recipes for disaster

RECIPES FOR DISASTER

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note: an alternate to ghee, canned butter, but the grid is probably needed so just a pre-collapse recipe:
end times report canning butter
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From the early nineties until 2002, I was as poor as poor could be.  The then wife essentially had my entire paycheck prior to divorce, then afterwards kept half the gross amount.  After the new century I moved from the South to Nevada and my income rose nicely.  Since I had previously learned how to live cheaper I was able to finally start investing my monetary surplus into financial and calamity preps.  Once that casino job became problematic I went back down to minimum wage, but as I had started writing I had that supplemental income.  Once I moved from Carson City, paying insane Yuppie level rents even for a travel trailer space, here to Elko the substitution of $400 rent for a $125 land payment furthered my “income”.  And in 2012, twenty years later, my child support was done, my land was paid off and I had nothing in the way of bills other than food, propane and bicycle parts ( with the occasional garment and footwear needs ).  When I went part time in 2014, I barely noticed the income dip.  When I moved back into town last year, paying rent to live with the New Old Lady, things started getting tight ( at the same time I was sending money to help my daughter in college and sending care packages to my son in Iraq ).

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Now that I took an additional 20% hours cut, my days of investing and carefree prep spending have come to an end.  Now, I’ve never really cared too much about money.  I have enough to live on comfortably, and my attitude has always been “someday our money driven economy will end, so why get attached to the stuff or stress about making more”.  I feel that way more than ever, especially since it looks like the whole economic house of cards will fall over any day now.  But I have found myself reverting back to my old penny pinching ways.  I no longer spend to get rid of the soon to be worthless money.  In fact, I’m even wondering if my long held contempt towards “deflationists” is even correct anymore.  Both to prepare for more hourly cuts or unemployment, and to account for the increasing likelihood of deflation, I’m stuffing the mattress now instead of investing in the Alpha Strategy ( for you prepper newbies, the practice of buying consumer items now to beat inflation later ).  And to do that, no expense is too small to cut.  Laundry soap at $2 is now a luxury when I can make it for fifty cents a gallon.  Homemade “Shout” laundry pre-treatment is too much at a buck a spray bottle and I’m looking to cut that price in half.  I’m eating more rice now, and can because homemade sweet and sour sauce is 25 cents a bottle rather than $3 at the store.  And I’ve given up my $3 toothpaste for one a third the price.  I’ll also be going back to cheaper deodorant.  Look after those pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves ( of course, watch the big ticket items.  I finally got rid of that damn cell phone at $7 a month.  Yes, to me that is a big ticket item.  Of course, I still give St. Jude Children’s Hospital their $10 a month.  Sometimes penny pinching is just wrong ).

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As we’ve talked about before, homemade laundry soap isn’t so important that it is cheap but because it is really compact to store in dry form.  One box of Borax is $4 at Wally and makes eight buckets of soap.  Another box of Arm & Hammer WASHING ( NOT baking ) Soda is an additional $4.  Eight bars of Zote is $8.  For $18 or so ( the A&H only gives you seven cups rather than 8 so you’ll need to buy a little extra ) you can make 40 gallons of laundry ( and Hand and Dish and Body ) soap.  You must buy the supplies at Wal-Mart however, as elsewhere is up to twice the cost.  You take four cups of water to a boil and add the shredded bar of Zote to it and simmer for about ten minutes until dissolved.  Dump that in a five gallon bucket, then one cup of Borax and one of A&H.  Fill the rest with as hot of water as you can ( such as from the shower faucet ), stir, cover and let sit over night.  Boom, done.  Since soap is very important for after the Apocalypse-you need to be surgeon operating room careful to clean wounds and at other crucial times, you can’t have enough of these supplies.  And in the meantime you can save a butt ton on money by using it now also ( don’t let yourself dip into your Stockpile stash for everyday use ).

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“Shout” is a pre-cleaner for your laundry.  Spray on stains prior to the wash load.  I think it saves me money because I don’t do a separate white load.  I spend a nickel or a dime on spraying all stains there ( yes, you drip after urination in old age, no matter how many times you shake ) and I save a $2 laundry load ( plus soap cost ).  To make your own:

2/3 cup liquid dish soap

2/3 cup ammonia

6 tablespoons of baking soda

2 cups of warm water

Mix and put in a spray bottle.

Boom, done.

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I used to hate rice.  No matter what I put on it, it still tasted like crap.  Except sweet and sour sauce.  But that liquid gold is insanely expensive.  Like $3 for a very small bottle.  Well, here is a recipe that doesn’t require pineapple sauce.  Which means it is cheaper and all the ingredients can be stockpiled if you plan on eating a lot of rice after the collapse.  Everyone that has tried it swears it is better than store-bought ( of course, that could be because it is sweeter rather than sour ).  I love it and have tripled/quadrupled my rice consumption.

3/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup white vinegar

2/3 cup water

1 /4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

2 tablespoon cornstarch

Add together, bring to boil, simmer and stir until thickened

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Expensive toothpaste is important to me.  Not just because I can’t afford a dentist, but because I had wicked gingivitis and only Crest Pro-Health worked so much better than other pastes.  But it is $3.50 a tube, $3 each if you bought a two-pack.  Ouch!  I don’t waste toothpaste, and that still adds up quick.  But I learned a cheap solution.  Aim toothpaste is 85 cents for 6 ounces.  Every other brand is near $2 and up for the same amount.  Use Aim.  Take your toothbrush, wet it, dip it in a covered jar of baking soda to get a good glob, then add your little dab of Aim.  Brush.  It tastes like crap, but not as bad as straight baking soda, and it works just as good as Pro-Health at less than a third the cost.  Much cheaper to stockpile and no sacrificing performance.

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You can still get deodorant for a buck a bar.  I refuse to use antiperspirant as I believe to messes up your skin.  Some folks claim even the plain deodorant isn’t great for it, but I’ve never researched that.  But, not being a savage, I feel deodorant is necessary for interacting socially.  First, like getting rid of your gingivitis, you don’t want to offend others, and secondly you never know who the next Old Lady might be.  First and last impressions, yes?  But why spend big bucks?  As I’ve shared before, one to two sprays of perfume ( well, the male equivalent whatever you want to call it ) in each armpit keeps your body odor in check all day, even through heavy labor in the heat of Florida.  Much cheaper than deodorant.  Dollar stores still carry enough of a selection you can take your pick.  Smell nice.  Except on patrol.

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Pinching pennies is so rewarding you will find yourself motivated to find other tricks.  Enjoy.

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