How long would your household food supply last?

[RainbowSingularity]

Yeah, I realized that just after I had posted. I'd venture that many heirloom seeds are already more expensive than gold by weight. Fortunately, we live in one of the epicenters for small, organic farms, so proper seeds sources are fairly easy to come by around here.

you just need automated machine gun posts for when the corporate elitists and their ass kissers turn the seething masses into a cashless society.

rapidly disappearing minority.

Rich arrogant people are a minority
equally career criminals are also a minority

yet the average person must suffer for their sins through regulation and laws

im sure we can rationalise your fear quite nicely should there be a need.

could we directly link obesity with vaccination and heard immunity ?

note current global outbreaks of measles Vs fat children being turned into diabetics by their parents

i doubt it will serve the children any looking for a psycho-socio-habitual culture link.
but it might offer intellectuals some new avenues to address issues like anti-vaxers and the cashless society cultists

the bulk of the measles outbreaks are in religious extremist communities inside western democracy's.
this is compounded by very poor sub-cultural communities where language and culture create a barrier to science being disseminated to the masses.

they know what mcdonalds and kfc is
but they dont know how growing a plant to eat works.
they can use a plastic card in a cashless society, but they are a willing victim of millions starving to death when the system falls over.

is obesity linked to "willing-victims" by people to exploit for cash ?
yes of coarse it is.
food and culture are soo tightly linked it is often culturally impolite to discuss obesity because it leans on food culture which sits at the heart of many cultures.

how do you command that culture to change their culture to start growing some food for themselves ?
that is very difficult when you are directly competing with the corporate fast food psychopaths who wish to create addict-consumers.

 

[Jeeves]

Also, in spite of our disparate beliefs (though most rabbis are, in fact, atheists), we share a mutual appreciation for the Book of Job, which is pretty much where this inarticulable, or ineffable, notion is coming from in the first place.

OMG - I can't even contemplate food inspired by Job, whose most memorable scenes took place on a dung-heap. Okay, he might grow good squash, and I can do good things with squash, but I'm not mad keen on a whole replacement family.
Caring is nice; skill is more useful and ingredients always matter. We like our food, but we're pretty relaxed about routine stuff; we're not competing, we're just eating: every meal doesn't have to be a masterpiece.
It's all about priorities: I'm fussier about a sentence than a sauce, and I'm content a lot of times to have -- avert your aesthetic sense -- ripe banana dunked in cereal mix (rice crisps, boondi, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, walnut crumbs, mini dark chocolate chips) and a beer for supper.
Tonight, however, we had mixed greens from the garden, sauteed with crushed garlic and ginger, grilled Portobello caps marinated in soy sauce, sage, thyme, and b;lack pepper, with pickled beets. I do a good pickle.

 

[Jeeves]

how do you command that culture to change their culture to start growing some food for themselves ?
that is very difficult when you are directly competing with the corporate fast food psychopaths who wish

You don't have to force people to do that. When they get a chance, they jump at it. It's just, in most cities, the price of land is set by the need for corporate monuments, so there's none available for sane people to cultivate. OTH, come the collapse, those high-rise money-laundries will make nifty community hydroponic plantations.

 

[RainbowSingularity]

corporate monuments,

...

housing developers building communal vegetable and herb gardens...
they would have to be gated communities in the usa to keep people from destroying them.

 

[Jeeves]

...

housing developers building communal vegetable and herb gardens...
they would have to be gated communities in the usa to keep people from destroying them.

I don't think so. There are an estimated 18,000 community gardens across the US and Canada

The "financial industry" is already building big glass structures. When their hollow empire finally collapses, the buildings will be abandoned, empty. Urban squatters - the lost and discarded people of our money-centric civilization - will move in and fight over the scarce bathrooms. Pretty soon, water and sewer services will stop operating for lack of money. There will be an exodus from the cities. The coastal ones will be up to the third storey in salty plastic soup. People taking refuge in upper levels will starve, once the dry-level seeking rats have been caught and roasted over campfires in the executive dining room (only place wooden furniture found) except the bag-lady who's got a wizened potato in her stretched-out cardigan pocket, and remembers that she can use the soil from those dead potted plants in the corner offices. Major die-off due to typhus and other epidemics will follow; corpses floating mercifully out on the tide.
A decade or so later, pioneers will start exploring the cities again, salvaging whatever is still standing.
Then those corporate pyramids will get a chance at redemption.

 

[sideshowbob]

"lunchables"

Today my lunch is from the dollar store: $2.89 for ready-to-eat chicken salad with crackers, dark-chocolate-covered almonds for dessert. ordinarily I prefer milk chocolate but lately it's been bothering my stomach. I may be becoming lactose intolerant.

 

[Jeeves]

Today my lunch is from the dollar store: $2.89 for ready-to-eat chicken salad with crackers, dark-chocolate-covered almonds for dessert. ordinarily I prefer milk chocolate but lately it's been bothering my stomach. I may be becoming lactose intolerant.

Sounds better than it really is - and there was no mention of quantity - unless it's not the product to which I was referring.
You don't feel a disconnect between "dollar store" and $2.89?

 

[billvon]

You don't feel a disconnect between "dollar store" and $2.89?

No more so than someone referring to a corner store as a five and dime, or someone referring to dialing a phone number. Both are literally false, but are in common usage.

 

[sideshowbob]

You don't feel a disconnect between "dollar store" and $2.89?

Taxes.

 

[Jeeves]

No more so than someone referring to a corner store as a five and dime, or someone referring to dialing a phone number. Both are literally false, but are in common usage.

True enough. I'm old enough to have known those things when they were literally true - except the five and dime; at the Woolworth's lunch counter a hot dog and slice of pie cost $0.35 - but many of the merchandise items did cost $0.05 or $0.10 . When the last Woolie's in Cerritos had its closing-out sale 1995, I bought a silk jacket for $35. By then I hadn't used the five-and-dime designation for years. I guess all those words will die with us.

 

[billvon]

I guess all those words will die with us.

I doubt that. The people who were around when terms like "mad as a hatter" "get off your high horse" "jumping on the bandwagon" "dressed to the nines" "time to face the music" "bite the bullet" made literal sense are all dead, but we still use them.

 

[RainbowSingularity]

I don't think so. There are an estimated 18,000 community gardens across the US and Canada

The "financial industry" is already building big glass structures. When their hollow empire finally collapses, the buildings will be abandoned, empty. Urban squatters - the lost and discarded people of our money-centric civilization - will move in and fight over the scarce bathrooms. Pretty soon, water and sewer services will stop operating for lack of money. There will be an exodus from the cities. The coastal ones will be up to the third storey in salty plastic soup. People taking refuge in upper levels will starve, once the dry-level seeking rats have been caught and roasted over campfires in the executive dining room (only place wooden furniture found) except the bag-lady who's got a wizened potato in her stretched-out cardigan pocket, and remembers that she can use the soil from those dead potted plants in the corner offices. Major die-off due to typhus and other epidemics will follow; corpses floating mercifully out on the tide.
A decade or so later, pioneers will start exploring the cities again, salvaging whatever is still standing.
Then those corporate pyramids will get a chance at redemption.

have you factored in the militia cockroaches living in rich elite bunkers going on raiding parties to collect child slaves and commit genocide on the survivors then taking all their supplies ?

 

[RainbowSingularity]

I doubt that. The people who were around when terms like "mad as a hatter" "get off your high horse" "jumping on the bandwagon" "dressed to the nines" "time to face the music" "bite the bullet" made literal sense are all dead, but we still use them.

they are having a gay time and wont be the last caught with pants down.

common usage

shopping bags ... are they nonsense free ?

Woolworth's lunch counter a hot dog and slice of pie cost 0.35

you bought an entire lunch counter for 35 cents and it came with a pet dog and someone eat some of your pie ?
my lord man. what bargains abound in such lands of milk and honey
though i dont abide the pie manners.
such etiquette is lost on less porcelain skinned finesse

 

[billvon]

have you factored in the militia cockroaches living in rich elite bunkers going on raiding parties to collect child slaves and commit genocide on the survivors then taking all their supplies ?

I think I saw that movie.

 

[parmalee]

OMG - I can't even contemplate food inspired by Job, whose most memorable scenes took place on a dung-heap. Okay, he might grow good squash, and I can do good things with squash, but I'm not mad keen on a whole replacement family.

More the animal aspect in Job--kinda Angelus Silesius ("The rose is without why; it blooms because it blooms...") meets Walt Whitman ("I think I could turn and live with animals..." <<<). ALso, below.

Caring is nice; skill is more useful and ingredients always matter. We like our food, but we're pretty relaxed about routine stuff; we're not competing, we're just eating: every meal doesn't have to be a masterpiece.
It's all about priorities

Definitely. For me, food is a "special case" priority. For most of my adolescence, I didn't eat--I was depressed most of the time (and undiagnosed epileptic, til age 25 when I was a student in Toronto--had I remained in the U.S., I'd likely be dead as I had been consistently misdiagnosed 'cuz poverty), my mother was sick, and life was bleak. Without motivation--or inspiration--I won't eat, and I can't really afford to miss very many meals.

I'm fussier about a sentence than a sauce, and I'm content a lot of times to have -- avert your aesthetic sense -- ripe banana dunked in cereal mix (rice crisps, boondi, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, walnut crumbs, mini dark chocolate chips) and a beer for supper.

Another of my "rules" is working with what's there. Apart from when living in cities, and biking past countless markets every day, I won't go to a market for a single item, or even a few--it's always to stock up.

Tonight, however, we had mixed greens from the garden, sauteed with crushed garlic and ginger, grilled Portobello caps marinated in soy sauce, sage, thyme, and b;lack pepper, with pickled beets. I do a good pickle.

I am finally getting closer to realizing this very dark, whole wheat sourdough bread like a loaf I got from the San Francisco Street Bakery in Olympia, Washington, nearly a quarter century ago. It was a really dark--almost black--loaf, which doesn't usually work so well with sourdough. When I went back (to the bakery) about ten years ago, they had nothing even remotely like it. So I've only got my memory to compare.

 

[RainbowSingularity]

really

rarely...

it's always to stock up.

...(pondering a comment about this as a human behaviour aspect)

So I've only got my memory to compare.

bakerys hinge on the everyday whims of their clients.
they need to adapt with things while keeping other things exactly the same.

there was a revolt against alternative fiber and content loafs around 10 years ago just after the 2008 crash.
it was the ego centric addictive personality appeasing its sense of arrogance toward common life interactions.

it also saw the rise of anti-vaxers and other variant strains of non conformist along side ultra conformist parading as conformist self appeasement.

 

[Jeeves]

When I went back (to the bakery) about ten years ago, they had nothing even remotely like it. So I've only got my memory to compare.

You might try looking at ethnic bread recipes - ? German, maybe. Sounds like a rye flour, so not from a wheat-growing district. Might have some barley in there, too. Anyway, I'd try a blend. And I guess you'll want a mature mother and long rising and proofing times.

 

[Bowser]

...in the event of emergency.

What few sources I can locate all state is that the average American household has only 3 days' worth of perishable and non-perishable foods. I find this most unlikely. Anyone know of any other such data, which might suggest a more plausible time period? And how long would your own household's supply of food last?

We, two humans and two dogs, live in a very small house--an 18' x 22' A-frame. We grow a fair amount of our food, but we live in a zone 5a; however, I am building a greenhouse this summer, in order to extend our growing window. We don't really buy much in the way of packaged or prepared foods, so it's mostly raw ingredients for proper food, but still, our kitchen is quite small. Yet we've always got ample food to last between 4 and 8 weeks--I kind of obsessively track these sorts of things. It would get boring eventually, but will still be nutritionally adequate, at least.

Anyways, that 3 day figure (for U.S. average) cannot possibly be right--I carry more food than that in a backpack or on my bicycle when I travel/hike! So what's the deal? Where is the real data hiding?

I think it's great you are working towards self-reliance. It's a skill that is lost on most people, including myself. I had a look at the issue some time ago. It seems that clean water is a major consideration, not just food. Many people keep 55 gal drums in their garages, water collection systems connected to their gutters, racks of canned food on their pantry walls, dried food in jars and mylar bags. It takes a lot of work and maintenance to stay prepared for the worst.

I suspect most people are not prepared and wouldn't be surprised if most people have only three days of food. But if you live in the city or the suburbs, once your neighbors start starving and see you're not starving, they will be kicking down your door.

 

[Jeeves]

Many people keep 55 gal drums in their garages, water collection systems connected to their gutters, racks of canned food on their pantry walls, dried food in jars and mylar bags. It takes a lot of work and maintenance to stay prepared for the worst.

We still have a couple of sealed 5gal buckets of soy beans from 1999. I have never successfully fermented any for my own tofu, but would try again if worst came. Had dehydrated food, too; still using the apples and peppers, but moths got into the spinach.
Who knew moths love dry spinach? And can chew holes in plastic? But how'd they get into the sealed bin?

I wouldn't be quite so quick to discount or discredit my neighbours, though. Communities can be co-operative. And you have a vanishingly small chance of long-term survival without a community.

 

[parmalee]

You might try looking at ethnic bread recipes - ? German, maybe. Sounds like a rye flour, so not from a wheat-growing district. Might have some barley in there, too. Anyway, I'd try a blend. And I guess you'll want a mature mother and long rising and proofing times.

Do you have to adjust the fluid ratio slightly when working with rye or barley? With rye, at least, my efforts have always been slightly disappointing, but I can't quite figure out the culprit.