I agree. Will34 start checking the shelf life of foods and products you routinely buy and use, and start buying ahead, you will save money and be building some emergency padding casually.
If you end up with more canned goods and rice and beans than you think at first reasonable, don’t fret, because inflation will make you feel like a genius eventually.
A 50 pound bag of rice and some canned meat products can fit under an apartment bed or on a closet floor or shelf, there is always a little extra room in apartments.
There are global shortages, but since most people in developed countries can afford higher prices, they are of no consequence to them. But some developing countries already stopped exporting goods to protect their own people. At some point, shortages will become visible everywhere I presume.
Right now I live’n’die by the sales flyer, and stock up on stuff when on sale so I don’t have to pay a premium when I need something and it’s not on sale. TP, PT, detergent (dish/laundry), canned goods (soups, ravioli, beans, chili, tuna), jar sauces, butter, bacon, rice, flour, sugar, lemon-juice, canned tomatoes (sauce, paste, crushed, etc.), salad dressings, boxed/bagged dry pasta, and so on.
Rotate ’em out. I just got a bunch of sharpies so I can mark the expdates prominently vs having to use an electron microscope to search each package and find it. And yeah, that means occasional reorganising to put the newer stuff in back vs in front, unless you want to excavate some tuna from the Nixon administration in your pantry.
I only buy “fresh” stuff when on-sale if I’ll be eating it very soon. Fruits, veggies, deli cheeses, milk, etc.
Just recall when mothers were practically killing each other in stores over Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Dolls. And more recently over toilet-paper. Now imagine when it’s food that goes scarce.
That’s so true. My brother and i were cleaning out my mom’s garage with numerous shelves of canned goods and just-in-case supplies, and found cans of old tuna from back before they inked the use-by dates, they just had some kind of code stamped into the lid. One quick way to tell: if the package is 6 oz size, then it is old (before the shrinkflation to the 5 oz packages).
America will not face starvation because we are very self sufficient in the staples of life, grains, cooking oil, vegetables, etc., although the fancier foods and meat are and will become less common among some income levels.
What is sad is that parts of the world such as Africa may start facing hunger or even starvation, like it used to, and many young people don’t remember.
They need to Ban all their International Call Centers —- That would make all our lives a lot easier — How about their Hacker networks while they’re at it —-
Don’t really have much of a comment because of forum rules.
But as I look around & see what I see from A to Z. I think hard times are coming and many will be completely blindsided & clueless when it hits full force.
Because the signs are there now, yet how many recognize them???
When the pandemic started, we bought a small chest freezer so we could stock up on poultry, meats and other frozen foods. We keep it stocked and replenish as it gets used. From time to time, the chicken and meat sections at the grocery store will be scarcely stocked, other times its full. So we get it while we can. I then portion it out and vacuum seal it with my food saver. Those foodsavers work great, highly recommend owning one.
In the interim they got sneaky, so “6oz” can, but only 5oz of tuna (and 1oz water/oil).
I remember being able to open a can and plop out almost all solid tuna. Later, I could squish down the contents to almost half the volume, and empty assloads of liquid into a small dish (which the cats liked, so who am I to argue?). Hell, I even used to use most of that oil in lieu of mayo.
Same with yogurt, canned coffee, even cans of soup. The last down to 10oz and change, vs 16oz then 12oz.
we have tried to switch to store brands, since they seem to be available more often.
some are really good and some are not. we suggest anyone to try some now
to find out what works and what does not, because they are much, much
cheaper, and, as a result, money goes further.
here are some examples of our evaluations
regarding “good enough” or “as good”:
1. cookies.
2. condiments.
3. canned goods.
not worth buying store brands again:
1. bread, since we are silly snobs about this.
2. batteries. well…you already know that.
3. books. yes, there are store brand books.
Yeh, store-brand katchup, mayo, cookies, dressing, etc., are largely as good as the Real Thing.
PB, not so much, as it’s more like Skippy than PeterButter/Jif.
Breads… Wonder has a weird stank to it. Key Food’s “Urban Meadow” is decent, Stop’n’Shop’s was among the best white-bread I had. Always liked Bimbo best of all, despite the weird name.
Not sure about the books, though.
“Henry Pooter And The Prisoner Of Izbekistan” was kinda dull, and “Store Wares” read more like an inventory list than adventure.
Seems like it would be smart to stock up, specially when the food prices are soaring (some items are seeing 30% price increase vs early this year).
Some items have completely disappeared from the shelves, such as McCain fries, in their place now they’re selling some German branded fries. Interestingly the McCain fries are produced in the Netherlands, despite being imported from the US. Cat food, used to paid $0.90 per can now it’s $1.25. Cat litter is even worse, from $16.99 to $20.99.
