Are You Stocking Up On Food?
- Thread starter Baymule
- Start date
As far as I'm concerned - paying hard earned money for groceries is a far cry from letting "big brother" feed me. I'd like a bit more explanation to this statement.
Last edited:
I can honestly say, that I too, have been thinking about these things more and more each day. After being layed off at my 2nd company because it was stomped down from the family company it was, bought out by a big corporation. There were lay offs in sections, every couple of months. (first was in September, second in December and the "last" in January.) What few friends made it through the first three, have recently lost their jobs because they let go of more. (They were at least forth coming in telling us the commercial work we were doing was 90% cheaper in their factory in china so they were shipping all commercial there and the little bit of military we had was being sent to a different company. And they told us when they were kicking us out, day and time.
Those of us that went in September were lucky I got December and by the time December rolled around I had a nervous break down and more whites in my hair than I care to actually tell.
(this was last September,December, January)
I'm Still unemployed. I have two immediate people who depend on me.
I was and am the only source of income. We now live on 1100$a month. I have learned the art of juggling bills. And pushing due dates.
But through all of this I have learned the value to what I have on my own property. I am also planting more beneficial plants around my property to cut down costs. Most of these were from friends whom got a odd plant here or there and don't know what to do with it.
My family and I share the bounties of our trees. Oranges. Mulberries. Grapefruits. Bananas. Papayas, pineapple etc.
I even found a 40ft pecan tree about 4 blocks from where I live. I have found fruit trees to be unbelievably great to have around. And I'm planning for others in my yard.
I am learning how to plant a garden. Been trying for 4yrs but with the lay off I have had a full yr to really put my efforts into it. We're learning a lot. Composting. Compost Tea. Soil Amendments. etc.
And we no longer buy top brand foods at all, we do most of our shopping at Aldis, Or Save a lot.
Now that I have the chickens what we don't eat, weeds I pull, fruits that go "bad", get fed to the chickens. And I've got a pretty good circle there. Fertilizer, eggs, less garden,fruit and trash waste.
Am I saving food? Lets put it this way, I have 4 kitchen cabinets that I was using for odds and ends in my garage, Now I am slowly filling up with extra food. I'm not "prepping" because I'm worried about doomsday. For me it is necessity right now.
The three of us are learning the team effort to enjoy what we grow and not let things go to waste.
I'm Still unemployed. I have two immediate people who depend on me.
But through all of this I have learned the value to what I have on my own property. I am also planting more beneficial plants around my property to cut down costs. Most of these were from friends whom got a odd plant here or there and don't know what to do with it.
My family and I share the bounties of our trees. Oranges. Mulberries. Grapefruits. Bananas. Papayas, pineapple etc.
I am learning how to plant a garden. Been trying for 4yrs but with the lay off I have had a full yr to really put my efforts into it. We're learning a lot. Composting. Compost Tea. Soil Amendments. etc.
And we no longer buy top brand foods at all, we do most of our shopping at Aldis, Or Save a lot.
Now that I have the chickens what we don't eat, weeds I pull, fruits that go "bad", get fed to the chickens. And I've got a pretty good circle there. Fertilizer, eggs, less garden,fruit and trash waste.
Am I saving food? Lets put it this way, I have 4 kitchen cabinets that I was using for odds and ends in my garage, Now I am slowly filling up with extra food. I'm not "prepping" because I'm worried about doomsday. For me it is necessity right now.
The three of us are learning the team effort to enjoy what we grow and not let things go to waste.
- Apr 15, 2011
- 2,957
- 178
- 261
For me, it is easy to see the increasing corporate control of food, the rate our population has been growing at, the deteriation of natural resources and systems, and where that is leading to. My husband and I are slowly working towards being able to grow food for ourselves, and hopefully others, but it takes land, money, and time so has been a slow transition for us. That said, we also realize we are not living on an island. If food becomes short for others in times of natural disaster or what have you, I do not expect the massive population we have in this country to leave my shelves tidily stocked. So, we'll do what we can for us, do what we can or others, but most of it comes down to a political stance, learning what we can of being more independent (I find the term "self-sufficient" to be misleading), wanting food that actually improves health, wanting food raised with respect given to ecosystems and humane care, and honestly wanting the highly superior flavor that comes with quality food. I see the skills we learn as being more useful to us in a prolonged period of food/water shortage than I do food stocking, though of course that is a great skill to have. 
A few years ago I worked with a guy who became a good friend. He was a Mormon and told me that their teaching is that you should have a years supply of food on hand. He told me about how his parents had a pantry room with shelving that allowed them to rotate their stock regularly. As the economy started heading downhill and my wife and I became better off financially, we started an aggressive food stocking program.
As a country, we can't keep spending what we don't have and not expect there to be consequences at some point. When the piper calls, I don't expect it to be pretty. So IMHO everyone should try to stock up for hard times. It doesn't take much to start. Spend an extra $5.00 a week on stocking foods. Keep an eye on prices and go for the discount brands. Sams Club is a terrible place to stock up if you don't know current food prices. I really have a handle on what foods go for at the different stores in our area. Oh for the days when I could get a 4 lb bag of pinto beans for $1.69 on sale. That was 2 years ago. They are now $4.00 for 4 lbs. Luckily I probably picked up 200# before the prices rose like they did.
Another great value is barley. I buy barley in 50# bags through Amazon Prime. It is great for soups. and as an additive to other recipes.
For long term storage I use 5 gallon buckets with large Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. I'll put things like pinto beans, macaroni and similar dried foods in Ziploc bags (with small holes poked into them) and place them in the Mylar bags. I'll also throw in gravy and sauce packets. I then use white enriched rice as packing material to fill up all the voids. After tossing in a couple of oxygen absorbers, I try to suck out as much air as possible and use an iron to seal the Mylar bag shut. You can tell that the oxygen absorbers are working after a few days when the bag has scrunched down real tight. Food preserved like this has a shelf life of decades.
Rice is still one of the most cost effective foods for long term storage. It isn't very tasty and gets boring if you have to eat it every day but it beats hunger.
I also picked up a vacuum pump and mason jar attachment to vacuum store dried foods in mason jars. Dried peppers, onions, shell beans, etc... store for a real long time in them.
When we pick up canned foods, we print out labels and mark every one with it's expiration date. We have gotten caught with a lot of them expiring, but the dates are conservative estimates.
Lastly... Water. A lot of people look into food and guns, but next to air, water is the most important thing that you need. We are not quite set up for it yet, but eventually I'll have our well converted to run off of solar. When that day comes, we will be pretty well set.
As a country, we can't keep spending what we don't have and not expect there to be consequences at some point. When the piper calls, I don't expect it to be pretty. So IMHO everyone should try to stock up for hard times. It doesn't take much to start. Spend an extra $5.00 a week on stocking foods. Keep an eye on prices and go for the discount brands. Sams Club is a terrible place to stock up if you don't know current food prices. I really have a handle on what foods go for at the different stores in our area. Oh for the days when I could get a 4 lb bag of pinto beans for $1.69 on sale. That was 2 years ago. They are now $4.00 for 4 lbs. Luckily I probably picked up 200# before the prices rose like they did.
Another great value is barley. I buy barley in 50# bags through Amazon Prime. It is great for soups. and as an additive to other recipes.
For long term storage I use 5 gallon buckets with large Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. I'll put things like pinto beans, macaroni and similar dried foods in Ziploc bags (with small holes poked into them) and place them in the Mylar bags. I'll also throw in gravy and sauce packets. I then use white enriched rice as packing material to fill up all the voids. After tossing in a couple of oxygen absorbers, I try to suck out as much air as possible and use an iron to seal the Mylar bag shut. You can tell that the oxygen absorbers are working after a few days when the bag has scrunched down real tight. Food preserved like this has a shelf life of decades.
Rice is still one of the most cost effective foods for long term storage. It isn't very tasty and gets boring if you have to eat it every day but it beats hunger.
I also picked up a vacuum pump and mason jar attachment to vacuum store dried foods in mason jars. Dried peppers, onions, shell beans, etc... store for a real long time in them.
When we pick up canned foods, we print out labels and mark every one with it's expiration date. We have gotten caught with a lot of them expiring, but the dates are conservative estimates.
Lastly... Water. A lot of people look into food and guns, but next to air, water is the most important thing that you need. We are not quite set up for it yet, but eventually I'll have our well converted to run off of solar. When that day comes, we will be pretty well set.
To build on what P-A-D stated. Grow heirloom vegetables and fruits whenever possible. Also can as much as possible. We canned a ton of green beans out of the garden this year. The corn and tomatoes were a bust, but the beans were great.
- Apr 15, 2008
- 1,960
- 80
- 341
This is an interesting discussion, and it made me wonder what percentage of Americans have a fair amount of food stored away. Let's define fair by a few months supply. One percent? Five percent? Ten percent? It is these people that I am concerned about when the other 90-something percent get really hungry -- especially the Mormons and Amish because their lifestyle is so well-known.
- Thread starter
- #18
I posted this to get ya'll to thinking. Arienwolf is unemployed. That puts a whole new look at going to the grocery store. What if Arienwolf had a pantry bulging with stored food? Would that make a difficult time a little easier, knowing the family would be fed? (not picking on you Arienwolf, but you illustrated what a lot of people in the counrty are going through right now, and I thank you for your input) I am unemployed. I quit my job in March to care for my 89 year old mother. She now lives with us. DH is our sole means of support. While my job would never make us rich, it sure helped pay bills and buy............groceries!
We don't live on acerage, we live on a tiny lot in town. I have gardened for 7 years in the strip of dirt between our driveway and sidewalk because it gets sunshine. Three years ago I added a green bean garden on the other side of the driveway, It is one foot wide and twelve feet long. It produces until we have a killing frost. We eat green beans several times a week. Since I now have so much time, used to work 10 hour days, I am putting in three more beds for spring. Our summer garden gave us zuchinni, yellow squash, tomatoes, onions, new potatoes, basil, rosemary, bell peppers, bananna peppers, and cherry tomatoes. I froze zuchinni and yellow squash. I canned 17 pints of vegetable soup. I dehydrated tomatoes and onions from the garden. I bought okra, purple hull peas and corn, which went in the freezer. I also dehydrated okra and found it makes a satisfying crunchy snack. Last week, using chicken backs and bony parts, I made soup. I added dehydrated onions, tomatoes and okra. It made a good meal and it cost very little. The garden is not big by any means. I usually have a few of this and a few of that, but it feeds us.
From 2 store bought sweet potatoes that were sprouting, I have 3 beds planted, vines running riot and we will dig them in a couple of more weeks. For Our fall garden, we have 5 brussel sprout plants and 8 collard greens-bought as plants from the feed store, planted from seed-we have broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, mustard greens, and garlic. Still to be planted is turnip greens. Also have 18 tomato plants that are blooming planted under a PVC frame I made a couple of years ago and we jokingly call it the redneck green house. In a few weeks we will wrap it in plastic and lots of duct tape, run an outdoor extension cord, install the small electric heater and we'll be set for fresh tomatoes all winter! A friend gave me all the huge figs his tree produced, if I would give him a few jars of strawberry fig preserves. Which of course I gratefully did.
I have posted pics of my garden and produce on BYC's sister site, The Easy Garden, link found at the bottom of the page. I am posting links to my topics I posted so ya'll can see what can be produced on a small lot, in small beds without killing myself with back breaking work.
My green bean garden:
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33860
my sweet potatoes-not harvested yet
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33974
home made soup
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33863
new potatoes
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33864
I am sharing this with ya'll so you can see what can be done even if you live in town on a tiny lot like I do. You don't have to have 100' rows to have a garden. Study your available space and plant the things you like to eat. Even if you eat it all fresh and there is not enough to can, dehydrate or freeze, did you not just eat a good meal that did not come from the store?
I also have a coop in the back yard with 8 hens. To keep peace in the neighborhood, there is no rooster. The girls get all the garden trimmings, leftovers, grass clippings, absolutely nothing goes to waste around here. At the change of seasons, when it is time to pull up plants to make room to plant the next seasons vegetables, I do it over several days. I pull 2-3 broccoli plants a day for the chickens. They love the greens and nothing is wasted. What they don't eat, they peck, poop on, scratch and turn into lovely compost---which---yep, you guessed it---goes back in the garden.
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=34465
I did not post this for accolades or pats on the back. My intention is to help you help your self. If you have a garden, more power to you. If you don't, it is time to get started. Ask any questions you need to know on The Easy Garden, we are there to help you.
If your pantry is bare because you only buy what you need for that week, you should give serious thought about the economy, price of food and your own job stability. The way food prices are rising, investing in bags of rice and macaroni is a smart investment. Buy a little extra each week, you might be glad you did.
We don't live on acerage, we live on a tiny lot in town. I have gardened for 7 years in the strip of dirt between our driveway and sidewalk because it gets sunshine. Three years ago I added a green bean garden on the other side of the driveway, It is one foot wide and twelve feet long. It produces until we have a killing frost. We eat green beans several times a week. Since I now have so much time, used to work 10 hour days, I am putting in three more beds for spring. Our summer garden gave us zuchinni, yellow squash, tomatoes, onions, new potatoes, basil, rosemary, bell peppers, bananna peppers, and cherry tomatoes. I froze zuchinni and yellow squash. I canned 17 pints of vegetable soup. I dehydrated tomatoes and onions from the garden. I bought okra, purple hull peas and corn, which went in the freezer. I also dehydrated okra and found it makes a satisfying crunchy snack. Last week, using chicken backs and bony parts, I made soup. I added dehydrated onions, tomatoes and okra. It made a good meal and it cost very little. The garden is not big by any means. I usually have a few of this and a few of that, but it feeds us.
From 2 store bought sweet potatoes that were sprouting, I have 3 beds planted, vines running riot and we will dig them in a couple of more weeks. For Our fall garden, we have 5 brussel sprout plants and 8 collard greens-bought as plants from the feed store, planted from seed-we have broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, mustard greens, and garlic. Still to be planted is turnip greens. Also have 18 tomato plants that are blooming planted under a PVC frame I made a couple of years ago and we jokingly call it the redneck green house. In a few weeks we will wrap it in plastic and lots of duct tape, run an outdoor extension cord, install the small electric heater and we'll be set for fresh tomatoes all winter! A friend gave me all the huge figs his tree produced, if I would give him a few jars of strawberry fig preserves. Which of course I gratefully did.
I have posted pics of my garden and produce on BYC's sister site, The Easy Garden, link found at the bottom of the page. I am posting links to my topics I posted so ya'll can see what can be produced on a small lot, in small beds without killing myself with back breaking work.
My green bean garden:
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33860
my sweet potatoes-not harvested yet
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33974
home made soup
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33863
new potatoes
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=33864
I am sharing this with ya'll so you can see what can be done even if you live in town on a tiny lot like I do. You don't have to have 100' rows to have a garden. Study your available space and plant the things you like to eat. Even if you eat it all fresh and there is not enough to can, dehydrate or freeze, did you not just eat a good meal that did not come from the store?
I also have a coop in the back yard with 8 hens. To keep peace in the neighborhood, there is no rooster. The girls get all the garden trimmings, leftovers, grass clippings, absolutely nothing goes to waste around here. At the change of seasons, when it is time to pull up plants to make room to plant the next seasons vegetables, I do it over several days. I pull 2-3 broccoli plants a day for the chickens. They love the greens and nothing is wasted. What they don't eat, they peck, poop on, scratch and turn into lovely compost---which---yep, you guessed it---goes back in the garden.
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=34465
I did not post this for accolades or pats on the back. My intention is to help you help your self. If you have a garden, more power to you. If you don't, it is time to get started. Ask any questions you need to know on The Easy Garden, we are there to help you.
If your pantry is bare because you only buy what you need for that week, you should give serious thought about the economy, price of food and your own job stability. The way food prices are rising, investing in bags of rice and macaroni is a smart investment. Buy a little extra each week, you might be glad you did.
- Thread starter
- #19
Welcome to BYC! I hope this is your first post of many.
With what we have stored up now, we could probably live the better part of a year. I'm not preparing for the end of the world or anything...just trying to be more frugal and have healthier food at the same time. I can most everything we get from the garden (besides eating it fresh, of course) and also keep an eye on various postings for free veggies/fruit locally. When there's a good sale on meat, I stock up and can or freeze that as well. When we get some acreage, we'll be getting our own livestock for that, but have to deal with stores at present. We're already planning a much bigger garden for next year, and building cages for some meat rabbits. Of course, we get more eggs than we can eat so we do sell a few here and there.
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