Between inflation, the Russo-Ukrainian War, drought, etc., there’s a lot of worry about food insecurity around the world. While I think America will do the best of just about anyone, I’ve long been a cheap prepper, spending around $20 a year on various prep items, but recently I’ve stepped up my food buying, trying to pick up just one extra shelf-stable item a week, just in case. And I’ve been thinking about growing more food beyond the pepper plant I already have.
Here’s a couple of videos on what to grow for food crops given limited areas.
Both mention beans, but dried pinto beans are still pretty darn cheap, and if you like those (I don’t), you’ll want to lay in a lot of dried beans. If the emergency lasts long enough, you can grow them when you start to run low.
I’m not wild about cabbage or kale, but I like potatoes well enough, and I think I could grow those pretty well in a tub or two, as well as sweet potatoes. And I might as well get a pumpkin for Halloween and try spreading the seeds out next spring.
What are you doing to lay in an extra supply of food?
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If you have any other food tips for the apocalypse (or even just temporary economic disruption, like a possible rail strike), feel free to share them down below.
I’ve been long been a “sorta” prepper, mostly for hurricane season. Lay in canned goods of mostly the sort of “I’ll eat it, if I have to” variety. Corned beef, canned meats, soups, and such. Suggestion: if there’s a big event coming up (storm, etc) get extra bread, along with gas and cash. Bread delivery is one the first things to go down, and last to come back.
Continue to stockpile ammunition in common military calibers. Schedule more range time. Update neighborhood range card.
Every week we buy a few extra cans of the foods we eat anyway, so that the pantry stays full.
We bake our own bread and cook our own tortillas (prefer sourdough anyway) so it’s not too hard to have a few 5-gal buckets of wheat that we slowly cycle through. In a pinch the electric grinder gets replaced with the manual one.
I keep a backpack loaded with essentials like water purification and filtration, light sources, etc., stored out of the way but easily accessible.
Epic Gardening is a good channel, he recently did a month eating just stuff he grew at his house (he doesn’t have a ton of acreage). Of course, he is in California (SD IIRC) so it’s a lot easier to grow things in Hardiness Zone 10 vs 2.
I’ll have to check out SSM, thanks.
At this point I would advise against stocking up food for a 20+ year shelf life, you will need it much sooner than that and you can get a lot more for the same $$ if you don’t bother with the mylar and oxygen absorbers. Five gallon buckets with a good lid full of beans or rice will last a decade easy and they are cheap.
Until about two weeks ago I would have dismissed this as needless panic, but our local WalMart has been out of orange juice for over a week–here in Florida!
Something I started a few years back was a compost pile. Chuck your leaves and needles in there, some food waste, shred up things with your mower and turn it over every so often. Fertilizer will be dear. My garden was a big fat fail this year, but I am working on improving my soil.
RE: Acerage
160 of woodland with deer, elk and turkey and a fresh water spring.
Thirty acres and some sheep. No mules.
RE: Acerage
160 of woodland with deer, elk and turkey and a fresh water spring.
By the way, I’m a professional ‘prepper’.
My last tour was with a team of officers who went from state to state helping the STARCs prepare for national emergencies and natural disasters.
I was the team logistician.
freeze drying food (buy on sale)
looking for country property (plan – heat & cook if needed, with wood
stove, and have chickens for eggs)
Spent a very productive hour at the pistol range. Two to the chest, one to the head on human size targets at common engagement distances.
Good times.
@Chuck – what’s a STARC?
Slightly on topic, this has to be the Quote of the Year for 2022:
“There’s no such thing as playing Just The Tip with nuclear weapons. Once that taboo breaks, all bets are off.”
– Breaking Points podcast
Dried cabbage is under-rated… keeps forever, reconstitutes quickly, understated flavor that blends well, provides fiber and nutrition. Dried sweet potatoes come in many forms, and the quart jars of dried cubes reconstitute faster than dried white potatoes. Dried mushrooms don’t have a lot of protein, but add lots of umami flavor and ergothioneine.
I prep for free. Here’s how.
I regularly bring food down to my local food bank. But instead of bringing the food right down, I store it for a couple of years, and then bring it down.
I have eight shelves, one for each season for the next two years. When I shop, I buy a flat of whatever shelf stable item I would normally buy for the food bank. Then I stick that flat on the shelf that corresponds to the expiration date on the packaging.
At the start of each season, I bring down the food that will expire in the next three months. The food bank is glad to have it, and they will distribute it in plenty of time. The now empty shelf is then restocked as I shop and buy more food, for the next two years.
Since I am already going to buy food for the food bank, I keep a huge amount of food in my house for no additional cost.