Sale on supplies this week

[Run Forest Run!]

I just got the most recent TSC flyer. All of the syrup supplies are on sale this week. If you need to replace or add anything to your stash before the sap starts flowing you'd better do it now before you are too busy to leave your evaporators!

[drpud]

If you are ever in the Elmira/Heidelberg area check out Reist's or Weber's. Prices generally better than TSC sale prices and excellent selection of buckets, spiles, etc.
Paul

[Run Forest Run!]

Thanks for that tip drpud!

[maple flats]

I never saw any maple stuff at TSC, I'll need to check. The local manager told me they were going to start carrying it 5 or 6 yrs ago. Then he said they decided not to. I wonder if only Canada is carrying it?

[PerryFamily]

Our local ( Walpole, NH ) TSC and Agway both have small displays. Maybe 8 square feet each.

Anyone near Chester VT, Erskine Feed Store has a fairly well stocked maple supply section. The prices are so so, but in a pinch .... you pay it.

[DonMcJr]

Our TSC did not carry it last year haven't looked this year. The Family Farm and Home Store had Buckets, Taps and a few glass bottles, way over priced but I had to clean them out of their 5 Bottles they had left last year:lol:

[markr]

A guy I know went to the BMR near Winchester Ontario and bought some stuff he said everything was cheaper than TSC

[daverobitaille]

Hey guys,

Just a note here. I found a way to reduce price a lot. If you buy new it is about 2$ for a spile and 7$ for a 2 gal bucket and 3 bucks for a lid. So almost 13 bucks / tree quite expensive.
Here is my solution. Used but good metal cast spiles for 1$ at atkinson and 0$ for buckets!!! How??? Here is my secret...we have cats so we buy the Max scoop litter send and it comes into a 3 gal plastic buckets with a lid!!! Great plastic and easy to modify. Cost per tap 1$. So I can tap 12 trees for the price of one.
If you do not have cats I am sure you have friends that do so ask them so save the buckets instead of going to recycling.
It is in the forest so I do not care about the looks. I will take a picture today and show you later tonight.
Dave

[Zamkev]

We have a cat and use that kind of cat litter as well.....but....I would never consider using the plastic container for sap - or anything else that would ultimately end up in my mouth. The cat littler is scented. The plastic smells, not to mention that it is not food grade. I do realize that the cost is much less - but is it really worth it? Just some random thoughts and a bit of a gut reaction. To each his/her own I guess.

[daverobitaille]

I understand what you say here. However after washing the buckets with soap and water and rinsed very well it DOES NOT SMELL like cat litter at all. As for the food grade plastic I would completely agree with you if it was for storing a finished product. Keep in mind as well that "if" there was any kind of bacteria or else in it, it would be killed in the boiling process. Now of course when I package I use the food grade bottles. My syrup was looked after last year by a local producer and he said it was like Grade A.
All I am trying to do here is to help someone to save money as a hobby should not cost a fortune. Just a note.... I have used those for the longest time and I am perfectly alive!
However like you say everybody have there ways.

[not_for_sale]

Here we go again ... It's not bacteria that you need to be concerned about.

[happy thoughts]

Here we go again ... It's not bacteria that you need to be concerned about.

LOL. Nervous tic has started here. I think I'll sit this one out :)

[govner4]

I have bought stuff from bmr in winchester some stuff is cheaper I bought 100 plastic taps they were 58 cents each they work very.

[maple flats]

On non food grade buckets you have no idea what the history of the plastic is. Also, food grade buckets use a much costlier mold releaser than non food grade. There is good resason why food grade costs more. If you want cheaper buckets, go to a bakery for old frosting buckets, or a chinese restaurant for used oil jugs. Then clean them. You will have food grade at the cost of a little elbow grease.

[Run Forest Run!]

I have bought stuff from bmr in winchester.

Govner4, what is bmr?

[PerryFamily]

If he wants to eat a product from a container meant to hold a product for cat crap, go for it.
BUT DONT EVEN THINK OF GIVING IT TO ANYONE ELSE

[Run Forest Run!]

There's no need to be nasty. Dave is just a beginner and there is a huge learning curve for us beginners. We join the forum to learn from your experience, not to be ridiculed. Dave don't worry, you are just one person in a very long line of people who have brought up the topic of foodsafe containers and lived to tell about it. I ought to know. Don't ask. At your leisure feel free to review the myriad of threads on this subject.

Now, back to those great deals at the TSC store.

[Yellzee]

I was going to grab some 1 litre bottles at tsc but even with 20% off they were way more expensive than my normal supply shop at squirrel creek farms up north of Port Hope. Its a bit of a trek compared to TSC but i Always manage to learn something from Dave while I'm there so it's an added bonus!

FOr the cheap bucket thread, for my boys who still love to check buckets its pretty cheap to connect a few 20 cent pipeline taps to a short piece of tubing and run in into a used 5 gallon foodgrade pail. Less buckets to dump as well.

[Run Forest Run!]

I was going to grab some 1 litre bottles at tsc but even with 20% off they were way more expensive than my normal supply shop at squirrel creek farms.

I don't doubt that. You really have to shop around and compare. For me, I plan to mostly use my mason jars. I have an endless supply. Each one has been used dozens of times over the years so they don't owe me anything. They are easy to clean and sterilize and I use a new lid every time I use a jar. I buy the lids 10 in a box at the Dollar Store for $1 a box. That's a pretty darn cheap way to store liquid gold.

[Cake O' Maple]

Dave, you couldn't wrestle those cat litter buckets from me for anything. If you scoop back into them when they're empty, the house smells a whole lot better, and so does the garbage can. I don't have to take out the scoopings every time I do it, either.

I was so interested when I saw that TSC had maple supplies, but it looks like it doesn't happen here, either. Sigh.

[drpud]

Just as an example: I paid $2 a bucket for Embee 2 gal buckets from Reist's. They are seconds ie the colour in the plastic may not be uniformly blue but they are new, hold sap just the same as the pretty ones and they are manufactured locally (near Crosshill, Ontario).
Paul