Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Emergency Food Fund

I'm trying not to think about the possibility of being laid off and yet be prepared at the same time. So today I was looking up lentil recipes. I bought a bag of lentils over a month ago and I still haven't tried them. They aren't that scary...I think. I found some recipes that sounded good at allrecipes.com for lentil soup, lentil stew, spinach and lentils, chicken and lentils, etc... I am going to try them....soon. Maybe tomorrow.

I am also considering buying a large amount of rice and beans just in case. I have a friend who is a member of the LDS church and he enthusiastically provided me with all sorts of info on food stockpiling and storage. Ok, I don't have the money for a 3 years supply at the moment but it wouldn't hurt to have a 90 day unemployment supply. I even looked in to buying military MRE's (meals ready to eat) but at $5.75/ea. they weren't very economical. Plus they only last a year and a half in temperatures of over 100 degrees. Not good for Arizona. I would actually have to eat them before they went bad :) and no one wants to HAVE TO eat a case of MRE's. Maybe I should stick with rice and beans.

I'm going to think about this some more and make a list of low cost, long-lasting food that I already eat so that I can start building my emergency unemployment food fund. Any ideas?

17 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Frugal scholar posted a lentil soup recipe recently:

http://frugalscholar.blogspot.com/2009/02/frugal-cooking-deborah-madisons-lentil.html

I'm thing about trying it out.

Dried beans, and rice (white has a longer shelf life than brown) are the staples.

I buy ridiculously large bags of frozen strawberries for cheap fruit that lasts. Apples can store a long time without going bad.

Other ideas - popcorn, canned salmon or tuna, dry pasta, couscous, honey, peanut butter.

I read somewhere before about the LDS being into food storage, but can't remember why?

Daizy said...

Most of the lentil recipes I found had similar ingredients. I'm thinking I can find enough in my pantry to make something similar...I hope.

What do you do with all of those strawberries? I have a small freezer so I don't have a lot of frozen food. I bought canned pineapple one year and ate too much of it. I haven't eaten it in a long while. I do have a bag of popcorn but I never thought of it as a survival food.

Shuchong said...

I cook with lentils a lot, and I really like this recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Orange-and-Lentil-Soup/Detail.aspx

It doesn't taste like a normal lentil soup, which is a real plus if you're going to be doing a lot of cooking with lentils:)

Also, you can use normal lentils instead of red lentils (which are more expensive, at least in my area).

Sallie's Niece said...

I took want to build up some emergency food reserves. Depending on how much room in your freezer there is I just found this amazing frozen stir fry for $5. It's not exactly frugal but it's so good and easy to make and you can get about 4 meals out of it. I don't know the name but I'll find out.

Sharon S said...

Hi there-I don't really use or eat lentils an awful lot, maybe tinned vegetables and pulses mixed with rice is an idea?

Anonymous said...

http://lds.about.com/od/preparednessfoodstorage/a/food_storage.htm

The link to why LDS might store food.

Anonymous said...

http://lds.about.com/od/
preparednessfoodstorage/a/food_storage.htm

Sorry link was cut off before. You will have to paste it together.

Anonymous said...

Check out this link. Sharon Astyk just finished yet another food storage class and this link is very helpful.
http://sharonastyk.com/index.php?s=food+Storage+101&searchsubmit=Go

Anonymous said...

Actually, that's a list of the search I did. This is the actual 2-week start to food storage. Sorry!
http://sharonastyk.com/2008/03/04/food-storage-101-part-i/

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

Daizy,

I use the strawberries frozen in smoothies, and thaw them out for adding to oatmeal or cold cereal, sliced up and added to spinach salad (great with blue cheese dressing), and even just whole. Blended up, they are good to add to pancake batter. Also good with waffles.

I don't see popcorn as a survival food either, but it is a cheap snack that has a really long shelf life.



Big Sis,

thanks for the link.

Daizy said...

Hi Shushong, thanks for the recipe. I am attempting my first lentil recipe at this very moment. It will either be good or I won't have any lunch tomorrow. I can't stand the suspense!

Sallie's Niece, my frieezer is pitifully small. I think I have to settle for dried food because canned food goes bad in the heat and the fridge is unreliable. Someday I'll have a real freezer...someday...

Hi Sharon Rose, what are pulses? I need some UK to US translation. :)

Daizy said...

Thanks for the links Patti and Big Sis. I think I should dig a root cellar. There is no way I can keep my stored food at optimum temps without AC unless I put it underground.

C and H said...

Take heart, I'm LDS. I have no debt, own three vehicles, 3 freezers-full, canned products, 18 months food, soon to be 24-30 months, enough money to run a full year, and I am not waiting for the end of the world! So why do we store food? The bottom line is out of faith in our leadership to lead us, but 10 years of investigation on the side has demonstrated a real economic foundation. In short what goes up, must come down, and the US dollar devalued by the Private institution called the Federal Reserve is our best international "weapon", next to nuclear weapons, and we are in an economic war. The "diluted" dollar brings about the "New Economy", but destroys individuals who are overleveraged in the market place. It will be with us for a long time make no mistake about it. You are headed in the right direction--don't stop!

Daizy said...

Over The Cubicle, I don't have space for a blender so I keep a large bottle of strawberry daiquiri mix. I put it on waffles and make strawberry milk shakes(with manual stirring). I wonder if they sell canned strawberry daiquiri mix so I can keep it in my root cellar that I will be digging for the next 10 years.

Daizy said...

C and H, thanks for chiming in. I totally agree that the recovery will be long and painful. Regarding your freezers, do you have generator backup? My friend said he has his garage freezer full but if the power goes out he'll have to have a big barbeque.

moocifer said...

Ok Daizy,

I think the job situation is really upsetting you.

Rather than stockpiling food, I think just reassuring yourself that you have enough money to buy food and support yourself (without working ) for over a year might be most helpful.

It probably is a good idea to have a month or two's supply of food in the pantry in general, but that is more in terms of natural disasters than getting laid off. You still have your money if you get laid off, and you can get food with that.

I hope you start feeling better soon.

Daizy said...

Don't worry Bugbear, I think stockpiling food is more fun to think about than my job :) Right now I don't even have enough food to last 2 weeks. I've been trying to eat the old food in my pantry. Ramen seemed like a good idea at the time but after 3 packets I don't want it again.