How to live frugal and sharing tips what you do to save money...

[Marilyn C]

28 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

Just as Sarah Palin can see Russia from her backyard, and I’ll bet you can see the polar ice caps from your backyard.  

I prefer to can as many garden vegetables as possible, as they will keep for years if necessary. Some folks I know had their chest freezers go out, and there was a long back order to get a replacement. What does one do when you have a chest freezer full of food that breaks?

This summer, I plan to get a food dehydrator and vacuum sealer and store some things that way. I always wanted to dehydrate some jerky, bananas, and other snacks.  

Great Dennis about the canning. My hubby has bought two generators, one for the freezer and then later he bought one for the whole house. 

If your freezer went out then it would be sharing big time, so good idea to can stuff.

[angels4u]

3 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

Just as Sarah Palin can see Russia from her backyard, and I’ll bet you can see the polar ice caps from your backyard.  

I prefer to can as many garden vegetables as possible, as they will keep for years if necessary. Some folks I know had their chest freezers go out, and there was a long back order to get a replacement. What does one do when you have a chest freezer full of food that breaks?

This summer, I plan to get a food dehydrator and vacuum sealer and store some things that way. I always wanted to dehydrate some jerky, bananas, and other snacks.  

Did you check how Mylar bags work? Amazon sells them,I agree about the freezer and power going off,that's why we like to have cans veggies and beans and stuff as well,I was thinking of trying to make jerky,never did it before

[angels4u]

1 minute ago, Marilyn C said:

Great Dennis about the canning. My hubby has bought two generators, one for the freezer and then later he bought one for the whole house. 

If your freezer went out then it would be sharing big time, so good idea to can stuff.

We have one generator,but what good will it do if the gas runs out.. ?

[Marilyn C]

27 minutes ago, angels4u said:

We have one generator,but what good will it do if the gas runs out.. ?

I think ours is a diesel run generator. And as we have tanks of petrol (your gas) and diesel we are well equipped. 

[Marilyn C]

BTW angels what do you call `gas,` as in not petrol but well, gas.

[Dennis1209]

9 minutes ago, angels4u said:

Did you check how Mylar bags work? Amazon sells them,I agree about the freezer and power going off,that's why we like to have cans veggies and beans and stuff as well,I was thinking of trying to make jerky,never did it before

Yes, I have some sugar and other items sealed in mylar bags in five-gallon buckets. Sugar and honey never go bad, at least that is what they say. 

[The_Patriot21]

40 minutes ago, angels4u said:

 You're good with cars to do all that work yourself,not everybody is able to that,do you grow a garden ?

 

I dont do all the work myself. I do a lot of the routine maintenance like oil changes and brakes, and small repairs. I can and do sometimes do the major ones but i frequently send them to the mechanics if i have the money on hand to do so, but it all depends on how much money i have and how much time i have-i frequently dont have the time to do some of the larger repairs.

I do keep a decent selection of tools on hand to do both the small and large projects however. And a lot of the smaller projects can be done by a lot of people if theyre willing to learn. A $25 haynes manual from your local autozone and youtube videos are all you really need for a lot of your basic maintainence and minor repairs.

And i dont garden. Wife hasnt gardened in years, though shes talking about starting one this summer.

[The_Patriot21]

48 minutes ago, angels4u said:

 You're good with cars to do all that work yourself,not everybody is able to that,do you grow a garden ?

 

Its also a myth that used cars arnt as reliable. If you know what your looking for they can be just as if not more reliable. My wifes expedition is 12 years old, and we got it with a 3 year power train warranty on it and its been a fantastic vehicle. If you dont know what your looking for if you have a mechanic you trust you can have them inspect any vehicle your looking at buying so dont be afraid to ask the dealer to let your mechanic check it out.

In fact thats a pretty good way to weed out the good salesmen from the bad. A honest salesman will always agree to let the vehicle be inspected by a mechanic. If they balk at the request, turn around and walk away. And dont look back no matter what they say.

[Dennis1209]

13 minutes ago, angels4u said:

We have one generator,but what good will it do if the gas runs out.. ?

That is right! We had tornados and severe storms back in 2008 and were without electricity for about two weeks. I had prepared for such a scenario and had a 5K watt generator (still do). I had planned for no more than three days without electricity and had only 15 gallons of gasoline. I had to drive a long way to refill the gas cans. 

[Starise]

I started another similar thread here awhile back called "Ways to Save Money".

As threads sometimes do parts of it went south or off topic and I guess there wasn't much interest in it after that. A lot of that thread was about how we can save money  in utilities and with smart phones which in hindsight, probably wasn't the most important aspects of people's day to day lives.

When it comes to saving food for later I think protein weighs in over vegetables, so I have been thinking about canned meats. I purchased some extra vegetables but could use some more. I have two chickens and they have been laying a lot of eggs. A dog  got into my chicken open and killed 5 of my chickens. For just us, two or three chickens are plenty.

While I think it makes sense to plan, I don't believe we should worry.

If I buy in bulk it's probably less expensive for me to buy canned goods than to plant a garden. Yes they have gone up but are still affordable to buy extra.

I am not really living as frugal as I could. There are things I could probably do. I don't waste either. I try to use whatever I have to the max. I mostly buy various cuts of chicken for meat, but sometimes will buy beef. If things go too high this year I'll be grilling more hamburgers and hotdogs instead of steak.

We don't eat out often any more.