stocking up at tesco's

bonniebede

Today I decided to see how much it would cost to buy enough food to eat for a year at Tesco's. I used the lds manual guides and the storage calculator here http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm note that the milk allowance has been dropped to a smaller quantity. I also added enough tinned meat fish for 100 grams per day, and vitamin tabs for the year, I have not included spices, or things like chocolate that could make this more interesting. I substited dilutable high juice drinks for fruit powder and added the equivalent weight in sugar as well. No tinned veg or fruit either on this list, i suppose a bit of foraging might be going on..

Some of these items would have to be used up ant rotated annually, but some would have shelf life of a few years, also the wateris not enough for a year but it does include milton which can be used to purify water.

I have been thinking it would cost thousands and thousands to provide this sort of cushion, so i logged it all into Tescos online grocewry shopper. Using all the cheap tesco own brands (won't be complaining if its a choice of that or nothing) it added up to an amazing...

618.23 euros.:D

Of course stage 2 is what happens at the end of that year...seeds, gardening tools, skills, canning supplies etc etc. But it could be a start.
And I could probably afford to put this up over the course of a year. Meaning in the first month i would have enough for me for a month, or two of us for two weeks and so on. Mounting security as time goes on.

Lastly I guess you could get this alot cheaper wholsale, however the convenience of small scale packages that can be rotated has to be thought of too.

THats it for now.

BTW it was just a thought exercise. but i'd love to see the face of the guy who has to deliver it....at a mere 4.50 extra.:)

kildare.17hmr

bonniebede wrote: »

Today I decided to see how much it would cost to buy enough food to eat for a year at Tesco's. I used the lds manual guides and the storage calculator here http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm note that the milk allowance has been dropped to a smaller quantity. I also added enough tinned meat fish for 100 grams per day, and vitamin tabs for the year, I have not included spices, or things like chocolate that could make this more interesting. I substited dilutable high juice drinks for fruit powder and added the equivalent weight in sugar as well. No tinned veg or fruit either on this list, i suppose a bit of foraging might be going on..

Some of these items would have to be used up ant rotated annually, but some would have shelf life of a few years, also the wateris not enough for a year but it does include milton which can be used to purify water.

I have been thinking it would cost thousands and thousands to provide this sort of cushion, so i logged it all into Tescos online grocewry shopper. Using all the cheap tesco own brands (won't be complaining if its a choice of that or nothing) it added up to an amazing...

618.23 euros.:D

Of course stage 2 is what happens at the end of that year...seeds, gardening tools, skills, canning supplies etc etc. But it could be a start.
And I could probably afford to put this up over the course of a year. Meaning in the first month i would have enough for me for a month, or two of us for two weeks and so on. Mounting security as time goes on.

Lastly I guess you could get this alot cheaper wholsale, however the convenience of small scale packages that can be rotated has to be thought of too.

THats it for now.

BTW it was just a thought exercise. but i'd love to see the face of the guy who has to deliver it....at a mere 4.50 extra.:)

Great first post!

how many people is that list for and have you got the details of what was exactly on it? would be interested in reading it and im sure the others would too.

1 thing, you said

Of course stage 2 is what happens at the end of that year...seeds, gardening tools, skills, canning supplies etc etc.

This should all be started asap and not left till the end of the first year

eth0

I wonder how much cheaper Aldi would be but then holesalers will be cheaper again. Do you sitll have the list?

kildare.17hmr

if it was tesco own brands id say the Price would be similar but id reckon alot of aldi or lidl stuff might be better.

crackcrack30

Is it recommended to eat fish everyday?. i'd put a fishing rod/line on your second stage list.

I'd be interested to see your list also....

Grizzly 45

Forget the rod and reel.You can improvise those.But plenty of line ,hooks of various sizes and swivels.Learn how to put together a trot line.Much better and more efficent.;)

Wonder would LIDL be any cheaper?Or if a bunch of us did a whole sale purchase?

bonniebede

Well the list is easy if you follow the link in the first post, it goes to this food calculator, you put in the number of adults and children and press calculate and hey presto it tells you what you need.

So i worked it out for 1 adult.

Its is based on the basic food list from the lds manual, and interesting book, and someone has already posted that on the post at the beginning with videos and things.

It goes into more detail and has a longer list than the basic that the calcultor uses, also it gives more refined factors, like difference between adult mand and woman, also it lists things like spices etc which would be all gravy, (if you pardon the pun) but not absolutely essential.
I mean I would rather have a bag of flour than a box of curry spice...

I basically followed the plan on the food calculator, except in grains i used all flour as no other real choices, Tesco haven't got around to unground wheat yet and the manual has dropped the amount of milk to 16 lbs so i followed that, as I am fairly intolerant of milk, though i do take it a bit.

THe meat and fish i added, then looked at what else was on the extras list in the manual and thought vitamins sounded pretty essential.

I have extracted the list from the shopping cart but not sure how to post it at the moment, will rummage around and see what i can do.

Doc Ruby

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

Learn how to put together a trot line.Much better and more efficent.;)

Or even a gill net.
>_>

bonniebede

[QUOTE
1 thing, you saidThis should all be started asap and not left till the end of the first year[/QUOTE]

Yes indeed. The ultimate aim is to feed yourself from the land, well somebodies land.

So I think the most important skill is gardening, then trapping and fishing, with provision for canning and food drying.

So seeds and equipment for that are also on the cards.

But the food supply has to get me past
1. the time when there are lots of people still roaming around looking for food. Might have to hide out for a while before you can garden. of course the ones who aren't prepared will cease to be around while i'm still eating tesco value tuna.

2. THe time it takes to plant a garden from scratch and get it productive. A minimum of one year to harvest.

3. Allowing for wild foraging and what i might already have in the garden, there is still the possibility that a bad or small first harvest will only supplement the stored food not replace it

4. whats already growing will have to be allowed to go to seed , its my emergency seed bank, so i need to make sure i gather enought seed from it for a full planting the following year, when its all i will have to eat.

bonniebede

what about lobster pots and that sort of stuff?

Given we are on an island, what do you think are the chances of getting a useful food amount from the sea?

bonniebede

had to break it in two half so i could upload it. item in left column, price and number of the items in the right column.

bonniebede

Since this thought experiment got me thinking, i realised it would be smart to look at what i eat at the moment. Because I eat low carb at the moment all the flour and beans and stuff are no use to me in ordinary times. So I am going to make a list of the things i eat which do store, and how much i eat so i can plan a rotation that keeps them in date, and start with that as my first stocked items.

My list so far

Vegetable oil
Tinned peaches
Tinned fish
Salt
Sugar (very little)
Spices, soya sauce, condiments, stock cubes
Nuts
Flax meal
Protein powder
Jars of pasta sauce
Peanut butter :P
Cheese. even though it would go off without a fridge quicker, it could be used first in an emergency.

Thats it. Not much to build a whole menu from, because i eat nearly entirely fresh veg and protein. Better plant a garden and get some rabbits hens and pigeons asap. Already got plenty of slugs (for the prospective chickens) and snails and nettles (for me):rolleyes:

Red Harvest

bonniebede wrote: »

...

2. THe time it takes to plant a garden from scratch and get it productive. A minimum of one year to harvest.

Can't leave that unchallenged .

OK so it depends when you start, in the autumn and you'll have to go the winter without growing anything much, but if you started in the spring spuds (first earlies) will give you a crop from uncropped ground in less than 3 months + would be a traditional ground breaking crop (back breaking if you ask me).

For a GYO supply of veg one of the biggest problems is over winter storage.

but that might be taking a good thread off topic - anyone want to talk Grow Your Own veg in another thread?

Link for some good online growing basics http://www.allotment.org.uk/

krissovo

Great thread and a interesting concept, I will have a proper look later but my initial thoughts would be its lacking some flavoring items. Some strong sauces like tabasco, Worcester or soy would make usefull additions, it could also hand in hand with your other phase if you plant a herb garden. Its easy to grow bassil and chillies indoors and have rosemary & sage outside all year which will add some interest to your ingrediants at a minimum outlay.

Some other flavour items would be garlic, pepper and onion powder. Flavor is important as a major element of survival is morale.

Beans is one food item I am very weak on, in fact I must make it a new years resolution to work with beans a lot more and also store some.

I will make my own list for three months later.

Grizzly 45

bonniebede wrote: »

what about lobster pots and that sort of stuff?

Given we are on an island, what do you think are the chances of getting a useful food amount from the sea?

Unless you are on the coast,and have access to a decent boat...:pac:
Again you are looking at nets,long lines and what not to catch a decen t amount of fish.[Forget rod &reel sport fishing].Alot is seasonal as well [IE mackrel etc].

touts

Looking at the list there are a lot of bland tasteless stuff like dry beans and lentils. They will do the job but after a year starvation might come as a sweet release. Herbs and spices are essential even beyond the first year. There is a reason why some of the hottest dishes come from the poorest countries. It hides the flavour of whatever they managed to get to eat. But it is a great list of ideas.

I would add an unusual one to the list for the season. Christmas pudding. Most of the ones in the shops have best before dates of at least 18 months. Not many bread/cakes can say that. Might be expensive versus other stuff but a couple of those over the year could become a little slice of heaven in a world gone to hell.

But this thread goes a long way to answering the questions most first time visitors would have in relation to food ideas.

bonniebede

touts wrote: »

Looking at the list there are a lot of bland tasteless stuff like dry beans and lentils. ... Christmas pudding. .

totally agree about the need for spices and so on, love the idea of christmas pudding.

however it does bring to mind one major factor in food storage.

Crimbo pud is lucky to last 18 mminutes around me.

though it could be an incentive to find really hard to spot hiding places:rolleyes:

bonniebede

okay so now that i am thinking about planning, i have tried another approach.

DEsign a satisfying long storage goods menu for one week. multiply by 52. buy that stiuff.

After doing the 'stocking up at tescos' list i did think, what would i actually make with that stuff?

Especially as I eat low carb. I don't normally stock any flour, beans or sugar. None at all. And I am intolerant to milk.

but i know comw teotwawki i'll have to have the energy for for chopping wood and planting potatoes (presuming i had plkanted some wood and chopped the potatoes first). aargh.

I'll have a better shopping list soon.

It has to be

1. Cheap and easy to buy
2. maximise on the stuff i currently use so i can use and rotate
3. Minimise stuff I don't use. What has to be rotated out i will give away before it hits its ultimate date as part of my planned giving.
4. Be interesting enough not to cause appetite fatigue.
5. Be easy to prepare, using maybe a rocket stove.
6. be easy to split into weekly or monthly amounts so i can buy it slowly, also for ease of eat one, hide one, give one away.:)

bonniebede

I have decided to test drive two potential storage products, to see if i like them.
One was cheapest canned hotdogs in tesco. Didn't even get off the shelf. Mechanicallly recover meat? :eek: forget it.

so bought next cheapest, still nearly double price, tesco own brand.

Also tesco own brand corned beef, have some recipe ideas for that.

Wish me luck. If i don't post any results this week you can know that these foods should be avoided.:D

Lidl or aldi might have nicer cheap canned meats, its more of a continental european thing.

kildare.17hmr

the canned corned beef in lidl is not too bad and has a very long use by date

krissovo

Also tesco own brand corned beef, have some recipe ideas for that.

I once had nothing else but corned beef for 3 months for my main meals, its very versatile, my favorites are Hash, fritters, casserole and corned beef wellington

Bacon grill cans are another good product, lots of flavor and can be used in many ways similar to corned beef and it can fry in its own fat. Cut thinly its bacon, cut thickly its a bacon burger, makes great pasta bakes as well.

Didn't even get off the shelf. Mechanicallly recover meat? forget it.

If you think that is bad then mechanically separated meat will convert you to a Veggie:eek:

You should start getting into the mind set that you should waste nothing in survival. Mostly everything I catch and kill I pay my respects by using as much of the animal as possible.

kildare.17hmr

krissovo wrote: »

Mostly everything I catch and kill I pay my respects by using as much of the animal as possible.

same as, if im using a rabbit myself the dogs get everything i dont use, all innards, skin, lower legs and head. Same with pigeon, duck and so on. The only thing i dont use are foxes alto in a survival situation thats alot of meat :O

bonniebede

krissovo wrote: »

If you think that is bad then mechanically separated meat will convert you to a Veggie:eek:

You should start getting into the mind set that you should waste nothing in survival. QUOTE]

I was a veggie for about four years. Then i got religion and gave it up for Lent. Now i eat lots of meat.:D except fish on Fridays.

Totally agree about wasting nothing. But that's what concerns me now. Of course in a real survival situation i would eat anything and the can it came in. But I am looking for foods that I would eat now, so that I can have a years supply of them and know that I will rotate them out to keep them fresh. Stockpiling something I don't eat now means giving it away once it's shelf life is nearly finished, and that is a nett loss.

slowburner

krissovo wrote: »

I once had nothing else but corned beef for 3 months for my main meals, its very versatile, my favorites are Hash, fritters, casserole and corned beef wellington

Did you get fed up with the corned beef?

Hibrion

krissovo wrote: »

I once had nothing else but corned beef for 3 months for my main meals, its very versatile, my favorites are Hash, fritters, casserole and corned beef wellington

If you were a school kid in Britain during the reign of terror when Maggie Thatcher was PM, you would have had it for a lot more than three months :eek:

krissovo

slowburner wrote: »

Did you get fed up with the corned beef?

I did but I had no choice and was certainly sick of it, my next supply drop had 2 months of tinned salmon that made the corned beef taste like michelin star chefs had prepaired it.

Grizzly 45

Hibrion wrote: »

If you were a school kid in Britain during the reign of terror when Maggie Thatcher was PM, you would have had it for a lot more than three months :eek:

You had corned beef in school??:eek::eek:
All we got in school in Haughyite Ireland was over cooked chips in two month old grease,and burgers made out of some part of a cow that was not supposed to be fit for human consumption.:( One reason still to today why I drown my chips in ketchup,salt vinegar pepper.To hide the gank tase of rancid chip oil.:eek:

Hibrion

Not me, Grizz, but 80's British school food was dodgy corned beef and spam in any way shape or form they could think of: some people still have nightmares about the fritters.

bonniebede

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

You had corned beef in school??:eek::eek:
All we got in school in Haughyite Ireland was over cooked chips in two month old grease,and burgers made out of some part of a cow that was not supposed to be fit for human consumption.:( One reason still to today why I drown my chips in ketchup,salt vinegar pepper.To hide the gank tase of rancid chip oil.:eek:

you got food in school? luxury. The tesco hot dogs were much the same, fairly tastelesss but edible with a large squirt of ketchup, musstard and mayo.

Tabnabs

bonniebede wrote: »

you got food in school? luxury. The tesco hot dogs were much the same, fairly tastelesss but edible with a large squirt of ketchup, musstard and mayo.

+1

I think we should rename him The Rt Hon Grizzly 45 and refer to him as His Grace :pac:

bonniebede

Red Harvest wrote: »

Can't leave that unchallenged .

OK so it depends when you start, in the autumn and you'll have to go the winter without growing anything much, but if you started in the spring spuds (first earlies) will give you a crop from uncropped ground in less than 3 months + would be a traditional ground breaking crop (back breaking if you ask me).

For a GYO supply of veg one of the biggest problems is over winter storage.

but that might be taking a good thread off topic - anyone want to talk Grow Your Own veg in another thread?

Link for some good online growing basics http://www.allotment.org.uk/

you are right that it doesn't take a year to get a harvest but here is my thinking.

First of all what sort of disaster are you prepping for?
Most fiction scenarios (Day of the Triffids etc) use some plot mechanism to conveniently clear all the pople out of the way. Wake up one morning everyone dies, spend most of your time looking for people. Most realistic eotw scenarios won't be like that, Say collapse of the banking system, hyper inflation and general social mayhem...


There will be lots of people, who will pour out of the cities looking for food, and eat up any available crop in the countryside before they run out, turn to cannibalism, and disappear.

So no use counting a preplanted garden as food supply, it will be too visible and impossible to protect. it is only after the population dwindles thsat you can count on planting.

So figure 2 months to the point where people start dying of hunger, another 4 months as people start scouring the landscape, don't forget there is a lot of food growing in ireland, there's 2 cows for every human being, for goodness sake, and then maybe another two months for the planted food to be gone and even the survivors start to die.

At that stage, anyone left, and that will still be alot of people will either be already bugged out to a rural location, or will have realised they have to do that. In other words the marauders will have dwindled to the point where a survival community might be able to defend their plantings against them.

During all this time you will need to have a well hidden food store, as well as a store of seeds to begin again with. So then three months to start cropping in, once things are calmed down, and wild foraging is viable again because of less need to hide, that's my guesstimate.

Makes me think a year of food is pretty essential.