Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.
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There was a recipe I wanted to try with chickpeas I'd forgotten about until they got mentioned, and now I can't remember what it was at all. It wasn't hummus or similar, either. They were pan-fried with spices or something and it sounded so fucking good. Boo, dammit. <irk irk irk> That is going to haunt me now.
Oh fucking well.
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@surreality Falafel?
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when storm systems make your brain into mush and you forget half the things you meant to do that day. Sinus pressure. Ugh.
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@surreality they are really good crispy and roasted, too.
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I was sitting her delaying my charting watching the news when the stories of meat shortages came up. I was like oh no! And ordered some rice and beans just in case.
This brought up a few questions that I would be curious to see how others answers. I am also very much procrastinating on all the paper work I should be doing with MSB!
Anyways...
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Where is the line between hording and being sensibly prepared?
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What are good options to replace meat? I went with rice and beans.
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Should we be gardening and raising egg laying chickens and stuff - I go back and forth on this. My soil is clay and potting soil is up in price and very expensive right now. But on the other hand..food shortages. Also foxes likes the chickens around here a lot and I am not sure I am ready to of fend off foxes!
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@kk said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Where is the line between hording and being sensibly prepared?
The kind of hoarding we're talking about typically happens during a crisis, preparation happens beforehand. It's not, to my mind, the amount that one stores (so long as it's not like something you'd see on Hoarders) but how one goes about getting things.
@kk said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
What are good options to replace meat? I went with rice and beans.
Mushrooms, eggplant/aubergines, thicker stocks.
@kk said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Should we be gardening and raising egg laying chickens and stuff
If you're genuinely worried about food running out (it won't), then yes.
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@kk said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
Where is the line between hording and being sensibly prepared?
If you are buying more than you need during a time of scarcity or before an announced time of scarcity in order to ensure that you will have things others cannot, then you are hoarding.
What are good options to replace meat?
Depends on what you want the meat for.
Should we be gardening and raising egg laying chickens and stuff?
I would need to know a lot about your personal finances. Sounds like you can afford to.
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@kk said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
But on the other hand..food shortages.
Here's an unpopular opinion: there are no food shortages.
While some major meat manufacturers have been hit hard with COVID-19 cases due to their inexplicable lack of safety measures, there is little evidence that there is or will be an actual food shortage. For example, in Ohio, none of the slaughterhouses have been shut down, so there should be plenty of places for farmers to get their animals processed.
(Note: I mean no disrespect to anyone who is pro-animal-rights, and I am trying to use common, accurate terms to describe the process.)
But a lot of farmers can't do this not because of the lack of slaughterhouses but because of contractual provisions with the major meat manufacturers to use their particular (mutant) strains of animal. This is a decent article on the problem in the United States regarding our meat supply chain, and there is an exceptional bit on it in Netflix's Rotten documentary series. (I want to say it is Season 1, but it could be Season 2?) So, the animals are there, the facilities are there, but motherfucking Big Ag is causing the "food shortage" because it won't release farmers from their contracts.
In truth, there is no "food shortage." The empty shelves we see are due to the unexpected hoarding behaviors in response to the pandemic; supply chains are set months in advance, and can be difficult to adjust on the fly. There are plenty of small market farmers that sell direct to market, but they do so at a "higher cost." But the "higher cost" is actually a reflection of how much the meat should cost if the meat market wasn't so close to a monopoly as it is. If there is a good thing that may happen from this "food shortage," it may be the destabilization and destruction of Big Ag in favor of smaller, local producers.
That said, most families cannot afford meat at $8.00 / lb. And this is because of policies which have kept labor wages in check despite record profits. But the consumer sees rising prices at the supermarkets and try to buy low, only to thereby raise the cost of the product, which exacerbates the problem.
My suggestion: look at a neighboring county for a local farmer selling meat. Invest in a freezer, and consider buying direct from them. If you don't adjust your diet, you will at least be: (1) supporting a local neighbor; and (2) sticking it to the companies that caused this problem to begin with.
“It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.” -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
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@Kestrel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
But honestly, who peels beans???
My grandma would agree with you, in that she was not given to innovating when it came to food. Or most things.
On the other hand, she might ask what kind of gritty garbage is this if presented with bean soup (with mashed or pureed beans) made with unpeeled beans.
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@peasoupling I will confess. I didn't know you could peel beans. But I don't make a lot of soup, etc. I know you have to soak dried beans, and that's about it.
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@Macha said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
@peasoupling I will confess. I didn't know you could peel beans. But I don't make a lot of soup, etc. I know you have to soak dried beans, and that's about it.
You can. But it's insane, which is why no one's made that soup since my grandma died.
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As an update to the 'banned from AgainstHateSubreddits' drama, I just found out that the mods for that sub are predominantly Satanists, religiously. And I don't mean modern Satanists who believe in self improvement and reliance, I mean they lean heavily into the iconography of Hail Satan and upside down crosses like edgy edgelords. Which explains a lot. I no longer feel like it was a matter of 'me not being a leftist', it was a more a matter of them being unbalanced, biased individuals.
All is right with the world.
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You aren't wrong but this is a bit like telling Sudanese refugees there aren't food shortages. There's enough food on the planet to feed everyone. That's not much consolation to people who can't get any.
Your writeup was really informative, though.
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@Rinel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
That's not much consolation to people who can't get any.
Thank you, but that's not really what I was getting at.
There really is no food shortage. There is plenty of food at the supermarkets. There is plenty of food out in the countryside where folks are selling direct. While there may be a disruption in the supply of THE MEATS, it's not like there aren't other choices out there -- and remember I'm that weird bitch that needs meat nutritionally to live.
Seafood? Plenty of that. Not-meat? Lots of that. But looking elsewhere would hurt companies like Tyson and Perdue, enough that the former took out a full-page ad to "warn" about a potential food shortage that, as I said, simply will not happen.
Sudanese refugees have no access to food. We in the United States have access to plenty of food. If the refugees came over and saw what we had available, they would disbelieve any alleged food shortage -- and that's what I'm trying to get at.
“It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like.” -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
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I have noticed that some of my favorite restaurants are out of some menu items due to 'supply chain problems'. For example, both of the Wendy's restaurants in town have been unable to sell hamburgers for over a week now because they are out of beef patties and claim to not know when they may be getting more. My favorite Mexican restaurant has taken all beef items off the menu. Walmart's meat section has been pretty sparse as well.There's plenty of pork and some chicken, but no beef. I had previouly attributed this to hoarding but now I am wondering if it isn't also 'supply chain' related.
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I track you now. I was presuming you were using the meat industry breakdown as presaging a larger breakdown.
Frankly I'm all for a collapse of the meat market. We should be eating less as it is.
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@Rinel said in Real World Peeves, Disgruntlement, and Irks.:
I track you now. I was presuming you were using the meat industry breakdown as presaging a larger breakdown.
Frankly I'm all for a collapse of the meat market. We should be eating less as it is.
You can. I can't. I kind of need it.
The wretched bullshit happening in the US right now is a pretty clear example of how brutally corrupt and artificially fragile the economic and supply system is. Gany says it prettier.
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Thinking you've said something wrong to a friend and suddenly they stop responding to you on various messengers and thinking they're mad at you.
When probably they're just busy with their own stuff, like life, work, family, and just because it says their online doesn't actually mean they're free to talk. They're just busy.
You didn't do anything, you're just thinking of reasons why they haven't responded in the last few days and clearly meaning it's your fault. Because isn't it always your fault? That's silly, it's fine.
But...
No, leave it, it's fine. You're fine. Running out of your anti-depressants because of Covid isn't your fault. You're okay. No one is mad at you.
This inner monologue has been my last couple of days. I want it to stop.
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