Eat what you store? store what you eat? conditional situations?

[AngieM2]

mamamugsy's eating the 72 hours of food brought up something I've noticed.


It seems that most of the stable, non-perishable foods are high carbs. And if you're trying not to eat so many carbs now, that presents a conflict in my current eating habits that I'm trying to eat and the foods that I like, but are higher in carbs than I am currently eating.

I do understand that cheese and bean and eggs are proteins, but some beans are higher in carbs.

I'm also understanding that when problems arise, carbs may be wonderful things and I will have a different energy out put than I do now sitting at a computer. But NOW, if I store what I eat and eat what I store -

Get the circle of reasoning I'm thinking????


What do you do, or is this a consideration?

Angie

[wyld thang]

The thing is, in a stressful emergency situation, most likely a person will be more active needing more good usable energy--that's why I made the comment about looking at the balance of protein/fat/carb (in that other thread). I work out hard, and also play hard at a sport requiring cardio and strength AND mental endurance. I needed to find what is the best for me to eat before and during to keep up my energy--I did this by first understanding it needed to have protein/fat/carbs(both slow and fast delivered fuel) and experimenting what kinds of foods work best during exertion by not making me nauseus(too much sigar), or feel like I had a piece of lead in there(too much fat), or make me sluggish or crash(not enough carb), or run for the nearest bathroom...

Peanut butter is magic food for me--protein and fat, and combined with jelly(carb) on bread(can be whole grain--slow carb, or potato-YUMFAVE-faster carb) is a starter or along the way thing I can eat that won't give me a head rush or make me feel like I gotta "sit and digest".

It's getting late, but I think part of a 72-hour kit should be knowledge of nutrition to fuel hard work. Like you said a lot of the easy packing stuff tends to carbs, we need to evaluate the balance.

PS, if you eat the right stuff(I mean what your body actually needs, not what your feelings need) you will act, think, move much better for the task, as well as have a more positive outlook.

[soulsurvivor]

Food storage really can pose a problem when there are specialized diets that have to be maintained. DH is on a meat/potato Crohn's diet and I'm on a heart healthy diet that's just recently been updated to include restrictions to accomodate a gout diet. Basically, I've had to return to my strict vegetarian diet which is almost the exact opposite of DH's diet.

Because of the gout diet restrictions, I now have some food in storage that cannot be used by either of us. I'm planning to go through the inventory and pull those items out and donate to a local food bank.

It becomes difficult to store food for diets that focus on fresh food sources being available.

[sgl42]

depending on the type of disaster, some of the things i usually eat will be harder to prepare during an emergency. in particular, i usually eat brown rice for the nutrition, but in an emergency where fuel for cooking is in short supply, the much longer cooking time of brown rice compared to white rice is a liability. Same with dry beans. The long shelf-life is great for storing a large amount, but the long cook time can be a liability in a fuel-shortage situation. (I do have a haybox, so that can reduce fuel if I'm at home where the haybox is. One can also can some beans in mason jars so they're ready to eat, tho i haven't done that yet.)

--sgl

[Callieslamb]

one of the things I try to focus on with storing food is that I will probably want to cook once and eat 2-3 times. So I focus on food that can easily do that. I actually like peanutbutter but don't eat it much right now. I can see in a different situation where PB could be very nice to have around - so I store lots of it, though I currently don't eat much of it.

I am not afraid to store a bit of things that I currently don't eat at all. Corn meal - being one. We dont' eat much cornbread...but we will. But it could be quite a treat for the tastebuds at a different time.

To me the store what you eat and eat what you store advice is more meant for storing a ton of pinto beans- if you don't like them.

[marvella]

that's one main reason i feel that a couple of good fields guides are more valuable than any kind of stockpile.

get comfortable with killing and butchering and eating what is growing in your back yard.

[Madame]

Ang,
If those carbs are good long term storage, I wouldn't worry about it. Right now you have the ability to eat a varied diet, including less carbs. If we end up with an emergency situation, you'll eat what's available, which may mean more carbs. Just go with the flow.

[vegascowgirl]

everyone has made some great points and I can understand that for some people certain diets may pose a problem.
One thing I have a question about is for SGL42. What kind of fuel shortage are you speaking of? Propane, wood, something else?

Admittedly I live in a heavily wooded area, so a cooking fuel shortage would be a mighty rare event. So when folks talk about a fuel shortage pertaining to cooking I get a bit quizical. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm just interested in what many folks feel they just couldn't do without.

[AngieM2]

Originally Posted by sgl42

depending on the type of disaster, some of the things i usually eat will be harder to prepare during an emergency. in particular, i usually eat brown rice for the nutrition, but in an emergency where fuel for cooking is in short supply, the much longer cooking time of brown rice compared to white rice is a liability. Same with dry beans. The long shelf-life is great for storing a large amount, but the long cook time can be a liability in a fuel-shortage situation. (I do have a haybox, so that can reduce fuel if I'm at home where the haybox is. One can also can some beans in mason jars so they're ready to eat, tho i haven't done that yet.)

--sgl

The rice, could it be done slow cooker method in a solar oven set up?

Angie

[MorrisonCorner]

You could also pre-soak the daylights out of rice or beans to cut the cooking time.. or use a stovetop pressure cooker which will slice and dice the cooking time down to almost nothing.

That said... I feel your pain on the restricted diets. At best I operate under the assumption that we will be much more active during a major crisis, allowing my husband more leeway with his diet.

[sgl42]

Originally Posted by vegascowgirl

One thing I have a question about is for SGL42. What kind of fuel shortage are you speaking of? Propane, wood, something else?

right now, my backup cooking for a power outage is backpacking stoves (one alcohol, one tri-fuel-white gas, kerosene, gasoline). power outage is only one risk, and must be balanced against all the other risks. storing gobs of fuel is certainly possible, but it also increases the risk of a house fire. i don't have a super save way to store lots of it, but certainly other people might be different. also, if i have to bug out for some reason (chemical spill, industrial accident), there's only so much fuel i'd want to carry on my back or in my car. I have an aunt and uncle that were in houston during the last hurricane, and here's a snippet from their report:

[my uncle's granson] works at one of the local grocery stores and was asked to come in to help. At first shopping for groceries required one to stand in line until it was their turn. Inside, there was only 1 cash register working and 2 lights on. An employee would take one customer at a time into the store with a flashlight. They had 10 min. to shop. After that, they had to check out and the next person was lead in. Fortunately, the power is now back up in that area, so grocery shopping is back to normal except that the shelves aren’t as fully stocked.

so, how much do i really want to simmer those beans for 1.5 hours, vs just toting along a jar of peanut butter, or something that can be heated up and eaten in 10 minutes? how long would i want to wait in lines to try to buy more fuel?

those are the fuel-shortage situation i was considering. other people's situation will be very different, depending on what their backup plans and equipment are, and which types of disasters they're worried about.

re longer-term fuel shortages
i believe peak oil is likely true. that will cause the price to rise, but the most likely demand destruction is lots of people with long commutes in california having to move closer to their job, or buying a smaller car. moving a few ton hummer down the highway at 70 mph for an hour uses a lot more fuel that simmering beans for 2 hours. transportation, and heating/cooling of homes take up the vast majority of energy consumption in the US, so that's where most of the economizing will likely be as well when energy costs rise.

Originally Posted by AngieM2

The rice, could it be done slow cooker method in a solar oven set up?

don't have a solar oven now, but it's something i've considered, and would work pretty well in tx. i'll likely get a pressure cooker before that tho, which would also cook the rice faster. in could use my pressure canner now, but it's rather large and might be hard for a smallish backpacking stove to heat it up.

--sgl

[ET1 SS]

We are trying to produce foods on our land, and adjust our menu to use more of what we can produce. We already have been storing a lot of these things, and eating from our stores.

[Spinner]

I don't pay attention to nutritional value of what I eat. I prepare food by a color wheel. I simply try to put 3 or 4 colors together.

If I need an extra color, I'll usually slice a raw carrot, a tomato, grab some home canned bread & butter pickles, or grab a boiled egg. Salads are easy... I use both pork and poultry in it along with cheese, bacon bits, tomato, egg, and the dressing. It works for me. Salads will be much harder when I don't have a frig available. They will become a summer only food that can be made straight from the garden. I haven't thought about dressings... I guess I'll make a milk dressing from fresh goats milk.

[Karen]

I tend to think of it terms of what I can eat now, under my current diet, but that doesn't require refrigeration or freezing. The answer is: just about everything. That's because just about everything is now available as dehydrated, canned, or freeze dried.

I also have the philosophy that any type of diet (other than due to severe health conditions such as diabetes or other diseases) will go right out the window when that time comes. A restricted diet by 'choice' will be the last thing we will be worrying about.

In fact, I think a lot of people will seek comfort in the meals they prepare. It's the mealtime that will bring the 'break' from whatever it is going on the world at that time. We will want more traditional comfort foods or foods from their childhood; which can easily be done by just adjusting those recipes to coincide with the different ingredients which are in a different form than we might be use to.

Personally, I stock a variety. We have meals that we eat due to our current weight loss diet; some foods for comfort; some foods for if SHTF runs longer than 6 months and we need to tighten our preps - eat less but with more calories. Plus we also have back up thrifty, fill 'em up, makes-a-lot-with-little type meals in case we need to take in another family or two and are eating just to survive. However, they will need to bring their own toilet paper! It's one thing I can't seem to be able to keep at least a six month's supply of (let alone a year's worth) for more than one family at a time.

As far as fuel goes, that would all depend on how long the situation would look like it's going to run. If short term, we'd use propane; long term, wood or solar.

[fordy]

...........Folks with special needs , including diabetic foods won't be doing any bugging out , of Any kind ! Most folks simply aren't up to carrying a 60 to 80 pound backpack and walking for miles , UNless they've conditioned themselves for such . , fordy

[vegascowgirl]

Thank you SGL, I appreciate your concerns as well as your answer. Knowing what other folks may have to contend with helps me put things in better perspective (sp?).

[BlueberryChick]

What a great topic! I've thought about this before because I'm "prediabetic" and several family members are full-blown diabetic and we all have to be careful with a high-carb diet. With exercise and eating the right kind of carbs, it would be possible to have a healthy diet. However, dried beans and rice get a diabetic person to a daily carb limit really fast.

I'm trying to store canned meat and we have chickens for eggs. Other ideas are welcome.

[SquashNut]

My dh is diabetic and when we have lentles, we have to make sure he has a high carb food with it or else his blood sugar drops while he is asleep to very low levels. Why this is we have no idea. The same goes for some of the other beans, but not as bad. In fact the soluble fiber in beans is good for cholesteral.
When you compare bread or pasta to beans, the beans are much better for you.
Chances are you'll be happy to have those beans, beats eating nothing.

[hsmom]

Originally Posted by AngieM2

It seems that most of the stable, non-perishable foods are high carbs. And if you're trying not to eat so many carbs now, that presents a conflict in my current eating habits that I'm trying to eat and the foods that I like, but are higher in carbs than I am currently eating.

Well, there are two questions here -
1) What can you store that is healthy and not overly carb-y, and
2) How can you integrate storage foods into an everyday diet in which you want the emphasis on fresh fruits & veg, etc.

To (1) I would suggest canned tomatoes and other veg, canned chicken and fish, whole grains (like brown rice) so you are satisfied with less and it's easier on your blood sugar, etc.

(2) is more complex. Say you have 30 days of stored meals. You want to rotate, of course, in keeping with the eat what you store, store what you eat philosophy. But you want your everyday diet to include a minimum of storage items (because you're eating fresh, etc.). If you eat stored meals every 3rd day, and fresh the other two, then your 30 day stock will be fully rotated in 90 days. Of course, you don't need to eat "all-stored" or "all-fresh", but if you generally get 1/3 of your food from storage, your storage will rotate in three times the number of days of food you have stored. Now if you have a year's stored, and eat 1/3 from storage, it will take 3 years to rotate. If you eat stored meals every 5th day, it will take 5 times as long to rotate, or 5 months to rotate a 30 day supply or 5 years to rotate a 5 year supply - once you get going you'll be eating 5-year-old food on a regular basis - not ideal, IMHO. The idea is to play with the numbers - how much you have stored, and how often you want to eat stored food - until you get results that work for you. This is a generalization, of course. Different foods have different shelf lives, etc., so it's a bit more complicated, but it gives you an idea of how to proceed.

[cvk]

Go with grains that are lower on the glycemic scale like barley. The carbs release slower. We have alot of barley stored. I sprout lentils in most cases. That lowers the carbs. Yogurt is lower than milk in carbs because the yogurt culture converts the carbs to lactic acid. That is why it gets a sour taste. My dh is diabetic. We go with protein for storage like dried eggs and dried cheese. I am not diabetic. There is no reason that I can't eat more carbs while he eats a higher protein diet. That works for us.