam's club have come in with the best prices and are very close in price on most items. Bulkfood.com was double the price of both and that is without taking shipping cost into consideration. Walton came in close on grains, beans, and noodles but their spices were much more expensive than Costco or Sam's club and the shipping is steep. Sam's club and Costco do not sell dried beans (At least not in my area of demographic). Walton's price on beans was the same per pound as my grocery store without shipping . Superfresh had a sale on dried beans for 33% off last week. They did not advertise in flyer I just happened to be walking thru and saw it. I ordered 6 cases of differant varieties and got an incredable deal. Wish I ordered more!! If you see loss leaders they really are incredable deals and the stores are happy to order cases for you. Still have a bit more data to get. I have to visit Sav-a-lot yet. I have to admit I was surprised Costco and Sam's came in so much better then the wholesale distributor Dutch Valley.
Happy Stocking!!
Ka

[BCR]

Food is great, but don't forget the other stuff:

an extra thermocouple for anything that takes one
batteries to fit all your flashlights
utility candles
fuel for alternate heat source (wood, kerosene, propane, etc.)
extra bulbs for flashlights, if yours takes bulbs
bottled water
fuel for alternative cooking source (wood, charcoal,gas)
matches
lanterns/fuel

The list is actually much longer. Start imagining the electric is out and go from there.

[Maura]

I always have enough. I try to replenish before we run out. I really hate running out of toilet paper. Even when I had a houseful of kids, I kept staples in the ready. Things llike flour, oatmeal, tuna fish, don't get used up in just one week, but are handy to have when everything else runs out.

We buy 1/2 steer every year (or so) so we won't run out of meat any time soon. I like to buy fresh ears of corn and freeze them for later, so I'll have that. Things like dried beans we don't use often, but I keep a few kinds so between beans, rice, flour, the meat, and our garden, we will be fed.

Yesterday I had to go to town, 30 miles, so I made a larger trip out of it, library, visit friend in shop, bank, then to another town and the dollar store to wander around and see if anything caught my eye. I thought what with the price of shipping going way up, I wanted to pick up a few items before I need them. The grocery store was next, then I picked up some bags of corn for the poultry.

The things I usually forget are batteries. I do have candles, and a couple of milk jugs of water in the freezer.

[plowhand]

I shop at Sams once and a long while,because I refuse to pay someone for the right to shop in there business. Think of the money the make on memberships alone. Some family members like to shop there, but don't drive or have a way to go. I end up playing taxi, so I go in and make a few purchases to help make up the cost of gas. I can buy spices, raisins,nutmeats, and a few other things at a good price. I find most other items higher, oraround the same price as the local grocery store. I find it cheaper to purchase items when they are on sale, and to note at which stores certain items cost more. I suppose the fact that I worked in a grocery store for almost a decade helps a little. There are a few things to remember;just because there is a sale sign it doesn't really mean the stuff is on sale, large amounts are not always cheaper than regular size size bags,smaller amounts are easier to handle,and lastly when stuff is on sale check the sell by dates. Often companies put their products on sale a few weeks before the sell by date to clear out the old stock. Remember also that some things like baking powder,medicines,dry cake and pudding mixes containing nuts, and even saltine crackers can go stale with age. They need to be used up and renewed periodically. I never buy paper good or detergents at wholesale stores, for I can always beat their prices at the local stores . Plastic, sealable storeage containers work well for most things, but stuff like rice,flour, and dry beans are safer in a lard can that is then put in a plastic container. A rat may knaw through a plastic box, but that lard can will dull his teeth. I mean no disrespect to anyone who likes to shop the large discount stores.

[Oilpatch197]

I got these Stainless steel one and a half gallon capacity, they have latched lids and a plastic lid, air tight and great for storage of food stuff.

[Cygnet]

Don't forget things like:

Yeast/baking powder
Basic spices, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.
Veggies/fruit that keep well: Potatoes, onions, apples, etc.
Cooking oil, butter, shortening, etc.
Soap/shampoo/dish soap/detergent/etc
Sugar and salt
Canned beans unless you have a plentiful supply of fuel to cook dry beans -- dry beans take forever to cook and use a lot of fuel. However, not a problem if you've got no shortage of wood, for example.
Salt pork & bacon & smoked ham
Eggs, if you don't have laying hens

Gatorade or a generic knockoff, in powder form. Or lemonade powder or koolaid. Used to make chemically treated/sanitized water palatable or just to break up the variety. (Note: treat the water first, then add the flavor.) Even if you have a well, this is not a bad idea because what if something happens to your well? (Mine BROKE one time when the roads were so bad we had a hard time getting someone to come in to fix it.)

Bleach

Stuff that can be traded for stuff that you need and doesn't take up a lot of space. Booze is good, because people are likely to run out of it.

Leva

[Spotted Crow]

My DH is going to be stocking up on coffee and chicken because the port down there is closed. There's some chicken farms that are gone so those prices are going to go up and there's coffee beans rotting on the docks because noone can ship them right now...We'll also be stocking up on paper goods, dried beans, pasta, tuna,...

[SFM in KY]

We are only 5 miles from a small town and 18 miles from a bigger one but I grew up in (very) rural Montana ... and actually don't like going to town and shopping ... so have always tended to stock up on staples and limit the number of town trips.

We're retired, so just cooking for two people without big appetites is a bit different than family cooking, but we would get by without difficulty for at least two weeks if necessary. The only "perishable" that we do get often is milk, we probably use close to a gallon a day, but I do keep powdered milk on hand and could use that if necessary.

We do keep about 10 gallons of gas and 10 gallons of diesel on hand and do have two generators that would keep the freezer and basic electric going in a major power outage. We have oil lamps and a kerosene heater and of course keep kerosene on hand as well.

[Quiver0f10]

"speaking of which, where does a person go to get say 50 pounds of rice and flour? like what kind of store etc. "

See about joining a food co-op. You can ask at your local health food store etc. I buy all my grains, oats, cooking oil, yeast etc this way and I just email my order in and pick up from the person who is in charge of organizing the co-op.

We sent in a big stock up order just this week and I will be picking it up in a week. I will be glad to have my pantry restocked.

[Little Quacker in OR]

Well, like so many of us I keep lots of canned goods around and rotate them annually. I keep many boxes of freezer ziplocks also of all sizes and break down large containers of dried goods in them and then in the freezer. If power is lost the dried goods will still keep for quite a while.

I keep about 20 2 1/2 gal cans of gasoline here all of the time...they are easier for me to lift. I can't manage the 5 gal ones. I do have a generator and have it mounted on a homemade platform and wheels for easy rolling around.

And I always have extra dog and duck food.

When we were looking at places to retire I insisted on a place with permanent water... a river or a lake. We got the river. LOL Being raised on a little ranch far from a town I was taught about being prepared and have done it all of my life, even when I lived right in town in 'Vegas. It's served me well through explosions and power failures over the years and allowed me to assist neighbors which is a good thing.

This is a good time to reassess things isn't it?

LQ

[ponyexpress]

A well stocked first aid kit
parmalat (Dh won't drink powdered milk, but he will drink that!)
Ammo (can never have too much!)