Free Milk - Farmers On Strike

Sara it really is a shame that such can happen in a world with  30% of the population living in famine. Before the EU converted the surplus in butter that was stored in energy expensive cooling facilities. As a result of the subsidies that was paid to the farmers to produce something the market didn't need! After years of storage, finally it was decided to give away all the surplus butter to African countries, while consumers in the EU had to pay premium prices for butter in order not to disrupt the market for margarine, the artificial substitute for butter. The lesson is that subsidies disturb the market more than it helps, like the cash for clunkers.

Give aways of food items that are not part of an indigenous diet can have immediate and far reaching effects.  Butter and cheese that was given to Native Americans on reservations in the 19th century caused the rise in diabetes and is considered to disrupted genetic accommodations.

According to the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the "thrifty gene" theory proposes that African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans inherited a gene from their ancestors which enabled them to use food more efficiently during "feast and famine" cycles. Today there are fewer such cycles; this causes certain populations to be more susceptible to obesity and to developing type 2 diabetes.

Alaskan Natives had a 76% increase in the prevalence of diabetes in the 1990s.  It has been suggested that the change in their diet with supplimental foods not of native origin is the reason.

Type 2 diabetes is 12.2% higher among Native Americans than the national average.  An Arizona tribe has the highest rate of diabetes in the world with 50% of the population between the ages of 30-64. 

Before countries begin unloading food to other countries, they need consider diatary factors that can be detrimental to the indigenous populations.

Very informative and professional comment a211423. Hope that many people will take notice of your valuable contribution. Thanks for it.

You are welcome : )

The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) needs to be scrapped once and for all!

This all is very interesting indeed. In many cases the insight is missing, especially amongst politicians that only listen to the lobbyist and not consult specialist. Under another article of mine Branko wrote the following comment that for the completeness on the subject belongs here as well.

"I read an excerpt from a book about "the vital four" (Passport to Survival by Esther Dickey). If you can choose four food items that will last a long time, while being cheap, nutritious and easy to store, what will it be?

Wheat, Milk, Honey, Salt.

Surprised?

Whole Wheat can be used to bake just about anything, stores indefinitely, is full of protein, some fats, amino acids, carbohydrates, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. Plus it can be sprouted and eaten as a vegetable, more than doubling its nutritional value. 

Milk (powder), lightweight, full of calcium and vitamins. Find a brand with the milk fats still in it.

Honey, stores indefinitely, good taste and the uncooked it is an Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral, Anti-Fungal substance containing vitamin B1, B2, C, B6, B5 and B3.

Salt, needed (but not produced!) by the body for many processes from our heartbeat to digestion. Perfect preservative for other foods.

Any other luxuries beyond these four items will be in the vitamin and fat category. Peanutbutter, olive oil, dried fruit, yeast."

I am surprised legumes are not included. I have always read that whole wheat needed to be refrigerated after opening because of short shelf life.  I will search around about this.   

I heard something yesterday about salt.  Much of the developing world is deficient in iodine that can effect the developing fetus in pregnant mothers, particularly in a female fetus.  The deficiency has been determined to reduce a child's IQ by ten points, and it can never be recovered once birth occurs.  The discussion was in the context of how people can help others in a signifcant way around the world with little investment.  Providing iodized salt in these countries costs a few cents and can protect the fetus of pregnant women. 

Here is one source, but I will verify the information.

Flour must stay cool and dry.  All flours, even white flour, have a limited shelf life.  Millers recommend flour not be kept longer than six months. The change that occurs is oxidation of the oils in the flour after it is exposed to the air and can cause the flour to become rancid. During hot weather, store flour in refrigerator. 

I store it in the freezer.

The difference is whether storing the whole grains versus whole wheat flour.  Whole grains if stored at temperatures between 40-60 degrees with moisture content less than 10%.  Moisture is the worse thing for whole grains.  When made into flour shelf life is shortened.

Thanks for the additional info a211423 iodine is an important mineral on that I fully agree from own experience, that it influences the IQ of a fetus is very interesting and not known by me. Maybe many pregnant moms don't know either?

Flour has a short shelf live as we experienced ourselves. My wife bakes the bread and in summer time the flour turned bad by a type of insect(?) that develops in it, with packages even sealed. We contacted the supplier and they gave us the full details. Forgot those because it was many years ago. Whole grain can be stored for many years once stored below 15ºC or 60ºF. We did it ourselves for over 10 years and the grain was still O.K. for consumption. By the way the best storage method is at the temperature indicated in closed containers under Nitrogen (N2) gas. Which I didn't apply at the time.

You are welcome : )

Before yesterday, I did not know about iodine deficiency, and I would guess most people are not aware of it. 

I had the same thing happen with some rice I bought that was imported and not contained in an air tight container.  I thought I would save some money by buying it in bulk at costco, but learned it was too difficult to keep out the insects. 

Practical experiences are the best teachers.

The main problem is that farmers cannot stop milking the cows. So what do they do with the milk? They give it away.

If there is surplus in milk, why can't it be dehydrated and made into powdered milk?

Yes that's really the best way to do. But it's the price farmers receive from the processors, which is below their cost price. Its cheaper for them to protest by giving the milk free, to consumers. In the hope consumer don't buy milk.

Don't pass up the 'imported' rice just yet:

Grains and rice have eggs in then which hatch in the right circumstances. You can kill the eggs in rice by freezing it for a few days, then storing it in a mylar food grade container, sealed with O2 absorbers. Dry ice works as well, it is heavier than air, so the carbon dioxide fills the container. Always store cool, dry and dark. Flour doesn't freeze well. Whole wheat can be frozen, but I reckon it is likely to kill the grain, making sprouting impossible. It will store just fine when dry, dark and cool. Stories about 4500 year old grain found in pyramids confirm the amazing shelf life of wheat. 

With rice, I always use parboiled. White rice has little nutritional value, brown rice can be difficult to cook and eat. Parboiled is easy to cook, and still very nutritional.

Wheat will fit in a gluten free diet. How? By sprouting it. Take a wide jar, soak 1/2 cup of wheat in 3 times the amount of water for 8 hours. Drain well, put in a dark non-cold area (cupboard, or in a paper bag). Rinse and drain in the morning and evening with room temperature water. In about 2 days you have sprouted wheat. Or stop when it germinates, if you don't like the 'soybean taste'. Sprouts (now a vegetable) have more vitamin c, b, iron and calcium than the whole wheat berries (they have more fiber and protein). Don't believe the amazing wikipedia claims of 500% more vitamins. Sprouts last for 5 days with the metal or plastic lid on the jar.

Oats  are just about the best breakfast food you can find, gluten free, high fiber, cholesterol decreasing (both LDL and Triglycerides). And it is high in (soy like) protein so it can be mixed with water instead of milk. Rolled oats, water and honey make is my preferred breakfast. Just mix in a bowl, don't cook.

FYI. Don't believe the storage dates on your supermarket products, some are right but most of them are there because of regulatory laws, or to discourage couponing.

Even unboiled eggs can be kept for 3 months without refrigeration. Oil seals the shell pores and keeps them fresh. Boiled eggs go bad within 3 days.

Legumes are a good to add to your pantry, stay away from the kidney beans, They take a very long time to prepare and (like most legumes) are very poisonous when eaten raw, or prepared wrong. Ginger, fennel, cumin will counter 'bean gas'. Lentis used to be very popular Dutch food, very easy to cook.

Don't store water beyond its date (usually around 6 months), the water will be ok to drink, but the plastic bottle degrades and contaminates the water. Distilled water can be stored for up to 5 years in mylar. Again, cold and dark slows down degradation and bacterial growth. Water is hard to store, so beyond a small supply you can invest in a good water filter (katadyn) combined with either a well or rainwater catchment system. Pim may be able to tell you more about water filtration.

Very interesting comment Branko with valuable dietary and food conservation info. You should write this in an article and post in on the internet. I'm sure that the general conception related to this subject is limited while little is published about the aspects you dealt with.

Member a211423 certainly will appreciate it as well I suppose.

Branko

Thank you for all the great information.

The white rice I bought in bulk was pearl rice from either India or China. I don't remember as it was years ago.  I started using brown rice a year ago, and once I learned how to cook it, I actually prefer it.

I have never sprouted wheat before, but it sounds interesting and I like to make bread, so I might try it.  There is a line of bread products here in the U.S. that are made from sprouted wheat, and they are an acquired taste but very good.  They have short shelf life, and have to be refrigerated.

Eggs dont have to refrigerated?  Wow, I didn't know this.  I have pickled hard boiled eggs in spiced beet juice before, and they lasted a while in the frig.

I have never had oatmeal uncooked.  I am not sure I would like it. : (   I did change to soy milk, and try to limit dairy products, but I miss having yogurt every day. 

I have bought pinto beans in bulk before, and they seemed to keep well. 

I have a swimming pool, so I have thought of finding out ways to either filter or boil the water in case of emergency.  A rain catchment system would be great, but we would have to have rain! We are in a drought here in California, so water is in short supply.

I appreciate your taking the time to share so much information.

I wasn't wondering a minute a211423 whether you would appreciate Branko's information. Really an eye-opener for many of us! Keep contributing both of you and I may fill in some of the gaps in between.

I found this information about egg storage in the U.S from wikipedia.  Other sources did not talk about eggs being washed and the protective coating removed.

Actually, outside the USA, farm fresh eggs are rarely refrigerated and sold off the shelf in stores. Why? Because eggs that are fresh and have not been washed still have a protective shell or skin on them. Remember that a hen sits on the eggs for around 20 days or almost three weeks and eventually out pops a little chick. Does bacteria grow and contaminate the chick? No.

If they are washed and that protective skin is removed, or if they have been refrigerated ever, then yes, refrigerate them. Farm fresh, room temperature eggs, so say many naturalists, are far better for positive nutrition benefits than those bought in refrigerated grocery store cartons.

That's completely correct what you wrote about the storage of eggs. I remember once I sold my villa in The Netherlands to a Dutch egg trader exporter to the middle East. In the many discussuions we had, he told me that eggs without cleaning could be stored in ambient or slightly refrigated temperature for over three month and were still 'fresh' to be sold to store chains, where the period for selling still could last for another ten weeks. He was one of the major exporters of eggs in the world I understood.

Pim, I can write about alternative living, survivalism, preparedness, home steading, self reliance, or whatever it is called. But I don't know if I will reach the right people here. Besides: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink! Secondly, even though I have lots of knowledge about the subjects, I still have to put many things to put into practice. I'd rather speak from experience than second hand knowledge. My focus right now is on informing direct family and good friends. 

If you believe people on NowPublic will be interested, please tell me and I will start writing. I am stubborn, but your advice has never been wrong.

Branko

Please know I am interested and would welcome your ideas.

Have you heard of the "Slow Food Movement"? It's been around since 1989, but is now growing in popularity.  I first heard about it when it started in San Francisco.

http://www.slowfood.com/

Branko you touched a critical point with me, I also have my doubt about the readership of nowpublic, not so much the quality but specifically the numbers. I wrote over one hundred essays and only the popular issues generate reader numbers in the hundreds. Nevertheless I continued, with two basic ideas, quality doesn't destroy itself so the essays can come to pass when better alternatives arise. And I recently have contacted the management of nowpublic offering some practical suggestions that easily can be implemented and generate a wider readership.

I certainly recommend you to publish about yr alternative living and related issues, because in the not to distant future many will need this knowledge, once people discover that economical hardship is going to stay much longer than today in mainstream media is published, while conditions for survival may deteriorate in the process. From this point of view you'll do a good job. As you look at the viewer numbers of this Free Milk article, over the two hundreds is already an indication that more people are interested in food than in general economic affairs. Keep me posted once you decide to publish and I'll line-up as yr favorite. The proofing is in the eating, to stay close to this subject!

And you even have two people that are already interested as you see a211423 and me.

Pim and Branko

I hope we can keep the conversation going, and I will contribute to it as well.  Also, it is notable that there were 39 recommendations, so if people are not commenting, they are reading and agreeing with the subject.

A year ago, I started writing my own book about preparedness. This turned into a huge collection of files on the subject, most of which are practical recommendations, which I yet have to try. I will try and turn some writing into articles, it might be a good idea to collaborate on the subject.

Sadly, the even the term preparedness raises quite some negative reactions, from mainstream media ("gun toting anti-social-white-elitist") to sheeple ("don't destroy my naive world view"). But I guess, people select their own literature.