Food shortages in Taiwan, 2022

people are not that worried, the internet’s favorite figure is a hyperbole…
i think imported foods will continue to go up in price, so will perishable items like fruit and veg.
whenever i see canned foods or grains on promotion i try to stock up.

Any suggestions beyond what is in every grocery store?

depends what you like to eat :slight_smile:
i like oatmeal, its healthy and has long shelf life, i also like to buy dry beans, chickpeas and lentils.

Where do you get yours at a good price?

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Without iHerb I’ve been getting the above at Forin Mart in Taipei. I wouldn’t say it is a good price, but probably better than most other places in Taipei.

i buy them at a rice store in my local market, they are about 45-55 NT / Jin .

Wondering the same thing! Things that are considered “poor people” food in America is expensive here. :sob: Plus I can’t find dried pinto beans. I’m broke af from food. Especially vegetables for me and pets.

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I get them canned. Is there a difference?

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I think dried is supposed to be cheaper but sometimes prices are weird here

you need to soak and cook the dry ones, as far as nutiontion goes its the same. dried are more cost effective, since they grow in volume after soaking and cooking.

How about storage time?

where do you live?
i find dry pinto beans in the same store as lentils chisckpeas etc. its in a traditional market, if you have one next to you look for a store that sells rice, garlic and other condiments in bulk. you can usually find it there.

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in theory - years, if you store it in a zip lock bag in a cool dry place
in practice - many times the dry foods (rice, beans etc.) can get bugs in them after staying in the pantry too long.
if you buy vacuum packed goods like oats for example you will see that the shelf life is over a year.

If you don’t get a visit of this little guy, pretty long.

image

Don’t take things out of context please. I was talking about living off grid in the event of things getting legitimately bad. I didn’t say that in response to the potential food shortages

This was your first reply

This was your follow up

That’s how you entered the conversation. I was speaking of catastrophizing in that context. If you had another intent it wasn’t clear.

My point was that if things get bad, stocking up on a few months worth of grain isn’t going to get you very far. The vegetable garden remark was because I was saying that if there really are supply chain issues longer term, we’re going to need to become self-sufficient. Also that if you’re planning on “stocking up”, that’s just hording, ala March 2020. I posted the stuff about the Bronze Age because it’s true. We don’t learn about ancient civilizations enough in school. People then lived in the lap of luxury and enjoyed imported goods and lived in cosmopolitan areas just as we do today. But it was a supply chain/famine/drought/war issue that then lead to the dark ages. The reality check is that every human civilization has collapsed eventually, why wouldn’t ours? And I pointed out people screaming in the desserts of the US West in off grid communities because that’s also a reality for anyone that thinks they’d be fine sipping their favorite adult beverage that they hoarded or distilled themselves, far from the chaos.

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I’m working on a freeze dried food project for my Japan startup (www.agribotics.asia) located in the Tokachi sub-prefecture of Hokkaido, I’ll be freeze drying (Freeze dryers for emergency prep | Harvest Right™ | Home Freeze Dryers | Freeze Dried Food Storage) meats, fruits, and vegetables sourced in Hokkaido and shipping them throughout Asia. I’m also working on a home-use freeze drying machine manufactured in Taiwan that can be used by anyone to freeze dry food, including leftovers that would otherwise go to waste, for up to 20 years storage with little loss of flavor and nutrition.

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I dunno, isn’t this what many of us generally do in Taiwan anyway? My cupboards are ridiculously full of cans of beans or specific brands of cereal or beer (and I think an extra bottle of Frank’s) because the products I like may not be there next week. With worries about a sudden need to home-quarantine, I’ve increased that stockpile a bit, but not much, because I’m out of storage space!

I don’t think I could stockpile much more without also getting a chest freezer. If I had a house, I’d have gotten an extra freezer long ago, but with a three-bedroom apartment, I don’t have a non-ugly place to put one.

:thinking:
i-scream-you-scream-we-all-scream-for-ice-cream-gif-1

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