I usually stock up on non perishables. I usually have lots of dried beans and legumes and I have a few canned ones in case we have a power outage. (I live in an apartment so if the power fails I have no means of heating up dinner.) I also have canned protein like tuna, salmon, chicken and turkey as well as canned veg. I don’t usually stock up on meat since I buy it in smaller quantities and it takes me awhile to finish it all up. I bought some chicken legs on sale recently for $1.99/lb so I bought 3 lbs worth and made chicken in mushroom sauce and that should last until the middle of May. I have a couple of servings of ground pork and beef stirfry strips in the freezer which will probably last until the end of April. When I plan my meals, I focus on finishing up foods in the fridge before I move onto the freezer so I end up eating a lot of vegetarian foods these days. I actually did a big grocery run the weekend before last and stocked up on beverages (tonic water, NA beer), canned tuna, mayo, peanut butter, lentils, etc. so I’m good for awhile. I like having a well stocked pantry to minimize the trips to the grocery store and to minimize impulse buys.
I stopped stocking up on as much meat over the past 2 years. I have had some frozen meat go freezer stale or freezer burnt, when it’s been around a little too long. I don’t have the time or energy to repackage meat, and I don’t have a vacuum sealer, nor the Interest to buy one, nor the time to use one,.nor the space to store one, so when I freeze meat, I only buy a few packs of meat, poultry or seafood that we will use within 3 months or so.
I stopped buying as many types of canned things during the Pandemic. We had a bunch of things I just did not use. My pantry is much more streamlined these days.
I bought peanut butter for the first time in a couple years. Has anyone noticed Jif doesn’t taste as good as it once did? This is a fresh jar, with a best before date that’s close to a year away. It tastes slightly rancid, and it’s saltier than I remember it being.
I have a small butane camp stove for power outages. I keep a couple cans of SPAM in the pantry for those occasions, as I don’t like to open the fridge. I’ve always been told that food will keep longer in a power outage situation if you don’t open the fridge. I’ve never tested this theory, but think it would seem to make sense.
Last power outage, I boiled some pasta and opened a jar of “Ragu”. Not a great dinner, but we ate by battery powered lantern and listened to an old radio (battery). I do keep some battery banks charged up so Sunshine can keep her phone charged up. She has less anxiety if she can play with her phone.
I don’t really want a generator – just too much mess.
My mom used to tell me to keep the fridge and freezer doors closed, only going in when I absolutely need to. She also told me to drape a blanket over my fridge/freezer since the blanket will act as insulation and keep the cold in.
My parents had a Coleman stove and my dad would get it set up in the garage so we could have a hot meal for dinner. I live in an apartment with no balcony so no means of cooking dinner. We rarely get power outages where I live so thankfully I don’t have to worry about eating cold dinners very often.
How is a generator messy? I have one in southwestern Ontario. No mess
Even high quality package food can go bad from mis-handling along the way – allowed to freeze or left in a hot truck during shipping. You may want to comment to their customer service line or the store where you bought it. (Skippy brand all the way here, so I can’t comment on Jif trends.)
It’s funny, I used to reach out and complain more 20 years ago. I remember complaining to Bits and Bites once ( party mix), and Mars another time, and they sent gift certificates in the mail.
I complained to Starbucks Customer Service after an employee rammed into me with a tray of drinks he was handing out, leaving a 6 inch bruise on my upper arm that lasted for 2 weeks . They just said sorry, no reprimand, no gift certificates.
Then I recently complained to Carnation Evaporated Milk about canned milk that had gone bad , that was bad when I opened it. It was a few months past the best before date. I suspect the grocery store was selling milk past its date. Canned evaporated milk used to keep just fine after its best before date. I never even checked best before dates, because we go through 20 cans a month and have high turnover. Carnation Brand Milk also wasn’t going to do anything for me. I think it probably did go bad during the transportation or in grocery store storage, as you’re suggesting with the Jif.
Our pantry is cool. Other cans of other things have not gone bad on us.
Just curious, what do you do with so much evaporated milk (I have to admit evaporated milk has a strange aftertaste so that I try to avoid it as much as possible) ?
Gas powered?
Less sugar?
It’s used in the Prairies and in the Maritimes in porridge, in tea, and coffee, and for cooking. I sometimes use it for white sauces when I have run out of fresh refrigerated milk. Most of the canned milk is consumed on daily porridge by one of my dining companions.
Canned evaporated milk is also used in Greek Frappé iced coffees.
Usually it’s sweetened condensed milk, either Eagle Brand or Rooster Brand, used in Vietnamese, Malaysian and Thai coffees and teas, iced or hot.
It’s funny, because while I can tolerate Canadian-style canned milk in my coffee, I dislike German Tetra Pak shelf stable milk in my coffee or cereal. That has an aftertaste for me. I also dislike the shelf stable cream that is often available at hotels in the UK and Ireland, next to the in hotel room kettle.
Yep.
Maybe? It wasn’t a low sugar pb, just regular Jif.
My parents had one and I just remember having all of these cans of gasoline around and having to rotate them so the gas didn’t go stale. Their generator had a pull start and burned a little bit of oil.
When they lost power, I had to drag the thing out of the garage, fill it with gas & oil, run the extension cords into the house and basement. Pull the start cord until my arm nearly fell off and all of this usually happened during a storm.
I got one a few years ago, but never unboxed it. I can’t figure out where to ground it–the manual says a six foot deep grounding pole, or connect to my water pipes. There are no pipes on that side of the house, and I can’t imagine pounding a grounding pole so deep.
Oh okay. Mine uses natural gas, not gasoline
Now that is a generator I would buy (if I had access to natural gas)!!
Maybe do a bit more research on when such is required? My electrical-engineer spouse has never set up a grounding pole. We use extension cords from our gas power generator to power the fridge, deep freeze a fan and our internet router. This article explains more
Thanks for the link. I’ve wondered why, for example, food stalls at farmers markets don’t have their generators grounded. Luckily, I haven’t lost power since I got it.
Power outage, and I’d think that rocket stove would be my baby. Mine has served that purpose.
