Monthly Archives: May 2022

I miss the meat tray

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Man, I really miss the Meat Tray. It was only a little over a year ago that I could still plunk down a $20 bill and get a variety pack of meat that, used wisely, would last most of a week.

But, those days are gone. WinCo does ‘remainder’ the meats to the tune of about 30% off, which is a good deal considering they are already a pretty good value. I still haven’t exactly figured out the right time of day to catch them when they’re putting out the markdowns so I can be first before theyre all scooped up.

Most of the supermarkets in town here offer some sort of markdowns on meat that’s on its last day. The trick is catching them before they’ve been picked over by the other shoppers. But with 85/15 running over $5 a pound(!) it’s just foolish not to make the effort.

I am not one of those people who is willing to ‘get by’ on TVP or any other non-meat meat. If it isn’t dead animal flesh, I’m not interested. At the moment, WinCo is offering the cheapest animal protein…boneless pork at around $1.88/#. And thats good for stews, shredding for enchilladas,, or just roasting and slicing up with a pan gravy.

With no indication of food prices, and especially meat prices, going anywhere but up it makes sense to buy now and freeze for later. Or can it when you can find canning jar lids.

I have no intention of going through…well…whatever it is we’re going through….as a inveg (involuntary vegan). So, to that end I have canned meat, frozen meat, and freeze dried meat.

This is the unsexy  part of survivalism, guys. But having to eat spaghetti-n-tunafish is even less sexy.  I’m a naturally cheap person, so even in the best of times I’d still be hunting for a bargain at the meat counter. Nowadays, its almost a requirement. It’ll be interesting to see when all of this blows over and things start looking up. My guess is: no time soon.

Prices going up

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The weekends are my usual shopping days…WinCo, CostCo, gas, and maybe WalMart. This means that weekends are the time when I look at the price of things and go “Hey, wasn’t this cheaper last weekend?” For example, gas was up another dime to around $4.18/gal. Ground beef 85/15? $5.25/#. CocaCola? $0.388 per can in a 35-can case….that’s almost 30% higher than what i used to pay about a year or so ago.

I feel bad for people on fixed incomes. For them, their only choice is to find ways to get more income or start cutting things out of their budget.

And, as if inflation wasn’t bad enough, we still have the Wuhan Flu hangover, ‘mostly peaceful’ demonstrations, a heightened possibility of WW3.1, and whatever nonsensical activities the goobers in Washington have planned.

I’m starting to think there will never be a point in my life where I look at a lifetime of being a survivalist and say “Wow, that was a waste.”

So what’s on tap these days for yours truly? Well, not much really. Other than working on financial resources, I’m mostly comfortable with what I’ve got. And, honestly, I’ve virtually no room for more stuff. I guess now is the time to start polishing what I’ve got and refine the small details.

.Gov is upping the interest rates a bit in hopes of slowing down the economy and thereby putting the brakes on inflation. But that has it’s own separate problems. It’s like chemotherapy – it targets the bad stuff but there’s a buncha collateral damage. So you better shrink that tumor fast because if you keep up the treatment for too long you’ll kill off the healthy stuff. And that’s about the extent of my oncological background. But, you get my idea, yes?

So what are you doing to get ahead of this inflationary episode? Cutting back? Buying bulk in advance? Locking in prices?

Magpul Backpacker for PC Carbine

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I loves me some takedown gun action. I’ve a Model 12 Winchester that fits in my backpack so i can keep it handy for close encounters, and I’ve always liked the idea of a takedown 9mm carbine. When Ruger came out with their PC Carbine in 9mm that took Glock mags…well!

And now Magpul has sweetened the deal.

I know, I know…there’s always that contingent in the comments who feel the need to pontificate about pistol caliber carbines are worthless, etc, etc. Look, dude…Springfield’s Evac has, apparently, become vaporware and Ruger discontinued their takedown AR as well. So except for some boutique shops, there’s not a lot of mass produced takedown semi auto guns in .223 or 7.62.

Besides, I like the streamlined logistics of one caliber and one magazine between pistol and carbine.

Regardless, I just ordered the stock off Brownell’s. Let’s see how it works out.

 

A leverific day

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Well….that happened:

A Winchester 94 in .44 Mag. (Pre-safety version), and a somewhat rare Browning BL92 in .44 Mag. Gotta say, that Browning is a smooth and slick action. Unfortunately it was only made for about eight years so if I need spare parts, I might have some issues. On the other hand, the Japs built some pretty solid guns in that Miroku brand.

For lever actions, I prefer Marlins (real ones, not that Remington-era crap). Don’t know if I’ll keep the BL92 or not yet. Probably not. I’ll have to see if I can trade it off for a nice Marlin .44 or .357.

But..yay leverguns.

Feels like its never enough

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Intellectually, I know with utter certainty that I’m fine. I have money, gold, food, ammo, fuel, redundant income streams, a paid-for house, no debt, reasonable health, marketable skills, and a pretty good mindset. And yet everytime I go to a gas station, CostCo, WinCo, or Murdoch’s I feel like “must buy all the things!!11!!11!”. My brain knows that I’m going to be fun, but my gut keeps feeling like I’m wildly vulnerable.

And, I have learned from experience*, that when its a choice between guts vs. grey matter…. trust your gut.

But, wow, with the media barrage of potential WW3.1, inflation, and a host of other things…well, it can make even the most prepared person start to second-guess their level of preparedness.

The obvious answer from the crowd is “Well, stop watching the news.” Uhm..no. Thats like saying ‘if youre worried all the time about getting hit by a train, stop looking down the tracks to see if a train is coming.’

On the other hand…I f was Joe Average, with less than $500 in the bank , a car payment, a student loan payment, a mortgage, and a family…well, I’d be pretty anxious these days.

So, whats a survivalist to do when , despite the evidence in front of them, they still feel vulnerable and unprepared against the uncertain future? Well, I find sitting down and reviewing the numbers on the spreadsheets to be a bit calming. When you have hard numbers in front of you that say “Yeah, you’ve got enough food for XXX days”, “You have enough money to cover you for X months of unemployment”, “you have enough stored fuel to keep you going for X months”, and that sort of thing…. that takes a lot of the anxiety away.

I have every intention of enjoying my life and not living a life of 24/7 doom-n-gloom. But, when things reach the levels that they have as of late it is pretty hard to not have your head on a swivel all the time.

 

 

 

* = As Mark Twain said, Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions.