sales « Robin Writes

Is there such a thing as over-prepping? Yes, particularly when it comes to food.

I finally got my supply closet a bit more organized and was a little surprised to discover 12 bottles of ketchup. Twelve.

Now, when there were three of us or even five of us, I think we went through a bottle maybe once a month. Since we’re down to just two, I’m estimating that bottle would last two months.

Which means I have two years’ worth of ketchup, an item that I can make myself if the tomato crop is good. And I’m not even sure how it happened, but I’m guessing it’s for the same reason that we have two jars of Miracle Whip in there too:

My husband doesn’t look in the cabinets or closet before he goes shopping.

To be fair, he used to call me like ten times—okay, five. Seriously. During a shopping trip my phone would ring off the hook. So to speak. And the reason he was going, and not me, was because I had a lot of things to do already. So he’d call.

I broke him of that habit, but the trade-off is that we have extra stuff that he might think of at the store and just grab “in case.”

I think, though, I have a solution:

I hung a whiteboard in the supply closet to make a list of things needed. Take a picture before you go, and voila, you have the list to pick up any sale items. Plus, of course, the regular grocery list.

IF SHTF happened any time soon, we’d be ready. And ketchup is a vegetable, right?

Just kidding. But we’re nearly fully stocked for a good six months—for two-three people. And this is how it should be.

The other side of prepping is this:

For example, I have a couple packages of store-bought cookies in that supply closet. Now, of course they need to be rotated like everything else, but they’re “emergency” cookies. My husband and I have very different ideas of that word. “Emergency.”

I’m all for cutting back and toughing it out—even with food. I cook a little less; not less often, I’m talking about portion size. It’s something we’re trying to get back to, particularly since as one ages, one needs fewer calories. Yes, I take the workload into consideration. But the typical diet in the US consists of overinflated portions, restaurants and at home alike.

So if I feel like having a Chips Ahoy cookie, and I know where they are, I might or might not take a stroll and grab that package. But only if I happen to being going that way anyhow—I’ll wait and maybe remember to get it.

See, when SHTF, you’re not going to be able to run to the store just for a cookie, and you might really NEED that damn cookie. The heck with your appetite or calorie intake, your emotional health is important too. And cookies make a lot of things better.

And this is the other side of prepping: your mental and emotional preps. Get used to doing without or doing with less now, and if it happens, you won’t be caught by surprise. It’ll be just another day as far as your habits and health are concerned.

But you can always make oven fries to use up all that ketchup:

Oven Fries

Scrub potatoes

Slice to your preference

Toss with olive oil

Season with whatever you like: garlic, onion powder, pepper, anything in your spice rack/cabinet.

Bake at 425 for about half an hour or so, stirring once or twice, until as crisp as you like.

So, you probably know that there’s a bunch of stuff on the Internet about “divide and conquer.” You know, where someone, somewhere, is just stirring up stuff to get us all at each other’s throats . . .

Let’s think about this.

Back in the old days, I sure don’t remember anyone yakking about the “correct” holiday-time greeting. I still maintain, however, that the Internet itself is the cause of a lot of this because we wouldn’t know a tiny percentage of things happening if it weren’t for that.

When I was a child, we’d drive around our area to look at Christmas lights. If there were no lights, we’d usually see a menorah in the window. No big deal. Very people went out-of-town for Christmas, because family was nearby and, well, who the heck would take a vacation then?

People would shop, either for Christmas or Hanukkah, iterate the appropriate greeting depending on their religion, and life went on. Granted, the area in which I grew up was primarily Christian and Jewish, and I’ll bet it was like that where you lived too.

Back then.

Now, the talking heads are telling us we should be OFFENDED if someone doesn’t give us the “correct” greeting based on our particular religion. Like they’d KNOW what that religion is . . .

I call bullshit.

Because, really, are you “offended” if someone says “happy holidays?” I’m not. Besides, aren’t there at least two holidays that Christians celebrate around this time of year? Christmas and, hey, wait a minute—New Year’s! That’s plural, folks. So “happy” to both, right?

I do remember my grandma shaking her head over some signs and cards that said “merry Xmas,” believing that “they” were x-ing out Jesus; then again, I also remember hearing that the X stood for the cross.

Can you imagine what would have been all over the Internet then?

Now, I do see the occasional social media post decrying the lack of “merry Christmas” greetings and so forth, but really, these are the same people regurgitating the same old posts and no one really cares.

Kind of like the Starbucks cups. Sheesh.

Hey, y’all know what you believe and you can shout it from the rooftops—that’s free speech. Whatever happened to manners, though? If someone tells me “happy Hanukkah,” I’m going to smile and say it right back.

You can have any kind of holiday you want, and you can greet people however you want, and that’s okay with me—and should be with anyone else. Unless you’re being a douche. Can’t discount that. But you know what? You can even act like that too if you want, although I doubt you’ll get many greetings of any kind after the first few times.

But that’s my point. Divide and conquer. Someone’s pulling the strings and yanking our chains while they’re doing it.