Overnight price increase

One nice thing about blogging is that it gives me some benchmarks to work with. Apparently, at the beginning of the year, boneless skinless chicken breast was $1.98/# at Winco. A bit later in January it jumped to $2.18/#…and increase of almost 10%. Today at Winco I was met with this:

Thats right, kids…it jumped sixty cents a pound in one swoop. Thats’s an overnight increase of 28%. Or, if you start with January, a 40% increase in chicken in six months. Put another way, if you spent the same amount of money as you did in January to buy 30 days worth of chicken, you’d only get about 21 says worth of chicken now.

So, unless you got a 40% raise in the last six months, you are gonna be at a net loss chicken-wise.

It must have been a very recent price increase because there were still a few lower-priced trays left:

Other than gas prices, this has been the most in-your-face thing I’ve seen. And this will be happening on everything.

Mill arrival

Almost five weeks after I ordered it, the grain mill I ordered finally arrived. NGL, I was starting to think it wasn’t going to ship at all. And, in the intervening time, the price rose almost 25% as availability shrank. But..it’s here.

Impressions? Definitely a product that is built to last. But…I ordered the spare parts nonetheless. My biggest problem was that I simply don’t have the counter space, nor the sturdiness of construction, that this thing will require. So, I gave it some thought and came up with something that seems to work.

First consideration was space. I cant just go buy or build a sturdy little bench and bolt this thing to it. I just don’t have room for that. Secondly, whatever I bolt it to has to be able to resist the forces exerted on the mill. In other word, if I start really leaning into this thing I need the mill and its mounting surface to not walk around or wobble.

Solution? Black and Decker Workmate WM225.

I mounted the mill to some scrap lumber, and then c-clamp that to the bench. The bench folds flat like a folding chair when not in use, so the footprint is minimal. And, thanks to physics, if I stand on the bench’s step while turning the mill handle I cannot lift the mill or the bench….for the same reason you cant stand in a bucket and lift yourself up in it. So…that works.

The mill itself looks like it’ll last a lifetime. I tried grinding up some hard white wheat and the result was a very fine flour. Changed out a few parts, threw in a handful of dried corn, and experimented with several different grades of fineness.

I will say that I can see why some people motorize these things. But, I picked up the extension handle for it so the extra leverage makes a big difference.

I haven’t done much, if any, baking in a while so I’ll have to see how the taste of fresh ground flour and cornmeal compares to what I’m used to.

Also, I can see where it might make sense for me to go pick up another 16-gallon ‘blue barrel’ and dump another hundred pounds of wheat or corn into it… just in case. A couple hundred pounds of each should last for quite a while.

Yeah, the mill was a major hit to the wallet but over the rest of my anticipated life span that knocks it down to something like a dime a day for a tool that will last forever and help keep me and the people I care about fed.

 

I miss the meat tray

Man, I really miss the Meat Tray. It was only a little over a year ago that I could still plunk down a $20 bill and get a variety pack of meat that, used wisely, would last most of a week.

But, those days are gone. WinCo does ‘remainder’ the meats to the tune of about 30% off, which is a good deal considering they are already a pretty good value. I still haven’t exactly figured out the right time of day to catch them when they’re putting out the markdowns so I can be first before theyre all scooped up.

Most of the supermarkets in town here offer some sort of markdowns on meat that’s on its last day. The trick is catching them before they’ve been picked over by the other shoppers. But with 85/15 running over $5 a pound(!) it’s just foolish not to make the effort.

I am not one of those people who is willing to ‘get by’ on TVP or any other non-meat meat. If it isn’t dead animal flesh, I’m not interested. At the moment, WinCo is offering the cheapest animal protein…boneless pork at around $1.88/#. And thats good for stews, shredding for enchilladas,, or just roasting and slicing up with a pan gravy.

With no indication of food prices, and especially meat prices, going anywhere but up it makes sense to buy now and freeze for later. Or can it when you can find canning jar lids.

I have no intention of going through…well…whatever it is we’re going through….as a inveg (involuntary vegan). So, to that end I have canned meat, frozen meat, and freeze dried meat.

This is the unsexy  part of survivalism, guys. But having to eat spaghetti-n-tunafish is even less sexy.  I’m a naturally cheap person, so even in the best of times I’d still be hunting for a bargain at the meat counter. Nowadays, its almost a requirement. It’ll be interesting to see when all of this blows over and things start looking up. My guess is: no time soon.

On tonights episode of “Will It Digest”….

Cleaning out the freezer and…pork ribs from 2011. Ah, such carefree days….

Your ‘best by ‘ dates, I laugh at them. Ha! Ha, I say!

So, how’d they turn out? Well, unless something rather untoward happens in the next eight hours, just fine. Why wouldnt they? These were vacuum sealed, and have been sitting below zero for the last eleven years. The moral of the story here? If you package meat properly, and keep it consistently frozen, it should be just fine literally a decade later.

This is now officially the oldest meat I have eaten out of my freezer, wildly trouncing the five year old turkey I had a few years back.

Ah.the memories……..

Link – Why is there a shortage of canning jars and lids?

A reader was thoughtful enough to send me this link and there’s some interesting details in it. Specifically:

What consumers didn’t know was that canning lids (around since 1884) and canning jars (around since 1858) are no longer being made by Ball and Kerr, the two big manufacturers of American canning supplies. A few years before the pandemic, these companies had sold out to a mega-corporation called Newell Brands.

….

Since Ball and Kerr were just two more of multiple brands bought out by this company, consumer demands for any one product are not a priority for the mega-corporation. When the 2020 pandemic created a huge demand for canning supplies, Newell Brands decided it would not try to sell Ball and Kerr products at every store handling canning supplies as in the past, but only through online giant Amazon and select major chains such as Walmart and Ace Hardware stores.

I didn’t know that. Did you? I’ve not verified the information on my own, but if true it would mean that domestic production of canning supplies is all under one company which may or may not care about how available those items are.

There are, of course, offshore options. When theres a void in the market you can usually rely on the Chinese to swoop in, create a knockoff version thats 1/10th the quality at 1/2 the price, and then flood the market with it under several different names. Everything I read says that the Chinese canning lids are 50/50 in terms of efficacy.

Clearly canning lids have sort of migrated into the Uncertain Goods category. Fortunately, I’ve been able to stock up on a healthy amount of them, albeit much later than I should have.

 

Mill

Finally decided to pull the trigger and purchase the wildly expensive, but well regarded, Country Living Grain mill. No sooner had I ordered it than the price went up a half hour later. I suppose demand must be high, but geez…it went up something like $70 not long after I ordered it. Fortunately, I beat the increase.

I purchased it because I’m finally at a point in my life where I can afford such things, and also because I’m expanding my cooking repertoire and I’d like to grind my own cornmeal. This, naturally, means I need to start stocking dried corn. I already have a small (<50#) amount of wheat sitting in storage (thank you LDS cannery), but given my enjoyment of things like pasta it makes sense to have the materials to start making it from scratch. Sure, I store flour…and it stores well enough…but not as well or as long as the wheat itself. So…grain mill. I figure between wheat, corn, and rice I’ll be pretty well covered for making things like flour, porridge, polenta, etc.

And, because I’m a suspender-and-a-belt kind of guy I ordered the spare parts kit and a few other accessories as well.

I’m rather looking forward to experimenting. I haven’t baked bread in quite a while and I’m wondering how much of a difference in flavor will be noticed between freshly ground flour and store-bought. There’s a bakery three blocks from where I live and once in a rare while I’ll get some bread there and, dang it, it’s good. So good that just a thick slice of it and some soft, creamy butter is practically a meal all by itself. But, in addition to bread, I also wanna take a swing at making my own fresh pasta and that sort of thing. Also, I’ve found a recipe for a cornmeal porridge that I really, really like and would like to try with fresh cornmeal. So..I guess it was time to spend the money and get the grain mill.

Now I need to head out to the places that sell bulk grains and start seeing whats available. Nice thing is, even without an end-of-the-world it’ll still be nice to have fresh bread and that sort of thing.

Rotation

It’s not just theory…you really do need to rotate stuff from food storage. Today’s example: salsa from two years ago. It keeps just fine in the classic ‘cool, dark place’..like my basement…but I figured it was time to update. So…a quick trip to CostCo. As you may notice, there are some markings on the lids. The ‘C’ in a circle indicates it was purchased at CostCo, the price is marked on it, and the date.

I keep quite a bit of this sort of product on hand. Cook up some chicken (or open a can of chicken), shread it up, cook it in a bunch of salsa, mix in a large amount of cooked rice, cover with Mexican cheese blend, and eat with corn chips. Cheap, filling, and pretty yummy.

But, the takeaway here is that you need to rotate through your stuff otherwise when you finally need it you might not like what you find. Also, ‘best buy’ dates are wildly conservative.

Disappearing act

So this was the bulk grains section at Winco two days ago:
This was it today:

Make of it what you will.

Because there’s no point in not erring on the side of caution, I’ve been gilding the lily a bit in terms of adding to the already large amount of things packed away. In today’s case: meat. Bought some of those two foot long pork loins at CostCo, cut them to length, vacuum sealed them, and set them off for a cryo-nap. Animal protein at $1.98/#. A pork loin roast outta the freezer, some insant potatoes, a can of corn, some butter and salt, and you’ve got a relatively cheap dinner while the rest of the world has to choose between paying the electric bill or letting the kids eat meat at dinner.

I swung (Swinged? Swang? Swung?) by the restaurant supply place today to check out their prices and availability on a few things as well. They were pretty good on 10# torpedos of 80/20 ground beef at $3.09/#, and they had some decent prices on other cuts as well. But, sadly, I am out of room in the freezer and I really don’t want to have to buy another one.

Between the freezer, whats in the freezer in the refrigerator, canned meats, and the freeze drieds, I feel like I’ve a good chunk of the protein angle nailed down for the better part of a year. Rice and chicken, beef with noodles, spaghetti with bolognese, etc, etc, will all be on the menu. And I genuinely don’t believe that anyone in this country is going to starve, but I do believe a lot of people are going to have to make some choices…..plebian milk instead of organic, fair trade, free range milk, generic mac and cheese instead of the Trader joe’s stuff, store brand crushed tomatoes rather than the Hunt’s or Contadina, the generic ‘puffed rice cereal’ instead of Rice Krispies, etc, etc. Fortunately, I’m a snob only when it comes to ice cream, cola beverages, corn flakes. I can adjust to the rest. But…thats the beauty about stockpiling. I won’t have to…at least not to the extent the sheeple will. And, more importantly, if ‘supply chain issues’ become an even bigger thing I’ll be in an even better position since I’ll have it stacked on wire shelves in my basement while they’re standing in line at Walmart for rationed Spaghetti-O’s.

And, in an even greater Sign O’ The Times, I topped off the tank while I was at CostCo….even though the gauge was 7/8th full. Why? Because the three gallons of gas I put it in at almost $12 is gonna cost more by the time my tank was down to 1/4. So…try to stay ahead by keeping it topped off. Thanks Brandon!

 

Return of the CostCo canned beef

I had been lamenting CostCo no longer carrying the Kirkland Roast Beef for a while now. There was a brief reprieve of sorts when they started carrying another brand of canned roast beef, which was pretty good, but even that brand seems to no longer be available in-store.

Today, while on my regularly schedules Co visits I happened across this:

It appears that, for whatever reason, my local CostCo has the Kirkland Roast Beef again. Hmm. No idea how long they’ll be carrying it but I made a point to pick some up. Here’s the interesting thing..I canned some beef the other week so i have the numbers fresh in my head: the meat I got at the CostCo meat counter was $6.99/#. These four cans are 12 oz each, which is three pounds. Since the cost is $18, thats about $6 per pound. What this means is that even without factoring in the cost of jars, lids, processing time and fuel, this product appears to be a better value than DIY. Granted, you may use a different cut, or a different type of animal, but for the most part it appears this is a case of it not being cheaper to do it yourself. And there’s the durability and storage ‘footprint’ of the cans versus the glass jars.

I actually kinda like the canning process and enjoy taking advantage of the infrequent sale on beef to get my costs down further but this is an excellent supplemental or turn-key choice for getting some dead animal flesh tucked away for the mid-term.

Can do

One of the things like about pressure cooking something is that it takes the toughest hunk of meat and turns it into -cut-it-with-a-fork tenderness. Pressure is also how you can meat. So, if you can meat you are going to , de facto, turn whatever meat you are canning into nice, tender chunks.

I went ahead and bought a tray of stew meat from CostCo the other day to experiment on. First off, I’m never doing that again. It would have been about a buck a pound cheaper to have bought the base meat and cut it up myself.

However, the results were rather nice. I had two jars that did not seal properly so I’m using those over the next few days and I’m pleased with the results. I had browned the meat rather thoroughly before canning and I snuck a chunk or two for my own immediate consumption. And it was…tough. Chewy. Not exactly what you would call tender. After the canning process, however….perfect.

So, I guess I’ll keep my eyes open for deals on roasts or other cuts that can easily be cut up into pint-jar-sized bits for stew, stir fry, and the like.

By the by, I used my supermegaawesome All American Canner. Bought it new years ago and in has never given me a lick of trouble. And it holds a lot of jars. Yeah, you can pay a lot less and get the Presto or something similar. And it’ll work. But for capacity, quality, and long-term, the gasket-less AA is the way to go. Pay once, cry once, and then go can all the things.

Speaking of, as you know, canning lids are a bit hard to find these days (or they were, anyway).And while canning lids should be something you have in, literally, case quantities, don’t overlook the fact that those jars don’t last forever. If the rim gets nicked? Can’t use. And they do break. While they are obviously quite reusable, and a bit bulky to store, you really do need hundreds of them. If you canned something in a one-pint jar…which is not a huge amount of food…you’d need 365 of those jars for just one year. And thats assuming no jars get nicked, broken, or otherwise damaged. On the bright side, the jars store well – stick ’em in a cabinet and forget about them.

I like commercially canned meats for long term storage simply for convenience and durability…I’m more comfortable throwing a ‘tin can’ of meat into a pack and running out the door than a glass jar. But thats an expensive way to live and for a static location that has good storage space, why not use the glass jars?

And for those of you with no canning experience…it isn’t rocket science. The technology was developed for Napoleon’s armies so that means it’s so simple a Frenchman can do it. Go get the big Ball book of canning and give it a read.