What's next for hoarding?

[Amethyst]

Suspect batteries may soon be a hoarding item. Toys, games, devices used to pass the idle hours.
Fears of the grid going down due to lack of service.

 

[Another Reader]

Yes. Whole milk will separate and may need to be shaken up when thawed. I know this as a former child in a rural area full of dairy farms, where milk was still delivered, and winters were cold. Another thing about frozen milk: It expands. Be sure the containers are not full.

Will ice cube trays work? I'm thinking that's the right size for a cup of coffee...

 

[LOL!]

Any danger in keeping a filled, 2-gal gas can in a hot Florida garage? We used to keep one in the MD garage for the lawnmower, and MD summers get terribly hot, but FL's hot for 6 months at a time. Just wondering.

Not a problem in my personal experience keeping an approved container of gasoline in a very hot garage in Texas.

 

[LOL!]

Suspect batteries may soon be a hoarding item. Toys, games, devices used to pass the idle hours.
Fears of the grid going down due to lack of service.

Haven't bought batteries in years ever since we got legit rechargeables and a decent charger.

 

[Amethyst]

Common practice for iced coffee is making milk ice cubes.

Will ice cube trays work? I'm thinking that's the right size for a cup of coffee...

 

[zedd]

DW’s instinct is to hoard produce. The woman has no concept of spoilage and it’s one of her most endearing quirks.

As summer approaches, beer seems like a good one to hoard. Getting a water filtration kit for the household is prudent and much easier than storing pallets of the bottled stuff.

Been trying but can't seem to keep enough on hand let alone have "extra".

 

[statsman]

I vote for gasoline hoarding. I just topped up my tank and I can't hoard any more for a while. Nice low prices. $2.35 a gallon here in Pa last time I checked.

I was thinking about that one. Waiting for someone to have several dozen large containers of gasoline in their garage that somehow ignites.

 

[Amethyst]

Hard to run your backup generator without it, though, esp. in a big power outage.

I was thinking about that one. Waiting for someone to have several dozen large containers of gasoline in their garage that somehow ignites.

 

[Retire2013]

I've been cutting my own hair since 2013 when I ER'd so I am all set with scissors. I can't think of anything to hoard except canned goods but I heard the shelves of canned goods are mostly empty so I am not going to venture to the store to come back empty handed. I still have enough food on hand for at least 6 weeks (with intermittent fasting).

 

[timo2]

Can milk be frozen and still be decent when thawed? Last night I was able to buy a 15 cubic foot chest freezer (online from Lowe's) and it is supposed to be delivered Apr. 5th.

Yes milk freezes great. and bread. Actually some unexpected things. Back in the day (pre-walmart) my parents only shopped at the military Commissary, which was a few hours away. So a reasonable amount and variety of the monthly purchases ended up in the freezer.

 

[timo2]

I've been cutting my own hair since 2013 when I ER'd so I am all set with scissors.

[not an endorsement, just an alternative with the barbers closed many places ]: If a socially distanced person wanted to grow their hair out until 2024, there is a group that plans an event called 'the great cut: On March 16, 2019, The Great Cut successfully broke the world record for the most hair donated to charity. After the dust settled everyone wanted to know...would we do it again? As we announced exclusively on KUSI Good Morning San Diego, we will go back under the shears in 2024. Since most of us cut our hair, we need a few more years to grow it back, especially El Moreno and many others who shaved their heads completely!

https://thelonghairs.us/pages/donating-my-hair-t-shirt

 

[Jerry1]

Any danger in keeping a filled, 2-gal gas can in a hot Florida garage? We used to keep one in the MD garage for the lawnmower, and MD summers get terribly hot, but FL's hot for 6 months at a time. Just wondering.

Not a problem in my personal experience keeping an approved container of gasoline in a very hot garage in Texas.

I agree that gas is not going to explode due to heat in a garage, but I would not try to store too much unless you think it through. I'm no expert, but what I've seen is to have 5 gal cans that are continually being rotated and used up. For example, every time you fill your car, put the gas from the oldest can in the car then go fill up the car and re-fill the 5 gal tank. It's known that gas deteriorates with age and I suspect that heat causes it to deteriorate quicker.

Also, if I was going to store gas, I would find a source of ethanol free gas. I actually do store gas over winter and I use my gas that mixed with oil so infrequently that it goes over a year per gallon that I mix up. Ever since I went with ethanol free gas I've not had any problems with my small engines.

Here's a site that lists ethanol free gas:

https://www.pure-gas.org/

 

[Rustic23]

In nine months it will be diapers! The Covid Baby Boom!

 

[Amethyst]

That is a good idea, similar to how we managed when we had a big lawn mower. The gas was always fresh; same might not be the case with a generator, since you do not always need to be running it.

I agree that gas is not going to explode due to heat in a garage, but I would not try to store too much unless you think it through. I'm no expert, but what I've seen is to have 5 gal cans that are continually being rotated and used up. For example, every time you fill your car, put the gas from the oldest can in the car then go fill up the car and re-fill the 5 gal tank. It's known that gas deteriorates with age and I suspect that heat causes it to deteriorate quicker.

Also, if I was going to store gas, I would find a source of ethanol free gas. I actually do store gas over winter and I use my gas that mixed with oil so infrequently that it goes over a year per gallon that I mix up. Ever since I went with ethanol free gas I've not had any problems with my small engines.

Here's a site that lists ethanol free gas:

https://www.pure-gas.org/

 

[Markola]

A friend owns a wine shop and her husband manages 4 restaurants, so I’ve been concerned about them. I biked over and bought a case of various whites and reds from her today. There were other customers in the shop but she is bracing for restrictions to come, maybe causing her to switch to curbside pickup.

 

[Gumby]

I agree that gas is not going to explode due to heat in a garage, but I would not try to store too much unless you think it through. I'm no expert, but what I've seen is to have 5 gal cans that are continually being rotated and used up. For example, every time you fill your car, put the gas from the oldest can in the car then go fill up the car and re-fill the 5 gal tank. It's known that gas deteriorates with age and I suspect that heat causes it to deteriorate quicker.

Also, if I was going to store gas, I would find a source of ethanol free gas. I actually do store gas over winter and I use my gas that mixed with oil so infrequently that it goes over a year per gallon that I mix up. Ever since I went with ethanol free gas I've not had any problems with my small engines.

Here's a site that lists ethanol free gas:

https://www.pure-gas.org/

STA-BIL helps if you have to store gas.

 

[Jerry1]

STA-BIL helps if you have to store gas.

I used STA-BIL until I found the ethanol free gas. It's not real common, but thankfully I have a station near me that sells it. There's a lot of it around here because marina's (boats) use it. It works better than STA-BIL IMO, but I would definitely use STA-BIL if I couldn't find ethanol free gas.

When I was buying my new snow thrower a few years ago, I was asking him about the reliability of the various brands. His response was that they're all pretty good but his main point was that the main job he has is repairing carburetors from the issues that ethanol causes small engines. And, that in our quest to reduce air pollution, the orifices were getting smaller, making the problems even more common.

 

[Another Reader]

Common practice for iced coffee is making milk ice cubes.

Thanks! This wasn't covered in 8th grade home economics in the 1960's...

 

[Another Reader]

Yes milk freezes great. and bread. Actually some unexpected things. Back in the day (pre-walmart) my parents only shopped at the military Commissary, which was a few hours away. So a reasonable amount and variety of the monthly purchases ended up in the freezer.

I did not know about the milk. I do have several loaves of bread in the freezer, thanks to my mother and the Wednesday grocery ads 60 years ago...

 

[Gumby]

My mother could afford to go to the grocery only once a month, so she always froze bread. (We used powdered milk. Yuck!)

 

[audreyh1]

DH’s family had to drive 65 miles for groceries back in the 60s. They bought one month’s worth at a time. Yep, gallons of milk went in the freezer!

 

[Amethyst]

I use dry milk for various things, including adding to bread dough, and making, well, spare milk when ours runs out. I guess others thought of that, too, because dry milk is now yet another unobtainable item.

My mother could afford to go to the grocery only once a month, so she always froze bread. (We used powdered milk. Yuck!)

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Yes. Whole milk will separate and may need to be shaken up when thawed. I know this as a former child in a rural area full of dairy farms, where milk was still delivered, and winters were cold. Another thing about frozen milk: It expands. Be sure the containers are not full.

I've been freezing some in ice cube trays. I don't intend to use it to drink directly, but will use it in protein shakes and also hope to use it in Cappuccino (TBD, in fact I will test out my theory and update this post.)

I also make home made yogurt (mostly using my Instant Pot these days for it). After making the yogurt I add some sweeter (I use pure Stevia) and perhaps some frozen fruit (e.g. blueberries). Blend it up, and then put that in ice-cube trays to freeze. Works pretty well!

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Our local wal-mart had frozen butterball turkeys for $0.68 a pound so I bought two. One in the freezer and one is thawing in the fridge.

They were out of chicken but had these turkeys. A roasted turkey with butter coated skin sounds mighty tasty and I don't know why most people only eat turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Hurry up and thaw! You can cook a frozen turkey but it is rather hard to get the neck and giblets out...you have to cook it for a couple hours and then take them out and continue cooking. I am always worried the plastic bag for the giblets will melt or something, but it is still icy. I did try it once and it worked and the meat was just as tender.

I made a turkey on my smoker, came out great!

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

DW’s instinct is to hoard produce. The woman has no concept of spoilage and it’s one of her most endearing quirks.

As summer approaches, beer seems like a good one to hoard. Getting a water filtration kit for the household is prudent and much easier than storing pallets of the bottled stuff.

I haven't brewed in a couple years, just have been too busy with my college gig and because I had a ton of stuff brewed and sitting there. I just spent a day cleaning containers and making sure my Star San was still good (PH meter says good to go). I have lots of grains, so might start brewing some batches to avoid trips to the store. (However, I have cut way way back on beer consumption due to the carbs.)