The Nine Things You Should Be Buying at the Grocery Store

We've all heard a million times about going to Sam's Club or Costco and buying a 50lb. sack of rice. If you have the money, and your back is strong enough, this might well be the best way to stock your larder.



I'm not a member of Sam's Club and am not likely to be able to afford to be for quite some time. I have had to development my preparations a little at a time over years. I work for a county government and only get paid once a month, so spending money just a little bit periodically is something that I have had to get used to. Not making much of a paycheck to start with makes it a necessity.



So, with little money only available at intervals, Costco was never an option for me. So I developed a list of things that I could buy a little bit at a time at my regular grocery store while shopping for our monthly grocery needs. Only one or two items from the list would be bought at any one time. The list probably looks familiar. The top four are the traditional LSD Big Four, with a little tweak. I would be glad to see any inclusions to this list that anyone would be willing to suggest.



The 9 Things You Should be Buying at the Grocery Store:



Salt-This is an easy number 1 choice. Unless you live near the ocean or a salt mine you are not going to have this for a while if TSHTF. Not only does it make food taste better, but it is a required mineral for living. You can use it to brush your teeth, sterilise a wound or tan a hide. And it is cheap; even upscale grocery stores will often have salt for sale for as little as $.98 for the smallish cylinder. I try to alternate buying the iodized variety with the regular. I figure I'll use the iodized for the people food as long as it will last to supplement our need for idodine. (don't forget that your livestock will need salt too, more on this in a later post). Many have suggested salt as a barter item, but I won't be trading anything I can't make for myself. My wife enjoys a good laugh at my expense about the "salt cabinet" but she may be glad one day I have provisioned it.



Beans and Rice- Since Ingle's doesn't sell Hard Red Winter Wheat, I buy rice and beans in the plastic bags. Rice sometimes also comes in a screw-top plastic jar and I buy this when I see it as I assume it might be less likely to split open. I buy the Zataran's name brand flavored rice once in a while just to mix other items with and spice up the bagged rice, but I remove it from the cardboard outer container so that the corners won't puncture any of the other bags. After I get my rice and beans home I put them in the freezer for three days or so to kill any bugs that the processing plant might have missed.

Powdered Milk- Again, remove the inner pouch from the cardboard box. Reseal in a plastic freezer bag.

Honey-This I hope to provide for myself soon. It can be stored at room temperature and never goes bad.

Medical Supplies- You won't find sutures or IV drips at Piggly Wiggly, but you might be surprised at what there is to be found. Don't just buy band-aids, either; mix it up a little. I used to buy a fair amount of isopropyl alchohol, but a recent article on www.survivalblog.com changed my mind and from now on I will be buying Betadyne. Look for sales, and don't forget stuff like cotton balls and Q-tips that might not seem important now, but might be necessary later. Hint-Lice eradication kits like Rid-X only cost a few bucks for easily stored small boxes and will be worth their weight in gold for someone in the future who needs one and can't find it. I consider soap, especially an antibacterial soap like Dial, to be a medical supply.

Dental Floss- I could include this under "Medical Supplies" but I think it is important enough to deserve its own mention. You can brush your teeth with well-chewed twig (try one from a sweet gum tree), but you can't floss with it. A dentist will tell you that if you can only brush or can only floss and have to choose between the two, then pick flossing. Incidentally, dental floss never goes bad. Fishing line will work in a pinch, but makes your fingers hurt like hell, and floss is cheap enough that even a life-time supply won't break you.

Canned Goods- A no-brainer, and a food you can use now and in any near-future power outage. I'm including bouillon and spices in this category, and don't forget canned dog food. Save the cans: a Spaghettio's can inside a Progresso can makes a great double boiler for small jobs, like making pitch for gluing wood or melting spent wax from old candles to make new ones.

A Bottle of Wine- Antiseptic and morale-booster all in one! Save the bottles, whether screw-top or cork. Remember: Napoleon's first experiments with canning used wine bottles as cans, and by all accounts were a success.

Clothing/Shoe repair- Last but most certainly not least. You would be hard pressed to save too much needle and thread. And don't forget to get plenty of mink oil/neat's foot oil/leather preservative of your choice and Shoo-Goo (can be kept in a freezer bag in the fridge to prolong its life span). You don't want your soles flapping free or your pants to rip in half when you might need them most.

In a future post I'll be telling you how I store all this stuff.

Pray for Israel,
Gallowglass