The Future of Food (in UK)

[shocker]

double post, curse theses shaking hands

[Jamesey1981]

Katilea, to answer one question in your post, (not looked at the site you're referring to so can't tackle anything else) brown rice doesn't last as long as white rice as the oils in the husk go rancid, with white rice the husk is stripped off so you get longer life at the cost of fibre and some calories, (makes it taste a lot nicer too, not a fan of brown rice, the only time I've eaten it by choice is when I used to run marathons, without being crude, it helped me have a good clear out so that I didn't need to go on route!)

[shocker]

Celery seed would have been a better choice for that, Jamesey....its what the classical Olympians used. It works

[Jamesey1981]

Celery seed would have been a better choice for that, Jamesey....its what the classical Olympians used. It works

Trust me, the brown rice works on me, the shopping list for my pre marathon warm up was brown rice for a clear out, the ingredients for a heaping pile of macaroni cheese for breakfast on the day, loo roll and make sure the plunger is OK for obvious reasons and Vaseline (you don't want to know)

[shocker]

Petroleum jelly? Trust me - I know...Ive tabbed many a high speed hilly mile

[Jamesey1981]

Petroleum jelly? Trust me - I know...Ive tabbed many a high speed hilly mile

The things we humans do to ourselves, wouldn't catch my cats engaging in that kind of nonsense.

[Plymtom]

I think this thread along with the scrimpers one demonstrate that we will have to adapt to new conditions, there's no getting around Jansman's truthful take on migrant workers in agriculture, the term "doormatting" though not familiar is unsurprising and often well deserved, I like to shop locally where I can, without getting overly political I think our problem is we felt "doormatted" in the club most especially in agriculture, fishing and industry.

I look at things a little too simplistically I suppose, when lettuce got expensive recently my answer to the problem was leave it out, but people on a budget have no option I'm in the same boat as Katilea and Shocker except I'm the carer, we have been getting squeezed for some years now as we all know, but steer clear ( and I'm cool with that) of talking about the culprits, seasonal foods, preservation any means you can to help get through these times, but producers have to adapt too for even for those who can afford it will be looking at alternatives including going without, looking at our diet you'd see Lidl/Aldi/Asda meat offers form 95% of the meat part, even then Beef and Lamb are rarely consumed, many meals fall back on frozen chicken fillets at around £4 a Kilo or Pork mince, more recently I have taken to making pancakes as a change and testing the tinned meals spread on them ( the favourite was Tesco's Chicken Tikka) or tinned hot dogs lol, all part of the eat what you store mantra, it effects the poor first yes but everyone should look at that, because the way things are going it'll bite everyone else too.

[katilea]

I grew up in the 70's in a small yorkshire village. My dad was an ambulance man (though not on the pay 'Paramedics' get these days. My mum had to give up work to look after me as was very ill as a child having been born with a rare condition and having epilepsy as a child. By the time my condition was stabilising (around 6 yrs old) my mum was pregnant with my younger brother.

We didn't have a lot of money I remember an old style pantry,a twin tub with spinner and a gas cooker. I was older before the fridge freezer and central heating came! ...with gas fire instead of coal fire.

I remember my mum making a plate of cheese and milk that went in the oven on one of those metal type camping plates, she'd cook it until the milk formed a skin that take it out and crack a few eggs on top and put it back in. we had it with homemade bread and butter. Still a lunch I enjoy today!

My mum made a lovely cheese and onion pie too with home made chips (in the chip pan) another favourite meal! We did have a village butchers shop in those days and a small shop for fresh food and veg and tinned foods. Other than that. a 'working man's club', post office, small school and church that was it!

I still live in a village, only difference being I'm now a wheelchair user, the local shops aren't accessible to me and it's very expensive for me to get into town with a powered chair cos of the distance and the fact Taxi services will only come out in a minibus if you're a wheelchair user so end up paying double (£25 into town) ... money that is needed for bills and emergency vet visits for my dog as the local vets is also a converted terraced house not accessible so they come to me but I have to pay call out. when I had my old dog who regularly needed prescriptions the bills were frequently over £200 a time for them to visit for 5mins to see her and bring some medication for her! .so any 'spare' goes into the kitty for emergency vet visits rather than taxi fares.

It's cheaper to get everything delivered to me which usually means it comes from larger places such as supermarkets (although I try to support small businesses where they have a little shop on Ebay/Etsy etc when I need replacement clothes or gifts for family members) It is a worry though if costs of life's basics could potentially go up so much whilst my income is slashed. As it's not like I can just go out at night diving in bins for free food to save on my food bill!

[shocker]

We are lucky as I have family still (just) farming, not too far away with massive freezer reserves of meat. So we get to eat real meat occasionally . Though having spent a very skint year living with my folks when we ate mutton near every day, I find it hard to get excited about.

We are on the same tinned meals thing, Tom...its not so bad. Its better eating than in the 70s/early 80s ! But there is some light - most people do not know that the common fisheries deal is NOT part of our EU/Common Market agreements, however we should get our fisheries back at more or less the same time as the rest. If, and its a qualified "if", we treat them with respect we could have fishing fleets and fresh, cost effective fish again. Unless some silly bugger irradiates it all first.

I have found the supermarket powdered flavour mixes at 30p a go a real help. Last night we had a sausage casserole - sausages from the farm (thanks mum!), an onion, a few potatoes, some frozen peppers and the mix+water = a good feed with leftovers. Cheaper than making it from scratch as I would usually do, and it fits the prep routine.

[shocker]

Kati, it sounds as though, as Tom noted, you, Pymtom and I have a lot in common.