What did YOU buy this weekend?

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We went to a flea market and got several boxes of bandaids in a variety of sizes for a fraction of their original cost. (If we need them, I doubt we'll care that the outer boxes are bent and don't close well.) I bought tampons and pads for about $.07 each (usually around $.16 each), and we finished up at Big Lots. We bought anti-bacterial salves and disposable razors, among other odds and ends. I'd like to find a place to get cheap neosporin or bacitracin.

What did you buy?

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), October 24, 1999

Answers

Ah, the joys of weekend bargain hunting for preps. Let's see, found dried peas at local store, they've never carried these before (bought several bags). Found a vegetable gardening book (Rondels) at thrift store ($1.49) and package of 10 thread spools for $1. Another store had evaporated milk @ .50, bought a case.

Made yet another list to get at the health food store, hate to go in for just one item, end up with stuff I can use but didn't want to spend the money on just then. Wal-Mart had Kero Enhancer found it after asking clerk who said "don't have any new, this is from last year", there were only a few bottles.

Thought about my DGI brother and family coming for Christmas and made out a list of things they will need - Tampons (wife), Gloves/Boots (kids), warm coats (all) and am off for yet another trip to the local thrift stores.

Ordered more non-hybrid seeds, I don't feel I'll ever have enough.

Oh yes, one more thing, we badly needed a diversion and went to bingo, I won $100 to do some of this stuff - keepin' on, keepin' on

-- Sammie Davis (sammiex0@hotmail.com), October 24, 1999.


More cat food, sewing supplies & French Vanilla Cappucino...can't wait till the candy all goes on sale next week. I'm down to the "buy at the end of the year" stuff on my list now and am actually having fun getting some of the non-necessities. Love the "what have you forgotten" threads, they sure do make me stop & think about what I've been doing for the last year and a half, Now if I can just get hubby & friends in gear on the water wells.....

-- JudiAnn (JudiAnnG_@yahoo.com), October 24, 1999.

Bought some more TP, 15 gallons of distilled water and 8 propane bottles. WalMart was running low on propane bottles so I thought I better pick up a few more before the DGI=GI rush. Stopped at Safeway and did not see any bargains. The price of food has gone up sharply and the bargains are getting harder to come by. Will hit WalMart after Halloween and pickup some candy and light sticks if they haven't sold out.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), October 24, 1999.

Went to Trader Joe's and got health food type items at a lower price (dried fruit, soup, soy milk, hot cereal, etc.) Went to Ames and got some cat care stuff, more plastic bins, a warm winter hat, and bandaids. Went to Asian market and got seaweed, shitake mushrooms, and aseptic packages of tofu... Need more cat litter!!!

-- Libby Alexander (libbyalex@aol.com), October 24, 1999.

Went to Quality Farm & Fleet: bought another fireplace grate for our woodburning stove. They have "Y2K" blankets for sale for $18 - is a combo of wool and nylon.

Wal-Mart: bought more cold-medicines, fleece for another blanket, Christmas present (might as well beat the rush on those too). I noticed that Wal-Mart has bottled water at the edge of the check-out lane, there are batteries and flashlights everywhere, and water containers are everywhere.

Aldi's: cans of fruit, veggies ($.29 can!!!), kidney beans, canned ham and chicken, potato flakes, stuffing mix, bleach, salt & pepper, sugar. (7 bags of food for only $42.00!) Aldi's has a 3 gallon-pack of purified water for only $1.00.

Flea market: two 12x20 tarps for covering firewood, 3 large Rubbermaid containers ($1.50 each!) for storing more pastas or beans. Also checked out the cast-iron cookware they had available. Haven't bought that yet - I think I'm going to buy new (can't tell if the used ones have been cleaned with Briwax or not). Also bought salt & pepper containers (with handles) for $1.00 each.

-- Deb (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), October 24, 1999.



Just got back from shopping. At the dollar store I bought several boxes of quick oats and grits, tampax, glass candles with Mexican pictures of saints,(I'm not catholic, but I'm charmed by these things and who knows...maybe Saint Jude will lend a hand).

At Walmart I found some chocolate candy on sale for 1.98, rain ponchos, cotton balls, butterfly closures, juice boxes, epson salts, peanuts, and a combination flashlight and fan that runs on batteries for $12.00.

Next weekend it's the flea market.

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.net), October 24, 1999.


Wow, sitting here contemplating the next couple days is kinda fun. Just got my quarterly royalty check (produce CDROMs on solar power) so I can make my "year end" buys...

- 2 new mud and snow tires for my van (current tires are okay, just want new ones, will keep the take-offs) - Ordering backup glasses (2 pair) - More fuel/2 more 55gal. drums (adding to current stash, just bought 2 more large bottles of Stabil) - 2 100lb (25 gallon) propane bottles at Costco - Antibiotics (of the fish variety) - Hitting Costco for more vitamins, 30lb more honey, more beef stew, 14lb. of coffee, alkaline AA bats, handiwipes, spam, rice,canned turkey, spagetti, socks, anitbacterial soap, shampoo, skin lotion, etc. etc. - Another MCU-2P NBC mask (bought a medium and small, need a large) and at least 20 extra 40mm filters - More tyvek hooded overalls, rubber gloves, rubber boots, pathogen rated glove liners from Gemplers - 20 gallons of bleach for disinfecting - 500 rounds additional 9mm - Getting 2X the amount of bandages I have now, more triple antibiotic cream

Don't have my list handy and I'm sure there are other things I need to get (like a 20lb box of 16 penny cement coated nails). Be pouring over the lists this eve. Might see an upward blip in the inflation figures shortly but I figure better to have it and not need it.....DCK

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), October 24, 1999.


Just got back from the mainland...where I got what I could:

At COSTCO: 25# pinto beans, 10# brown rice, 2 large jars boysenberry jam, (and a propane heater for a daughter).

At Trader Joe's: 2# nuts, 12 boxes of tea, assorted syrups and spices.

Back on Kaua'i: 50# of chicken feed.

The preparation is great...we have no fear of the dock problem...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 25, 1999.


Well, I was supposed to work this week-end, but ended up going to a horse sale and buying 2 cute little paint breed stock fillies. My husband is going to have a fit! ! !

However, he did go and pick up my woodburning cookstove that finally arrived after 10 mos. We still need to pick up the piping for it and probably won't get it installed until after Jan 1, but at least we will have everything we need. Have another woodstove for heat (big house) and a propane cookstove.

Next week-end on my way home (I work out of town), I will stop at Sams and re-stock what we have used over the past few weeks and get those last minute items.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), October 25, 1999.


Went to two estate sales and got bags of yarn and thread, a stainless steel fondue pot, (By the way, I heated a pot of cold tap water to very hot using the fondue pot in under three hours using the small tea lite candle.), a hugh wicker sewing box, and could not pass up three very nice electric lamps. I bought flannel fabric at WalMart for PJs. Going to Sam's later today after my dentist appt.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), October 25, 1999.


I concentrated on sewing supplies. Until then had ONE partial spool of white thread and A needle...grin. Also bought somemore kidlet cold meds and deoderant. Got back-up replacement leathers for the pitcher pump.

BTW..noticed a couple posts including coffee. We had a 5 hr. elec. outage in Delaware last year around this time. GREAT chance to see where the holes were in our on-going preps. More about that in a sec. I always want a cup of coffee when the lights go out...shrug..don't ask me why...ask Pavlov. Anyways, I dug up the percolator hardware for my spatterware coffee percolator we use just to heat water for tea on the stove. Carried the coffee pot filled with my drip coffee down to the woodstove and fired her up.

About that hole in our preps...no kindling down in the basement or even collected. DUH!! We've been using our woodstove for 14 years or so. That afternoon the kids and I had a kindling hunt and brought loads downstairs for separating twigs from small branches.

We I'd check the coffee...and check the coffee and you know...and found that after 4 hours I had weak coffee. It was then that I decided to go instant. I think I get more bang for the buck anyways. If the elec. goes out and stays out, then having hot water on hand ASAP is not prob. BUT, if it goes up and down and brown, you might want to stock some instant along with your cans of coffee.

beej

-- beej (beej@ppbbs.com), October 25, 1999.


"I always want a cup of coffee when the lights go out...shrug..don't ask me why...ask Pavlov. Anyways, I dug up the percolator hardware for my spatterware coffee percolator we use just to heat water for tea on the stove. Carried the coffee pot filled with my drip coffee down to the woodstove and fired her up."

"Well I'd check the coffee...and check the coffee and you know...and found that after 4 hours I had weak coffee. It was then that I decided to go instant."

Just goes to show that percolators are evil, the spawn of the devil and a bad way to make coffee. Go drip which doesn't require boiling temps which are bad for coffee flavor anyway. Various places sell plated metal filters in various sizes to fit drip coffee filter cones which should last forever (wally world sells the #2 paper filters I most commonly use for $2 per 200). Drip coffee ideally wants temps of 190-210 deg. F

As for instant....yuk! If I have water hot enough for instant (in my estimation) I can grind up some fresh beans and make drip. There's a place for instant in your "total-end-of-the-world-the-asteroid-just- hit" kit but day to day...no way!

DCK

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), October 25, 1999.


MORE dog and cat food, ammo. Wal-Mart had corn and green beans for .33 each - bought 3 cases. First-Aid books at big book sale - $1.00 each. Also bought 2 survival books that looked really good at Amazon - The SAS Survival Handbook and Survival: A Manual That Could Save Your Life. Long underwear, razor blades.

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), October 25, 1999.

RE: Coffee during power outages

Power Outages, we have them regularly here in PNW, have tried drip (very good) and instant (OK), but for flavor and a really fast cup of java I got one of those little mesh thingies for ground coffee that looks like a little box at the end of a handle. Just poured in hot water and voila, fresh coffee. Just a quickie idea when you really need the 'comfort' zone approach of a hot cupa fresh ground during stress.

-- Sammie Davis (sammiex0@hotmail.com), October 26, 1999.


Weekends are just like all the other days in my schedule, but this question got me thinking about what I'd done in the past week that was for Y2K. Well... Got sand to store root veggies in. Got fabric on sale at Walmart, and extension rods, to make curtains to keep light from showing from our house at night. Got an old Singer treadle machine, on barter for my wholistic health services! Got suturing materials from friendly vet. Ordered essential oils for various purposes. Got a bit further in understanding our septic situation, in a long chat w/ plumber. Took lid off septic and experiemented with lifting one of the floats. (More on this later.) Got yet more butter and cat food. Salvaged more oil from recycled containers from recycling center. Took more info. to several neighbors. Wrote follow-up on county meeting for local paper. Ordered a great new book on WI's healing herbs. Picked, labeled and stored seeds from garden. Bugged hubby till he finally sent a mass Y2K-emailing to almost his entire directory of folks. Studied EMP on internet. Made a collage of the prep items in Fleet Farms winter catalog (plus notes) to give to folks who don't know what to buy. Ordered the radiation meter kit. Harvested some tulsi leaves (holy basil, from India) just before the plants got hit with first frost, and put them in sesame oil to made a strong medicated oil. Took info. to town and country representatives. And spent a lot of time on the b-boards. And wondered why lately there are so few hours in a day.

-- Shivani Arjuna (SArjuna@aol.com), October 27, 1999.


Bought 25 lbs of apples, sauced and canned 12 quarts thick enough to float a brick, not like that commercial apple-fluid. Canned 17 pints of chicken last weekend, not that you were asking.

While I'm off the subject, we lost water service this weekend, so my wife went out in the garage, grabbed a couple gallons from storage, and kept on truckin'. Golly, it's good to be prepared!

-- bw (home@puget.sound), October 27, 1999.


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