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Two years ago, my groceries cost about, eh, $150 to $175 every 4 to 6 weeks, depending on what I ate, how busy I was, etc.

Today, for 3 to 4 weeks, my grocery bill is anywhere from $300 to $400. This does not include pet food and meat for the pets (I have a puppy and a cat and both get meat and high quality food daily).

Fuck. That.

I have enough groceries to last me a year, give or take, and have been building my stock for the last 4 years with the help of my garden (at 1600 sq. feet). I originally stocked up in case of unemployment and topped that up in the event of a collapse. I'm firmly of the opinion that we're now watching a global collapse in slow motion and that in a year I will have far more pressing concerns than whether or not I should get more groceries.

So, after I came back from visiting family over Christmas, I ordered my final batch of groceries, topping everything up and stocking up pet supplies like a motherfucker. Close to $600. Two years ago, it might have hit $400 and that was only if I added some expensive "luxury" items.

By the way, nearly every store where I live is out of canned cat food of any quality and it's starting to be completely out of stock on chewy.com as well. Sure, they have stock but it's easier to find "out of stock" than "in stock." At least this past week anyway.

Being the time efficient moron that I am, I have my groceries delivered. The first shopper who went for just cat food said they were out. This was Costco. She went asking around and the replies were "We've been waiting and waiting but it's still sitting out in the middle of the ocean!" Cue Biden "I did that" sticker.

If you've been thinking of stocking up your pantry, it's not too late but it will now cost you dearly.

Edit: I've also gone ahead and ordered a few expensive things I've been putting off including a replacement phone (the one I'm using is 6 years old and starting to have hardware problems).

This is the heater

This is the general way to make one (Not my video) though I'll leave out for now largely useless details like whether or not to use glass or an acrylic pane ($76 for the size I needed but the price drops rapidly as you get smaller) and so on.

Mine has a little bit more and a bit more attention to detail. For example, silicone caulk and metal tape, reflective insulation board, two 12 volt solar panels to panel 2 12 volt CPU fans to push air a little more. $20 per panel, $12 for 4 fans though I only used two ($6 total).

Total cost was definitely less than $200 since I had most of the parts lying around anyway but I don't have a solid price on how much I spent since it's been a "back project" I piddled with for the last 4, maybe 5 years. This spring I kind of kicked it into higher gear - call it a gut instinct plust tired of it taking up so much space in the workshop - and now we're looking at a much higher cost for natural gas (at least) this winter which is what heats the main part of my house.

Using an extremely scientific and not-prone-to-errors meat thermometer, the temperature air I get out of it is between 150 and 160 degrees. The fans kicked on and provide a bit more push on the air than I initially expected and this doesn't seem to lower the temperatures any since it's still outputting about the same heat as smaller units you see people showing you how to make. The benefit I hope for with a larger unit is to still put out more heat in colder weather with less sunlight than smaller units can handle because I'm using this to heat living space and not a greenhouse or workshop.

The solar panels aren't as sensitive to light as I'd really like but I still get about 6 hours of push out of them and by the time the light is dim or not direct enough to power them, it's not really heating the cans inside either so that's fine. The fans kick on around 10 AM and cut off around 4.

I've had it up three days by this point and the day/night temps finally got to a point where I thought I could get you some good numbers. The part of the house it's heating is the first floor, somewhere around maybe 1500 square feet (seven rooms total). The house is "L" shaped so one part of the house (study, living room, dining room) benefit more than the rest (kicthen, foyer, bathroom, 2 bedrooms) but the difference between the two parts stays at just 1 degree.

This morning, at 7 am, it was 27 outside and the heater had already kicked on for the morning schedule to heat the house to 68. I turned off the heater and did periodic temp readings throughout the day.

7 AM -> 27 outside, 68 inside

9 AM -> 36/66

10 AM -> no reading but solar kicks on and the heater is still off.

11 AM -> 44/66

12 PM -> 48/66

2 PM -> 52/65

5 PM -> 51/66

It would seem that at least for early winter, late spring, this heater is going to be very useful for holding the house temperature high enough that I don't need to use the house heater. This does not indicate that it will be as useful when temperatures are sustained in the 30s or lower though I suspect that as long as I have enough sunlight that it will cut into how much I need to use the heater.

I plan to insulate the output hoses with corrugated plastic pipes, maybe wrap it in some thin insulation as I do this though I'm not sure about that part. It's not permanently mounted to the house and the hoses go to a window frame insert for a portable AC unit which is basically thin but stout plastic and that is a source of heat loss that I could stand to insulate.

In any case, the heater allowed me to go all day without using the house heater. With natural gas and other heating fuel costs predicted to hit sky high prices this winter, I should be cutting a lot off of my heating cost.

The bastard might be ugly and people driving by might wonder "WTF IS that??" but it works.

Today, I'm focusing on the food part. Later, I'll post different preps. My hope is that we can discuss certain preps, why, and whatnot.

So... first up, my grocery store.

https://pic8.co/sh/v1r47Y.png

Carts are $79 to $120 depending on what model you get. Stocking it up was hella expensive but took place over the span of 2.5 years by buying two of everything I needed at any time and then buying extra of things I didn't normally stock. I have no idea how much I've spent on these groceries but I'd estimate maybe ... $1000? More? In any case, I have food enough to last me a year easily but I'm planning that in a bug-in scenario, I'll have a few people helping watch my back so I need to feed them too. Which means two more people drags that down to about 4 months. Also great if unemployment hits.

From left to right, we have:

1. Spices, condiments, juices, drinks, coffee, carton milk, gatorade, soda. Comfort foods go a long way in the mental department when things go to shit.

2. Canned food. Soup, veggies, pork and beans, and so on.

3. Baking and starches. Mashed potatoes, ramen, flour, sugar, pasta, and a few jars of freeze dried veggies, canned meat also.

4. Freeze dried goods and water. I have a freeze dryer. Things here range from freeze dried meat, shelf stable meat, freeze dried pizza, freeze dried fruit and veggies. Freeze dried ice cream and cookie dough are here too.

In the background and the next photo:

https://pic8.co/sh/RQsfzn.png

The battery for my solar backup. This will power most of the house for just shy of three days assuming it's dark and deeply overcast (not generating power). The can of soup is for size reference.

On to (some of) the frozen stuff...

https://pic8.co/sh/L8OCNg.png

Inventory (not shown) is on the freezer door

This is one of three units I have. This one is a freezer, the other two are refrigerators. This one is mostly meat, milk, bread with a few other tidbits. That top shelf there is almost exclusively steaks and hotdogs.

The second shelf is various other meats including pork and chicken.

The next shelf down is milk (4 gallons), chicken that I fucked up and bought twice as much as I thought I was (for a total of 20 pounds of frozen chicken), tomato juice from the garden, more meat.

Bottom, behind the grate: breads. Bagels, bread, english muffins, and so on.

Door: Meat, tomato sauce and home made spaghetti sauce, pork, cheese, read-to-eat biscuits, stocks and broths.

The next photo is a pic of the water I have stockpiled just for the toilet should the mains go down: https://pic8.co/sh/wm2vY1.png

You don't store drinkable water in milk jugs.

And finally, puppy tax: https://pic8.co/sh/sYE1Ua.png

She's a West German Shepherd and growing like a weed at 5 months old. I'm slowly introducing her to schutzhund training. In short, protection and guard work and many police and military dogs are not only West German Shepherds but also go through the same training. She likes long walks, sticks, her tennis ball, and is obsessed with feet. Sorry fellas, she's mine so go find your own lady. I've had to teach her to bark, bite. She picks up on most things I teach her in about 5 minutes (along with hand signals) but requires a lot of reinforcement on some of them. She's still too bitey and hyper to learn "down" but sit and "paw" are second nature to her now. Also gasp and "what's that" will get her barking. I'm training her "hide and seek" and when she finds me, she has to bark before she gets praise. This not only exercises her mind but teaches her to observe hiding places and alert me if people are present and staying still.

Edit: Fucking catbox. Updated photos

Buying different nuts, peanuts, mixed, whatever. Plan is to dump them in to food saver bags with desiccant and stuff them into buckets. You can damn near live off of nuts. I see it as a good reserve.

Solely as trading fodder. I have started doing so, and only buying shit I would never get into. Who knows, a handle of cheap whiskey could buy a few days worth of food, medicine or ammo. My investment is $12.99 going in, and it keeps, forever.

For the short term, I have begun to can. I’ve started with beef pot roast, and will soon do some carnitas, (pork roast, or, “little meats”)

Just for the protein factor, I only care to do meat stuffs for now. I’m not so sure about the effort/reward factor on veggies yet. Grains I figure I have a hold on.

The main idea for the pot roast stuff is the ability to have a quick meal after a long day. Also, some for reserve.
Any thoughts?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-05/taiwan-foreign-minister-warn-war-china-global-geopolitical-order/100511960

and every time I go to the supermarket I plan to get another 10 litre container until I have a little supply for the start of World War 3 which is imminent. The idea is that when China knocks out all the electronic components that keep the water flowing I'll have enough water until I rig something up to catch rainwater. But the young couple next door worry me. They have a few kids and parents with kids will kill to ensure their brood survives so they'll probably see me and the missus as expendable and take our water by force! I'd share my water with them if they needed it to stay alive but I suspect they'll do us in. I hope they move before war breaks out.

https://files.catbox.moe/hwx0fc.pdf

This booklet doesn't just tell you how to store food and water and how to set up emergency sanitation.

It also goes into psychological (and spiritual) problems that come up during hard times.

A couple of excerpts:

"This is an example of Normalcy Bias, a survival mechanism our brains are equipped with that can place us in grave danger when we’re faced with something traumatic. Sim- ply put, it causes our brains to insist that all is okay. Every- thing will return to normal. For most of us who have never faced true peril, Normalcy Bias tells us that nothing bad will ever happen. “This is America!,” some people insist when I tell them about the possibility of a deeper Depression or hyperinflation. Incredibly, the most obvious warning signs are ignored."

and

"How long would you survive if you could never buy groceries again? Now consider how much worse that scenario would be if everyone you know was faced with the same question. It may have more relevance than you think. The food distribution system in industrialized nations has a complexity which baffles the mind. Thousands of suppliers coordinate with thousands of distributors to send food to millions of retailers for billions of consumers. But is there enough redundancy in the system to ensure the contin- ued viability of commercially delivered food to your table? What if that incredibly complex system bottlenecked or crashed? Would you literally starve to death?

It has been estimated that the average grocery store has less than a one week supply of food. We have all seen shelves stripped bare following hurricanes or other natural disasters. There is rarely starvation in those settings because aide pours in from unaffected surrounding areas. But what if the shortages were on a regional or national level?"

and

"Level 5: Can Survive Indefinitely from their Home during an multi-year SHTF or TEOTWAWKI (“The end of the world as we know it”) situation

Has a fully functioning large garden or small farm for food production
Is able to can and store the results of food harvest for the coming year
Is able to harvest seeds for next year’s planting
Is able to raise multiple generations of farm animals (cattle, sheep, horses)
Has horses for local and distance travel
Has enough ammo to last a generation (10,000+ rounds per weapon)
Has spares of each weapon and lots of extra magazines Able to generate their own fuel (bio-diesel, alcohol) Likely has fully functional solar power bank with deep storage batteries
Has natural on-site water sources for farm and home
Has home-based business to generate income
Is able to build new building and make any necessary repairs to existing buildings
Is able to provide excess food for charity
Has a secondary residency (such as mountain cabin) for full bug-out
Is prepared for minor surgery and child birth at home Has stores of gold and silver for barter
Is able to produce their own clothing (from raw wool or raw cotton with spinning wheel and small loom)"

Anyone got any advice on stopping wasps attacking bee hives?