Stockpile Food While it's Still Cheap?

[endlessvista]

I am thinking of hording non-perishable essentials as I am amazed how how inexpensive food can be in places such as Lldl and Tescos at the moment.

By "food" I am not talking about Llyod Grossman pasta sauces, Jamie Oliver organic frozen pizzas, sirloin steaks and buckets of designer ice cream, but essentials which keep one alive such as canned vegs, fruit and meat. I bought two large cans of salmon today for Euro 1.50 and they had massive ranges of fruit and veg in cans for less than 50 cent and some as low as 20 cent for a can of peas. That's seriously cheap.

They way I see it, food is not going to be this cheap for long and prices will skyrocket as the false Global Warming scam takes further hold. I suspect much of this cheap food was canned before the massive oil increase and bio-fuel food price designer-disaster and hence why it is still unreal affordable.

I was thinking of making a traditional pantry and filling it full of this cheap tinned and other non perisables while I can. Even if nothing happens I will still have food to eat in my retirement which I can eat unlike my pension I paid into and which has vanished because it was never real to begin with.

Anyone thinking of/doing this? How long can canned foods last and how best to store them. I also think the elite will have all foods dependent on refrigeration in years to come as well. So you have to eat frozen food (all mums love iceland!) - you will be able to store nothing outside the fridge. I can also see control of seeds for growing veg either becoming super expensive or banned.

I can't believe I am even thinking this as 10 years ago I would have though only nutcases stockpile food!

But alas here we are...

[tom bombadil]

Hullo endlessvista.

I already do stock-pile. Start now. Next time you shop, buy 15-25% of your next weeks/month's shopping. Stockpile the chemicals Hair shampoo, washing up liquid ect, and tinned stuff. That is, put it out of reach, but keep the perishables handy, but not with your main shopping. This way you know how much you do eat.

Remember that tinned food will go off or the tins will/might rust, so they will have to be rotated into your main month's stuff.

After a while, you will end up with a few months extra supply.



Some tips.

Buy a cat.
Buy bulk rice and wheat ect and put it into drums. I am talking the huge 55kg bags here. This is far cheaper anyway.
Half starve the cat.
Build a larder. Mine is only 8X6ft, by 8ft high. Lots of shelves (use old pallet wood for this) make it more than 2 tins high.
Learn to make bread and cakes and biscuits.
Buy a hand cranked mill for flower (flour. I am a tw@t).
Praise the cat for the mice that have been caught.
Buy 20 second-hand hens and make a coup. (a pound each from a battery farm about to kill it due to the fact that it wont lay every day and now lays on every other, this not being cost effective to them is a boon to you.)
Buy a puppy to watch your hens. Trust me it works.

I have gone off topic :D sorry.

I know that, for some, there is a cost issue already. But it will never get any easier I think.

Get an allotment. £20 a year. If you cant dig then don't. Mulch instead.


I can be a sweaty sod at times, but even if I shower 1.5 times a day I only need one bottle of hair and body gel, £1.20 ea. a month. This means that two years supply will set me back £29 !! Not bad. With toothpaste costing
twice as much I have covered oral and body hygiene in one fell swoop of £90. for two years.


Tom.

[the norseman]

Well if nutcases stock food I am a nutcase.

I think you should begin to store as much food is practicle for you and your circumstances.

Food is one of the most important things you can own when something in society goes wrong. Each time you go shopping buy a few more non perishable items each time. Most canned foods will last well over a year and most of the time a lot longer - what normally happens over a long period of time is that the nutrient content of the food generally declines rather than the food becoming inedible. If a can is "swollen" or "bulging" though it should be discarded.

You can rotate your food to avoid any of the above - Once you have an appreciable supply just eat the older stuff and replace with new it is that simple. What you must bear in mind is that you should only buy what you eat - don't buy a crate load of corned beef if you can't / won't eat it. I have heard it said that you should:

"Store what you eat and eat what you store".

Aside from canned goods pasta and rice store well with or without oxygen absorbers.

Also think about water - I personally have a big berkey water filter. This means if anything happens to the domestic water supply (I am living in the west of ireland and we had a huge cryptosporidium outbreak last year, giving us a boil water notice, couple that with a 2 day power cut and most people had problems because not everyone could obtain bottled water) I will have a safe stand alone means to meet that requirement.

I store at least 60 gallons of filtered water at my place - you will need about a gallon a day per person so that gives me 2 months worth plus with my water filter I have the independent means to drink quality water permanently.

Aside from food prices increasing think about the following:

Generally a local supermarket only has sufficient food for its core client base to last 3 days. In the even of public panic buying you will have problems.

Depending on where you live, there could be any number of problems with food supply due to haulage industry problems, oil disruptions causing problems, a manufactured terrorist attack etc.

If you lose your job you have sustenance.

Storing food empowers you - you have the means to look after yourself should society collapse.

For the record I have 12 months of food stored at any one time as well as a host of other items etc but that is a new thread completely in itself.

One word of advise if you should choose to tread this path - limit or in fact do not tell anyone about you storage - should tshtf you may well have a hoard of unwanted guests depending on the situation they may well be hostile.

The Norseman.

[tom bombadil]

Good advice the norseman. I think we were typing at the same time :D

You put it better than I.



Tom

[endlessvista]

Thanks a lot lads. This is superb and extremely usual/important advice. My sincere thanks I live on the East coast of Ireland, but in a mountainous rural area south of Dublin. I am also planning to get books on wild food and fungi I can eat from the local woods.

Can we try and keep this thread going as I bet there are loads of people with all kinds of good info on the subject.

The detergents stuff I never thought of - how useful a stockpile of soap would be...

[endlessvista]

Would it be worth oiling the tins in order to prevent rust?

I also see a lot of vacumed packed dry goods. Are they OK if the packing is plastic? What about stuff like Galaxy chocolate which is sealed in a plastic pack with aluminium foil backing. Somebody told me that chocolate like that can be stored for decades.

What about podwered creamers, coffee, tea and condensed milk.

Sorry for all the questions but I am really eager to get this going.

[diamond dogs]

I am buying/storing a bag of Quick soup mix a week (79p a bag from Holland and Barret atm makes loads) and stock cubes that make a hearty filling soup at low cost you can add whatever other ingredients you want to it..

Ingredients:

Contains Green Split Peas
Whole Green Lentils
Yellow Split Peas
Red Split Yentils
Whole Grain Brown
Barley
Barley Flakes

[endlessvista]

What about the flour that sold in sealed plastic bags? Dried eggs?

[the norseman]

Endlessvista,

Regarding rusting that should not be a problem if stored in a dry cool dark environment. I would suggest that you get a food rotation system in place which would mean that most of the "long term" food storing techniques are not needed.

As regards as to what get it all depends on how far you want to take this and why you think food storing is important.

Are you storing merely for economic reasons? If so, you will reach a point of diminishing returns.

Chocolote does store well - refrigeration works very well for longetivity but again for contingency planning again, cool dry and dark will do the job. When I was in the forces we would eat chocolate that was years old - it had turned white - with no ill effects.

As regards to vaccumed pack dry foods, these are very very good - an excellent supplier would be "montain house" - these would last 5 years no problem but the downside is the cost of such things.

You can store flour, dried eggs, rice protein powder, powdered milk etc but make sure you know what to do with these and have the means to process them. Can you cook with flour? Do you have the means to cook with flour in the event of power cuts? Again, this comes down to why are you storing food and what problems you are planning for.

For long term flour storage do a bit of digging around "survivalblog" - this is a great resource for such things.

A good book for wild eating is called "food for free" do a search on Amazon. They have this book available in the collins gem pocket guide. Couple that with the collins gem series for wild plants, fish, fungi etc and you have a great resource that is easily carried. They only cost a couple of Euros each too from Easons.

Other books that may be of interest (again depending on what you are planning for) are:

"Marlene's magic with food storage"

"ABCs of home food dehydration" - Dehydration is an excellent way to store freshly bought fruit and veg, dehydrators are relatively cheap.

"the complete book of self sufficency"

"where there is no doctor"

Unscented, additive free household bleach is a good item to have on hand. It does not store too well long term but can be used to steralise water in an emergency. You will need approx 8 drops (from an eye dropper) per Gallon of water. There is a little more to it than that so do a google search if this interests you.

The Norseman.

[pandamania]

The rotation system seems to make the most sense. I would label a box of food for one year from today and eat it then. You have a constant supply and you do save money as it's basically inflation free eating. Best of both world.

[tom bombadil]

True enough pandamania, but you do feel it when you next buy stuff in bulk :(

endlessvista, Things like coffee and tea ect. If you dont worry too much about those but just wein (spelling) yourself off and onto something local and from one of the many good books you will aquire, then these things will soon not cost a penny. Nettle tea is nice.

Go out and fish. Cook what you catch. If you have never gutted anything before then goto the fishmongers and do it yourself. Ask them how it is done. They will show you. Do it yourself at home.


Tom.

[silver_eyes]

why are people stockpiling food? oil armageddon ?

[dawnuk]

Given that it looks like food prices are going up coz of the wet winer alone......I think this is a good idea and I wouldn't say you have much more time to get on with this tbh.

Very soon, big escalations!

[postmanjimjim]

Sorry to jump on the org poster. I need to order some bulk food quick.

wheres the best place online (UK) to stock up on food, i have seen on TV the UK Prepers, that they had dried rice (sp) which can last for 10 year. Im looking for rice/flour, will plant the our garden with veg so ok on that front i think! lol

Any one that can direct me to a good site for food i would be greatfull. Trying to get ready now while i still have time.

[vashna619]

Slightly worried now as I don't have the funds to stockpile food being on JSA

[donjuan]

Why would food prices go up because of our wet winter, we import practically everything? All the fruit in my kitchen is from another country. For dinner today I had basmati rice and a tin of tuna, a real Greek yogurt, plastic thing of blueberriess and a protein shake; all imported.

Is I was going to do this I'd find someone with a Costco card. They've huge sacks of rice for under a tender or basmati for something like £6, sacks of pancake mix, huge boxes of brownie mix, usually have a deal on waters, huge tins of coffee etc. It being a us firm a lot of the stuff is gmo though but the pancake mix alone would be nice to have in a scarse time, just mix with water and fry.

[bones]

ive been storing food since 2008, ive noticed it raise alot! i also have become well aware of self sufficency and ive got chickens and a new beehive that ive just built, ill be getting my nucs in march, they will give me 35-40lbs per year of honey , maybe more!

and to the chap who asked why stock food?

insurance and a stop gap untill i can grow enough to sustain myself.

[blue2]

Merchant Gourmet do good quality Puy Lentils go onto website darn sight healthier than other lentils,i once sent for 25 boxes and shall be doing so again now. Also use good quality salt like Himalayan Pink salt which you can buy at some local health food stores but also www.detoxyourworld.com has some and how to make Sole (so-lay) which is very good for you. And a good quality non rancid olive oil like from Troots it is best i ever came across. I can make a tasty meal out of dish of Puy lentils and some organic olive oil over with some himalayan pink salt.

I can only use Spelt Stoneground Organic flour as i've got allergy to oridinary refined junk which also contains tremendous amount of Pesticides so is poison basically and i cannot eat any foods containing additives got to make everything from scratch at home.

For anyone who has some land or garden or allotment if you don't have to wait for years for one as often waiting lists for allotments you could buy some seeds from www.realseeds.co.uk it is a very informative website.

[dawnuk]

Sorry to jump on the org poster. I need to order some bulk food quick.

wheres the best place online (UK) to stock up on food, i have seen on TV the UK Prepers, that they had dried rice (sp) which can last for 10 year. Im looking for rice/flour, will plant the our garden with veg so ok on that front i think! lol

Any one that can direct me to a good site for food i would be greatfull. Trying to get ready now while i still have time.

There's this place... its freeze dried stuff that lasts 20-25yrs http://www.mountainhouse.com/

[dawnuk]

Why would food prices go up because of our wet winter, we import practically everything? All the fruit in my kitchen is from another country. For dinner today I had basmati rice and a tin of tuna, a real Greek yogurt, plastic thing of blueberriess and a protein shake; all imported.

Is I was going to do this I'd find someone with a Costco card. They've huge sacks of rice for under a tender or basmati for something like £6, sacks of pancake mix, huge boxes of brownie mix, usually have a deal on waters, huge tins of coffee etc. It being a us firm a lot of the stuff is gmo though but the pancake mix alone would be nice to have in a scarse time, just mix with water and fry.

Its not just our wet weather....

The papers were full of price increases on the way for foodstuffs... just google it...I came up with this article... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257387/Warning-huge-food-price-rise-Awful-weather-hammer-family-budgets-says-Waitrose-boss-Mark-Price.html

and this

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/commodities/9598418/British-food-prices-to-rise-after-poor-harvest.html

[tom bombadil]

Given that it looks like food prices are going up coz of the wet winer alone......I think this is a good idea and I wouldn't say you have much more time to get on with this tbh.

Very soon, big escalations!

Food prices tend to go down when the shops are being told by the suppliers that the next batch will be more expensive for the customer.

So if you notice prices drop, it is simply because the shop has had too much of the original stock, selling for xxpence, and the same shop has nowhere to keep the new stock. (Gone are the stock rooms as that space is now used for shelving on the shop floor).

THIS IS THE TIME FOR US TO BUY.


Sorry to jump on the org poster. I need to order some bulk food quick.

wheres the best place online (UK) to stock up on food, i have seen on TV the UK Prepers, that they had dried rice (sp) which can last for 10 year. Im looking for rice/flour, will plant the our garden with veg so ok on that front i think! lol

Any one that can direct me to a good site for food i would be greatfull. Trying to get ready now while i still have time.

Costco any time. If not, then try the big shops at times like I described above.

To make anything last ten years, you need to store it right. Start a new thread I think :)


Slightly worried now as I don't have the funds to stockpile food being on JSA

Look for my new thread on this.

Why would food prices go up because of our wet winter, we import practically everything? All the fruit in my kitchen is from another country. For dinner today I had basmati rice and a tin of tuna, a real Greek yogurt, plastic thing of blueberriess and a protein shake; all imported.

Is I was going to do this I'd find someone with a Costco card. They've huge sacks of rice for under a tender or basmati for something like £6, sacks of pancake mix, huge boxes of brownie mix, usually have a deal on waters, huge tins of coffee etc. It being a us firm a lot of the stuff is gmo though but the pancake mix alone would be nice to have in a scarse time, just mix with water and fry.

Hi. Costco has to sell non gm in the UK.:)

Rice is, on average, £1.00 a kilo. With forty kg sacks costing £38. so not much to save there. I buy the 20 kg bags. Easier to pick up for 50p more.
I also buy a forty litre container to put it in. Some is left over, and that goes into a shelf container.

So, if you see rice in tesco for a quid a kilo bag, don't beat yourself up over not getting a bigger bag.

Don't buy coffee in the big tins. Wait every three months and you get a deal on the smaller jars that work out less in price. Lidel is best at this.

Lidel also sell powdered milk in tins at £1.89 for 400g. Giving you 7 pints. But it keeps!

Nelly.

[brighteyes]

Aldi do powdered milk in tins too and it tastes quite nice surprisingly.
I don't have much storage space for massive sacks of rice etc but I'm putting together boxes with monthly 'rations' in each.
I've done lots of research on 'crops in pots' and vertical gardening as I only have a small concrete back yard. That's my project for 2013, grow my own. Also, I have a friend who has a half plot on an allotment and we're going to pool our efforts to grow stuff on there too.
Something else I did was to but a book on wartime rationing. You'd be surprised at how many recipes there are in there given the sparsity of ingredients people had to work with. I really need to locate powdered eggs. Anyone else noticed how egg prices have shot up?

[tom bombadil]

Eggs? Yup. Gone right up. We bake cakes for a half living and they have gone up by a third.


We cook with rice allllllll the time and it still has little space requirements. We might go through four 40kg bags a year :eek: :)


N

[motleyhoo]

I already have a few items, but the real stocking up starts this weekend coming up. I have my pack ready with everything I need to live in the bush for a while if my wife has to drop me off someplace to save my life. Can you sense the angst? Things are not looking good over here. I can sense it. I can feel it. The enemy threw the first rock today in NY state.

I'd feel a lot better if I was more remote. Unfortunately I live in a modern subdivision so I'm as much of a dependent slave as the rest of the lot around here. I've been wondering is maybe I should setup a meeting with some of my neighbors to have a discussion about everything and what we can do if.

.

[scoobs078]

i looked at the title and thought ' what are you on about while food is cheep' then noticed it was 2008 ..... when it WAS cheeper DOH!

[brighteyes]

Strange. I've casually mentioned stocking up on non perishables and my modest plans for self sufficiency and it would seem that there are people I would never have expected to give it more than a cursory comment that are doing exactly that. And it's not just because of the severe weather warnings either. My god, are folks just more aware than I've given them credit for? :eek:

Still sourcing those powdered eggs though. ;)

[tom bombadil]

Strange. I've casually mentioned stocking up on non perishables and my modest plans for self sufficiency and it would seem that there are people I would never have expected to give it more than a cursory comment that are doing exactly that. And it's not just because of the severe weather warnings either. My god, are folks just more aware than I've given them credit for? :eek:

Still sourcing those powdered eggs though. ;)

Powdered eggs? Where you at?

[tom bombadil]

In the US use Amazon.

Here in the UK, use cake shops.

Also use the shop's suppliers (they won't tell you, so wait for the van to arrive on delivery day:p). In bulk, they are happy to serve.

These places also sell artificial eggs.

Also, one could dry your own!


:cool:

[noncooperation]

Also don't forget things to buy like toilet roll - not truly essential but a bit messy without! (oh, and wet wipes for those who have discovered these wonderful wipe aids!)

[tom bombadil]

I think that the one thing that should not be forgotten should be sweets for the children.

Learning to make your own would be cool. Its not hard and the barter value is high even if you don't have kids, we would need to look after them, right?

I got that idea from vention4's you tubes. The other thing I got was divide the rice into 1kg bags and vac-seal them. Using these ready weighed and compact units as cash is what can and has happened in the third world when their shit has hit the fan.


Nelly.

[brighteyes]

Thanks for the pointers Nelly. :) We're not really a 'sweet' family but little one loves honey and jams so will be stocking up/making own.

noncooperation: Toilet roll and wet wipes.....and I have a stack load of those scented nappy sacks too ( cos you never know ). :)

I suppose I'm lucky as my Gran was very self sufficient and I learned a lot from her. Just wish I could keep chickens like she did but only have a concrete back yard. :(

[dawnuk]

Also don't forget things to buy like toilet roll - not truly essential but a bit messy without! (oh, and wet wipes for those who have discovered these wonderful wipe aids!)

we haven't stocked up on toilet rolls(due to the amount of room they take up) but we have got months worth of supplies of packs of facial tissues, those oblong ones with 10 in the pack, we have enough to see us thro 12 months....if you go to places like 'bodycare', that toiletry shop in the uk, you can pick up a big pack for about 60 or 70 p......for a dozenish packs of 10...

[tom bombadil]

I suppose I'm lucky as my Gran was very self sufficient and I learned a lot from her. Just wish I could keep chickens like she did but only have a concrete back yard. :(

And your point is? :D

I think your gran would still be able to do it.

People gro food on concrete y'know?

[brighteyes]

And your point is? :D

I think your gran would still be able to do it.

People gro food on concrete y'know?

Not sure what my point is/was. I've slept since my last post. LOL! :)
Anyway, not sure our landlord would allow chickens.
I've done the research on growing stuff on concrete and got my materials and stuff (just waiting for the snow to bugger off). My friend has got me a pallet (for vertical growing). Been told it is possible to grow enough stuff in a backyard for a year for 2 adults & a small child. We'll see. :)

(posted at a ridiculous hour and whilst half awake so if it doesn't make sense .....tough). :-P

[tom bombadil]

Not sure what my point is/was. I've slept since my last post. LOL! :)
Anyway, not sure our landlord would allow chickens.
I've done the research on growing stuff on concrete and got my materials and stuff (just waiting for the snow to bugger off). My friend has got me a pallet (for vertical growing). Been told it is possible to grow enough stuff in a backyard for a year for 2 adults & a small child. We'll see. :)

(posted at a ridiculous hour and whilst half awake so if it doesn't make sense .....tough). :-P

I was only jesting on the 'your point' thing :p I was just thinking that it would not have stopped her if she had a lifeless tract, I think.

Have you asked your land lord if you can keep a pet? If there is nothing in the contract you signed then you can take for granted that you 'have permision' to live the rest of your life as you see fit. Lets see that contract.

Therefore you treat the chicks as pets.

For a concrete surface, you ask a 'chicken site'. I have known it to be done before. Look at youtube for a gal that uses sand to keep the smells away. It would be no different than buying hay and straw for a bunny.

Also, do you have a friend that you could use a part of their yard? You still do all the setting up, but its at their place. A good mate might expect a few eggs. Also then, you could ask them if you could tend their possibly unused yard to grow things. Just a suggestion.

There are a few guys that has tested the 'grow your own in your garden for a years supplies of home grown' thing before (youtube) and commented on how difficult it was. I think however that if you take into account the shitty weather we have had, the shitty chems in the air and the shitty water, and we have a cocktail for disaster. I would try an aquaponics set-up for a 'supply my own garden feed' scenario.

[brighteyes]

Ah....no pets! Damn contracts. :(
Asked my pal who is sharing a small allotment plot with me.....no livestock. Damn again!
Never mind.
As for 'aquaponics' thanks for the suggestion. You just gave me another excuse to feed my insomnia habit. (why do I feel the need to do all my research and planning at stoopid o clock)? LOL!!! ;)

(P.S Yes, I will be sharing my pals allotment but I still want to grow my own stuff at home too. You never know what might happen and I prefer not to be too reliant on others IYKWIM).

[motleyhoo]

I looked into the aquaponics idea. It's not really hard and there's lots of sites that tell you how to do it. The problem is you have to have the right climate. The best fish to raise are Tilapia, but they need to live within a certain temperature band.

If you need you need something else to keep you up researching look into making your own composting toilet.

.

[hovy]

I really need to locate powdered eggs. Anyone else noticed how egg prices have shot up?

Powdered eggs for human consumption are not available in the Uk, saying that I bought 5kg on ebay sold as fishing bait for anglers, before storing I tried some, not bad needs a lot of seasoning.
Have recently searched ebay with no luck, Canada produces egg powder and exports (as in ww11) may be very expensive.

[hovy]

Why would food prices go up because of our wet winter, we import practically everything? All the fruit in my kitchen is from another country. For dinner today I had basmati rice and a tin of tuna, a real Greek yogurt, plastic thing of blueberriess and a protein shake; all imported.

Is I was going to do this I'd find someone with a Costco card. They've huge sacks of rice for under a tender or basmati for something like £6, sacks of pancake mix, huge boxes of brownie mix, usually have a deal on waters, huge tins of coffee etc. It being a us firm a lot of the stuff is gmo though but the pancake mix alone would be nice to have in a scarse time, just mix with water and fry.

The wet rotting weather has affected most of Europe, root veg has rotted in Spain as well as the UK, buy a a of bag spuds grown in the UK or imported from Europe both have rot and blemishes that eventually turn to rot mean that spuds cannot be stored, spuds along with failing wheat are basics, when both fail for more than a season then food shortage will be a reality.

[flamesong]

Buy 20 second-hand hens and make a coup. (a pound each from a battery farm about to kill it due to the fact that it wont lay every day and now lays on every other, this not being cost effective to them is a boon to you.)
What are you going to do with 70 eggs per week?

I have two Marans which I was given (I had three) which lay an egg each and I still give half of the eggs away. I'm thinking of getting a couple more but only because I like keeping them and they are quite sociable.

And you have to factor in that they do eat. My two cost about £5 (conservative estimate) per month to feed non-GM corn and layers pellets. 20 are going to cost £50 per month to feed. And they don't lay at all for two or three months in the winter but they still need to be fed.

And whilst rescuing hens from battery farms (which are illegal, now aren't they) may be virtuous, they are, by dint of their previous conditions, very unhealthy.

I think that buying a point of lay hen for about £10 from a market is probably more economical in the long run. It should have a laying life of two or three years and if you are so inclined, can then make a nice stew.

[tom bombadil]

What are you going to do with 70 eggs per week?

I have two Marans which I was given (I had three) which lay an egg each and I still give half of the eggs away. I'm thinking of getting a couple more but only because I like keeping them and they are quite sociable.

And you have to factor in that they do eat. My two cost about £5 (conservative estimate) per month to feed non-GM corn and layers pellets. 20 are going to cost £50 per month to feed. And they don't lay at all for two or three months in the winter but they still need to be fed.

And whilst rescuing hens from battery farms (which are illegal, now aren't they) may be virtuous, they are, by dint of their previous conditions, very unhealthy.

I think that buying a point of lay hen for about £10 from a market is probably more economical in the long run. It should have a laying life of two or three years and if you are so inclined, can then make a nice stew.

Yeah, I agree with some of what you say. But that was the issue with getting twenty. Some will die, others will be sickly and you will eat a few. That might whittle it down a bit. But I would be shocked to get 70 eggs per week for a long time, and especialy with hens that are by deffinition, past there sell-by date (as you know though, that can be taken with a pinch of salt as what is unacceptible for them is fine for the lay man).

Anyway, I could do lots with 70 eggs. Juggling?

[motleyhoo]

If you have a dehydrator, the type that has the fruit roll-up sheets. Scramble the eggs really well and then dehydrate them raw on the sheets, ~125 dF for 16 hours. Coarse crumble the dry egg sheets in a food processor then vacuum pack. When you want eggs a tablespoon equals 1 egg. To make scrambled eggs just add a couple tablespoons to a fry pan with 4 tablespoons water. They'll come out just like the real thing and not like those horrible powdered eggs.

.

[brighteyes]

I looked into the aquaponics idea. It's not really hard and there's lots of sites that tell you how to do it. The problem is you have to have the right climate. The best fish to raise are Tilapia, but they need to live within a certain temperature band.

If you need you need something else to keep you up researching look into making your own composting toilet.

.

As if I need anything else to keep me awake. Thanks. ;)

[magritte]

When you factor that oil is basically proping up modern agriculture people might realise that food is cheap even 5 years after 2008!

People used to spend vastly more of thier income on food than they do now. This is why older folker know how to use every part of a slaughtered animal in cooking.

Despite the cost im sure the quality was better.