The Government Shutdown Food Prepped Challenge

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Weedygarden

Weedygarden

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After seeing the news telling about how people who work for the government didn't get paid and won't be able to feed their families, I decided to challenge myself by eating almost just from my freezer, fridge and pantry during the time that the government shutdown. I know that I may make a small grocery store run before the week is over for half and half, eggs, and maybe a very few other items, $10 to $20 worth at the most. I am going to try to do without what I normally would run to the store for. I am playing it by ear.

I am not a government worker and do not feel bad for those who are furloughed because I know how people like to live high off the hog, instead of living on less, having savings and being prepped.

Another thought is to come up with some really cheap meals. Please help out with some ideas.

Really cheap meals:
1. Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
2. Egg sandwiches (chopped hardboiled or fried egg)
3. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
4. Eggs and toast
 
I pretty much eat like that all the time.
So it's not a stretch for me.
Guess I'll make bread sometime this week, cause as of right now don't have any made up.
Been trying grilled cheese sandwiches with just the cheese grilled no bread.
It must be an acquired taste, because I haven't acquired it as of yet.
Got half dozen eggs boiling on top of stove now, for quick meals.
My big expense at store is produce.
It won't be so bad when I can start gardening again.
 
That is really a good idea.

I typically test my preps when the wife travels. Once when my MIL was sick and the wife went back to help her I didn't see the inside of a store for 7 weeks. At the end of that time I had to travel into Anchorage, a 400 mile flight then, and I was not going to pass up a chance at Costco.

Simple and cheap are really nice but the real trick to feeding the family, without going to the store, is to be able to put a tasty meal on the table with only what is in the cupboard. This is a skill that I developed when I was a cook on commercial fishing boats and tugs. Sailing the Atlantic where I didn't see land for weeks at a time enhanced that skill.
 
I pretty well live that already.i go do my primary shopping between the 6th and 10th of each month.only shopping i do after that most months.is for milk and bread.once maybe twice each month for bread .1 loaf each time.milk at least twice a month.2 gallons each time.I've cut way back on junk foods like chips and cookies.and out of habit more then anything else.I don't eat untill noon.
 
I can do this with no problems. Most everything I cook is from what I have on hand from what we produce here . . animals and garden raised. When I get my employer discount is when I stock my pantry for the year in what we don't grow and that is November each year. I do have to buy cheese and milk right now though. I can live with the Velveeta type I have on hand and also the canned milk if need be.

Hunny is a challenge on the other hand. He has to have his soda pop, honey roasted mixed nuts, and sometimes jerky.
 
A cup of oatmeal will serve breakfast for two.
A cup of beans with a cup of rice will serve dinner for four.
Add some dandelion leaves and cattail root and you have a meal fit for a king.
Set a woven wood trap and you can have duck, goose or fish to add to your diet.
Feeding yourself and your family doesn't have to cost much unless you want to serve them from the fast food place or restaurant down the street.
I spent a week in the alpine wilderness area of the cascades with a friend and fed us both on only what we could get from nature. We ate better than if we would have brought food with us.
 
I don't live in America but I live under what could be described as extreme austerity.
I live out of my stockpile and gardens as a way of life.
I'm pretty much live and breathe it already.

I live extremely simply and I'm prepared to sacrifice to save and get what I need rather than use credit of
any sort.
 
Thanks for bringing this up, Weedy. I've been thinking about starting a thread asking if peeps ever use nothing but their food storage to keep it rotating, keep it from expiring, save some money on buying fresh or eating out.
I used to try to do it once a week, eat from stored food (whether canned, frozen, dry packed, plucked from the garden, etc.), but most of our reserves are gone, still a good bit of canned stuff, and still working on building it back up.
 
Patchouli said:
Thanks for bringing this up, Weedy. I've been thinking about starting a thread asking if peeps ever use nothing but their food storage to keep it rotating, keep it from expiring, save some money on buying fresh or eating out.
I used to try to do it once a week, eat from stored food (whether canned, frozen, dry packed, plucked from the garden, etc.), but most of our reserves are gone, still a good bit of canned stuff, and still working on building it back up.
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I live the adage, "Store what you eat, eat what you store." Very little of my food preps is strictly long term storage. Anything that I do have that is strictly long term has a longer shelf life than I do. Everything gets dated when it gets added and FIFO is almost a religion. I hate throwing stuff away.
 
Amish Heart said:
I make it a point to use things before they expire, but wouldn't want to use up too much, because I like to keep a year.
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I am not always so good about it. I do like to keep my cans and packages labeled, but I do miss things. I am not a fanatic about using food by expiration dates. I prefer to, but if I miss, I will still eat it, if it isn't too far over the expiration date.
 
Caribou said:
I live the adage, "Store what you eat, eat what you store." Very little of my food preps is strictly long term storage. Anything that I do have that is strictly long term has a longer shelf life than I do. Everything gets dated when it gets added and FIFO is almost a religion. I hate throwing stuff away.
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I have some food that is long term, but I do have short term such as cans and boxes with soup, veggies, fruits, and more. I have some dehydrated foods as well. I believe in "Store what you eat, eat what you store," as well. I have some things that I don't eat much of, such as wheat. It is food insurance. I can and will eat it when I have to. I do love homemade bread, but many foods that are in my long term storage are starchy and carbs and I try not to eat many carbs. That is the challenge with long term storage.
 
We are going along with you weedy! :D We did just go buy some milk, cheese, coffee and Dr Pepper. Can't forget my Dr Pepper.

We always eat our "stored" foods. I don't have anything in the house that's off limits (except my M&M stash!!) If we get low on something we buy/grow/make more.
 
Weedygarden said:
Another thought is to come up with some really cheap meals. Please help out with some ideas.
Click to expand...



Many years ago, I had some hard times and had to pay all of my expenses (for me and two toddlers) on less than $500 per month. Some of the kids' favorite meals were:
1. 1/4 pound of hamburger cooked in a skillet with chopped onion and added to mac and cheese
2. Spam casserole- a can of spam, cubed, a can of stewed tomatoes, cooked macaroni noodles, and some cubed velveeta, baked until cheese melts.
3. "Chicken a la-boing boing" - a chicken breast cooked and shredded, added to spiral macaroni with a can of peas and a can of cream of mushroom soup, topped with breadcrumbs,
4. Fried rice - rice with leftover veggies, soy sauce, chunks of leftover meat if we had any, with eggs scrambled in.
5. Tuna casserole - a can of tuna, a can of cream of celery soup, elbow macaroni, and a few slices of american cheese with bread crumbs on top and baked in the oven.
 
We use our food storage, too, like a grocery store. Every few months I do a check through everything to see if I'm running short. I don't like to get under a year. That being said, we have a large family here, and I don't know how many exactly plus ones we'll have. It could mean the difference between one year and nine months. So I just keep adding. It is a lot of carbs, though. I do store a good amount of canned meats, beans, quinoa, and legumes.
 
Cnsper said:
Ramen noodles, sustaining college students all across the country.
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Yes. I just tossed some that were too old last week. I haven't eaten any in many years, but always liked to keep some for preparedness purposes. Ramen was one of the things in my food closet at school. It was easy to store, inexpensive and relatively easy to cook for hungry children. Ramen noodles can be dressed up for better nutritional value. I leave out the msg and salt laden flavor packet and added sesame oil and other seasonings. I always thought a small packet of dehydrated vegetables to add would be good to have with them.

Since my daughter has celiac, we are more likely to buy the rice noodle version. I found some at World Market for her before Christmas. They are not as cheap, but are great to keep in a desk drawer.
 
Weedygarden said:
Yes. I just tossed some that were too old last week. I haven't eaten any in many years, but always liked to keep some for preparedness purposes. Ramen was one of the things in my food closet at school. It was easy to store, inexpensive and relatively easy to cook for hungry children. Ramen noodles can be dressed up for better nutritional value. I leave out the msg and salt laden flavor packet and added sesame oil and other seasonings. I always thought a small packet of dehydrated vegetables to add would be good to have with them.

Since my daughter has celiac, we are more likely to buy the rice noodle version. I found some at World Market for her before Christmas. They are not as cheap, but are great to keep in a desk drawer.
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I have used the Bar-s spicy hot dogs. Slice them up and cook with the noodles. The pepper comes out in the broth.

Any kind of leftover meats can be turned into casadia (spell check would not even catch this one) or thrown into the ramen noodles.

Cooked a couple of small steaks the other night. Only ate one so the next morning I chopped the other one up, put it in a skillet and reheated before adding eggs and cheese for breakfast.

Not all is about what you have prepped, like has been said, but your imagination on preparing it. Bbq sauce can change pork roast into pulled pork sandwiches. Or throw it in a tortilla with some cheese and heat in a skillet.

The other trick is to make things stretch. I was staying with a friend after getting out of the he hospital, he took out 2 pounds of burger and expected that to feed 5 adults and one kid.

I told him it was not enough(big eaters) and said give me a minute to figure something out.

I tried one pound of the burger and added taco seasoning. Then i put some water on to boil with taco seasoning in that too and cooked up some spaghetti noodles.

I would then take a serving of noodles in another skillet and add the beef to it, put it on the plate and cover with shredded cheese. Kids thought it was weird but they ate it and we had leftovers.

So instead of 2 pounds that was not going to feed 6 people I fed us all on one pound. A couple of days later I used the other pound to make stroganhoff with rice instead of noodles.

I have learned to take just about anything and turn it into a different meal by adding sauces or cheese. Still working on the beef barley popsicles, no one seems to think that is a good idea.:dunno:
 
Cnsper said:
I have used the Bar-s spicy hot dogs. Slice them up and cook with the noodles. The pepper comes out in the broth.

Any kind of leftover meats can be turned into casadia (spell check would not even catch this one) or thrown into the ramen noodles.

Cooked a couple of small steaks the other night. Only ate one so the next morning I chopped the other one up, put it in a skillet and reheated before adding eggs and cheese for breakfast.

Not all is about what you have prepped, like has been said, but your imagination on preparing it. Bbq sauce can change pork roast into pulled pork sandwiches. Or throw it in a tortilla with some cheese and heat in a skillet.

The other trick is to make things stretch. I was staying with a friend after getting out of the he hospital, he took out 2 pounds of burger and expected that to feed 5 adults and one kid.

I told him it was not enough(big eaters) and said give me a minute to figure something out.

I tried one pound of the burger and added taco seasoning. Then i put some water on to boil with taco seasoning in that too and cooked up some spaghetti noodles.

I would then take a serving of noodles in another skillet and add the beef to it, put it on the plate and cover with shredded cheese. Kids thought it was weird but they ate it and we had leftovers.

So instead of 2 pounds that was not going to feed 6 people I fed us all on one pound. A couple of days later I used the other pound to make stroganhoff with rice instead of noodles.

I have learned to take just about anything and turn it into a different meal by adding sauces or cheese. Still working on the beef barley popsicles, no one seems to think that is a good idea.:dunno:
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Americans have food unlike many other places in the world. We can learn from some of their strategies.

A cousin of mine, whose parents raised beef and lots of feeder pigs, is married to a man from the Philipines. Her family of 8 could go through a quarter of beef in a few months during the summer when there was lots of field work going on. A steak or burger for one in her house was what his whole family would have for a meal. His family were more likely to eat pork or chicken. His family ate stir fry with lots of veggies, a bite or two of meat per person, with bowl of rice. Eggs also provide lots of protein for many parts of the world.

Casadia: quesadilla? Two tortillas with cheese melted in the middle. The first time I had one, someone called it a Mexican grilled cheese sandwich.

I'll pass on the beef barley popsicles. Barley is something I don't buy, store, or cook with. I may get some in a can of soup here and there.
 
I have used hotdogs sliced along with peas added to beef rice-a-roni. Very filling and cheap since I use the store brand
I've done the same with canned chicken I drained along with peas and carrots with the chicken flavored rice-a-roni
You can do the same with those cheap prepackaged flavored noodles like Knorr's, Liptons and such. Just add a bit more water and add the canned meat

I always have canned chicken and turkey on hand. I also have some canned beef in broth which makes a fairly good gravy and open faced sandwiches

Using evaporated milk to make an easy white sauce or gravy is a cheap way to stretch things. Add canned meat of some type ( beef or chicken even tuna or salmon) and then spoon over anything from rice to noodles to cornbread.

I always have cases of canned veggies and beans in stock. I know "fresh is best" but beggars can't be choosers and canned veggies are cheap. walmart just had their brand on sale for only 47 cents a can(!)

Homemade soup can be cheap and last a while

Only a couple pieces of bacon fried and the grease can be made into gravy and used over pancakes or biscuits for a cheap breakfast. Its an easy way to stretch bacon since it costs so much now
 
We are an eat what we store household here so there is rarely ever any waste and we make almost everything from scratch here. That way everything in the home is used and rotated through so things don't expire. Tonight for instance we made condensed milk from food storage to make a cheesecake and we also make our own evaporated milk as well.

We are big stir fry people and eat a little meat with usually a lot of homegrown vegetables.

Our shopping we have gone 2 months without going shopping and just living off what we have in our pantries, food storage and frozen and fresh vegetables from the gardens.
 
@Amish Heart these recipes are from the book "I can't believe it's food storage" by Crystal Godfrey and work a treat and save so much money over buying the tins here anyway.

Sweetened condensed milk -

1/2 cup hot water.
1 cup non instant dry powdered milk (can also use instant powdered milk) and it still works a treat.
1 cup of sugar (we use white).
1T butter.

We mix the hot water and sugar together and whizz it in the food processor till the sugar is dissolved then add the butter and whizz till melted and then add the powdered milk and whizz in the food processor until smooth.
Use in any recipe calling for sweetened condensed milk.
Use either straight away or store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Makes 1 x 14 oz can.


Evaporated milk -
1 1/2 cups of water.
1/2 cup + 1T of dry non instant powdered milk (we use instant powdered milk and it works fine)

Combine ingredients and mix well before using in your recipe.

Use in any recipe calling for canned evaporated milk.

Makes 1 1/2 cups or equivalent to a 12 oz can.
 
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