Welcome back..

So Talk to me about where your pantry is at? Give me a basic overview? what do you think is missing? and how things are running in your neck of the woods in regards to stores and how much they have and what limits have been put into place..

At least locally, most things have a one or two per family or buyer limit and so its a balance for those in need to keep pantry working vs not going out..

FG

Basic overview is I have about two weeks of goods for one person eating twice daily.

Currently I have mostly canned goods comprised of salmon and tuna, soups and stews, canned veggies plus frozen goods including fish, perogies, ham, sausages, and some veggies. I have some dry goods as well, such as oatmeal, "ancient grains porridge" (whatever the difference is haha), instant and traditional pasta, nuts, crackers, dry soup, and some ramen. Mostly high carb stuff, but also fairly high protein and fat.

Thoughts?

H

I'd put focus on shelf stable items readily available in your area (for the moment) such canned goods, Rice, Pasta's, ect.

I've seen heavy panic buying on the prairies but it seems to be primarily cleaning and hygiene supplies, basic food stuffs are still readily available.

Once your immediate pantry reaches levels your comfortable with and as money allows I would then seriously recommend checking out one of our forum sponsors such as Briden Solutions and start stocking up on Freeze Dried and Dehydrated food just in case things go from bad to worse.

Hang in there and do the best you can. That's all anyone can ask.

SC

Canned goods, rice, and pastas are the target of panic buying here, and are rationed/restricted to 1-4 per person, depending on the product and store.

thanks for the input! I had been planning to buy a box of IMPs or MREs from a milsurp I like, but the prices jumped as soon as they caught wind of the virus.

I personally wouldn’t worry about MREs as you pay a huge premium for the convenience of not having to cook. Unless you plan on going for a hike with your favorite backpack (bugging out to the wilderness), then you can spend that same money you would on a case of 12 rations and fill up a pantry conveniently.

Not sure how much MREs cost in your neck of the woods, but a quick look online tells me they are between $12-20 each. That’s for a meal, but frankly, you could stretch it to a day’s worth of calories if you were idle and ate every last item in there. Instead of $12/ meal (at the low end), you could turn that amount into 4 boxes of KD + 4 Boyardees and 1 or 2 Campbell chunky soups. All of a sudden, your lone meal could turn into 10, with effectively the same shelf life.

In a lone grocery trip, even with all the limits per customer, you could go fill up a pantry nicely right now.

Oatmeal and pancake mix
Cereal
Prepared soup and dried packaged soup
Knorr side dishes
Crackers
Jam
Boyardee
Baked beans
Canned tuna, chicken, ham flakes...

Etc. Even at one item each per purchase, you could get a lot in a single visit. Repeat as needed.

Buy only what you would eat though.

Thanks Helico. MREs don't exist in my neck of the woods, so I'd have to order online. My bug-out plan in any scenario is heading into the bush because it's where I know my skills are most solid. Urban survival is more like a stepping stone, whereas I can set up and live indefinitely in the wilderness if needed.

That shopping list is fine, but I don't eat cereals and most canned items are sold out here by the time I get to the store. The store owners must be just swimming in cash right now haha. Good advice though. I'll go shopping when I get another day off (essential service/first responder) and see what I can get.

Thanks Helico. MREs don't exist in my neck of the woods, so I'd have to order online. My bug-out plan in any scenario is heading into the bush because it's where I know my skills are most solid. Urban survival is more like a stepping stone, whereas I can set up and live indefinitely in the wilderness if needed.

Then, let me tell you the irony of MREs. Most troops I know "strip" their rations before packing them. Remove the cardboard boxes which holds the pouches, ditch the tea bags/sugar/creamers if you're not planning on drinking it, etc etc. It takes away about 1/3 of the bulk and saves weight as well. That therefore leaves a main course, a desert, an energy bar and a clump of bread. So for about $15 bucks, you get the equivalent of a Boyardee/Chunky soup, a container of fruit salad/puree, a Cliff bar and a couple package of soda crackers. You can assemble that at home for 1/3 to half the price of MRE.

If your near one of old forest fire areas once the snow is gone you could try going out foraging for the morel mushrooms. Look up the difference between the real morels and the false morels which are not good to eat. We dry all ours out and add them to soups or they can be rehydrated soaking in warm water for a bit.

Definitely nowhere near a fire area, Kootenay. Might be mushrooms nearby though. I hadn't thought of that. Lots of great environments for mushrooms around here.

Thanks for the breakdown Helico. I've never used an MRE so I'm not 100% what varieties they come in. I liked the IMPs because they were good for a full day's calories usually. Used to carry a full, unopened IMP in my flight bag whenever I flew more than an hour away from my club's airport. Partly for the food, partly for the various additional things the package was good for.

Apologies, I’ve lumped both IMPs (Canadian rations) and MREs (US) into the same examples. MREs are less bulky however since they don’t package everything in cardboard boxes. A case of MREs is therefore about 20% smaller than a Canadian case. American cases also come with a “witness” sticker that slowly changes colour based on environmental conditions to better reflect a “best before” situation than merely relying on a date. Rations stored in a climate-controlled warehouse will last significantly longer than the one thrown in the tail of a helicopter as “just in case”.

Anyway, didn’t want to hijack the thread talking about rations.

Back to pantry!

We’ve try to use Costco Grocery online and it’s been very disappointing. I understand they’re probably overwhelmed. There were no warnings that delays would result of the current rush, though many items were marked as unavailable. It’s been a week since we’ve placed the order and the 2-day grocery order has not yet arrived. Ironically however, Mrs HP’s beauty products we’ve ordered from Costco on their regular website at the same time has already arrived...

Ok, I took a couple days off, I just needed the break and to focus on getting other things done

I am going to point out that its not what you buy its why you need to buy it. You know what you like to eat.. but you need is

Carbs
Fats
Protein
Mirco vit/minerals

So Carbs, everyone covered them well above, flour, pasta, rice, canned good mostly.. and beans and lentil's and pea are in the middle, they are both a carb and protein.. the one that is very under bought still is lentils.. The key on these ones is simple.. a very little goes a long way..

Fat is the one that most people do not stock enough off, in our modern world we are trying to :trim: the fat but in the natural world its not easy to get fat.. eggs, milk and or milk products (but not easy to store) so shelf stable fats.. your choice on what kind of fat you want to store but its important.

Now protein, again we need very small amounts compared to what we normally eat.. so a little can go a long way, but shelf stable is the idea.. many smaller cans over bigger portions is helpful in this regards. and remember your beans can be used in this as well.

Now for the micro.. a good daily multi vit is a handy thing to have.. but sprouting seeds and then eating the micro greens is a cheap easy way to get it done was well, and a little bit of wild forage knowledge of basic things most of the year will get that job done as well.