You make sure to never run out of

[Jazzy]

What consumable is a staple in your household, that you make sure to never run out?

 

[Fritz Kobus]

I always make sure to have an ample supply of ketchup in the house. And I always stock up on my favorite chocolate bar, typically having 40-50 bars on hand (eat one bar in 2.5 days). Coffee, have about 12 bags on hand. Back when the oil companies were clearancing
a lot of motor oil I once had some 150 quarts on hand.

 

[tango]

Coffee. Also toilet paper, if that counts...

 

[Fritz Kobus]

I have 40 cases of bottled water stocked up and a lot of packs of toilet paper.

 

[Jazzy]

Milk

 

[Lees]

Milk

How? You can't stock up on it as it spoils.

Lees

 

[Jazzy]

How?

Lees

How what?

 

[Lees]

How what?

You can't stock up on it as it spoils. Sorry. I added that later.

Lees

 

[Jazzy]

You can't stock up on it as it spoils. Sorry. I added that later.

Lees

Freezing milk allows you to save money by buying milk in larger quantities than you need, extend its shelf life, and make fewer trips to the grocery store.

 

[Lees]

Freezing milk allows you to save money by buying milk in larger quantities than you need, extend its shelf life, and make fewer trips to the grocery store.

That's interesting. I've never frozen milk.

Lees

 

[tango]

Freezing milk allows you to save money by buying milk in larger quantities than you need, extend its shelf life, and make fewer trips to the grocery store.

It just means you need a big freezer to keep it all.

The way the world is going ever-more silly I think more in terms of what can be preserved in a way that doesn't need electricity. It's easy to fill a freezer with stuff but if the power goes out the whole lot spoils anyway.

 

[Fritz Kobus]

Freezing milk allows you to save money by buying milk in larger quantities than you need, extend its shelf life, and make fewer trips to the grocery store.

What does freezing do to it? Does it seem weird in taste or texture after it has been frozen for a while?

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

Coffee for me. Fortunately, a baseball cap will cover up bed-head if I forget and need to hit a drive-through. It happens

 

[Jazzy]

It's easy to fill a freezer with stuff but if the power goes out the whole lot spoils anyway.

Not in my house. I have a commercial generator that powers my whole house if the power should go out.

Does it seem weird in taste or texture after it has been frozen for a while?

Not to me it doesn't.

 

[tango]

Not in my house. I have a commercial generator that powers my whole house if the power should go out.

How long will your generator maintain power to your house?

 

[Fritz Kobus]

I have a generator on the motorhome that sits in the yard. It will power my fridges and some other stuff for at least 72 hours before I need to get more fuel.

 

[Jazzy]

How long will your generator maintain power to your house?

It can run indefinitely as long as it is being fueled. Longest I've run mine before power was restored was 9 days.

 

[tango]

It can run indefinitely as long as it is being fueled. Longest I've run mine before power was restored was 9 days.

9 days is a fair while without power. I was meaning how long it would run before the fuel runs dry - if you have a widespread power outage and can't get more fuel the generator doesn't help you if it was only designed to tide you over for a few hours.

We have friends who own a farm and if I recall they have a 1000 gallon diesel tank on their farm that powers a generator. I periodically think about getting something to provide at least something if the power goes out but it happens sufficiently infrequently I can see it falling into disrepair and failing the first time we actually need it.

 

[Jazzy]

I was meaning how long it would run before the fuel runs dry - if you have a widespread power outage and can't get more fuel the generator doesn't help you if it was only designed to tide you over for a few hours.

Unless the natural gas supply is interrupted, which is an extremely rare event, you have a limitless supply of fuel for the generator. It would be able to run continuously for weeks at a time.

 

[tango]

Unless the natural gas supply is interrupted, which is an extremely rare event, you have a limitless supply of fuel for the generator. It would be able to run continuously for weeks at a time.

Interesting, I never thought of natural gas powering a generator. I've always thought of them as running on gasoline or diesel, and therefore needing a supply of that on hand.

What sort of power output does your generator offer? Part of my concern with a generator is that the power goes out sufficiently infrequently that I'd be concerned about long term storage of liquid fuel.