How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6371 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:21 am Post subject: [Food] Home Cookin’
While we here all like to rail about the massive amount of energy used by evil corporate agriculture and long distance food transport, here are some interesting statistics that show, once again, our fingers really should be pointing in the mirror:
“Although agriculture is finding ways to use less energy, the amount consumed between the farm gate and the kitchen table continues to rise. While 21% of overall food system energy is used in agricultural production, another 14% goes to food transport, 16% to processing, 7% to packaging, 4% to food retailing, 7% to restaurants and caterers, and 32% to home refrigeration and preparation.”
So at least 2/3 of the energy used in food production is pretty well at our discretion.
Purchasing highly processed, over packaged, ready-to-heat food because we don’t have the time or inclination to cook is a much bigger part of the problem. The ramification of that choice will be (or already is) ever increasing food costs as energy prices raise across the board.
Not to make to bigg a deal of this but it is another indication to me that mass starvation and eating bugs is a ways off. The problem however is that many of us have never eaten home cooked anything. I know it isn’t as fun as dreaming of rolling rocks to find grubs or running through the forest, spear in hand, in pursuit of a fat rat, but perhaps somewhat more practical in the short run.
Not to offend anyone, this isn’t about hoarding survival rations; this is about practical energy saving strategies to reduce dependency and expense on a personal level.
--
We typically buy flour, sugar etc. in bulk and store it in metal garbage cans. Some gets transferred to ziplocks that can be reused over and over but usually just into a canister, same with beans, white rice, baking soda, laundry soap, etc. We went to Costco on the west coast and Sams Club now.
Refrigeration is a biggie. We do eat some virtually pre-digested crap but not as much as some folks I’m sure. Since I work at home to make money and my wife works at home too, we don’t have the time constraint excuse of the typical 2-commuter family – we just like those little frozen taquitos! Of course fresh tortillas made with store-bought masa taste nothing like the ready-made frozen cardboard things – though we have never made masa it is basically lime-soaked cornmeal and lard – any instructors out there?
More to come – I really should be working!
Soooo, how about a thread to teach us about buying in bulk and cooking from scratch? _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6371 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:11 pm Post subject:
I guess you’re right, Ludi, it is pretty silly.
But so is the whole doom and gloom bit - “We’re all gonna starve because modern agriculture is sooo dependant on fossil fuels.” That’s bullshit! (Excuse me)
We aren’t dependant on oil for producing food as much as we’re dependant on Kraft, Philip Morris and all the rest to cook, prechew and vacuum pack our food so we can bring it home and stick it in the fridge!
There are hundreds of posts on this site about the inevitable failure and energy waste of modern agriculture and long distance transport, some of it posted by me; even though that portion only accounts for 1/3 of the total energy spent on food. Of course there are many more posts on eating bugs (my current hobbyhorse ), marauding hoards, mass starvation, killing beggars, moving to Brazil, total economic and governmental (not to mention societal) collapse, nuclear annihilation, cannibalism, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum.
I guess my point here is I’m trying to find practical strategies for a typical someone trawling through this site looking for ideas. Lots of folks here enjoy talking about the subjects mentioned above and that’s great - I’m not positive, but I’d guess most of our friends and relatives aren’t quite as interested in those topics as us and perhaps that's one reason we have a hard time talking to other people about PO. This thread is for the everyone elses.
So really I’m not sure what should be in this thread, maybe it is recipes, I don't know. Maybe ways to reduce energy use in getting, cooking, keeping food for folks that can’t be completely self-sufficient (most of us in other words)?
So what do you think?
P.S. Sorry for the rant. _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Joined: Mar 18, 2005 Posts: 2564 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 12:43 pm Post subject:
I don't think this thread is silly...But you're right pops...everybody can't be totally self sufficient...
How about we turn this thread into how we could form "community" based self sufficiency?
Say if somebody GREW the wheat & corn...
I was to GRIND the wheat & corn...
Somebody else knew how to turn it into bread. (we can ALL learn 1 or 2 things & work together). Now the only problem is finding somebody in my neighborhood that takes PO seriously.
You are absolutely right about us being dependent on kraft & philip morris and we don't know how to do for ourselves. I cook more than anybody i know (excluding my mom) and when i get right down to it, i still start off with store bought things (so it's not really from "scratch").
While direct energy consumption for agriculture may not be the biggest slice, what about the indirect consumption.
I mean as everything that's oil ependant gets more expensive, then those things required to run the agri biz get more costly as well yes?
From staplers to thumbtacks to geritol...
Hmmm Geritol... I think I'll keep her. _________________ "When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F Roberts.
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6371 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 1:39 pm Post subject:
Aaron wrote:
Hmmm Geritol... I think I'll keep her.
There you go, showing your age again, A!
Of course you are right, and as the cost of everything raises the amount expended on the infrastructure for Cheese Whiz concocting, baby lettuce pre-shreddeding, and redundant layers of “Sealed for your protection” packaging will raise as well. We’ll be right where we are now, only paying an ever-increasing percentage of whatever is left after the card payment for our pre-made dinners.
I dunno Ron there are lots of community based ideas here and of course that’s a great course, but it assume people actually KNOW people in their community. Nowadays not everybody does I think and convincing them to get all cuddly and neighborly may be a higher hurdle than convincing them about PO to begin with.
My general idea is to talk about how and what kind of staples (the eating kind) to buy at the store, farmers market and hopefully some from the garden. Combine that with ways to work with bulk foods - without the connotations of that evil word “survivalism” and generaly how to lower energy use at home.
Maybe I’m grasping at straws here and there is no middle ground; it’s either TV dinners, communes or a Packer-Pizza. _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Joined: Mar 18, 2005 Posts: 2564 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject:
it seems to me that anything CANNED has a much faster rising price than dry foods. Imagine all that energy going to boil the canned food before the label gets slapped on it.
I think your idea is a good one. Eating foods that have less packaging and less processing and haven't traveled far, is not only using less energy, it is better for the person eating them and better for the local community it came from.
A good place to start (here in the US) is your local county extension office. They can tell you where to buy local products, how to store them, and how to prepare them.
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6371 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:30 pm Post subject:
Yes exactly CSG I posted a list of each states extension office but I can't remember where, anyone remember?
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OK Ron, good.
Here I go repeating myself but out in CA there used to be lots of canneries – now they only produce the things that grow BEST there, in my old town it’s mostly tomato stuff. Why not buy local grown tomatoes at the farmers market when everyone is trying to unload their crop and dry them yourself?
Cut ‘em up, lay ‘em in the sun (preferably not on the dirt) and stick ‘em in jars when they are good and leathery. When you’re ready to make some sauce for homemade noodles; soak ‘em in some homemade wine for a couple of hours and you’re good to go.
Other ideas along the line of replacing canned goods? _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Drying preserves the nutrients of most foods, as long as the food is kept dry, relatively cool, and in the dark. Dried food can last five years without much deterioration.
Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5032 Location: Oklahoma
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 2:43 pm Post subject:
I think a big issue in home cooking with bulk staples is providing enough variety to keep people happy. Therefore I think keeping a good variety of spices and herbs around is a great idea. Some of these are easily grown at home, such as garlic, oregano, basil and onions, others like black pepper and cinnamon are not. I can cook up rice or couscous two or three days in a row, but my husband is still happy with it as long as I use a variety of flavors and maybe throw a different mix of veggies in each time. Same with meat. I have been learning to cook meals from scratch, thought still mostly with store bought ingredients. I am using as much whole food as possible, and I do not purchase anything with hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, or GMO ingredients anymore. If you knock out those three things you will be avoiding 90% of the stuff in the market. Anything in the US with soy or yellow corn is probably GM. Most of my dinners consist of pasta or meat with soup, salad or vegetables, and potatoes, rice or bread. It takes me about 30 minutes to make a nice dinner. I was grinding wheat and baking bread with it before we moved, but while we are in this tiny apartment (a few months) I don't have room to do that. We eat about 80% or more organic. About the only non-organic stuff we buy is hard cheeses and some chocolate or ice cream. We drink no soda and little juice, mostly water, milk and tea. Home cooking is very satisfying and fun when I don't feel too rushed. It makes me feel far more connected to my family and their well being. People are used to having fresh produce all the time, and that will change if things become more local. We will be eating soups and canned produce in the winter. Soup is a great quick meal. I do keep a few organic frozen meals around so my husband can grab something for lunch if he is in a hurry and working and I'm not around.
I know this was a jumble of thoughts; if I have a chance and remember I'll come back and edit it a bit later.
Joined: Feb 26, 2005 Posts: 107 Location: By the river
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 5:00 pm Post subject: Re: [Food] Home Cookin’
Pops wrote:
Not to offend anyone, this isn’t about hoarding survival rations; this is about practical energy saving strategies to reduce dependency and expense on a personal level.
Soooo, how about a thread to teach us about buying in bulk and cooking from scratch?
I think the most important thing about buying in bulk is to buy what you use. I know I've made the mistake of buying something that we don't really use often, only to have it go bad or get thrown out. We went to Sam's club 6 weeks ago and puchased all of our meat. I don' know if this really saved any money or energy because we had to purchase a chest freezer for storage, and the electricity to keep it running. If we ever get around to raising and butchering our own meat we will still have the expense of starting up. I guess over the long run raising our own animals will help with food security and costs.
When I first started baking bread most of what I made was...not fit for human consumption, to put it nicely. But the chickens ate it and I learned what I did wrong. Now I no longer have to buy cinnamon rolls that pop out of a can. I have not yet mastered hamburger buns yet, so I still buy them.
Last year I bought apples from the orchard up the road and canned my own applesauce, when I got tired of canning I dried the rest. Excellent snack foods for kids. I also used some of the dried apples to make my own "instant oatmeal" for breakfast. I bought the ingredients though, atleast there was less packaging.
The hardest thing for us to cut out were snacks. No more Oreos or doritos. Now I push fruit on the kids. I bake something sweet once a week. I buy pudding and jello since they are cheap. Pudding popscicles are awesome
That's about all of the cheap tricks I can think of for now, except for eating what you grow.
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), marauding hoards, mass starvation, killing beggars, moving to Brazil, total economic and governmental (not to mention societal) collapse, nuclear annihilation, cannibalism, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseum.
