Do we store enough Protein?

[jennyjj01]

'Cos I think I don't! Should I worry? Channel 4 implies I should.

Extended food reserves are my Prepper Passion. But I'm currently being guilt tripped by a C4 program 'Protein Everything You Need To Know'

It's harping on about all those healthy and high protein foods that I neither eat now nor store.

My current food type allocation to reserves is all about calories, carbs and fats. My spreadsheets tell me how many portions of rice, flour, spuds and pasta, I have in reserve. Lip service to protein reserves is setting aside something like a tin of meat or fish and a tin of baked beans per week, per person. Pathetic, or what?

Where I've had experimental weeks on ration foods, I probably had a tiny percentage of the protein, vitamins that I needed. Even my regular diet is probably very unhealthy.

So, I'll rewatch that program and review what proteins I store, in what quantities.

Immediate thought is a fresh emphasis on storing and eating more fresh pulses. I may buy and store protein supplements as a quick fix. That's what I do for vitamin reserves. I could add a 'protein content' column in my workbook.

Any thoughts or tips? What's in your cupboards?

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Having been on a modified diet for the best part of 6 months, getting enough protein is a real challenge. We stockpile lots of tinned fish and corned beef. Also lots of peas/beans and hard cheese.

In general I would say our diet is poor when it comes to protein.

[Frnc]

I did a post on the UK Politics thread. Did a bit of research. The UK is never likely to have shortages of carbs. We grow wheat, spuds, and dairy. What we are likely to be short of is fresh salad and fruit, which you can't store anyway. Regarding protein, obviously dairy contains protein. Personally I don't eat meat, except fish, so I keep tins of tuna. I have a big tin of Nido on top of the fridge. I did have dried egg, but haven't replaced that - I should. I also had dried falafel mix, which is chickpeas, which are high in protein, but I didn't rotate it much, so some was wasted, and I haven't replaced it. We do 'grow' meat, but to some extent that relies on imported animal feed, so maybe there could be shortages of that. Dairy vulnerability to soy imports are moderate. Obviously they normally eat grass.

Another way to get protein is combining veg, eg beans on toast has a full range of amino acids. This is how vegans get their protein. Legumes and grains, that type of combo.

[Frnc]

I also keep tins of butter beans, to make my own baked beans with.

[GillyBee]

I did some personal research into the protein allowed in the WW2 rations as they were very light on meat & dairy/eggs. They came in at about 50g a day, much of which was from bread. They encouraged use of oatmeal, beans/lentils which are also good protein sources and pair well with grains.

This is roughly where the WHO suggest daily protein consumption although modern guidance suggests we may need more 75-100g - possibly because we are all now bigger than in 1940. Athletes work on 1.2g/kg per day.

Maybe just look up the figures for what you currently have stored. You may get a nice surprise.
e.g.

A half can of baked beans will give you 10g. The 2 slices of toast it is on give you another 5g.
That is actually better than a half an of chilli beans with a half pack of microwave rice which gives 10g.
Oats are about 10% protein too. Add some dried milk or evap to add anoth 4 or 5 grams.

3 meals with 15g each and a snack would easily get you to the WHO (ie survival) level.

I do stock dried milk and pea protein isolate which is fairly cheap, stores well and can be used to boost the protein component of breads/cakes/pancakes . I don't really store much canned meat/fish as most are off limits because of the food intolerance battles. Pea protein isolate gives me 750g of protein in a 1Kg pack for about £18. The Sainsbury's canned ham is abut 60g protein in a can and costs just over £3 so I get twice as much protein for my money with the pea protein.

[jennyjj01]

What we are likely to be short of is fresh salad and fruit, which you can't store anyway. Regarding protein, obviously dairy contains protein. Personally I don't eat meat, except fish, so I keep tins of tuna. I have a big tin of Nido on top of the fridge. I did have dried egg, but haven't replaced that - I should. I also had dried falafel mix, which is chickpeas, which are high in protein, but I didn't rotate it much, so some was wasted, and I haven't replaced it....

Another way to get protein is combining veg, eg beans on toast has a full range of amino acids. This is how vegans get their protein. Legumes and grains, that type of combo.

"Can't store anyway" is sort of the issue. Meat, fish and dairy being my primary sources of protein tends to mean frozen.. Tinned meat is expensive to dedicate to the food reserves.

We're not overly keen on legumes/pulses, but in a long term crisis, it might be time to break out the dried kidney beans, chickpeas and peas as meat substitutes. I recently had to bin and replace my serious chickpea stash. Not sufficiently rotated into daily diet.

I have a small stash of TVP Mince and chunks, which I should also rotate more into regular use. Time for some recipe experiments.
FRNC, as an almost vegetarian, do you have any TVP or Legume recipes? I saw your baked beans recipe, and I understand you use quorn?

I struggle to get MrJJ to eat classic meat substitutes as he moans when he notices. I can only use up tvp by sneaking a bit into real meat.

It's probably time to experiment at dehydrating ( or glassing ) eggs, as they would be ideal.

Our American prepper cousins seem to rave over peanut butter. I might look into that. Never got a taste for it.
Will also need to modify our regular diet towards pulses. More chilis and curries.

[Arzosah]

My protein sources are eggs, cheese, beans, some quorn. Just found out that oats are high in protein, and there's also nutritional yeast flakes.

Easy to store: dried milk, dried eggs, nutritional yeast flakes, oats and tofu cartons (not particularly high, but good thickener for sauces and stews, I suppose). Beans, peas and lentils, as long as you have the means to cook them.

To my mind, though, all of it's a waste of effort, money and environmental impact without rotation, even once a year would be enough.

[korolev]

I bulk buy dried TVP (https://www.clearspring.co.uk/products/ ... ac90&_ss=r).
They are dried, so long shelf life. One pack does 8-10 portions, which works out at about 39p each. You need to add a bit of flavour but we use it in chilli, spag bol etc.

[GillyBee]

Mr GB is not keen on truly vegan type meals - at least he says he is OK then complains when fed them. But there are some ways I have found to get beans/lentils into the rotation that he will eat without complaint.

1) 2 or 3 bean chilli. ie a 500g of mince, 200g of red lentils, a can of red kidney beans and one of haricot or blackeyed beans - I tend to cook a batch of dried beans and freeze in "can" sized portions. This consistently goes down well. If SHTF I could leave out the meat and I think it would still get eaten happily. It always makes a huge batch (10-12 portions) but I freeze it as diy ready meals
2) When I make our family stew recipe stew it is always heavy on the veg but I now add cooked beans into it as well.
3) Cuban style pork/Turkey is always now served with Cuban black beans on the side.
4) Meat curries are often served with a portion of dahl alongside - either made with red lentils or mung dahl.
5)Refried beans as an alternative to mashed potato. i.e. cook onions til golden, add cooked beans, salt pepper and cumin/chill (if liked). Heat through thoroughly and mash before serving.

When the kids were small I used to add cooked red lentils to almost anything made with mince to stretch the meat. 200g lentils to 500g mince was the sweet spot. Above that resulted in complaints. But when finances improved, he was very keen to revert to the meat only version. I have also used baked beans as the bean component in some of these recipes where the sauce would add to the flavour.

There are a number of cake recipes which use beans as a secret ingredient but which are very good. I dont use these as we eat almost no cake but they might also let you rotate some supplies on the QT. e.g. https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/choco ... d-for-you/

[Frnc]

I have a small stash of TVP Mince and chunks, which I should also rotate more into regular use. Time for some recipe experiments.
FRNC, as an almost vegetarian, do you have any TVP or Legume recipes? I saw your baked beans recipe, and I understand you use quorn?

Not really. I don't buy TVP. Most of it contains soya, I think, and soya is high oxalates, which I try to avoid due to kidney stones. I don' t really cook from scratch, except for pasta sauce and baked beans.

I struggle to get MrJJ to eat classic meat substitutes as he moans when he notices. I can only use up tvp by sneaking a bit into real meat.

It's probably time to experiment at dehydrating ( or glassing ) eggs, as they would be ideal.

Our American prepper cousins seem to rave over peanut butter. I might look into that. Never got a taste for it.
Will also need to modify our regular diet towards pulses. More chilis and curries.

Most of what I eat for tea is Quorn or Spicy Bean Burger (Aldi or Sainsbury, both seem not too bad on oxalates), or Plant Pioneers Sweet Potato and Avocado burger, that type of thing, plus veg and gravy. There are loads of others, but some I avoid as they are mainly soya. I have cauliflower instead of spuds.

For dinners I have things like egg on toast, or cheese butty. I also have pizza now and then, or fish and chips (not from a chippy, frozen).

So the main protein I store for preps is tinned tuna, and I rotate it in tuna butties, or occasionally with pasta. Or even on a pizza, but rarely.