[Battlemesh] The real battlemesh: internet shutdown

[Jonathan Morton]

> On 14 Mar, 2020, at 3:43 pm, Benjamin Henrion <zoobab at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> As for the food rush we saw yesterday, we should be prepared.

Some of the shortages will be due to panic buying, which will severely exacerbate any minor shortage due to temporary supply-chain disruptions.  If you avoid panic, you make life easier for others.  Be creative in your choice of durable food stocks.  Milk and bread are not durable!

If you have an oven, a mixing bowl and a smallish casserole dish, you can bake bread in "cottage loaf" style, and this will sustain you through an emergency too long to store fresh bread.  Stock up on flour, dry yeast, and high-fat (60%) margarine, all of which keep well.  I use 600g flour, 3-4g yeast, 315ml warm water, in that order - measure carefully.  Mix thoroughly, leave to rise for half an hour, knead again, leave to rise again in the casserole dish, bake at 175°C for 40 mins, let cool for maybe 10 mins before attempting to serve.  A proper breadknife will help.

Pasta, rice, and tinned soup are also good standbys.  Keep a variety of additives to flavour the pasta and rice, but you can also eat them plain.  My supermarket stocks inexpensive small bags of frozen sweet vegetables; just defrost and mix in.

Baked potatoes are a very nutritious food, if you can find them.  Fist-sized red potatoes are best, two per adult; cut off any blemishes that darken the flesh, pierce with a fork to relieve steam pressure, then bake at 225°C for an hour.  Squeeze each potato firmly after baking, then cut open lengthwise.  Keep stocks of salted butter, cheese (and a grater), and baked beans (serve hot) as toppings - in that order.  The beans will help to melt the cheese.

Multivitamin supplements are also a good idea to boost your immune system and general health.

 - Jonathan Morton