Well, it went from 75-80 degree days to snow like *that* [snaps fingers]. Guess it’s time to pull out the cold weather gear and do all the ‘winter is almost here’ stuff.
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The wife brought this product – Jarbox - to my attention. Definitely one of those ‘why didnt I think of it’ kind of products. I figured if you had to transport canning jars you could just get some foam pipe insulation, cut it to length, and make little beer cozies for each bottle. This seems handier, although a good bit more expensive. I’ll have to see if theres some sort of discount program available or something. Be nice if they had it in a size to accommodate pint jars as well.
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I don’t have a lot of self-destructive vices…I dont drink, smoke, do drugs, etc. My biggest bad-for-my-health vice is that I suck down a few cans of Coke every day. Okay, maybe more than a few…probably about…mmmm….five or six a day. So when we go grocery shopping I pay close attention to the price of the little red cans of death. For quite a while now the best price I could find was $0.27/can at either WalMart or CostCo. Since both places had the same price I figured that was about the best price they were going to get from the company. Went up to CostCo the other day and, surprise, it was now $0.31/can. Headed over to WallyWorld and it was also $0.31/can there as well. Obviously the new floor price was $0.31….a 15% increase. Why the increase? Price of corn syrup going up, perhaps? Whatever. The point is that a 15% increase in the price of *any* grocery product is worth standing up and taking notice of. True, this only comes out to about a $0.24/day increase in my drinking habits but that translates into $7.20/month…which is about the cost of a case of Coke. In short, I’m paying for an extra case of Coke per month but not getting it.
I expect these sorts of revelations about groceries to continue as our economic …turbulence…continues. This is why, folks, you gotta make every dollar count.
Good thing you don’t eat ice cream, those half gallons are now 3 pints, and the price went up 25%. So now I get 25% less for 25% more money.
Actually, I do eat ice cream and I’ve commented on how my half gallon is no longer a half gallon.
We can expect to see more and more of this “hidden” inflation in the future.
Cans of tuna are now 5 ounces rather than 6.
Pasta sauce packaged in 22 ounce jars rather than 24.
Sugar in 4 pound bags instead of 5.
And so on. At the same price — or even a “New low price!” — for a few months. Until the price starts creeping upwards and the next reduction in quantity is implemented.
Along with the drought, higher grain, corn, prices / grain / sugarcane prices were brought on by the gov mandated biofuel content.
In my experience, engines burning diesel fuel actually use about 10% more fuel with the biofuel crap.
Pepsi is $1.38 2 liter at Walmart, and Coke is very close to that.
Just be glad you are not in Iran. 65% inflation this month. Coming soon to a town near you. If we moved there with our US income we would be multimillionaires!
The jarbox seems nice… and expensive… Bubble wrap works well…
I just put my jars back in the original box after filling and hope I won’t have to transport them…not nearly as pretty to look at as the filled jars, but I am able to find comfort looking at walls of green Ball jar boxes!
I backed off the cokes, I don’t wanna get Diabetes when I am old, so Im down to one coke a day.
That coke shit is **BAD** for you. I know, I used to be you!
Graduate to Beer. Far, far better for you and your sanity.
The Jarbox containers fill a need, but the price is far too high. If that $24.95 delivered 5 or 6 of them to one’s door perhaps they would make sense.
But $25 will buy 3 dozen canning jars currently, making some losses in storage acceptable.
What I would much rather see — than a relatively flimsy two-piece design such as the Jarbox — is a simple plastic “milk crate” design sized for 1 quart canning jars. No need for indidual padding sleeves or cast-in-place separators; cardboard or thin wood dividers are simple enough to fabricate.
Just the basic, proven, “milk crate” design that has been proven durable by decades of use and misuse by dairies, students and the homeless.
Until that day… I keep telling myself I need to fabricate simple wooden boxes. The basic Warsaw Pact ammo crate design should work; held together with screws or nails rather than finger-jointing.
Speaking of transporting, well, all kinda stuff…just received a couple of canvas boat and tote bags from LL Bean. Very sturdy.Threw them in the washer and dryer with no problems and minimal shrinkage.
Love the jarbox – and while it is a tad expensive – anyone who has performed the canning task knows the value in keeping that hard work in one piece. Too, I am all about trying to keep the cardboard loving bugs to a minimum…
Put those suckers in my Amazon list, I did…
Great idea that jarbox but I agree with others that it is way too expensive for a flimsy piece of plastic. Good ol’ $4-$5 storage bins will do the job just as well. My boxes always wear out and I never thought of anything like this.
I would also respectfully urge you to curb your soft drink habit or do away with it altogether. It is very unhealthy. To be honest, you might as well smoke. It’s the same scenario. You don’t get cancer from smoking a cigarette and you don’t get diabetes from a coke – but the long term effects from either will come back to haunt you. Not to mention the extra useless calories you are ingesting and if you drink diet the artificial sweeteners are even worse for you. As in everything, moderation is best…5-6 sodas a day is way beyond moderation. For me it’s water, water and more water. Not trying to lecture, just looking out for you my friend.
Best Regards
wjo
Well, the way I figure it out of all the possible vices this is probably the least destructive one. Calorically, it’s a nightmare. 140 calories per can, times five cans, is about 700 calories a day…or 35% of your RDA of calories with virtually no nutritional benefit. Fortunately, I don’t eat very much so I’m probably still clocking in at around 2000-2500 calories per day. Like anyone with a bad habit, I know it’s bad for me and I know I should moderate or eliminate it but I just like it too much.
Plus, everyone should have at least one vice to keep them humble.
I’m sitting here drinking my coffee, heavily laced with organic half n half, enjoying the first day of blue sky and sunshine after three days of wet snow and below freezing temps. At over 5000 ft. elevation, the growing season is short. In the 13 years I’ve lived in the redoubt, it has always snowed in October, but it was later in the month or an over night dusting that melted off the next morning. The pumpkins were no where near ready, the potatoes either. So much was just too immature to pick early. Hopefully the pulled tomato plants will give us a few more maters…
My vice is coffee. I’m down to two cups, but when I buy another bag of beans, or grounds, or even instant, I cringe with the knowledge that the money could go for something with nutritive value. I don’t eat grain or sugars (blood sugar and allergy issues) so I have become accustomed to my “girly” coffee, made at home, better than starbucks, latte breve. Hubby likes his black. It is more than the coffee, it’s the time we spend together, along with my brother, usually having a cup outside when it’s sunny (even in the cold), while we plan our day or just stand silently enjoying the rising sun on the face of the foothills of the Big Horns.
So, for now, I’ll continue to imbibe, only I will eventually just drink one cup (a bigger cup, no doubt, but less altogether). I start my day by drinking two full glasses of water, but I can’t envision having a third one with my men, instead of my coffee. I guess we all rationalize our little indulgences.
Maybe you could just taper off some to make up the difference (but I’m sure you’ve thought of that).
Long winded sidetracksusie
I’ve found that the only thing that substitutes for my Coke cravings is iced tea mix. In the summer, when it’s really hot and Coke is a bit ‘heavy’ I go with that. It does wind up being cheaper in the long run, but not quite as satisfying.