Inflation, Energy and living on a fixed income.

[Hank6046]

Life is about choices. Ask SteyrAug how much happier he is, making the same money, living in Iowa now vs. Florida....

This is a BIG country, not as big as Russia of course but there are plenty of places where people can live in small communities in a traditional manner. Yes, people are social creatures and "community" matters- but have you never heard someone explain how lonely they were in a city of a Million People? It's a quality vs. quantity thing. Just because you are surrounded by strangers- that's not a fulfilling "community" in terms of human interaction.

Agreed. I moved 4 hours away from the Minneapolis/ St. Paul and it feels great. My cost of living dropped, my access to shooting and courses increased and my wife and kids live better lives with better education, and more access to friends and loved ones. We were just back in the Twin Cities with friends this last weekend for the first time in almost 2 years and it is amazing how much worse it keeps getting for them as our lives have improved. A friend of mine is an Architect and still can't afford a home within 20-30min of driving distance from his work so he's bartending on weekends to save up.

I do miss really good Thai food, and the ability to go out to dinner and not bump into anyone we know, but at the same time I don't worry about my kids riding their bikes around our neighborhood and getting gas or getting cash from my local ATM late at night.

[Arik]

Life is about choices. Ask SteyrAug how much happier he is, making the same money, living in Iowa now vs. Florida....

This is a BIG country, not as big as Russia of course but there are plenty of places where people can live in small communities in a traditional manner. Yes, people are social creatures and "community" matters- but have you never heard someone explain how lonely they were in a city of a Million People? It's a quality vs. quantity thing. Just because you are surrounded by strangers- that's not a fulfilling "community" in terms of human interaction.

I didn't mean fulfilling interactions or million strangers. Simply that once one does it everybody does it! (Obviously not literally everybody).

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[SteyrAUG]

Life is about choices. Ask SteyrAug how much happier he is, making the same money, living in Iowa now vs. Florida....

This is a BIG country, not as big as Russia of course but there are plenty of places where people can live in small communities in a traditional manner. Yes, people are social creatures and "community" matters- but have you never heard someone explain how lonely they were in a city of a Million People? It's a quality vs. quantity thing. Just because you are surrounded by strangers- that's not a fulfilling "community" in terms of human interaction.

And it took a LOT of money and a LOT of hard work to move. Life and government don't make it easy to pick up and relocate across the country. And just TRY and move a FFL / SOT and an inventory of NFA stuff to a state that only recently adopted NFA firearms. I had to do federal, state and town approval, licensing, code and zoning, etc. ON THE PHONE long distance. I wasn't allowed to leave the state of Florida UNTIL my FFL and SOT was approved in Iowa.

And THEN I could coordinate movers and such. If I didn't have a very, very good friend who let me set up shop in his parents house until I could find and buy one of my own, it might not have been possible. But even with all of that effort to make the planets line up for me, it was still worth it.

In Florida I used to ponder which neighbors I would eliminate first IF society truly collapsed. I had a mental list. In Iowa, I'm actually going to have to go rescue a bunch of people. There are people in the neighborhood who will be "on their own" but there are people on the block who can just "bunk down with us" IF it becomes necessary.

July of 2019 we had a tornado roll through the north end of town (first time in about 60 years) and my house was like a hotel. We had zero damage, the power didn't even flicker and everything on this side of town was OPEN. So yeah everyone from friends to my insurance agent was invited to bunk down here rather than camp in their wide open house. I had another half dozen just swinging by in the morning to take a shower before work and then stopping by after work to eat a hot meal.

None of it was a problem and I was glad to help them. It was also EASY. Take a Cat 4 hurricane and EVERYONE is down for 3 to 4 counties. No power, no gas, what you have is what you have. When gas stations are up and grocery stores are open, I can do that standing on my head.

When everyone took a major wind storm last year, people I didn't even know were running chain saws and clearing trees out of the road with ATVs. I was looking at a tree through my roof and thinking "How the blue F am I gonna clear that out of there" and the kid next door goes "I'll be over in 30 minutes with a chainsaw as soon as I get my roof cleared." He didn't owe me anything, I didn't even ask for help, he just came over and made big shit into little stuff that could be moved and it went from there.

Best thing I did was bail on South Florida when I could. Nice place to visit, but man I was living in the wrong state for that point in my life.

[Esq.]

....

In Florida I used to ponder which neighbors I would eliminate first IF society truly collapsed. I had a mental list. In Iowa, I'm actually going to have to go rescue a bunch of people. There are people in the neighborhood who will be "on their own" but there are people on the block who can just "bunk down with us" IF it becomes necessary.

Mel Tappan the old Survival Guns guy from Guns and Ammo in the 70's and 80's had a saying- "In a small town, the "problems" can be handled with a single magazine of .45 auto". Lol....some things don't change...

[P2Vaircrewman]

After going through hurricane Ida, a cat 4, no power no water for two weeks, no cable or internet for 4 weeks, on and off cellular service, fighting with the insurance company, trying to get repairs done when everyone needs repairs done I am trying to convince my wife to move. We both have very few family left here and no real reason to stay. Biggest issue is where to go.

[Esq.]

After going through hurricane Ida, a cat 4, no power no water for two weeks, no cable or internet for 4 weeks, on and off cellular service, fighting with the insurance company, trying to get repairs done when everyone needs repairs done I am trying to convince my wife to move. We both have very few family left here and no real reason to stay. Biggest issue is where to go.

If I was you, I'd look North and not that far- Missouri etc....Reasonably priced land, rural, plenty of water and timber, decent growing season etc....

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I’m getting a bit nervous about food supply- mainly in getting what I want at a price that doesn’t make me puke- over the next year. When Sysco sends out warning about supply, I’m thinking that means something.

If I were to look at putting in a freezer and stocking it with meat, anyone have a good website or vids that would be a good intro to that. 5 people. Minimum size to stock, and I assume buy beef in standard quantities.

I don’t really have room at my place, but my MIL has plenty of room in her garage for a freezer.

[THCDDM4]

I’m getting a bit nervous about food supply- mainly in getting what I want at a price that doesn’t make me puke- over the next year. When Sysco sends out warning about supply, I’m thinking that means something.

If I were to look at putting in a freezer and stocking it with meat, anyone have a good website or vids that would be a good intro to that. 5 people. Minimum size to stock, and I assume buy beef in standard quantities.

I don’t really have room at my place, but my MIL has plenty of room in her garage for a freezer.

What specific information are you looking for?

You can store meat indefinitely at 0 degree F and it is safe to eat, however it’s quality will degrade over time.

For most meat, quality is not compromised in the 8-14 month time frame as long as it is packaged properly.

Vacuum sealed packaging and stored at or below 0 degree F is best practice.

You can store and package any quantity you like. Whole chickens and larger portions of beef and pork, etc- last a little longer than single serving packaging, though.

If you store meats in original packaging the longevity decreases drastically.

Invest in a good vacuum sealer.

What else would you like to know?

[Honu]

Some other thoughts on Meat storage I find wrapping my own in coated butcher paper best over vac unless you are talking $600 type vac and the bags for the high end are cheap and the vac is superior to the home style ones you see so often that is a whole other thread I reckon

You might try both find which one ya like
Why I find it better ? Storing a lot of meat if it moves around when getting some out frozen meat can wear a hole not to common but does happen in the vac bags the regular type vac bags you get at costco or so are expensive when packing a lot of meat and the machine is slow ! Paper IMHO just protects the meat better also
I use vac for sous vide a lot though and some cuts


I alone eat about 2-3 lbs of meat a day every day so have a lot of meat in storage and rotate out with fresh and long term and with family a few extra lbs on top so go through a lot of meat

Cheaper cuts like tri-tip in sousvide then just finish off on grill or with torch is super good and reasonable last week about $5 a lb but again really good tasting texture for the money
I love flap meat so do my kids it has gone up insane now about 7-9 bucks a lb
Otherwise I live on ribeye but its gotten quite spendy sadly and I do like to mix it up some but never get tired of ribeye

One thing I am in AZ we have a lot of more cater to Mexican crowd places they seem cheap and older BUT the meat section while not as high quality has some meats really cheap ! Not sure about your area but could be worth looking into

I tend to just buy what I can at costco eat fresh and then freeze rest and then pull the older date and use for next few days so fresh 1 frozen for 3 and repeat

If you love ribeye/NY etc... you can get whole untrimmed loin roast whatever ya want to call it so a whiole 20lb cryovac you then just cut your own and save some since its not trimmed or cut you just have to often ask the costco meat guys for it

IMHO pot roast style meats or stew meats can be cheap and good as said above in large size less surface area so last better I just try to think what is family size with a bit of leftover and pack to that size

So like the burgers packing 6 at a time I can pull for family or 3 at a time if its just me eating them but then its ONE pack with sharpie of whats inside

A sous vide machine is awesome to have so is a instantpot besides regular grilling cooking methods especially sous vide or the old fashion crock pots but sousvide can do amazing things with meat making them tender and not turn mushy or boiled like a crock pot

Business costco dif than the regular costco has a HUGE selection of meats IF you have one near you they are not that common though you can buy meat by the case or whole lamb etc...

I prefer fatty burger over lean better tasting better health way cheaper etc... so 72/28 has been under 3 bucks last week
One thing I do is get meat packing stuff and just make burgers and wrap in 3 or 6 burgers (mentioed above why) I make and use these plastic type sheets things to keep them from freezing together I make them pre freeze on a sheet pan and then wrap so shape is held
Take them out the day or two before and super easy fast

As said above pork is cheaper (not as good nutrient wise) but still good flavor and super cheap and freezes well IMHO chicken never freezes as well as pork and red meat

To me chest freezers are best since they do not go through a auto defrost which heats up cools down to defrost and can really make your food frosty ironic as that is or just ruins meat much quicker since it can let it slightly loose temp then freeze also getting in does not dump the cold like a upright

IMHO 2 smaller say 5 foot chest freezers over 1 10 foot if one dies cheaply made these days you can usually transfer some to the other so prefer that 2 freezers over one

Air space you want as little as you can ? Get a 20lb bag of rice lay in bottom as a idea of filling space of course just styrofoam or milk jugs with water so many ideas me I prefer to fill it with food like large bags of rice you could take out then put back in

For chest some folks like to use milk crates of some kind for sorting inside ? I dont bother as the way I pack never needed it but can see it being handy

Biggest thing label and date everything and if you want to be handy we do some ground beef in set amounts so I can just take out 1 or 2 lb ready to go for some recipes and not have to guess or measure

[Arik]

I’m getting a bit nervous about food supply- mainly in getting what I want at a price that doesn’t make me puke- over the next year. When Sysco sends out warning about supply, I’m thinking that means something.

If I were to look at putting in a freezer and stocking it with meat, anyone have a good website or vids that would be a good intro to that. 5 people. Minimum size to stock, and I assume buy beef in standard quantities.

I don’t really have room at my place, but my MIL has plenty of room in her garage for a freezer.

I'll echo what the other poster said. Frozen meat will sit indefinitely. I'm currently going through corned beef brisket that I bought on sale 5 years ago. After St. Patricks day local supermarket was having buy one get one free. I stocked up ..... probably 20 packs of them maybe more. I just rotate them between with all the other meat. They're still perfectly good and have not degraded.

Buy whatever you feel you like/will eat, doesn't have to be beef. I stock anything that swims or walks. Look for sales and if there's a limit either walk out and back in or send someone else in to get more.

A vacuum sealer is not necessary but would definitely be a benefit. For a while I didn't have one and I didn't seem to have a problem. There's were a few shark steaks that partially dried out but that was an oops on my part. Overall it's money well spent. I used a simple Food Saver vacuum from Costco. Walmart and Target have the same thing. I think it was like $90.

Labels and dates help. I just cut off the original label from the package. That way I know what, when and weight. I just find it easier to cut the label out instead of rewriting the info.



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