The 21st century larder

[magenta]

We no longer need to grow and harvest all our food to survive the long winter, hoping we don't have to eat our seed corn. Few of us even cook all our meals from scratch. We grab something on the way home from work or school, or toss something in the microwave. We eat far more meals out than we did a generation ago, so we don't keep as much food on hand. We take the availability of food for granted. But we still might have to get through blizzards, hurricanes, floods, and other disasters, not to mention epidemics and pandemics. Now we are faced with a public health crisis and there is no way to predict what will happen. And most of us are not well prepared for any of these situations.

I've kept at least two weeks supply of food on hand since the winter after I moved to Minnesota. If my boyfriend and I hadn't just been to the grocery store, and hadn't gotten 14 boxes of mac and cheese, because it was 7 for a dollar (tells you how long ago that was) I don't know what we would have done when the “Superbowl blizzard” struck, just as we both came down with the flu. Ever since, I've made a point of keeping at least 2 weeks supply of food on hand, preferably more than that. This will keeps us supplied through bad weather, an emergency car repair that uses all the available money, or a short term epidemic.

My planning has been geared to my area, so people in other regions need to consider their potential hazards. If flooding is a danger where you live, and possible evacuation is the solution, your preparation needs to be different. But anywhere you live, you need to plan for the possibility of you or a family member, or both, getting sick, or enough other people getting sick that you don't want to go out, or widespread enough illness to interrupt the food supply chain.

Pre-packaged “survival food” is very overpriced, and may not have food you like, and it wasn't really a thing when I started my larder. Now we have widespread grocery delivery, but there are minimums and it costs extra – tip the driver if you use it, since they did the work. But these could get overloaded if many people can't get to the store, and some foods could become scarce or unavailable.

What I did was, over time, was when canned soup I really like went on sale, I bought an extra can or two. When macaroni went on sale, I got extra. I developed a list of items I used regularly that would keep without refrigeration. Think of things that are meals in themselves as much as possible, that won't need additional ingredients like milk, eggs, butter, meat. At least some should not require cooking – my personal favorite is canned smoked oysters but those are an acquired taste. Buy items you like and will use, because the other part of this is date stamping what you buy and using it in rotation. Don't buy soup and let it sit for years; instead, use it the next time you want soup, then replenish your supply. If any of the canned goods don't have a pull tab lid, check that you have a working can opener. Stock ginger ale and other soda, and canned or bottled juice for re-hydrating, even if you don't usually drink them. Foods you don't usually eat can be “rotated” by donating them to a food shelf or bringing them to a party; which means you always have something to take to a potluck.

Be sure to have non-food items like TP, soap, menstrual supplies(if relevant), pet food (ditto), and all medication, including over the counter items. Even if you don't normally use paper plates and cups, these can be very useful if you are too sick to wash dishes. Gradually accumulate what you need for two weeks of meals and snacks, for both situations of debilitating illness and inability to get supplies.

Preset lists, such as the one at https://www.ready.gov/food can be a starting point, but need to be modified to take into account your tastes, allergies, medical conditions, and budget

My emergency shelf contains, among other things, canned soup, canned baked beans, tuna, smoked oysters, crackers, peanut butter, dark chocolate, tea, oatmeal, pasta, canned or jarred pasta sauce, rice, cooking oil, summer sausage that can be kept without refrigeration, instant mashed potatoes, nuts, granola or other food bars, as well as extra TP and paper towels. Other people might want jelly or jam, instant coffee, sugar in a sealed container, ramen, canned fruit, dried fruit, dried milk, and honey. There are shelf stable meals in most supermarkets, but they are expensive for the amount of food. These are a few ideas to start thinking about emergency supplies, not meant to be an perfect list for everyone. And yes, I have boxed mac and cheese, even though I don't eat it very often.

Comments

[dreamshark]

Gosh, I can't imagine having to make a point of stocking extra food. I suppose there must be some people in the world who just buy specific grocery items as they need them and don't have to constantly work on clearing things out of the freezer and the backs of the cupboards, but that's sure not me. Even if you ignore the freezer, I'm sure we have enough dry goods and canned food to last for many weeks, if not months.

But one thing that most people don't have stockpiled is arguably the most important: water. After talking with Amber about survival pantries (something that people think about more in earthquake country), I started filling empty gallon bottles with tap water and stacking them on the basement floor. It would probably taste a little plasticky and maybe have BPAs in it, but better than dying of dehydration, right?

[mplsfish]

I broke bones in both my feet a few years ago and couldn't work. I was able to feed myself and Osce from stockpiles for 9 weeks.