Tracking the next pandemic: Avian Flu Talk |
Taking Inventory |
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Posted: February 05 2006 at 8:48am |
I have a garage full of supplies and I haven't taken an exact inventory of the amount of supplies I have. I lost count in some areas. I was wondering if everybody has an exact inventory count of exactly how much they have of each item. Does everybody have a detailed list of exactly what they have in their supplies - down to the last item?
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pola33193
Valued Member Joined: January 10 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 251 |
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Albert , as a matter of fact yesterday night we started doing an inventory (again) I ques we are like you ,we lost count of some items that I keep buying and know I want to keep buying. But a detailed exact list NO I dont have it
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pola
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jackson
Adviser Group Joined: January 26 2006 Status: Offline Points: 411 |
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I've kept track of most things. I know how much food and supplies are
in the larger boxes I have, but some things I bought over the
last few days are still in bags. I need to start to count those things
soon.
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Spoon
Valued Member Joined: January 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 607 |
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I bought a couple of shelving units, and just started filling them. I really need to take inventory. If I had more experince in Excel, I would put together a spreadsheet that would allow me to input the amount of weight/servings I have of each food type, and then be able to see the caloric total. That would make it easier to compute not only where I'm weak, but how many calories I have. My biggest problem is how many family members will ultimately come to our home. I may have to make some tough decisions and having a way to calculate calories/people=days would be a big help. If no one else jumps on this, I may give it a shot this week. |
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It's not so much the apocalypse... but the credit card bills ;-)
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Albert, I was full of good intentions. Even started a spreadsheet. Then I realized, I'd be amending it everytime I added something. Decided life was too short (ummm...ougtha come up with a better phrase!)
Have decided to count (in food) # of man meals. Not bother with extras that may be adjuncts (like canned fruit, sugar, jelly, etc.) . Figure if I get bored, I'll do it after the pandemic begins! |
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libbyalex
Adviser Group Joined: December 20 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 795 |
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Every once in a while, I try to give stuff a glance to guesstimate amounts. But, honestly, I don't have the time to do the detailed inventory and it seems to me that getting supplies while I can is more important than staying home and counting what I already have. -- Libby
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TNbebo408
Adviser Group Joined: December 10 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 295 |
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The first thing I put on my to do list was ORGANIZE. No matter how much stuff you have, if you can't lay your hands on it, it's useless.
I made a detailed list on excel of how many of each item we keep, how many we use daily, and weekly, after two months of closely tracking what we use, I added up how much to stock up of each item. With the info on excel, it's so easy to track what you use and need to restock. Organizing is cheap, and will keep you from buying stuff you may not ever use. |
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CupcakeMom
Adviser Group Joined: January 20 2006 Status: Offline Points: 140 |
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I'm overly conscientious and anal and also have an excel spread sheet. I downloaded copies of the "one year supply" of food sold by about a dozen long-term-storage food suppliers, then made my own list of exactly how much of each item I hope to eventually have (aiming for a 1 year supply at this point.) I also have a spreadsheet for non-food items. I keep track down to the can/bottle/box/bag/TP roll. (Don't want to have 185 cans of chili beans and only 1 bottle of TUMS)
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pola33193
Valued Member Joined: January 10 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 251 |
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I went to the container store on saturday , got boxes , got home and started a realy good inventory : In a papper Qty , product , Exp , weight ,made copies, then I taped each corresponding papper to it's own box , and keept the copy , my plan is as I keep getting more , I will keep updating the boxes and the list.
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pola
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Trigger
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 13 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 77 |
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No list here either. I keep buying what we eat, some treats, lots of powered drinks, canned foods and medical supplies. I mark each box with a general of what's inside, like food or oil etc..., but feel any time I have is better spent buying then taking inventory like CupCakeMOm. I thinks it is a great idea, I wish I had what others of you have but we can't all be anal.
Is anyone buying matches or flints? |
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Trigger
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In three weeks time, I have stored 6 months of food, 3 months of water, meds, vitamins, wood, alternate energy, gun, staples, cash, home security, car care, etc..
Cost: 3K. Value: immeasurable if it hits, if not, all will be used eventually. MK Edited by Mary Kay |
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Tired
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 13 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 170 |
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I organize things by experation date. The stuff that has a long shelf
life gets put towards the back on the shelve. I dont want to have
to decide which is worse, starving or eating expired crackers!
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Better to be safe than sorry.... |
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Speaking of stale crackers I have an interesting story. I asked our emergency management coordinator what was the location of my neighborhood's fallout shelter. He took me to a tiny shelter, a basement,... that might hold 100 people. It was damp, bug and mice infested, and smelled like mold, it didn't even have a bathroom. I asked to see the emergency staples. They did have them! We opened one of the many boxes labeled crackers,...........they were dust, pure dust. They were dated over 30 years old. Did you know all underground trains stations are shelters in all major cities in Russia? Complete with firedoors, bathrooms, cots, food and water. America is not prepared for any emergency. And we would be more than stupid to think that it can organize anything of this magnitude. We're talkin' government employees here folks. sigh* If you doubt my word ask yourself what the heck are they doing since Katrina. Whata mess! I have been through five hurricanes, and pal,....you're on your own. MK |
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No list here either. I have a great mental picture of all that I have. Two weeks ago we set up our fourth metal shelf unit devoted to food preps. This coming weekend I hope to talk hubby into two more shelving units. One for medical/first aide supplies and one for cleaning/disinfection/personal hygiene. Gosh, a year's supply of STUFF takes up a bunch of space. My grains and beans are in 5 gal. buckets behind my sofa, disguised as a console table (a rather large one). Organization is not one of my strong points but I try to keep my preps in order. And I have actually started several lists but quickly get overwhelmed and distracted. Oh well, maybe in my next life I will be more like CCMom...a gal can hope anyway. I have no excuse...I use Excel everyday and I know it's only a matter of dedicating a block of time. Can I blame it on y'all? |
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swankyc
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 11 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 314 |
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What metal shelves are you all using? Home Depot has a semi-cheesy one for like $65. It isnt big enough to begin holding long term preps though. I've been buying 2x4s, #10 screws and two sheets of 1/2" MDF board to make a shelf. My shelves are 7 feet wide, 7ft tall and 23 inches deep for the same cost as the tiny metal shelf. |
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I'm not afraid, I'm paranoid. Dont talk too loud, they are listening.
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Spoon
Valued Member Joined: January 29 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 607 |
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I've been using these shelving units from Home Depot Each shelf holds 150 lbs, 750 lbs. total. Workforce 24 In. 5-Shelf Storage Organizer |
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It's not so much the apocalypse... but the credit card bills ;-)
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I use the 5 shelf chrome units. Each shelf is good for 300 lbs. Between my preps and my crafts my house is furnished in the post modern utility shelving motif. Very fashionable these days. |
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Rocky
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 07 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 219 |
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Could someone make out a template of some kind so we could copy it into a
word processing blank page. We could then keep a computer log of what we have, making changes where appropriate. It wouldn't have to be elaborate. Thanks. Rocky |
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Rocky |
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fritz
Adviser Group Joined: February 04 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 332 |
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Hi. I don't keep a list either but everything that comes into my house gets a sticker. One of those 3/4" round dots. I write down on it the date and place I purchased the item. I guess it was the lingering effect the tylenol tampering episode had on me from so many years ago. Here I was spending all this money (back in 2002) much to my husband's disapproval (and he didn't know the half of it!) and I was worried that if it came out on the news that there was a problem with a can of soup or beans or whatever from a particular store that I had no way of knowing which items may be affected and then I would have to get rid of all my stuff because I couldn't identify what I bought where. Besides, the man. date codes were making me crazy and varied so much from product to product that I just thought it was easier just to see date of purchase at a glance. Anyway, at first I used to use multi-colored stickers I took home from my husband's office but then I decided that I would stick to one color each year. 2004 was yellow, 2005 was day- glow green, and now 2006 is neon red. (Maybe I should've taken that as a sign!) Anyway, I can look at a can, without using my glasses even, and know which is the oldest. Which doesn't mean that it has the oldest exp. date of course, but I like having the info. anyway. Sometimes I get a new product and I end up liking it alot and 2 months later I can't remember where I bought it and I am very happy to have the sticker. What I do is bring all the bags into the house and then after I put away all my weekly refrigeratables I sit down (in front of the tv ususally) and write my little button stickers. It takes 10-20 min. depending on the amt. of food I bought. By now many of you might be thinking......this chick is off her rocker.... but I have put so much $ into my preps I just wanted to have this info at my fingertips and for me this way works. :>} |
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"I am only one; but still I am one, I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." -- Hellen Keller
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MissRX
Valued Member Joined: February 03 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 80 |
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Absolutly. I have an Excel Spreadsheet that I have every single item documented, with bottles, boxes, and with foods I have servings per box/bottle etc so I know how many indiviual servings we can get out of what we have. |
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"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war"
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All of my preps are eighter in boxes or plastic totes and each of them is labelled ont he outside of the items that they contain.....When I go and purchase it is usually 6 of each of something and they get boxed and labelled..I had just done up a full inventory...Me thinks me does not need anymore rice or flour..lol....going to do more canned stuff..our no frills has their dollar days this week..so i will se what I can get for the preps..
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worriedlilchic
Valued Member Joined: February 14 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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New to the site but just wanted to show you a list that I found on a site for survival. Here it is and its kinda long. I have posted this under another topic so if you have already seen this I'm sorry. I don't have anything but 2 packs of diapers for my daughter. My mother and her sister live together and they have gotten things for my family but I just want other people to be aware of the things they should buy. I know now that when I go to the store I"m going to try to buy some of the items in bulk everytime I go to the store. Thanks for this site!
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worriedlilchic
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worriedlilchic
Valued Member Joined: February 14 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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Sorry, I didn't even post the site I found the list on. See how worried I am. The site is www.planforflu.com Here is the list... Emergency Pantry: The List Baking mixes (Pie crust mix plus canned pie filling =cobbler) |
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worriedlilchic
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