Can we have a thread about what the hell to do right now?
🗣️ DISCUSSION 💬
First of all, I'm an idiot when it comes to anything financial. I know many of you aren't. What is the safest thing to do with the money (fiat) that we do have right now? Leave it in our local bank? Credit union? Keep it as cash in my sock drawer? Also, the money in my 401k? Switch it over to bonds or something else I don't fully understand? Any thoughts from someone who's been paying better attention to these things than I?
You wouldn't be the first to have done that either. But, you learned the basic -
Don't Buy What You Don't Already Eat
Hilarious thread on another forum of someone who bought up piles of Datrex bars. They're meant for boating and leaving them stored for true emergency use. They are also expensive. Guy tries one and discovers they are gross, surprise! He wished he'd spent on stuff he liked.
I have a whole slew of dishes I can make up using canned beans (kidney, red, black, & cannelini), canned potatoes, green chilis, tomatoes, corn, cornmeal, oats, other grains & rice, evap & condensed milk, and so on. All (except tomatoes) have long shelf dates and they can be omitted if they fail. Add regular store meat (or squirrel, pigeon, wild turkey, or deer if that's the situation) and you've got chili, soups, Mexican & Thai style dishes, stews, Cajun, you name it.
The key though is learning to cook based on what you have on hand. It takes about 6 months of practice* before it clicks and you start having epiphanies. "Ah, I have this on hand so I can make that." It's great when it happens and you start using up your older stored food and replacing it with newer. Also lay in on the spices, they never go bad and they will transform bland to good. They're cheap in bulk too, look for a market that carries Badia brand.
*Start watching cooking vids on youtube. Search "cooking with canned food", "using oats in cooking", "economy cooking", etc. A great channel is Atomic Shrimp. He has self-challenges like 3 meals on 1 UK pound per day, etc. Much of it is not what I'd want to eat but you'll learn much about the mindset needed to be flexible.
spices do lose a lot of their taste after a few months....BUY SEEDS when you can...pepper, mustard, allspice, etc....grind them as needed...seeds last a long time.
It helps a lot to store spices, herbs in dark bottles or bags that block light. They will take a long time to oxidize this way.
I also transferred them into glass jars and vacuum-sealed them.
Stored in a dark area or light-canceling vessel?
Easy, use more if you actually notice it.
These are all great suggestions, thanks for posting.
Thanks, life is a learning process. I think back 10 years when my wife wasn't around to feed me. Despite cupboards & fridge full of raw material I was eating processed snacks from boxes or getting fast food.
Which is why I don't stock beans no matter what anyone says, I hate them and won't eat them unless I'm already starving so they'll just sit there and go bad. Find out ways to long-term store foods that you will actually want to eat so that they don't go bad and you end up rotating the stock.
Sardines here. Despite them being a fantastic protein & mineral source I just cannot stomach the idea of eating them. Love sushi but deenz, gag reflex.