Friday, August 3, 2018

precious calories 1 of 2


PRECIOUS CALORIES
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note: this years property tax on my junk land-up 10%.  And that is in "good" economic times.
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PRECIOUS CALORIES
We just talked about precious metals in the form of silver or lead.  And I’ve given a lot of high cost pixels room to guns as I’m presenting the semi-auto book.  I want to revert to food because really the only thing that is important to all of us is eating.  Food Is First.  Everything else is White People Problems.  Happiness, love, job satisfaction, friendship, family.  All that is a first cousin bride relationship to food, any time the rubber meets the road and crap gets real.  All the rest is filling up our time in between trips to the trough.  Making ourselves feel all im-potant. 
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Whenever I sniff extra special sauce doom in the air, I tend to hit the grocery stores extra hard.  Hey, why fight it?  It doesn’t matter how many times you get it wrong, like Y2K, it only matters the one time you get it right.  And it never goes to waste, even without much extra attention to rotation ( although obviously that is kind of important ).  It certainly helps that something is up with my primary grocery store item, meat.  I don’t know if the price is reflective of the cost of grains dropping ( tariffs?  Recovery from drought?  Less ethanol being used as nobody can afford as much driving around? ), or the entire nation is slaughtering herds as the costs of operations soar, and soon the price is up ten fold, but right now meat is seemingly below cost.
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The freezer continues to bulge at the seams, and it is 90-95% pork and beef.  Chicken went from a staple to a “menu change of pace”, and I’m happy with that.  If it ain’t KFC, I don’t particularly enjoy chicken, and KFC can slurp my ass crack clean, they want so damn much for their stuff ( and, I trust none of you forgot my long ago tirade, they were the bellwethers switching from real honey to honey colored syrup ).  The sales on meat are coming so fast and furious I can’t always buy that week until we eat more. 
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Which means the pressure is off to conserve portions and I regularly have a good amount of meat for next days lunch.  Cutting back too far on meat was really messing with my energy levels.  No matter how many carbs I ate it wasn’t helping.  I know my blood cell count plummets going lacto vegetarian, so I imagine too little meat has a similar effect.  Not that this prompts me to store more meat.  I’ll just have to suffer, or I’ll go herder, or raider.  I doubt I’ll go cannibal.  That crap just be nasty.  When you are on a budget prepping, you never get all that you want.  I place more importance in quantity than quality, as a necessity.  Better an Enfield and five thousand rounds than an AR and struggling to buy the second case of ammo.  Hate me if you want for vomiting blood over your plate of roasted unicorn.
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With less money going towards meat, more is going to bulking up the other items in the pantry.  Every time I go to Kroger’s ( “Smith’s”, locally ) I buy eight pounds of sugar for $3.  I have so much wheat I can’t imagine I’ll ever catch up with sugar, even just as a leavening enhancer.  I was trying to do flour instead, being half the price, but it takes up much more room in my limited recycled beverage containers and I just won’t miss the white flour for cutting the whole wheat recipes.  I’d miss sweetener though.  Hey, it isn’t ALWAYS quantity over quality.  I won’t be buying the crap-ier 22lr rimfire from Wally anymore.  And I’d rather have some “treat myself budget-wise” food.
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Not putting much of a dent in the budget, I decided to add a few more items to the “buy every visit” list.  So far, it is tea and Top Ramen and mac & cheese.  I can’t go too long on the ramen, due to the bulk, but the tea I can zip-lock and store down in the basement.  Not the ramen, because we don’t have mice and I’d prefer to not start.  And ramen is a poor use of storage totes past X amount.  Tea, the NOL is drinking a lot more of ( iced, unsweetened ), and it is $1.12 per hundred without the string and tab.  Which you don’t need anyway.  Yuppie Scum luxury item.  Be a manly man and grab the bags once cooled and wring them out in your fist.  Added flavor, problem solved.
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Now, this extra every trip is something we’ve all done.  You use one, you always buy two, and before you know it the pantry is bulging and the apocalypse look a bit brighter ( like when you stash big hunks of lead for reloading-that is the next big item on my to-do ).  All I’m discussing is stepping it up.  Because the prices can only go up.  A little bit extra squeezed from the budget now saved a metric butt ton of money later.  It allows a few extra minutes of blissful sleep as each added item to the pantry relieves just that much extra anxiety.  And, it helps with your PT.  Start biking down to the grocery on a more regular basis.  This makes the food even cheaper, and your old wrinkled ass gets in better shape ( not you Spud-stay off the damn road!  You’ve earned it ).
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I can’t believe what a dumb ass I was.  I started using an exercise bike indoors each day rather than ride my bicycle outdoors for exercise.  My justification was that it was cheaper wear and tear on the indoor verses the outdoor unit.  Yes, I regularly step on my own dingus trying to be too frugal.  That is just an occupational hazard.  Anyway, for the first time in my life my back started hurting regularly, my gut was ballooning past the “ah, what a cute little belly, like a toad” stage which the NOL could enjoy into “nasty fat bastard” stage.  And I was finding more excuses to do less.  A exponential downward spiral. 
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Once I forced myself back into a disciplined PROPER exercise program, my health improved dramatically.  And now I’m finding excuses to go TO the grocery store instead of avoiding it.  Picking up more storage food is one excuse ( I actually treat myself going there, as it is a thirty minute bike ride instead of the 45 my regular route is-I see anything over twenty minutes as a win.  That is the time it takes for true cardio improvement ).  Proper exercise is also a job requirement, as it improves my mental clarity for writing ( shut up!  Don’t you say “what clarity?” ).  So, I’m literally forced to go buy extra food storage as part of my job.  Nice, right?  Like how now I’m “forced” to read more as part of my job. Ha!  Suckers!  You wish you were me, with my hair.
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Tomorrow, I’d like to touch on the need to accelerate all types of food buying as I think we’ve been giving short shift to the coming elongated period of Great Depression Redux, where there is no employment AND no government food assistance ( or, at least not enough ).   
( .Y. )
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25 comments:

  1. Yeah, I do have a bicycle but tend not to use it.
    Preferring instead, my two feet in contact with Terra firma.
    I'm however up to walking a mile and a half non stop, on a daily basis now.
    Keeping busy with my many projects along with gardens and chickens also throws plenty enuff exercise my way.
    Gotta sling more arrows, to build up my back and shoulders too.

    I too , believe bad things ahead on the economic front.

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    Replies
    1. Hold on to the bike, it might go for big bucks soon enough. I'm off for more grocery shopping now.

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  2. Jim. Is the Nv. 3% property tax cap applicable in your case. (Lot/land not dwelling residence?) My house in vegas taxes only went up $15 Dollars to $515, even with the insane bubble pricing here this fiscal year.

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    1. I don't know how they calculate raw land tax. But you can still keep the cap if you keep increasing the value, right? 2005-2015 up a total 50%, now about 10% a year increases.

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    2. Check into it. We have to sign off on a card and mail back to county gov't attesting we live there etc. The cap is 3% increase each year regardless of it's actual street/retail value/assessed value. It is like that prop 13 in kalifornia. Also check on the veteran's exemption that lowers taxable amount. You may not be gaming the system all the way in your favor, just suggesting.

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  3. The Wall Street Journal had an article last week talking about the chinese (EU?)tariffs on meat causing a lack of cold storage room for all of it here in the USA. They said prices would be coming down (YAY!)

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    1. I did not know. Thanks! Now watch McDonalds put even less meat in their meat on this news :)

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  4. Jim, good points again. I believe zero hedge or others had articles about channel stuffing overstocks of meat inventory due to the tariff created crisis drama. The conglomerates will reshuffle the supply and routes to clear it out. The low prices are temporary and only a little safety valve measure just to move it at a small loss before a date expired/spoilage total loss. I purchased a 7.7 cubic foot (250-300lbs of meat storage potential) Kenmore chest freezer on sale at a closing K-mart, just for an emergency prep stock contingency purpose. I am almost inclined to fire it up and start hording up bulk buys to lay up more than my full regular freezer. I certainly concur that without meat in diet in good quantities it will render a Minion into a grass nibbling boy with little strength to heft the AR-15 and flir scope. EAT MEAT!

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    1. My luck, a wheat diet will kill me before a bullet does, PA.

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  5. “No matter how many carbs I ate it wasn’t helping”


    You probably won’t listen to me, but I’m gonna throw it out there anyways. Pre-collapse, you should lay off the heavy carbs, and mostly replace with healthy fats for energy. Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, grass fed beef, coconut, butter, cheese, whole eggs, Greek yogurt, nuts (Not peanuts which are technically a legume) etc.

    https://www.eatthis.com/healthy-fats/

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    Replies
    1. It isn't that I don't want to listen to you, it is not conducive to a frugal lifestyle. 2017 earnings, including first quarter still working at the food bank, around $4,500 gross. This year should be right around $3k-3500. Yes, this is a lifestyle choice, genteel poverty. No, it does not give you a lot of discretionary income.

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    2. I hear you, and completely understand, because I’m in the same financial boat. I’m probably getting away with it in large part, because the heat seems to have suppressed my appetite over the last several months.

      This morning I had 2 eggs, some turkey bacon, and fried zucchini (rather than potatoes). I placed the eggs and bacon a top some low carb rye crackers (I only ate 2 crackers). For lunch, this is where my guilty pleasure comes in. I will have a large dollop of peanut butter (no bread) with a touch of sugar free chocolate syrup. Now peanut butter is relatively low carb, high fat, high protein. But with the volume I’m eating, I’m getting far more carbs than I should be, so I eat almost nothing else that’s high in carbs for the rest of the day to offset these extra carbs. For dinner, I’ll have some greens (Usually spinach) and usually a hamburger or chicken sausage (no bun). I’m at the point now where I actually prefer hamburger over steak, since it seems that you can no longer get a good cut of steak anymore, and most of them have more tendons than actual edible meat.

      I suffer from hypertension, regardless of body weight. Since I have been on this diet, my blood pressure has gone down considerably, and is only as high as it is now, because I also have my guilty pleasures of coffee, tea, and 1 energy drink a day. But otherwise, I’ll usually be around 120 over 80, which is darn good considering.

      Beans are healthy carbs, but you still have to watch your portions. I worked with a fat dude some years back that was dieting. He was having a large salad everyday for lunch, and felt that because he was eating healthy, that he could eat like a horse (Or a Rosie O’Dumbbell if you prefer :D ) and still lose weight. He would dump 3 cans of beans on top of his salad as a result. And he never lost weight...

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    3. I don't know if my body loves whole wheat because of my gene type ( I believe you can evolve into a food, but I could be wrong ), or it loves it because it is a terrible food like sugar you can crave all the time. I can't see NOT eating it though. I can see a low carb diet being preferable, I just don't see me doing it.

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  6. As the primary food procurer and preparer for our 1 meal a day (supper) routine I have been on a constant mission to simplify the entire process. I started this by carefully tracking what we eat in a year and then figuring out what can be cut out to simplify the buying and storage of. I hit Walmart and Kroger about every 2 months and take a large cooler with me cause the distance warrants it regarding frozen/cold stuff. I found out the hard way that frozen stuff will not last long if it's been partially thawed during the trip home. So after all this trimming and consolidating there are whole areas within those 2 stores that I don't even go into. I also found a small private place about 8 years ago that I get all our raw meat products from in bulk. 80/20 ground beef for example is $1.99lb in lots of 10lb, so I get 4 of those and big them home and repackage them in approx (eyeball) lots by first wrapping them in parchment paper and then standard fold over sandwich bags, then flattened for better storage, then Sharpie the date on the outside. 40 1 lb packages of ground beef will last us a year. I do the same with chicken breast with 2 breasts per bag and they cost 99 cents a lb in 10lb lots. I do buy bulk quantities of Great Value canned chicken breast meat as we use it in stews and soups, tacos, etc. And Great Value spam. Track-streamline-conserve. Yeah, property tax is rising here too as more and more american communists move into the area. This shit would cease if a couple local politicians were found in the gutter out along Gatesville Rd, gutted, naked and burning in diesel fuel in the wee hours of the morning.

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    1. Ooh, how about "necktie-ing" them?

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    2. Show you really mean business, severed testicles stuffed into the mouth with a calling card attached. (Take shoes to confuse authorities)

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    3. Yep, neither will they. 'Mindfuck'.

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    4. "Robbery gone wrong" shoes and wallet-watch missing allows for a narrative that is understandable. Mutilation and "calling card" in mouth are too much for local dumb cops to overlook when wanting case closed, probably calling up the chain of command for an actual investigation using a detective who is not massively overworked.
      Much better is "just missing", no one ever saw anything, no body recovered, no evidence, no crime scene: no crime. "Did you hear about Bob's gambling problem?"

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    5. Crack whore left to work the truck stops? Got AIDS over in Thailand? His burned out car in the ghetto? This could get fun.

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  7. Here's a cheap recipe that I scored from my workmate

    500gram of cheap mince
    2 420gram tins of spaghetti

    Brown the mince, throw in the canned spaghetti and once the spag is warm you're good to go.

    We throw in whatever vegies happen to be in the fridge. Onion of course, garlic, broccoli, zuchini. Whatever works for you guys. serve on toast or don't

    Anyway I thought I'd share my current go to for a cheap eat that's hard to beat.

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    1. Beans used to be the poors friend-now any carb.

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    2. Beans are my friend, esp. when Mormon vacuum-packed in a #10 tin. I love triple-preserved food: dried-vacuumpacked-tinned. If you have friends at the canning facility, you can re-use the #10 tin several times (it gets 1/4" shorter each time). If you don't, it's a source of metal rodent shield (tin snips!) for the hobbithouse or a hobo-stove. I'm building a nice pile of #10 empty clean tins in the (ignored) attic of the commercial kitchen space I get to visit.

      Yes, any carb dried for long-term hoarding.

      pdxr13

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    3. How does that work? Re-using the can. I would think it is in long term storage, so how does it get returned? Or do they recycle from resturaunts? I'm curious.

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