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Prepping for biological disaster

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Fox News announced that Tyson Foods has shut down a plant this afternoon.

Sounds more and more like I need to go on a meat recon search and destroy mission this coming week.

Now where in hell did I put those night vision goggles. :th_lmao:

Yea no shit pretty soon pork is going to be $100.00 a pound at the store if you can find it but the farmers will be paying people to take a pig? About time to get a bigger freezer and skip the middle man.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Yea no shit pretty soon pork is going to be $100.00 a pound at the store if you can find it but the farmers will be paying people to take a pig? About time to get a bigger freezer and skip the middle man.

Frigidare and maybe others make a convertible style that can switch between being a freezer or a frig with the flip of a switch. I am looking at a 20 cubic foot one of this type. Cost will be around a grand.

I like the commercial types but they run around two grand and I cannot justify that right now.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Frigidare and maybe others make a convertible style that can switch between being a freezer or a frig with the flip of a switch. I am looking at a 20 cubic foot one of this type. Cost will be around a grand.

I like the commercial types but they run around two grand and I cannot justify that right now.

Choices Choices, they all seem to have free delivery, I think I am just going for a straight freezer. 23 CF. for $600.00. Now I am going to look for a local shop, farm or whatever that will fill it up.
 

tiredretired

The Old Salt
SUPER Site Supporter
Well, I topped off all the freezers today. I found some unexpected good deals. In the meat clearance section they had a bunch of 5 pound tubes of 80% Chuck. I grabbed 4 tubes and left plenty for others. Also found those cheap cut pork chops at 50% off and grabbed 4 packages of those. They yielded 10 pounds of nice looking ground pork.

Good prices on Pork Tenderloins, Stew Meat, Bacon and Boneless Chicken at $1.77 per pound. Bought plenty of all.

Splurged on more McKenzie Breakfast Sausage, Italian Sausage and steaks.

While grinding and vacuum sealing Fox News had a piece where some Tyson big wig is predicting meat shortages for May. He did not sound optimistic. It did not sound good at all.

I cannot stress enough for all hands here to stock up on meats.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I cannot stress enough for all hands here to stock up on meats.

That has been my position all along.

  • Best case scenario, I have a freezer full of meat at good prices and availability continues without issues.
  • Middle scenario, I have a freezer full of meat at good prices when others are buying meat at high prices.
  • Worst case scenario, I have have a freezer full of meat at good prices when others cannot buy meat.
 

m1west

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Suited up and went to the local grocery store today during old guy hour. Masks are mandatory there now, not many in the store. They had everything I was looking for Beef, chicken, pork all you want. I even scored paper towles limit 2. While I was having some ribeye cut I quizzed the butcher on possible shortages. He said they get there meat from local packing houses that haven't had any problems yet. Said larger cities most stores buy from the mid west and most likely will see some shortage. I am ordering the new freezer today.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
My wife went shopping today at the farm at the opposite end of our country road. It's owned by a younger couple who are trying to make a living from the old family farm. We all know how tough that can be especially in these times of no farmer's markets, road side stands and the like. They're the kind of people who my wife likes to try and help. They raise grass fed Angus cattle, some hogs they buy from the FFA kids, free range chickens and eggs. Also, they have a huge greenhouse and cold frame . Anyway, she texted in her order yesterday and got a call this morning to come pick it up. She got some chicken breasts, bacon, lettuce and carrots. She didn't get eggs because his "girls" are not co-operating. That will probably be Monday. I can hardly wait to see these eggs. My S-I-L gets her eggs there and the shells are all different colors, blue, green, yellow, brown, but she says they are the best tasting eggs she's ever had and that's a high compliment from a lady who used to raise chickens for their eggs.

They're working hard at it. I hope they make it. We'll try to help. It's sometimes worth it to pay a little bit more.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
So old thread but we are 1 full year into the Covid mess. What do you do right? Or wrong?

I never ran out of cleaning supplies, Clorox wipes, dish soap, dishwasher soap, etc.

Never ran out of personal care items, soaps, lotions, OTC meds, etc.

Planned for 3+ months of paper towels and toilet paper. Had enough supplies of both and was able to restock and maintain a supply even when others were scrounging

Planned for 6-9 months of non-prescription meds and never ran out. Prescription meds were at 90 days. Insulin at 6 months

I planned for 3-4 months of food and I had that. Food never really became too much of a problem but specific brands and sizes ran out. I’ve maintained a constant supply of excess food throughout the pandemic, keeping my freezers full.

Batteries, I ran out. Was able to restock.

Water softener salt... totally blew that! Not even close to enough.

Automotive oils fluids and supplies, no issues.
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I ran out of Grape Nuts but I think that was a national supply issue and had nothing to do with Covid. They are starting to come back now.

For a while it was hard to find additional weights for my home gym but I ended up finding what I needed. Otherwise, no issues.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I think that we got most of it right. We didn't run out of anything. I was a little worried about disinfectant wipes at one time but a friend who used to have a cleaning company called and said, "Can you take some of these off my hands" and I sure as hell did. So, that turned out to not be a problem at all. The freezers are a little leaner than they used to be but not by much. As long as Mineola Pack is functioning we have an unlimited source of good quality meat.

As I said earlier, our only shortage was in fresh vegetables, especially lettuce. My wife's Covid garden kept us supplied with an abundance of tomatoes and peppers all growing season. The quality of veg from the grocery store sucked. I don't know how long they had some of that stuff stuck in a warehouse somewhere but by the time it arrived in the store a large part of the package was spoiled and inedible. We still bought from our farmer friends but the snow from the big freeze collapsed his huge greenhouse and he lost everything. Eggs were missing from the grocery store for a while but it seems that everybody around here has a chicken coop. You could get eggs at the feed store and even at ACE Hardware. Our local farmer's hens produced all winter too.

No, lack of supplies was never a problem. I thought that we had enough stuff on hand to get by for 3 months. It turns out that we could have easily gone for a year and then some. Our biggest inconvenience came during the big freeze last month. We lost water for a while and when we got it back we were under a "boil water advisory". My wife noticed that the water pressure was dropping and I filled up our emergency water containers. We also harvested and melted icicles from the roof and used that for toilet flushing and other non potable uses. All in all, we pretty much scooted through Covid and the big freeze.
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Long before Covid, we were prepping. Our remote 80 acres in the Ozark is a banked deposit of last resort should the SHTF.

However, in any form of disaster, environmental, economic, or political, life in the suburbs will most likely continue in some form for most of us. To that end we are prepped to hunker down in suburbia for about 6 months.

Food in the form of frozen and dehydrated stored safely in the lower level of the house. 5800watt generators both Gasoline and diesel at the ready. An active green house for veggies on the southside of the structure, provides solar heating and green veggies. Our large southern roof drains to a barrel giving us potable water. Two hundred yards away is a large subdivision lake.

Of course the -15F temperatures put a real strain on all of it. Natural gas stayed on but had it failed we have two fireplaces, one on each level, and several chords of seasoned oak. I have banked medications, prescription, OTC's and supplements for at least six months. Paper products and ammo,,, enough said.

Keep in mind I live on a small 1/3 acre lot in metro west St Louis. With my wife and two teenagers, I'm as prepared to survive as if a remote mountain cabin.

The cold snap and blizzard was a test run. Stores were out of everything here in Eastern MO. Except for the grahams needed for smores, we were fine. Chocolate you say????? Plenty on hand. Also beer, wines and scotch. Along with food, shelter, and TP, One must also have the essentials of life.

BTW, what's the deal with Graham Crackers. It seems I haven't seen them on the shelf for months now.
 
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