As an OSer scratch cooking, what ingredients are going to be effected by poor crops?

adelight

sophlowe45 wrote: »

There are food co ops and box schemes, i dont use any but visited a friend once who picks up a box scheme from a drop off point and the salad she made us was amazing, the colour and taste was the veg was way better than what i am used to. She said any left over stuff the co op gave away for free to charities etc. I've just done a google search for London there seem to be a few around.

this one looks great http://fareshares.org.uk/

Do any of you use such places?

What do you all think of things like permaculture and hydroculture? I've only just heard about them and know next to nothing about them.

Hydroculture is when plants are grown in a soilless medium. Plant nutrients are distributed via water.

BBP collects good-to-eat food which is about to be thrown away and passes it to those who need it. http://bestbefore.org.uk/

I know lots of food is thrown away during the manufacturing process, by supermarkets and by us at home.

thats the thing Callie22 imagine if i started a storecupboard, my landlord gives me notice and i end up with lots of food to transport somehow! The cost would be more than any savings. I'd love to be able to go to a community centre or another place where food for a lot of people could be stored and cooked in bulk and buy a meal and volunteer to help cook, wash up etc.

Hydroculture seems quite expensive to set up, at least to have something that is reliable, productive and not so delicate that a strong wind will ruin it! Permaculture is very interesting, as soon as I have a house (so... 10 years?!) I will be experimenting with it. I really think native trees and vegetables and edible weeds are the way forward! Apple trees, blackberries, kale and nettles are delicious, nutritious and grow like crazy with little effort. A small pond with some ducks and they will munch all the pesky slugs. I am so looking forward to eventually having a bit of soil to call my own.

5kg bags of wheat berries or beans take up surprisingly little space. My packages of them are about 20x15x25cm? Good if you eat that sort of stuff regularly. More expensive than buying basic pasta or similar but take up less space, more versatile and very good for you.

Hay_Maker

adelight

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I've not heard of wheat berries before What are they? What do you use them for?

PipneyJane

Saw this post on a blog I've been following for years and thought immediately of this thread. It's about the knock-on effects of the drought in the US and how it will impact food prices. The blogger sensibly points out that, while the price of meat and cheese may go up a bit, the major impact will be in processed foods (biscuits, snackbars, that sort of thing).

The blogger is someone I've "known" for years - we met on another internet forum 12 years ago and have chatted back and forth ever since. She's a lovely person and very OS. Anyway, she raises some interesting points and I'd be curious to see what you think.

PipneyJane

Hay_Maker wrote: »

adelight

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I've not heard of wheat berries before What are they? What do you use them for?

Wheat "berries" are wheat grains. I only know of two uses: sprouting (like bean sprouts) or grinding into flour.

[Deleted User]

I had the choice of a second freezer or an excalibur dehydrator and I went for the dehydrator because of the what if scenario of power being cut, plus of course the required space. I can honestly say now that I have all situations covered food wise. I grow my own so have been non stop dehydrating everything starting with the basic onion. Take potatoes for example, cooked (or blanched) sliced, dehydrated and then just rehydrated and used in whatever way. There will be no potato shortage in my house, or carrots, or any other useful veg or fruit or herbs

Yes many crops are a disaster, take my neighbour who is 20% down on wheat yield, his grain is for animal feed and he is having to use the burners to dry, so costs will be high this year. Rapeseed farmers locally are crying at the reduced yield so oils and meats will be dearer for starters

It is down to good os housekeeping as usual plus a bit of forward thinking, just like in the preppers thread

[Deleted User]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/15/08/2012/134527/Slow-progress-and-poor-yields-dominate-Barometer-harvest.htm

it is actually a lot worse than I thought

Gigervamp

Depressing reading Kittie.

It reminds me of a couple of pics a guy I follow on Twitter posted recently. They were both taken on the same day in the same field, in May. One this year, the other 2 years ago. The older pic showed a field full of golden rapeseed flowers and a tree in full leaf. This years pic, the field was bare and so was the tree, it could have been taken in winter.