Group Orders

Yes, I am still around. Lot’s going on around here. I have been helping our church group get prepared for emergencies and with us in the middle of hurricane season, I’ve been busy. As a group we have ordered 372 single burner butane stoves. I found a good price with one of the wholesale groups that I am a member of and ordered 48 on the first round. Once people saw the quality of the stove, I was under siege to get more. I put in another order for 204 and yesterday I put in the last order of 120 stoves. One of the members went to Academy to purchase some of the Butane and told me that they were almost out. It didn’t dawn on me until then that we would have to go out and find the fuel for the stoves. I went out and priced the canisters and found that Gander Mountain had the best price. Sonja volunteered to talk to the store manager about ordering 200 to 300 of the canisters. We found out today that they should be in by Wednesday or Thursday. I hope they will be able to get more because that amount will fly out of there in no time at all. These stoves are really awesome. They come with a carrying case and are compact and easy to store. They actually cook items, not just for warm-ups.

A friend of mine recommended two books that are excellent for cooking when the power is out. They can be found on amazon.com and are around $ 10.00 each.
1) The Storm Gourmet – A guide to Creating Extraordinary meals without electricity.
Check out this article about the book for a little detail on what’s in it.
CNN.com - After the storm...what's for dinner? - Jul 28, 2006

2) Apocalypse Chow – How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out
This one is by Jon and Robin Robertson. It gives simple tips on how to shop, store, and prepare gourmet food. Learn what kind of nonperishables to keep on hand.

I like both books because they give different information and have a wealth of ideas.

I have also been working on a frozen berry order. For the last 15 years or so years we have ordered as a group fresh frozen berries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, tart cherries, mango chunks, pineapple chunks, sliced granny smith apples and etc.
By ordering as a group, we get good prices and good fruit. These wonderful berries come out of Oregon and Washington state. This morning I worked on the order for our church group. Thankfully I am not in charge of the entire group order. Due to the nature of the product, we have to pick them up immediately when they come in. It can be challenging but it is worth it.

We also do monthly group orders from Emergency Essentials. Coming in October we will be ordering Hershey Chocolates. November will be Herbs and Spices form San Francisco Herb Co. After that we can rest till spring before we do any more “outside orders”. In the mean time we still have our dry-pack day every first Tuesday of the month. Sonja and I take turns working the shifts for that. It keeps me busy.

Life around here is never dull. Hope everyone is doing good.