Preparing for a 'turnip winter' scenario.

[Trig.Point]

There have been a few examples in history, where there hasn't been out and out famine in a country or region, but certain foodstuffs became rare. Such as Germany in 1917 or Holland in 1944.



There was food, such as turnips or potatoes but diets quickly started to lack protein and fats, which of course caused massive health problems.



I saw what nearly happened to the supply chain during covid. I also know that at least in the UK that if it had gotten worse they would have given preference to certain groups over other… ‘the key workers etc’.



While it’s not feasible for me to store months worth of foods, I was thinking of stashing aways a few small packages of food. I was thinking oils, protein bars, canned fish etc… fat and protein being my focus..



Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[You're MDNWU]

Canned goods and freeze dried meals will more than likely be your best bet.

I bought a couple packs of Mountain House to make sure I liked their flavor before buying some of their larger bundles.

For canned goods, buy what you'll actually eat.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

There are protein options. SPAM, canned fish. TVP (textured vegetable protein - made from soy) is processed, cheap and flavorless but lends itself well to tacos and chili with enough spice.

If you buy fat, I would go for saturated fats as they have the longest shelf lives. Coconut is easily available in glass.

 

[Trig.Point]

There are protein options. SPAM, canned fish. TVP (textured vegetable protein - made from soy) is processed, cheap and flavorless but lends itself well to tacos and chili with enough spice.

If you buy fat, I would go for saturated fats as they have the longest shelf lives. Coconut is easily available in glass.

That's interesting because my immediate thought would be 'saturated fats' = bad. However you're right in this scenaria they're perfect.

Essentially what I'm doing is sticking away a few shoebox sized packages. The intention isn't to feed myself for months on end. Rather it's to make up for possible gaps in the types of food availablle.

I have basically decided on tinned fish, protein bars, sugars and up untill now bottles of oil.

 

[Scatty]

Fats will go rancid rather quickly. It might be interesting to see if whey protein powder could keep for years in the right environment. It might not be the ideal protein source, but it'd be better than nothing.

As for your first assertion that it's not feasible to store months of food, I would ask why not? My wife and I have nearly 4 years worth of food stored beneath out house. It's a mix of freeze-dried fully-prepared food and properly packed rice and other dry foods that keep for at least 20 years. You don't have to go crazy like that, but get a few buckets to hold you for at least a couple of months. If you're on a budget, then make your own buckets. I can help with that if needed.

Storage of large amounts of food can be an issue for some people, because you obviously need to keep it somewhat cool and out of the sun. If you get creative, it's not too bad. You could store month's worth of food under the bed, use a board + tablecloth to make a coffee table out of it, or stick them in the crawlspace (assuming its free of rodents).

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

Also needless to say, don't tell anyone you store food. That one friend you tell will tell everyone and soon you'll hear "we're heading to your house when the apocalypse comes" and you don't have enough food to feed them all or ammo to shoot them all.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

For cheap fats - I just bought a tub of organic virgin coconut oil at Costco for under $13. It's 84 fluid ounces, and has 22000 calories of pure fat. Shelf life is two years. If you use coconut oil a lot, great. If not, you haven't wasted that much money. There's probably cheaper stuff out there, and Crisco is said to have a very long shelf life, but I'd rather not touch frankenfats if I could avoid them and coconut oil is pretty useful in lots of things.

Fats will go rancid rather quickly. It might be interesting to see if whey protein powder could keep for years in the right environment. It might not be the ideal protein source, but it'd be better than nothing.

Whey powder can last a long time. There's a brand of whey powder which adds vitamins and minerals, and they claim multiple year shelf life. Again, if it's inexpensive, you can buy it and rotate it. I'll be happy to donate a big can of whey powder or coconut oil to a local food pantry at a few months before expiration if it means having it around when TSHTF.

 

[Trig.Point]

Fats will go rancid rather quickly. It might be interesting to see if whey protein powder could keep for years in the right environment. It might not be the ideal protein source, but it'd be better than nothing.

As for your first assertion that it's not feasible to store months of food, I would ask why not? My wife and I have nearly 4 years worth of food stored beneath out house. It's a mix of freeze-dried fully-prepared food and properly packed rice and other dry foods that keep for at least 20 years. You don't have to go crazy like that, but get a few buckets to hold you for at least a couple of months. If you're on a budget, then make your own buckets. I can help with that if needed.

Storage of large amounts of food can be an issue for some people, because you obviously need to keep it somewhat cool and out of the sun. If you get creative, it's not too bad. You could store month's worth of food under the bed, use a board + tablecloth to make a coffee table out of it, or stick them in the crawlspace (assuming its free of rodents).

Sorry for the late reply, but it's not feasible for me to store large amounts of food. Since I've posted this I've put together 5 small packages, mixture of protein bars, canned fish, sugar, and as @Peaches the Wonder Cat suggested cocunut fat (which was extremely cheap) all in it was less than £30. I also bought a small water filtration system and purifying tabs, first aid kit and small tool kit.

 

[A huge plate of beans]

When it comes to water filtration, unless you are in the highlands of the UK any water you try and filter, unless rainwater, will probably contain agricultural or industrial contaminants that won't be removed and could be seriously harmful. It's also likely that viruses won't either. There are a couple of options:

- The Grayl, a quick use water filter that contains activated carbon to kill viruses as well. However each filter has a fairly limited lifespan and you cannot backwash it to clear it out - once a filter is done it's done.

- The Berkey, which is easily the safest option but the most expensive by far and bulky. This filters everything out - even the chlorine from tap water - so will capture any heavy metals or agrochems etc. The filters have an extremely long life as well.

As for food, as @Scatty said the freeze dried meals are just the easiest way to go as long as you are willing to sacrifice the space, although I would make sure they are kept in a relatively stable temperature environment. They have, unsurprisingly, soared in price since 2022 so it is definitely an investment. The 25 year shelf life written on these packs is apparently the longest they are legally allowed to say they last, but if kept in proper conditions it's more likely to be 50 years, so you only have to make the purchase once.

Otherwise, overestimate the calories you need by at least 1.2x as you would potentially be more active during any time you might need to rely on it.

 

[Trig.Point]

When it comes to water filtration, unless you are in the highlands of the UK any water you try and filter, unless rainwater, will probably contain agricultural or industrial contaminants that won't be removed and could be seriously harmful. It's also likely that viruses won't either. There are a couple of options:

- The Grayl, a quick use water filter that contains activated carbon to kill viruses as well. However each filter has a fairly limited lifespan and you cannot backwash it to clear it out - once a filter is done it's done.

- The Berkey, which is easily the safest option but the most expensive by far and bulky. This filters everything out - even the chlorine from tap water - so will capture any heavy metals or agrochems etc. The filters have an extremely long life as well.

As for food, as @Scatty said the freeze dried meals are just the easiest way to go as long as you are willing to sacrifice the space, although I would make sure they are kept in a relatively stable temperature environment. They have, unsurprisingly, soared in price since 2022 so it is definitely an investment. The 25 year shelf life written on these packs is apparently the longest they are legally allowed to say they last, but if kept in proper conditions it's more likely to be 50 years, so you only have to make the purchase once.

Otherwise, overestimate the calories you need by at least 1.2x as you would potentially be more active during any time you might need to rely on it.

I bought a MoKo Portable Water Filter, for £18 it was end of line but stil the data sheet said the carbon filter should be able to handle most pollutants. Ideally I'm not going to be trying to use it on ditchwater.

 

[A huge plate of beans]

I've not heard of the Moko before but if it has activated carbon in it then it should ideally work the same as the Grayl, which is certainly better than a normal bacteria/protozoa filter!

And really it depends on what you figure you would be using it with. If the taps stopped working then you are in trouble - it's not just ditchwater here, streams, rivers and ponds are likely to be contaminated with something from agriculture or industry, just by the dense nature of the country. It's a tricky one and could make you very unwell quite quickly.

The ideal scenario is to store your own water which you change every 6 months (I have two 100-odd litre tanks), but it sounds like if you have issues with food storage then this would definitely be a no-go as well.

 

[Trig.Point]

I've not heard of the Moko before but if it has activated carbon in it then it should ideally work the same as the Grayl, which is certainly better than a normal bacteria/protozoa filter!

And really it depends on what you figure you would be using it with. If the taps stopped working then you are in trouble - it's not just ditchwater here, streams, rivers and ponds are likely to be contaminated with something from agriculture or industry, just by the dense nature of the country. It's a tricky one and could make you very unwell quite quickly.

I'm quite happy with it, I don't think it's in production anymore and I picked it up still in the wrapping at a local charity shop. It's plastic but it feels like decent quality, though there's no way to prove that the filtration system is working. If I was stuck I'd make some sort of initial filter to get the worst of the crap out of the water before putting it through. Even if it was just using some cheese cloth and sieve.

The ideal scenario is to store your own water which you change every 6 months (I have two 100-odd litre tanks), but it sounds like if you have issues with food storage then this would definitely be a no-go as well.

lol yeah issues...

 

[A huge plate of beans]

In theory the activated carbon part of the filter should remove some of the odour, and it works for me in practice - with the Grayl (also plastic unless you shell out insane money for a titanium one) you can definitely tell the difference if you smell the pre-water and then the filtered.

In terms of pre-filtering to get rid of turbidity (good idea!), Millbank bags are great, not that expensive and you can store the filter in it in your bag/drawer/whatever. Highly recommend!

 

[waffle]

You want pemacin. It was made by the Indians and was complete human nutrition. Guys would eat nothing but pemacin for literally years and report Excellent health. Its basically jerky confet.

Make the driest jerky (beef or game, doesn't matter) you can. But make it with only dry spices. Then break it up until it's basically powder. Now you are at a decision point, do you want to add dried fruit? If so take the meat and make it 1/3 dried fruit of your choice by weight. Without the fruit the finished product is good basically forever if properly packed. It's good for 1-5 years with fruit. depending on the fruit and how dry it is. Ok, next we get lard/tallow equal in weight to our meat mixture and melt it. Combine the two in a pan that either comes apart or is lined because the final product is not exactly solid. Keep it in something air tight and away from light.

It's a bit of an acquired taste, but I now like it to the point it's difficult to keep in stock.

 

[Kung Pow Cream]

I know folks are big on jerky and such but have you thought of just getting dried beans and rice for your protein and assorted nuts for your fats?

You can also try to store powdered eggs.

 

[Obstacle]

It's a bit of an acquired taste, but I now like it to the point it's difficult to keep in stock.

I'll be damned, a genuine pemmican-eater.

 

[Scatty]

I know folks are big on jerky and such but have you thought of just getting dried beans and rice for your protein and assorted nuts for your fats?

You can also try to store powdered eggs.

Yeah I store rice and other freezedried stuff for the bulk, and then we have chickens for egg protein. If you're looking for long-term situations (more than a month), then I really think it's important to have some animal protein, ideally eggs in particular.

 

[A huge plate of beans]

Pemmican really is an amazing suggestion! Only issue for me is that I don't know what it looks like/smells like if it does go off, which although unlikely could be dangerous. That's a skill issue though.

Otherwise IMO all suggestions here are good, it's got to be based on what kind of time period you think you might need food and water for - I plan for a month with no energy, food or water and so have supplies to help with that. Could stretch it out by rationing if required. Any more than that and it's just chaos for my situation.

Everyone's alluding to it already but appropriate macros are definitely important - which is why freeze dried survival meals are so easy as they handle that for you. @Scatty seems to have a great handle on things, but chickens require space and the ability to defend them and you, which is an issue here!

 

[waffle]

Pemmican really is an amazing suggestion! Only issue for me is that I don't know what it looks like/smells like if it does go off, which although unlikely could be dangerous. That's a skill issue though.

If it doesn't smell rancid or have visible mold on it it's good.

 

[ducktales4gameboy]

It might be interesting to see if whey protein powder could keep for years in the right environment. It might not be the ideal protein source, but it'd be better than nothing

In my experience 100% whey will keep a good 5+ years beyond sell-by with zero quality degradation if it's sealed, possibly longer. I went through a can with a 2015 sell-by during the pandemic and the age wasn't noticeable at all.