On being mean with money

[Dicon]

Second post within a few minutes.
I have been looking at the professional long term food storage emergency meals and was wondering, can we D.I.Y for less. Of course, it looks good, but I already use a pasta and ham instant dried meal now on and off when I am pushed for time. Can anyone here design an equally nutritious ( and delicious ) meals for a week, for less than the commercial offerings. Here I assume access to water and limited cooking facilities.
Thanks.
Dicon

[jansman]

Dicon, you are not being mean by not wanting to spend that kind of money. The ready made storage meals, army rations etc. are good in their way. Many folks would like to buy it, put it away and bring it out 20 years later if it all goes awry. However...
Food storage should always be that which you are used to eating. The last thing you need if Britain has gone to hell in a handbasket is some weird freeze dried version of a Sunday dinner!
So I would say, stick with your dried pasta meal, expand upon it. Tinned goods are great as they are cheap, plentiful and have a good shelf life. The secret is to rotate and EAT the food. It does not take long to build a stash, and it will be what you like to eat.

[Nate66]

Dicon, you are not being mean by not wanting to spend that kind of money. The ready made storage meals, army rations etc. are good in their way. Many folks would like to buy it, put it away and bring it out 20 years later if it all goes awry. However...
Food storage should always be that which you are used to eating. The last thing you need if Britain has gone to hell in a handbasket is some weird freeze dried version of a Sunday dinner!
So I would say, stick with your dried pasta meal, expand upon it. Tinned goods are great as they are cheap, plentiful and have a good shelf life. The secret is to rotate and EAT the food. It does not take long to build a stash, and it will be what you like to eat.

Jansman....Excellent advice! I could not have said it better. We can survive (as seen on most TV survival series) on snails, limpets, and grubs but who would want to. Ready made meals are very nutritious but very, very expensive. They are designed to be used in situations where you do not have the time or resources to scavenge for food (i.e. war, mountain climbing, etc.) In most situations that would be happening today, short of TEOTWAWKI, we will have the time and (even if meagerly prepared) resources to scavenge / produce our own food. In the short term, stocked shelves will aid in extending your current eating standard to a point where it would not be as great a shock to the system to just be living off the land. Cheers.

[Arzosah]

Totally agree with jansman, I wouldn't dream of buying those "professionally prepared" meals - they're way out of my financial league. My solution is to have normal amounts of normal food in my kitchen, and a series of plastic crates upstairs - one is a week of everyday tinned food, rotated out once a year. I have two crates of carbs: a mix of flour, sugar, pasta, oats and rice. Another crate of salt, and one of oil and vinegar. Another crate of dried beans of various sorts - chickpeas, lentils, split peas, black beans, whatever (they can be soaked and cooked as beans, or used for sprouting). Plus whatever I can get from my garden.

[Dicon]

Many thanks all. I like the idea of several plastic crates that could be rotated, that would make sure that nothing went out of date. I was digging around in my pantry yesterday and found a pack of dried chick peas, sell by date Jan, 2011. < sigh > I must get organised. Again, thanks.

Dicon

[featherstick]

I went out and bought a variety of tinned meats when I started prepping. I suppose you could probably survive on them, but golly! they are vile.

Nowadays our food preps involve lots of tinned tomatoes, lots of pulses, lots of pasta and rice, lots of spices. These are versatile, easy to use ingredients that we use anyway, so rotate frequently. They can make a variety of standalone meals that I know the kids will eat, as well as disguising a variety of other ingredients.

That's not to say there isn't a place to Army rations, especially those that can be eaten cold, but for us they are not the basis of our food preps.

[Deeps]

I went out and bought a variety of tinned meats when I started prepping. I suppose you could probably survive on them, but golly! they are vile.

Nowadays our food preps involve lots of tinned tomatoes, lots of pulses, lots of pasta and rice, lots of spices. These are versatile, easy to use ingredients that we use anyway, so rotate frequently. They can make a variety of standalone meals that I know the kids will eat, as well as disguising a variety of other ingredients.

That's not to say there isn't a place to Army rations, especially those that can be eaten cold, but for us they are not the basis of our food preps.

We're the same, I've got some cans of sweetcorn etc, bottles of beetroot and other bits and bobs along with baked beans, spaghetti hoops and other general stuff but we've got loads of pasatta, rice, pasta, kidney beans, lentils etc and of course the essential herbs and spices. I'm also building up my store of dried veg from my dehydrator.

i've got more tin's of 'crap' like ravioli and meatballs than I would because I wouldn't normally eat them but I have them now as a wee 'treat' to justify keeping them, same with Frey Bentos pies, I've got about 30 of them from the cheapy shops, a quid a go.

[Decaff]

Being careful with money is not being mean, its sensible!

I would suggest soups, dried and canned veg, rice (normal and the flavoured sachet type) pasta, noodles.

Try adding rice or pasta to a tin of soup or a hearty chunky tinned stew, add in canned veg, water and all, which will allow the rice to cook without adding much if any additional water from supplies.

Those super noodles (bin the revolting salty packet that comes with them and add your own herbs and spices) are also great to add into soups to bulk them out.

If you get the pasta that is made for adding to soups then even better as they are smaller and take less liquid to make edible.

Sachet rices come in many flavours and as they are already cooked only need to be heated through. Add in chopped ham/spam/tuna or whatever you fancy from a tin and some extra veggies and you have another meal that doesn't use extra water from your supplies.

[Deeps]

Being careful with money is not being mean, its sensible!

I would suggest soups, dried and canned veg, rice (normal and the flavoured sachet type) pasta, noodles.

Try adding rice or pasta to a tin of soup or a hearty chunky tinned stew, add in canned veg, water and all, which will allow the rice to cook without adding much if any additional water from supplies.

Those super noodles (bin the revolting salty packet that comes with them and add your own herbs and spices) are also great to add into soups to bulk them out.

If you get the pasta that is made for adding to soups then even better as they are smaller and take less liquid to make edible.

Sachet rices come in many flavours and as they are already cooked only need to be heated through. Add in chopped ham/spam/tuna or whatever you fancy from a tin and some extra veggies and you have another meal that doesn't use extra water from your supplies.

I forgot the tuna and noodles, I've got about a month or so worth of both, Aldi's are the best value for money I've found and I shop around for the tuna, Costco quite often have bargains sometimes.

[Decaff]

Noodles are a good cheap way of adding substance to a simple meal.

Another good stash item are the packs of dried TVP, you can get in a few flavours, chilli, bolognese and just plain that you can spice and flavour to your hearts content, add tinned veg, mashed potato on the top for a cottage pie meal.