An interesting day for the Zero. Was driving through the parking lot at Albertsons and noted they had a bunch of tables with merchandise set out in the parking lot. No big deal, I think. Just the usual selloff of stuff that’s discontinued, old stock, etc, etc. Mostly things like hair coloring, no-name crayons, plastic hairbrushes, etc. And I was correct…it was, indeed, mostly that sort of stuff…with one zero-rific exception….
They had ‘kits’ of canning supplies. Each kit contained several jars, lids, bands, jar lifter, food funnel, scraper and ingredient mix for whatever the kit was themed. For example they had kits for salsa, apple pie filling/applesauce, jelly, marinara sauce, vinagrettes and a few others. Normal cost? I dunno..the gal said usually twenty bucks. On sale – $4.00 per kit. That’s a decent enough deal since just a jar lifter itself is about that. I always feel the need to see if I can save a few more bucks though and asked the chick running the show if she’d take half price if I took all of the canning kits. She declined but after a little while said she’d come down to $3 ea. That’s 25% savings off of the already low price. Works for me. Picked up thirteen kits which translates to about 52 jars, lids, bands, 13 scrapers, 13 funnels and 13 jar lifters and 13 assorted flavoring packages for a mere $39. (EDIT: oops…make that 14, not 13…grabbed an extra one by mistake.Honest.)
Check it out:
I’ll dispense two or three of these as gifts to the other LMI (most notably, the apple pie/applesauce kit to the wife of one of the LMI…she makes wonderful apple pies so this would be a good gift for her…esp. since her birthday was last week.) The rest I’ll keep. I’d like to try the marinara and the vinaigrette kits. The rest will, most likely, be broken down for their component parts.
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Speaking of food, I got some email from the fella that’s been trading me cases of MRE’s for bullets… he’ll be in town in about a month and is bringing another couple dozen cases of recent-manufacture MRE’s with him. I may have to expand the bunker. My cost, if I figured out what Im actually into the bullets for, is running close to $15-20 per case of MRE’s which comes out to around $1.50~ per MRE. Not too bad a deal. Of course, they were giving the damn things away in New Orleans last year…Im sure someone was smart enough to gather ‘em all up and stock a few bunkers. (I know many of them turned up on ebay.)
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I picked up a Northern catalog the other day. Not as hardcore a catalog as Graingers but still pretty nice. When I get my own place out in the sticks its going to be almost completely outfitted from those two catalogs…I can see it coming. Diamondplate as living room accent, color-coded conduits, heavy-duty steel shelving…it’ll be like a cross between living in Monster Garage and Home Depot. And it’ll be sweet.
HOLY GEEZE
i wonder if Kitiara knows any recipes for wine jellies
Hello! I found your journal via Pigue. My husband is also interested in much of what is on your interest page, and I have been so far a wary skeptic. In our early married years, we had ideas of living off the land and such. Then entered general schmoe life, kids ect…and well, my extensive book library on the subject sat gathering dust.
J, my husband, has been wanting to gear up again. I thought it might be good for me to read of others doing the same. I hope you don’t mind me adding you! 🙂 Deb
you suck, now i’m forced to hate you. 😉
Way too expensive. I can for about $1-2/jar, which includes all my supplies. You could do better with the Ball Book of Canning and Preserving, imo.
For which? The MRE’s or the canning stuff? Or both?
How do you figure too expensive? My math says this amounts to less than fifty cents for a new jar, lid, and ring. This also means the magnetic lid pickerupper, jar lifter and spatulas come out to less than fifty cents each as well. My research shows new jars are normally $0.83ea (+/-) so this seems like a rather good deal.
Does the kit contain the actual vegetables/other contents (other than the required spices and pectin)? Also, does it factor in the heating/energy costs? Also, what does it suggest as equipment, because certain foods require pressure canners (a $150 or so investment)? Besides, the equipment is a one-off cost, as are the jars (and some lids) if one reuses them, as do we.
really for both but mostly the canning stuff. i just got my girlfriend a canning kit and all it included was the lid magnet, funnel, jar tongs, and jar opener for 13 dollars.
http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=6509&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=712&iSubCat=716&iProductID=6509
No, they dont include the actual vegetables. They are:
4 or 6 jars, lids, bands
magnetic lid lifter
spatula
food funnel
and the total cost for that is $3. Im not sure how youre saying this isnt a good deal at three bucks. Are you saying that you can buy a half dozen jars and those accessories for less than three bucks?
Yes, I buy in bulk (spices, jars, produce, meat, pectin, etc.). If you end up with 20 spatulae and 20 funnels, what have you saved? You only need two or three of them for spares. Actually, I rarely use the spatula or the magnetic lifter. I use tongs.
I buy my spices and ingredients in bulk, too. They all cost less that way. I look for spare lids at either the dollar store so they’re $1/dozen for when they do wear out. Big Lots or Building 19 carry the jars for about $5/dozen so I stock up at the beginning of the season.
I say buying multiples of things you don’t need uses up funds you could be using to buy things you DO need.
hmm
good deal here. what you don’t use for canning could be adapted for home chemistry lab.
another tibit. MRE heater packs contain powdered magnesium with a dry acid.
keep up the bargain hunting, Wildflower 06
Add away, thats what im here for.