stored food

[emordnilap]

Over the last couple of years I have increased stocks of dried pasta very substantialy indeed and now have over 50 kilos.

What would be the storage limits, time-wise, on pasta?

[featherstick]

For emergencies it doesn't have to be all that fancy. 20 pounds of all wheat flour with some baking powder and baking soda can make a lot of biscuits, pan cakes etc. Ten pounds of rolled oats for breakfast porridge and cookies. Another twenty pounds of pasta of various types then twenty pounds of dried soldier beans, peas or lintels. And of course as much rice in five gallon snapped tight pails as you have space for. If you have that then you won't go hungry and then can add canned stuff to your liking plus what you can forage from garden and woods.

"lintels"? Bit tough on the old teeth there VTS, especially the concrete ones! Or did you mean "lentils"?

+1 on the rolled oats. Versatile and nutritious.

Yes of course. On the rolled oats, a lot of old Yankees, my father included ate oatmeal or' cream of wheat' hot cereal every day for breakfast for years with perhaps some toast and coffee. So there with just two of my items you have a third of your needs. And with a good breakfast under your belt you will have the energy to forage for the other two meals. and the fuel to cook them. Anybody here ever bake bread in a dutch oven over a camp fire or on one of your rocket stoves?

I've baked yeast bread on a campfire. Proved the yeast and raised the dough in the warm engine compartment of the car, baked the loaf in a heavy cast-iron pan with an empty biscuit tin on top which fit nicely into the circumference of the pan. I put coals on top of the biscuit tin too. A lovely loaf of bread, slightly burnt on the bottom but otherwise fine and an adequate size for one day for 2 adults and one child camping.

I spent a week doing all our cooking (with the exception of my coffee) on a campfire/rocket stove combination and one thing it taught me is that it is a faff. You are constantly tending the fre, moving pots, raking out coals, firewood, cutting bits down to fit, getting the fire hot, and generally messing about with it. It made me appreciate gas a lot more.

I've now bought myself a Bosnian "sech" a sort of domed Dutch oven designed to be used over a fire outdoors. I'm going to have a play with it this summer.

[adam2]

Over the last couple of years I have increased stocks of dried pasta very substantialy indeed and now have over 50 kilos.

What would be the storage limits, time-wise, on pasta?

The "best before" dates on dried pasta are typicly a couple of years from purchase.
I would however expect it to keep almost indefinatly, I have certainly used it years past the date and it seemed fine.

[emordnilap]

For the past few years, we've been getting 25kg sacks of organically-grown pot barley, brown rice and sometimes oats. Oats don't keep as well as the other two.

Once a week we have a meal based on barley, once a week on rice, once a week on pasta, once a week on mash. The rest are pot luck. I can plan meals and budget that way.

One of barley's advantages is that it requires a certain amount of chewing, which tends to make you feel fuller; it soaks up flavourings too. Also - more well-cooked than we like it - it supplements the dog's food; he digests it quite well. Rice, he doesn't digest as well. Oats he loves and again he digests them well.

The barley is mega-cheap, around €1.80 a kilo, even though imported from GB.

[tpals]

Many basic or uninteresting foods are much better with butter, and of course butter contains a lot of calories and keeps well in a freezer. This however is reliant on an electricity supply.

USA doomers often recomend a stash of tinned butter, but this does not seem to be available in the UK.
Can anyone recomend a UK supplier of tinned butter ?

The butter brand sold in the US is Red Feather which comes from New Zealand. I don't know if it's available in the UK.

[RenewableCandy]

Or you could slum it with veggie-oil and a little salt.

[Catweazle]

The plan is to get a 1000l IBC in the back garden and fill it with rainwater. Just one of many projects....

I don't know if you can move one, but I'll be back in Kent in the next few weeks, in the van, so if you want one collected and delivered locally let me know. There's a chap on eBay, in Cardigan, selling them for £35 or best offers. If you fancy one of them I can collect and bring it over with me.

Thank you, that's a very kinds offer. We are moving on with garden projects so I may well say yes. When are you back?

I was back last weekend, to see my boys and my new grandson. I'll be back again in a few weeks.

Incidentally, I put an IBC in the polytunnel and put my seed trays on top of it. The water soaks up heat in the day and protects the seedlings from frost at night.

[adam2]

Many basic or uninteresting foods are much better with butter, and of course butter contains a lot of calories and keeps well in a freezer. This however is reliant on an electricity supply.

USA doomers often recomend a stash of tinned butter, but this does not seem to be available in the UK.
Can anyone recomend a UK supplier of tinned butter ?

The butter brand sold in the US is Red Feather which comes from New Zealand. I don't know if it's available in the UK.

Not sold in the UK, AFAIK.
Unless anyone knows otherwise ?

[sam_uk]

I can't help but wonder if it might be better to befriend someone who has a cow?

I do keep a bit of a food around, but when you get past the 'month or two' stage I think you are better off putting the time/energy/investment into building local connections and resilience.

Farmer relies on the grid? Make a off grid churn. Relies on the transport system? Try and get him into permanent pasture.. Then the community has butter forever.

You can substitute rennet for thistle sap.

http://www.appropedia.org/Butter_making ... ion_Brief)

2p

Sam

[vtsnowedin]

I can't help but wonder if it might be better to befriend someone who has a cow?

I do keep a bit of a food around, but when you get past the 'month or two' stage I think you are better off putting the time/energy/investment into building local connections and resilience.

Farmer relies on the grid? Make a off grid churn. Relies on the transport system? Try and get him into permanent pasture.. Then the community has butter forever.

You can substitute rennet for thistle sap.

http://www.appropedia.org/Butter_making ... ion_Brief)

2p

Sam

Ayup! If you have an acre and a half for the cow and her calf you can have enough milk , butter and cheese to supply a family. A worthwhile effort if your not more gainfully employed.

[mikepepler]

The trouble I find with stored food is that unless disaster strikes, it may be a couple of years after buying that you get round to eating, as you rotate the stock. So only now am I finding that I bought too many tins of kidney beans compared to other beans 2-3 years ago...

[RenewableCandy]

Chilli Con Carne is marvellous stuff. Erm, unless you're vegetarian! In which case there's Georgian Bean Salad (basically kidney beans with fried and fresh onions and fresh corriander leaves).

[vtsnowedin]

The trouble I find with stored food is that unless disaster strikes, it may be a couple of years after buying that you get round to eating, as you rotate the stock. So only now am I finding that I bought too many tins of kidney beans compared to other beans 2-3 years ago...

Well a little thoughtful planning can greatly reduce this. After all if your not eating something this month your probably still not going to be eating it or wanting to in a couple of years. There is something to be said for storing some foods you would not eat unless it was a real emergency. Those don't get used up and not replaced so they will in fact still be on the back of the top shelf when you need them. And if you have missed a few meals a can of Spam or rice and black beans will taste just fine then.

[adam2]

I can't help but wonder if it might be better to befriend someone who has a cow?
I do keep a bit of a food around, but when you get past the 'month or two' stage I think you are better off putting the time/energy/investment into building local connections and resilience.
Farmer relies on the grid? Make a off grid churn. Relies on the transport system? Try and get him into permanent pasture.. Then the community has butter forever.
You can substitute rennet for thistle sap.
http://www.appropedia.org/Butter_making ... ion_Brief)
2p
Sam

Befriending someone who has a cow has its merits and I hope to do this, but IMHO, this should be in addition to stored butter or other foodstuffs.
The cow might be dry, dead, stolen, requisitioned, or otherwise unavailable.
In any serious emergency it is preferable to have ones own stocks rather than to count on others.

[RenewableCandy]

The logistics of befriending someone who has a cow are slightly awkward in suburbia Though the nearest farm is a far-from-unrealistic bike-ride away, nothing in the normal course of events would cause us to happen to know the people who live there. There was a farmers' market here for a while, but it was a bit of a boutique affair because, as I recall, the pitches were too damn costly for any "normal" food-selling. It was all 6-quid jars of honey and carved wooden statues, interspersed with the odd ostrich-burger. I blame the rent-seekers rather than the actual farmers.