Posted on 04/04/2011 5:07:41 PM PDT by 7thson
What is the general opinion that there will be a food shortage in the United States? Also, what do people recommend? What to purchase? How to store? How to prepare? Any good web sites to go for tips?
Thank you in advance.
Costco has a lot that is is my pantry. Canned tuna, salmon, brown rice, quinoa, dried has brown potatoes, just look around. We always stay stocked up.
Well, the flour (or wheat) goes into bread, cake, cookies, gravy, on meat, tortillas, biscuits, sprouts, etc.
It’s also ideal for slipping a loaf of bread to someone you know hasn’t eaten that day.
I used the calculator for the basics and then added meat and some barter goods.
Guess I’ll just have to be ridiculous.
I cant think of anyplace in the world where there is a food shortage among people who have the money to pay for it. As long as there is a market for food, food producers will serve it.
I think a bigger question is whether we will be able to afford food.
Evaporated milk works for coffee. Also, King Arthur Flour Company sells a dried whole milk powder. It keeps quite well in the freezer for a long time, reconstitutes with hot water and a whisk and then keeps in the fridge as well as fresh cream.
A shorter shelf-life product (12-18 months) can be found in the Hispanic section: it is a small (7.6 oz) can of cream from Nestle called *media crema*/Table Cream. It is so thick, that water can be added, so it really makes a larger amount.
For non-vacuum-packed or unfrozen dried beans, you need a grain mill in case they get too old to cook. Then, all you can do is grind them to add to flour or to use as an *instant* soup powder or a thickener.
The potatoes can be sliced thin w/a mandoline and dehydrated, then vacuum-packed. Cook like any packaged potato product, adding liquid and baking or boiling until the potatoes soften.
Food prices are going up weekly.
The victims are volunteers. They can invest in these commodities.
I think my parents generation was the last one where a significant number of the population was capable of living on a totally or near totally subsistence farm. Now my Mother, her 12 brothers and sisters and their parents all worked very hard but in a way they had it good.
Their farm was over 1000 acres and they had everything they needed and more. Grandpa Mac would buy a new model T pickup every years.
Not too long after my parents were married, dadddy was drafted into WWII They had four kids and daddy sent his pay to Mother along with her allotment. He could sell his cigarette allotment for more money than he needed.
After he got home in 1946 Mother had saved over $3000 which was enough to buy a forty acre farm and home. Now making a living with 5 kids (I was born by then) on 40 acres is a lot tougher than doing so on a thousand.
Daddy grew beautiful crops, we had a smokehouse full of delicious meat. Mother made our soap. but everything was not fine. Florida did not have a stock law back then and neighbors hogs would teard down a fence and eat most of his crop in one night.
I didn’t realize how poor our finances were until one Christmas we each got a dime for christmas. Mother always said we would have done fine on only forty acres if not for the hogs destroying everything. Daddy went to work at Tyndall field and we moved off the farm to Panama City.
I will say one thing. We never went hungry even at the worst times. Mother was great about making something out of nothing. We all misses the farm.
Later Daddy worked at Eglin and we bought another 40 acres.
Both my parents being farmers at heart, they always grew large gardens which actually were more than enough for our food with the addition of a few items from the supermarket and hardware store. At times they thought about getting a few cows and hogs especially since the 40 acres was double fenced but for some reason they never did.
They did indeed know how to live off the land. I do not because we left the farm before I really learned the more difficult things.
Look on some of the prepper threads for good advice.
If you’re in a major city I recommend stocking up on some fava beans and a nice chianti... it’s going to get nasty.
There will be food shortages in the next 24 mos. Everyone should be stocking up on what they can afford at the grocery every week. You do not necessarily have to buy expensive freeze dried food. If you don’t have the money just buy extra dried rice and beans and canned foods at the store. They will keep long enough to get you through 6-12 mos of hard times.
My List of Essentials”
5 gallons of vegetable oil
Powdered milk
canned meats
canned soups and chili
Canned veggies
Sugar
Salt
Flour
Corn meal
Yeast
Dried pastas, beans, peas
Dried soup mixes
Rice (50 lbs)
Instant coffee and tea bags
Spices
Muffin and bread mixes
Waffle and pancake mixes
Honey and Syrup
Be sure to include canned salmon (wild Alaskan) in your storage. It’s cheap; and add a little chopped onion, an egg, a few cracker crumbs, fry up a few patties. If you’re REALLY hungry; it’s good protein and hits the spot. Tuna, canned chicken, kippers, peanut butter, beans, whole grain basmati rice, also your favorite stuff. M&M’s for me and I can make it. Canned peaches and fruit cocktail. Dried fruit. . and the wild turkeys out here better look out; also these deer that have been livin’ high on the hog for all these years better look out, too.
All good. I left out canned tuna and Salmon which we have and also peanut butter which we get in the large jars at Costco. Good call all the way around. Don’t forget lots of crackers.
I just found Peanut butter(valuetime) 18 oz for $1.29
4 jars went right in the pantry
We also have the advantage of being the food SUPPLIER to much of the world for soybeans, wheat and corn. We could feed ourselves and all our friends at least beans and grains if we stopped burning it in our fuel tanks.
If you buy storage food, use it!
Grind that wheat for bread flour, or make pasta but use it in rotation.
You want to store wheat berries because flour goes bad with bugs and loses nutrients.
We buy wheat from the co-op put the 50 lb bag in the freezer to kill the bug eggs and vac-seal it with a bay leaf inside. It works well for us.
Cook beans in a pressure cooker if you're strapped for time.
Wash and rinse the beans.
Run them up to pressure and turn them off leaving the weight in place until the steam's gone.
Rinse the beans and change the water.
7 to 12 minutes in the cooker and they're done.
Look up pressure cooking beans online there are plenty of guides.
Invest in a pressure canner and all the jars you can find. We haunt the Goodwill , thrift and flea markets. I order the lids online in big paper tubes (we must have a couple of hundred stashed. BTW I need to get more of those).
Grow or buy fruit and vegetables in season at local farm-stands. (We just got 10 bushels of sweet potatoes for under $40, can you say sweet potato pie? I knew you could!)
Last but not least if you have room get some chickens.
Hens lay about an egg a day. Get a rooster and a broody hen and you get more chickens. Build your chicken house first before you get your birds. Again there is info online.
If you have room for a feeder hog or steer even better.
If you can't have chickens, try rabbits or even guinea pigs.
OK so you won't be having any hot wings but it is protein.
Just remember if you fail to prepare, YOU FAIL! Other things to remember:
TP and feminine supplies.(and emergency chocolate)
Vitamins.
A good Berky water filter. Because you can't live without clean water.
I'm not online much anymore. I borrow a cup of internet maybe once a week and we don't get cable this far out. If I could wean myself from electricity I'd be all set.
a word of caution concerning peanut butter. do not purchase it in plastic containers if you plan to store it. Over time the chemicals from the plastic jar will leech into the peanut butter and it will taste nasty...
personal experience as a college student...
a word of caution concerning peanut butter. do not purchase it in plastic containers if you plan to store it. Over time the chemicals from the plastic jar will leech into the peanut butter and it will taste nasty...
personal experience as a college student...
Actually, beans are good for decades; all you have to do is soak them in warm water over night. The only danger is water, which can make them sprout.
And I agree, evap milk is better than ND creamer.
Thanks for the hint on King Arthur dried milk.
Hmmm...
I guess it never lasts that long around here.
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