TIP STORE: SHOPPING: Stockpiling
Stockpiling 101
For anyone starting or restarting a pantry stockpile, rather than buying bulk numbers of two or three items, try buying shelf stable ingredients for an actual meal. For example tuna/salmon, UHT milk, canned veg, seasonings and rice or pasta to make a tuna bake.
Split peas, herbs, onion powder = pea soup.
Creamed corn, stock powder, UHT milk, herbs = corn chowder (Or you could add some minute noodles/angel hair pasta and chicken stock to make it more like an Asian sweet corn soup). Long life wraps or naan bread.
Dried mashed potato, canned fish, herbs and breadcrumbs to make fish patties. Add some tinned veg.
Rice, dried mushrooms, dried peas, onion powder, garlic powder, dried herbs, UHT stock or stock powder & water, dried parmesan = risotto. With some breadcrumbs to coat, you can make Arancini or rice patties with any leftovers.
And don't forget the sweet treats, a tin of fruit, packet of jelly crystals, UHT custard, UHT cream, hundreds and thousands.
You get the idea.
Store the recipe idea with the ingredients. Having meals to choose from rather than a wall of baked beans, tinned tomatoes and minute noodles can help relieve the desperation when things are a bit tough.
As your stockpile and confidence begins to grow, start building bulk ingredients. But initially, get a couple of week's worth of meals into your pantry to get you going.
Contributed by Delaney Avenel
Split peas, herbs, onion powder = pea soup.
Creamed corn, stock powder, UHT milk, herbs = corn chowder (Or you could add some minute noodles/angel hair pasta and chicken stock to make it more like an Asian sweet corn soup). Long life wraps or naan bread.
Dried mashed potato, canned fish, herbs and breadcrumbs to make fish patties. Add some tinned veg.
Rice, dried mushrooms, dried peas, onion powder, garlic powder, dried herbs, UHT stock or stock powder & water, dried parmesan = risotto. With some breadcrumbs to coat, you can make Arancini or rice patties with any leftovers.
And don't forget the sweet treats, a tin of fruit, packet of jelly crystals, UHT custard, UHT cream, hundreds and thousands.
You get the idea.
Store the recipe idea with the ingredients. Having meals to choose from rather than a wall of baked beans, tinned tomatoes and minute noodles can help relieve the desperation when things are a bit tough.
As your stockpile and confidence begins to grow, start building bulk ingredients. But initially, get a couple of week's worth of meals into your pantry to get you going.
Contributed by Delaney Avenel
Start a Non-Food Stockpile
I've been binge watching Cath's You Tube shows and one that really resonated with me, especially after the last year or so, is that there are different types of stockpiles. Huh! In my mind my stockpile was the pantry in the kitchen full of food. It is, all bought either on half-price or a decent sale thanks to Cath's advice, but I never though about other pantries. I made a list on my phone for each non-food stockpile. Now each fortnight I have something on the list for the non-food stockpiles. The first thing I added was a torch, on sale of course. Then batteries - no point in having a torch without batteries. Then old fashioned matches. Then my supermarket had oven bags on clearance so I bought the lot - 30c a box who wouldn't! So far I've been able to build up the first-aid stockpile, the cleaning stockpile and even added to the garden stockpile, without spending more than my budget too. Little by little my non-food stockpiles are building and I find I'm not worried if we go into another lockdown or one of the kids gets sick or something else happens and I can't get to the shops. Peace of mind, on budget, for "life's little emergencies".
Contributed by Georgie Menzies
Contributed by Georgie Menzies
Time to Buy Up Big!
Tinned fish is my protein of choice for value and taste if I'm honest. Japan is about to let go of an enormous amount of water stored after cooling their reactors = highly toxic, into the sea. That will be the quick (or slow) end to the safety or even availability of tinned fish from anywhere within 'cooee' of Japan. Time now to buy up really, really, largely. We know it lasts for so long stored at home. Could be the last time it is readily available.
Contributed by Carol Ryan
Editors note: Tinned fish (tuna, sardines or salmon) maintains it's quality for 5 years. It is perfectly safe to eat after this time if the tin is intact (no rust, no dents etc.) but may change colour or even develop a stronger flavour. Cath.
Contributed by Carol Ryan
Editors note: Tinned fish (tuna, sardines or salmon) maintains it's quality for 5 years. It is perfectly safe to eat after this time if the tin is intact (no rust, no dents etc.) but may change colour or even develop a stronger flavour. Cath.