How many weeks food?

ZoeGirl_3

As long as I had some fruit and veges coming in I could safely last 2/3 months ... for a two person family we have a massive food store ... just because I can't pay full price for anything and when I see it at a super cheap price stock up for ages! Even without fruit/ vege I could probably go a month with the frozen/ tinned/ preserved stuff plus my garden has fruit trees etc too.

Last year I did a no food shopping challenge and lasted about 7 weeks before things got a bit bland. Could easily have done longer if needed but was getting a bit sick of some of the stuff we were eating!

valk_scot

One thing I did find in the snowy weeks last year is that I didn't have enough sweet and snack foods in. I was baking every day, usually just plain things like scones to have with jam and fruit loaf but I could have done with a few packs of plain biscuits and more instant hot chocolate powder. (To save on milk.) We all seemed to be eating constantly but that was probably a response to the cold weather...DD was out with her friends playing in the snow most of the day, and DS was earning himself a small fortune digging out the neighbourhood driveways. Also I couldn't keep up with the demand for soup, so a few packets of chicken noodle soup etc would have been handy.

I buy rice, pasta and lentils in big sacks from the ethnic foods aisle of my local Tesco or in the asian shops btw. Saves a fortune.

RAS

valk_scot wrote: »

One thing I did find in the snowy weeks last year is that I didn't have enough sweet and snack foods in.

That was one of my thoughts; I need to get in flour, fats and sweeteners (sugar and dried fruits) for baking plus some yeast.

With respect to milk, dried milk is perfectly reasonable for things like white sauces and even rice pudding if you add some butter or marg to replace the fat content.

I would be very low on meat meals but would last several weeks.

cleggie

I'd have about 6 weeks worth of food. It may not be stuff that we all love to eat, but its edible!

valk_scot

RAS wrote: »

With respect to milk, dried milk is perfectly reasonable for things like white sauces and even rice pudding if you add some butter or marg to replace the fat content.

I use dried milk for all the above, and for baking. Very useful storecupboard standby. Rice pudding is also great if you use tinned condensed milk, diluted down to normal milk consistancy. It adds an interesting caramelised taste.

Gingerbiscuit_2

There is just me and I have 12meals in the freezer plus bag of rice and pasta and tins so probably do 3/4 weeks of evening meals, and toast and soup for other meals! I have just stocked up on few things for winter in case of snow and no deliverys including nice things like biscuits/chocoalte that you crave even though you may have enough rice for weeks its the difference between having basics and having yummmmmmy.

squeaky

valk_scot wrote: »

One thing I did find in the snowy weeks last year is that I didn't have enough sweet and snack foods in. I was baking every day, usually just plain things like scones to have with jam and fruit loaf but I could have done with a few packs of plain biscuits and more instant hot chocolate powder. (To save on milk.) We all seemed to be eating constantly but that was probably a response to the cold weather...DD was out with her friends playing in the snow most of the day, and DS was earning himself a small fortune digging out the neighbourhood driveways. Also I couldn't keep up with the demand for soup, so a few packets of chicken noodle soup etc would have been handy.

I buy rice, pasta and lentils in big sacks from the ethnic foods aisle of my local Tesco or in the asian shops btw. Saves a fortune.

The be-ro book (and website) have plenty of quick and easy biscuit recipes.

For hot chocolate - maybe always have a stock of milk powder?

valk_scot

squeaky wrote: »

The be-ro book (and website) have plenty of quick and easy biscuit recipes.

For hot chocolate - maybe always have a stock of milk powder?

I do keep milk powder in the house as a staple but it's far less faff to use instant hot chocolate for quick drinks, instead of having to lay in supplies of milk powder, extra sugar and cocoa powder.

Ditto biscuits...I can and do bake (and the Be-Ro book is my favourite baking book) but after making bread, scones and some sort of stodgy pud on a snowy day I'm not inclined to knock up a batch of biscuits too when the ravening hoarde will be perfectly content with a pack of Value Jaffa Cakes and one of custard creams, lol. We seemed to go through an astounding amount of this sort of thing when it was really cold, presumably because we were using up extra calories to keep warm. (We were out a lot.) Over two weeks, that's a lot of extra baking! And also the cost of ingredients does add up, plus you need to find storage for extra fat, eggs, yet more sugar and flour...yup, custard creams are easier!

Memory_Girl

I took this as a challenge and emptied my store cupboard to complete a meal plan.

By my reckonning - with milk and fresh stuff I have enough here to last 10 months. But as most was bought deeply discounted I am not too upset.

MG

stiltwalker

Was looking at my supply cupboard todat and thinking OMG I could probably do about 4 weeks of normal meals and goodness only knows how many weeks of slightly strange concoctions, my OH jokes that if the snow comes again I could probably feed half the village! (He may well be right!) Like many though I stock up when I see things at a good price and consequently manage to eat like kings on a distinctly peasantish budget so I don't mind having a mad storage habit.