Where you live, do you have items that you can't get at the store?

Yeast has been the 1 I could not understand. The only thing I can think of is bread was gone along w/ TP, and cleaners so early on, but we got more bread back. All I can think of is that motivated people to hoard yeast. I think it is smart to keep a good supply of what you typically use on your shelves, but some people do not realize things like yeast, spray cleaners, and bleach do not have a long shelf life. A lot of people will waste it if they don't give it away.
" Unfortunately, the average shelf life of liquid bleach (being stored between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit) is around 6 months. After that, bleach will lose 20% of it’s strength at around the year mark and then 20% each year after that."

 

Our biggest issue is that we have ONE grocery store for the entire county.

 

There are 0 stores where I live. It takes 30 minutes to get to the nearest "general store." However, if you drive about 40- 60 minutes in all directions, there are different grocery stores.
That is why it is good here to have each person ordering at a different store. Just 1 store would be very hard.

 

Because people think they can not LIVE without bread and they got it into their heads that their survival depends upon eating pasta and bread and rice and they will just curl up and die without it so they hoard that stuff and then had the bright idea that they can just make their OWN bread so they are hoarding flour and yeast. Just like the idiots who thought they would die without hand sanitizer and are now hoarding rubbing alcohol to make their own. If people only used hand sanitizer when they are unable to wash their hands they would be much better off. But they are using it IN PLACE of washing their hands when soap and water are readily available since these are the same people hiding out and not even leaving their house.

 

I've had good luck with getting food items every time I went to the stores. All TP, PT, and toiletries I've ordered off Amazon & had pretty good luck overall too. Alcohol is hard to get at the moment, so good thing I ordered a good amount a few weeks ago!

Unless I went to the hardware store, which I was too late getting there, so didn't even try to go and look, stores in my area never really had masks that I could see. I've found some online retailers to order them from and currently have a good amount.

 

I ordered some masks online but I recently saw them being sold in 2 different grocery stores!

 

^ Oh that's good!

 

I have plenty of masks. I'm selling them, so I currently have about 70 in stock.

 

DId you make them?

 

I bought plain white cotton ones in bulk, and I tie dye them to order.

 

That sounds like a fun and profitable project!

 

More fun than profitable. To keep the price competitive I will only make a profit if I sell 80% or so of my stock. I'm also dealing with people telling me I should be giving them away for free and not selling them. Some people have been quite rude about it.

 

I had some on hand from the last time a volcano erupted. (maybe guessing 5 yrs ago...)

 

I think it is fine to sell them. You made them after all and bought supplies. If you don't need the $, you could donate the profit by giving a few for free or you can buy something you want. That is crazy people would be rude about it!

 

It's fine to sell them and keep the profit whether you "need" the money or not.

 

The only people that I know who are giving them away for free have had all the materials donated to them. If I was buying my own supplies I would definitely want to be compensated (unless I had one or two family members who needed them, etc).

 

This lady in my town posted on our town FAcebook page that she is selling them for $2 each. That seems like a very low price to me but obviously she's not doing it for the money. I would have bought some from her but she sold out her stock of 200 in 2 days.

 

Mine cost me more than that before I start dying them. If I sell all of mine, I will make at most $200 profit, total. Considering the time I put in to making, mailing, or delivering them, that comes to about $5 an hour or less. To do tie dye correctly, it takes a good amount of time and chemicals and other supplies.

 

My mom gave me a bunch of fabric and elastic. I made masks and sold them for $2 each. I’ve only made them for friends. I’ve made about $60.

 

How long did you have to wear them after the volcano erupted?

 

Just long enough to get home. Then I stayed inside....lol until the ash blew in another direction! Most people keep them in emergency supplies for the same reason. Even schools have them. We had 2 bad ones erupt since I have been here. It makes a mess and it is hard to get it out of the vents of your car. If possible, you should not drive, but I needed to get home.

 

Anyone else having a rough time with meat supply? Thankfully, I live within walking distance of an independent butcher (that also has some amazing cheeses and wines), but it was a 20 minute wait outside of the building last time Rockhubby and I went. They only allow 4 customers in their store at a time and they are incredibly vigilant. To me, it is totally worth the wait for the quality and the security.

 

I stocked up on meat when I first heard of a potential shortage. Of course, a freezer is only so big so you can only stock up so much.

I have seen bare shelves where meat used to be. I'm seeing cuts of meat that I haven't seen in decades.

I don't know of a butcher near by. I am jealous.

20 minute wait isn't bad. I waited longer than that to get in one of our local stores.

 

I've been ordering meat as part of meal kits. I've used Home Chef and Hello Fresh. Both have options to add on extra meats, in addition to the meal kits. It's not cheap, but it's convenient and in stock.

 

I saw a commercial for them. I have never known anyone who got them. You must like them, right? I considered it while working, but may consider it now because it looks really healthy. If they deliver up here too...Lots of places won't.

 

Yes, I like them even more than I thought I would. I always thought that I hated cooking, but, since using these meal kits, I've realized that I enjoy cooking. I just don't like having to search for recipes and shop for ingredients. If someone sends me a box with everything I need, the cooking itself is kinda fun. I started using them back in November. It was very convenient to have these kits for weekday evenings, and it's especially nice now that I don't want to be going to the store at all, if I can help it.

I started with Hello Fresh and Home Chef, but I've also tried Green Chef and Sun Basket. They all offer different meal types, and each has their own pros and cons. I haven't found one yet that I wouldn't use again.

 

One of my co-workers gets the kits from a few different companies and raves about them.

 

The smoothie ones look really good and easy. You just dump the ingredients from a cup into a blender. I am not sure if it is called Hello Fresh for sure or not.

 

I don't think that's Hello Fresh... They don't have smoothies as an option on their website. I have seen a smoothie meal kit service before, but I cannot remember the name of it.

 

It is called something: Fresh." I need it about now because this last 3 months I have eaten too much. It is not a diet, but looks like it is portioned controlled and chalk full of vitamins. About 3 months of it would really help! lol

 

Oh, I remember the days of going to the butcher. You are lucky. Yes, we have very limited meat supply here. This time off has turned me into a total carnivore. I guess I have had extra time to cook w/out the commute. I only have a small freezer w/ the fridge. So I need to start making meat last longer.

 

I love Hello Fresh! I've used it for about two years.

 

I am going to look it up now that I have time.

 

I tried Hello Fresh once and I liked the meals, but I'm a really slow cook and it took me forever to make them (most of the time I buy things from Trader Joe's you just have to toss in the oven). It's also just me, so 3 2-serving meals=6 meals and I realized I couldn't commit to eating that many dinners at home per week- I always had plans 2-3 nights. Well, now I have nothing but time and certainly no plans! I've thought about trying it again this summer just for something new to do with my time. I keep looking for a discount, because usually they have tons, but I guess they're popular right now and don't need discounts.

 

They may have changed it over time, but they currently allow you to get as few as 2 meals per week. Sometimes that is all we get because we are also ordering from another meal kit service the same week.

 

Thanks, that is definitely not the one I thought it was. The 1 I saw came in cups. You took it from the freezer, poured it in the blender, and it was done. I wouldn't want 1 that took too long to make.

 

Personally, I don't find that they take too long... 30-50 minutes, depending on the meal. Often, much of that is chopping veggies, which you could always do in advance, if preferred. It also helps to quickly look over the recipe ahead of time, as you can sometimes multitask some of the steps. I usually find that the suggested times are fairly accurate, but my husband often takes double the suggested time when he does the cooking. So, it kind of depends on the person doing the cooking.

 

Oh! This is a totally different food service than I wanted. The 1 I was thinking of had all of the veggies and fruit already cut up. It was really simple looking. I don't spend 30 minutes cooking usually unless I am having company! Then I will spend a few hours preparing stuff...

 

I finally found rubbing alcohol!! It was 70% and not the 90% I usually buy but it's better than nothing!

 

Yay! 70 is better than nothing! Are you making sanitizer with it?
A friend of mine found me peroxide. A week or 2 ago, a friend called me and told me to go to a small builder shop.
They had gotten their hands on gallons of sanitizer that a distillery in Anch made. They only had 3 left, but I took 2, so friends and family would have some too. I think I was overdoing the sanitizer for awhile there.
I heard if you take your gloves off wrong, germs get on you. So just in case, after I carefully removed the gloves, I poured the sanitizer on me.
I was never a germaphobe before and hated hand sanitizer. This is really changing my lifestyle along w/ many others and their lives, I know.
I am amazed though by the number of people here though who have not taken it seriously. Our state is weird. They have mandates with zero enforcement. They call it the "honor code." WE have a 14 day quarantine for tourists, but 0 people have been cited for breaking it. The majority around here never wore masks or gloves.