Almost Spring/Another Bug, Saving Money/Bread Machine, New Coop Coming!

Almost Spring/Another Bug-

*** FYI, I made the font BIG to fit on cellphones screens and read. If too big please leave a comment. I work off a laptop to blog, but also read on my phone. Thanks! ***

Spring is almost here, maybe! Temps have been up and down, snow then thaws. Today very cold gusting winds! Brrrr.....  Just when I was feeling better (after my cough and cold in January)  Dave got sick again (same bug) and then I got sick again. Oh brother. The only good thing was I didn't get a cough this time. I had a cold, minor scratchy throat then I woke up on a Wednesday with my right ear really, really hurting. Luckily my regular PCP was squeezed me in that day so I didn't have to sit in Urgent Care. I had a good ear infection, with the left ear percolating. Onto the antibiotics! I'm feeling much better now almost normal. Will start some probiotics as soon as the antibiotics are done doing their job. I'm going to work on trying to de-stress a bit more, if that is possible given the current state of affairs in the US. Will work on boosting my immune system and staying healthy. Being prepared for this kind of thing is also really good.  We had all kinds of OTC and homeopathic remedies at home, so when I did start coming down with something I didn't have to go anywhere to buy anything. 

Something fun, a mug!

Saving Money/Bread Machine-

As usual I'm always working on saving money, but I really upped it the last couple months. I did buy the cute tea cup with a bamboo lid and spoon (the blue fish on top) just for fun, makes me smile! I knew the tariffs were coming and so I wanted to do some strategic buying in January. I have to mention- I'm very grateful that Dave and I bought our new (to us) slightly used Subaru Crosstrek in October. Got a great deal, runs perfect, lots of warranty left, super safe. Very thankful, especially now. I did load up on some things on Amazon, especially ones that were also on sale. Costco too. I stocked up on some raw chicken breasts with ribs and Italian sausage. I repackaged in vacuum sealed bags and froze. I've been getting some great deals on eBay. I was looking for a lighter down coat for spring. I found a great deal a few years back for my super warm LL Bean down coat. Luckily I stumbled upon another great deal! An LL Bean down jacket, was $130.00 on the website. The seller had it listed for $35, like new. I got it down to $22.00! Lighter weight, really comfortable, nice and toasty-

Bonnie photo bombed!

 

Sadly my second thrift store bread machine did not work well. It was older than the last one I had. I decided to invest in a new one that makes the larger size loaves. I did some research on Amazon and looked around and bought this, on sale on Amazon for $115.00- 

Has two paddles for mixing

It works fine, nice size, took me several tries to get the loaf right. One didn't really rise, second one collapsed when it cooled too fast, my fault. Finally on about the 4th or 5th loaf  I got a good one! I simply doubled my honey oat/whole grain recipe I had used before. It made a big loaf, had a little bit of cracking on the top but I let it cool really slowly which seemed to have fixed the other problems- 

Well it did have a shallow crack along the top, but at least it rose really well and is a standard size sandwich loaf. Really nice and moist (photo makes the bread look weird, it's not)-

 I stocked up on some things at Costco. I like their new Kirkland rolled Oats, hadn't seen those before-

 

I went to Ross a few days ago and got some pretty decent gardening tools for $4 each. I really like the trowel since it was much deeper and you can pick up more dirt/compost with it, also bought some rope for tying materials down on the Outback-

 

When we were going through Home Depot looking at a few things they had some really nice house plants which I've been wanting. $5.00 each. One dracena in the pot actually had two plants! I always put a primrose in the spring on my windowsill and then the others went into pots around the house-

We did a little reorganization in our office spare bedroom/ pantry closet area. We had a small stainless steel rack that we had bought several years ago for extra storage. It was just getting to be a catch all though. It dawned on me that we could probably sit it under our counter buffet area in the dining room and just get it out. Dave and I move some things on to our pantry rack, donated a few things and then Dave was able to move it under the buffet where I can get things a lot easier. Now the office doesn't look quite so crammed and gave us room for our second desk chair. We donated our other desk a while back since we really didn't need two desks at home anymore-

 

Poor Dave had to move a few things first under the buffet, which was a desk originally-

Someday I want to pull the counter out, replace with butcher block, Dave can build some nice shelves

 

 

 

 Silver rack on left moved and filled 

I used the same fabric in the kitchen for the buffet skirt, still love the print!

New Coop Coming!

I've been keeping an eye on the coop this winter and was really seeing a lot of damage from all the years. Considering the fact that we built the coop with MOSTLY recycled materials it has held up for 12 years! Not bad. Dave and I talked about investing some money that we came into and decided to building a new coop. We will recycle a few components but most of the other materials are pretty shot. I'm not unhappy with how long it lasted but it does need to be replaced. We really like the siting of it, gives the chickens shade in the summer and a break from the storms in the winter. We're going to do a little bit different design with a shed roof, move the door to the front facing the house, and have a nesting box that doesn't protrude. Will keep basically the same footprint. We're also going to incorporate a little bit of storage for the feed. We've just kept the feed in a steel tote in our garage. Here's a few shots of the current state- 

Frame on bottom of window rotting/warped, Sunny and Luna photo bombed!

OSB de-laminated

 

We're getting lumber this weekend and will start building soon, photos coming!  I also told Dave I'd really like to build a cold frame in front of the coop in the existing garden space. It would enable us to grow some cooler weather crops earlier in the year. So we will buy some extra lumber for that as needed or use the scrap left over from the coop. Given the current state of affairs I am leaning toward not taking down our apple tree in the front yard but having it professionally pruned instead. I think it would be better to have more home grow fruit this year than not. It would also be cheaper to have it pruned than removed. I'm getting an estimate next week. Chicks coming in a few months, but at least we're getting 1-2 eggs most days now. Good girls!

 

Bulbs from early December finally bloomed!!!

Bonnie enjoying the winter sun-

Goodbye Anya

 

Favorite spot by the door

Goodbye Anya- 

We lost Anya this last week. She had been really struggling health-wise and turned out she had a pretty severe heart issue. She was such a sweet soul and loved everybody. She didn't care if our grandchildren rubbed her fur the wrong way, and she looked after us when we were under the weather. Years ago I had foot surgery and had to lay on my side on the couch for 3 days with my foot elevated. Dave told me the only time she left my side was to either eat, get a drink of water, or use the cat box. The rest of time she was just glued to me. Our kitty caretaker. She passed very peacefully with us there with her. I told her it was okay to go and that she was so brave.

I'm sure she's with the cat Angels up in heaven because they were happy to such a sweet soul back. I know we'll see her again someday. I'm so grateful that she was in our life. I miss her terribly...

 

September National Preparedness Month/Is This Redundant? Autumn's Almost Here

 

September National Preparedness Month/Is This Redundant?

On some level I almost don't feel like even posting this. But since it is National Preparedness Month I thought I'd add just a good few reminders and links... Ready.gov Be Informed   Redcross.org Emergency Preparedness Checklist  You can check out my previous posts on this topic under the "topics" tab on the right side. Don't forget to prep for your pets!!! Ready.gov Pets

If you've been watching the national and international news you know that there have been major catastrophic crop failures, livestock failures, floods, fires, fuel shut offs, war, it's the perfect storm. Everyone should be really preparing for food shortages, exorbitant fuel charges and/or shortages. This news is from this week, time to stock up and maybe buy a turkey for the holidays-

Ohio Egg Farm Euthanizes 3 Million Chickens

 I recently came into a small amount of money and instead of putting it into my retirement account I cashed it out to buy hard goods. I bought about 6 months worth of chicken feed (now $25 a bag up from $12.99 a while back) to get us all the way through the winter and more pine shavings for the coop. Ditto for the cat food. I also bought more things to stash like OTC meds.  I saw a really great deal for a Food Saver vacuum system at Costco for only $75! It came with a starter kit of bags, a really great deal! My old pressure bag system was on its way out, not a surprise since it was pretty cheap. It's good to invest in those kind of food preservation items. I have had ZERO freezer burn with those bags!!! I felt it was a better $ investment than sitting gathering little to no interest for a while. In some ways I feel like cashing it all out and doing something different but I am hopeful that I will still be able to retire someday. If you've seen anything lately about people's thermostats getting locked up by the utilities- I think this is a preview of things to come. I know our local power company asked us to voluntarily sign up to have our power lowered during the hottest part of the summer days. In return they would give us a little bit of money at the end of the summer. We passed. We try to be conscious of our energy and water use. We do a lot of mulching, planting trees on our lot, but we still use/need the AC.  Having said that fuel charges are looking really gruesome in Europe. I think this is also a preview of things to come in the states. I bought some flannel sheets to stash and we have tons of bedding, kerosene and propane heaters. Some people still think that nothing will change, they may have something called normalcy bias. Everything will be fine because it always has been. 

From Wiki- Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a cognitive bias which leads people to disbelieve or minimize threat warnings. Consequently, individuals underestimate the likelihood of a disaster, when it might affect them, and its potential adverse effects. The normalcy bias causes many people to not adequately prepare for natural disasters, market crashes, and calamities caused by human error. About 70% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster. The normalcy bias can manifest in response to warnings about disasters and actual catastrophes. Such disasters include market crashes, motor vehicle accidents, natural disasters like a tsunami, and war. Normalcy bias has also been called analysis paralysis, the ostrich effect, and by first responders, the negative panic. The opposite of normalcy bias is overreaction, or worst-case scenario bias, in which small deviations from normality are dealt with as signals of an impending catastrophe.

A classic example was Ukraine. People were warned to leave, Russia was surrounding the country for months and months, and most stayed. They really never thought Russia would invade, despite the obvious signs. The very wealthy never worry either. I heard this quote two days ago and it really stuck with me-

People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right- John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian Economist.

Autumn's Almost Here-

We have been under a Heat Dome like a lot of the West the last few months, with many many weeks and weeks of over 100° weather. It's been very smoky here the last week with multiple fires in Eastern Oregon and here in Idaho. We definitely had a much smaller crop of tomatoes, but green ones are still on the vine. Tomatoes won't set fruit when it's over 80 or 85°. I don't have enough to can this year but will freeze some. I already made some wonderful salsa. Not many apples at all, luckily I canned a lot and froze some last year! Lots of pears on the tree, probably ready to can next weekend. We hit our 43° morning yesterday! Finally getting down into the 80s this week and the 70s late next week. May be some rain, which we desperately need. We're fortunate we had plenty of water for crops and our animals, some are not so lucky. We'll be stashing some mulch and other gardening needs for next year. Those things are easy to store. I'm packing up the summer decor and almost ready to put out pumpkins! 

Preparedness 20.0/ Independence Days Challenge, Orwell's Truth, New Furry Member of The Family

 

Preparedness 20.0/ Independence Days Challenge-

We woke up to 21° this morning! The ground is still frozen pretty hard. We had a few really warm days and all the snow is gone in the yard finally. It's going to be in the 50's this week. Spring is around the corner! I was feeling bad for the chickens yesterday that the ground is too hard for them to dig through. There was an incident Friday were one of our very passive hens started attacting two of the others. Very vicious, never saw anything like that. After doing some research I saw that boredom can be one of the causes of this. I started thinking that the ground was frozen so long they didn't really have a lot of digging to get into. Luckily Dave was able to turn some of the garden soil to give them something to go through. So far everything is calm again. I also realized that with the construction Friday, noise and vibration right in front of our house, it may have caused her to really stress. So here's what we've been up to-  

1. Plant Something-

Too early for outdoors! Will be starting seeds soon indoors in our grow light rack. Just ordered some fave tomato seeds, lots of other from last year. Will start veggies, herbs and flowers. 

 

2. Harvest Something-

Lots of eggs, that means more bread pudding in the future! Herbs in the yard are frozen.

 

3. Preserve/Store Something-

Working on replenishing the freezers. We did an inventory of both freezers this weekend. Nice to have it all written down.  

 

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-

What I bought this week: chicken quarters, $1.30 lb. decent price, organic grape jam clearance, organic flour, ditto some organic cereals, herbal supplements. I finally found some Ricola sore throat/cough drops (family size) bought four bags, bulk herbs, sneakers for both of us. I'm watching sales/discounts closely. Please stock up now, if you're not already! There are rumblings of an American trucker convoy. If so there will be even more disruptions to the supply chain!  Buy what you can where you can, think ethnic stores, outlets, bulk grocery stores, etc. Get used to thinking outside the box as far as what you're used to eating, versus what you may be able to find. Get creative, and barter, etc.  

 

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-

Made French style Baked Eggs. Have lots of home frozen homegrown peaches/apples. Will start making some cobblers. Will work on more frozen meats, but keeping some in reserve. 

 

6. Build Community Food Systems-

Not this year so far, need to wit until spring for farmer's markets. 

 

7. Recycle/Re-Use-

Dave pulled part of our front fence out, as road construction has started here. They're finally adding sidewalks to the whole street! Afterwards we can install the panel again-

Extra panel under tree

Made more donations, clothing and household items. Found a fun wooden holiday item, $3.00 at a thrift store today and a small snow man lamp-

8. Skill Up-

Had to update my tax withholdings. After I changed jobs I didn't realize the 2019 tax code changed, and didn't have enough withheld, ouch. Luckily can change for this year. 

 9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-

I asked Dave several times to add another shelf to our little cabinet-

He had a spare stair riser and worked perfect! Free upgrade!!! Easy to see what's in there and relocated some stuff-

Bonnie's scratching post/perch needed some love, the lower carpet on the post was shot. We removed and I hot glued new sisal to the bottom and rubbed on some catnip. She loves it!

Orwell's Truth-

I read 1984 so long ago I don't remember when. George Orwell's novel, which I highly recommend, is one of the world's most famous books. 1984 is like a deep dive into the psychology of power and how the ways that manipulations of language/history/the press can be used as tools of control. I was reading some of his quotes recently these, really grabbed me-

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it

Good ideas.... 

New Furry Member of  Family-

Recently one of our daughters move to another state. Because it was during a really bad snowstorm we suggested that she leave her cat here with us. It was a good move as she drove thru one of the worst snow storms we've had in quite a while. We knew that there would be a little bit of hissing involved with our new furry friend getting used to Anya our Empress of the house. Anya is a super mellow cat, 11 years old and really curious. Our new furry friend Bonnie had been through some jostling around with the move. Luckily we had her kitty scratching post perch in the spare bedroom for the first week with cat box, food and water. We let her out when we were home, to supervise, to make sure the cats along okay. It took a little bit of time but now both cats are really enjoying each other's company, chasing each other up and down the hall. It's great for Anya because she's older and now she's more active! Bonnie has a really sweet disposition, very affectionate and likes to be held. Anya is more likes to lay on a blanket on your lap, but not a lap cat really. I think that was from her former owners. We will be keeping her for a few more months until our daughter can pick her up, but depending on how things go she may wind up staying here permanently. She's really enjoying the house and loves looking out the windows and watching the birds! She's been a great addition to our furry and feathered family. Her cat post needed some work and so I decided to fix it with some sisal that I had left over from a project. The bottom part of the carpeting was pretty well torn up so I removed it, and replace it with some fresh sisal with lots of lots of hot glue. Looks great!

Food Prices Rising/ Chip Shortages/Being Prepared 2.0, What I Bought This Week

Thrifted veggie prints summer fun! 

Food Prices Rising/ Chip Shortages/Being Prepared 2.0-

We're finally got some real rain! Saturday night we got over an inch of rain in less than 24 hours. Hallelujah! I thought I'd share some things I've been hearing and seeing from blogging pals and from other sources around the country. Do your own research and see what you think you might be able to do? This list is not complete. I have acquired various things over the years, some from yard sales/thrift store, some new. I started my bedroom pantry closet after we bought this house, such a small kitchen-

There are some people who do preparedness from a very young age, but I'm not one of them. I did develop a food pantry out of a spare bedroom closet, hubby Dave put in some nice shelves for me. I would just put various things in it to try to keep on hand and get good deals. My pantry has evolved over the years which I think is pretty normal. We started buying more things from Costco like paper products. I made more room for those. So here's a few ideas (not in any order) if you want to be a little bit more prepared, but don't know where to start! Feel free to post questions too. 

Chip Shortages- We were talking to a salesman at a big car dealer this weekend. There are 100's of cars in the Midwest, new, that they can't sell. No microchips for the cars. People are ordering cars with no chips with no delivery date. Really??? A big furniture store in town is running out of TV's, no chips to make more. Make's you wonder where it will end? So as far as being prepared... 

First off don't think that you have to go out and buy a whole bunch of stuff all at once. Make a plan and and start small. You can become overwhelmed by trying to make a huge change. You can become over-loaded and broke! Here's a good tip-

Make a plan & start small

Ask yourself first- where will you put foods/supplies you want to store? How about a closet, under your bed, in an extra kitchen cabinet? 

Low on funds, can you barter? We have a ton of eggs right now and if times were tough we could trade eggs for other items.

Next- buy things you actually eat or use. Don't buy some really cheap food that you don't like just to have something on hand. Dave and I both love black beans so I always keep quite a few of those on hand, both dried and canned. Here's a few ideas to get started if you haven't already. Be creative! This weekend I moved things around. Dave got a free metal bookcase from work that I painted. I added totes for our grandchildren's toys and books-

In another bedroom we had a nice white laminate rack with canvas drawers that we had miscellaneous stuff in-

I was looking at it and realized that the blue unit should go in my office where the pantry is. I could put the white rack in the spare bedroom which is much dressier! So Dave and I went ahead and flip-flopped those. The metal book case will be much better used for foods, etc., especially smaller items-

Toys out

Food/supplies in

Lovely Leggos and stuff into the canvas drawers

The nice thing is all of this is flexible. This list may be long, so can can skip some or come back to it later.... Here's a few ideas to get you started and you can certainly pull up lots and lots of lists online.

Water, lots and lots of people forget to have any on hand.  The Red Cross has great simple ideas here, like amount of water for drinking, washing, and personal hygiene. Personally I don't think that's enough but that's me. Baby wipes might be a handy thing to have on hand now for the personal hygiene part in a pinch. They're relatively cheap and use them and just toss them away. Nice item here in the Red Cross Store Clipray Flashlight /Cell Charger

Be mindful with these foods some of them require certain storage requirements. Things like nut butters or flours can go rancid unless you keep them in a cool/cold. Flour and butter freezes great! I do have a couple of buckets of freeze dried fruits and veggies primarily and some smaller cans of various items-

I have smaller cans of butter, margarine, celery, shredded dried potatoes, diced bell peppers, eggs, cornmeal and a few other things. I bought those several years ago and have been keeping them in a cool dark place. It's good to know they're there in case of a real emergency. What constitutes a real emergency might be hard to tell?

Any kind of dried beans they are usually cheap easy to store and have protein and fiber. Canned meats, sea food and a dry salami-

Various flours and grains, rolled oats, Millet. I know some people are allergic to certain grains or have various sensitivities so that's a personal thing that you'd tweak. I just stocked up on some extra WW pastry flour since I was having trouble finding it locally. I also bought some oat flour and wheat berries to grind. Good to have if you can't find baked goods locally or they became too expensive-

Will re-store some of the flours in the freezer soon

Buy other baking supplies like baking powder, baking soda, yeast, etc.

Sugar! You can use for all kinds of things. I just got a 20 lb bag of sugar at Costco for $9.00 Stores really well in a cool dark place, no moisture and no insects (of course). We're lucky that we've never had ants or anything like that in our house. You can also include sugar type products in this list like honey, maple syrup, stevia, molasses, etc. I'll be putting ours in a bucket.

Salt! Got to have salt for cooking and baking and general seasonings and it is so cheap stock up! Lots of kinds too. 

Things like rice, quinoa, pastas, crackers-

Canned or dried fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, nut butters, etc.

Lots and lots of condiments and spices! No one wants to eat beans and rice everyday unless you can have lots of different flavorings added. Things like soy sauce, barbecue sauce, Tabasco sauce, ketchup, etc. Baking spices too, vanilla, cinnamon, etc. 

Butter, and cheeses that you can freeze. Cooking oils, you need fats. Olives of various kinds. Dried salamis that you can store without refrigeration is a bonus.

Coffees and teas! Think variety again. 

Any kind of foods that you can dry yourself and store. You don't have to own a food dehydrator to dry things, you can certainly use a regular oven. You can buy a food dehydrator, not too expensive and some people to build their own-

Drying yellow squash last year

Great for soups! 

Comfort Foods! At least give you a lot of different kinds of things for different people. Think instant puddings, Jello, cookies, chocolate, and any other kinds of baking supplies. 

Alcohol. Even if you don't drink it can be good for bartering or trading.  You can also use for cooking as well! Throw a little bit of red wine on that tough chicken and you will have a nice chicken stew.

Tobacco. We don't smoke but cigarettes may be something you could also barter.

Pet Food & supplies! Don't forget your Critters! We have our cat Anya, so that would mean cat litter and cat food basically. If worst came to worst and the weather was warm we could actually bring in dry garden soil and put it in her cat box. In the winter when the ground is frozen solid that would not be an option. She has a sensitive tummy so we have to buy special cat food! I did explain to Anya the other day that if times were really tough and we couldn't find her special food I would have to buy dry food and put it in the food processor with water. Anya said better that than nothing!

Animal feed. We have chickens and while they do free-range a little bit and eat kitchen scraps like fruits and veggies they would need feed, especially in the winter. We're going to buy a couple of extra bags of feed and store it. Better safe than sorry and it won't go bad and we've never had a rodent problem where we store it in our garage. I could make my own feed in a pinch.

Any kind of over-the-counter medication you can think of. Things like Advil, Tylenol, cough syrup, Pepto-Bismol, bandages, antibiotic ointments, etc. Treat yourself at home if you can't/didn't want to go out. 

Extra paper products like TP, Kleenex,  paper plates, paper cups, garbage bags, napkins. Ziploc bags are great too! You can buy some really large ones. Hefty make some jumbo ones that are heavy and have a really good slider that are good for heavier products like flours. 

Cleaning supplies- Vinegar, baking soda, castile soap, toilet cleaner, etc. Vinegar and baking soda are cheap and can clean almost anything! 

If you're able to grow any of your own food this would be a good time to go buy some extra seeds and store them. Another idea would also be to buy some potting soil and trays with starting cubes-

Here's a list of some supplies that I have on hand many of them were thrifted so don't think you have to go out and buy everything new! Check out yard sales, estate sales, Craigslist, eBay, etc.

Flashlights with extra batteries, matches, candles, tea candles with holders

Oil lamps with extra lamp oil. Almost all of the oil lamps I got were thrifted.

Hand crank radio with flashlight

Ice chest/cooler, if you lose power. 

RX's- Keep your some prescriptions filled. 

Coleman (or other) camp stove oven, propane heater, propane tanks, various sizes

Kerosene heater, several kinds

5 Gallon water jug (camping), Water purifier (for camping)

Canning supplies like jars, lids and rings. Things like Fruit Fresh to keep your fruit from changing color, Fermenting supplies

A freezer, we have a small chest one that works great! For two people we can put a lot of food in there.

Solar charger for phone/devices

55 water barrel (can use if not frozen)

Vacuum sealer system. Great to prevent freezer burn and can also use for dried goods that you want to make really airtight.

Radiant/fan electric space heaters (if furnace died)

So if you're interested think about it and start small!

New bucket and lid for wheat berries

What I Bought This Week-

I stocked up on a few things for the pantry, here and there-

At Natural Grocers I FINALLY found some organic WW pastry flour $8.00, Bob's Red Mill brand! Hard to find in other stores, I bought their last two! Also bought some organic Hard Red Winter Wheat berries, $2.50 for 3 lbs. Looked a few other places, looked like a good deal. Got six bags to store and I do have a manual grinder I bought years ago. Bought two bags of Organic Oat flour, 2 lbs for $2.50, will freeze. Got a bag of unsweetened Coconut flakes. At Lowe's I found two 5 gallon food grade buckets for $5.00 each, bought two. Bought two matching gasketed screw-off lids for $7.00 each. At The Grocery Outlet I bought one large can (almost 3 lbs!) of mixed salted nuts for $8.00.  I split them up and vacuum sealed, will freeze so they won't go rancid.  Also got three cans of Pink Wild Salmon for $3.00 each, 4 gallons of spring water for .89 cents, steel cut oats tub $2.00. I'm feeling better getting more flours and proteins bought and stored. Found some 1/2 gallon Ball jars, 6 pack for $13.00 at Walmart. I bought two packs. Someone was selling these on Amazon for $60.00! Great for storing dried goods, or fermenting! 

I hope that gives you some useful ideas!!!