apocalypse « Robin Writes

Is there such a thing as over-prepping? Yes, particularly when it comes to food.

I finally got my supply closet a bit more organized and was a little surprised to discover 12 bottles of ketchup. Twelve.

Now, when there were three of us or even five of us, I think we went through a bottle maybe once a month. Since we’re down to just two, I’m estimating that bottle would last two months.

Which means I have two years’ worth of ketchup, an item that I can make myself if the tomato crop is good. And I’m not even sure how it happened, but I’m guessing it’s for the same reason that we have two jars of Miracle Whip in there too:

My husband doesn’t look in the cabinets or closet before he goes shopping.

To be fair, he used to call me like ten times—okay, five. Seriously. During a shopping trip my phone would ring off the hook. So to speak. And the reason he was going, and not me, was because I had a lot of things to do already. So he’d call.

I broke him of that habit, but the trade-off is that we have extra stuff that he might think of at the store and just grab “in case.”

I think, though, I have a solution:

I hung a whiteboard in the supply closet to make a list of things needed. Take a picture before you go, and voila, you have the list to pick up any sale items. Plus, of course, the regular grocery list.

IF SHTF happened any time soon, we’d be ready. And ketchup is a vegetable, right?

Just kidding. But we’re nearly fully stocked for a good six months—for two-three people. And this is how it should be.

The other side of prepping is this:

For example, I have a couple packages of store-bought cookies in that supply closet. Now, of course they need to be rotated like everything else, but they’re “emergency” cookies. My husband and I have very different ideas of that word. “Emergency.”

I’m all for cutting back and toughing it out—even with food. I cook a little less; not less often, I’m talking about portion size. It’s something we’re trying to get back to, particularly since as one ages, one needs fewer calories. Yes, I take the workload into consideration. But the typical diet in the US consists of overinflated portions, restaurants and at home alike.

So if I feel like having a Chips Ahoy cookie, and I know where they are, I might or might not take a stroll and grab that package. But only if I happen to being going that way anyhow—I’ll wait and maybe remember to get it.

See, when SHTF, you’re not going to be able to run to the store just for a cookie, and you might really NEED that damn cookie. The heck with your appetite or calorie intake, your emotional health is important too. And cookies make a lot of things better.

And this is the other side of prepping: your mental and emotional preps. Get used to doing without or doing with less now, and if it happens, you won’t be caught by surprise. It’ll be just another day as far as your habits and health are concerned.

But you can always make oven fries to use up all that ketchup:

Oven Fries

Scrub potatoes

Slice to your preference

Toss with olive oil

Season with whatever you like: garlic, onion powder, pepper, anything in your spice rack/cabinet.

Bake at 425 for about half an hour or so, stirring once or twice, until as crisp as you like.

We officially moved to the farm this past Saturday! It seems very strange not to be figuring out what to do, and when, before we drive back to STL in a few days. The kid came over early Saturday to help load the truck, and by the time I left around noon, he and my husband were still at it.

I got here around 3:30 or so and took care of the dog and cat and watered my plants. I put the cat, who’s never been here, in the dungeon while I unloaded the car. Half an hour later, he was meowing to get out. He circled the house twice before scoping out all the windows and then taking a nap on our bed. He finally got to go outside the next day, and boy, does he love that! I’m not sure he could clear the fence, but he might try. I’m not too worried about him—he’s a 20-pound Maine Coon.

The unpacking is almost done. Still have a few boxes that either can’t yet be unpacked—like stuff for the laundry room—and some pictures that I have no idea where to hang, but mostly it’s done. The biggest part was rearranging the things we’ve been using and incorporated the REAL stuff from STL.

My husband has finished clearing the garden area and ordered fish for his pond. We picked up a horse trough yesterday, but no horse yet—this is first going to be fish transport on Saturday. At Fish Day.

Yes, that’s a thing.

I also discovered I have family in the area—how weird is that? My cousin passed away a few days ago; I saw her obit in the paper. I haven’t seen her in probably 30 years. Her brother still lives here.

When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time at Nana’s house. Aunt LaVerna lived next door on one side, and Aunt Mary on the other. I ran and played in all three yards and visited both of them a lot. Sometimes, my cousin Dolores was home; she was a mail carrier. I don’t remember her brother Lon very well. They were both 30 or so years older than I.

I DO remember a big family ruckus though, probably in the early 90s, when Dolores and Lon moved Aunt LaVerna out “to the country.” Just didn’t realize it was here! This is almost as strange as when we moved from Colorado to Granbury, Texas in 1999 and discovered that my husband’s grandparents had lived there—and their marriage certificate was still at the courthouse!

Well, anyway, back to the work part:

Yesterday, before the town trip to buy fish and a few groceries, we seeded the pasture with 50 pounds of fescue; going to add some alfalfa or lespedeza too. Planned it ahead of the nice rain we got this morning—perfect for sprouting.

I also planted my signature purple verbena for the five hanging baskets on two of the decks. The third deck, off the kitchen, is for my seedlings and herbs. And a grape vine. I think that’s what it is. Hard to say…

And I’m pretty sure all these gorgeous little yellow-flowered trees are sassafras. Don’t think I’ve ever seen them before, but we have a quite a lot. The blueberries wintered well and the peach trees have leafed out; the apple trees are budding.