Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Whoa. That sounds like too much work. Kind of wasteful if SHTF doesn’t happen.

It’s so hard to anticipate what we will actually need. Too bad there isn’t this happy medium prep. Or a list of things to go and get before the rush.

After speaking with people I know in Florida and North Carolina, I've decided to increase my stockpiles. I let them dwindle a little, thinking I would top them off towards the end of the summer so I was ready for a bad winter flu/covid season. Florida and NC sound like they are getting bad fast though and I don't want to be caught unprepared.

I'm also doing things I'd put off like getting the cars inspected and fixing a bathroom issue (needed supplies). I figure I have a couple of weeks to run around and get things done before it gets too sketchy to go out again. I get the feeling this is going to be like one of those wave motion machines with the virus moving back and forth through different parts of the country before we get a handle on it for good.

I don't want to have to rely so much on refrigeration. I'm trying to decide whether I want to learn to can and buy enough canning supplies, or buy a dehydrator. Neither sounds that appealing tbh.

Or a backup freezer?

(Correction: I don't know if that's actually a good idea; if the compressor can sit unused for years and be expected to start when needed. Probably better to have two small freezers than one large for some diversification. This also gives the flexibility to create alternative systems like making ice for coolers to serve as backup fridges.)

I love canning! I really prefer to can with someone else and sometimes when I'm finished I think, 'that's all I did?' It feels great to have a bunch of cans stored though. I think for volume, canning is better than dehydrating. We have two types of canners, the water bath and pressure cooker. I've come to prefer the water bath as the pressure canner takes so long to get to pressure and release pressure. But some things need to be pressure canned, I can't remember which veggies, acidic ones? And meat needs pressure canning. The most expensive part of canning is buying the produce in the large enough volume to be worth it. Simple water bath canners are usually in the second hand stores, though maybe everyone is buying them up this year. Do you have someone who could teach you and you could borrow their supplies and see if you like it enough to buy? I don't think you need someone to teach you, it's just nice to be around someone who is comfortable with the flow.

I'm a little surprised that a serious prepper like you hasn't gotten into canning yet!

@mooretrees -- I've learned a couple of times, but I've never gotten into it. I guess I'm fussy about food too and like how food tastes when it comes from the freezer compared to canning/dehydrating.


@jacob--I'm still looking for another freezer (I have two). I'm thinking about buying one to keep at my sister's house since her power goes out much less often than mine ... so not just more freezers but scattering them around. I'm also filling the freezers with bags of ice to help keep them colder during an outage.


For some reason, I'm more concerned now than I was in March.

Fermentation and root-cellaring would be other options. Also the simple solar drying screen I set up at my project site worked much better than I expected. Might be my imagination, but I think sun-dried tastes better, especially when stewed back to plump.

The problem with canning is having to do it in the heat. I read about method of freezing temporarily until good day to can and I thought that was a great idea if limited on freezer space.

jennypenny wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 25, 2020 9:08 am

For some reason, I'm more concerned now than I was in March.

i’m still stocking up on shelf-stable goods, because a failing freezer or a power outage can ruin the best plans.

@george the og reported one such failure in one of the threads.

jerky will store better than frozen meat. granted, it’s not the tastiest way to eat meat, but it will reconstitute well in a stew, it’s easy to transport, and it lasts a long time.

a dehydrator might be a better hedge against dire scenarios.

ps- i wish i knew how to make pemmican. actual pemmican, not the brand of jerky.

eta: https://www.skilledsurvival.com/how-to-make-pemmican/

(still looks a mess but i might experiment in small batches)

meanwhile, i’ve got canned goods, vitamin pills, white rice (lasts forever), powdered whey, etc.