oil life and timing

OIL LIFE AND TIMING
Before we start, and before I forget, an update as requested on the Great Bison Compound Insulation Project. I finished up the weekend following my write up, thank goodness. It had started taking on Giant Pain In The Ass aspects. I'll still do a bit here and there such as stuffing more blankets in the underneath bins ( they're on notice to give me any ripped and soiled blankets otherwise thrown away ) but that is five minutes here and there, not like the sixteen hours it took for the main work. I did pretty good for back of a napkin guesstimating the needed materials. I used all the foam pads, all eight rolls of foil bubble wrap except about ten feet worth and all but six blankets. I only had three cold mornings to gauge the effective winterizing so that will have to wait until the end of the year ( I'm hoping for a repeat of tripling the old insulation's effectiveness but will still be happy with doubling ) to confirm, and I've only had one warm day. It got up to eighty and even without the foil in the south windows it stayed at seventy five. Not too shabby, I'm happy with the performance so far.
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A loyal minion asked about picking a cooking oil. The best shelf life amongst lard, shortening or oil. I imagine they did just as I did and Googled it, and I can't say I've got a really good answer. Everyone seemed to be guessing at it. Even the folks at Crisco. Well, I'll tell you what I came up with and my own experiences. I hope it helps a little. You need cooking oil in your preps. Spoiled Yuppie swine living in the reclining bucket seat of an SUV, the reclining office chair in their cubical and the reclining chair in front of their fifty inch plasma TV have no idea of the need for fat in ones diet. They carry enough fat around their middle to do without fat for quite some time. But take away petroleum and suddenly they will need fat in their diets to keep them alive. My point is that central air and heat keep them separated from the realities of diet and climate, not that they don't eat enough fat. Of course, a lot of that extra weight might be from alcohol as they try in vain to short circuit their awareness that they live a hollow and worthless existence since they are silly enough to measure happiness with little slips of paper from the Federal Reserve. But I won't go there right now.
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As far as anyone can guess, liquid vegetable oil has a shelf life of about a year. I'm sure I've used oil that is over a year old. We can probably safely say one to a maximum of three years. I'm sure three is pushing it, remember these are guesstimates. Also, come calamity time, you might do little more than give it a sniff test and feed some to the dog. If he hasn't erupted out of both ends in 24 hours it should be safe. You will be more worried about lack of oil than about official shelf lives. Next in longevity is lard. I couldn't find any estimates, but I have used lard I know was at least two years old and stored at room temperature ( that's in the trailer with large seasonal fluctuations ). I would feel comfortable using lard that is three to five years old. Crisco claims a shelf life of six to ten years. I might have believed that back when they used an honest to God metal sealed tin, but now in an effort to screw over the consumer and have the CEO retire to the Caribbean with a harem we get that crappy waxed cardboard container. Kind of like how potato flakes pre-Y2K were in a metal tin and now they are a simple cardboard box ( for a higher price ). Anyway, I'd give Crisco no more than five or six years personally. And I do not want to hear any troll spouting off about hydrogenated fats. It is going to be the end of civilization. You won't care about long term health problems when you could be starving, and you will be working off all the fat you consume.
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Now to timing. This sort of ties in with yesterdays post. Back in the day when global nuclear war was on everyone's minds, back when communists were evil shifty guys you couldn't trust instead of our current economic butt buddies, back when the military had a real enemy instead of an invented one ( just referring to the false flag attack 9/11, not aimed at our boys overseas so relax ), we had a different level of anxiety. Or so it seems to me anyway. You always heard the phrase it was better to be a year too early than a minute too late. I guess back then it was patriotic to prep, since you were saving the tax payers money by paying for it, plus being part of the ( presumed ) surviving unorganized militia ( how times have changed ). Now that it would harm the account balance of the banks to be self sufficient rather than perpetually in debt preppers are scorned. Is that why no one is willing to appear to be the fool and prepare a year too early? Is it now uncool? Are you giving in to peer pressure? Be honest with yourself now. You can lie to your spouse and your friends and coworkers but at least try to be honest with yourself.
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I'm aware one size doesn't fit all. We are all unique and have different circumstances. But try to honestly assert your situation. Don't fall for your own hype. It's called believing your own press releases and it usually comes before the fall. I'm not judging, just trying to guide.
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