Prepper Food Rationing and Stretching Food Supplies

[quintessentone]

Read up about risottos, you can cook rice perfect ally well with wine and not water. 

I know that might come off as a joke, but if life gives you grapes???

I suppose cow's milk would also work. I've seen cooking videos where people cook pasta in milk. So a cow or a goat is needed - goats seem easier to keep/manage (?) - but then they too need water and food.

Grape plants take three years to produce a mature grape harvest and I'm not sure I'll be around here that long. But for those who don't have a readily available access to water, then these alternatives are brilliant. Thanks BeTheGoddess. 

[BeTheGoddess]

I suppose cow's milk would also work. I've seen cooking videos where people cook pasta in milk. So a cow or a goat is needed - goats seem easier to keep/manage (?) - but then they too need water and food.

Grape plants take three years to produce a mature grape harvest and I'm not sure I'll be around here that long. But for those who don't have a readily available access to water, then these alternatives are brilliant. Thanks BeTheGoddess. 

Hmmm, get a pet gat, but make sure its not upside-down.

[quintessentone]

Hmmm, get a pet gat, but make sure its not upside-down.

Yeah, skipping over the political baiting, getting books on animal husbandry would also be a good idea if one were to get livestock.

[quintessentone]

Coffee rationing tip: I tried another prepper's tip for stretching one's coffee supplies and it worked very well.

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I normally use three heaping small scoops in my French presses, which basically all have the same volume, and I don't wait very long for it to brew because I like the less bitter and more flavorful brew within the first five minutes of brewing time. 

So the tip is to use some saved old coffee grounds (which I am saving to use for garden fertilizer as I will be making a fertilizer tea with kitchen and garden scraps in a large food grade bucket) mixed in with the freshly ground coffee grounds.

Instead of using three scoops I used only two scoops of fresh coffee grounds and then added three scoops of used coffee grounds and waited the same amount of brew time. It turned out perfect.

Now I will will have to experiment with this new coffee ground mixture containing both second time used grounds and one time used grounds to see what a good ratio will be. I would expect adding this new mixture to two freshly ground coffee scoops and perhaps adding another scoop for a total of 4 used grounds to 2 fresh grounds. I want to see how far I can take this.

[ArMaP]

Coffee rationing tip: I tried another prepper's tip for stretching one's coffee supplies and it worked very well.

Or don't drink coffee.

[quintessentone]

Or don't drink coffee.

Reading your post quizzically as I plan to go shopping today to buy lots of coffee beans for long term storage.

[rickymouse]

Coffee rationing tip: I tried another prepper's tip for stretching one's coffee supplies and it worked very well.

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I normally use three heaping small scoops in my French presses, which basically all have the same volume, and I don't wait very long for it to brew because I like the less bitter and more flavorful brew within the first five minutes of brewing time. 

So the tip is to use some saved old coffee grounds (which I am saving to use for garden fertilizer as I will be making a fertilizer tea with kitchen and garden scraps in a large food grade bucket) mixed in with the freshly ground coffee grounds.

Instead of using three scoops I used only two scoops of fresh coffee grounds and then added three scoops of used coffee grounds and waited the same amount of brew time. It turned out perfect.

Now I will will have to experiment with this new coffee ground mixture containing both second time used grounds and one time used grounds to see what a good ratio will be. I would expect adding this new mixture to two freshly ground coffee scoops and perhaps adding another scoop for a total of 4 used grounds to 2 fresh grounds. I want to see how far I can take this.

We use around half the coffee grounds in our ten cup drip coffee pot as they state on the can.  Most restaurants we used to get coffee at years ago had that lower grounds, and my brother and his wife, and half the people I know our age drink it that way.  I think it tastes good, and I also think that the coffee companies just set that higher amount of coffee grounds per cup on the can to increase people buying coffee.  It is probably ok for those who put three teaspoons and half cream into their coffee to make it that way, but I just prefer to have three times as many cups of that weaker coffee instead of one cup of coffee that is so strong and hard on the stomach and have to drink ten cups of water a day to balance our system.  My ten cups of water a day comes mostly from my coffee....the way we make it it runs about seven cents for a mug of coffee at around ten bucks a 26 ounce can.  All of the coffee we stock is less than eight bucks a can, we still have thirteen cans in stock for emergencies.  Our emergencies are avoiding buying it at full price and waiting for good sales.  I hope there is a great sale shortly, at thirteen cans, we are getting dangerously low.

[quintessentone]

We use around half the coffee grounds in our ten cup drip coffee pot as they state on the can.  Most restaurants we used to get coffee at years ago had that lower grounds, and my brother and his wife, and half the people I know our age drink it that way.  I think it tastes good, and I also think that the coffee companies just set that higher amount of coffee grounds per cup on the can to increase people buying coffee.  It is probably ok for those who put three teaspoons and half cream into their coffee to make it that way, but I just prefer to have three times as many cups of that weaker coffee instead of one cup of coffee that is so strong and hard on the stomach and have to drink ten cups of water a day to balance our system.  My ten cups of water a day comes mostly from my coffee....the way we make it it runs about seven cents for a mug of coffee at around ten bucks a 26 ounce can.  All of the coffee we stock is less than eight bucks a can, we still have thirteen cans in stock for emergencies.  Our emergencies are avoiding buying it at full price and waiting for good sales.  I hope there is a great sale shortly, at thirteen cans, we are getting dangerously low.

I think a lot of ground coffee has filler added to it, which would force people to use more of it to arrive at the taste they are looking for. That is why I switched to coffee beans and I've tried to use less ground beans to water ration but I like a strong cup of coffee albeit I add it to a concoction of half milk/half coffee (the French way for breakfast) for a specific taste I want.

I've been reading about high and low acids in coffee and believe it or not they are saying that the darker the roast the less acid there will be, so I will be switching to only dark roasts to save my poor stomach the aches and pains of my addiction.

I suppose that is why the ratio of 2:3 (2 fresh ground coffee to once used coffee grounds) works so well because there is no filler.

While shopping yesterday, I found a rather largish bag of decaf coffee dried packets which I purchased and will add to my prepper pantry. Now I can also enjoy a cup of coffee late at night if I so desire, and I so desire quite often but don't because I would be up all night if I did.

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I made my first batch of dandelion tincture (meaning I brewed the tea for 45 minutes instead of 7 minutes required for tea) and it is quite palatable and will serve as a health tonic. I add it to my herbal mixture for tea and one of the benefits is to heal the stomach, which if one intends to drink coffee during TSHTF then a stomach aid will definitely be needed, that is, if one drinks as much strong coffee as I do, which is can be two small French press pots in a morning.

LOL I know what you mean by panicking when you think at 13 cans you are getting dangerously low. Rotating daily used items deplete faster than one would think.

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Here is an interesting video about long lost survival hacks.

[quintessentone]

Using yard and kitchen scraps for fermentation tips:

I will be making a sort of waste and kitchen scraps fermented tea to use in my garden this year. I will then begin to experiment with fermenting foods and perhaps making my own vinegar and sourdough starter. Baby steps.

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But if you have a compost pile then the video below offers a recipe to do this:

Use a very clean food grade bucket with lid. Perhaps ask your fav restaurant if you can have a free food grade bucket, which they just throw out any way.

Plant scraps: grass clippings and/or nettles -  recently living. Fill bucket loosely in bucket - 6 to 8 cups.

Add brown sugar or molasses - 1 part sugar to 2 parts plant matter by weight. Stir together, bruse the plant tissue.

Let is sit at room temp. @ 20 - 30 degrees Celsius - within 24 hrs. you should see bubbling or fermentation, which is lactic bacteria. 

After 3-7 days, depending on your temp. - warmer = faster - plant matter has compressed and darkened at the bottom of the container - that is your fermented plant juice - strain it off - bottle or jar it. If it smells of rot, something went wrong = temp. too cold.

Apply a diluted solution (1 part liquid to 20 parts water) to the outer part of your compost pile sparingly until leaves are moist not waterlogged. Then cover the pile loosely with a tarp or burlap sack. Don't seal it off, you are just preventing the Sun from drying it off. 

What you will expect to see from the fungal colonization, extra tips, and when it is ready to use - is explained in the video starting at Mark 18:41