Wednesday, April 1, 2020

four storage plan book 5


FOUR STORAGE PLAN BOOK 5

Chapter Two
Budget Plan
[ It has been three weeks since I wrote the last chapter here. I thought the whole concept was endangered by the grocery stores running out of food, from wall to wall, with only a few condiments and frozen goods remaining. So I stopped writing the book. Yet, I'm given some hope that we have a reprieve. The stores are no longer bare everywhere, but only in a few critical spots like rice and beans. Continuing this might have some merit, and I was enjoying writing it. I'll continue with the interrupted series on soft secession after I finish this book ]
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The Budget Plan was buying everything Loss Leader. It really wasn't much more complicated than that. You bought what was on sale, stockpiling. For instance, pasta. It hasn't been cheap for many years, the Wops having a Semolina flour shortage shooting up the price where it mostly stayed. Occasionally it went on sale. When it did, I bought $20 or $30 worth. I probably won't eat that in five years. It was fifty or seventy cents a pound, an insanely low price. Multiply that by every sale, on every shelf item. But frozen was the same.
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I started this plan simply. I bought chicken. That is what was on sale. Your mileage may vary now, as chicken was the first meat to run out. The cheapest went first, as most folks went cheap and raced to the budget foods in their panic ( you'll note that the first four chapters of this book were very prophetic. Which is par for the course. I KNOW the future because I'm paranoid. Of course, my timing sucks, as do the details. I'm a budget medium. Sorry ). But the point is, I started with the cheap meat. This cut my grocery budget in half, even if I only eat a small amount of meat.
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I got really friggin tired of chicken, let me tell you. I don't even like it five years later. Of course, I never liked it except for deep fried, so it was already a trend. But I accomplished filling up the freezer. Not the sad and pathetic freezer over the fridge. A dedicated stand alone chest freezer. I filled it with loss leader meats. Once full, I could wait to buy the meat I wanted. No more chicken. Just hamburger and pork, as they came on sale. In the meantime, since I had saved all the money buying in bulk AND on sale, now I could use those freed up funds to buy whatever else was on sale.
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It hardly takes much effort to stock the pantry shelves with dry goods. It was really easy in my case, since I barely eat out of cans. I'll eat the occasional beans in a can, and I think pineapple actually tastes better from a can than fresh, but other than that I only stock a few items in cans. I like enchiladas, because who doesn't? I could make the sauce, but don't bother. I have the occasional can of chicken noodle soup when feeling ill. But mostly, we eat potatoes and cabbage ( used for salads, both because cheaper and longer lasting ) and bread for a dinner carb, with rice only once in a blue moon.
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I always carry four large boxes of generic Minute Rice ( Bug-In Plan ), and the box currently open I bought two years ago ( rotate for freshness! ). I eat those noodles even less than rice. Butter is the only oil we cook with, which to my mind is healthier. You can even turn it into ghee if you want a higher burn point. I only buy that on sale, and have half a shelf in the freezer for it. I could go six months without buying any. Same with the meat. All this is food security, but it doubles as a plan to reduce my grocery costs.
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Nothing except potatoes and cabbage are full price. I spend so little on groceries I've had months of non-edible prepper gear purchases where all my food money went to that. Now, we are currently seeing all of the above endangered. For three weeks there were NO shelf stable carbs available. After the rice and pasta went, everyone bought up all the potatoes. Things are getting back to restocked ( although rice and beans are rare-you'll have to go to an ethnic neighborhood grocery or restaurant supplier ). Still no rice, but flour is showing back up ( everyone realized they couldn't bake an edible loaf, I imagine ).
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And there are really no good Loss Leaders right now, other than junk food and booze ( stock up on that, as the bans seem to be catching on. The same idiots who thought banning smoking in prison was a good idea seem to think taking alcohol away from stressed people when their Happy Pills were no longer coming from China is an equally swell plan-if we weren't surrounded by idiots we would almost be all alone ). BUT! The shelves are getting back to mostly normal and while the Budget Plan isn't as much of a bargain as it was, the principle can at least be applied to stockpiling so as to avoid future shortages.
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You still fill a freezer and your shelves, so you can hunt for bargains. And if need be, when the hunted items are gone you can wait for their return without panic. I'm starting a Po Boy root cellar for my potatoes, plastic coolers I keep wherever it is coolest or not freezing. I might bury them up to their lid down in the basement. Or, even outside if I have an extra insulated top ( I'll have to experiment. The basement is heated in the winter and outside it might not be down far enough in the ground. I have half a year to figure it out ).
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If things stay the same, shortages and lack of sales, the Budget Plan is not going to work as well as it did for me. But it WILL become the Inflation Plan, which we cover next. Still be on the lookout for Budget Items. You can buy in bulk at the restaurant supplier. Don't wait too long, as the eating out businesses have lost fifty percent of their sales. Their suppliers might be going out of business soon themselves. So if possible, buy years worth of each desired item. Just be low key about it. A month ago, nobody cared it you bought lots of food.
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Now? They are jealous and resentful. Since they bought too much house and too much car ( now both looking like VERY risky investments, what with no jobs and no spare parts ), they couldn't focus on food. So they hate you for being able to. Don't rub it in their faces. Be sneaky. OpSec is more important than ever.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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note: end of March earnings report.  $324 donations.  $322 Amazon commissions.  $18 kindle.  Total $664.  Simply and utterly amazing.  Many, many thanks to one and all.  As a reminder, never donate unless you won't miss the amount.  I've been there in my life where I couldn't even afford a spare dollar.  If that is you, please don't worry.  I'm building lifelong customers, and unlike most businesses I can handle huge revenue loses.  And I don't want anyone's money unless I've given value.  That is from someone who loves reading and the written word.  Peace, my minions.
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note: I personally think MRE's blow rabid monkey testicles.  It doesn't take too many to cure you for life.  But YOU may simply adore them.  I won't judge.  They have been going for insane amounts of money.  Midway now has them ( NOT mil-spec, I'm sure ) for only $70 a case HERE.  Posted last evening.  If already out when you go there, sorry.  Just trying to help some brothers out.
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note: free for today books, zombies HERE 
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42 comments:

  1. Yes Jim. Minions can conduct their prepping operations in plain sight, as the normies are so scatter assed they won't notice, or be distracted by something else in 30 seconds and go blank anyway. Half or more of the populace can not cook or prepare rations from scratch, so base staples may be the less looted items on shelves. Mericans can only place an order for prepared foods or push nuke oven buttons for heating franken foods. Even buying value brand staples at shelf sticker costs is a two pronged assault, bird in the hand now, and beating out the eventual inflation upticks on prices anyhow. Mre and freeze dried should really just be for patrol rations or bug out foods pre positioning purposes, not regular consumption.

    Skip the yuppie priced delicacies and go budget prole peasant priced fare. Instead of canned salmon or such I just roll with much cheaper canned makeral or tins of sardines for protein meal supplementation. If having taste fatigue or acting all depressed like a finicky bitch over eating survival fare foods, go outside and sit down on the ground somewhere and eat some rations in austere conditions for a reality check. Once the apocalypse starts with real deal zest, and a seige of your a.o. begins raining down ordnance, don't be worrying about getting a michelin five diamond rating for your kitchen dining fare.

    Stay fed, and frosty.

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    1. What confuses me is that beef jerky is so much cheaper than a mystery meat MRE, tastes better ( only eclipsed by bacon, in the meat family ) and isn't MIA like freeze dried. For field iron rations, anyway ( hard to do long term meat unless it is freeze dried )

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  2. Cash-and-Carry warehouse foods in Eugene Oregon changed their name to Smart Foodstuffs (or something something equally obnoxious).

    Last week, I was there snooping because I enjoy walking aisles and looking at all the great stuff I could get if we had a third or fourth or fifth forty-foot shipping container to add to our two.

    I acquired another eight-inch chef knife for us$42.
    Top-dollar for heritage quality, and supporting semi-local businesses.
    This's the way I justify my knife obsession.

    They had very little in organics.
    Oddly, a lot of the vehicles in front were from restaurants... closed by orders from California governor Edmund 'Moonbeam' Brown sister, our very special Oregon governor Kate 'Moonbeam' Brown.

    Based on rumors.

    *****
    My final restaurant meal was at the excellent Dos Tequilos in Albany Oregon a couple weeks ago.
    The place was jam-packed with families, so we had to wait all of one minute for a free table.
    If you quit eating out, your last meal might as well be fun.

    I imagine Dos Tequilos is shut.
    Everybody else is closed.

    Based on rumors.

    On a side note, how are hundreds of thousands of new applications for unemployment insurance going to affect those insurance premiums?
    Yee-ouch!

    Based on rumors.

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    1. Unemployment insurance pay-outs will be subsidized by the feds. No worries. If you can ever get through the Obammy designed web site. I think my last meal out was a year ago. So not memorable I forget where.

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  3. Yes, I’ve noticed that rice is rather scarce these days. I went online to try and find some tasty rice dish in bulk (Uncle Ben’s to be specific) and no one had it.

    Another unrelated topic is top ramen. I’ve noticed that it goes stale rather quickly. If you’re keeping it for long term storage, I’d recommend vacuum packing it, if at all possible.

    Speaking of Italians.

    Also Italian:

    https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/07/17/business/Adco3/Adco3-articleLarge.jpg

    Native Italian to be specific :D


    Not Italian:

    https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=Ron+Jeremy&atb=v1-1&ia=web

    But it’s a common mistake, since he packs a Gallo Salami in his shorts :D

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    1. To me, Top Ramen tastes like crap one day out of the factory, or after three years in the cupboard.

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    2. Hahahaha! I Lol’ed at that. Iron Eyes Cody, famous for playing the crying indian on the side of the road, in the 70’s, and didn’t have a drop of indian blood in him. Well, he probably had more than Elizabeth “Fauxcahonta’s" Warren, but that’s setting the bar pretty low there 😀

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    3. But id he identified as an Indian, that counted :)

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    4. Top ramen noodles have a lot of oil as part of the processing of the noodles. Storing those long term means consuming rancid oil. Tastes bad and not terribly good for you, but won’t kill you right away. It would be way down on my list for survival storage foods.

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    5. I didn't know that-thank you. Ate ten year old Ramen to test the BOB food. I guess I was used to eating rancid oil from other foods.

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    6. Same here. I’ve eaten several years old ramen, with no ill effects, and it basically just tastes stale. But I’m sure the poster above is right, in that you probably want to store it in a cool, dry, place, as well as vacuum pack it for the long term.

      When I was working poor (Now I’m hopelessly unemployed poor) I ate a lot of ramen. It’s versatile. What I would do, was place it in a Tupperware style container that had a snap on lid. I would then pour hot water (not boiling) right out of the water cooler/heater that we had at work. I would pour just enough to cover the ramen, wait about 15 minutes, and voilà! Usually I’d bolster it with a can of generic mixed vegetables ($1.00 at safeway, and a can would last more than one meal). Another really simple top ramen recipe, is to drain most of the broth, and add some of that grated Parmesan cheese. You’d be surprised at how tasty that is. Another thing. Try not to use the full seasoning pack. Tons of sodium. Anyhow, I like the stuff. I can remember when certain flavors were always marked down at a nickel a pack at safeway (20 packs for a buck!). Those days are long gone.

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    7. "Safeway" and "affordable" are now an oxymoron. At least the last twenty years or so. Now, either I'm getting OLd Man taste buds, or they are saving money, but I don't think Ramen is any where near as salty as it was. I'll need to try with Parmesan-that sounds promising. Thanks

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    8. Yeah, Safeway sucks now. They’re floating too many affirmative action hirees, such as my female cousin making $90k a year, with no college or skills. Basically, they just handed her a series of jobs, and trained her for them. I find it troublesome when my male engineer friends are barely, if even, making that kind of money, when they have actual, marketable skills. Same with that affirmative action, PG&E hillbilly chick that we know. Only in America. But not for much longer :D (I suppose I shouldn’t find that funny, since now I won’t be ex-patting to another country, and banging young foreign babes 😟 ).

      With regards to the top ramen Jim. I think if you enter the terms into your search engine: “A 1000 ways to make top ramen”, or something along those lines, you get a good many recipes. It’s really versatile stuff. You could probably do the same thing with bulk noodles, and low sodium bullion cubes. But the ramen, with its condensed squares, stores away real well, vs the bulky noodle bags. Though spaghetti bags don’t take up much space. I also believe that there are wheat spaghetti noodles available, which would be more nutritious.

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  4. When things were still normal, some people lacked time to cook. Now that some people are working fewer (or no) hours, some (many) are simply too lazy to cook even simple meals, preferring to order takeout, such as my 20-year-old stepson, who complains about money, yet eats takeout often. When I was 18, I had my own apartment and was able to cook for myself.

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    1. When I was eighteen, I was able to walk to the chow hall. Otherwise, a bag of Dorito's was dinner. I wasn't lazy as much as I thought cooking was an arcane art. I mean, I was also lazy, but ignorance was a bigger factor :)

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  5. Field report from enemy held terrain in Vegas. The unemployment funds get deposited to a wells fargo atm card. Use it for retail purchases as normal or get cash from their branch atms without fees. There was a two row line of cars out the drive up atm line and down the street like a gas station in hurricane season. Folks herding up enmasse for benefits funds. I drove past in my deplorable pick up truck laughing hysterically out the window at the whole scene, just because. More visual proof that this will not end well.

    Governor Sisolak,(D) (imbecile political hack) reversed >his< prior prohibition on use of the "Trump pills" medications usage for chicom virus treatments. He did a video town hall previously with a state medical director of some sorts, that person, one of a few in such positions, is not even licensed to practice medicine. Affirmative action and diversity hiring is again proven to be fatally flawed. Idiocy will get citizenry killed, literally. Don't trust .Gov entities and their slut bitches the media either. Stay frosty.

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    1. What do you mean it won't end well when we are all on welfare? Helicopter money is a proven economic system :)

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    2. Yes, what if the financials are just a closed loop recycler of digits. Debts, and numbers on actuary registers don't matter when all activity and personnel are assimilated into the borg. I use large magnets to wave around my skull to lessen that ringing in the ears. 7+ billion humanoids crowding up the place, this will get spicy.

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    3. As globalism collapses, in desperation they try to go Full Matrix. It should work out well

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    4. Bison, This is completely off topic, uh sort of. If you have not caught Kyle's (Survival prepping for normal people)latest video -Lucifer's Hammer- you might wanna. It is whacked out Wednesday along with April fools. A couple months ago I happened to see the articles describing the one space rock similar in size to Mt. Everest. I had no idea about the other one.

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    5. Already saw it, thank you. I sub to Kyle, Pastor Joe, Orlov and Mt Guerrilla.

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    6. Damn 4hawks...

      That thing is 5 times the size of Jupiter!!!
      If it does plow into the Sun, indeed, what will happen?

      A massive CME bigger than a Carrington event?
      My Lord, you better be checking out thee ol' faraday cage, just in case.

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    7. Everything was Caged, from purchase. No worries. I love Kyle, always has reasonable tinfoil hat theories. Always interesting.

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  6. Good point 8:10/Mr. Frosty about eating simple fare outside sitting on ground. Turns a can of beanie weenies or a hobo fire baked potato into an appreciated great meal.

    Congrats on great month James. In today's post you are right on about the peril of too much house or car being a millstone now. I was embarrassed by my aging POS vehicle situation and small, non-Archetectural Digest house packed with kids. I could have easily yoked myself with a car loan in under an hour flat over the past few years. Glad I did not.

    My corner of the world status report: Most everyone I know (non-govt) is not getting paid. Our state's unemployment system may as well not exist, maybe access will become available in coming weeks.
    I'm still working a slowly diminishing schedule.

    I had gone pretty heavy on garden prior to pandemic, our winter starting late Sept/ early Oct is the prime garden time.
    I'm transitioning to hot weather crops now: one more collard planting, okra, sweet potatos, have watermelons in since Feb, eggplant, winged beans, asparagus beans, a few subtropical leaf crops: Sisso Spinach, Chinese Longevity Spinach, Katuk, Malabar Spinach.

    Literally as I'm writing this, got two co-worker calls, our governor just closed our state's nonessential business after Thurday. Which means my paid work sched just flatlined.

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    1. Don't worry, your governor will be okay as he turns what would be your future earnings into gold bullion and a Belize passport.

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  7. Just a quick field report... Ordered several cases of basics (wheat,oats,flour) from the LDS folks back on March 9th after Wally shafted me on my order with them. When I ordered on the 9th, my confirmation said the order would be ready to ship "after March 10", when I checked status on 3/30, everything I had ordered was listed as "DISCONTINUED". After inquiring, the story basically was that they filled orders until they ran out of stock but they were expecting ONE MORE TRUCK and would fill any existing orders that they could with this one last truck. But don't worry they said, "we won't charge you unless we ship it to you". As if THAT was my concern. For the first time in my life I've got money but can't purchase the things I'm looking for. Strange times indeed...
    And just a tip for any suddenly out of work Minions-IF you have a retirement community, assisted living facility, skilled nursing facility, etc near you, go get yourself a temp job. There was a massive shortage of labor in this field before the Beer Virus, now it's off the charts. This doesnt just apply to Health Care workers: servers, cooks, dishwashers, drivers, housekeepers, maintenance engineers, etc, etc. Its not rhe greatest environment to work, I freely admit, and you'll certainly never get rich doing it, but Ive done harder work in worse conditions for less money at other times in my life. These are ESSENTIAL BUSINESSES minions! That means no closures, and legit paperwork allowing you out of the house during shelter-in-place orders. (I can't believe I just wrote that about the freakin' USA-papers to allow you outside, FFS...) Anyhow, I know a lot of the Minionites are finding themselves is a hard spot (or may be in one soon), just lending a thought. Better a temp job than no job, especially if,like me, your hermitage junk land is still on your to-do list... Best wishes to y'all, stay safe out there!

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    1. You are all going to need a dose of luck. Me? I might already be screwed, but that was my choice. Hermitage is only 16 miles away, undeveloped. The sad part about the new travel restrictions? We don't even really care. New normal, perfectly reasonable. I for one welcome our new fascist overlords.

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  8. Hope he goes to Belize...I have people there. They will make short work of his gold bullion. If you go anywhere now I think your screwed, no time to become one of the "locals". You will appear rich, just because you have a truck and an Air conditioned house you look rich in most places. Rich Americans will be easy pickings, local LEO don't care about what happens to you unless it brings heat from the US. I'm thinking the US will have bigger problems than a few politicians and 10%'ers disappearing.
    Yeap, no more paid work, I'm a "Independent contractor" I will never be missed.

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    1. You can run, but you can't hide. Not in ANY foreign land. Elko county, Nevada, however, has lost planes yet to be found away from the two highway corridors. Just an option. Hermitage might start looking much better, real soon

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  9. BTW, thanks for the MRE tip, I was actually able to get one ordered. I'm almost always a day late or a dollar short on these flash deals.(Not looking forward to eating them, mind you, just wanted something to throw in the family's bugout bags) Thanks for looking out for the Minionites.

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    1. I hope you read the entree description. You must not like your family much :) Happy to help.

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  10. front lines here in Central NC. ALL paper is gone and has been, ALL chems that kill germs gone and has been, ALL pasta , rice , spam, ditto. Meat is a hit or miss deal. Gasoline is fine. LOL. Home depot and Lowes are packed so expect the next outbreak to be hardware store related. immigrants don't seem to mind . Maybe there used to this. On to the online stuff. Walmart keystone meat. Gone. Beprepared.com 99% of freeze dried .Gone. Pipping Rock Supplements are down to bare bones. However, if you are that young lad on ebay trying to sell a package of 10 n95 masks from Homedepot for $440. he is still in stock. Peace

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    1. Dude, I wish. Way too many Yuppie Scum, Cali Rejects, conservative lites from Vegas and the Mormon overflow from Utah. I'd have a longer list but I don't get out as much anymore. Of course, if you meant "they're all LOSERS in Helko", I might agree with you :)

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    2. Here in SC it varies from day to day. If you show up at a bad time, lots of stuff is cleared out 100%. Show up the next day and those shelves are 10-20% full. JIT delivery is straining to keep up, but it isn’t broken. I am always shopping for routine food for two weeks in the future, so the current issues just make the shopping game spicier. All the food groups are still available here, so no big deal to eat pork instead of chicken.

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    3. Now I have that image of the cow with a sign at Chick-Fil-A in my head.

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    4. Could I trade you a few of our extra LibTards? LOL

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  11. Here in ohio grocery runs lasted about 3 weeks.
    Can now find about anything you want.
    Better get it while the gettin is good.

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    1. I can't believe its been two months since this thing got so serious. Makes you wonder. If you are not full up on food, you are just wrong. Glad to hear your area recovered on food. Let's hope its a trend

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  12. Hey bud, I dont remember if it was in one of your earlier books or from someone who was blessed with this bit of insight. Take a broken fridge, dig a hole about the size of it deep, lay it on its back, and boom, hobo root cellar.

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    1. Not my idea, but discussed here ( or in books-I can't remember ).

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    2. Maybe came from me ? I scored a bunch of apartment size ones bout six years ago that we buried on their backs for caches then caulked the door seals shut. Ya gotta do that otherwise the door seal will let water in. Plus you need put the whole thing inside a big plastic bad to keep the metal from rotting too fast with all the ground wetness here.

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    3. I don't think I heard that story before. Well, I don't remember it anyway. A bit jealous. I tried to get permission to keep a failed big fridge from a NOL apartment, but it was too ugly. Would have held hundreds of pounds of wheat

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