July 20, 2015
Preparedness at Costco:
If you’ve been watching the news you know that things are getting hairy.
With China holding most of our debts and the instability of the economy right now it’s just a matter of time before a depression era type event comes around…again. It may be next year or it may be in 10 years, but it’s coming. I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust the government to take care of me. It’s not their job, but even if it were, I think they’d be terrible at it just based on the past few years of decision making.
Look at what happened in Chile or Greece the past few years. Their governments shut down. The banks closed and people couldn’t get their money. Without money these people couldn’t buy food, gas or other essential items.
Many of you know that my husband and I like to be prepared. I don’t consider us “doomsday preppers” but I do consider us more prepared than most. As I’ve always said with being prepared there is a balance, a fine line between preparedness and paranoia. It’s a fine Line to walk but the hope and assurance of Jesus Christ makes it easy for us to stay on the preparedness side.
The point of my blog today is to show you how easily you can get prepared. We don’t have a disposable income where we can furnish years of extras, but we sacrifice where we can, when we can (and want to) to purchase odds and ends to make our shelves a little fuller.
It doesn’t take thousands of dollars to be able to have a solid foundation of supplies for your family. All it takes is a little bit of time, money and the willingness to find a bargain.
Today my husband and I went to Costco for a “prepper run”. We got some unexpected income and wanted to use that to further our family’s preparedness and safety. This time we used it to purchase food. I’m going to break down what we purchased so you can see how easy it is to do one-stop-shopping and come out the other end with peace of mind and a stocked “Prepper pantry”.
1. Salt: This is awesome for bartering because you can use it for so many things. It can be used to cure meat and season MRE’s that don’t taste too good! We picked up six 26 oz cylinders for $8.37. Salt is cheap!
2. Ranch dressing: this is one of those things that can be a comfort food in a tense situation. Especially for little ones who dip ranch of everything. I got a two-pack of the 40 oz bottles for $8.79. One of the bottles I put in my upstairs pantry but the other one stays down stairs in that pantry that I do NOT shop from.
3. Always Super Maxi Pads: for being female I always forget that these are a necessity. Not only are they great for their obvious intended purpose but they’re great for other bleeding wounds if quit clot isn’t available. I picked up a 90 count box for $11.49.
4. Adult Multivitamins: if things get bad and grocery stores aren’t open, or are picked through, getting decent nutrition might be tough. Getting fresh produce is probably going to be out of the question. Therefore multivitamins! Even if taking one every other day you’re body will be getting the supplemental nutrients that it needs. I picked up a two-pack of 80 day supply bottles for $10.79. We can stretch those vitamins for a lot longer if we don’t take as many as the directions say. We bought two of these two packs.
5. Children’s multivitamins: same purpose as above! Picked up a two-pack of 320 day supply for kids for $9.99.
6. A1 Steak Sauce: again for the comforts of home. It will make any meat that you are able to get fast just a little bit better! I was able to find a four pack of 10 oz bottles for $9.59. I put one bottle upstairs in my pantry and the other 3 down stairs.
7. Acetaminophen: never underestimate the powers of a few Tylenol. Sometimes you just have a headache and don’t need a full blown trauma kit. I picked up a two pack (1000 caplets) for $8.59.
8. Honey: it never goes bad! It can be used for bartering, sweeten things, and help with medicinal things like allergies, sore throats etc. We found two 80 oz bottles for $29.98.
9. Toothpaste: hygiene is going to be important, especially a natural disaster situation where sanitation isn’t always possible. I found a six pack of large toothpaste tubes for $9.99. This will last for a LONG a time.
10. Whey protein powder: This is a great on-the-go food item. It’s packed with protein if you can’t stop to make meals. We found a 90 day supply for $59.99.
11. Food Saver and a box of bags: this one is kind of obviously. Not only can you pack foods, but you can pack supplies easily. Socks, underwear, clothing, towels, and even sleeping bags can be packed very tightly with a food saver bag! We found a machine and an extra box of bags for $119.98.
12. Green Beans: I found four 101 oz cans for $3.19 a piece. That’s $12.76 for 404 ounces!
13. Tote: this isn’t really a prepper item. We needed a tote for our sons outdoor toys, BUT it’s very sturdy and we can use it to pack supplies if we need to leave the house. $8.89.
14. Mountain House Premium Meal Assortment: these are great. They’re freeze dried individual meal packs that only take hot water to be edible. We got 2 boxes that each contained 33 servings each. Each box was $59.99.
15. Tobacco: again the comforts of home and to make things taste a little better! 12 oz bottle for $4.99! So much cheaper than my normal grocery store.
16. Tampax pearl: A 96 count box for $13.49. Gosh these things are expensive. I didn’t choose to have that monthly issue! Jeez. Anyway, outside of their intended purpose they can be used to plug nose bleeds or bullet wounds.
17. Canned chicken: we got 18 cans at 12.5 ounces each. No one can’t live on the 400+ ounces of Green beans alone. I will need protein! We got those 18 cans for $35.97.
18. Bars of soap: again with the hygiene! One can shower, wash clothes, and rinse out a wound. We found a15 bar pack for $9.99.
19. Baked beans: again with the need for protein! We found an 8 pack of 16.5 oz cans for $8.69.
20. Mustard: Same deal as the other condiments! We found a two pack of 30 oz bottles for $4.35! One bottle for downstairs, one for our normal pantry.
21. AAA Batteries: I can’t tell you enough of how important these are. Flashlights, rifle mounted lights, toys for the kids etc. We were able to get two 32 packs for $29.98.
22. AA Batteries: same as above! Picked up two 40 packs for $29.78.
23. Two way radios: we have had our eyes on these for a while. Communication is essential if one of us has to leave the house to pick up supplies. We found some Motorola brand radios with a 35 miles distance for $69.99.
24. Fruit and veggie twist drink things: We picked up this box for our kids. It’s a good way to get nutrients into the kids. It may not taste the best ever, but they can suck it up.
25. 55 lb bag of dog food: Unfortunately this never crossed my mind until yesterday when my husband brought it up. We have a dog! We’ve had him for over a year and a half at this point. It has never even dawned on me to prep for him too! We were able to pick up this huge bag for 22.19! This is a STEAL! Last week I just purchased a 35 lb bag of food for $35.99 ON SALE on my local grocery store. Needless to say I’ll be getting dog food at Costco from now it. That alone makes the membership worth it! (Insert my husband doing the happy dance, singing “I told you so!” repeatedly).
This might not sound like a huge, productive trip, but with all the supplies we purchased today, we have enough to feed 4 adults for two months. That’s huge! In a family like mine with two adults and two kids we could probably get 3-4 months out of this supply. I think that’s pretty awesome. It might not be the best food or even taste good at all, but that’s not the point here. Survival amidst a terrible situation is what’s important.
All this at Costco costs us $647.12. I took off the items that we split like our condiments so it brought this total down from what we actually spent.
My point behind this blog was to show you that for a fairly decent price you can build a solid foundation for yourself and your family. The only thing missing from this list is water. We picked up four 30 bottle packs for $10 (120 bottles) at our local grocery story yesterday. So that brings up my grand total to $657.12.
We don’t always have an influx of income and when we do we don’t always use it for prepping. Sometimes we pay on our debts, sometimes we stick it in savings and sometimes we buy supplies for prepping! Along with this I also pick up packs of water when they’re on sale, bulk cans of fruits, veggies and beans or I have extra in my food budget for that month. It takes time to make that conscious effort on your family’s survival and safety. Even a 6 pack of top ramen noodles a month is better than nothing! Get creative and find those deals to help you help your family.
You don’t need to go to a crazy survival story when you can find preparedness at Costco.
Cheers,
Nila
