Let’s compare what kind of food we bought

[IvyBush123]

Here is what we bought:

*sparkling mineral water
*canned bread (can be bought at military surplus stores)
*noodles
*rice
*canned peas
*canned carrots
*canned tomatoes
*canned Sauerkraut (extremly rich in vitamine C, they used it on ships to prevent scurvy)
*canned mushrooms
*canned beans
*canned bell-peppers
*canned pineapples
*canned pears
*canned cherries
*canned peaches
*peanut butter
*powdered eggs
*powdered milk
*vegetable Oil
*ravioli
*canned Bolognese Sauce
*canned beef stroganoff
*canned chicken curry
*canned shashlik
*canned cevapcici
*canned lentil soup
*canned pea soup
*canned sausages
*canned turkey breast
*spam
*jam
*honey
*sugar
*tea
*coffee
*chocolate
*cookies
*Camping foods (for example couscous with veggies, chicken tikka massala, vegetable jambalaya)
*ramen noodles
*protein bars
*emergency food rations (know what that is?)

Never wrote canned that often in one thread

My biggest problem is that dh has trouble eating (even without pandemic) but I’ll think I’ll starrt another thread about this.

Nato I'm coming to yours, that sounds more appealing than a tin of my growing stash of baked beans

I last tried to make hummus 20 years ago and it was so revolting it’s taken 2 decades and a pandemic to pluck up the courage to try again.

I’ve also discovered something else as a result of this need to prepare.

Hold on to your undies....Heinz no longer make sponge puddings in a tin

DISAPPOINTMENT

There's another brand @NatoPMT but I'm damned if I can remember. Think it's a woman's name.

We make vegan sponge with oil and bake it on a bed of jam. Comes out like jam sponge from school. I need to find where I left the recipe....

Yes please to the recipe!

Houmous: tinned chickpeas, sesame seeds+ water or tahini ( which I couldn't get hence trying the sesame seeds) lemon juice, lots of garlic.

Add onions if you have them

Or turmeric, cumin, before whizzing up then handful of sultanas and whole tinned chickpeas.

What I struggle with is the amounts. Like, how much of everything would I need for me, DH and our three year old for two weeks? Not even sure how to calculate it really.

@penguinsonaslide

If you look up the amount of water and amount of calories the average person needs by age/weight/build for maintenance that can help to get a basic idea. Initially I was looking at food bank parcels, but they are not meant to be adequate nutrition for maintenance (and in the case of a 3 year old growth) so I think they are not anywhere near big enough to actually cover nutritional needs. The water thing was an eye opener for me, because dehydration would get us long before we ran out of baked beans in my house, IYSWIM

I last tried to make hummus 20 years ago and it was so revolting it’s taken 2 decades and a pandemic to pluck up the courage to try again.

I can recommend the Carol Vorderman recipe for humous. It's really delicious.

Hummus (serves 4)

125g (4oz) chickpeas, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed (or use a 400g tin)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
120ml (4fl oz) tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of paprika or cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

METHOD
Cook the chickpeas in plenty of water for 60-90 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Puree the cooked chickpeas with the rest of the ingredients and enough of the cooking liquid to make a creamy consistency. Taste and add more black pepper or lemon juice if necessary. Chill in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.

Serve with crudites (carrot, cucumber, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, celery) and a slice of rye bread.

Sounds nice!

For the future (if this current threat can be contained) what would you do differently prep wise?

I have learnt to:

Follow MN prepping threads (I started a bit for Brexit but follow threads closely now)

Buy antibacc hand sanitiser in bulk

Buy more loo roll, sanpro, medical supplies and water.

Take better care of myself. I'm overweight and have high blood pressure (blame stressful job) but am in my late 40s now and want to be healthier for my children.

With water I just think tbh if we're at the stage where there isn't any water we are talking apocalypse and I don't want to be around for that anyway.

I have a small stash of bottled water for a short term issue with the water. I have a friend who works for Thames Water and he reckons it is very, very unlikely the outbreak is going to cause any kind of water shortage.

@penguinsonaslide

Well yeah exactly. But I do have a bit incase it gets freakily cold and the pipes freeze up or something. I try not to think in terms of zombie virus/nuclear apocalypse because I have no intention of learning to shoot or purifying natural water sources or anything like that. I'm a well prepared townie, not a survivalist.

Thanks for the top tips on Halloumi! Randomly, I bought some a few weeks ago and was surprised by the long date - had forgotten until I read this thread though. Clothes cream in the freezer too!

I’m mostly commenting to provide some vege/vegan suggestions. I’ve always got lots of lentils/pulses/beans etc. In but today I bought some ready made lentil curry tins, bean chilli tins, falafel mix and, most excitingly for DH... Fray Bentos vege balti pie and cheese and onion pie. Who knew?! I’ve loads of grated cheddar in the freezer too. We shall eat our pasta like kings! 😂

*clotted cream, not clothes 🙄

Anyway, Hopefully that gives people some ideas of some easy (in case) you are sick long life vege food that doesn’t take up loads of space.

Here’s what I topped up in stock in case we need it. We use everything we store. This is just our pantry, I have a large fridge freezer inside and a full freezer in the garage.

Pasta: Spaghetti, macaroni, rotini, angel hair, noodles
Store bought tomato/basil pasta sauce x 4
(I am pressure canning more of my own this week)
Store bought Alfredo sauce x 1
Homemade pressure canned Italian Veg soup x 6
Homemade pressure canned Regular Veg soup x 6
Homemade pressure canned chili x 6
Homemade pressure canned chicken breast x 8
Homemade pressure canned chicken thighs x 10
Bottled water x 6 Liters
Pressure canned milk
Home vacuum sealed saltine crackers (for sickness) x 2
Home vacuum sealed graham crackers x 2 (treats)
Vodka, Brandy, 190 Proof Alcohol, Grand Mariner
Gatoraide; Cranberry juice
Non instant dry milk
Butter powder
Sour cream powder
Canned butter
Powdered milk
Freeze dried eggs
Freeze dried cheddar, mozzarella
(The powders and cheeses, eggs have a 30 year shelf life!)
‘Sick Food: Jello, puddings, etc.
Full dehydrated meals for 2 x 4
Ingredients to make hummus
Flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, salt, oil
Cake/muffin/brownie mixes - I keep canned pumpkin, canned white and black beans with these because in the absence of eggs and oil, a can of pumpkin purée for example can be mixed into a spice cake mix to make muffins with no other ingredients. Same for the black beans in brownies, and white beans with ‘golden’ cake mixes.
Oatmeal
Raisins, dried cranberries, nuts
Rice, tabouleh mixes, quinoa, rice mixes, instant mashed potatoes, Au gratin potato mix,
Soups - too many to list but my favourite (for canned!) chicken meatball & veggies - ready to serve
Kraft Dinner x 5
12 Liters UHT milk
Curry sauces
All manner of condiments, herbs & spices, sauces
Canned black olives x 10
Canned green beans x 12
Canned corn x 8
Canned sweet potatoes x 2 large
Canned sauerkraut x 2
Canned mandarin oranges, peaches, pears, mixed fruit, cherries
Honey. We had bees so we have about 4 liters
Coffee!!
Teas, reg and herbal
Tang orange drink powder (has vitamin C)
Unscented hand soap x 6
Unscented hand cream x 4
Hand wipes x 8
Disinfectant
Disinfecting wipes
Hand gel (Had a 1.5 liter 63% Alcohol bottle)
Unscented hand gel on order (I prefer unscented)
Portable hand gel (4)
Acetaminophen x 2
Ibuprofen x 4
Nasal spray x 2
Decongestant x 1
Allergy D Medicine
Benedryl x 1
Tissues x 12 lg boxes
I think that’s it!

Forgot: Dehydrated ground beef and turkey, homemade & vacuum sealed.

Besides the tims of veg, oats, rice and pasta that everyone else has as well, I'm growing lettuce, spinach and pak choy from seed in containers in the bedroom. They are growing quite well and I'm hoping for a generous crop.

I also took the advice from one of the prepper threads to peel and slice banana's, freeze them shortly on baking paper and then putting them together in a bag in the freezer. I also froze blueberries and whisked eggs. So thanks for those suggestions!

Grabbed black pudding today. 89p in Homebargains and it's lovely.

Some for tonight and this week's breakfasts, the other is part of our fresh rotating stock. Love a fry up.

I've just got back from a shop, and wish I'd seen this before I left. I bought for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids under 7)
Packets of noodles
Packets of rice
Packets of flavoured noodles
Tinned hot dogs
Tinned carrots
Tinned peas
Pasta sauces
Crisps
Biscuits
Coffee
Calpol
Flu tablets
Toilet roll
Tinned beans
Tinned spaghetti
Soup
Bread mixes

Need to buy milk powder and hand gel.
Our freezer and cupboards are well stocked, so this is a back up.
It's the first time I've ever prepped, and a bit nervous to tell my husband, as he'll probably laugh at me...

On top of the usual things you have all mentioned, I have bottles of lemon juice to make honey and lemon. It's the Staple 'cough medicine' for me and my DD, she loves it luckily and I swear she fakes a cough sometimes so she can have some to drink. DH doesn't belive in it and would rather have a bottle of cough syrup (contents: glucose and citric acid 🙄)

Thanks for the ice pop idea though! Great if you have a fever too!