Busy prepping

With no garden to tend to I've had a lot of time to devote back to prepping. I've been canning and freezing a lot of the stuff from the garden. Last night I canned up a few quarts of green chili out of the last of my green tomatoes and some pork chops that I had in the back of my freezer. I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the processing. Luckily, my wife turned off the stove after a couple of hours. Unfortunately, she didn't take the jars out of the canner or even open the lid. Anyway, I woke up several hours later and took the cans out. They were still very warm but they'd sealed very nicely. They were just a little darker than they should be. Hopefully they don't taste too terrible.

Tonight I'm making red chili out of about half of my tomatoes that actually ripened. Tomorrow night I plan on using the last of them for tomato sauce. I really need to get a juicer. Peeling them the old fashioned way (by boiling them and then peeling them by hand) sucks! Let me know if you have a better way. The last batch turned out kind of bland but it was still a lot better than the store bought canned crap. Hopefully, this batch will be better.

As for purchases I've been watching the wallet pretty closely. My 401k is finally back above precrash levels so I'll be taking a loan out on half of it to pay off some debt and probably get some preps that I've been procrastinating on. If the stock market crashes again then I'll have some money in the bank. If it doesn't then at least the interest will go back into my 401k instead of into some banker's coffers. I have been buying a lot of canned stuff and the freezer is packed full of meat. I've been finding a ton of canning jars at the thrift store. That's strange for this time of year but I'm not complaining. I also picked up a nice kerosene heater that should keep my downstairs nice and toasty if things get hairy. I found a guy who sells 5 gallon mylar bags with 2000 cc oxygen absorbers for really cheap on ebay. I ordered some and I was not disappointed. Now I just need to get around to sealing up what I can.

Comments

iller3257 said…
I have been trying to convince my better half to take a loan against his 401k so we can get rid of our credit cards NOW but he refuses because it "scares" him.
Is it easy to do? what are the penalties/benefits?
thanks!
October 26, 2009 at 10:12 PM
The Urban Survivalist said…
I just had to fill out a form. You can pay it back in 1-5 years. The payments are automatically deducted from my paycheck so I never even see them. The interest is 6.5% and all of the interest is paid directly back into my 401k. You can pay it back early with no penalties. If you don't pay it back within 5 years then you have to pay back the balance or you get a 10% penalty and it counts as income. If I lose my job I have to pay it back within 3 months. I guess that's the scariest part about it.
October 28, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Unknown said…
Sure would love that green tomato recipe. I have tons and need to save 'em.
October 28, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Stacy Morley said…
Great blog I ennjoyed reading
December 29, 2021 at 4:33 AM
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