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Loss of income or some other mundane problem is far likelier than nuclear war or solar storms or a collision with an asteroid.
Chewing gum won't get you to the mail box to check your mail,
and walking won't exercise the jaw muscles or clean the teeth.
Loss of income is just one of the dozens of things we actually
need to prep for. (But, in her case, it wouldn't have been end
of the world, just a world of hurt.)
........This sounds nuts to me. Why would people leave split peas, brown rice and lentils behind? Don't they know how many tasty recipes can be made from those things ! ? (I ask somewhat in jest. Certainly they don't, which is their loss and our gain.)
Myself, I have not gone after my paperback of it yet but have read "From Alice to Ocean" and the Nat'l Geo article.
Anyhow, her exploits is what introduced me to lentils and I learned to cook the other stuff from those.
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(about out of work food supplies)
I know of at least one family that did this. They were out of work, and the mom decided to use their deep larder, rather than buy groceries. Their grocery bill was reduced to about $30 a month, and their stores kept the family (or four or five) going for 8 months.
It can, of course, go both ways. When I moved out of the apartments, I think I left 5-8 5lb bags of flour behind. What happened to get to that point was that I would be shopping, thinking about baking something, wonder if I had enough and then just say, Oh, Well, just buy a bag. Another reason might be that I was about to cook something for a bake sale or the like and would buy fresh ingredients. Even now I think I have 3+ bags in the house, sitting around in a counter jar and empty plastic Fodgers containers. Another source of "excess" flour and sugar are camp outs. Send them out with fresh ingredients.
The other way? When I moved into the Rental house, I found out I had tons of spaghetti in bags and boxes. It was so easy to buy such as at the dollar stores. So I stopped buying and I think it took me about a year to bring stocks down. I tend to eat a lot of the stuff because it is so easy to cook up and I like to cook the toppings, fish based, in wine.
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One thing she learned was that she was underestimating how much they would go through in a TEOTWAKI event. She thought she had a two years supply, but said that the 8 months of use would have exhausted it, were it not for various supplementary supplies (what she bought and what was given to her by others).
Backing away from whatever scenario, let's talk about spices.
First of all, salt is probably a pretty good one to keep around for its many uses. Among those uses may be as meat tenderizer. Reading about hunters lost in the woods, one of the things I would come across is that they would be starving, would manage to shoot some kind of small game, but then be unable to eat it because the meat was too tough.
Then all those other spices. In places like Big Lots, they tend to be cheap enough.....and my pantry is stuffed full with them. Even if ancient, they can make the meal more appetizing.
While not quite a spice, one might want to take a look at molasses. Hey, if the pioneers used it......
It won't keep you from starving and it does not have a reverse ingredient guide (if you have this, you can make that), but it is quite informative and could provide a morale booster.
First of all, salt is probably a pretty good one to keep around for its many uses. Among those uses may be as meat tenderizer. Reading about hunters lost in the woods, one of the things I would come across is that they would be starving, would manage to shoot some kind of small game, but then be unable to eat it because the meat was too tough.
Salt is so necessary in the long term that I would treat it like flour if I lived over 50 miles from a source (like the ocean or an actual salt mine).
I haven't been to Big Lots, yet, but I found a couple years ago that that Sams Club became much less useful to me. Many years ago, I could go there and buy cases of stuff. Now, instead of a 12 pack of small cans, they carry a huge can. I don't want everything in huge containers, I need to be able to use it in daily life.
You brought up cook books, and one thing I have never seen is a reverse ingredient guide. For anyone wanting to make a buck, there is an idea. I know of a woman who did a recipe book that used Prepper Store ingredients and told how to prepare them under austere conditions. https://www.amazon.com/The-Prepared-...amily+cookbook
But, even that isn't a "reverse ingredient guide."
Salt is so necessary in the long term that I would treat it like flour if I lived over 50 miles from a source (like the ocean or an actual salt mine).
I haven't been to Big Lots, yet, but I found a couple years ago that that Sams Club became much less useful to me. Many years ago, I could go there and buy cases of stuff. Now, instead of a 12 pack of small cans, they carry a huge can. I don't want everything in huge containers, I need to be able to use it in daily life.
You brought up cook books, and one thing I have never seen is a reverse ingredient guide. For anyone wanting to make a buck, there is an idea. I know of a woman who did a recipe book that used Prepper Store ingredients and told how to prepare them under austere conditions. https://www.amazon.com/The-Prepared-...amily+cookbook
But, even that isn't a "reverse ingredient guide."
One could probably do it with a computer but this is a scenario where one shouldn't depend on electronics. So unless one has a master cook with them, probably the best thing is to get a notebook and start keeping notes.
Well, you are just one big ray of sunshine, aren't you?
As things go, I do have a lot in canned goods. Started around 2012 when I discovered Chef Boradi (never knew about canned spaghetti). Found out it was so cheap and bought oodles!
Then I found out what was in it so now they mostly sit on the pantry shelf. Every once in a while, I'll open up a can but for the most part, I call them "my out of work supply".
One thing that has recently crossed my mind is how long can brisket can last in the freezer, uncooked or cooked. Around here, right now, it is $1.98/lb and the question is not so much for disaster but rather for retirement.....if in a dreamy state.
Emergency power, well, that is the thing, isn't it? Past the diesel generator, unless one is lucky to have hydro, it would have to be a combination of solar and wind and even for me, that is quite a bit down the road.
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When I had foodstuffs in a community pantry, things like split peas, brown rice, and lentils usually meant that I always had my stuff for a meal, that no one else would make off with it. My cooking oil supply was usually in sardines but that's iffy. While relatives told me to stop giving sardines as stocking stuffers, that doesn't mean the lack of appreciation applies to all.
Meat will store in a chest freezer for a long time if it is vacuum sealed. If air can get to it, not so much. If you have a self-defrosting upright, the temperature cycles will ruin it. Don't plan on saving meat for retirement. Raise cow instead. If you want fat meat, raise a pig.
The best way to store canned food is in glass, in the dark. It's the only way to store fish long term. Buy a pressure canner and a Ball Blue Book, and follow the recipes. I bought hundreds of quart canning jars 20 years ago, when home canning was out of style. The Goodwill "as-is" outlet would sell a case of them for $2, but they seem to have raised the price lately to as much a $5/dozen. One of the suppliers, I think Kerr, has developed a new lid liner that is supposedly impenetrable. Canned beef in glass will last longer than frozen beef, and it has the advantage of not needing electricity. Canning also tenderizes the meat. In the old days, cattle were differentiated as "canners or cutters." Young ones were for the fresh meat market, old ones were for the processed meat market. Most of the burger you get at fast food joints came from canners, mostly old dairy cows. If you are canning meats, I recommend pints rather than quarts. First, the processing time is shorter for pint jars. Also, a quart of meat is a lot of meat, when you are going to use it as a base for soup or spaghetti sauce. A pint of beef will flavor a whopping big pot of lentils.
As for emergency power, mostly you don't need it. A chest freezer will hold for 24 hours no problem, and new energy star appliances don't use much. I have a little 1000w camp generator that I paid $149 for that will run 4.5 hours on a gallon of gas. That's plenty of time to cool the freezer back down and charge the Kindle and cell phone. You may need a larger generator to run the well pump, but you only need that half an hour a day, or an hour if you have to heat a tank of water for your shower first.
This time of year you can pick up boxes of Christmas tapers at thrift stores. Somebody put them on the table for Christmas dinner, burned them for half an hour, then donated them. They provide plenty of light to keep you from stumbling around, but be careful about fire. Don't leave a it candle unattended.
Buy cooking oil in small glass bottles. Plastic is not good for long term storage, and once you open oil the air starts the process of turning it rancid.
These 'old dairy cows' on factory farms are not old they are 'less profitable' but still profitable at 4 or 5 years of age and sold for slaughter. My own pet Jersey cow Daphne is 6 years old. Her milk output is lower than it has been. She's a pet though. I don't need 8 or 10 gallons either. I take a gallon a day from her the calf gets the rest. All her calves have been steers sold for meat. As my rancher husband says its either us (people) or the buzzards. I don't can meat, I make cheese.
Salt is very important. I use both iodized and canning salt for different purposes. I must have close to a lifetime supply. Note that canning salt hardens so be sure to have a grinder.
Don't forget spices. Always buy them whole and grind them as you use them. They keep for a surprisingly long time, but you may need to increase the quantity as time passes. You can use a mortar and pestle to grind them, but the cheap blade coffee grinders are easier. Have one for each spice. Pepper mills are very useful as well.
Everyone has room for a little herb garden inside. Grow the herbs that you use. I've been doing this for years.
Meat will store in a chest freezer for a long time if it is vacuum sealed. If air can get to it, not so much. If you have a self-defrosting upright, the temperature cycles will ruin it. Don't plan on saving meat for retirement. Raise cow instead. If you want fat meat, raise a pig.
One of the reasons why I don't regret getting a chest freezer is that they aren't defrosting and hence, there are not defrosting cycles.
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......As for emergency power, mostly you don't need it. A chest freezer will hold for 24 hours no problem, and new energy star appliances don't use much. I have a little 1000w camp generator that I paid $149 for that will run 4.5 hours on a gallon of gas. That's plenty of time to cool the freezer back down and charge the Kindle and cell phone. You may need a larger generator to run the well pump, but you only need that half an hour a day, or an hour if you have to heat a tank of water for your shower first.
The auxiliary energy systems of the ranch, presently, are solar for the well, propane for the stove and water heater, and an emergency moveable diesel for the house. I went with diesel because I wasn't too crazy about keeping a lot of gasoline around the house.
There are various other loss of main power projects down the line such as using the well's solar grid to charge emergency light batteries (conduit piping in place), plugging the emergency diesel into the well (talked to the drillers about that), other solar panels for other systems (still in the box), but as said, that's down the line. Speaking of down the line, the house is downhill from the well's storage tank so in a pinch, there is still water flow but the pressure would be non existent.
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This time of year you can pick up boxes of Christmas tapers at thrift stores. Somebody put them on the table for Christmas dinner, burned them for half an hour, then donated them. They provide plenty of light to keep you from stumbling around, but be careful about fire. Don't leave a it candle unattended.
One of the things about being a scuba diver is that I have ended up with oodles of camp handheld lanterns. They are, well were (for I see a newer model is out) cheap and often, cheaper to buy the unit with the battery, 6v, than the batter itself. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OSF0ZE...a-327545560298
I bought a lot of them to mark floats out in a lake for night ops. When they were no longer needed for that, I then put them on station around Mom's house and now, there are several around my house and cars.
The newer model? I don't know, I will have to see, I am seeing mixed reviews. It says it runs on D cells which would be great because those are rechargeable but one review is saying they aren't accessible which would really suck.
Long ago, I was into baths with many scented candles around but worries of a cat upsetting one ended that decades ago. These days, I am not much of one for having candles except purely for emergencies such as survival heating. I suppose I should, however, because I am finding that on the ranch, the general nature is to stockpile.
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Buy cooking oil in small glass bottles. Plastic is not good for long term storage, and once you open oil the air starts the process of turning it rancid.
Mom said to put it in the refrigerator to stop it from becoming rancid but I don't know because I use it, olive oil, a lot (bottom of the wok pots, boiling spaghetti, into pizza dough, breakfast skillet), a bottle in the pantry lasts a long time, and I have not yet had "rancid". Perhaps I just don't know that is. Like what I say about wine, "With my palate for bitterness, I can't tell good wine from swill!".
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Originally Posted by Nurse Bishop
These 'old dairy cows' on factory farms are not old they are 'less profitable' but still profitable at 4 or 5 years of age and sold for slaughter. My own pet Jersey cow Daphne is 6 years old. Her milk output is lower than it has been. She's a pet though. I don't need 8 or 10 gallons either. I take a gallon a day from her the calf gets the rest. All her calves have been steers sold for meat. As my rancher husband says its either us (people) or the buzzards. I don't can meat, I make cheese.
Well, it is an idea but then again, consider the thoughts about me and goats.
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