I haven’t done any big grocery shopping in about two months, instead, I’ve been sending TheHubs with a list.
I went last week and oh my goodness! The prices!
I’ve been reading about looming shortages and price increases for a few weeks now, and I saw it for myself this weekend. It’s not just in my area- the CPI government report for January 2011 notes:
Over the past 12 months, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs has risen 6.2 percent with the other grocery store food group indexes posting smaller increases.
Even more significantly, gasoline and energy prices are way up, too- unadjusted, by 17% in the last 12 months.
Which means food prices won’t be going down any time soon. There are a lot of reasons why- that freak cold snap froze a lot crops in Mexico, so don’t look for cheap tomatoes in the future. Droughts and floods have caused nations that used to be exporters of food to become importers. The US Dollar is weakening, meaning that we have to use more dollar bills to buy the same amount of food (but wages are stagnating, so people aren’t making any more money.) Who knows what oil is going to do, with all the turmoil and revolutions happening in the Middle East.
So, as regular folks with regular budgets, what can we do?
It’s time to stock up.
But how to do that on a budget? What to buy? What are you going to do with it?
There is a lot of helpful food storage information on the web, but it can be overwhelming and not quite fit a Real Food lifestyle. Yes, making compromises can be a smart thing to do in an emergency but stocking up on 180 cans of MSG laden chicken noodle soup is not being prudently prepared.
It’s just not practical for me to go buy 11 sets of prepackaged freeze dried food kits, either (even if I did want to live off of packaged stroganoff and MREs for the next few months, which I don’t.)
I’m not preparing for The End of The World As We Know It (TEOTWAKI, in prepper circles). I just want to make sure I can feed my family if an unexpected emergency occurs- a job loss, a blackout, a natural disaster, or even if food prices double this year.
I’ll be posting a new series detailing what I’m doing to hedge my food dollars, as well as doing a new Food Stamp Challenge. I hope the information will be useful to you, too. Follow along and learn with me as I work towards being more self-sufficient and become a “prepper” while providing real food, on a real budget.
Do you have any burning questions about stocking up on food? Leave them in the comments and I’ll try to address them in a post!
Next article in series: What do you eat? Prudently Prepared
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I’d love to see your plans. I’m trying to rearrange my garage to accommodate another set of shelves for stocking up. I think the economy’s been bad, but when gas gets to $5 (which I fully believe it will), it’s going to be horrible.
So that’s why my grocery store bills have been out of control!
I have been thinking I need to do a bit of stocking up – this was just the motivation I needed. Thanks!
We’ve been doing a bit of stocking up lately (although, perhaps not as much as we should), but we have to be pretty careful since there are soooo many prepackaged foods out there that just aren’t friendly to those with unusual allergies! Mostly we are focusing on dried goods and a few extra canned goods that we know to be safe.
Our petrol is over $5 a gallon. At present it is around the $6.50 (Aus) in my city. Due to the flooding etc fresh food is a little more expensive. Scarily the quality is extremely poor. So that lettuce won’t last three meals right now etc. We have some food growing in the yard which will help. But I do need ideas.
My family is very picky. My dad has Alzheimers and will still eat most things. My mother is shocking. I have several food allergies and don’t tolerate pork well. My girls are terrible. I need some nuetral tastes that I can add too. Pulses have never been part of our stable diet and I don’t have any recipes that taste anything but mealy. Also they are good for people with gout problems and can never be a huge part of our diet.
I celebrate that I live in a warm climate and can eat salad all year round. I am truly trying harder at making do and trying to follow the nose to tail philosophy which is really waste not, want not.
We stockpile paper basics, cleaning supplies and some staples such long life milk, frozen meat, tinned fruits etc.
I look forward to your articles on this subject! Yesterday when I went to the store I was really shocked – 2.50 for a bunch of celery!!!
I have been trying to stock up on non-perishables, however I also have a child with severe allergies to MSG so stocking up on chicken soup or most prepared foods is impractical. Beans and rice is always a good option but I would like to have more options than just that!
I ran a series on my website on traditional food’s food storage and preparedness. It includes a spreadsheet to help you stock up on a year’s worth of food. You might find it helpful. The articles are at http://cookingtf.com/fs101.html and I will be doing a blog series detailing it all out soon, too. My blog is at http://blog.tfrecipes.com. I hope this helps you!
Looking forward to reading this series!
I look forward to reading your series in the future.
Yep. I am looking forward to your posts! As for myself I just ordered a copy of “Country Beans”, like my mother had in the 70s. I just bought 40# of navy beans. I am gonna work more beans in my menu. But your ideas are so great! Can’t wait!
Wow the prices where you all are locate is incredible. I bought a nice head of celery for $1.00 here in Massachusetts. I stock pile food that can be frozen. I have a cabinet full of canned food that can be added to stews and frozen. I have bread in the freezer. I only buy meats suchs as: hamburger, shaved steak for subs, chicken or chicken thighs when on sale and freeze. This lasts us 1 month. I also buy my own dough for pizza making. I don’t buy fast food pizza as they are $16 for a large here. I make 2 of my own for just $5.00 with pepperoni etc.
What else I use lots of coupons for desserts to get them for FREE.
I grow veggies in the summer time. pasta is good to stock up on.
Make your own garlic bread with left over day old bread.
Stock up on baking supplies like: flour, sugar, etc when a holiday comes up. They are getting expensive!
Consider dehydrating veggies & fruits that you may not use in order to save money on prepping. I’ve dehydrated celery, onions, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms and the like then “dry canned” them in mason jars by drawing a vacuum on them with my vaccuum sealer. It works well and I almost always have fixings for soups and stews. I can always add to that jar or use some of it and re-seal it.