u/Life-From-Scratch

So, I. Seriously considering getting a freeze dryer. I know that freeze dried foods keep for a long time, but atm, my prep plan is for a 1 year supply. I have other reasons for wanting a freeze dryer though. I like to overland, camp and hike, and I'd like to make meals for my son as back up when he's working away from home. But it seems a little frivolous tbh. How does freeze dried compare with dehydrated when it comes to cooking?

I was very happy to recently acquire a vintage sewing machine that works like a dream! But it won't be adequate for some of the heavy duty requirements that some of my projects might have.

My first thought was to invest in something heavy duty. That thought evolved to looking for another vintage machine that could handle the jobs I need it to do. From there, I remembered that I actually have such a machine, in a closet, that I put away some years ago because it needed some servicing.

After checking with a friend who is a professional seamstress, I was convinced that digging out that machine and getting it repaired would more than meet my needs.

I'm happy to have been led to this conclusion and reminded that repairing good sturdy equipment is often worthwhile. The flip side of the lesson is knowing what you have, thus having what you need. It's a nice symbiosis.

I read a post yesterday that kind of triggered me in a good way. I've been fretting lately over what to do with the rest if my life. I'm at the cusp if a major life change. My go-to response is often flight. And, I'm at an age where I really want to live my best life.

All of that said, as much as I'd like a change of venue, I've come to realize I do have most of what I need where I am. I'm housed, I have healthcare, and a seasonal small business.

I was reminded that so much of being frugal is about being satisfied with what you have. I need to remind myself if that every time I start looking to wander off.

So I have a lot going on, and now adding onto it, I'm in an epic dream cycle which leaves me exhausted and vulnerable. My immediate situation has me in contact with someone who is unintentionally zapping my energy. Nothing I can do about it, I need to be in that place ATM. The dreams are leaving me more upset than anything. I want to rest when I sleep, but that's not happening. Looking for a way to reset, to at least try and get the dreams under control. They are leaving me so exhausted.

So, I'm prepping for 1 year, +10%. Kind of modeled after what Mormons do. I've created pars and I'm building up and plan to back fill as I go. I have reasonable storage for most things, but worry about pet food. I have 2 dogs and a cat. I probably go through about 4-5 10kg bags of cat food a year. But dog food, I go through the big Costco bags, probably 12-16 per year. That's a lot of product requiring a lot of space. Besides the space issue, I'm worried about storage. That much pet food could attract rodents. So I'm looking for storage ideas. I have lots of bins, but know that rodents will eventually chew through bins. I've seen it when working in Bush camps. My thought is metal garbage cans with lids.

Does anyone else experience very intense, vivid or epic dreams that leave you feeling drained and exhausted when you wake up? Wondering if it's common among empaths.

How serious are Canadians about giving up American companies? Will that include Amazon? Personally, I'm just about to the point where if I can't buy it at Canadian Tire, I probably don't need it.

I'm towards the end of an apocalypse book series that involves an EMP. The book has lots of good ideas that I've been recording, and it has me thinking about hard copies of books as well as honing my skills.

I'm GenX, so I still have a paper atlas, and own physical books, although I do a fair bit of digital book reading these days as well. But for essential things, it seems wise to have a hard copy to remind me how much chlorine it takes to shock water, and how to make rehydration fluids.

And then there's skills. It would be better if I knew how to make soap because I've done it a bunch of times as opposed to trying to figure it out when I'm stressed because my supply is low. I really need to learn how to garden in my zone for example. That's something that should just be automatic, so it's not a big deal if situations change.

Anyway, I've seen lots of posts about PDF's and I'm sure many have impressive binders. How many work on having/owning those skills? What skills do you have, which ones do you want? Which skills are you putting on the back burner?

I'm debating with myself about lemonade. I like making concentrate with equal parts sugar and lemon juice. But I've never canned it or stored otherwise for more than a week at a time.

My brain says 'it should be fine because it's made with two preservatives, three if you add salt." But I need to research this some.

Then my brain says, "quit being so effing precious and just buy lemonade powder." It's portable, already known to be safe and a good source of Vitamin C.

Judge me harshly.

Bought a large bag of popcorn and a pack of paper lunch bags. Portioned 3 handfuls of popcorn and 3 pinches of kosher salt , rolled up the bags and secured them with a rubber band.

To prepare, add a good dollop of Margarine into the bag and microwave for 2:10. Poor into a bowl and enjoy. Comes out to less than .25 per. Been doing it this way since the 70s.

If you want, you can add brown sugar into the bowl to make a play on kettle corn.

My running joke is "I'm just a seed store and an ammo cash from being a real prepper"

Over the years I've uilt up a store, but not anything especially organized. My thought was in case of an emergency or if we miss a paycheck or two, I want to be ready. We kept enough for about 2-4 months on hand. And I'm very glad that I did, because this year it helped us, a lot.

My husband was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. For the first bit he had sick leave that helped to cover us. I'm self employed part of the year and do seasonal work for the other part. I had to cancel my seasonal contracts so I could be home to care for him.

Then he was put on long term disability, which was a pay cut. I figured out something for more self employment for Spring and early summer. We were ok-ish. I had some money saved so that kind of carried us for a while. But as his illness progressed I found I couldn't care for him and run my business, so I had to give up working.

With money super tight, we turned to our well stocked pantry. We have enough to mostly sustain us, only buying a few fresh items every week. It's been a huge relief and comfort knowing we have what we need from laundry soap to toothpaste, powder milk to quinoa. We've been relying on the pantry for about 3 months.

Now that I have experienced proof of concept first hand, I'm getting more organized about it. I bought an accounting book that I'm using to plan another build up of my supply, creating pars for everything I use.

The plan is to have enough for 1 year and to pull from existing supplies and replenish as I go. This has me thinking in terms of regular use. So for things like dry goods, I will be making packs that contain a week's work, that I can easily pull without worrying about cross contamination. The down side of this is as I replenish, it may not be as economical, because I won't be buying in as large of quantities. But, I think I can problem solve that.

Considering a move to Nanaimo, but medical care is a concern to me. I don't have any major medical conditions, but I am of a certain age where it could become an issue in say 10 years or so.

How hard is it to find a doctor?

Where is the closest facility for specialist care or surgery?

How hard is it to get appointments?