I am curious what everyone is doing with their Y2K supplies. I had always maintained a fairly well stocked pantry but with the Y2K scare, I beefed it up a lot. I have decided to maintain that stock by rotation. It is so nice, living in the country, not to have to run out to the store for some little thing I forgot. I can go to my "own" store! Also decided to buy only mostly what is on sale and stock up on that item saving a great deal of money and I can only do that if I maintain my supply. Just wondering what everyone else is doing.

-- barbara (barbaraj@mis.net), February 18, 2000

Answers

barbara, you're doing pretty much what I do. And with gas prices expected to continue rising at least through this summer, both the cost of going to the store and the products in the store will only increase.

I make out my grocery list slightly differently than most people do. On the top, I put things I have to have. At the bottom, I put things that I still have, but need to replenish. So some things will be listed twice. I'll buy, say, one can of enchilada sauce if listed on the top of my list, but if it is on sale, I buy a lot. The bottom part of the list is just to remind me that my supplies aren't full. Sometimes I've gotten so used to just grabbing things off my shelves that I will forget to buy them from the store. For example, last summer the grocery store kept putting black olives on sale for 99 cents. I bought lots, and kept buying. Then the sales stopped. I kept using my stocks until one day I realized I'd used them all. So the bottom part of the list serves as a good reminder for me. As soon as one item from storage is used, that item goes on the bottom so I can start watching for sales.

When I have the time, I try to go down each aisle in the store looking for unadvertised specials. The last two times the laundry detergent I use went on sale, it wasn't in their newspaper ad. So I would have missed it if I hadn't strolled that aisle.

Since I shop in the nearest town to support a small town business, my food bill is a lot higher than someone who shops at the big city grocery stores. But it helps a lot to buy things on sale. Overall, my food bill is a lot lower by buying as many things on sale as possible. It is so nice to have things on hand no matter what the weather, or how I'm feeling. Comes in handy too when my car breaks down. Feels good to open the cupboards or go into the storeroom and see all the food we have either put up ourselves or have purchased ahead. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

We are having very little trouble using our supplies. The 275 gallon fuel tank that we filled with gasoline is coming in handy for our automobiles during this gas war. The 150 gallons of kerosene will keep along with 6 cords of split wood. We have been grinding some of our excess corn and wheat to feed the chickens, and saving some feed store money in the process. I expect as the garden comes in we will use some of the canned vegetables in the same manner. 500 quarts is more than we can give away or eat without buying new clothes that fit. We went a little overboard on ammunition and we have an ad in the paper to sell about 3/4 of our 10,000 rounds of 7.62mm. We also have an excess of toilet paper but it will all be used by 2001 I hope --but I don't think that spoils either. We always wanted a handpump for the well--so I call that an investment not a loss. I am sure we will be feeding a lot of deer meat to the dogs and probably a little beef also. All in all the y2k scare was a good practice run. I enjoyed the talks with my family as we discussed what our individual needs would be. The young children came up with some of the most practical needs---I was expecting wants and I got needs !!! It was so heart warming. I expect when a real crisis comes, there won't be much warning--so we will keep the silver for that day. Well--that is what we are doing--Have a great millinium !!

-- Joel Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), February 18, 2000.

We, too, had a lot of food stored up. I say 'had' because right after New Years my dad became really ill and I had to leave several times to drive 7 hours each way to see him. I always had to leave on the spur of the moment and couldn't grocery shop for my family before leaving. It has been really nice to have that extra food in the house. Also, it has been a big expense going on that many trips by car so the food saved us the extra money on food bills. I have to say I am really surprised how fast the food has gone, I thought I had so much stored away, although we haven't gotten into the real survival food eg: grains, beans etc.

-- Christine Allen (cfallen00@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

Right now with all this snow, the DH working double shifts and my car not running, the kids and I are glad that we have a full pantry! Especially the powdered milk for hot cocoa! I like the double list idea posted above, think I'll try that too. I shop the sales in our small town now, I didn't at first because the stores seemed so expensive. But every store has their deals and it evens up. Takes less time, a plus to me. Anyway, like you, I am keeping an extra- full pantry indefinitly. Jean

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet,.com), February 18, 2000.

Barbara, I have always had what we call a 5 month supply for religious reasons, we did fill out our supplies for Y2K and we love it. We are able to give food to anyone who needs it (rice or beans mostly) and the feeling of not having to go to the store is wonderful. I have dairy goats for milk, hens for eggs and my husband and I are still planning a very large garden again this year. It has given us peace of mind. And we are going to continue with this lifestyle. Y2K was wonderful for us, both our business's and our lives. Vicki McGaugh

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), February 18, 2000.

We also live in the country and have been snowed in for several days at a time, so I have always kept a lot of food, but also expanded for Y2k. It is so nice to be able to not really worry about buying food before a snow storm. We stocked up on grains that are nitrogen packed that will keep for years and we are using the grains that we packed ourselves first.

My husband complained at first that I spent so much money stocking up, but now that we have made the change in our lifestyles, he is bragging to his parents that we don't have to worry about food before a storm.

In fact all we had to get was Pepsi and milk before this storm, brought more wood into the house and put the animals in the small pasture instead of the big one. A lot less stress than other storms! ! !

We will not go back to the way things were before! ! I like being this prepared and we are actually going forward with becoming even more self-sufficient.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), February 18, 2000.

We started a food storage program about 20 years ago and have been ever so grateful for it when we found ourselves without a paycheck. When the Y2K discussions came up, we bought a little extra for us because we thought about elderly parents and other relatives who couldn't afford stocking up. I actually bought more for livestock. I grind and mix my own feeds so what would feed the goats would feed the chickens would feed the sheep, etc. I haven't been to the grocery store except for some fresh produce since the New Year and am anxious to get into the garden so I can stop that. One thing that really surprised me was a news report from a large city about 100 miles away. The reporter stated that food pantries in that area had been just inundated with donations of people dumping their supplies. I though how very generous but shortsighted it was. We are in the New Madrid earthquake zone, have tornadoes, floods, bad snowstorms not to mention the national problem possibilities of truck strikes, etc. We bought nothing for Y2K that we couldn't use in March of this year or next. You bet I'm maintaining my supply. The thing that worries me are the people who were only half kidding when they told us they were coming to our house.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), February 18, 2000.

Funny that I read this just as I was about to get ready to make my first trip to the grocery store this year!

I started to make out my list, and realized that I only need cheese ( thought I had stocked up on plenty, but we really scarfed it down), maybe a loaf of bread if I don't think I'll make any today or tomorrow, and some lettuce for salads. ( I still have collards growing in the garden, and it's been in the 20's a lot at night....amazing. But salad would be nice, and I haven't made the pile of old windows leaning against the wood shed into cold frames just yet!) I think I will buy some wine and maybe some beer, just as treats.

We still have food for the livestock, ourselves, and a nice full pantry. I have been dipping into the inventory, and being lazy and not recording what's been taken out. I will probably have to re-count a few things.

Mostly, we have been attempting to get more and more self sufficient over the last 15 years, and aggressively the last two. We have some things stocked up, and plans to support ourselves verticallly as much as possible.

I am glad the food banks are getting the surplus y2k food, but I hope folks are maintaining some kind of cushion. This gas thing is serious (there's lots of info out there on other forums) so we should all be smart to plan ahead for shortages and inflated prices, too. And you just never know what else could impact your life.....

Just my $.02 for sure.....

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), February 18, 2000.

Funny how the 'more things change, the more they stay the same'! If anything, the whole y2k scare brought us back! Stocking up for winter, was well, the thing to do. No work, no garden, snowed in, gotta eat! Bottom of Grandma's cellar stairs were the shelves and shelves of canned veggies, dryed italian meats, nuts, figs in syrup- all kinds of stuff! Glad I paid attention. Now, if only my kids......yadda, yadda!

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), February 18, 2000.

I am loving not having to go to the store! Since we have chickens and dairy animals, the only thing I have been buying is the occasional treat. I stocked up on lamp oil, but we use that on a regular basis, anyway. Having a stockpile of animal feed is just insurance, since the local feed mill's grinder is always freezing up. If Y2K had been a problem, my husband and I would barely have noticed, that seems to work both ways.

-- Connie Christoffer (litlgaea@cs.com), February 18, 2000.

Barbara, My Dad was a railroad man and in the early years was laid off every winter. My Mom would stock up for the year when he was working so I grew up with the "stock-up" virus. It's a good one to have. The y2k thing was nothing new to me but I did buy more canned veggies early in the summer when canneries are overloaded just in case. And I'm glad I did because the weather last summer wasn't very good for gardens. Not too many people in this area had really good crops. So the short answer is, "nothing". Same as always.

-- Peg (jnjohnsn@pressenter.com), February 18, 2000.

I am so glad to see so many of you who think the way I do! When we were preparing for Y2K a lot of our family thought we were crazy and then when nothing happened, it was "see I told you you were wasting your time". I do not feel that way at all and I'm thankful the Y2K thing got me moving faster. Never know what might happen and if nothing else, the convenience and money saving is well worth it. I plan to keep my supply stocked. I liked Gerbil's idea about the grocery list, think I'll start doing that. Actually I think I'll start an inventory list of what I have and in some manner mark it when I use an item so I can have a running total and keep up with it better. I learned a lot from the whole Y2K experience and I am thankful for it.

-- barbara (barbaraj@mis.net), February 19, 2000.

I read a few years back, that stocking up on groceries yielded greater dividends due to inflation, than did savings accounts. With savings interest being so low, that is probably even a better statement today. I shower praise on all of you for keeping a well stocked pantry.

-- greenbeanman (greenbeanman@ourtownusa.net), February 19, 2000.

For the longest time, I was considered a real oddball because I took the Y2K thing seriously. I had a boss who didn't share my concerns, but respected mine & she allowed me unlimited access/suppplies to the infonet & I did go info-junkie nuts. In the process, I was able to acquire all sorts of homestead related info not available otherwise. And I did the same thing at the grocery store, Sam's, the local health food store, wherever, & got a serious pantry filled real well. Am I sorry about it? Never a single day! I, like so many of you, appreciate being prepared, being just a little less reliant on the food chain this country has. Now, it seems I'm looking at a move to my little cabin in the hills of E.Tenn & don't know which the wind will blow from there, but, I will eat, and eat well. Any of y'all ever see the downloadable "what to do with all your stored food" cookbook of about 175 pages? Great stuff for real basics. Best of luck to all of you prepared persons!!Kt, the reluctant temporary urbanite.

-- katie hankins (yarnspinnerkt@hotmail.com), February 21, 2000.

I would like to know the web site address of that downloadable book on what to do with your stored y2k foods.Great ideas on this site. Thanks.

-- howard wells (hdwells@gis.net), February 22, 2000.

I too am very glad that we did some things to prepare for Y2k. Our store of gasoline is coming in handy now that the prices are going up. I didn't store as much food as I would have liked to but it has gotten me moving in that direction so that now I am doing even more stocking up. There is something nice about seeing that stuff lined up on the shelves in the cellar and not worrying about forgetting to get something at the store. I just restock my backup instead of the things we are using so I know I always have a backup on hand. I'm not trying to deplete my stores. In fact I am making them even bigger. The very best thing for me on Y2k though was getting a generator wired up to our house. We had no backup heating system for our oil furnace and every year I used to worry all winter long what we would do if we had an ice storm that left us without power for days which can certainly happen in Virginia. Instead, I have spent this winter just as worry free as can be and I am amazed at what a difference peace of mind makes. If I lose power we will have water, heat, lights and refrigeration. I have absolutely no regrets and with the potential impact to the economy that this oil price thing could have, we may not be out of the woods yet. I'm old enough to remember the 70's so I know what it can do. While it is a nice gesture to donate your stock, I think it is just a little premature.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), February 23, 2000.

We aren't donating anything because we didn't buy anything we wouldn't use anyway! We don't like Spam or dehydrated entrees so we don't stock those. We have so enjoyed not having to go to the grocery store. Well, we did go for some supplies for a dinner party--we decided on a few special recipes--I needed fresh lemons and greens. I keep thinking I will see Y2K stuff for sale in the local Bulletin Board discount paper.

I do have a lot of batteries by our standards, but they won't spoil tomorrow. And my little solar radio is in use each day even with our electric working. The wall heater for my office that runs on gas from our well heats it efficiently with or without a crisis.

We're not going back either. Doesn't make sense to!

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@hotmail.com), February 23, 2000.

Anne, that certainly caught my attention! You heat with gas from your well? What kind of well? An oil well, or do you have something really strange going on there? Please let us know!!

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), February 24, 2000.

It's a natural gas well. Though we don't own the mineral rights (sold in the 30's for $5) we do own the surface rights, and part of the negotiations including free gas for our use. It is supposed to be metered (it isn't) and we have rights even if they close off the commercial pipes. There's no guarantee how long it will last. I fought the well HARD but now that we have had it for over 5 years I realize the $ benefit. After the first 12 months we paid for the pipe we had to have laid. I have learned a lot about caring for "my own" energy source. We have natural gas appliances for the most part. The refirgerator is acting up, so I am looking into buying one that is gas, even though it will be more expensive initially.

I am very interested in going off the grid. I will post a new discussion topic on this.

Incidentally, we are very lucky in that our land has not been undermined, which is COMMON in WV. And we aren't in a flood plain, either. Most folks don't own their mineral rights here. Someone in Indiana inherited ours. But I am glad we had friends advise us when negotiating with the gas well company. We lost some trees they promised to leave alone, but after all is said and done, we are glad that it worked out.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@hotmail.com), February 24, 2000.