A Healthy Diet > Food Preps
Posted by MiamiTrader@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 98 comments
If you’re eating 20 year-old canned food and regularly rotating through your deep pantry of 9-month old processed garbage in the name of prepping: you’re hurting yourself!
We all know a healthy diet limits processed food. We also know unprocessed healthy foods (fresh meat, fruits, dairy, & veggies) do not store well long term for prepping. THATS OKAY!!
Eat healthy food and store processed food for SHTF. If the processed food expires, that’s the cost of being prepared. If you don’t like the waste, stock freeze dried.
The whole idea of “prep what you regularly eat” is way overplayed on this sub. This will be unpopular, but if you regularly eat things with a 6-month shelf life, you’re diet needs far more work than you’re SHTF stash!!
I personally have 6-months worth of freeze dried meals. I feel prepared in case of an emergency, and eat healthy day to day.
AnonFartsALot@reddit
As a canner who is obsessed with all things food preservation, I take this as a personal insult!!!! My spicy pickled green beans and pickled salsa mix made with my hydroponic peppers is a superfood, and I will NOT be told otherwise. huff Jk, but for realsies, bro, saying all preserved food is trash isn’t true. Even the commercial stuff can be healthy.
69stangrestomod@reddit
Everything in moderation…
m0h1tkumaar@reddit
The concept behind canned food storage is a stop gat measure until fresh food supply chains can be resumed. Its not meant to be a long term thing.
MiamiTrader@reddit (OP)
I fully support storing canned food, as long as it doesn’t become a staple in your diet just because it needs to be rotated. Way too much salt and preservatives.
Store cans and donate them to a food bank before expiration if needed.
Emergency_Sink_706@reddit
Depends on the item. Canned beans and tomatoes are just as healthy as fresh ones.
o793523@reddit
Not really. Besides from the commonly added salt and syrups (not all, but most), they're stored in a plastic lined can that leeches into the food
dittybopper_05H@reddit
You mean "leaches". I doubt the can liners suck the blood out of the food.
o793523@reddit
Lol yes, thanks and corrected
HalcyonKnights@reddit
Mason Jar Pressure Canning FTW? I control what goes in (famers market veggies, mostly), the only plastic/polymer in contact with the food is in the seal, and what little vitamin nutrition is lost in the pasteurization is easier to supplement with a combination of fresh ingredients (which should never leave your diet unless circumstances force it) and good ol' fashion pill supplements.
Brudegan@reddit
While i would like to do that also its not very economical to buy fresh stuff to preserve it even if the quality is so much better. After the preserving the difference is minor.
I would love nothing more than to have a small house with a garden to grow some veggies but sadly you need to inherit land or have a double high income to build/buy one. And the one sold nowadays have like 3m land around your house in 3 direction and around 10-15m in the last direction where you have to park your cars etc. I guess you cant lower the incomes for decades while not building new homes and then importing several millions of new people in just a few years without having problems...
For some reason you cant get these big pressure canners over here. You either have smaller ones where you cook in directly or ones without pressure cooking...so sadly canning meat is out of the question. And for another reason you cant buy normal canned meat like chicken breast. Every canned meat over here is highly processed...and has a quality as if it was scraped from the floor...after a few people ran over said floor. It says something when SPAM is the highest quality meat compared to the rest.
HalcyonKnights@reddit
For me I just buy extra produce when I need something or especially when it's on a particularly good sale, I cook what I can use and then can the leftovers before they go bad. To be fair I do tend to can pre-made meals instead of just the individual ingredients, so it also doubles as simple convenience meal-prep that I use throughout the year. Or it'll be things that are a little more actively transformative, like pickling things. Im a big fan of picked onions on things, for example.
Brudegan@reddit
I tried meal prep several times and it didnt work. I ate it all...no impulse control.
CoffeenCinnamonToast@reddit
What do you have against the elderly and the poor?
06210311200805012006@reddit
That sounds nice but isn't really a practical answer for most people who live on some kind of budget. If you're storing a meaningful amount of food, it's probably a noticeable dent in your pocketbook to donate a meaningful amount of food.
The obvious answer is to store better food. Where I think preppers, and this forum in specific, could do more to educate people is on the difference between a prepper's hoard and a working "1 year" pantry.
Storing a limited amount of canned goods is totally cool (I do) but you have to rotate and eat them. Most of your preps, however, should be in traditional staples that you use by cooking. Flour, sugar, rice and grains, and so forth. It's really not that difficult to stock a pantry with one year's worth of stuff you can and will use to cook at home.
I store lots of flour, and I bake bread instead of buying from the store. This helps my supply turn over. I store rice and I make fried rice often. Once in a blue moon I make spam fried rice to use up a can of spam. Spam isn't a huge part of my diet, though.
Building a working pantry will further move you towards a kind of prepping that is really just closer to the way your grandma and great grandma may have run a kitchen back in the day. Less of a hobby, more of a lifestyle.
Brudegan@reddit
Over the last 15 years or so i had never had canned food go bad...except tomato mark. It did go bad itself but the acid (strangely i wouldnt even say it tastes sour) in it destroyed the cans an that oily stuff leaked out.
I have some kale with sausages from like 5 years ago and while being disgusting (the reason they still exist) they taste like back then.
Imho you still can eat almost everything canned as long it looks, smells and tastes like it should.
06210311200805012006@reddit
freezer burned meat bro. it's why stew exists
dittybopper_05H@reddit
You can get low or no sodium canned food, with minimum or no preservatives. It's not going to be Spaghetti-Os or Dinty Moore beef stew, but certainly you can get canned vegetables and fruit that way, and some canned meats.
When combined with dried pasta, dried beans, rice, and other dried staples, you can build up a deep but healthy pantry.
I rather suspect you've never actually gone looking for low/no sodium canned goods, have you?
DoraDaDestr0yer@reddit
Like most skills, deep pantry is more complicated than you make it out to be here. I like OPs call to avoid unhealthy foods as a change to lifestyle, this is very fitting. But I think the miscommunication here is between processed foods, and ultra processed foods. They are specific terms with intentional meaning. Canned tomatoes are in fact, processed food. But no one is calling to ban canned tomatoes because many kitchens around the world make their living on the stuff, Mine included. The problem is ultra-processed foods, enter canned tomato soup. A can of Cambell's condensed tomato soup has double the sugar, salt and potassium of a can of crushed tomatoes. The key difference, one is advertised as an ingredient to a meal, the other is advertised as a heat-and-serve meal in itself.
Canning and preserving more generally are traditions that have been a part of humanity for a long time. Casting aside canned goods as inferior or unhealthy simply goes too far in this modern push-back against unhealthy ultra-processed consumer products bombarded at us. So, it's not enough to say "canned food good/bad" it matters what is in there.
Thick-Pressure-9154@reddit
There's very little salt and no preservatives in my canned goods so I'm unsure what you mean. Do you mean store canned?
gonyere@reddit
Eh, canned tomatoes, corn, and various pickles, jams fruit, etc are a staple around here
But, most of it is processed here. I'm in the process of switching from frozen corn to canned, simply because it stores so much better.
WorryFar7682@reddit
Great idea!
BaylisAscaris@reddit
I only store what I eat. I store healthy canned and dried foods that I use on a regular basis. I store seeds I use every year in the garden for fresh food. I can, pickle, and dry my own food when the garden produces excess.
Not everyone has the luxury of time, energy, and land to do this. Back in the early days of the pandemic I didn't have any outside space to grow food and when I ran out of fresh produce I was not having a great time, but thankfully I could grow sprouts really easily. We also had a lot of power outages, so cold food wasn't sustainable. You do what works for you, but make sure the food you store you're willing to eat and it's healthy enough to sustain you without causing GI problems. I discovered the importance of routine and food diversity on morale. If you go from steak and fresh vegetables to dehydrated salty rations it's depressing. Mood is important for survival too. If you find the idea of prepping food boring and can't bring yourself to care, then that's fine too.
DwarvenRedshirt@reddit
I would say that the "store what you eat, eat what you store" phrase is played a lot because it's the simplest and easiest start/maintain for the vast majority of people new/resistant to prepping. It helps fight the "It's too expensive" or "I can't afford to spend $2k on freeze dried I'll never use" or "It's too complicated" arguments (followed by "so I just won't bother"). If they want to dial in for better/healthier preps, they can do that after they're started.
Cats_books_soups@reddit
I think it depends what you are prepping for. Canned goods are a fantastic prep for when the power is out during a storm and you can’t get your backup systems running in time for dinner or for when you are too sick to cook or go to the store. In those situations cooking something like rice isn’t going to be possible, but opening a can of soup is. In just about any emergency long or short term there are going to be times I don’t want to or can’t cook from dried ingredients.
There are also very different types of canned goods. Low sodium veggie based soups and canned ingredients like tomatoes, corn, and beans are healthy and fine to eat. Also things like canned fish or more processed canned foods are fine as part of a more varied diet.
jon23d@reddit
We have no problem eating our supply. We keep around 200 lbs of beans, 100 lbs of grains, and a healthy variety of dried veggies on hand year round. It is easy to eat well and have stores.
thescatterling@reddit
I’ve started the loooooooong process of saving up for a freeze dryer. As far as healthy long term food preps I’m not aware of anything better available with current technology.
ShareMission@reddit
I think the real move is setting up your own food production.
Onyourmarkgetset100@reddit
In my area, the local food pantry will accept food that is up to 3 years expired. Not all pantries do this, but you could rotate your cans to food pantries when you decide and your preps will be helping someone.
MrPeanutsTophat@reddit
I completely agree. Almost my entire diet is fresh food, either from my garden or from the store. That said, I store a lot of canned foods for emergencies, and once a year, around Thanksgiving, I donate soon to expire items to the canned food drives. Yes, it costs me ~$100 a year to do this. But I always have about 5-6 months of canned foods that are similar to what I make with fresh ingredients, and I also have a healthy, whole food diet.
CyclingDutchie@reddit
None of my prep food is processed. 90 % of my stash is organic food. Pasta, rice, milkpowder, butterpowder, potato flakes, corn, honey, sugar, salt.
As long as it is in the right kind of container, it can be stored or eaten for a decade.
Connect-Type493@reddit
Anything that was dehydrated, ground, freezer dried, mixed with other ingredients is a "processed food".
CyclingDutchie@reddit
I respectfully disagree.
iamfaedreamer@reddit
you're respectfully wrong
Connect-Type493@reddit
It is not a bad thing. Its one those words that has been taken to automatically mean something bad. Like "chemicals ". But it isn't.
jimoconnell@reddit
No beans? You're missing out.
CyclingDutchie@reddit
Yup. Got beans too. But not as much as the rest. I should get some more.
IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit
Every single item on this list is processed tho
MiamiTrader@reddit (OP)
This is the way.
FlashyImprovement5@reddit
Can your own.
Grow your own garden.
Dehydrate and freeze your garden.
You control the salt and sugar content.
Specific_Yak7572@reddit
The most likely SHTF scenarios where I live is an electrical outage, potential supply chain disruptions, and most likely of all, extreme price gouging. In places like Bosnia and Lebanon where it did hit the fan, and Russia, where there was a small but steady stream of it hitting the fan, that's what happened. Goods and electricity would be available sporadically but not consistently. (I would be the first one eliminated in a place like Gaza, where a bunker full of rice and pancake mix might mean survival. But then there would be a high probability that bunker would get bulldozed anyhow.)
My strategy is to have a fairly healthy diet stocked to last for three months, and then enough calories to last much longer. For me, this means:
About 150 cans of veggies on hand that we rotate through. We eat substantial amounts of fresh veggies, but we do use canned food fairly often in soups.
I have a fair amount of dried fruits and nuts on hand that we use for baking and snacking.
I currently have over 200 pounds of various grains and a grain mill. I make bread, bagels, biscuits, tortillas and more with it. We don't buy those at all and they are a big part of our diet. When I empty a storage container, I buy more. (Shout out to Honeyville for corn and Central Milling for wheat and rye. Good products and great prices.)
Around a hundred pounds of beans, chickpeas and lentils. Also a few cans of beans we could eat in a short term emergency.
Some cans of tuna. Also a small supply of beef jerky.
Several cases of evaporated milk. And several cans of sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk. We don't use a lot of milk, but it goes into soups and some of my baking.
About 20 pounds of rice and 15 of pasta. We don't eat a lot of them, but they are nice sometimes.
A goodly supply of honey, olive oil, condiments and spices.
We live in a one bedroom condo in the city. I don't have room for a supply of food that would get me through Armageddon. So I've designed my life and my living space to handle the emergencies I am likely to encounter.
Sometimes the best is the enemy of the good.
iamliberty@reddit
The answer to this problem is the integration of homesteading or even urban homesteading. If you grow food and learn to can, raise eggs and learn to can, you will slowly trade out the tin in your pantry for glass. Canned green beans from Green Giant will turn into canned green beans from the last growing season.
A great resource for this Diane Deveroux (mighta spelled that wrong) She calls herself the Canning Diva and I have had her on The Prepper Broadcasting Network many times.
Instead of storing highly processes canned goods store more staples like rice, flour, pasta, oats, and beans. These are things you can eat regularly that are much healthier and you can rotate through them. Just my take
dittybopper_05H@reddit
And yet you tagged this with "Prepping for Doomsday".
Do you not see the inherent issue with that? I mean, I neither believe in nor prep for "Doomsday", but if I did, I would certainly have more than 6 months worth of food on hand. At least 18 months, or more like 2 years, plus I'd be working on building a sustainable subsistence farm.
MiamiTrader@reddit (OP)
Food rations for 4 people for six months is the definition of doomsday in my mind.
Hopefully never, but if the food system collapses for six months I’m afraid most of the population won’t make it.
dittybopper_05H@reddit
Except in that case, whatever doomsday scenario you’re imagining has to be over within that 6 months and normal food distribution must return, or you’re just postponing your death by starvation by 6 months.
In any doomsday scenario I’ve seen you need at a minimum 18 months of food in order to be able to plant and harvest, and preferably 24 months because you may not be able to plant immediately after the doomsday event.
So if Doomsday happens in the spring at planting time but you can’t plant because of fires/not enough sunlight/fallout/whatever, you can’t harvest in the fall. Meaning you are going to go at least 18 months before you’ll have your own grown food, meaning grains, vegetables, and fruits.
I just don’t think you understand the implications of “doomsday”. Your preparation is for medium term shortages, not the end of the World as we know it.
N44thLatitude@reddit
"We all know a healthy diet limits processed food"
Do we? Because cooking food at all is technically "processed". Canned corn in water with no added salt is "processed". Canned chicken with no water or salt added is "processed" - but uncooked raw chicken is undeniably more harmful to eat.
I think what you meant to say is ultraprocessed food. There are canned and dried foods that are not ultraprocessed. If all your canned goods are ready to eat/ready to heat meals (ultraprocessed), then perhaps - usually due to high sodium/saturated fats and low vitamin/fiber/protein.
And you can totally eat canned or dried food on a regular basis if you're storing these types of ingredients. We regularly eat canned fruits, vegetables, and meats along with cooking dried legumes.
Cooking (a.k.a. processing) food changes nutritional profiles for some foods - and yes, while that can decrease some vitamins it also can increase the availability of other vitamins. And in the case of food safety, cooking kills salmonella, listeria, and other bacteria that could make you sick. Lots of fresh/frozen fruit and vegetable recalls these days for listeria due to irrigation water being tainted by animal feces, so wash thoroughly and cook to safe temperatures if the food allows (processed!)
It's ultraprocessed food that cares more about taste and convenience than nutrition, and loads up on salt and unhealthy fats.
Besides, the whole ultraprocessed/processed thing is still under debate because neither of those terms is extremely well defined. ANY cooking or heating "processes" a food. And where does the line go from "processed" to "ultraprocessed"? There's not a clear line. So choosing food based on arbitrary definitions that change person to person doesn't seem clear either.
The goal should be to simply avoid or limit foods with high quantities of salt and trans/saturated fats, especially those that don't have reasonable quantities of protein, vitamins, or fiber. Whether it's pre-cooked or not is irrelevant to whether it's nutritionally healthy to consume.
N44thLatitude@reddit
Some storebought switches I recommend:
Commercially canned/boxed soup and meals have a place (especially if you're ill and need something quick and easy), but should be limited as you would limit eating takeout or other food that prioritizes flavor over nutrition. They tend to be really high in salt/fat, so read the label and try to choose something that doesn't meet/exceed your daily salt/fat recommendations in a single can. They often list nutrition by multiple servings per can, when a consumer would expect to eat the whole thing as a serving. Be careful reading nutrition labels.
456name789@reddit
Commercially canned “crap” food is my comfort item while sick or if SHTF. They will one day pry the cans of spaghettios and Campbell’s chicken noodle soup from my cold, dead hands. 😅 I only have a few of each, but they’re there if I need them.
N44thLatitude@reddit
I will add, too, that these days there are actual OPTIONS when it comes to healthier canned/pantry stable meals. So even if all you decided to do was find swaps for your favorite canned soup with a lower fat/lower sodium version, that's a positive move (unless it tastes like garbage, so definitely taste before stockpiling).
A lot of times the brands that market towards organic will limit ultraprocessed ingredients/preservatives.
I really liked the Campbell's "Well, Yes" line of canned soup, but they've discontinued so when I finally go through my last two cans, I'll have to find something else. It was still high salt, but it wasn't my regular diet and nobody in my house has high blood pressure so it was a great option when we felt too tired or sick for cooking.
456name789@reddit
Good points, all. I will say that I don’t really stock any commercial soups outside of those emergency campbells chicken noodle. I make soup a lot in the winter and usually end up with a giant pot, so I can half of it. I have a few shelves of mystery canned soups. They’re dated, but not labeled. 😅 My bachelor son will usually take home a dozen “mystery meals” when he visits.
What I do keep a ton of are commercial stick packs of beef “bone broth,” stock. It’s enough of a meal when one is sick or busy. It’s a great soup starter. Easy to carry in a pocket. I have a rather large variety of powdered or condensed stocks/soup bases. Sodium levels vary by brand, some have little to none once incorporated into a stock pot of soup.
N44thLatitude@reddit
I can a lot of chicken and vegetable stock, and occasionally make a "chicken noodle" starter using that USDA recipe I linked above (minus the noodles, which are added when reheating). But babysitting a pressure cooker (especially in the heat/humidity of the summer) can be a pain, and time consuming, so I totally understand it's not for everyone.
For my family, the convenience foods are truly "for convenience" and probably what a lot of other families would consider their takeout nights. We live in an area that doesn't have ubereats/doordash or even pizza delivery, and actual takeout would be between our home and where my spouse works an hour away (so hot food is typically lukewarm if he brings food home from where he works). Boxed/canned meals are for extra tired nights where everyone picks their favorite (the kids typically choose frozen pizza or easy mac) and the adults generally go for the soups or chef boyardee from our own childhoods.
Canned beans are for when I forget to cook our dry beans early enough (and I have tried canning my own, they tend to come out mushier than commercial so I prefer commercially canned texture). Canned vegetables we started eating more when our freezers (yes, plural) are full of berries (for smoothies) and proteins (meat/fish) and we can't find space for foods that can be made shelf stable. I buy other things because of particularly good deals/sales even when I can make my own.
I've never tossed an item in my pantry for "going bad". Stuff that even STARTS to get old is cooked and fed to the chickens or the dog. And even that is pretty rare and far more likely in the freezer (freezer burn) than the pantry. When you don't live nearby stores and restaurants you kinda have to get used to shopping from your house when it takes 45 minutes to get to your nearest city with amenities.
So we do have, eat, and rotate "junk canned food". Our lifestyle is probably also different than people who might live down the street from amazing tasting greasy burgers and fries (oh, I miss it). We have zero issue maintaining a rotating pantry AND an overall healthy diet.
456name789@reddit
Lol, the only bean I’ve had success with is pinto, because I’m going to mash it, anyway!
I had 3 deep freezers until earlier this summer. I gave one to my son, and another to his friend who helped him move it 200 miles. I sent them full. They too, live an hour outside of civilization. It was getting too much to manage, and I have to switch to uprights. I just can’t/don’t manage deep freezers well.
We will be relocating in the not too distant future, to well outside of civilization hopefully. I don’t want to move freezers. I’d like to completely empty the one I kept. It’s 25+ years old and acts like it. Should we move as far as I want, I will have to get at least one deep freezer for a yearly cow. I can’t see a way around that. I’m unwilling to drive that far to shop frequently. I can’t imagine a cow in uprights. Seems too chancy.
Brudegan@reddit
My grandpa back then had a big garden. When he worked as a chef he supplied the restaurant he worked for with fresh stuff. After retirement he didnt scale it down. Often their freezer had still stuff from last season when the new stuff was ready to be processed. My grandma hated it...because she had to do the processing.
I got rid of my freezer because i rarely ate frozen stuff when i had one and even then preferred the convenience of just opening a can of veggies. That way in case of a blackout nothing goes bad because the food in the fridge i can eat in a day.
N44thLatitude@reddit
Ugh, yes! Pinto beans were refried texture for us as well! Even the chickpeas came out as hummus. Eatable, yes, but not going in a minestrone or a bean salad for sure!
And canned beans aren't exactly crazy expensive so for the time vs value vs texture, if we want ready to eat beans we're going with commercially canned!
N44thLatitude@reddit
oh, same! I totally have spaghetti o's and ravioli and storebought soup for the occasions where I just can't put together a meal due to energy/illness or just have a random craving. You'll get no criticism from me for eating comfort foods! I have emergency cupcake mix, frosting, chocolate chips, and marshmallows for the nights my kids (or me) want a treat.
I don't want to think that it's particularly common for there to be that many folks stocking ONLY ultraprocessed meals in cans/boxes as their long term emergency food, but I guess there's studies about some peoples' diets saying it's their regular diet, so who am I to judge what's likely or not. If people do have that diet, I'd highly recommend learning cooking as a survival skill, even if they can only commit to one meal a week or something, just to learn how to make food they're willing to eat that is less likely to give them gastrointestinal problems, heart attacks, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good, though (thanks, Voltaire). Especially for short term stuff like a cold or flu, where I just need fluids and electrolytes I can make quickly and then trudge back to bed, I'm headed straight towards the convenience cabinet.
Far-Respond-9283@reddit
Is incredibly that for a group where people say they can and cook from scratch don't understand what "processed" means. Not just is OP but some people in the comments as well.
I don't see any food as bad or good, I just prefer balance.
nunyabizz62@reddit
I have 500 pounds of wheat berries which i regularly eat, I make all of our bread, buns, rolls, tortillas, pitas and pasta, wheat berries properly stored last 30 plus years.
I have lots of supplies for growing gourmet mushrooms which we regularly eat. Same with broccoli sprouts.
Most everything else is freeze dried in large #10 cans.
Brudegan@reddit
Good for you...and i would like having someone doing that for me (or having the time and money to do it myself) but i dont think thats practical when you live in a city apartment and/or have to work 40-60h a week...unless youre so deep into the prepper lifestyle that they make tv shows about it. ;-)
456name789@reddit
I have a lot of wheat berries, too. Not 500lbs, but maybe 200. I have yet to embark on my baking journey, but I absolutely love them cooked for breakfast, sometimes dinner. I’ll start baking in a month or so when the temp is more agreeable to having the oven on, lol!
I want to learn how to bake with fresh milled flour mostly just for the education. I’ve always been an excellent baker, but we basically stopped eating any flour products a few years ago. As I learn bread baking again we may work some back into our diets.
nunyabizz62@reddit
Best bread you'll ever eat
Uhohtallyho@reddit
It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Combine dried and canned fruits and veggies with fresh. For example, make pumpkin spice muffins with 2 cans of pumpkin, flour, eggs, butter and all spice. Same with canned corn and cornbread. Use dried fruit in salads and canned fruit in desserts or just mixed with oatmeal or cottage cheese. Cooking and baking isn't hard, and you'll be better prepared for emergencies if you know how to make nutritious and delicious meals for you and your loved ones.
Procyonid@reddit
I’ll just add to this that pumpkin is one of the few canned foods that they don’t add a ton of sodium to.
456name789@reddit
And dogs like it, too. I always buy pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix) when it goes on sale in the fall. I’m always going to make a pumpkin pie. I never make the pumpkin pie, I prefer sweet potato. So the dog gets a little pumpkin in his food for a month, lol!
Emergency_Sink_706@reddit
I cook regularly, and even when I first started, I don't think I would have been phased by a SHTF scenario when it comes to food... especially regular food items that are fit for human consumption like what you just mentioned. You literally just open the can and then eat it... it's food. Like??? There's very little you can do in terms of cooking or baking to "make it more nutritious." It's just food. In terms of it being delicious, luckily for me, I am not a picky eater. I don't really care. Most of what most people eat on a regular basis is garbage level food anyways. Why do you think British people lose their minds when trying foods from other cultures? Same with Americans. The most popular foods in the U.S. are not from the U.S. The bar is extremely low already. I guess this just goes to the hilarious fact that cooking is considered a rare artform in the States compared to other places where people cook regularly. This is when prepping because more of a hobby than an actual practical measure meant to ensure safety and survival. I don't really know that you need to be organizing your meals around your prep. Like that's a very large portion of your life dictated by like "well, I gotta eat this because this is what's gonna be available in the apocalypse" like... why? Also... how is that a challenge? You just eat. Like I don't understand how this is something people actually need to practice?
If you actually want to practice food stuff... you should probably look more into like gardening, foraging, and hunting. I think 99% of people know how to open a can and eat what's inside it. I think most people understand heating up food to make it safe to eat. How is that prep?
456name789@reddit
“Cooking is considered a rare art form” This is not too far from the truth. Being a part of Prepper, farming, homesteading, and natural parenting communities for most of my Internet life, I never saw the decline of home cooking. When I returned to work and mostly worked with much younger people, I was shocked no one knew how to actually cook. Nor did most of their parents. Their family group chats were all about where to order dinner that night.
I don’t recall when I learned how to bake a whole chicken, but I was certainly under 10yo. I taught all of my children how to cook as very young children. They have all far surpassed my abilities.
Uhohtallyho@reddit
I think many people underestimate the mental and physical toll it takes on you to simply survive day to day. Physically you could have your basic needs met but if there isn't any joy or happiness or companionship, what's the point? Food is a good example of this. Yes you can open a can of beans and eat it cold. Your stomach will be full but try feeding that to a 4 year old. Or thinking about eating the exact same thing day after day for years. How mentally exhausting to not have options simply because you never prepared yourself for it. And it's not difficult, I make all my meals including breads and condiments from scratch. Sure it takes some time and a bit of research but I know my family is getting nutritious and delicious food every day. If you aren't using all of your available resources now, like gardening and canning, you never will in any emergency situation.
456name789@reddit
What exactly are these freeze dried meals you have 6mos of if not processed crap? Or are you saying they are, and that’s just how you choose to prepare for future problems instead keeping a well stocked/deep pantry cuz rotating sucks?
Cool either way, I guess. 😎
I personally would prefer keeping the fresh proteins I eat every day in a form of longer term storage for both food security and limiting sudden changes to my diet. My gut does not like change, and a messed up gut on top of any other emergency is a terrible situation I can at least minimize to the best of my ability.
IntoTheCommonestAsh@reddit
What a dumb post.
Yeah, if you store all chef boyardee and start eating it a lot then sure, your diet is gonna suck.
But you're not gonna convince me my diet is worse for including rice, beans, and canned tomatoes.
456name789@reddit
Now I want a strawberry uncrustable. Grrr. I’ve banned those little suckers from my house. I can have peanut butter and jam on the shelf for years, and bread on the counter, I’ll never make myself a pbj. But put a single uncrustable in my freezer and it’ll be gone as fast as it can thaw.
Isildil@reddit
I regularly eat beans, lentils, rice, para and chickpeas with various kinds of spices and tomato concentrate. Guess what I also prep 🤷🏽 I have a few cans of vegetables that I don't eat regularly, but might be helpful to have if I get suck and didn't find time to buy fresh produce before, etc. Prep what you eat is actually very good advice imho
456name789@reddit
I too, have a lot of rice, beans, lentils, etc. I honestly don’t eat much of any of them. Occasionally rice & lentils. But I have so much of them because the people who would end up with me if SHTF do eat them regularly because they don’t like most other proteins.
bitx284@reddit
Pasta, dried beans, rice,... Aren't processed ingridients
TastesLikeCoconut@reddit
Pasta doesn't grow from trees, of course it's a processed food.
Uhohtallyho@reddit
Yes all flour has to be cooked or it can kill you from salmonella or e.coli, there is an astounding amount of bird shit in raw flour.
bitx284@reddit
🙄 Of coure, raw flour or wheat is not very please t to eat...
I think the idea could be getted
melympia@reddit
And even raw flour is processed.
Connect-Type493@reddit
Turning flour into pasta makes it a processed food.
gonyere@reddit
Also true. Nearly everything is 'processed' to some degree. It's whether you think that processing is bad or useful that varies.
Brudegan@reddit
I think a lot of people mix up "processed" and "preserved". Imho a preserved base ingredient isnt processed.
Yes its not as healthy as the same food when fresh but that only applies to food eaten raw. If the beans are cooked while being canned or when fresh doesnt make that big of a difference.
So while i agree that processed foods may not as healthy i dont see preserved veggies etc. in the same boat. And we are talking about prepping which basically means preserving food most of the time.
redduif@reddit
Pasta is. Rice is debatable if white.
456name789@reddit
My stored food is home canned proteins & some meals like soups. I have a lot of rice and various beans & lentils. Also have a lifetime supply of packaged lemon couscous. Got that stuff on sale. So yummy! Its shelf life is really only a few years, but if it goes bad I haven’t lost much.
I keep some canned & dried fruit and veg. Canned veg is mostly for the critters, although I use some occasionally for recipes. I keep a LOT of coffee, tea, and other beverages including water.
That’s basically what I eat. I eat vegetables & salads from the garden in season. Aside from tomato sauce, I don’t can any of it. I might freeze some veg, I might buy some frozen veg. If SHTF, I’ll probably lose that. Oh well.
I have a very deep pantry. I store what I eat. I think the only processed items are some brownie mix and canned corned beef hash. I do have a lot of mac & cheese of various brands, but it’s not for me. It’s a good barter and/or grandkid meal. Some things I buy with the intention of giving away.
So it’s definitely possible to store what you eat, and be healthy while doing it.
HahaBetterOffNow@reddit
Prepper Policing lol
reincarnateme@reddit
I don’t stock “20 year old” anything. Everything is used in a timely manner (2-3 years old) If the SHTF worse than that it’s over.
Ok-Calligrapher7577@reddit
Can of mushrooms here, can of chickpeas here isn’t bad. It ain’t no Chef Boyardi.
barascr@reddit
Most canned produce is freshly picked, the only thing that might be "unhealthy" is the brine. It all depends on what you store, if what you call food is canned chef boyardee or stuff of that nature, it's not gonna be a healthy diet. but you can store corn, beans, peas, potatoes, carrots, broths, the list goes on and on, it all depends on your eating habits and what you buy. Don't blame the canned food. It is most of the time, the best and cheapest option to die store food long term.
wistful_cottage_core@reddit
Would love to know what OP considers processed and unhealthy. Canned vegetables aren't unhealthy just because they're shelf stable.
optionaldaughters@reddit
That's why you also prep with seeds and grow a garden!
silasmoeckel@reddit
Or just dont prep processed foods?
Keeping freezers going isn't hard anymore.
OtisPan@reddit
I smash pizza and burgers and backpack, compete in triathlons, and climb mountains. Also mix in healthy eating. BMI above average. My food preps are various.
There's multiple ways to arrive at the same goal. Gatekeeping is for losers.
premar16@reddit
Feel better. This whole post just seems like a way to act superior to other people and the way they want to prepare for emergencies. Also freeze dried foods are not the healthiest foods in the world sooo it ruins your point a little
Emergency_Sink_706@reddit
There is zero reason to let it go to waste... just donate it when it's close but not too close to the expiration and get new ones... or you can eat it once a week when you are lazy and restock as needed. Why the hell would people be eating this regularly? Am I missing something here?
Spiley_spile@reddit
Money is a factor 😅
MiamiTrader@reddit (OP)
Rice, beans, pasta etc. all store long and are relatively cheap.
That covers the deep storage, without the need to constantly rotate through a deep pantry of unhealthy food.
gonyere@reddit
Yes, but having some corn, tomatoes and pickles to eat with them will help immensely - both for varieties sake, and for nutrition.
Spiley_spile@reddit
Under what conditions would cooking rice and beans not be possible for a person who doesnt have $$?
I was writing out scenarios and realized it'd be better just to ask you. People tend to have deeper realizations when they do the problem solving portion.
I actually do have rice and beans. Cooking them on the other hand posed a number of problems. Which is why I cant count on being able to rely on them for some plausable scenarios.
Puzzleheaded_Map_829@reddit
I think storing rice and dried legumes is a great idea. Before the expiry date, starting to consume them calmly and/or donating them to those in need would also be an excellent idea. For the rest of the proteins you can combine canned meat or fish and perhaps vegetable protein powder which also contains fibre.
Eazy12345678@reddit
if you work out a canned food here and there isnt too bad. couple times a week is no big deal.
culturekit@reddit
I do my own canning, so it is processed in my kitchen. Problem solved.
pandabeers@reddit
True