Anyone else afraid to stockpile too much?

[greekislandgirl]

If you had to, would you drink dried milk (re-constituted) milk? That has to be cheaper.

Dried or powdered milk is not sold here, at least not in this city. They do sell UHT (unrefrigerated milk that doesn't need to have water added to it) but it's more expensive than the regular milk. So really the way to handle this situation is for me to be more careful and not to let the milk stash dwindle. However, DH started drinking milk in the evenings last week in addition to the mornings and it just disappeared before I knew what was happening. He can easily drink a liter/day.

I believe when there is such a run on the market, especially in a place like Greece, anything that is not native will ultimately go bye bye.

You're probably right about the foreign goods, but chickpeas do grow here. I don't know what's going on. I think they sell them at the farmers' market, I never buy them there because they are so much more expensive than I'm willing to pay. Interesting article - thanks!

[Anna43]

Shortages in the market place are likely to increase. My cousin owns several truck stops on the Interstate. He has a dollar amount that he's allowed for bulk purchase of gas. When gas is low priced he can buy enough gas for his truck stops to last with the dollar amount but when gas prices skyrocket he will not be able to buy enough gas and will run out. I think this type of purchasing arrangement plays thru the wholesale jobbers/retail store market which means shortages will develop. Sometimes there are actual shortages of product but often it is more linked to financial arrangements.

There is also the problem of people getting crazy when there are shortages so the marketplace can become dangerous. Having a stockpile allows you to stay home which is safer. It also allows you not to compete for items in short supply which means people without a stockpile don't have to compete with you for short items.

I do agree that we need not to overdo and go from stockpiling to hoarding!! My definition of hoarding is buying more than you need for a reasonable period of time and/or buying more than you need when there is a shortage in the marketplace. Ten bags of rice bought when the shelves are full in the stores is not hoarding. If I bought the last bag when I already have 10 it definitely would be hoarding.

[dekabyenoh]

Well, it's the 28th of December. What I've found is that my stockpile is not used up and most of the dated stuff is at or near expiration. What I've learned is that to benefit from stockpiling, I would have greatly change my diet. I don't eat canned fruits, peas, beans, beets, spinach or the like. The only soup is the occassional tomato and cream ofs. I buy spaghetti sauce and stewed tomatoes and crushed tomatoes and chilies and they are about expired. I willhave to work to consume them. They are only from last year. The best stockpiling was in the form of condiments: Ketchup, mustard, Mayo, salad dressing, then, pastas, rice and legumes, but DH wont eat much of them, so it's hard. We don't drink juice or packaged drinks, so don't need them. Do have a week or two of water that will probably need bleach by the time they are used. So, I don't know what to stockpile. I like to have paper supplies on hand and stocked, and laundry soap, light bulbs, dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste and the like, but food is a puzzle to me.

[greekislandgirl]

Well, it's the 28th of December. What I've found is that my stockpile is not used up and most of the dated stuff is at or near expiration. What I've learned is that to benefit from stockpiling, I would have greatly change my diet. I don't eat canned fruits, peas, beans, beets, spinach or the like. The only soup is the occassional tomato and cream ofs. I buy spaghetti sauce and stewed tomatoes and crushed tomatoes and chilies and they are about expired. I willhave to work to consume them. They are only from last year. The best stockpiling was in the form of condiments: Ketchup, mustard, Mayo, salad dressing, then, pastas, rice and legumes, but DH wont eat much of them, so it's hard. We don't drink juice or packaged drinks, so don't need them. Do have a week or two of water that will probably need bleach by the time they are used. So, I don't know what to stockpile. I like to have paper supplies on hand and stocked, and laundry soap, light bulbs, dish soap, shampoo, toothpaste and the like, but food is a puzzle to me.

You live and learn, right? Some things that work great for one person won't work as well for someone else. I go through tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes like nobody's business! On the other hand, I don't eat canned soups and if I bought them, I wouldn't eat them! As far as food stockpiling goes, have you tried making a list of what you do eat, and seeing 1) which of the ingredients can be stockpiled and 2) which of the meals can be tweaked a bit so that they can be stockpiled?

Also, if you eat tomato soup, but have stewed tomatoes on hand, you can make the most delicious tomato soup from them. Break open the tomatoes and empty the juice/seeds into a bowl, lay the tomatoes on a baking sheet lined in aluminum foil. I use 4 cans or 2 large cans worth to make 4 big servings of soup. Sprinkle the tomatoes with about 2 tsp of dark brown sugar. Bake them under the broiler for about 30 mins til they are drying out and starting to caramelize. Meanwhile, in a large pot, saute some chopped onion with a bit of butter or olive oil, with ground allspice. Put 2 tbsp of all purpose flour into the pot and whisk rapidly for about 30 seconds, then pour in chicken stock (I just use one of those bouillon cubes that I've dissolved in about 2 cups of boiling water) and keep whisking. When it's all in, add the tomatoes from the oven plus all the juice and seeds that you reserved in the bowl. Cook for about 20 mins, then run through a blender. (If you have an immersion blender, it's easier.) Stir in salt, some cayenne pepper to taste, and about 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. If you have some brandy sitting around you can put in a tbsp or two of that as well.

I promise this will knock your socks off compared to the canned tomato soup, and while it does take about 50 minutes to make this, it's so worth it. And it uses up 4 regular or 2 large cans of whole stewed tomatoes every time.

[krbshappy71]

Sorry to hear about the stockpile going bad. So what did you eat instead of the stockpile food? There's nothing wrong with not liking canned peas, just don't buy them next time. Try to figure out what you do eat and how to preserve those foods. If stockpiling is really important you can start forcing the family to adjust to those canned foods. If its not worth the lashback then just focus on the dried foods and the household supplies.

Not everyone wants to eat canned, until the zombies arrive of course and there's no frozen pizza to be had, then suddenly those canned peas start looking pretty good. Maybe your family just isn't ready for a big switch, try stocking only what you KNOW you cook with often. For me it's cream of mushroom soup. Dunno why, but I can't keep a can of it in the house, I love the stuff. So I stock more of that than anything else. In a real crisis I am probably going to be so sick of it, ha!

Hugs!

[greekislandgirl]

And remember that canned food doesn't have to mean food that is recognizably from a can. I just looked at my canned goods and I have: pineapple, jalapeno peppers, cranberry sauce, tomato sauce, whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, red kidney beans, and corn. That's it. Just ingredients that go into making dishes we eat all the time. None of those is a "meal" in itself nor would I want it to be.

The bulk (I'd say around 70%) of my food stockpile is dry goods (pasta, flour, beans, and so on) and the rest is the cans above and jars (olives, oil, vinegar, capers, mustard, and so on).

[Cricketlegs]

The best method I've found is to make a monthly meal menu(dinner for sure if not the other meals).

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Next make your grocery list of what you need to make those meals as well as other items you need for the month.

Shop leaving $20 to $50 for your stockpile.

Use the $20 to $50 to buy items on your list specifically for building your stock.

Do that for a few months and you will have put all the foods your family actually eats and that you need to make complete meals you know you plan to cook and you've done it within budget without any increase.

Stock what is really on sale, try and use coupons, cut out all item you don't need or eat.