Places to find food during a crisis

This is an article on places to find food taken from the book Edible Plants for Preppers (available from Amazon Kindle for £2.50 or free on Kindle Unlimited). The book contains a lot of useful information for UK preppers on a vegan diet.

CHAPTER 2: Four places to find food

Four main food sources during a crisis include:

1. Own food stocks (prepared before the crisis)
2. Home grown food
3. Wild food foraging
4. Other ways to find food

1. Own food stocks

Stocking up on supplies of food will need to be done now and not after a crisis has begun. It is recommended to keep a deep larder (long term food stores). This means ensuring a supply of food for a minimum of three months to one year or more. Important items include grain, pulses, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables, oil, sugar/syrup, salt, vinegar, yeast, baking powder, yeast extract, stock powder/cubes, herbs, spices, longlife or powdered milk, protein or smoothie mixes, dried fruit, tea, coffee, seeds for sprouting and sowing, bottled water and a means of making water safe, supplements, plus other favourite or familiar items e.g. breakfast cereal, peanut butter, jam, biscuits, chocolate, soft drinks or alcohol. Many will want to stock up on food for special diets such as diabetics or babies as well as food for dogs, cats and other companion animals.

There are companies who specialise in long life food for emergencies, expeditions, travelling, backpacking and camping such as MREs (meals ready to eat). These types of food are often expensive but a small stock kept alongside main supplies or in a bug out bag can be useful. Similar, but rather more cheaper, foods are available from supermarkets such as cereal bars, snack bars and meals in a packet or pot which only require the addition of hot water. These types of foods may not have a long shelf life but are, nevertheless, very useful. Ensure there are plenty of supplies of food that can be eaten straight out of a jar, tin or packet without needing to be heated.

It is wise to stock food that is normally eaten. Morale will plummet if the family has to eat food they are not familiar with or dislike. A really precise list of food to store for each household is difficult as each family has different tastes and requirements. Be sensible, look at what the household currently consumes each week and estimate on the generous side. Other family members, friends and strangers may unexpectedly turn up requiring nourishment. Stock up on a variety of different foods to avoid food fatigue. A body may physically reject a food that has been eaten repeatedly and in quantity over a long period of time.

Try using one of the prepping calculators available online. They provide good general guidelines regarding what quantities to buy. The Americans have been doing long term food storage for many years and are very good at it so check out American food storage and preppers websites. The Mormans (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), for example, encourage the members to store food for emergencies and also supply useful information on this subject.

If it is too expensive to buy stock in one go, buy in extra food when doing a regular shop. Set this aside. It will soon mount up. Store in a cool dark place and rotate it in date order using up the oldest food items first. This way food remains fresh and any changes in diet can easily be accommodated e.g. baby grows up so baby food is no longer required. In reality of course anyone can eat baby food but this is just an example. It is particularly important to rotate fats and oils as they can go rancid quickly.

Long term storage items such as long life emergency foods packed to a high standard and other foods such as whole wheat grain, can be omitted from the short term rotation and simply left in storage.

Don’t spend a lot of time calculating precise calorific or nutritional content of every item thereby delaying or preventing any purchase of stock. It is far better to have something than nothing at all.

2. Home grown food

Family food supplies can be supplemented or, given enough space, energy and time, completely supplanted by home grown food. Even growing small amounts of fruit and vegetables is preferable to being 100 per cent reliant on Government agencies, supermarkets, etc during, or outside of, a crisis.#

Those living in rural areas will usually have no problem finding land to grow food on. Those in urban areas have more of a challenge but urban agriculture does exist and the interest in it increasing. It is already used to successfully feed people in other areas of the world.

Any food that can be home grown is going to be beneficial. What people choose to grow is a personal decision but some fruit and vegetables are better than others. It is particularly important to concentrate on reliable easy-to-grow filling food that will store well.

3.    Wild food foraging

Edible wild plants colonise urban and rural areas alike. Instead of spending valuable time searching the counryside for edible wild plants just leave a flowerbed unweeded or lawn unmown and see what comes up. Those near the coast can forage for sea vegetables.

Some of the most common plants found in the British Isles are blackberries, cleavers, hawthorn and the very important nettle. They are all edible. Try out some recipes using wild plants so that they become familiar to use. Make nettle soup or use it in place of spinach. Add chickweed to green salads. Make dandelion coffee or plantain tea.

Wild plants are very important and may be the mainstay for food during times of crisis. They are the most nutritionally beneficial of all plant foods. Wild plant seeds can be purchased so if there is nothing to forage in the immediate vicinity, they can be home grown.

4.    Other ways to find food

In Europe during World War 2 bartering became a popular way of obtaining food and other essential items. People who have a surplus stock of one particular item may be willing to share or swap it for something else. Do not be afraid to stockpile or grow more food than required. Surplus food will always be useful.

Ask for food. It is probably a good idea to ask those you think have a plentiful supply. Those who have very little may not want to share. Some people may feel uncomfortable doing this but it is nothing to be ashamed of. People generally do not die of shame but they do die through lack of food.

Raid bins and skips behind cafes, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and large institutions with their own catering departments. During a crisis these places will probably discard less or no food but something may still be available.
In an extreme crisis situation rationing may be introduced and Government and volunteer agencies may provide essential supplies either by setting up distribution points on the ground or by air drops.

A distribution system for emergency food supplies (called a foodbank) for people in need is already in place in the UK. The Trussell Trust is the largest of these networks. Over 913,138 adults and children in the UK received three days’ emergency food from Trussell Trust foodbank in 2013-14. Rising food and fuel prices, static incomes, under-employment and sanctioning of benefits are some reasons why people turn to foodbanks.

Food during a crisis

This is an article on understanding food during a crisis taken from the book Edible Plants for Preppers (available from Amazon Kindle for £2.50 or free on Kindle Unlimited). The book contains a lot of useful information for UK preppers on a vegan diet. Please note: it was written prior to 2020.

Food during a crisis

Causes of a crisis 

A crisis may be a personal emergency affecting a single individual or family. It may be a catastrophe on a national or global scale affecting thousands or even millions of people.

The causes of disasters throughout the world are many and they usually adversely affect food supplies leading to 'food insecurity'. The following are some examples (in no particular order): weather (drought, floods, snow), climate change (rising sea levels, more frequent extremes of temperatures), terrorism, war, industrial or nuclear accident, disease, the reduction in oil supplies (peak oil), social unrest, population growth, the breakdown or interruption of global technology and communications (loss of mobile phone and internet connections) and the machinations of banks and governments.

The UK, self sufficiency and food security

Before 1750 the UK was 100 per cent self-sufficient in food (Rusource, 2007). The population was low at under 10 million and mainly worked the land, so selfsufficiency wasn't surprising. After the industrial revolution in the late 1700s the urban population rose dramatically and levels of self-sufficiency dropped. The UK population currently stands at around 64 million (ONS, 2014) and is around 62 per cent self-sufficient in food (DEFRA, 2012).

These self-sufficiency figures are based on market values. Figures are not easy to calculate and current statistics certainly do not take into account all the complex variables such as the way the UK depends on imports of fuel, fertiliser, machinery, animal feed and imbedded water and energy.

Being self-sufficient in food, particularly with home-grown produce, can increase food security for individuals as well as whole nations. Food security can also be achieved by a variety of other means such as trading with other countries.

The UK currently depends very much on international trade for food security. Unfortunately this does mean the UK is vunerable to all things international including the vagaries of global market forces, adverse global weather patterns and social unrest or war in other countries.

On a local level, and for most individual households in the UK, food security is heavily reliant upon continuing supplies from one of the large supermarket chains which brings in food from all over the world.

The four largest supermarkets in the UK are Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA and Morrisons. Coined the 'big four', they currently supply over 70 per cent of groceries to households in the UK. Supermarkets, along with fast food outlets who currently supply over half the meals eaten outside the home, rely very heavily on long supply chains. Any one of the links in these chains could break down preventing deliveries to individual stores. Supermarkets generally rely on a regular, often daily, supply of goods being delivered and often do not have more than a few days supplies in stock ready for an emergency situation.

It is unwise to rely on supermarkets for food supplies during a crisis. They can run out of food and other essentials very quickly. This means each individual household must rely upon itself to ensure that there is enough food and water to last a crisis of a few days, months or longer.

The last major food crisis

The last major food crisis affecting the British Isles occurred during World War 2 (1939-1945). Food rationing was introduced for butter, bacon and sugar and later extended to nearly all important foods. Some foods were supplied irregularly or were subject to seasonal fluctuations such as milk, eggs, oranges and potatoes. Imports of meat and bacon from the continent ceased entirely and production in the UK was drastically reduced. Britain concentrated on crops for direct human consumption such as cereals, potatoes, sugar beet, vegetables and milk rather than on meat production because of the excessive amount of grain and fodder that needed to be grown for animal feed.

Rationing continued for fourteen years in all and for some years after the end of the war. However, Britain succeeded in feeding itself. Supply ships still made it through to British shores and the British people rallied to produce a lot of their own food. The Dig for Victory campaign launched by the British Government was very successful in encouraging the production of fresh food. Promoted by Mr C.M. Middleton, the Alan Titchmarsh of the 1940s, fruit and vegetables were grown in lawns, flower beds, parks, school playgrounds, golf clubs, tennis courts and even the moat at the Tower of London. In 1944 British gardeners produced an estimated 2-3 million tons of food overall.

What happens during a crisis

At the onset of a crisis certain things immediately become scarce. Those items that are available may become very expensive. Within hours supermarket shelves will empty of food, bottled water and other essentials such as toilet rolls, nappies, batteries, candles, matches, etc. Bread and milk are usually the first foods to disappear. Fuel will be in demand and petrol stations will quickly run out. It is very difficult to predict what will happen after that. It very much depends on what the disaster is, how bad it is and how those in charge respond to it.

There are legitimate concerns that those in charge will not come through for us. This was abundantly clear in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when 80 per cent of New Orleans in America was flooded displacing more than a million people in the Gulf Coast region (The Data Center, 2013). The hurricane was the most destructive natural disaster in American history. Its aftermath, including the inability of those in authority to respond adequately, has been widely reported.

There would be every reason to think a well equipped and highly organised country like America could respond quickly and efficiently to an internal crisis such as this. However, it didn't happen and it shocked the world. It was a stark reminder that America, and other similarly wealthy nations, can be just as vulnerable as people suffering from a disaster in the majority countries.

Humans can survive for many weeks without eating providing water is available. However, in reality people become very distressed in quite a short space of time. It is very tiring and extremely bad for morale to be without food.

In a crisis people suffer stress, lack of sleep, cold and may have to move around more doing a lot of physical work. Other people, such as family, friends and neighbours who are less able, may need support. More calories and high energy food will probably be required and may be essential. The NHS (National Health Service) say that an average man needs around 2,500 calories a day to maintain his weight and a woman 2,000 calories a day. But these figures will vary depending on age and levels of physical activity, among other factors.

Those who are smart will have already stored enough food to last through the initial days, weeks or months of the crisis. It is likely they will be eating a familiar diet with a wide range of nutrients. The type of food will vary from family to family. As time goes on there may be less familiar food available. As the crisis deepens, eating patterns may change significantly. At some point people may have to simply take what they can get.

Can the UK feed itself?

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in their document 'UK Food Security Assessment: Detailed Analysis' (DEFRA, 2010) explored whether the UK could feed itself during an extreme event. They concluded that:

"A radical and prolonged breakdown in European and international trade or shipping would not undermine the UK's fundamental ability to produce enough nutritious food for the population, albeit with much simpler diets."

and that:

" ... the use of crops for human consumption rather than animal feed suggests the UK will exceed the needs of the population."

They go on to say:

"Maximising calorie production would require a dramatic reduction in livestock production with all crop production used for human food where possible instead of animal feed."

Using plants instead of meat as a main part of the diet is a very reliable way to feed a population. Most staple foods are plants. A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and constitutes the dominant part of the diet supplying a major proportion of energy and nutrient needs.

Rice, wheat and maize are the top three staple foods throughout the world. Staples are usually well adapted to growing locally and may be tolerant of drought, pests or soils low in nutrients. Farmers often rely on staple crops to reduce risk and increase the resilience of their agricultural systems. Staple plant crops will feed more people and use less natural resources (land, water and fuel) than an agricultural system based on meat so are ideal for crisis situations.

Wheat is a very useful staple which has been widely grown in the British Isles for thousands of years. It is the most widely grown arable crop in the UK covering around 2 million hectares and producing about 16 million tonnes each year. The UK generally exports between 2-4 million tonnes of wheat for cheap feed for intensive livestock production (UK Agriculture, 2012).

An acre of grazing pasture could support enough animals to provide meat for around 1-2 people per year in the British Isles. That same acre could produce between two and three tonnes of wheat which could support around 20-30 people per year. This is based on each person using around 2kg of wholegrain flour each week of the year for 2 x 500g loaves of bread and an extra 1kg for cakes, biscuits, crackers or to put in storage.

Certainly there are places that wheat or other food crops cannot be grown easily or at all but even the most northerly areas of the British Isles grow fruit, nuts, vegetables and grain. On some of the islands off the north tip of Scotland bere has been grown for thousands of years. A landrace variety of barley, it is very well suited to the local region with long daylight hours and a short growing season. It has an excellent flavour and can be used instead of wheat in any recipe.

In the UK around 75 per cent of the land is farmed. Even taking into consideration areas where food cannot be grown, there is still more than enough land to produce food for a plant-based diet. In addition the British Isles is comprised of thousands of islands and is able to source food from the sea including sea vegetables (seaweed).

Fungi

In the British Isles there are thousands of fungi and some of them are edible. It can be difficult to identify fungi and some are absolutely deadly. Simply tasting a tiny piece of unidentified mushroom can be very dangerous and a quarter of a teaspoon of a really poisonous mushroom can kill. Even the very safe and supposedly foolproof chicken of the woods can make 5 per cent of people sick. Certain mushrooms can cause illness if eating in conjunction with alcohol.

Dried chanterelle mushrooms

It is the case that some people will react badly to some edible mushrooms, even so-called safe ones. However, mushroom poisoning usually causes vomiting and diarrhoea but no long-term damage. It is generally considered that the overall benefits of eating and using fungi far outweigh the downside. They really are the good guys. This is the reason we carry on using them.

Some mushroom experts recommend cooking all mushrooms, particularly those that have been foraged wild, because they contain irritating or toxic substances such as hydrazines, and they also recommend eating them in moderation. This includes Agaricus bisporus, which is the button or white mushroom, commonly sold in the supermarkets! It should be emphasised that no amount of cooking is going to make the death cap or destroying angel safe to eat.

A document by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) informs us that there are only a very few poisonous mushrooms and that the only reliable guide to edibility is the knowledge that someone has eaten a particular type and survived! Some edible species are poisonous when raw, but fine when cooked. Local knowledge of safe fungi are crucially important. Unfortunately, as people die or move away from rural areas, this knowledge is often lost.

Training should be sought from a knowledgeable person in correct identification when foraging and there are many good fungi courses available. Personal tuition is infinitely better than a book. If using books choose a range because one picture will not be sufficient for identification purposes.

Those who don’t feel confident foraging for wild mushrooms can purchase mushroom spawn (similar to seed) for home cultivation including mushroom kits, mushroom logs, and wooden dowels which are impregnated with spawn. The dowels must be pressed into holes that have been drilled in suitable logs. Some of the medicinal mushrooms such as reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), maitake (Grifola frondosa) and shi-itake (Lentinula edodes), can be grown on logs like this.

Wooden dowels impregnated with chicken of the woods

Storage and use: Drying is probably one of the best ways of storing mushrooms. Dried mushrooms should always be re-hydrated before use. Just add warm water and soak for 20-30 minutes. Dried mushrooms expand by 3-4 times after rehydration. Drain and use the soak water as a broth for sauces, soups or stews. In this way mushrooms can be used as a savoury ‘tea’ and is a particularly good way of using the medicinal mushrooms. Dried mushrooms are flavour intensive and give a ‘meaty’ taste and texture meals. They are very useful for those who are missing meat from their diet. Some of my favourite dried mushrooms for soups and stews include chanterelle, chicken of the woods, porcini and morel.

Dried mushrooms can also be purchased in bulk for storage. This does save the worry of identification and the bother of home drying. However, as with all purchased dehydrated foods, they can be expensive.

Dried porcini mushrooms

Examples of edible fungi

Some well known edible fungi that grow in the British Isles include the following species: Anise cap (Clitocybe odora), bay bolete (Boletus badius), beefsteak fungus (Fistulina hepatica), cep (Boletus edulis), chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus), common puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum), fairy ring champignon (Marasmius oreades), field blewit (Lepista saeva), field mushroom (Agaricus campestris), giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea), hedgehog fungus (Hydnum repandum), honey fungus (Armillariella mellea), horn of plenty (Craterellus cornucopoides), horse mushroom (Agaricus arvensis), Jew’s ear (Hirneola auricula-judae), lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceum), morel (Morchella esculenta), oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), parasol mushroom (Macrolepiota procera), saffron milk cap (Lactarius deliciosus), shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus), shaggy parasol (Macrolepiota rhacodes), St George’s mushroom (Tricholoma gambosum), truffle (Tuber aestivum), velvet shank (Flammulina velutipes), wood cauliflower (Sparassis crispa), wood hedgehog (Hydnum repandum) and wood blew it (Lepista nuda).

The foolproof four

These mushrooms are some of the easiest to identify and for that reason are often called the ‘foolproof four’. This is mainly why I have given these five stars although they do taste very good as well.

Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) *****

Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) *****

Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea) *****

Morel (Morchella esculenta) *****

                               

This is an excerpt from 'Edible Plants for Preppers' by Amanda Rofe (Amazon Kindle). Price £2.50 or free with Kindle Unlimited. It is a plant-based guide for anyone interested in being more resilient and self-sufficient in food in these uncertain times.

Notes

Edible Plants for Preppers is a plant-based (vegan) guide which recommends a raw food diet but does also include references to cooked foods.

Five star ***** plants are those those that have certain qualities which make them stand out from the rest e.g. they can be found abundantly in the wild or they have many uses.