4 ms·

Okay, I'll bite: what food is cheaper than the boiling of a potato?

gunfighthacksaw 5y ago
Potato cooked over an open flame. You eliminate the middle man of the water bath.
foxyv 5y ago
I've been noticing a shortage of cartridges for isobutane stoves and propane since 2020. It may be that the food bank users are using camp stoves instead of residential electric or gas ranges. However the article makes zero mention of this so who the heck knows. Boiling whole raw potatoes requires a lot more stove time than pasta and rice dishes. Also a lot more fluids and bigger pots. But it's still a stretch. I know for hiking I prefer dried foods because they are lighter.
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
  That’s not really how people cook in the UK. Most houses will have a direct connection to the gas main or they will be using an electric cooker.
  - foxyv 5y ago
    What I mean is that the user of a food bank would be un-housed or homeless.
    - tonyedgecombe 5y ago
      That still doesn't sound right. There is a homeless problem in the UK but in terms of people living on the street that number is quite small. Food bank usage on the other hand is huge. The situation in the UK is quite different to what we hear about the US.
      - vba616 5y ago
        I did an experiment and given that my power (from National Grid!) costs about 16 euro cents per kwh, it costs me ~3.4 euro cents to cook a 180g potato, and ~18 euro cents to buy it in the first place. Also, bringing the water to 100C over 10 minutes, and cooking covered on low for almost an hour, use roughly equal amounts of power.
        foxyv 5y ago
        Yeah, power is super cheap. This is why the only thing I could think of is maybe a camp stove, which is orders of magnitude more expensive.
        tonyedgecombe 5y ago
        I suspect the real problem is poorer people in the UK tend to be on pre-payment meters. If they haven't got enough money to feed the meter they can't cook. Even though it was probably the crapy resistive heaters the landlord put in that drained their meter.
JetAlone 5y ago
Apparently sun dried potatoes can last for years, but it's too cold and humid in the Uk to do it easily. One would need to jury-rig something like these out of stuff they already have, and it would only work if they have access to a place that gets enough sunlight... So it's a very long shot. https://www.rootsimple.com/2012/08/how-to-dry-food-with-the-sun/ https://www.rootsimple.com/2012/08/how-to-dry-food-with-the-... Then, reserve money for a planned cooking date in the future, store the sun-dried potatoes until an opportunity to cook them arises, or find a time/place where it's possible to do it for free. I had the thought of collectively cooking them for efficiency. In my optimistic mind I imagine a "sun dried potato party", but being quite frank the societies we're talking about like the UK aren't safe enough for the average person to just trust their neighbor, and when it comes to arranging an event like this, people's schedules conflict and they flake frequently. If I was super poor and stressed out from working lots, would I want to do this? I'd certainly rather not. I'd rather get a loaf of bread, some easy-open cans of protein rich foods like beans and tuna, maybe some fruits. I'd also want to have electric cookery donated to me, so I can just boil the bloody potatoes and mash them like a normal person.

Potato cooked over an open flame. You eliminate the middle man of the water bath.

I've been noticing a shortage of cartridges for isobutane stoves and propane since 2020. It may be that the food bank users are using camp stoves instead of residential electric or gas ranges. However the article makes zero mention of this so who the heck knows. Boiling whole raw potatoes requires a lot more stove time than pasta and rice dishes. Also a lot more fluids and bigger pots. But it's still a stretch. I know for hiking I prefer dried foods because they are lighter.

tonyedgecombe 5y ago
That’s not really how people cook in the UK. Most houses will have a direct connection to the gas main or they will be using an electric cooker.
- foxyv 5y ago
  What I mean is that the user of a food bank would be un-housed or homeless.
  - tonyedgecombe 5y ago
    That still doesn't sound right. There is a homeless problem in the UK but in terms of people living on the street that number is quite small. Food bank usage on the other hand is huge. The situation in the UK is quite different to what we hear about the US.
    - vba616 5y ago
      I did an experiment and given that my power (from National Grid!) costs about 16 euro cents per kwh, it costs me ~3.4 euro cents to cook a 180g potato, and ~18 euro cents to buy it in the first place. Also, bringing the water to 100C over 10 minutes, and cooking covered on low for almost an hour, use roughly equal amounts of power.
      - foxyv 5y ago
        Yeah, power is super cheap. This is why the only thing I could think of is maybe a camp stove, which is orders of magnitude more expensive.
        tonyedgecombe 5y ago
        I suspect the real problem is poorer people in the UK tend to be on pre-payment meters. If they haven't got enough money to feed the meter they can't cook. Even though it was probably the crapy resistive heaters the landlord put in that drained their meter.

JetAlone 5y ago

Apparently sun dried potatoes can last for years, but it's too cold and humid in the Uk to do it easily. One would need to jury-rig something like these out of stuff they already have, and it would only work if they have access to a place that gets enough sunlight... So it's a very long shot. https://www.rootsimple.com/2012/08/how-to-dry-food-with-the-sun/ https://www.rootsimple.com/2012/08/how-to-dry-food-with-the-... Then, reserve money for a planned cooking date in the future, store the sun-dried potatoes until an opportunity to cook them arises, or find a time/place where it's possible to do it for free. I had the thought of collectively cooking them for efficiency. In my optimistic mind I imagine a "sun dried potato party", but being quite frank the societies we're talking about like the UK aren't safe enough for the average person to just trust their neighbor, and when it comes to arranging an event like this, people's schedules conflict and they flake frequently. If I was super poor and stressed out from working lots, would I want to do this? I'd certainly rather not. I'd rather get a loaf of bread, some easy-open cans of protein rich foods like beans and tuna, maybe some fruits. I'd also want to have electric cookery donated to me, so I can just boil the bloody potatoes and mash them like a normal person.