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Food

How much food do you have stored?

(150 Posts)
grannyactivist Tue 29-Jun-21 14:08:17

Until COVID hit we had always had a pretty much ‘open table’ where, if people were around at mealtimes, they were invited to join us for breakfast/lunch/dinner or supper. Sometimes we would only be six or eight and at other times we mostly averaged about ten or twelve, but anything up to twenty people wouldn’t be unusual. So, I have three freezers, a large fridge and a range cooker, cutlery settings for twenty four people and enough plates and pans etc. to feed an army.

Since the advent of COVID it’s mostly just been the two of us and I have consequently severely limited my grocery shopping, but I’m now aware of just how much food I have/had in my store cupboards. The freezers are full of home-grown fruit and veg, plus a whole venison and the fish that our son catches for me. My husband makes our bread and I bake regularly, so I have half a dozen cakes in the freezer too. This week I’ve made 16 pots of strawberry jam, 3 jars of pickled cucumber and half a dozen bottles of elderflower cordial - to add to the various jars that are left over from last summer! I also have a cupboard full of home-made wine and liqueurs - e.g. sloe gin, limoncello, raspberry vodka and cassis.

I do give away a huge amount of home~grown/home-made produce (to friends, family, clients and neighbours - the Foodbank can’t accept it for obvious reasons), but I still have have enough jars and tins and bottles and packets to stock a small shop.

Is it just me, or do others have enough food to see them through a famine?

Riverwalk Tue 29-Jun-21 14:21:48

No, just a couple of weeks supply at the outside

I prefer not to hoard.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Tue 29-Jun-21 14:29:18

There's only me and I keep around two-three weeks worth of tinned, frozen or dried foodstuff in case of emergencies or illness. I haven't the space for more.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 29-Jun-21 14:33:28

I am in awe of the OP.

I buy fresh stuff week to week and have my meat and fish in the freezer for which I stock up once a month. I always have dreams of making stuff from fruit etc in season but the truth is I still have marmalade I made a year ago and plum jam made in the autumn. We simply would never get through it all.

But then we aren’t catering for 24 folk??

25Avalon Tue 29-Jun-21 14:33:35

I’ve always been a bit of a hoarder in the sense if I’ve made something and put it in the freezer I hate taking it out again! Daft eh!

Calendargirl Tue 29-Jun-21 14:34:34

I always have some tins and packets in, but not a great quantity, e.g. when I start a new bag of flour, I then buy a replacement one.

Certainly don’t have huge amounts of anything for unexpected visitors. (What are they?)

Like to have a spare loaf and container of milk in freezer, plus home made soup etc and veg from garden.

lemongrove Tue 29-Jun-21 14:41:59

Since I’m not running a soup kitchen of some sort...no, don’t keep too much food in the house, we have a weekly small-ish delivery and have a village shop around the corner.
A small freezer and equally small fridge, both well stocked, (no whole venison ?) and a small larder, also well stocked with tins and packets.

GillT57 Tue 29-Jun-21 14:44:18

I always have a good larder, and when I open a packet of flour, sugar, or a tin of beans I will stick it on the list to replace it. I don't have a big freezer, but do have an extensive wine rack, does that count? Always have at least 6 packs of ground coffee. The airing cupboard floor always has 2 packs at least of 9 loo rolls, and when it gets to that level, I buy another pack. I always have 2 spare toothpaste. I love the idea of pickling/making jams, but the reality is that it would just take up space because we are usually only two, sometimes four, and the produce just wouldn't get eaten.

jaylucy Tue 29-Jun-21 14:47:36

Just enough to keep going for a couple of weeks, I think!
Only have the one fridge freezer, plus a walk in larder that really only has 2 useable shelves for food storage - the cold slab at the back is used for storage for my big saucepans and equipment so only enough room for jars of things like pasta , beans, dry goods.

Lucca Tue 29-Jun-21 14:49:30

I live on my own (bliss). And am a bit rubbish about catering, so I don’t have a lot …..a smallish freezer reasonably full, a few tins. I live near enough to many food shops so never worry about it !

tanith Tue 29-Jun-21 14:52:55

Blimey I'm amazed at the amounts. I have enough for a couple of weeks but its only me and i don't feed many apart from family occasionally.

hazel93 Tue 29-Jun-21 14:57:54

No idea where you live but in the UK making strawberry jam this early is a tad weird IMO. You must have an enormous garden to preserve whilst the berries are still so delicious.

Shandy57 Tue 29-Jun-21 15:13:15

I'm a Londoner living in a rural area and quickly learnt to have a good store/medicine cupboard, as well as a full freezer and fire building stuff ie wood/kindling/matches and candles/torches for power cuts. We do occasionally have flooded roads and I nearly hydraulicked my car last time, plus we have had terrible bouts of snow in the last ten years. I have also learnt what can be frozen. Having supplies in makes me feel safe, and now I'm living on my own, I focus more on having good supplies of my dog's food which I can only get at PAH in the next town.

PinkCakes Tue 29-Jun-21 15:51:06

I don't have hoards of anything. Our freezer (under counter one) is full, and we've always got tins and packets of stuff to last about a fortnight. I buy cleaning stuff, toiletries and toilet rolls, etc., every week, so we're never short of things, but I wouldn't stockpile anything.

foxie48 Tue 29-Jun-21 15:52:20

I built up a small reserve pre Brexit and this turned into my Covid store. I've now run it down considerably. I'm trying to empty the freezer as much as I can so I have room for fruit and veg from the garden but I like to have enough for me to be able to invite an unexpected visitor to eat with us.

Auntieflo Tue 29-Jun-21 15:57:03

We have two upright freezes in the garage, and they used to be stuffed full. Since I have been unwell, we have been trying to eat our way through them and then just buy what we need to live for the next week. We did buy a new fridge this year, and that has more room than the old one.
I am hoping to be able to be down to one freezer only in the near future.
Plenty of tins and packet goods in the kitchen.

Callistemon Tue 29-Jun-21 16:05:43

Yes, a well stocked food cupboard, freezers with last year's fruit (no venison) and two fridges, plus jams and chutneys I made last year.

However, having decided that we need to eat our way through this before ordering too much, I went to make a cake and had no SR flour!

(Luckily I had plain and baking powder.)

Callistemon Tue 29-Jun-21 16:07:52

I think, having been unable to get a grocery delivery slot for many weeks at the start of lockdown and having to rely on family and neighbours to shop, I decided to keep well stocked up.

MissAdventure Tue 29-Jun-21 16:07:55

Quite a lot of food here, but it would make for some strange meals.

Trisha57 Tue 29-Jun-21 16:20:44

I've got plenty of larder stuff, tins, packets, flour, sugar etc. We have two fridge freezers, one in the garage and one in the kitchen. The fridge bit in the garage is usually for wine, beer and other cold drinks, plus the tortoise food that I grow myself or forage on walks topped up with the odd bit of green stuff from the supermarket. Funnily enough, I have been through both freezers recently and found lots of single portions of meals that I have cooked. We may have a "pick and mix" dinner this evening! To answer the question, we'd be fine for a few weeks but don't really hoard.

Lillie Tue 29-Jun-21 16:25:19

my freezer is well stocked with meals i have made
my cupboards have enough for two weeks
i have no trouble getting delivery slots and the local shops arent far.

grannyrebel7 Tue 29-Jun-21 16:45:41

The thought of cooking for 20 people would make me hyperventilate! Cooking when all the family come is bad enough! I only ever have enough food to last from one week to the next. Don't see the point of buying too much though I do have tins of beans, tomatoes etc. but not many.

Esspee Tue 29-Jun-21 16:52:22

I have enough food and drink, cleaning supplies and toiletries to last us for a couple of months at least. Problem is I have no idea why.

kittylester Tue 29-Jun-21 17:31:17

I have an American fridge with a freezer section in the kitchen and a full sized freezer and a fridge freezer in the garage. They are all full to bursting and I am like Avalon in that I hate taking food I have cooked out of the freezer and keep making more to add to it. blush

I think part of it is having had a big family and partly what callistemon said about uncertainty of supplies at the start of lockdown.

maddyone Tue 29-Jun-21 18:12:14

We have enough stock, but I don’t over stockpile. The freezer is fullish, we buy fresh food every week, got quite a lot of tins, replace jams and marmalade when it’s used ( although only buy good brands as I’m too lazy to make my own and cheap brands are horrid.) I do quite a bit of baking but if I don’t feel like it I pop down to the local M+S to stock up.
I’m in awe of yougrannyactivist.