Doubts and second thoughts !

[diamond lil]

I haven't got any rice or pasta because we never eat it - a pity as it's so easy to store. Instead for the basics, I was concentrating on porridge, lentils, barley, plus bread flour. That would give us porridge, biscuits, flapjacks, oatcakes etc, home-made soup and bread. The idea was to supplement this with loads (hopefully!) of veg from the garden and eggs from the hens which I'll get in spring. We have a .22 and local landowners permissions to shoot.. but the rabbits have vanished. Now I'm starting to wonder if this plan is too limited. Any ideas ?

[itsybitsy]

TBH Lil I think it would be wise to broaden your horizons a little...just as belt and braces and to give you peace of mind. I appreciate that health plays a big factor for you and OH, but what will you do if your crops fail? Why don't you bite the bullet and get a food dehydrator and then you've got some long term storage options? Or home canning? That can be done fairly inexpensively...that way you can make homemade stew, soup etc, can it and it will store, literally, for years.

[southernPrepper]

The chances of the economy going so far wrong that you are unable to buy fresh veg in season when there is a glut is almost nil and there is little point in storing food that you won't eat. Better to put that money somewhere useful than have it sat on a shelf going off.

Shame about the rabbits though - how are the grouse, pigeon, trout and pheasant?

[diamond lil]

Game is a no-go. We are on the edge of two big shooting estates with lots of gamekeepers.. and likewise the fish. Bailiffs everywhere as this is a salmon river. And they use night sights - ask me how I know this
I would like to grow a lot of veg this year by square foot method but if the forecast is right and we have a cold wet summer then that might not work out . Potatoes should be ok, tomatoes inside will be ok and I can dehydrate them. Turnips or swedes will grow and if they dont then I can pinch them from the fields I suppose I should get tins of meat - but we dont eat out of tins.

[itsybitsy]

Is is that you just don't like tinned stuff?

[diamond lil]

Prefer fresh but not fanatical Itsy... but we usually find we dont eat them and then end up giving them to the kids. Corned beef and chips is nice, likewise tinned ham, but there's a limit to how much of it you can eat..

[itsybitsy]

Yeah, it's not great! What about having a go at smoking your own ham, etc a la Hugh FW?

[diamond lil]

I dono what that is, and dont watch him. Not totally sure who he is apart from that he cooks. I know. I'm a terrible peasant !

[the-gnole]

Buy what you eat, eat what you buy, rotate, rotate, rotate.

Weekly, monthly quarterly meal plans are a good way to plan exactly what you need in the stores, but a few treats to break the monotony, but not too much chocolate in the stores, as it won't last long enough

[WhiteWolf]

Chocolate??? Did someone mention chocolate?

WW