Emergency Food Supply

[Lilsia]

What does the dehydrated food taste like?

You add the water back to it when you heat it up to eat. So it tastes pretty much exactly as it did before you took the water out.

 

[Lilsia]

The increased demand, due to people eating at home all the time & grocery stores not adjusting to that demand has created empty shelves. I thought it may be due to a shortage, until I see stories about managers claiming a 2 to 3 day meat supply disappearing in a few hours was due to hoarding. It's clear many of them simply can't see what's really happening. There are many people having to buy significantly more food from grocery stores now. We're purchasing about 70% more food per week than we did pre-Covid 19. We're not hoarding. We're eating it, because we're now feeding all of us strictly from home. We used to cook 3 or 4 nights a week & make breakfast on Saturday & Sunday. That was normally only for DH & me. DS is now eating all his meals here too. There are many more families like us. It's common sense that the grocery stores need to be ordering a whole lot more than they previously did. Blaming hoarding & being unwilling to adapt to different needs is inexcusable. If they simply can't get what they order, that's another story. They can't help that, but they should be trying instead of blaming customers for shortages in the stores.

We normally get something fast to eat 2-3 times a week and still do. Other then that, we are eating about the same as we always do. And that is with my husband and kids home all day now. But we are not big eaters and are happy with a sandwich or can of soup for lunch. We also don't make full meals every night for dinner and will make something easy like a frozen pizza.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We normally get something fast to eat 2-3 times a week and still do. Other then that, we are eating about the same as we always do. And that is with my husband and kids home all day now. But we are not big eaters and are happy with a sandwich or can of soup for lunch. We also don't make full meals every night for dinner and will make something easy like a frozen pizza.

Our DS eats about 3 times more than DH, but he also works out daily. When our area started seeing a significant rise in Covid 19 cases, so we stopped eating out. Even if we were eating out on occasion, we'd still need a lot more food.

 

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[PattnFmly]

Count us in the group of families needing to eat more food just because we are here! Our two DS's were at college. They are now home. Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. We were pretty well stocked for a couple weeks for DH and I, but with the boys home, it's been more difficult. Plus, I've been trying to do more than a weeks worth of shopping to limit the amount of times we go out of the house.

 

[bcla]

Well a portion of Costco's marketing is to smaller stores who resell those items. The mini-market I buy lottery tickets at sells a major brand of dairy products in the pint jugs, but their pints of half and half are all Kirkland. The pints of milk, 2%, 1% , non-fat and chocolate milk are $2.50 each. The half and half is $1.99. Usually the higher the butter fat in milk, the higher the price

I've noticed the original membership eligibility which was primarily for those with business license in the mid-80s. Back then they sold a ton of resale boxes of candy, chips, etc. These days I've seen those primarily at Costco Business Centers.

I've seen people hawking Costco bottled water on the street, but a lot of what they sell isn't packaged for resale.

 

[barkley]

When you have the OP talking about keeping a 3 MONTH food supply - that's hoarding.

do you see it as 'hoarding' if it's a household's normal practice and the food is being consumed and replenished on a quarterly basis? that's not an entirely uncommon practice. i only purchase most canned and some dry good nonperishable items only once or twice per year, taking advantage of case sales. i only purchase paper goods on a quarterly basis, again timing it for target's sales. i generally only get cleaning products every other month on a trip to costco (and during the winter it may only be once every 3 months). i know how much my household uses, i don't like to shop so before all this happened i was able to do just a once a month trip to walmart or elsewhere to get dairy products (crazy long ultra pasteurized stuff up here), produce and the odd seasonal fresh meat (lamb in particular).

i'm not alone in this-i know of folks who do this b/c:

they shop on base, closest base is a couple of hours away,

live where winter road conditions make it safer to stock up in fall to get through the pass closures,

simply live on a quarterly vs. a monthly grocery budget.


i and many others who have this practice don't see it as hoarding, it's our years long practice and for many of us it's helped keep us out of the markets, lessening the demand for many items others seem to be searching wildly for.

 

[OhhBother]

There’s been a noticeable change in grocery store stock in our community over the past two weeks. There weren’t shortages. Now there are. And it’s not just meat, milk, eggs. It’s frozen items, cookies and snacks, etc.

We consciously made a decision to purchase extra food back in early March, and I’m glad we did. I would be nervous if I only had a week or two supply of food at this point.

The world isn’t going back to “normal” anytime soon. Normal as we knew it isn’t going to exist for a long time.

 

[mombrontrent]

The increased demand, due to people eating at home all the time & grocery stores not adjusting to that demand has created empty shelves. I thought it may be due to a shortage, until I see stories about managers claiming a 2 to 3 day meat supply disappearing in a few hours was due to hoarding. It's clear many of them simply can't see what's really happening. There are many people having to buy significantly more food from grocery stores now. We're purchasing about 70% more food per week than we did pre-Covid 19. We're not hoarding. We're eating it, because we're now feeding all of us strictly from home. We used to cook 3 or 4 nights a week & make breakfast on Saturday & Sunday. That was normally only for DH & me. DS is now eating all his meals here too. There are many more families like us. It's common sense that the grocery stores need to be ordering a whole lot more than they previously did. Blaming hoarding & being unwilling to adapt to different needs is inexcusable. If they simply can't get what they order, that's another story. They can't help that, but they should be trying instead of blaming customers for shortages in the stores.

I’m a manager at a grocery store and trust me it’s due to both short supply and hoarding. We are getting our trucks in but one to two days late and with only about 50-75% of what we are ordering depending on department. So say we order 100 cases of toilet paper and we recieve 10 cases, normally those 10 cases might last a week but now people see we have it back in stock and buy it all.

Plus some things are just not coming in at all or just sporadic, like pasta, beans, canned and frozen fruit and veg ect. Haven’t had Lysol wipes or hand sanitizer in over a month now.

We are selling more then double the normal volumes and that’s with the shortages. We don’t have any more staff, we have less then normal because we lost several people due to fear of the virus. Plus we need to clean and sanitize everything more often and have someone counting customers at the front door and sanitizing the carts. It’s often hard to find enough staff to get the products out there and you just think we should be doing more. We try and schedule staff when we anticipate orders but we don’t know when they are coming now so we have to have extra people there just in case and we are all working harder and longer hours then before and it’s not just as simple as order more.

 

[Kay7979]

When you have the OP talking about keeping a 3 MONTH food supply - that's hoarding.

Food and provisions stored in ADVANCE of a crisis is preparedness. Extra food stored when there are already shortages is hoarding, though sometimes warranted depending on a family’s circumstances. We always buy a side of beef yearly and tend to have extras of commonly used supplies, but not everyone has the storage space or a freezer. At the moment, I’m glad to have more than enough. We have two relatives in their eighties who live in a rural area and shouldn’t be out shopping.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I’m a manager at a grocery store and trust me it’s due to both short supply and hoarding. We are getting our trucks in but one to two days late and with only about 50-75% of what we are ordering depending on department. So say we order 100 cases of toilet paper and we recieve 10 cases, normally those 10 cases might last a week but now people see we have it back in stock and buy it all.

Plus some things are just not coming in at all or just sporadic, like pasta, beans, canned and frozen fruit and veg ect. Haven’t had Lysol wipes or hand sanitizer in over a month now.

We are selling more then double the normal volumes and that’s with the shortages. We don’t have any more staff, we have less then normal because we lost several people due to fear of the virus. Plus we need to clean and sanitize everything more often and have someone counting customers at the front door and sanitizing the carts. It’s often hard to find enough staff to get the products out there and you just think we should be doing more. We try and schedule staff when we anticipate orders but we don’t know when they are coming now so we have to have extra people there just in case and we are all working harder and longer hours then before and it’s not just as simple as order more.

You previously noted that you are doing everything you can, but the supply isn't coming in. Obviously, I wasn't referring to you. Your post was the reason I mentioned that managers who can't get stock in, can't help that. I'm referring to managers who blame hoarding for the shortage & hesitate to take the risk of ordering additional stock. If they can get additional stock, they need to. Common sense says people will be buying more groceries now.

We live in different countries. Many areas in the US are reporting little to no shortages. Yet, some of us have to go to several stores to have a chance at finding any kind of chicken, pork or beef (other than ground beef). One of our grocery stores has much better stock than the others. They're all less than 2 miles apart. The only explanation is better management most likely on a regional level.

PS: I'm getting burned out on everyone talking about people hoarding groceries. Many people are staying home 24/7 with older children that were away at school or working that are now back home. They need more groceries. How is that so hard for many to understand?

ETA: I'm very grateful for the grocery store workers who are putting their lives at risk to make sure we're fed. I'm just not happy to hear managers are afraid to order additional stock, when it's obviously needed.

 

[barkley]

There’s been a noticeable change in grocery store stock in our community over the past two weeks. There weren’t shortages. Now there are. And it’s not just meat, milk, eggs. It’s frozen items, cookies and snacks, etc.

We consciously made a decision to purchase extra food back in early March, and I’m glad we did. I would be nervous if I only had a week or two supply of food at this point.

The world isn’t going back to “normal” anytime soon. Normal as we knew it isn’t going to exist for a long time.

we started seeing the shortages in late february and the convenience foods and snack items were the first allot of people went for (aside from cleaning products/tp). i think it was b/c allot of people thought this would just be a couple of weeks we would shut down our state and they would just order take out/delivery.......and then the kids were out of school and that wasn't the best on just frozen meals and delivery....and then their college kids came home and combined with it being (despite what our big tech companies like to say in the media) the majority of people at home, without or at greatly reduced pay-unaffordable to rely on convenience and delivery. at that point people realized they needed to be able to make meals so in allot of ways it wasn't hoarding we saw-it was like when you get your first apartment and you either forget to buy the essentials or you overbuy-there was allot of overbuying. then the limits on purchases came but the products have not greatly increased in the stores. i have neighbors who used to be able to shop every 2 weeks-these days it's run to 3 different stores on different days/specific times b/c they know when the shipment of different staples are coming in.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I stocked the fridge and pantry March. And just buy to demand. Occasionally unfreeze something, but try to replace following days.

 

[mombrontrent]

You previously noted that you are doing everything you can, but the supply isn't coming in. Obviously, I wasn't referring to you. Your post was the reason I mentioned that managers who can't get stock in, can't help that. I'm referring to managers who blame hoarding for the shortage & hesitate to take the risk of ordering additional stock. If they can get additional stock, they need to. Common sense says people will be buying more groceries now.

We live in different countries. Many areas in the US are reporting little to no shortages. Yet, some of us have to go to several stores to have a chance at finding any kind of chicken, pork & beef (other than ground beef). One of our grocery stores has much better stock than the others. They're all less than 2 miles apart. The only explanation is better management most likely on a regional level.

PS: I'm getting burned out on everyone talking about people hoarding groceries. Many people are staying home 24/7 with older children that were away at school or working now back home. They need more groceries. How is that so hard for many to understand?

ETA: I'm very grateful for the grocery store workers who are putting their lives at risk to make sure we're fed. I'm just not happy to hear managers are afraid to order additional stock, when it's obviously needed.

We are allowed to order from any supplier right now that we can get stock from. Normally we have contracts with certain suppliers and we have to order from them but now we can source product from any supplier so we are trying to get product. Plus certain stores that are larger get first dibs on products and smaller stores sometimes gets what left.

 

[mrodgers]

I was thinking about buying a dehydrator do you recommend a certain brand/Model?

I just bought what I saw in the stores for around $70 (or 7 Mountain House meals, lol.) I think I have a Nesco, which seems to be the common popular basic dehydrator. Works fine. If I camped more, I would buy a more expensive one.

As I have unlimited supply of ground beef, I need to try out extruding some jerky mix with a jerky gun and dehydrate it.

I dehydrated canned pineapple chunks, banana chips, and strawberries and they were excellent! Fruit takes a long time, I didn't know that. I had my meals made and fired up the fruit. Then I realized I'll be turning it off and packing the fruit snacks as the last thing I did walking out the door to head out on the start of the ride. But boy were they good.

 

[Wendy31]

You previously noted that you are doing everything you can, but the supply isn't coming in. Obviously, I wasn't referring to you. Your post was the reason I mentioned that managers who can't get stock in, can't help that. I'm referring to managers who blame hoarding for the shortage & hesitate to take the risk of ordering additional stock. If they can get additional stock, they need to. Common sense says people will be buying more groceries now.

We live in different countries. Many areas in the US are reporting little to no shortages. Yet, some of us have to go to several stores to have a chance at finding any kind of chicken, pork & beef (other than ground beef). One of our grocery stores has much better stock than the others. They're all less than 2 miles apart. The only explanation is better management most likely on a regional level.

PS: I'm getting burned out on everyone talking about people hoarding groceries. Many people are staying home 24/7 with older children that were away at school or working that are now back home. They need more groceries. How is that so hard for many to understand?

ETA: I'm very grateful for the grocery store workers who are putting their lives at risk to make sure we're fed. I'm just not happy to hear managers are afraid to order additional stock, when it's obviously needed.

First, I’m also incredibly grateful for the grocery store employees & would never complain to them. They’re doing the best they can in less-than-ideal circumstances.

However, I’m also tired of the “everything would be fine if people would just stop hoarding” statements.

Sure, some people may be hoarding, but the majority of us are not. We’re just trying to get enough for our families.

We’re a family of 5, & we’re suddenly eating all our meals at home every day of the week. DH is bringing something w/ him from home to eat on the days he’s at work.

Additionally, we don’t want to be going to the grocery store every week, so, when you go, you’re trying to buy for 2 weeks or so at a time.

The last couple of times we’ve done delivery & curbside pick-up, but delivery & pick-up times are at least a few days in the future, so, when you put in your order, you, again, try to get enough for 2 weeks or so.

And, if something is in stock today, it may not be in stock the next time, so you buy 2, just in case... because who knows if you’ll be able to get it the next time.

They keep saying the stores will get restocked, but we haven’t seen that here, yet. We’ve been able to get enough for our needs, but for the past month, we’ve had to make substitutions or just do without some things.

2 weeks ago, I needed ketchup. I had an Instacart order, & my shopper texted me from Publix. The store was completely out of ketchup... any brand, any size. No ketchup.

So, the next week, I did an Instacart order from another store, &, this time, I put 2 bottles of ketchup on my order. My shopper was able to get the ketchup, but the store was out of beef stock & all-purpose flour... again, any brand, any size.

 

[mombrontrent]

Just wanted to add that at least half of the staff at the grocery store I work at are students, my daughter is one of them. I am sure most grocery stores employ many students. These are teenagers or young adults that normally would be at school right now that are stepping up and working full time hours instead of self isolating at home. More staffing is needed now and they are greatly appreciated for putting themselves at risk to help their communities when needed.

 

[mrodgers]

What does the dehydrated food taste like?

For me with my spaghetti and stuffed pepper soup (I have 2 tray liners for liquids) it tasted like I just pulled it off the stove at home after dehydrating in the middle of the woods.

Rehydrating is simple. Cover well with water and boil for 5 minutes. Let it sit 20 minutes and I had a bowl of soup as I said, as if I just scooped it fresh out of the pot on the stove at home. I was blown away as was the other 4 I was with all eating Mountain House meals.

We missed camp during daylight all but 2 days. I cooked one day at camp and the other day we were waiting to get to because of the restaurant on the campgrounds. We were stuck for 7 hours waiting on ferry maintenance to get back to the US, so that is when I cooked my steak and noodle alfredo and that with milk product was horrid. I ate it anyways as that's what I prepared but it was indeed horrid. I started with 11 meals for 11 nights and the 2nd to the last day I was down to 1 eye from going over the handlebars, 1 gear because the derailleur cable broke, and worn out tires that kept getting flats (had 4 flats that day) so I took to the roads back to the car for 20 miles to finish the 2nd to the last day while the rest made it to camp for only the 3rd time before 10 pm. They all had some of my stuff and cooked it up that night and were all blown away with the quality.

 

[bcla]

No, but every time you cook something you can toss a serving or two in the dehydrator, or cook double and put one batch in a dehydrator. Spagheti, soups, stews, so much you can dehydrate. 3 Mountain House meals will pay for a cheap dehydrator. What I've read is good for 6 months to a year on a shelf and indefinitely in a freezer. I have a weeks worth still left in the freezer for my camping this year.

I did that prepping for an 11 day camping trip. I've eaten plenty of Mountain House on weekend trips. I pulled 3 off the shelf and realized that was a cheap dehydrator so I bought one. The result in the middle of the woods around a campfire is I thought someone brought the whole kitchen and cooked dinner right then. I dried spaghetti with meat sauce and stuffed pepper soup. Both were just made 2 minutes ago in the kitchen quality. You just can't dehydrate milk products. I read that as I had steak, alfredo, and noodles going already. I tried to re-hydrate one and it did NOT work out.

Freeze dried is actually quite different than dehydrated. Nearly all the water is removed, while a dehydrator might remove about 80-90% of the water.

Freeze drying is an industrial process and requires expensive equipment. It requires a vacuum to reduce the pressure such that the the ice turns straight into water vapor, like how dry ice turns straight into CO2 gas at normal atmospheric pressure.

But freeze drying is generally far better for taste and for something that reconstitutes closer to the original. But it's expensive. I remember my kid always wanted freeze dried ice cream, although it's not meant to be reconstituted.

 

[mrodgers]

Freeze dried is actually quite different than dehydrated. Nearly all the water is removed, while a dehydrator might remove about 80-90% of the water.

Freeze drying is an industrial process and requires expensive equipment. It requires a vacuum to reduce the pressure such that the the ice turns straight into water vapor, like how dry ice turns straight into CO2 gas at normal atmospheric pressure.

But freeze drying is generally far better for taste and for something that reconstitutes closer to the original. But it's expensive. I remember my kid always wanted freeze dried ice cream, although it's not meant to be reconstituted.

I know that. Freeze drying your own foods would be fabulous if you had the equipment. The freeze drying isn't the problem with commercially available freeze dried foods. It's the ingredients and added chemical preservatives themselves.

Freeze dried foods can last a life time. That bit of moisture left in dehydrated foods is why it has limited life left out and needs to be in the freezer to get to lasting indefinitely like freeze dried.