July Lewis - Member - The Prepared

Discussions

Reply to: Estate Planning – real life notes on why you should do it now Posted June 4, 2023

The financial issues are a minor footnote, compared to losing him! Can’t even begin to address that here. I thought it would be helpful to share here because I’ve gone on about it before….truly it is easier to handle when it’s an abstract, some-distant-day issue.

Estate Planning – real life notes on why you should do it now

Posted June 4, 2023

Reply to: News for week of 2022-12-26 (all current event convos go here) Posted December 28, 2022

Get your free covid tests from USPS! It really helps to have these on hand in the post-holiday wave. https://special.usps.com/testkits

Reply to: Sneak peek of whole new TP website launching soon Posted November 11, 2022

Can’t wait to see it! Thank you for all your incredible hard work!

Reply to: Harvest envy thread Posted September 30, 2022

Just weighed one of the biggest potatoes- 2.35 lbs!

Reply to: Harvest envy thread Posted September 30, 2022

I can only speculate why our potatoes were so abundant- and really huge, some of them are monsters! I’d say growing them in raised beds with loose, sandy soil probably helped a lot. (😂on the Samwise meme!)

Reply to: Harvest envy thread Posted September 30, 2022

Potatoooooes! Our first year planting potatoes was a raging success. Ten plants. Yield is About 6 lbs per plant. Potatoes are huge and tasty!! Some vole damage. We are also harvesting figs right now (in coastal southern New England) and they are not coming in bushels, more like 1-3 per day, but they are delicious. Herb garden is going crazy – gotta have sour cream and chives for the potatoes plus rosemary for roasting! We had a few tomato plants, enough for a few batches of heavenly fresh tomato sauce with home grown basil. Happy harvest!

Reply to: Best emergency shower and hygiene wipes Posted September 26, 2022

I don’t know what brand they were, but they had almond oil in them and she’s allergic to tree nuts!

Reply to: (Official Discussion) Gold, silver, and other precious metals for sane preppers Posted September 23, 2022

Good perspective- Thanks, Henry!

Reply to: (Official Discussion) Gold, silver, and other precious metals for sane preppers Posted September 21, 2022

Idle question….if you have a jumble of mismatched inherited sterling silverware, and it’s kinda cool because some of it is pretty old, but you’re not actually that sentimental about it and will never use it….what’s the best thing to do with it, from a prepping perspective? Hold on to it? Trade it in for nice compact coins?

Reply to: Best emergency shower and hygiene wipes Posted September 20, 2022

Ugh just realized – I had the originally recommended product, Clean Trek. Just checked the article update saying that it is no longer available. Will try one of the other recommendations.

Reply to: Best emergency shower and hygiene wipes Posted September 19, 2022

I got these for my bug out bag a few years ago on your recommendation. Hadn’t used them. My sister has been doing a lot of bike camping and found she was allergic to the wipes she had, so I offered her these- she loves them! Gotta get another pack now…

Reply to: COVID at home: prepare for a severe case Posted September 5, 2022

I’m so sorry your husband is sick!! I hope he recovers quickly. I’m glad this thread has been helpful – thank you for adding what you’ve learned. Sending good wishes your way! Keep us updated!

Reply to: I’m planting potatoes! Posted August 19, 2022

POTATO UPDATE!!! We harvested our first potatoes and they are amaaaaaaazing!! We had our first ones sliced, pan-fried and served with sour cream, sprinkled with chives from the garden. Sooooo good! Some stats: we planted Lehigh Gold, a late variety, mid-May we planted 10 seed potatoes in a raised bed, hilled them and mulched with straw. The area is borderline full sun, 5-6 hours. Now it’s mid-August and they stopped flowering a couple weeks ago We dug up one plant (the smallest) and got 6 potatoes weighing a total of 3 pounds. They are still “new” (fragile skins) but they seem full size! We had been tempted to let them all mature fully so we could get the maximum yield, but we don’t have a root cellar, so in the end thought it more practical to start digging them now, a few pounds at a time. anyway, we laughed like kids when we dug up our treasure, and are extremely pleased with ourselves! So much fun and well worth the effort!

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 24, 2022

I keep looking into it, and wine storage really is a complex topic! I’m researching because we have this wine now-his sons just gave him some more for Father’s Day- and I really don’t want any of it to go bad. What I’m coming up with is that MOST wines should be consumed within a year of purchase-they may last longer but the quality will slowly diminish. Some specific wines will improve in quality over time and/or keep really well. And the distinction between fine and affordable wine is that mass production uses additives to standardize, so a particular brand always tastes the same. that process creates wines that taste great now, but don’t tend to age well. The Wikipedia article on aging wine is actually pretty informative: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_wine

Reply to: Cooking in a haybox – a fuel efficient way to slow-cook your meals Posted June 23, 2022

Oh, you’re taking me back to my commune days! At the ol’ hippie commune I used to live at, we used a haybox all the time for cooking rice and/or beans. It was an insulated, tight-fitting box with reflective material on the inside (no actual hay). Because we cooked huge quantities, it was a perfect method because the big pots retained heat really well. And if we cooked those big pots on a stovetop, it was too easy to scorch the bottom. I never knew until now why it was called a hay box!

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 13, 2022

To be clear, I’m not buying wine for emergency storage….my husband is currently in a wine appreciating phase, and I just realized I could add the wine to my food storage spreadsheet and bump up my total calories! That said, there’s nothing wrong with backstocking some alcohol if you drink it. Store what you eat, eat what you store…it’s calorie dense and has a long shelf life, so why not keep it in your rotating pantry along with the lentils, rice, canned tuna and everything else? Side benefit of always having a hostess gift to grab on your way out to a party and being ready for last minute guests.

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 13, 2022

We’ve never made wine but my husband did go through a beer brewing phase at one point, it was fun and came out good.

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 13, 2022

Thanks! I’ve drilled into it a little more deeply (found some better Google search terms) and feel like I’m learning more detail about what will last last and what won’t, which is more the type of wine (tannins etc as you pointed out) and not whether it’s a fine wine. I’ll try to keep on top of the rotation-I don’t even drink but it’s sort of my job in the house to make sure food doesn’t go to waste!

Wine for the apocalypse

Advice 10

Posted June 11, 2022

Estate Planning – real life notes on why you should do it now

Posted June 4, 2023

Wine for the apocalypse

Advice 10

Posted June 11, 2022

I’m planting potatoes!

Skills 10

Posted May 22, 2022

COVID at home: prepare for a severe case

Advice 68

Posted March 26, 2022

It can’t be said too many times…do your estate planning

Advice 9

Posted January 7, 2022

Evaluating information – a prepper skill

Skills 35

Posted October 15, 2021

Celebrate National Preparedness Month (spread the word, give gifts)

Posted September 5, 2021

Reply to: Estate Planning – real life notes on why you should do it now Posted June 4, 2023

Reply to: News for week of 2022-12-26 (all current event convos go here) Posted December 28, 2022

Get your free covid tests from USPS! It really helps to have these on hand in the post-holiday wave. https://special.usps.com/testkits

Reply to: Sneak peek of whole new TP website launching soon Posted November 11, 2022

Can’t wait to see it! Thank you for all your incredible hard work!

Reply to: Harvest envy thread Posted September 30, 2022

Just weighed one of the biggest potatoes- 2.35 lbs!

Reply to: Harvest envy thread Posted September 30, 2022

Reply to: Best emergency shower and hygiene wipes Posted September 26, 2022

I don’t know what brand they were, but they had almond oil in them and she’s allergic to tree nuts!

Reply to: (Official Discussion) Gold, silver, and other precious metals for sane preppers Posted September 23, 2022

Good perspective- Thanks, Henry!

Reply to: (Official Discussion) Gold, silver, and other precious metals for sane preppers Posted September 21, 2022

Reply to: Best emergency shower and hygiene wipes Posted September 20, 2022

Ugh just realized – I had the originally recommended product, Clean Trek. Just checked the article update saying that it is no longer available. Will try one of the other recommendations.

Reply to: Best emergency shower and hygiene wipes Posted September 19, 2022

Reply to: COVID at home: prepare for a severe case Posted September 5, 2022

Reply to: I’m planting potatoes! Posted August 19, 2022

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 24, 2022

Reply to: Cooking in a haybox – a fuel efficient way to slow-cook your meals Posted June 23, 2022

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 13, 2022

We’ve never made wine but my husband did go through a beer brewing phase at one point, it was fun and came out good.

Reply to: Wine for the apocalypse Posted June 13, 2022

Reply to: I’d like to avoid using a cook kit and just carry ready-to-eat meals in my emergency bags Posted June 11, 2022

I go with the Daytrex lifeboat rations. I tried one, they’re not bad. For weight considerations, I don’t have a cook stove in my bug out backpack, but I do have one in the tub I can throw in the car if I’m able. I think packing to the level of one’s physical fitness (and being realistic about that) is important and makes you more prepared, not less, even though you would be leaving things out that many recommend.

Reply to: How has rising gas prices influenced you? Posted June 7, 2022

I’m annoying everyone else on the road by driving the speed limit! I use cruise control whenever possible. My gas mileage is already good with my Prius, but driving the speed limit gains me an extra 10 mpg.