Preparedness for when

milasavesmoney

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ytf7BGLd36Y

Long term food storage available at superstores in America. This has become so popular that the superstores have begun to offer freeze dried food, water storage containers etc in the last few years.

NewShadow

I assume no one's planning a trip and would take a shopping list?

We could have a SHTF tasting menu...

GreyQueen

Hey, Mila, perhaps the great negotiator President Trump *shudders* will try to renegotiate the Farm Bill and be massacred by a posse of Iowan farmers?

There's a lot of historic internal political reasons why the US has an huge agricultural surplus in certain products and why produces a lot more of certain kinds of calories than the population can hope to consume. Hence the drive to foist them on the rest of the world, in the form of corn and soy, and in the form of animals finished on those crops. I wouldn't knowingly eat meat from an animal finished on one of the intensive feedlots. Hell, if I ever visited the US, I think I'd be vegetarian for the duration, to avoid the possibility.

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hell, if I ever visited the US, I think I'd be vegetarian for the duration, to avoid the possibility.

This is what I do. In fact, on the advice of US friends, unless I can find organic, I stick to vegan (ideally organic). Apparently the best option when travelling is to buy vegan meal replacement bars (and yes, this is what US colleagues do when we're in conference hotels for days on end... )

[Deleted User]

I wish we could still get freeze dried foods in the supermarkets here in the UK, many years ago you could buy freeze dried peas but I've not seen anything dried except instant mash, skimmed milk powder and packet soups for donkeys years. You can get freeze dried packs of foods in camping and outdoor shops but they are mega expensive so I've never considered using them. Guess I'll have to up usage of my dehydrator and do it myself.

milasavesmoney

I live in the Southwest where cattle roam free on ranches. They are grass fed. It just depends on the area where you visit.

[Deleted User]

And now the delightful and sensitive Jeremy Hunt has completely rejected the only sensible suggestion put forward to sort out the Junior Doctors plight over the new contract being forcibly imposed on them by HIM!!! I begin to wonder if the idea behind it might be to force the NHS out of existence? What a lot of money could be saved if we had no NHS and not just because lots of us would expire as a result!!! Just a thought you understand.......

nuatha

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

...
I begin to wonder if the idea behind it might be to force the NHS out of existence? What a lot of money could be saved if we had no NHS and not just because lots of us would expire as a result!!! Just a thought you understand.......

And the huge increase in profits made by private medical firms, not to mention the profits those same firms are making because this government has already marketised the NHS.
My thoughts are considerably less polite than yours in this respect.

elaine241

Hello all, just caught up again!
Just spotted an article in the paper I was sorting for recycling. Apparently the budget for "Black Start" plans has risen by at least £12m in a year! Blackstart is the name given to the plans to turn the lights on after a catastrophic black out in all or part of the UK. The fees paid to power plants that can fire up independantly of the grid have risen from £1m to £17.5m. These are the plants that have their own generators and do not need to draw power from the grid to fire up. The fees enable the plants to stay "warm" in prepardeness for if/when a black out arises. If they are not warm then it costs an awful lot more to get them going and a lot longer time to start up. Most of these independant plants are the uneconomic coal fired plants. Although there have been savings in some areas that have offset the huge rise it still averages out as £12m!!! Makes you wonder why the increase in costs and who is profiteering in this situation? Either way the ones that lose are the consumers cos we pay the bill!!

greenbee

A lot of small single-turbine gas power stations were switched off a few years ago, as they were primarily used for peak load - they're much more responsive than coal (and nuclear, obviously), but the owners weren't paid enough for the occasional use to make it worthwhile keeping them staffed and running. Powerstations are expensive to run and maintain.