# Please tell me you do this too



## purecaffeine (Nov 2, 2011)

When I do my grocery shopping I look in other people's trolleys to see what they're buying and guess how long they'll last when the power goes off ... for example, people who buy lots of microwave meals or pre-packaged stuff and frozen goods who clearly have no idea how to cook with staple foods and rarely using a chopping board.

Yeah ... they'll be the first to die off. Might have enough food in their pantry to last a week under normal circumstances as they have power and running water but as soon as a crisis hits all that food becomes useless and they'll have to resort to eating semi-thawed microwave meals. Yum yum!

:club:


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## Herbalpagan (Dec 8, 2008)

ok, gotta admit, I do it too. Especially when a big storm is coming. Just for giggles, I'll ask some if they are "stocking up for the storm" and then ask how they'll cook if the power goes off. (but then I'm mean and like popping sheeple bubbles of delusion)


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

I do. I especially look at people buying heavy amount of processed foods and shrug.


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## twinfly (Sep 13, 2011)

I do the same, but also to figure out who else might be a prepper.


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## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

Yes. I'm funny that way. I recognize those "buggers"!


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Haha, I'm one who sometimes has a bunch of 'easy' foods in my cart, and wonder what others are assuming when they take a look. 

I can cook. I do cook. And I prep for the future. But I also live in the here and now, and every now and then I'm not home to cook dinner for DH, and it sure does make life easier when he can pop something in the microwave.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

you guys have way too much time on your hands, LOL.

And as a storm approaches, we are no where near a store


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## Bigdog57 (Oct 9, 2008)

goshengirl said:


> Haha, I'm one who sometimes has a bunch of 'easy' foods in my cart, and wonder what others are assuming when they take a look.
> 
> I can cook. I do cook. And I prep for the future. But I also live in the here and now, and every now and then I'm not home to cook dinner for DH, and it sure does make life easier when he can pop something in the microwave.


Same here. I can cook, and have plenty of Prep Foods. But with a Working Man's schedule, I like to pop a meal in the ol' Nuker and be eating in minutes, not an hour later. I'm single, so no convenient Spousal Unit to do such chores.
Sometimes, I'll just eat right from a can of Hormel or Chef Boyardee - I ain't hard to please....
It's when I buy the big bags of rice, beans and other such things I get the wierd looks.....


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## JustCliff (May 21, 2011)

Yeah. I do it.  I wonder how they get by day to day.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Never do it, don't care unless they live next door.


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## PreppinGA (Nov 9, 2011)

I was at a Chick-fil-a over the weekend and thought the same thing. How many of those folks wouldn't make it past the first 2 weeks. The place was packed and my buddy and I found 2 people there we figured would have a chance.


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Most of the time, No but I did the other day when I got behind a child and her parents in the checkout . See the child (about 6 or 7 years old) was as wide as she was tall.  She had a bag of chips in one hand and a Mtn. Dew in the other, all the while SCREAMING for a candy bar. ~ Which she got. 

Now this buggy was full of cardboard pizza and double meat tv dinners, with some chips and cookies tossed in. For drinks we had coke, pepsi and Mtn. Dew. 

No milk, juice ...
No fruits or veggies ... (other than what came with the tv dinners)

I found myself ill ... and to be honest more than a little ticked off. :ignore:


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## lexsurivor (Jul 5, 2010)

The ones that get winded walking from their car to their power buggy are the ones that are even worse off. How on earth would they survive if they cant shop without getting exausted.


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I do that too to some degree. Back when I was buying a hundred canned goods a day I never saw anyone buying that stuff the way that I was. I've never seen anyone buying bottled water the way I was either.


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

I watch and see. I am a turtle. Slow and methodical


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## AZSas (Oct 27, 2011)

I make a list and send hubby most of the time. I wonder sometimes what cart peepers probably think. Last week at safeway he had 30 lbs of meat, 20 lbs dog food and 5 cans of coffee. Half hour later in walmart it was 3 boxes of canning lids and 5 candles. Sometimes it sounds weird even to me 

I was with him last january when we picked up the last 25 lb bag of flour though and was amused that a lady asked him where he found it. She had the last big bag of sugar.


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## Dixie (Sep 20, 2010)

Welcome to the forum PreppinGa


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## PastorTim (Oct 24, 2011)

What I love is the clerks when we roll up with say, 200# of sugar in 5# bags that is on sale. I just look at them and tell them I like my coffee sweet. My take right before a storm here, beer, milk, chips and bread. Really saddddd.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

PastorTim said:


> What I love is the clerks when we roll up with say, 200# of sugar in 5# bags that is on sale. I just look at them and tell them I like my coffee sweet. My take right before a storm here, beer, milk, chips and bread. Really saddddd.


The last time I had a 25# bag of sugar in the cart, a little girl with her mother in the aisles saw it and started tugging on her mother's had and saying 'Mommy, Mommy, look at that big bag of sugar, what's she going to do with it?' I try NOT to go to the store just before a storm. The crazies in the parking lot are worse than the crazies in the store.


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## purecaffeine (Nov 2, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> I can cook. I do cook. And I prep for the future. But I also live in the here and now, and every now and then I'm not home to cook dinner for DH, and it sure does make life easier when he can pop something in the microwave.


Don't feel bad - I do that too although not at the moment because I'm not working so I have time but I usually throw in a packet of ravioli + sauce that I can just warm up on the stove in 5 minutes or packet pasta plus quick & easy food for overnight trips out of town.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

You should try packing your cart with 60 pounds of bananas with 25 pound bags of flour and sugar then top it off with several boxes of canning jars. That really gets em thinking not to mention some good long stares and funny looks.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Davarm, could you possibly be one of the few people besides me that cans bananas? 

Cart-watching was most fun when I was a grocery store cashier (been 3 years since I quit). I loved looking at people and at what they were buying. I have to admit I got some good meal ideas from my customers! I loved the endless 5-minute conversations all day, and it was amusing to see people get sheepish and explain their purchases, which they didn't really need to do. You see just about everything in that job! All in all, it was one of the most interesting jobs I've had!


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Yes, I am guilty. I can em, dehydrate em, eat em......What can i say?

Have you ever made banana jam? Try it, you will make it for ever more.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

Davarm said:


> Yes, I am guilty. I can em, dehydrate em, eat em......What can i say?
> 
> Have you ever made banana jam? Try it, you will make it for ever more.


I didn't know you could can bananas:scratch What is the texture after canning? Could you please tell me how you do this and how you use them canned? I learn so much on this site it absolutely amazes me!


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

not to hijack the thread...

... but has anybody had any luck dehydrating *banana bread* for long term storage?

I just tried it on a lark this morning (actually doing it right now) sliced it as thin as I could... it will probably become banana bread crackers


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

LilRedHen said:


> I didn't know you could can bananas :scratch What is the texture after canning? Could you please tell me how you do this and how you use them canned?


Me too.... I just dehydrate them.


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## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

I have noticed what others are buying. I get the strange looks when I fill my buggy with the advertized lost leaders. Now that my pantry is pretty well stocked I usually only buy the good bargins in quanity and those are getting harder to find.


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## denniscarmichael (Nov 29, 2010)

I totally agree, I'm mean too.


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## denniscarmichael (Nov 29, 2010)

Those people will die. Period. Not worth worrying about.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

LilRedHen said:


> I didn't know you could can bananas:scratch What is the texture after canning? Could you please tell me how you do this and how you use them canned? I learn so much on this site it absolutely amazes me!


Ever eat banana babyfood? That is how I like mine to come out, depending on the ripeness, it can come out like that or if they are not so ripe, they can wind up like banana paste in a jar.

Gypysue may be able to explain the process better-she probobly has been doing it longer than me, but anyway here goes

Let the bananas get "very ripe", just to the point before the fruit part(not the peel) turns dark, the riper they get the sweeter it will be. Peel the fruit and puree it well with lemon juice, enough to help prevent it from turning brown, and if you like-add sugar to taste.

I put the puree on to simmer just long enough to cook any starches that have not turned to sugar. If you cold pack the puree into jars and can without cooking first, any remaining starches will expand and could be spewed out the lid.

If enough lemon juice is added to drop the ph below 4.6, you can hot water bath the jars, otherwise they have to be pressured. I dont have the means to test the ph so I pressure at 5 pounds about 30 minutes(pints) to be safe.

As far as what they can be used for, eat it straight out of the jar or use it as you would fresh bananas, a favorite of mine is banana pudding-works great.

Hopefully gypsysue will jump in and give a better rundown on the process, I only started canning them last year and am still learning by trial and error. I had no ideal that anyone besides me did this so I never looked for any input or directions to help me out.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

The_Blob said:


> not to hijack the thread...
> 
> ... but has anybody had any luck dehydrating *banana bread* for long term storage?
> 
> I just tried it on a lark this morning (actually doing it right now) sliced it as thin as I could... it will probably become banana bread crackers


I also dehydrate banana bread, pound cake, brownies, and anything else that is cake-like.

Sometimes you may have to adjust your recipe to contain a little more egg to make the bread durable enough to hold together when rehydrating. I slice the banana bread to 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick slices and pop em into the dehydrator until completely dry(like a desert). They can then be vacuum sealed or if the pieces just wont hold together, they can be ground into a fine "meal" and vacuum packed that way. To rehydrate, I put a slice or two in a ziplock bag with a spoonful of water and nuke for bout 30 seconds. Depending on the recipe, it could come out just like fresh or like a paste, I think it hinges on the amount of eggs in the recipe.

If you want to dehydrate some good deserts, try making traditional pound cake, pound of flour, sugar, butter and eggs. That recipe is readily available online or if you cant find one, I can post mine. Anyhu, the pound cake will dehydrate well and rehydrate to the taste and texture of fresh, I doubt if anyone could tell the difference between fresh and rehydrated, I cant.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

goshengirl said:


> Haha, I'm one who sometimes has a bunch of 'easy' foods in my cart, and wonder what others are assuming when they take a look.
> 
> I can cook. I do cook. And I prep for the future. But I also live in the here and now, and every now and then I'm not home to cook dinner for DH, and it sure does make life easier when he can pop something in the microwave.


What is a microwave???



LilRedHen said:


> The last time I had a 25# bag of sugar in the cart, a little girl with her mother in the aisles saw it and started tugging on her mother's had and saying 'Mommy, Mommy, look at that big bag of sugar, what's she going to do with it?' I try NOT to go to the store just before a storm. The crazies in the parking lot are worse than the crazies in the store.


I do my bulk-shopping at one of the local warehouses (as listed in the story that I wrote in Fiction / Non-Fiction) where it is not uncommon to see restaraunt and C-Store owners shopping for their daily sales. Someone with a single 25lb bag of sugar will get more looks than someone with 5 or 6 of them on their boller (six wheel'd trolly).


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## sillymoo (Oct 30, 2011)

I'm sure someone thinks I am a whack-a-doo every time I shop. I stock up on several months worth of anything on sale. Last month, I had a cart full of tv dinners and cheese puffs. This month I had a year supply of Fancy Feast and six months worth of dog food. The looks I get when people ask my how many pets I have and I said "one dog, one cat" is priceless. 

I usually do not look into other carts. I'm too busy trying to get in and out of the store. I did peek when I found myself at a grocery store for last winter's storm, but most people were just buying basics like milk and eggs. By the way, I was happily cocooned in my home for the storm, and then my aunt who was ill called and asked me to get some things for her. That was something I didn't plan for, so I keep a little extra now for things like that.


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

NaeKid said:


> I do my bulk-shopping at one of the local warehouses (as listed in the story that I wrote in Fiction / Non-Fiction) where it is not uncommon to see restaraunt and C-Store owners shopping for their daily sales. Someone with a single 25lb bag of sugar will get more looks than someone with 5 or 6 of them on their boller (six wheel'd trolly).


I wish I had one of those warehouses near me, and I also wish I had enough extra money to buy more than one bag. My mom always said about wishes 'If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride'. Anyway, just buying one big bag was a stretch for me before I joined this group. I was bringing in gallon glass cans in the house today and the Rooster wanted to know what I was canning now. You should have seen the look on his face when I said flour. I'm getting there, just a little slowly. :2thumb:


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## LilRedHen (Aug 28, 2011)

Davarm said:


> Ever eat banana babyfood? That is how I like mine to come out, depending on the ripeness, it can come out like that or if they are not so ripe, they can wind up like banana paste in a jar.
> 
> As far as what they can be used for, eat it straight out of the jar or use it as you would fresh bananas, a favorite of mine is banana pudding-works great.


Thank you :kiss: You have made my day!


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## kyhoti (Nov 16, 2008)

I got some looks when I had a basket full of maxi-pads (I'm a guy). They were on sale and with coupons I was getting what equates to single-pack sterile wound dressings at $0.10 a box. 

I look when I'm near sporting goods in MalWart to see who's who based on any food in cart, but I must admit, there's plenty of times when I've got t.v. dinners etc in my cart.

As to the loads of frozen veggies I am known to put in the cart, I've got a 5-tier bakers rack that is ready to become a 12-volt dehydrator in a power down situation. Might take a few days, but what I don't eat will be dried. The pizzas, unfortunately, will not make it. What can I say, I love DiGiorno.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

I buy bananas that are marked down to .19/lb. and use those for my canned bananas. The peels are usually getting pretty black or at least heavily mottled by then.

I peel, mash, and heat them. Instead of lemon juice I've been using Vitamin C tablets smashed into powder with the back of a spoon. I stir that in the keep the color so they don't turn dark. I never thought about the .ph balance, since I pressure can mine.

Since our elevation is over 3500' I use 10 lbs. pressure instead of 5 lbs., and the directions I follow call for 45 minutes of processing.

I use them for banana bread mostly, though they're good stirred into ice cream, then drizzle chocolate syrup and add a dollop of whipped cream! Spread them on 'nilla wafers for a nummy snack! I've stirred them into oatmeal and cream of wheat. I never thought of making pudding with them though, how dumb is that? Thanks for the idea, Dave! I can't believe that one went right by me!


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## stanb999 (Nov 14, 2011)

I get "Are you running a restaurant? You have so many cans!"
Many times in the past few years.... Not so much lately tho. 

This isn't prep food tho just regular food shopping. We go only four or five times a year. 

Preps are gotten out of town.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

i find it too aggravating to worry bout what other folks are eating...im already mad enough that most mainstream mags i look thru do not give real recipes, but more like assembly instructions for meals that often begin with telling me to go buy something from the deli and serve it with a few modifications. Sheesh!


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## BlueShoe (Aug 7, 2010)

*Andi said:


> Now this* buggy* was full of cardboard pizza and double meat tv dinners, with some chips and cookies tossed in. For drinks we had coke, pepsi and Mtn. Dew.


You can always tell the southerners by this word. 
During a big school shopping day here I got behind a customer with two carts full of Dew 2 liters. _YaHoo! Mt. Dew!_


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

kappydell said:


> i find it too aggravating to worry bout what other folks are eating...im already mad enough that most mainstream mags i look thru do not give real recipes, but more like assembly instructions for meals that often begin with telling me to go buy something from the deli and serve it with a few modifications. Sheesh!


If you want to read a real cook book that cuts through all the crap, try the Orange Judd Cook Book, mine is the 1914 edition. An online version is available for view from the Library of Congress

HathiTrust Digital Library - The Orange Judd cook book; a practical collection of tested ...

If you want to view a sample recipe from the book read the "Possum and Sweet Taters" post in the Food/Recipe section. That is only one of the real old recipes but it has many practical ones with ingredients that would be redily available in most farm homes or from pantries of preppers.

You will get a few laughs as well as some good recipes from it.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Blob- i can banana bread, do not dehydrate it. a novel idea though.

Davarm - I loved the cookbook & downloaded same. I think cookbooks prior to 1948 are the most instructive - the war years, the depression, and earlier. 

I like slow-tech, low-tech, and no-tech recipes and lifestyle...


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

kappydell said:


> Blob- i can banana bread, do not dehydrate it. a novel idea though.


:thankyou: and belated :welcome: to the forum

I was right... banana bread crackers, which were still *delicious* but I tried to rehydrate one and that didn't turn out so well


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Blob-Try using more egg in the banana bread recipe, it will give the loaf more body and will hold together better when rehydrating.

Kappydell- I also have canned banana bread, poundcake and sweet potato bread. I bake it in wide mouth pint jars and put the lids on immediately as they come out of the oven. I then drop the jars into a hot water bath for about 5-10 minutes just for good measures.


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## ashley8072 (Apr 26, 2011)

purecaffeine said:


> When I do my grocery shopping I look in other people's trolleys to see what they're buying and guess how long they'll last when the power goes off ... for example, people who buy lots of microwave meals or pre-packaged stuff and frozen goods who clearly have no idea how to cook with staple foods and rarely using a chopping board.
> 
> Yeah ... they'll be the first to die off. Might have enough food in their pantry to last a week under normal circumstances as they have power and running water but as soon as a crisis hits all that food becomes useless and they'll have to resort to eating semi-thawed microwave meals. Yum yum!
> 
> :club:


lol! Actually this statement kinda irritates me. I've got well over enough food for a year and I cook a full dinner every night. I've been canning foods like crazy for the past 3 months, and I know how to live off the land when necessary. We also make a gallon of sweet ea everyday..which I recently found out that people don't even know how to do that. :dunno:

But, once a month I buy tv dinners when they go on sale for 88cents and I load up. I'd say about 30 of them average. They are eaten as an afternoon snack when our daughter gets home from school and doesn't want cereal.Hubby and I both work and she's at home by herself for 2 hrs before we get home. Sometimes when no one knows what they want to eat, and then when a quick meal is needed. Ramon noodles in the cup are the same way. I've actually had an issue with a family behind me in the checkout line when one said to the other, I guess someone doesn't know how to cook. I flew off the handle. lol! I think something about me not being on welfare and having to work for a living may have come up. I was pretty ashamed later of the way I acted for the comments they said aloud. What I shoulda said was, I see you can't make homemade spaghetti sauce? pfft. :congrat:

So I tend to not judge by the food, but more on what brands and prices they are spending. You wont see a hungry man dinner in my basket. The same ones are a buck for the cheap stuff. lol :soapboxrant:


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## purecaffeine (Nov 2, 2011)

ashley8072 said:


> lol! Actually this statement kinda irritates me.


Ah, gotcha


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

got me too, then...i have them for those rushed days, and yes, $1 is all I want to pay. they are small but i add a salad or other veggie to them, since the only veg the frozen dinner folks seem to know about is corn! they also are good portion control for times when i eat alone. BTW folks ask about my large purchases of sale items when I am stocking, too. I tell them I am taking them to a shut-in friend(s) for their pantry. if you tell folks you are buying for the food pantry they will wait to see if you put it in the barrel!


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## dahur (Dec 18, 2009)

I've noticed something.
I've been buying a couple bags of 20 lb Rice and 1 bag of 20 lb beans for the last year, once a month or so. There has always been plenty of these bags, except for the last month. Once there was no rice at all, and last week there were two bags, I got them both. (WalMart)
Unless it's coincidental, maybe people are realizing....


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

dahur, what you said!

I have been having trouble finding the large bags of rice(20lbs), beans, sugar(25lbs) and flour also. For those who are just getting on the wagon, it may be difficult for them to stock up.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I was at WalMart buying a bag of Purina dog chow for my dog , in the check-out line when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. Why else would I be buying dog chow, RIGHT ??? So on impulse I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, I was starting the Purina Diet again, and that I probably shouldn't, because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in inten......sive care, with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms. I told her that it was essentially a Perfect Diet and all you do is load your pockets with Purina Nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again. (I have to mention here that practically everyone in line was now enthralled with my story.) Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care, because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stepped off a curb to sniff a poodle's butt and a car hit me. I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard. Better watch what you ask me and be prepared for my answer. I have all the time in the world to think of crazy things to say........................

now that you've read it I have to confess, I copied it from someone else.. share and make someone else smile today enjoy all :lolsmash:


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Emerald - I love it...Thats the kind of thing I do when I'm out in public with my daughters, they have not disowned me yet.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Davarm said:


> Emerald - I love it...Thats the kind of thing I do when I'm out in public with my daughters, they have not disowned me yet.


I couldnt' help it.. had to pass it along and I thought of this thread first thing! But I have been known to pull stunts almost like this before!
Like when a woman asked me why I was buying 1/2 gallon of honey at a time.. Told her that it was the best for full body massage.. and leaves your skin super soft.. lol Then I told her the truth when my kids cracked up.. We just eat it and I bake with it. better on hubby and his type 2 than regular sugar. We go thru that much honey in just about a year. Lucky for me it is from a local apiary and they set hives about 1 mile from my house. and it is only $15.99 and they pack it in 1/2 gallon mason jars(which are expensive).. A bargain at any price.


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## emilysometimes (Oct 6, 2011)

Beautiful! Thank you for the laugh.


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