Food Prepping - why you should start rationing now

nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
14.52

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_lhKqWXMTY


This is an interesting concept, start cutting back on consumption while there is still food in the stores that we can still afford.

I said this in another post, last night I opened a 15oz can of butter beans. There was just enough for a skimpy portion for one or maybe a couple of spoon fulls for two for a side dish. I have a decent supply of canned butter beans, but I was shocked there was so little in the can.

I couldn't find the video thing for the title.
 
nomifyle

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Hfcomms said:
I prep so I don't have to ration. That is one of the points of being prepared so you can continue to live and minimize the disruptions all around us.
Click to expand...
I do too, but it seemed like it was a good idea to do to some extent. Since we don't know what will happen in the future, then we don't know how long will what we have last. I've got about three years of green beans at two cans a week. I don't buy any more, for now anyway, but I do get a can or two in my commodities from time to time.
 
W

Wildwood

Veteran Member
The cans are gradually shrinking...they use to be between 16 and 17 ounces. My home canned food in a 16 ounce pint jar gives DH and I two generous sides with a little left over if he wants more. A quart of home canned stew gives two nice sized bowls but I do add an ounce or two of water to get it to the right consistency when I heat it up. Simmering canned food for ten minutes does deplete a little of the liquid. If it came down to it, I'd be doubling the volume of the stew with something like rice, macaroni or dehydrated potatoes so it would stretch for twice as many people.

When and if TSHTF, I want to go into it in good shape and as healthy as can be. I don't want to be slightly malnourished and a little run down already from skimping on food. On the other hand, it is good to practice how your meals will go and what portions might look like if you do have to ration. Even though we aren't rationing, I do find myself streamlining meals so we have much less waste.

The good Lord knows I could probably do with a little rationing. I'm just now starting to lose a tiny bit of the ten or so pounds the steroids put on me in February.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Rationing, ummm no that's why we prep! Introducing more survival type meals to the menu, aka a lot more beans and rice type recipes, yes! I've also been experimenting with different types of soups that require less meat, etc. A lot of the recipes I've been adding are asian inspired so lots of lentils, chick peas, etc., and mexican/hispanic inspired, so lots of pinto beans, rice, etc.,
 
ioujc

ioujc

MARANTHA!! Even so, come LORD JESUS!!!
nomifyle said:
14.52

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_lhKqWXMTY


This is an interesting concept, start cutting back on consumption while there is still food in the stores that we can still afford.

I said this in another post, last night I opened a 15oz can of butter beans. There was just enough for a skimpy portion for one or maybe a couple of spoon fulls for two for a side dish. I have a decent supply of canned butter beans, but I was shocked there was so little in the can.

I couldn't find the video thing for the title.
Click to expand...
Yes, they are really cutting what is in the cans!! Lots of water now, not much food!!

THIS, and price, is why I garden intensively and can or preserve in other ways......some freezing, some used for livestock, dehydration, lacto-bacillus preservation, canning......cold storage, etc.
 
phloydius

phloydius

Veteran Member
Hfcomms said:
I prep so I don't have to ration. That is one of the points of being prepared so you can continue to live and minimize the disruptions all around us.
Click to expand...

1911user said:
Rationing, just say no and prep instead.
Click to expand...

His point was if you start rationing now, you'll do 2 things. (1) You will be able to afford more now while things are still cheap so your prep stock pile will grow bigger faster, & (2) after the balloon goes up it will make your preps last longer.
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
phloydius said:
His point was if you start rationing now, you'll do 2 things. (1) You will be able to afford more now while things are still cheap so your prep stock pile will grow bigger faster, & (2) after the balloon goes up it will make your preps last longer.
Click to expand...

In other words, prep!
 
W

Wildwood

Veteran Member
I did listen to the video and he makes a few good points...motivated me...not so much to ration right now but it is time for another topping off of things. I just finished production on what is probably my last big order of the year and I have a little free time for a change so I'm about to start a list and begin to purge/clean my house and turn my extra junk into cash. By junk I mean antiques/vintage that I habitually collect until there is no room left.

There's a few prepping items that are wants and not so much needs that I'll spend that cash on. I lost a lot of that kind of thing in the barn fire. At the top of my list is a hundred pound portable propane tank. I lost my Camp Chef stove that had the oven. My husband was gifted a gas range so that will replace the Camp Chef but we don't use propane anymore and all our portable tanks were in the barn. We've already bought a few of the smaller size.
 
W

Wildwood

Veteran Member
ioujc said:
Yes, they are really cutting what is in the cans!! Lots of water now, not much food!!

THIS, and price, is why I garden intensively and can or preserve in other ways......some freezing, some used for livestock, dehydration, lacto-bacillus preservation, canning......cold storage, etc.
Click to expand...
I do all of that except dehydration. I've never trusted my skills in that area but I really need to give it a shot. I've been thinking about it lately. I'm pretty sure I'll never have a freeze dryer in my budget.
 
West

West

Senior
raven said:
Start?
I started in June.
I've lost 40 pounds.
Taste great, Less filling.
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See, I have mixed feelings about losing my extra pounds. Read that once one starts to diet by want or because one has no choice, the body will start consuming its own fat, and the fatter you are the longer you can go with less food but better energy level.

Where's a skinny guy would start losing all energy lot sooner than a chubby.

So I'm prepping my body too, :D
 
L

Luddite

Veteran Member
How about just seeing food as fuel. Eat to live... not live to eat.

I just came off of a horrendous sick spell.
All here at the Luddite hovel had it. We assume flu but none of us went to the doctor.

I didn't eat anything for almost 3 days. Now I eat small portions of anything I want between noon and 7pm.

No hunger pains whatsoever. I probably cut my caloric intake by 50%.

Eating 1/2 dozen eggs and half pound of bacon was normal for me.

6 donuts? No sweat. No more. :)

My back and legs will probably feel much better if I lose 40 lbs. I can run a 5k now but I pay for it...

I guess my point is the sickness allowed me to change my eating habits abruptly with little stress.

I don't deal with the blood sugar swings that were caused by my previous habits either.
 
Codeno

Codeno

Veteran Member
Good video, a timely message.

Any serious prepper who has not incorporated into their mindset the basic idea that once preps are actually needed, rationing is now the order of the day, has missed the boat altogether, imo. Rationing now, voluntarily, to any degree, is no different than practicing/training for anything else, from gardening to home defense.

Once day to day items are no longer available in the marketplace, what you have is quite likely all you have, or will have, for the foreseeable future.

To think that a well stocked prepper can continue to eat like a king simply because he or she has ample preps is no different than than thinking that prepper can continue to burn up 500 rounds per visit to the range, simply because he or she has it to burn up, which doesn't even compute, to my way of thinking. Once the chips are down, everything changes, which is going to be hardest for Americans to grasp, because we seem to believe we are entitled to plenty and/or excess.

The comments below the video are worth a look - lots of like minded people there.

Conserve/Conservative
 
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Hfcomms

Hfcomms

EN66iq
When TSHTF because of the physical, mental and psychological stresses this will put on your body that is why you will need to eat even more than you do right now and you will need more sleep than you get right now and even more exercise. Unfortunately because most people are unprepared they will not be able to up their caloric intake or be able to sleep or exercise. This then hits them from multiple directions and makes it even worse for them.

A big part of prepping is to be able to maintain as much normalcy as possible. Most people will have to ration as they will have no choice and of course when you are not able to hit the stores or the store shelves are empty you will have to be careful to minimize waste and you might need to ration down at some point but by prepping as much as possible beforehand you can put off more drastic actions.

If you need to lose weight or anything else than go ahead and do it now but you really don't want to ration yourself and put yourself into a weakened state if you don't need to.
 
Jeff B.

Jeff B.

Don’t let the Piss Ants get you down…
I think, circling back to Nomi's OP, that the producers are reducing what's in each package. In some cases, the box of cereal goes from 20 oz to 16 oz, and only a slight markup. Cans go from 18 to 16 oz, etc... in the case of canned goods, it would seem that some are reducing the product in the can and adding more liquid/water.

So, there may be some adjusting to do when you're thinking of how far some package/bag/can etc will go.

I'm rotating my freezers right now, during The 'Rona, I had all three of them crammed full and was actively monitoring sales and specials. We've been eating more out of the freezers and will do what I did at the beginning of The 'Rona and empty each one out and replace the contents (toss a few things of course) newest on the bottom.

Jeff B.
 
B

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Because most people will be forced to reduce caloric intake if/when the manure hits the oscellating mechanism, you will stand out as having “too much” if you are not loosing weight like everybody else is.

Might want to get some oversized clothes now, so you blend in better later.
 
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