Thoughts?

[disco.moon]

So, I am generally not a "When the shit hits the fan" kind of person, but recently I have been a little worried about this Winter.

A couple of weeks ago I was lead down a rabbit hole of doomsday talk about the winter; i.e., heating fuel prices, grocery prices, etc.

We closed on our house in March and we have a 250 gal heating fuel tank which is used for both heat and hot water, however we are going to purchase a water heater before September. I also want to stock up on staples in the kitchen.

Thoughts? Do any of you do prepping or anything like that or am I being overly paranoid?

[CentralTexasCrude]

If I lived in NJ, I would be paranoid all the time. Hope this helps.

[Reservoir Dog]

If I lived in NJ, I would be paranoid all the time. Hope this helps.

Hard at work at your fake job?

[Evil.Fkn.Mean,Nasty]

Buddy just told me heating oil has more than doubled. Thats gonna hurt.

[B-Tender]

Stocking up seems reasonable. Having 3 years of MREs seems excessive. Maybe keep a stock of firewood as well?

[B-Tender]

I have been stocking up on peanut butter and sriracha. Shortages of both are expected. I will be preserving all the tomatoes from my garden this year as well.

The Sriracha thing is real. Haven't heard about peanut butter.

[DiverTexas]

I almost regret selling all my cows, the extra $500-$700 a month eases the regret. Stocking up for a few months seems reasonable. Stocking up for years seems a tad excessive.

[fouts]

I'd try to convert to natural gas if possible,the cost to install will minimize price fluctuations and eliminate the worry of 'do we have enough fuel' ? besides,it's a major upgrade to the house resell value. I'm not doomsday prepping anything except Old Bay hot sauce.

[Blast]

I'm still looking at rabbits for meat to help fight food costs. It never hurts to have extra put away. Next year I hope to have all my raised gardens in and the fruit trees planted. If I plan my gardens right I can really reduce my grocery costs for a while.

[Animal]

I almost regret selling all my cows, the extra $500-$700 a month eases the regret. Stocking up for a few months seems reasonable. Stocking up for years seems a tad excessive.

i have a good friend that has a big ranch south of San Antonio. He said that almost every tank is dried up and he is trucking water into his place. And its still June.

[Animal]

I have been stocking up on peanut butter and sriracha. Shortages of both are expected. I will be preserving all the tomatoes from my garden this year as well.

The Sriracha thing is real. Haven't heard about peanut butter.

just make sure you don't stock up the peanut butter with salmonella in it. that would suck.

[FSchmertz]

I'd try to convert to natural gas if possible,the cost to install will minimize price fluctuations and eliminate the worry of 'do we have enough fuel' ? besides,it's a major upgrade to the house resell value. I'm not doomsday prepping anything except Old Bay hot sauce.

I'm kinda in the periphery of the fuel oil and natural gas heating business, and am in contact all the time with many in the heating/cooling/plumbing businesses.

Natural gas is kind of oversold to homeowners. It's not necessarily cheaper, prices fluctuate just like fuel oil. And if you're thinking of switching to natural gas, the best time is when you have to replace your furnace anyhow. If you have an oil furnace that's still pretty good, cost wise it's better to stay with oil (though if you have a 20+ old underground storage thank, it's time to replace it, preferably with an above ground storage tank).

[Geist]

I have been stocking up on peanut butter and sriracha. Shortages of both are expected. I will be preserving all the tomatoes from my garden this year as well.

This is all you need to make a delicious sauce for anything

[CHEEZY17]

Inflation isnt going to stop any time soon. If there are things that you know you use quite a bit of it probably wouldnt hurt to stock up a bit. I wouldnt go all "end of the world crazy" though.

[Animal]

So, I am generally not a "When the shit hits the fan" kind of person, but recently I have been a little worried about this Winter.

A couple of weeks ago I was lead down a rabbit hole of doomsday talk about the winter; i.e., heating fuel prices, grocery prices, etc.

We closed on our house in March and we have a 250 gal heating fuel tank which is used for both heat and hot water, however we are going to purchase a water heater before September. I also want to stock up on staples in the kitchen.

Thoughts? Do any of you do prepping or anything like that or am I being overly paranoid?

You are being overly paranoid. For some reason, people right now are preying on people's thoughts that there are going to be shortages of things. I had a guy knock on the office door at lunch the other day. He said he owned a business at the end of the street (food business of some kind) and they had gotten a delivery of meat and it wouldn't all fit into their freezers and he was driving down the street to see if any neighbors wanted to buy any of it at wholesale prices. He said there would be no meat on the shelves next week.

I told him to get the fuck out of here. I assume the entire story was bullshit. That was a few weeks ago and there is no meat shortage. But I hear those kinds of stories about everything. I guess our minds are still fresh from the shortages of toilet paper and hand sanatizer and stuff that people are wired to fall for these things right now.

and look into those "instant hot" hot water heaters. Supposedly they have come a million miles in how good they work.

[disco.moon]

I'd try to convert to natural gas if possible,the cost to install will minimize price fluctuations and eliminate the worry of 'do we have enough fuel' ? besides,it's a major upgrade to the house resell value. I'm not doomsday prepping anything except Old Bay hot sauce.

There's a reason we can't do natural gas, I think it's because of the terrain or something.... but I don't think we can in this community.

[disco.moon]

I'm still looking at rabbits for meat to help fight food costs. It never hurts to have extra put away. Next year I hope to have all my raised gardens in and the fruit trees planted. If I plan my gardens right I can really reduce my grocery costs for a while.

The BF talked about buying a "cow". There's a bunch of farms around us that do the butchering thing. We're also going to get a vacuum sealer and deep freeze.

Thing is, usually it's only us. My son is rarely here anymore, so I don't want us to end up wasting.

[disco.moon]

I'd try to convert to natural gas if possible,the cost to install will minimize price fluctuations and eliminate the worry of 'do we have enough fuel' ? besides,it's a major upgrade to the house resell value. I'm not doomsday prepping anything except Old Bay hot sauce.

I'm kinda in the periphery of the fuel oil and natural gas heating business, and am in contact all the time with many in the heating/cooling/plumbing businesses.

Natural gas is kind of oversold to homeowners. It's not necessarily cheaper, prices fluctuate just like fuel oil. And if you're thinking of switching to natural gas, the best time is when you have to replace your furnace anyhow. If you have an oil furnace that's still pretty good, cost wise it's better to stay with oil (though if you have a 20+ old underground storage thank, it's time to replace it, preferably with an above ground storage tank).

Yeah I think we're still going to use it for heat. The tank is above ground and new as of three years ago (we bought the place we had been renting for 3 years). But the BF is in the process of restoring an old wood stove for the basement too.

[Antknot]

If you find a staple item on sale then stock up.

One other consideration on switching to natural gas is supply dependability. You are not stuck like you would be if bad weather stopped oil from being refilled. Propane has the same problem as oil.

[disco.moon]

Inflation isnt going to stop any time soon. If there are things that you know you use quite a bit of it probably wouldnt hurt to stock up a bit. I wouldnt go all "end of the world crazy" though.

Yeah, true...I feel you. I found out today there's a tampon shortage

[DiverTexas]

I'm still looking at rabbits for meat to help fight food costs. It never hurts to have extra put away. Next year I hope to have all my raised gardens in and the fruit trees planted. If I plan my gardens right I can really reduce my grocery costs for a while.

The BF talked about buying a "cow". There's a bunch of farms around us that do the butchering thing. We're also going to get a vacuum sealer and deep freeze.

Thing is, usually it's only us. My son is rarely here anymore, so I don't want us to end up wasting.

See If they are willing to sell you a half calf. It's only the wife and I here and that normally lasts us 3-5 months.

[Animal]

I'm still looking at rabbits for meat to help fight food costs. It never hurts to have extra put away. Next year I hope to have all my raised gardens in and the fruit trees planted. If I plan my gardens right I can really reduce my grocery costs for a while.

The BF talked about buying a "cow". There's a bunch of farms around us that do the butchering thing. We're also going to get a vacuum sealer and deep freeze.

Thing is, usually it's only us. My son is rarely here anymore, so I don't want us to end up wasting.

vacuum sealers are the way to go. more people should use them.

[disco.moon]

So, I am generally not a "When the shit hits the fan" kind of person, but recently I have been a little worried about this Winter.

A couple of weeks ago I was lead down a rabbit hole of doomsday talk about the winter; i.e., heating fuel prices, grocery prices, etc.

We closed on our house in March and we have a 250 gal heating fuel tank which is used for both heat and hot water, however we are going to purchase a water heater before September. I also want to stock up on staples in the kitchen.

Thoughts? Do any of you do prepping or anything like that or am I being overly paranoid?

You are being overly paranoid. For some reason, people right now are preying on people's thoughts that there are going to be shortages of things. I had a guy knock on the office door at lunch the other day. He said he owned a business at the end of the street (food business of some kind) and they had gotten a delivery of meat and it wouldn't all fit into their freezers and he was driving down the street to see if any neighbors wanted to buy any of it at wholesale prices. He said there would be no meat on the shelves next week.

I told him to get the fuck out of here. I assume the entire story was bullshit. That was a few weeks ago and there is no meat shortage. But I hear those kinds of stories about everything. I guess our minds are still fresh from the shortages of toilet paper and hand sanatizer and stuff that people are wired to fall for these things right now.

and look into those "instant hot" hot water heaters. Supposedly they have come a million miles in how good they work.

Whoa! That same scam about the meat thing in our community a couple of weeks ago. A guy stating he was with Omaha Steaks (even though he was in an unmarked utility van) said he had a delivery but he was left with extra food. People told him to fuck off too.

I think the instant heaters are the one the BF has in mind, the wall hanging ones?

[disco.moon]

I'm still looking at rabbits for meat to help fight food costs. It never hurts to have extra put away. Next year I hope to have all my raised gardens in and the fruit trees planted. If I plan my gardens right I can really reduce my grocery costs for a while.

The BF talked about buying a "cow". There's a bunch of farms around us that do the butchering thing. We're also going to get a vacuum sealer and deep freeze.

Thing is, usually it's only us. My son is rarely here anymore, so I don't want us to end up wasting.

See If they are willing to sell you a half calf. It's only the wife and I here and that normally lasts us 3-5 months.

Ooooh okay!!

[Animal]

So, I am generally not a "When the shit hits the fan" kind of person, but recently I have been a little worried about this Winter.

A couple of weeks ago I was lead down a rabbit hole of doomsday talk about the winter; i.e., heating fuel prices, grocery prices, etc.

We closed on our house in March and we have a 250 gal heating fuel tank which is used for both heat and hot water, however we are going to purchase a water heater before September. I also want to stock up on staples in the kitchen.

Thoughts? Do any of you do prepping or anything like that or am I being overly paranoid?

You are being overly paranoid. For some reason, people right now are preying on people's thoughts that there are going to be shortages of things. I had a guy knock on the office door at lunch the other day. He said he owned a business at the end of the street (food business of some kind) and they had gotten a delivery of meat and it wouldn't all fit into their freezers and he was driving down the street to see if any neighbors wanted to buy any of it at wholesale prices. He said there would be no meat on the shelves next week.

I told him to get the fuck out of here. I assume the entire story was bullshit. That was a few weeks ago and there is no meat shortage. But I hear those kinds of stories about everything. I guess our minds are still fresh from the shortages of toilet paper and hand sanatizer and stuff that people are wired to fall for these things right now.

and look into those "instant hot" hot water heaters. Supposedly they have come a million miles in how good they work.

Whoa! That same scam about the meat thing in our community a couple of weeks ago. A guy stating he was with Omaha Steaks (even though he was in an unmarked utility van) said he had a delivery but he was left with extra food. People told him to fuck off too.

I think the instant heaters are the one the BF has in mind, the wall hanging ones?

Yep. same scam. Its probably the Travellers doing it all over the place.

Yes, the instant hot water heaters are tankless, and just connect into a water line and they are usually mounted on a wall. I know they make electric ones (110 v or 220 v). But I also recently learned that they make them that run off propane or natural gas. So there might be way more options now.