Things that seem disconnected but aren’t. The thirteen bullet points below are the issues we will first notice as the general food supply chain begins show signs of vulnerability. This outline explains why it is happening and how long it can be expected.
In the previous October, November and December warnings we emphasized preparation and counted down the 90-day window. Now, as we enter the final two weeks before mid/late January, the date of our original prediction, it appears that some media are starting to catch up and the larger public is starting to notice. [NOTE: We nailed the timeline almost to the week]
Feel free to note in the comments section what is happening in your area. Hopefully, most of us are much better positioned than the average person who has not been following this as closely over the past several months.
Initial food instability signs in the supply chain. Things to look for:
(1) A shortage of processed potatoes (frozen specifically).
And/Or a shortage of the ancillary products that are derivates of, or normally include, potatoes.
(2) A larger than usual footprint of turkey in the supermarket (last line of protein).
(3) A noticeable increase in the price of citrus products.
(4) A sparse distribution of foodstuffs that rely on flavorings.
(5) The absence of non-seasonal products.
(6) Little to no price difference on the organic comparable (diff supply chain)
(7) Unusual country of origin for fresh product type.
(8) Absence of large container products
(9) Shortage of any ordinary but specific grain derivative item (ex. wheat crackers)
(10) Big brand shortage.
(11) Shortage of wet pet foods
(12) Shortage of complex blended products with multiple ingredients (soups etc)
(13) A consistent shortage of milk products and/or ancillaries.
These notes above are all precursors that show significant stress in the supply chain. Once these issues are consistently visible, we are going to descend into food instability very quickly, sector by sector, category by category.
At first, each retail operation will show varying degrees of the supply chain stress according to their size, purchasing power, and/or private manufacturing, transportation and distribution capacity.
♦ BACKGROUND – Do you remember, the dairy farmers in 2020 dumping their milk because the commercial side of milk demand (schools, restaurants, bag milk purchasers) was forcibly locked down? Plastic jugs were in short supply, and the processing side of the equation has a limited amount of operational capacity.
Potato farmers and fresh food suppliers were also told to dump, blade or plough-over their crops due to lack of commercial side demand. These issues have longer term consequences than many would understand. These are fresh crops, replenishment crops, which require time before harvest and production.
The retail consumer supply chain for manufactured and processed food products includes bulk storage to compensate for seasonality. As Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue noted in 2020, “There are over 800 commercial and public warehouses in the continental 48 states that store frozen products.”
Here is a snapshot of the food we had in storage at the end of February 2020: over 302 million pounds of frozen butter; 1.36 billion pounds of frozen cheese; 925 million pounds of frozen chicken; over 1 billion pounds of frozen fruit; nearly 2.04 billion pounds of frozen vegetables; 491 million pounds of frozen beef; and nearly 662 million pounds of frozen pork.
This bulk food storage is how the total U.S. consumer food supply ensures consistent availability even with weather impacts. As a nation, we essentially stay one harvest ahead of demand by storing it and smoothing out any peak/valley shortfalls. There are a total of 175,642 commercial facilities involved in this supply chain across the country
The stored food supply is the originating resource for food manufacturers who process the ingredients into a variety of branded food products and distribute to your local supermarket. That bulk stored food, and the subsequent supply chain, is entirely separate from the fresh food supply chain used by restaurants, hotels, cafeterias etc.
Look carefully at the graphic. See the fork in the supply chain that separates “food at home (40%)” from “food away from home (60%)”?
Food ‘outside the home’ includes restaurants, fast food locales, schools, corporate cafeterias, university lunchrooms, manufacturing cafeterias, hotels, food trucks, park and amusement food sellers and many more. Many of those venues are not thought about when people evaluate the overall U.S. food delivery system; however, this network was approximately 60 percent of all food consumption on a daily basis.
The ‘food away from home‘ sector has its own supply chain. Very few restaurants and venues (cited above) purchase food products from retail grocery outlets. As a result of the coronavirus mitigation effort, the ‘food away from home’ sector was reduced by 75% of daily food delivery operations. However, people still needed to eat. That meant retail food outlets, grocers, saw sales increases of 25 to 50 percent, depending on the area.
Covid regulations destroyed this complex supply chain in 2020. It takes time to recover because the replenishment is based on harvest cycles. This stuff must be grown.
When the food at home sector was forced to take on the majority of food delivery, they immediately hit processing constraints. The processing side of the supply chain to funnel food into suppliers for the grocery store has “x” amount of capacity. That system cannot (not feasible) and did not expand to meet the 20 to 50% increase in demand.
Think about potatoes. A potato farmer sells into one of the two paths “food at home” (retail stores, or a processing supplier) or “food away from home” (commercial food or commercial food processors). Other than bulk raw potatoes, the harvest goes into: (1) processing or (2) storage.
(1a) processing for retail sales (40%), ex. Ore Ida frozen potatoes, canning, or any of the other thousand retail products that use potatoes, whole or mashed.
(1b) processing for commercial sales (60%), ex. McDonalds french fries, or any of the thousand restaurant, lunchroom and cafeteria needs that use potatoes, whole or mashed.
♦ Processing – When 1b was shut down in 2020, 1a quickly reached maximum retail processing capacity. Massive multi-million machines and food processing systems have a capacity. The supplies they use also have a capacity: plastic bags, cardboard, trays, bowls, etc. The 1a processing system can only generate “X” amount of retail product at maximum capacity.
The remaining 1b commercial product was shut down. A massive percentage of 1b (commercial) potatoes have nowhere to go, except waste.
♦ Storage – Each processor in 1a stores product (deep cold or frozen storage) for 365-day processing and distribution. Those storage facilities have a limited amount of capacity. The 1b customers need fresh product for the majority of their outlets. Ergo storing for 1b customers who might eventually be allowed to open later only works for a short period of time. The fresh potato sales missed by 1b outlets = the 1b discard by potato farmers.
When you restart 1b suddenly the 1b short-term (fresh) storage product is quickly depleted. Refilling that 2020 storage is dependent on a new 2021 harvest, which simultaneously has a greater immediate demand because the supply chain on the processing side was boxcar’d (over capacity) and then reset to a higher capacity playing catchup.
The amount missing from 2021 storage, because it was used instead of saved, is essentially equal to the amount that was wasted in 2020.
Now you end 2021 will less reserves because storage is depleted, because a greater percentage of the current harvest was immediately used. You enter into the beginning of 2022 (winter) in a race to try and spread out the stored potatoes as you cross your fingers and race against the clock for the next harvest before running out.
You probably noticed – but attached to this issue is yet another motive to keep people (employees) away from large industrial cafeterias and even students from school lunchrooms. The total food supply chain needs time, and harvests, to catch up.
In the example above you can replace *potato* with just about any row crop or retail/commercial food commodity like milk.
The reason I list the shortage of potatoes as the #1 precursor is because every food outlet sells a potato in some form. Every supermarket and every single restaurant (fancy, sit down or fast food) sells some form of potato. Potatoes are demanded by every single food outlet; therefore, a shortage of potatoes is the first noticeable issue.
The 2020 demand disruption problem now becomes a 2021/2022 supply chain problem on both the fresh and processing side (depleted inventories), with each vector now competing for the same raw material: wheat, soybeans, grains, beans and stored row crops.
Making matters worse, the protein suppliers also need grain as feed for cattle, pigs, cows, chickens, etc.
[Note: who gets the short straw? The pet food manufacturers]
That’s the nub of the background supply chain issue in the food sector. Additionally, recovery is not a single-issue problem.
The recovery price and shortages relate to everything from current oil and gas prices to diesel engine oil prices, to fertilizer and weed killer costs, to plastic costs and petroleum packing shortages (Styrofoam especially), to cardboard and sustainable packaging costs, to energy costs and transportation/delivery costs. All along this complex supply chain there’s also workers and higher payroll costs.
Thus, we get the double-edged sword of higher prices (inflation) and simultaneous shortages.
Here’s what you can do to offset grocery store shortages (while possible):
(1) Buy the generic or store brand equivalent (sub-set inside retail supply chain)
(2) Purchase the organic version (another sub-set inside retail supply chain)
(3) Purchase the powered/dehydrated version (potatoes, milk, etc) and experiment (jazz it up).
Each retail operation, or chain of stores, will show varying degrees of the supply chain stress according to their size, purchasing power, and/or private manufacturing, transportation and distribution capacity.
This is where field to fork supplier relationships can make a big difference. However, every outlet regardless of their operational excellence, is going to have significant shortages in their inventory. It’s an unavoidable outcome of the previous chaos.
On average the retail shortages will last for about as long as one full harvest schedule (4 to 6 months) depending on the commodity. By September of 2022 the various sector should be relatively recovered.
However, government intervention could make the issues worse, or the recovery time take longer, depending on how they respond when people get seriously stressed in a few weeks. The densely populated urban areas are going to be making a lot of noise and demanding the government fix the crisis.
Final note on INFLATION – The short-term prices will go up again, another 10, 20 up to 50% should be expected depending on the item. Those prices will eventually level off, but it’s doubtful they will be able to come back down until supply and demand find some equilibrium again, if ever. Right now, predicting future retail prices is too far off to even fathom.
I hope this outline provides you with information to help you make decisions for your family.
Tuesday: Not a drop of cow’s milk at Lidl.
Friday: Not a leaf of lettuce or spinach or other salad greens (loose or packaged) at Giant. Pepperidge Farm and Kellogg’s cracker shelves 80% bare.
“More than 100 potato growers from across Prince Edward Island met virtually Friday with the Island’s four members of Parliament to discuss the ongoing potato wart crisis and what federal politicians can do to get the U.S. border reopened to fresh potatoes.”
Feds form new committee to tackle P.E.I. potato export crisis (msn.com)
Brain Dead Biden is getting some really bad advice on PEI Potatoes – a lot of family farms will be bankrupt before the end of the year. Shake Shack depends on PEI Potatoes for French Frys.
“Last month, CFIA officials told a P.E.I. legislative committee the agency might not complete its investigation until 2023. “
Biden will crush it, Bill Gates will buy it, that is how they roll. Never let a crisis go to waste.
They create the problem then form a task force to solve it 8 months after it’s too late.
That is how Communism works. They create tiers of workers/managers where just one will do. They are also fond of installing the unfit into office.
They create the problem, cash in on it, then pretend to solve it…
Fry’s, a Kroeger store with affiliates across the nation, has seized on a no-trash policy in their produce department. You can no longer buy one or two of anything they can form into a sack of 6 or 8. Only 1 or 2 are edible, the rest are their trash now going to YOUR home! The 1 or 2 aren’t really fresh produce you would choose. But they ARE edible. AYE CARRUMBA!!!
Another advantage of SOUPS.
And the reasons why basic veggie soups & beef stews were originally created …many many moons ago.
You can hide a lot of “less than perfect” but edible ingredients in a savory broth.
There is even an online store called Misfit Market that sells blemished fruit and vegetables to your door…
The US reliance on processed foods is very strange.
Visiting US supermarkets was a sobering experience, typicallyfar more space devoted to 50 different varieties of potato crisps than all the vegetables and fruit in the stores.
I thought so too Emu.
All of the products shown by Sundance do not really support life or are really healthy,
So if we buy flour, salt, sugar, oil, yeast, frozen vegetables, etc will things be OK.
I do not use the products shown in the photo much at all and am more worried about the basic foods like meat, dairy (real dairy) grains not processed, fruits, vegetables and then cleaning supplies and paper products becoming scarce.
I suppose these things will follow the scarcity if others are on the way.
Like you say our grocery stores have more cookies, chips, soft drinks and junk food for sale then they do real food.
I agree. We make pretty much everything from scratch; we only store essential basics such as grain (to make flour), salt, yeast, spices. Zero pre-packaged meals, which can be filled with plastics and pesticides and short on nutrition.
It’s access to fresh meat, dairy and vegetables that concern us. So we found a local farmer who allowed us to forward purchase a weekly farm box through the end of next summer. Look for farmers who deliver to your area to see if they’ll allow advance purchases. It also helps support them too. We’re in the process of forward purchasing a half cow as well. There is only so much one wants to store in a freezer, which can go bad in an extended power outage.
Take a look at websites devoted to living more minimally, such as the Organic Prepper, which is very helpful. It’s also essential to maintain close ties to people you trust and help each other through these trying times.
Good luck and Godspeed to all.
Those farm boxes from farmers, for people interested, are called CSA – Community Supported Agriculture. If you know what to search for, it makes it easier.
Prof X will start looking into that.
We have Amish here and other local farmers who do beef and chicken that we can by “off the hoof”.
Will need to find some that grow more fresh vegetable.
One Amish man has started a greenhouse and grow a lot of simple vegetables like tomatoes and squash but has not got it going to where he can produce a huge amount yet.
We have been buying from him since the beginning so maybe he will be nice to us when the frenzy starts.
He also has chickens and sells eggs and gets cheese in from somewhere.
We will be incredibly sad if potatoes become scarce or more expensive. Potato is a carrier vehicle for a lot of good produce
You may want to find an ice making plant. Especially “Dry Ice”; Not to many ice plants even in cities sell to off the street walkins. If you find one, might help.Just Saying
same here; I cook from scratch.
Does
soy meal ( protein )
and / or
cracked corn ( starch, carbs)
have a good recipe?
They are both available in 50 lb bags ( $ 8 corn, $16 soy )
Soy is a highly toxic food source, and corn isn’t really digested apart from its sugars. I wouldn’t eat either, but having said that, I’m not starving, YET!
There is a reason for the saying “soy boys”
Ps…. GMO Soy is in everything these days
The few things that I might miss from the charts that Sundance put up are Miracle Whip and A1 Sauce and maybe Jello.
So will stock up on things like basic mustard, ketchup, dressing and that is all we use from the processed stuff that Kraft shovels out.
We can get milk, eggs, meat local.
Will need to get more flour, sugar, salt, yeast, baking powder, etc as well a paper products and canned goods.
have checked my over the counter medical stuff and am good on that so far.
A little low on cleaning stuff too, need more.
You’re missing the point. People who work use those products for quick lunches, snacks etc, as do children at school. Take them out of the workplace/school and they are more than happy to do without most of those products and cook from scratch instead. Except, they are now taking that bag of flour you speak of, the sugar, the salt, the yeast. You now have to share the products with a new audience. The products you deem fit to eat.
I did not really miss the point and know that hard times might be coming for all.
This is why I am looking to store more of the basic items as well as trying to find a local source for as many things as possible.
Once this scarceness starts rolling it will not stop.
“I do not use the products shown in the photo…”
So glad to know I am not alone. I avoid processed foods at all cost.
350,000,000+ people
Or just a function of demand?
Of which at least 45% use EBTs and rely on processed foods to eat.
I see young folks here in line at the grocery store with a cart full of crap
using their Oregon Trail EBTs.
Then you will see the older person’s cart and it’s full of
meats, vegetables, beans, rice and other unprocessed foods.
I totally agree and it makes me so angry. I think every person on food stamps should be required to take a good old fashioned home economics class on how to shop on a budget and know how to cook from scratch. They don’t have a clue as to how to stretch a dollar and make good healthy food for less money. And furthermore, they should be banned from buying name brand items unless they’re on sale. Store brand is usually much cheaper and just as good. I haven’t eaten out in years. I cook all my own meals and don’t mind it one bit.
I cook practically all my own meals in order to avoid added sugar.
Same here. I just stocked up on Allulose from Amazon. 3/4 cup of allulose and 6oz of Blackberries makes a damn fine jam! Just throw it all into a saucepan and cook on simmer for 20 minutes. Pop in a jar and let cool.
They’re too busy spending money on electric scooters, tattoos, dying their hair purple, getting piercings, going to the pot shop and buying the latest IPHONE to afford paying for food on their own…
My daughters once had a friend whose mom never cooked. She always got fast food. I had the girls peel potatoes one day when she was over and the girl said, “Omg, is that how you peel a potato? Can I try it?” So we let her peel potatoes!
She was over when we had homemade chicken and biscuits. She’d never had a biscuit before! She said the only time she had a home cooked meal was when her grandma came over.
Unbelievable to me how some people lives their lives.
The only thing my sister-in-law makes in the kitchen is reservations !!
I said to my wife, “Where do you want to go for our anniversary?” She said “Somewhere I have never been before.” I said “Try the kitchen.” Henny Youngman explains your friends mom.
Quite a few of my friends are very concerned about their grandchildren and how many meals they eat out.
The meals are eaten at fast food places like McDonalds almost every night.
I was amazed when they told me this, how can they afford to eat out each and every night.
I had taken a nice meal over to my friends daughter when she had a new baby.
A very simple easy to make meal and she and her husband and two boys seemed to love it and remarked on it for weeks after.
Her mother, my friend, told me that they never ate at home because their lives were just too full and busy running around after work taking the boys to sports practice and other commitments and her daughter did not want to cook and then have a mess to clean up after a long day.
Kind of sad.
My granddaughter, who’s in college, spent her winter break with me. Right before she left, she was making her shopping list. She actually cooks meals for her and roomies. So sensible and adorable!
My granddaughter at. her last job agreed to make healthy lunches, pack them up and bring them to work for a certain price. She was shocked that people had never made a home made salad, knew nothing about quinoa or how to eat healthy. She told me she was making enough to pay for her coffee fix at DutchBoys. lol
TPTB do not want the young educated on how to take care of themselves. If they did, home ec would still be taught along with shop class. Oh wait, you don’t need to know anything about your car if cars are going to be “gone”.
Many who qualify for EBT do not qualify for housing or live inside; they can’t cook, don’t cook or run AC’s or a furnace or store fresh produce and meats and eggs in a refrigerator. Many store food in a car or backpack and eat outside. The poor live in stress and may compulsively eat – fast. I agree with your observation, I see starkly different motivations in food selections.
Lol, I have a feeling a lotta folks gonna be wishing for some good ol fashioned processed food. My personal fav for stock piling is Peanut Butter. It won’t jack your glycemic index and is calorie dense and readily available. When you get hungry it all tastes good.
Peanut butter is my go to snack
Get a lot of it either at Costco or Amazon. You can always donate it if you get sensitive about expiration dates. I don’t and would rather have a 10 year old can than nothing at all (long as it smells ok).
Peanut powder has a much longer shelf life. Price not bad on Walmart store brand.
Have to check that out. Never heard of the powder version.
I buy pb in cases..deep in freezer.
Keep, not deep…duh
I don’t usually eat a lot of processed food, however, about three months ago when I saw where this was heading I searched for small shelf ready to eat meals for emergencies. Since then the prices have gone way up if you can find them. I have 6 citrus trees. Two figs a pomegranate tree and an enclosed raised bed garden for fresh veggies. Already have my seedlings started and some planted in the garden. Owning my own business I’ve learned to plan ahead. Never know when the next contract will be signed especially in these last two years. With 300+ bottles of drinking water I’m set for about 8 months. We need to continue to pray for deliverance for our country.
I’m waaaaay to old to die in a communist country.
Blessings to all
You can it powdered now.
Been adding peanut butter to the stash, in the smaller sized containers, along with creating quite a stash of coffee and popular spices from iodized table salt to paprika, dry mustards, etc. – figuring these might be more valuable that cash if we end up in a situation where we need to barter with friends and neighbors.
oh, and have also been purchasing yeast that comes in those little 3 piece packets and freezing them, believe frozen yeast has a longer shelf life, yeast will become a good bartering item.
Don’t forget soup bouillon!
Buy the 1 LB packages of SAF instant yeast that cost less than the 4 oz jars. The packets cost way too much. And they do keep forever in the freezer
Just bought a new-in-box bread maker at a church rummage sale. I’ve never owned one. Instructions say do NOT use the yeast that has to be dissolved in water first. So, those mini packets are OUT. I bought a 1 pound brick of it at Gordon Food Service yesterday.
Some people might really appreciate hot sauce for the bland beans. It’s a cheap barter item.
True, forgot about the peanut butter.
Really need more of that.
I think some misunderstand the term processed. Canned goods are processed!
If 350,000,000 people suddenly started to eat “fresh foods” only, you, yes you personally, would need bodyguards at the farmer’s market.
Our food delivery system is not set up to handle a nation that eats current crops only.
Yep. A hard rains a gonna fall.
My point was rather that the US population seem to eat/demand vastly less fresh vegetables, fruit and even meat than similar large populations in Europe, India or China who don’t seem to have any constant supply problems.
Our American diet definitely is heavy on processed foods, the convenience and variety available is part of that demand.
Households with single parents, both parents working and generally cheaper to purchase process foods (storage, economies of scale, etc) as well as growth in population centers over rural areas. all plays a role in food selection.
Mostly gone is the family vegetable garden, local community food processors etc.
India doesn’t have “supply” problems for millions of their citizens as their meals are basic rice or flat bread. Not much different for China-usually rice or other plant based staple, a little fish and occasional red meat.
Though China is currently raping the seas to obtain basic protein for its people.
Yes, but Europe is the more accurate comparison culturally, economically and supply chain wise.
No problems with fresh there.
I conclude it’s about demand. The magic of market capitalism is the infinite adaptability of commerce. If Americans wanted fresh they would get that demand catered for, just like Europe does.
The UK
In 2018, only 28% of adults were eating the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables per day – and the average (mean) was 3.7 portions per day. Fewer men than women meet the five-a-day guideline, and young people aged 16 to 24 are also less likely than other adults to get their five-a-day. In 2018, 18% of children aged 5 to 15 ate five standard portions of fruit and vegetables per day.
http://healthsurvey.hscic.gov.uk/data-visualisation/data-visualisation/explore-the-trends/fruit-vegetables.aspx
Try and serve stodgy English food to the French, Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, Portuguese and they’ll run screaming from the room
PS, we are just one portion behind you on fruit, but I see that as a good thing. Sugar is never good!
UK ranks 3rd in the world for eating sugar. USA comes in 5th.
We eat a lot of fresh veg, but its frozen in a lot of cases due to climate. A butternut squash would last 3 months on a counter in UK, but not where I live. The heat would mold it in around 7 days. I buy fresh, and freeze it, or I buy frozen.
I was thinking more along the line of eating simple foods.
Not the junk like foods that take up so much room in our grocery stores.
and things along that line.
Shelves and shelves of candy, chips, cookies, pop and so much more.
Freezers full of ice cream, frozen cakes, pies and all kinds of sweets.
I was not writing about canned vegetables, fruits, soups, rice a roni, mac and cheese, corn bread mixes, dried milk or potato flakes, and things along that line.
Decades ago we ate candy rarely and cake, cookies and pies only on a holiday or some ones birthday.
We rarely had pop either.
Now days people drag this crap home each and every week, sometimes every single day from the grocery store.
That was more my point about the processed junk.
We still do eat very little of the items in the chart.
And I do know that if these items are becoming scarce then it is only a matter of time before many others will be come scarce.
If/when things get really ugly here do you think many illegal aliens will choose to go home? I recall that for a year or so after the 08 crash most of the illegal aliens left here (Porterville, CA). It was amazing. No more loud blaring Mexican music, instead of most folks being hispanic here almost all the folks were white. English was the predominant language again.
PinP, Tulare here. We are blessed to live where we do. Fruitstands and vegetable stands as far as the eye can see. Hubby and I love to take drives into Exeter this time of year just for lugs of the CaraCara oranges. Just bought three lugs last week and delivered to our family members. I haven’t bought a fruit other than an apple in years. We have certain orchards that our favorites for certain stone fruit. Wait until it’s perfect and have a cutting up and freeze day. Glad to see the Central Valley here at SD spot.
Step one, remove all fiber and concentrate the flavor.
Step two, Add salt plus sugar, fat or both.
Step Three, Monkey with the ingredient list to make things appear healthier.
That is your standard processed food.
I used to think that until I visited a UK Asda, which here is called Walmart, and noted a 70ft long aisle that was just frozen pizzas!
Sundance…What about seeds…. what is your take on that?
Whenever I buy seeds or plants, I try to focus on heirloom varieties.
Each year, I harvest seeds from my best producers and then save them for the following year.
got it…I’m asking about the supply chain for them will there be any come spring? or stock up now?
I just ordered seed and seed potatoes. The stores around here don’t get in seeds until March and since this is an agricultural area, I was afraid any seeds that arrive in stores may run out. The local feed and seed store closed down 3 years ago.
Best place to grow potatoes is in buckets, and then throw the soil out for trash. Potatoes kill the ground!
I use 50-gallon Tupper wear containers. Works great
Say what? 50+ years of growing potatoes along with many fruits and vegetables and my soil is more alive than when I started. Potatoes have never “killed the ground”.
Sustainable and intelligent soil and nutrient management and practices comes into play when growing food.
Seeds for the consumer market have huge mark ups so I don’t think there will be a shortage. I save from year to year from my garden, but i am always a sucker for some new variety of this or that. Got my first seed catalog a couple of days ago and it’s chock-full of all sorts of things.
I’d get ’em now.
If the food supply goes down the crapper, there’ll be a run on seeds by Feb/March or so.
I was at a Menards today in Northern IL and they just put out their garden and seed items. The cashier told me she was very surprised by how many people were buying a ton of seed packets this early.
Buy now if you can!
I usually plan my seed orders around this time anyway, often earlier.
In the event that there is a run on seeds, I would suggest looking for seed coops, as an alternative to the major seed companies like Burpee.
Biodiversity initiatives, like Turtle Tree Organics, are an often overlooked source for seeds.
I’ve been trying to become more self-reliant by focusing on producing my own seeds, rather than buying from outside sources each year.
Don’t forget to grow microgreens
I order from https://www.rareseeds.com/ and yes I purchased tons of seeds a few months ago. See what they have in stock. They’re pricey, but their heirloom, which means you can save the seeds from the plants you grow and never run out of seeds again.
Ditto for me. I will be well supplied next spring for planting
I used True Leaf and got my fairly large order a couple weeks ago, I ordered all organic. Can’t wait to start planting!
Many community garden groups have “Seed Exchanges” and often especially heirloom varieties You can find them with web searches, and also (shudder!) social media.
2022 season seeds have been released. Stock up now. Why wait till everyone else is buying in Spring?
Check Hardware Stores, some supermarket chains, Whole Foods stores as well as all nurseries. Doesn’t matter where you buy them – all seed packages for all brands are pre-priced on the packages. For now. I just paid $2.69 each for everything Organic + Heirloom no matter what kind of seed.
Suggest you plan ahead with one other gardener and split the packages and cost if you don’t have the kind of space or want variety and not a bed of spinach or a bed of tomatoes or….plant root vegetables because they store well without refrigeration in cool climates and their nutrition far exceeds leafy greens.
You can dehydrate them then vacuum seal in canning jars with a common brake bleeder (yes, for your car) without using energy. Shallow rooted greens in pots, cut the tops, leave several inches + the root to develop new leaves. Greens – a luxury food. Without oils or proteins you can starve to death on greens. And on rabbits and rice which take more calories to digest them then are in them and use lots of fuel to cook them.
Start a compost heap now right down the middle of your garden. A sack of steer manure, kitchen scraps, leaves and pine needles for acid, dry materials; layer them – dry, wet, manure, repeat. Turn over a few times. as it builds heat -even in light snow if you master it. Be certain the decomposition is done and cool before turning some into the soil before planting. Don’t forget to pray over your labor, the soil and seeds and plants and give away 10%. May you have stories to tell of abundance.
You can hundreds of heirloom seed varieties at the Seedsaver’s Exchange here:
https://www.seedsavers.org/
Happy growing!
Love seedsaver’s exchange!
Their book is a must have for seed savers.
That’s great for those with experience gardening, but in a crisis situation I would have both hybrid and heirloom. At least you can count ( as much as any gardener can)on a crop with hybrids while learning to handle the other. Also think fertilizers, bug killers etc and canning supplies.
👍
I really would like to be able to grow anything more than my huge yearly raspberry crop, but the rabbits and other critters in my big yard search and destroy anything edible on sight (except the raspberries).
Is it possible to plant raspberries as a perimeter fence for the veggies?
We never use bug killers and very little if any fertilizers. I start a new large compost pile (8ftx 3ft) every spring and flip it with my small tractor bucket often. Of course you have to have enough room to do this. We fight pests with plantings of flowers and herbs. We use companion planting to work on strengths (of which 3 sisters is a common one).
You are very wise. Unfortunately heirlooms have very little disease resistance for producing more than a single batch of vegetable. Unless you have fungicides they will quickly be killed. Many hybrids have been bred for disease resistance and produce multiple crops each season if you keep the vegetable picked. If you save seed from hybrids you have 3 chances out of 4 to get the same production quality and result the next year. Fertilizer prices for granules have doubled already this year. You can get just as good if not better results by using water soluble fertilizer like the Miracle grow equivalent mixes. You have more control and can add them with a watering can, hose sprayer of thru your sprinkler system. You just have to use them on average once every two weeks during the peak growing period of each type of plant you are using. If you are organic you can make a very good liquid fertilizer from chicken or cow poop (Nicely named manure tea). Yes organic fertilizer best comes from shit. Non-organic Miracle grow comes from getting the same chemicals in shit from chemical bottles and putting them in a mix that will dissolve in water and not smell like shit. Plants want Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium as basic food. 10-12-10 on Bag means 10 parts Nitrogen,12 parts Phosphorus, 10 parts potassium in 100 pounds of pellets.If you can find the book “Plants are like People” by Jerry Baker you can learn many tips. If you insist on heirlooms at least give them some epson salt (Magnesium) and manure tea after planting. ( Most people with chickens are glad to give you chicken shit if you come and bag it yourself) Mix the poop in a 5 gal bucket (2lbs/5gal) of water let it set over-night and then you can pour 1/2 into another bucket and go and water your plants. For those of you worried about germs wear rubber gloves. Those of us that use this are old school and we just mix, pour and scoops poop without gloves as our immune systems have already become use to any germs. We ate mud pies when we were kids.
For chicken manure tea: Does the manure have to be aged or can you use fresh? No problem burning plants?
I once bought MANY heirloom tomto plants from a Southern California supplier, for a small fortune, because I thought they would be more tasty than the common varieties from my local nursery. The first year, they were meager producers. The second year they were decimated by horn worms, 18 plants GONE in one night gave me a huge case of the SADS. For a look at the biggest ugliest worm, google Horn Worm. i tried to copy and paste but failed.
Yup, they’re disgusting. I wonder if they’re edible?
Why yes. Yes, they are!
https://www.thedailymeal.com/recipes/fried-green-tomato-hornworms-recipe
I just received an order of seeds from St. Claire heirloom seed company. US seeds. Nice company to work with. All seeds are in small plastic bags within the usual paper envelope.
I have my seeds and am purchasing raised bed dirt and compost fertilizer materials (worm droppings, cow manure, mushroom compost, peat moss, Vermiculite) to get the best soil possible in my new and existing raised beds and pots.
We buy seeds every year even if we don’t have a garden, for just this reason and to help others when it’s bad. Store in fridge or freezer in mylar. My 09 pole beans sprouted just fine will transplant next week.
I was at the grocery store the other day and I noticed that Kaiser rolls which had previously only come in packages of six and eight, now came only in fours and, although the total price appeared lower, the unit price had nearly doubled.
Downsizing weights or quantity to increase price without appearing to do so has been prevalent since Obama’s reign of terror.
“New and Improved Packaging” always means smaller.
This especially notable with liquid products such as orange juice.
Love the much noticeably smaller FAMILY SIZE! PARTY SIZE! bags of chips and snacks 🙂
stealth inflation
5 lb bag of sugar is 3lb now
SHRINK-flation
Same price , less product in the box.
Things that were by-the-pound are now 12 oz. -14 oz package , etc.
Really screws up some recipes with the size changes.
Dating my self here.
#1 tin can = 16 oz now 14 oz
#2 tin can = 32 oz now 28 oz
And so on. and you pay as much or more per ounce.
Shhhhh, you’re not supposed to notice
powdered?
LMAO – Sure glad you put a question mark after “powdered” because I have no idea what you meant. Auwtsnae was talking about ROLLS (as in bread).
I was thinking powdered milk, potatoes, etc
We have some powdered eggs in storage.
Nice to have and can be used and store much longer of course than fresh.
Powdermilk Biscuits, heavens, they’re tasty, and expeditious! Made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers; so you know they’re not only good for you, but pure… mostly. Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the biscuit on the cover, or in the brown bag with the dark stains that indicate freshness. Whole wheat that gives shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done.
(back when Keillor was still funny)
Yup. That was a great show to watch or listen to. Then the real Keillor came out and it all went
the way of the Dodo.
Also, shop the independents if possible. Ie. IGA and the SuperRite supplied groveries.
Also, ALDI. I think their supply chain is different both international and domestic.
Yes, the nearest town has two grocery stores and I shop the locally owned one whenever store shopping. Was there a week prior to Thanksgiving and stock was good and prices weren’t bad on the stuff that I buy. I’ll be going back in a couple of weeks and it’ll be interesting to see the changes.
I’ve been watching Sundance’s list and shopping very frugally since the pandemic started last year. Still manage to feed one and a cat for five bucks a day. It is getting tough though.
Shop your local farmers and meat producers, too, as much as you can afford. Many are closed until the farmers markets reopen in the spring but we are going to need them to stay in business.
Fortunately, we sit right in the middle of the Central PA food producing ragion. Milk, beef, chicken, snacks, chocolate, pretzels, chips, etc. Lots of local farm outlets and stands year round. The PA Farm Show is on right now. Turkey Hill is 20 minutes away. Rutters is 20 minutes away.
Maybe Turkey Hill is right, EXPORTED from Lancaster County!
Bought a new chest freezer for the garage a few days ago…went to Aldi this morning and bought $400 worth of various meats/poultry to fill it up with. Cheapest place in town for groceries. Will continue shopping there.
Don’t forget Wildfork meat is cheaper than Aldi
Also look at Ollies, Big Lots etc. Obviously often are close to expiration dates, but people don’t usually run to those stores! Also, try “ethnic” groceries (I prefer Indian) for spices, flours and fresh produce as well.
My wife is from Taiwan. Shop Ranch 99 in Gaithersburg, MD, and the locals in Harrisburg & Lancaster, PA.
The surplus of Turkeys? I think demand around the holidays also was a factor.
I see plenty of turkeys, still. Its almost cheaper to buy a small turkey, than a large chicken.
Ironically, this may force more people to “perimeter shop”, as the most processed foods are in the center of the grocery store, the healthier (generally) and less processed foods, around the perimeter.
It has long been promoted, this “perimeter shopping” as being healthier.
But now, the center will be the most empty shelves, as key ingredients in heavily processed foods become unavailable, and shut down production.
Any guesses on how soon we see our first instance of food riots?
Grocery shopping
recently, I sensed SADNESS. NOT every shopper, but many, especially older shoppers (fixed income?) seemed sad, as they were looking at the shelves, and making tough choices.
How long till this spreds, and sadness is replaced by anger, and then RAGE?
Most turkey’s you buy at Thanksgiving were deep frozen the year before.
They are on an 18 month build-up.
Thank goodness I really like turkey!
Me too sunnydaze.
I buy several when they are cheap during the Easter holidays.
A nice fat turkey will make many fine meals.
I do the same with hams which are often on sale at the same time and freeze them too.
My local Aldi was out of turkey Thanksgiving week. Hams that were $1.59/lb were discounted to 95 cents a pound in December and all hams were gone by the day after Christmas. I have one boneless spiral sliced in the frig to make around the beginning of February.
i buy boneless spiral cut hams and divide them up in meal size freezer bags. Use them for salads, ham fried rice, breakfasts with fired apples and biscuits etc. pretty good way to stretch the budget.
I think they taste salty when they are frozen but then again my daughter came home from her first semester of university and wanted to know why I never use salt when it makes things taste so good.
Yummy.
And then replacement of …well you know
Older people; I know because I am one, have no recourse but to make tough choices. We don’t wave guns around nor
argue with people. We vote, but have come to the realization that our votes are stolen from us and have been for
decades. We are devastated to realize that our media protects evil and one cannot believe a word that comes out
of most talking heads mouths. We are glad that at our age we are not in the same shape mentally as Joe Biden; we escaped a bullet there. We realize our politicians have collaborated with large corporations to squeeze every drop from its citizens in order for them to have power and live the good life. Liberals think they are intellectual and know more than we rubes when, in fact, our expertise and experience can put anyone under 65 to shame. But, few pay
attention to us other than our remaining friends and family if we are lucky. The politicians don’t care about us;
they want us gone because they think we are a drain on their budget (or lack of one). We are the old school; they are
the new geniuses (in their own minds).
So, we struggle in silence and hope our children and grandchildren have enough guts to do what they have to do to
right the ship of freedom. And we pray.
Sorry, to be Debbie Downer, but that is the way it is for many older folks.
You are not a “Debbie Downer”. You are an American citizens making use of freedom of speech and saying what is so without whining. Consider yourself hugged by an old woman from Oregon. We do what we can. We don’t carry on and throw stuff. Most of those around us have no idea about the decisions and details we deal with all the time. If you’re like me, you balance your check abut 5-6 times a month because you absolutely cannot afford to make mistakes.
I’m in that boat with you.
Consider yourself hugged by a middle aged granny from Washington.
Awww, thanks!
And an ancient one from Arizona!
Make room in that boat, Amjean and Sharon. I’ll crawl in with you. And we’d better take turns rowing as fast as we can. The Covid Crypt Keeper Czar Ezekiel Emmanuel is after us.
Here’s from another oldie but goodie. I am with you Amjean. I am too old to man any barricades. But in some ways that is a blessing. I don’t have to hold my nose and vote Repub because I have already lived 80+ years in the greatest country that ever was. They can’t take me and my vote for granted anymore. I will not vote Establishment Republican EVER AGAIN. If that’s my choice I write in Trump’s name just to send them a message and at the same time pi$$ them off. Were I younger I wouldn’t have that luxury. I wld have to choose the lesser of 2 evils as I have since I voted Bush 1 instead of my real choice…Perot. I am tired of worrying about the next generation most of whom voted for Biden anyway.
maybe if we all wrote in trump on election day they could not change the votes with dominion machines
Your post reminds me of the song by The Steel Drivers called ” Where Rainbows Never Die”.
Love that song, and that band.
I always have to skip that song.
I remember back in the 50’s and 60’s, it seemed elders were respected and honored and relied upon for tutoring the next generations. Perhaps I caught the tail end of that era as an apprentice, learning the machine trade from the elders. In any event, time marches on I guess and like it or not it appears average citizen seniors have become throwaways.
One positive side effect is there’s no one banging on my door when things go sideways. Forgotten can be a good thing too. We know how to survive in these tough times. Our parents had it a lot worse. Comparatively, suffering so far has been pretty mild. Good thing I like the cold 🙂
I love our senior citizens. When the Democrats did a mass murder by dumping Covid patients in Nursing Homes, I felt extreme sadness and rage. There has to be accountability and justice for the tens of thousands the democrats murdered
my Hubby and I are blessed with our children, grandchildren and great grands. During the first year of the epidemic, they insisted we stay home. They came by and took our grocery lists and made sure we have everything we needed. That is when I really started using online shopping to build up a ‘nest egg’. This next week, my daughter is installing a shelving and inventory system, so I can better manage my resources.
Also I was raised by an Oklahoma native. Who raised 5 children on beans and potatoes. White bread was for special occasions. We had corn bread and biscuits for every meal. And our one old dog was skinny because there were few table scraps. lol Who knew it was a healthy way for all of us to eat. So this is not hard for me. My way of cooking is tastier too. When I had all the children at home, I used Sunday afternoon to prepare large amounts of spaghetti, beans and casseroles. I heard through the grapevine that someone asked my ex at a local coffee shop if there was anything he missed about me. His immediate answer was ‘Lord yes, her beans, no one could cook a better pot of beans than that woman”. lol
Thank you that was perfectly said. I feel the exact same way. Same as forcing people to inject something into their bodies. No one has struggled with my body for 80+ years. I’ll make that decision after prayer.
Amjean , your greatest contribution to those younger and will to listen is this :
You can admit you were deceived ( most can’t , no matter the age )
I’ve only known a few older than me who could do this and always gave their advice and wisdom the most weight. ( Teach …. you’re children well …. CSN&Y )
🙂
Sending you much love and respect.
I venture a guess that a lot of us feel betrayed by tptb, Been taking advantage of us baby boomers every step of the way. Wages held back, pensions taken away, med costs thru the roof, Housing prices inflated and no safe return on what little money one has managed to stash away and now they want that as well. Yep not happy with the 40 + years of getting screwed by one after another uniparty President. but now having to keep your head down and try and stay healthy long enough to avoid a nursing home.
I am in my 70s and still pretty feisty. So, I have a big mouth, too. However, I just figure it is time to pass the torch to a new generation of Americans, but they are not there. School board stuff attended by baby boomers…where are the parents? Very discouraging. Patriots meetings…mostly baby boomers or older. I comfort myself by saying well, by the time the children who are being abused and forced to wear masks and take an experimental drug come of age I will be dead or not involved. Who am I passing the torch to? Knock Knock…anybody there?
I too am puzzled littleflower.
Where is the younger generation who needs to be taking the reins?
I have decided that ready or not they need to take them.
It is their turn now as it once was ours.
So I will pass the torch and hope for the best while I live the rest of my life here on our acreage with what my husband and I have built over the last 4 decades.
Fish in the stream, wild life to hunt and cattle in the meadows, several acres of trees to burn for fuel if needed, a pantry full as well as a freezer a medicine closet as full as I can get it and a storage closet full of cleaning supplies.
Books and dvd shoved in shelves to the rafters, clothing for all seasons, tools for repair work along with some replacement parts.
We also have a few things scattered about that we do not tell any one about, you never know who will show up and try to take your stuff if they know you have it.
We have tried the best we could and it might not be enough, you just never know.
Only time will tell but now it is the kids turn and God help them.
I’m old, and don’t wave guns around, but I did get damn good laser sight so I won’t miss!
No Amjean — we need our elders now more than ever! It is your character and habits that we need to return to and follow. Be well and happy.
You would make a pretty fine neighbor and friend as far as I’m concerned. G-d bless you.
I plan on making sure no one in my community starves. I’ll find a way. It angers me to no end.
I’m also trying my hand at raising heritage breed turkeys this year. Much more expensive than buying Walmart frozen ones. I’ll let you know how I do.
I am honestly debating getting a .22 rifle and do squirrel hunting. It will be good for other small animals too but honestly not many squirrel hunt everyone deer and turkey hunts though.
My dad says squirrels taste like chicken so think of em as tree chickens organic too lol
If you eat them as your main source of protien, make sure you eat fats.
Wild animals, rabbits, deer etc have almost no body fat, cause they stay in shape, to eat and avoid predators.
The BRAIN is always a good source of fat, we are ALL “Fatheads”, lol.
So, in a SURVIVAL situation, if your diet is mainly game, eat the brain.
They are called ESSENTIAL fatty acids, for a reason.
The term “prion” comes to mind.
Wild rabbit, depending on the environment, is generally quite high in fat – leaving a greasy mouth-feel, in my experience. A quick web search says anywhere between 10% and 38% by caloric value.
My take: If you’re going to take the life of one of God’s creatures, you damn well better eat every last bit and make stock from the bones.
That said, brains, lymphatic nodes, and offal from any member of the rodent family, I generally avoid like the plague. Parasite-free pen raised on fresh veg? I *might* have a go. Mmmm, actually I’m still at “No Thanks!”.
I think if we get hungry enough we might just eat things we never imagined in our wildest dreams that we would chow down on.
There are so few left now who survived the destruction of Europe of WWII.
Their stories about the severe food shortages and what they ate to stay alive are hair raising and I have never forgot them.
I’ll bet your dad has that magic recipe that makes everything taste like chicken. I’ll chase a few your way.
I am planning on feeding my cats rabbits if push comes to shove. Go out early morning before the rabbits are gone and shoot a few for the cats.
There is also seasonal pressure on the supply chain.
Like many we are on the first day of thawing after major snow (in Nashville just talking about snow is a major event). Walmart was packed with people and the shelves, freezers and meat coolers all showing major empty spots. Will be interesting to see how long or if stocking gets back to normal.
We have been adding to our shelf stable food supplies each week that can be grouped together in convenient meals. Examples: Popcorn with different flavor powdered seasonings. Oatmeal with maple syrup and honey. Lots of dry pasta/rice and a variety of flavor packet seasonings. Of course ramen and canned soups (Campbells minestrone is going to be a staple if shtf). Spaghetti noodles and pasta sauce. Shells noodles with velveeta cheese or powdered cheese packets. Lots of organic spices and bullion to make healthy broth. Dried beans, hot sauce and pickled jalapenos. Tuna, dried noodles and and canned mushroom soup which I have nicknamed the apocalypse casserole because that’s the only scenario where husband will eat it. Dried organic herbs, spices and alcohol to make tinctures or teas. Equal parts cocoa butter, coconut oil and beeswax will make homemade lotion bars.
So much still to do and prepare. I wish we would have started this years ago. Going to try my hands at a small garden this year and maybe order some seeds.
Well, stock up on cambells minestroni while its available, but bear in mind, the more ingredients, the more likely itcwill become unavailable, since it only takes ONE ingredient being unavailable, to shut down production
We make our OWN minestroni, which STILL uses SOME prepared ingredients..
Cheap, canned spagetti sause, or tomato sause and italian spices, as the base. canned or frozen mixed veggies, italian meatballs, and noodles of your choice, added at the very end, so they don’t overcook, and cooked first, and drained, so they don’t absorb water.
We do it in crock pot, and cook noodles seperatel in pan on the stove.
Have similar recipe for home made chicken soup.
Lots of recipes for soups, and of all the things we are use to buying “pre-cooked” soups is probably the easiest, and any home made soup is far tastier, and more nutriscious.
I DO use the mushroom, cheddar cheese (good long term substitute for velveeta, cause its canned)
in other words, I use cambells soups for cooking something ELSE, not as soups per se.
Reading your comment makes me think it’s time for a recipe thread for such foods.
I make my own chicken noodle soup—canned chicken/bouillon/water/spag. pasta…..healthier.
If you’ve never gardened before, seeds are fine but you might want to pick up some plants as well until you are more experienced with seeds. Good luck and better that you started now than not at all.
I’m not a cook, but from what shows up on our table: your apocalypse casserole needs more garlic and cheese.
You’d be entirely forgiven if you sent roadkill to me.
Oh, that brings back memories of something a couple of coworkers showed me.
http://irossco.com/comedy/joke23.htm
Speaking of powdered cheese packets, I buy the Judee’s White Powdered Cheese from Amazon. (They have yellow, too, as well as an assortment of dried food…eggs, milk, merengue)
I know, Amazon. But the 11.25 oz. package is $8 cheaper than the Judee’s website.
We make the cheese sauce for Mac and cheese, sprinkle on popcorn, make broccoli & cheese sauce for baked potatoes…lots of recipes on the company website. https://www.judeesfromscratch.com/
I mean no offense, but gardening is so much more than pushing seeds in the ground. Please consider purchasing a seed planting guide, a beginners guide to gardening. You can take it from there.
oops, mis-posted
Yes it is Dave.
So much depends on your local growing season, climate and your soil.
It is a lot of hard work and takes a lot of time.
For gardening, lettuce, spinach, chard, summer squash, winter squash, beans, peas, cucumbers, okra are ALL so easy to grow from seed. Potatoes are so rewarding and easy too. For plant starts, tomatoes, peppers, and some herbs (rosemary) are easier to get at the local plant store. Or you could winter sow tomatoes now (plant tomato seeds in milk jug)
“Tuna, dried noodles and and canned mushroom soup which I have nicknamed the apocalypse casserole because that’s the only scenario where husband will eat it.”
LOL
Ha, your apocalypse casserole needs some crushed potato chips on top to entice hubby to eat it.
My daughter was in a Dollar General store (Georgia) on Tuesday and they were giving away gallons of milk. The manager was telling her that they have no choice what gets delivered to them and they received too much milk and could not sell by expiration. Limit two gallons per person.
Really easy to make yogurt and soft cheese.
I’m kind of obsessed w/ looking at Expiration Dates on everything I buy. Just want to make sure I get the longest-lasting stuff.
They are *always* there, even tho they’ve been getting harder to “find”- small print/cloudy print, odd locations, etc.
Anyway, they *were* always there until today. TWO items fr/ Aldis had no Exp. Date, anywhere to be found. Almost like they are intentionally starting to leave them off.
My thought was that , as products get limited, Grocers don’t want people NOT buying stuff , just because the Exp. Date is passed. So they’re just gonna start leaving it off.
Yes, exp dates are an absolute must when you rotate stock. On occasion, I have found shelved items with very short dates on them. For items such as dog food, I write the date of purchase in a visible location for proper rotation.
I’ll recommend bright pink stickers you can write the date on. Much easier to find. Works for room temp stuff. Might be likely to fall off in fridge.
Which products?
Kalamata Olives and some refrigerated Spinach/Ricotta Ravioli.
sunnydaze, I had not noticed that at Aldis. What products didn’t have expiration dates?
LOL, I remember when food stuffs didn’t HAVE a “sell by”, or “best buy” date, and frankly we all survived just fine, and very rarely if ever bought packaged goods that were spoiled.
Like fanatical use of hand sanitisers, and disinfectants, I think being obsessed about sell by dates, CAN get a little over the top.
They found honey, in clay jars, in the tombs of the pharoes, so 2000 years old?
It had chrystalised, but they heated it up, it reconstituted, and was FINE.
And yet, look at the honey in your cabinet, or at the store; yup it has an “expiration date”, lol.
Cause the govt mandate says ANY consumable food item, MUST have an expiration date!
Yep, so you HAVE to go out and buy more!
LOL I remember when each item had a price sticker on it.
I had forgotten about that Dutchman you are so right.
Mom looked at the product and if it did not pass her inspection she put it back.
We were never sick from any canned, boxed, frozen or packaged product ever.
see above
Organic dairy has expiration dates that are quite a ways out vs non-organic. Will be looking for these items next week.
Kroger has milk in pints and quarts (only) that are packaged in some way that the expiry date is far out. I bought a quart of skim and a quart of 1% for $1.50. Expiration dates were in June 2022. We’re a 2 person household, and I’ve found that I’d been throwing away milk from the 1/2 gallon size, after it had gone sour in just a few days. I’m going to stock up on more quarts tomorrow.
I have noticed this as well! I asked one of the stockers at a local grocery for the expiration on a milk carton and we both couldn’t find it, there were numbers but impossible to figure out an expire date
wow. Now *that’s* bad!
Canned/jarred I can see. But milk?
Canned goods can last decades. What many don’t realize, is canned goods get stamped when they get ordered! The tuna could have been sitting in China for 2 years before Walmart calls it up. It is then when it gets date stamped! https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/27/you-toss-food-wait-check-it-out
I’m using canned goods BB dated 2013. They are fine.
Soon you will be prohibited from growing your own food due to the strain on the climate.
Another Gubmint mandate.
They own the food supply.
Where I live, local govt pretends there’s a shortage of water, and so gardeners face huge fines if their water consumption exceeds a certain amount. Also watering times for gardens and lawns are sharply restricted. Good news is, though that city-owned golf courses and parks are able you all the water they needs, whenever it suits the city.
My blueMA town also pretends there’s a water shortage. I was wondering whether I was paranoid. But this last year was one of the wettest I’ve ever seen – I’m sure it set a record for rainfall in this area though they’ve been quiet about that too.
STILL the stupid highway signs and the odd/even days. At least this year they didn’t stop all watering entirely throughout the summer as they did the previous two years.
While it’s not too bad for a citizen to have a garden, agriculture takes huge amounts of water and controlling water, both ag and domestic, is one other way of controlling food.
That was part of the reason I chose to retire to an area with high rainfall rates that the state can’t control and a year round creek that the rains in the forest and the lakes there feed. It flows right past my pump house and besides enjoying the fish in it, I can dip and intake in it and get gardening water if I don’t want to use the well.
Lessons learned from decades of servicing the agricultural industry in an irrigated desert. Water is huge.
Hah! Every time I go to get water, at 300 gal. for ONE DOLLAR, I recall all the times in the city, buying one gallon of drinking water, for a buck, or even worse buying the packs of bottled water at greater per gallon price, and shake my head.
300 gallons for $1, and I livecin the high desert, mind you!
Doubt that.
And we might possible be prohibited from storing food.
Believe it or not some foreign governments prohibit citizens from “storing” food.
The people have strict limits on how much of things they can have in their own homes.
So many pounds of this and so many cans of that.
The first time I saw this I was amazed, I have been wondering the last few years if our government was ever going to try something like that.
I went to the independent grocery store in our town this morning and although they are slightly more expensive
overall than the larger chain grocery store, their butcher shop is excellent and expansive and the store is very
convenient for small orders.
The first thing I noticed is that on their busiest day at 8:40 AM (they open at 8) the meat counter was 25% empty
of product. They told another customer that they were packaging meat in the back. So, either a shortage of meat
or personnel. Also, a medium size head of broccoli was $5.00/lb. I purchased frozen on sale for $1.89 LOL!
The story I heard is that the Biden gang was trying to shut down 30% of agriculture production by paying farmers 1 1/2 the value of their crops if they left their land lay fallow and if they did not comply they would be ineligible for subsidies.
Is that in print anywhere?
Years ago it was called soil bank that was 60yrs ago. Now they call it renting the land to let it go fallow. Agriculture
Sec. Tom Vilsack runs the program has to do with climate change. lookup Tom Vilsack climate. It goes hand and hand with population control, you know to save the planet. Covid anyone have you gotten your clot shots yet?
“Years ago it was called soil bank that was 60yrs ago”
Yes! I will never forget the silence and the quiet/frustrated/disgusted comments when my father and the neighboring farmers began dealing with “the soil bank” in the 1950s. It was such utter nonsense–being paid not to grow things. So yeah–it started a LONG time ago.
Tom Vilsack | Climate Onehttps://www.climateone.org › people › tom-vilsack
Tom Vilsack is focused on making sure the U.S. is in a position to adapt and mitigate in the face of food shortages. As the Secretary of Agriculture for the …
Vilsack announces $633M for rural climate-smart infrastructurehttps://kiwaradio.com › ag-news › vilsack-announces-6…
Dec 6, 2021 — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Friday said the USDA’s announcement tops $633 million. He says rural America is on the front …
There is no inflation if demand is falling because population decline. In fact you get deflation, so price stability requires a reduction of supply alongside a reduction in demand. It has to be a controlled contraction.
The FDR administration wrenched the agricultural product supply chain to put a floor under prices. My paternal grandparents were Iowa farmers at the time. I never saw my saintly grandfather appear so angry as when I asked him about the program by which the federal government sent people who showed up on farms and killed cows. He said that it did not happen to him but happened to a nearby neighbor. Pop said that the terrible thing was that there were hungry people who relied on soup kitchens in the cities. He wanted to produce the food but the government cut the supply chain.
Source?
There were articles/interviews w/ farmers a while back talking about this.
It was all on the internet so should be searchable- unless TPTB have removed it, that is.
My mom told me that during the Depression the government told farmers to destroy their wheat. My guess is that’s been going on for a very long time – perhaps more with Dim administrations?
Real potatoes (and sweet potatoes) last forever if you just keep ’em in a cool, dark place. ie. Pantry/closet floor spread out on newspaper.
I started keeping red potatoes in the fridge- cuz they get *sweeter* the longer they’re in there!
Dont potatoes ( white ) that turn green inside with age contain a toxin ?
Yes they’ll get green, so you have to keep them away from sunlight. Also, they store real well if you do not wash them. Potatoes do not just turn green with age. It is the sunlight.
YouTube -> How to Store Potatoes.
One thing you can store successfully in refrigerator: bananas. Believe it or not. I buy them with a little tinge of green and store them in the fruit drawer in their plastic bag. The skins turn brownish, but the bananas are still firm and delicious. Learned from my son.
No, they are dug green or white, they only get eyes after that. A little green won’t hurt ya.
Yes, my mom always told me it could give you a stomachache, no idea how much. She has me trained to just keep peeling until I get the green removed. Haven’t had a stomachache yet from potatoes.
WE used to keep them in large bin in basement filled with sand and they stayed good all winter long. We bought burlap bags full straight from the farmer right after harvest.
You can do that with carrots too!
Yes!!
Carrots also last forever.
In Fl not possible unless you built in a root cellar. I have heard of some ideas like burying a cooler etc but who know it that will work in FL. If it’s not moisture it’s heat here.
Carrots, onions, oranges, and apples, also. From autumn through mid-spring, I store them in a small unused bedroom with the heat almost shut off. When they’re on sale at a low price, I buy a few bags/cartons. I live in a Canadian climate.
I live in Florida. That will never work here. We also don’t have basements lol
I’m in N. FL. They do fine in a closet.
If your in S. FL., I guess you could try and air-conditioned closet, if you’ve got one.
I wouldn’t go all in down here, like Sunshine can farther north.
But you could try the onions, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.
So do onions.
Yep!
My expert says to store potatoes in dirt. Just as they come.
If you have a hill nearby, you might consider constructing a cellar; dark, near constant temperature (maybe 50s), should be dry. Canned goods, potatoes, other stuff I’ve forgotten, salted ham….
I have a trick for storing mushrooms – take the plastic wrap off the container and put the blue plastic tray with the mushrooms inside a paper bag in the frig.
They may get a little wrinkly but will not get slimy as they do inside the plastic wrap.
Go to Wisconsin they have more cheese and milk than they know what to do with.
Wisconsinite here – I make my own yogurt, butter and cheese. My parents grew up on dairy farms. Many of my relatives are small dairy farmers. I learned early on how to use the available resources. Been going to the same butcher shop for almost 30 years. There is an honest to goodness grain mill nearby. We get eggs from the locals that have chickens.
The whole “buy local” thing has been ingrained in me since I was a kid.
You have me at buy something other than Heinze or Kraft (both politically active mega corporations). Our family loves to buy generic store brand items and Goya of course.
.
When in doubt buy local items and brands.
.
We even buy generic cola now, no stinking COKE or Pepsi anymore.
Generic brands are often canned or bottled by the big boys
I read that years ago-like my MOM worked at Frigidaire for 17 years and whatever emblem was at the assembly line was put on the appliances.
Generic brands are fine with me, except for a few items. Hellmann’s mayo (Best Foods) is such a product. Not one jar of it at WalMart today (SE Arizona).
Agree—Bring on the Hellmann’s!
I’ve started using the Duke’s brand. Pretty good.
This was our store on Thursday with snow forecast. No lettuce at all. Things already tight during bad weather.
My wife has just returned from our small town supermarket here in Texas where a lot of the shelves were empty or very low on stock. The bag lad who assisted her in loading the car told her that the storeroom at the back is usually quite well stocked but has been nearly empty for the last few days. Cat food was low and hardly any frozen potato products, just a couple of bags of Hash Browns.
PS: It was also mentioned that some local restaurants were coming into the store to purchase food due to their own supply issues !
Today as I do on every Saturday I browse the three weekly sale newspapers for Shaws, Stop and Shop, and Market Basket. This week not a single one of them had a sale on beef, chicken breast, or even pork. 80% lean ground beef was the only thing on “sale” for all three at 3.79 to 3.89 per pound.
With supply chain disruptions and shortages limiting competition, I would expect fewer and fewer sale blurbs, which are primarily to get people to shop at that store instead of another, buying the loss leaders and hopefully buying the more profitable items too.
I grew up with the circulars, used to deliver them in the newspaper, and the store windows plastered with weekly sale items; where I live now, nothing, no sales, no signs, no advertisements of any sort that I’ve seen, not even product signs like the old days. No need. Two stores, gotta drive dozens of miles to get to any competition. Captive audience. As shortages deepen I see it getting more and more like that.
Sounds like you’re in my area. I get roasts from Market Basket whenever possible because they are just as good as the ones from all the stores you name and always less expensive.
Well, at the suggestion of a fellow Treeper, I finally purchased powdered eggs. Need to find a good powdered half and half/cream next. Suggestions?
google found this one. Looks like a good place to start for reference (note, the original link was very long and showed a price of 18.99. I shortened the link, and tested it and the price was 23.99.
https://www.judeesfromscratch.com/products/judees-heavy-cream-powder
Found this one as well – 13.29/lb
Anthony’s Heavy Cream Powder, 1 lb at Amazon (I can’t get a link to work for that one)
I just recommended Judee’s upthread! I buy their powdered cheese- I buy it on Amazon for $10.99 vs. $18.99 from Judee’s. 60 servings.
You can find that on Amazon, but I quit Amazon. LOL.
Search on amazon if you use them, I have bought powdered sour cream, heavy cream and while milk and whole eggs, butter powder etc, just watch dates. Quaility has been pretty good. Not every day but when butter hits 10 a lb well…..
Aldi, 8 ounce for $1.49
Thank you for this, Sundance! I’m pregnant & want to prepare. 🙏🏼
Congratulations.
Make sure you get the good stuff! Natural peanut butter, honey, and you can freeze cheese, butter and eggs. Just crack the eggs into those large ice cube trays and pop one out as you need it
I buy cases of pb and freeze them.
Thank you for that suggestion of freezing eggs in ice cube trays.
Can learn so much, here at the Conservative TREE HOUSE. Just Saying
I noticed that all of the processed items are in short supply, the stuff you have to cook from scratch, and can be kept frozen or dried is in good supply,,,,,,,just stock up, and remember, save your pork grease, and your hardwood ashes from your firepits, fireplaces, or woodstoves, you can make your own soap, make friends with your local herbalist (like me) and make your own vinegar from your apple cores,,,,,check your neighborhoods for fruit trees, nut trees, and untreated lawns, you can eat this stuff
Yeah, but when the processed is gone, they’re coming for the good stuff!
I just ordered a spaghetti noodle maker, as well as #10 cans of powdered cheese and butter. You can make your own variations of Mac&Cheese for tough times.
Red Potato flakes are also a good item for long-term storage.
Wow, powdered butter never thought of that one.
Where did you get your powdered butter?
Currently half price
Thanks so much Right to reply looks good so I ordered.
Check for “Ghee” — butter in glass jars; don’t need refrigeration until opened. Often found in ethnic food aisles.
Confirming the Sundance warnings ( thank you BTW )
Canadian trucking industry warns Truedau Gov mandates will hurt supply chains.
@TrueNorthCenter
@010Bravo
Local pig farmer was at the winter farmers market today and had EVERYTHING in stock. Usually he is sold out of one or more items. My freezer is stuffed but I managed to find room for 2 pork chops, 4 kielbasa and 8 maple sausage patties. I also bought eggs from him. I’m going to cook a pork roast this week and go back on Saturday for another one to replace it and probably some bacon
He had it all because they took 8 pigs to market while his processor had enough help to do them. The processor has had issues with workers being exposed to covid and having to quarantine.
Here in Maine my local butcher has too much pork! With restaurants closed the demand dried up but the pigs keep on growing.
A local group that does free biweekly dinners to help those with food insecurity issues said the cost of Styrofoam containers and whatever gloves they use for serving have doubled. It’s a significant effect when you are doing 600 dinners at a time. If those disappear from the shelves, I think they’ll need to stop the dinners.
Bought groceries this morning. Not a single frozen french fry on the shelves. Store brand of frozen veggies not there either. Talked to the meat market guy and he says chickens are scarce and prices going up on all meat again. And alot of people he didn’t recognize hitting the meat. People coming from other towns hitting the small town stores. 😤
We have noticed the absence of our favorite hash brown potatoes for over a month now. We do go to another market in town that usually does have them, but even that is getting sparse. Why the heck would anybody limit hash browns, It is a mystery to me. Love them with breakfast. Otherwise our market has been pretty well stocked here in So. Calif. Yes, we do want to leave too, but it might be too late for us to go to a better State. If anybody knows why the hash browns got picked on, please let me know.
Family in San Joaquin Valley,CA, also finding hash browns in short supply. It wasn’t long ago that we saw mounds of potatoes going to waste in Idaho. Weird.
Learn how to make your own hash browns; it isn’t difficult, but like anything there are tricks, the i-net is your friend, here.
Order Online and get them delivered! https://wildforkfoods.com/collections/sides-1
We too, have not been able to find our huge bags of hashbrowns.
Kids love them, and the funniest part, I have been saving my precious bacon grease just like Grandma Elaine and my mom and use it to fry the hashbrowns. Mmmmmmm. add some dehydrated onions and our dried chives and let them get crispy…
Costco had the HUGE bags of OreIda tater tots today. Bought 4 bags today
yep, we are back there. Save your bacon grease as bacon is through the roof.
Found the large bags of bacon bits at costco and have used them in a bunch of things. Bought three more bags of them today. $9.00 or so for 1.25 lbs and really shelf stable, refrig or freeze after opening.
Lots of cool tips here folks. Gonna hop on the Amazon death star thingy and get me some of that dried butter, half and half and eggs. Morman neighbor hooked us up with a bucket of cereal(20 yr) and dried milk(20 yr), but need to check the dates.
My pantry shelves are bowing…..feels good to be prepared(almost).
Weird day today out shopping. Feels like early 2020 all over again.
Prepare!
&f=1&nofb=1
Thanks, I mentioned that in another post but could not think of the name and just used what we had left. Hate powered fat free milk but this is doable.
I just read (maybe on an earlier thread) that powdered milk is often fat free because it doesn’t go rancid as much as powdered whole milk.
Just wondering, if I buy condensed canned milk, can you add water to it and it will be close to regular milk?
No–evaporated milk with can of water is Milk.
Makes sense!
The condensed is sweetened. IIRC, we used to mix the evaporated canned milk half and half with water when we would run out of milk. Not too tasty but we used it on our cereal in a pinch.
I just ordered Nido milk from Amazo…two cans cheaper than one can..Probably BB date isn’t current, but I keep mine in the freezer. I went to the site to order more and unavailable.
2 cans 12 oz for $10.00 –not bad.
The ONLY powdered milk that I can drink!
This is not gonna’ help matters. 28k+ pounds.
USDA Alert: Thousands of Pounds of Ground Beef Recalled in 7 States Over E. Coli Concerns
By Jack Phillips
7 Jan 2022
https://www.theepochtimes.com/usda-alert-ground-beef-recalled-in-seven-states-over-e-coli-concerns_4199943.html
The recalled products were shipped to retail locations in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, according to the release. They have the number “EST. 965” in the USDA mark of inspection.
FYI. Recalled meat does not get thrown away, it gets ‘recycled’ into processed foods. 🤔
Just bought my first bag of powdered mash,
(dedicated Bob Evans Loaded)
And what I suspect was my last bag of Nathan’s frozen french fries ( love’em )
It’s been grim in these two aisles for over a month already…
My convection oven also works as an air fryer. To make “french fries”, I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper then put oiled potato slices on the paper. I prefer olive oil. Salt, pepper, into the oven. I usually turn them once with a spatula.
A lot less messy than frying on top of the stove.
Appreciate this information.
Thank you.
Communism 2.0 is a lot like the same ol’ communism. Nothing improved.
It was supposed to be different this time.
Gee, and we really haven’t got to experience the best parts yet, we will it appears.
Good ideas. Others: Avoid processed foods, get to know local farmers and ranchers (depending upon where you live, local could be a couple hour drive), buy in bulk from local producers. Buy seeds and grow a victory garden (there’s a lot too that depending upon where you live, but if you can’t grow a garden, purchase microgreen seeds in bulk and grow the tender greens on your kitchen counter). Focus on high calorie foods (pumpkin, potatoes, beans) because when food is scarce, you need the calories.
I actually bought a variety of organic potatoes (small bags) that I’m letting “go to seed” and I will be planting them in the spring so I don’t have to hunt down “seed potatoes”. You can actually grow potatoes in a garbage can or bucket (youtube it for techniques).
There are so many creative ways to grow food, even if you don’t have the land. The hardest part for many people will be adjusting to non-processed foods and the lack of convenience. Costco has a great spice collection in large containers, fairly inexpensive. Having an array of spices really helps.
No salted butter at Walmart today. Cat food has been scarce for a while, now canned dog food is running out. (SE Arizona)
It takes time and energy, to replace convenience.
But, since their policies mean no work, and no $, we have time and energy, to grow our own.
Glad you brought up the word “convenience” Dutchman.
Way way way back when I was a kid and all of the fast and frenzied living was just starting to replace the nice and easy post war life all of the big companies who were starting to make all of the stuff that housewives found they could not live with out used that word “convenience” to sell just about all of their products.
Anything to make the ladies work easier.
Most of them really were a Godsend like automatic washing machines and vaccume cleaners and what we really loved in southern Az AIR CONDITIONING which did not save labor but make life much more bearable.
Some how some where along the line many of us are doing much of nothing sitting around watching TV sets as big a cars and eating junky fast food that was picked up in less than ten minutes and eaten even faster.
We have been pushed to the limit by the concept of “convenience” so we could “save time and labor” to do something else and now so many do nothing.
I wish I understood this better, it does not seem to be a good thing this “convenience” .
I remember when “TV Dinners” were introduced! They were considered, by my many siblings at least, fine dining.
If you have the money buy a Harvest Right home freeze dryer. Ordered the medium size in October and it arrived two weeks ago.
Fantastic USA customer service. Heavy unit but very easy to set up and go.
Freeze dried food able to be packaged in 7 mil mylar bags, add O2 absorbers and seal (all included). Good for 20 yrs+ or vacuum seal in canning jars for 1 – 2 year storage (not included).
So far have done (and tested) 5 lbs ea. raw, shell on colossal shrimp, raw, eye of the round, raw, petite sirloin, ham slices, raw hamburger. On tap are pineapple slices, apple slices and pork loin. All have been on sale in the last three weeks.
Note: All cuts of meat are sliced to 3/4″ thickness.
No affiliation with company; but am a fan. Look for website with any search engine.
I have one on my wish list. I have watched plenty of Youtubes on them.
Harvest Right has a payment plan. From their website:
LAYAWAY YOUR FREEZE DRYER WITH 0% INTERESTWE’VE MADE IT EASY TO OWN A FREEZE DRYER
Lock in your sale price with a downpayment ($250 minimum)*
Pay as much as you want, when you want
Receive 0% interest until paid in full. Your freeze dryer will ship after you’ve made your final payment.
The first thing I noticed in short supply is canned cat food. Shelves 1/2 empty all last year at Walmart. Yesterday not a can to be found on the shelves in cat food. Other items in sparse supply were sausage, lunch meat, bacon, frozen chicken tenders and breasts. Fresh produce in sparse in the green area. Only a limited supply of fresh citrus came in before Christmas. Frozen vegetables holding up. Items in hardware section not being replaced–household air filters in particular. Items in pharmacy area in limited supply are antacids, seasonal cold items and alcohol. Some shelves in cleaning supplies have been empty for a year at my local Walmart.
I hate Amazon but for my fur babies, I purchased large quantities of their fave. I now have a good supply in . But we also started weaning off the wet food onto the dry Iams. They rebelled but now they look forward to one tbsp. per night. We’ve noticed that they’ve slimmed down nicely, which the vet had recommended.
my BJ’s have been good since March. 50# Thai rice can be spotty but, pork is 2$/lb and beef is 7/8$. Citrus has been weak all season.
Exactly! Everything you say above is what I see happening also. I feel pretty well stocked up, but who knows how long this may last?
Thank you to Sundance and all the posters who are listing the things you have bought or are buying. I continually see things I haven’t thought about or haven’t bought enough to last a while and then make my list for tomorrow. Think I’ll buy some more deodorant, shampoo, and toothpaste. Another multi-vitamin. I noticed that there are plenty of bakery goods like cookies and donuts. People are buying up staples, but I did see 2 or 3 shoppers today with fairly full baskets – not long-term stocking up, though. There doesn’t seem to be much panic buying yet, but as the store shelves are emptied, it will happen, I’m sure, just like the toilet paper panic.
Good idea.
Need to check the shampoo and other stuff.
We have local Amish that make soaps and shampoos but there is not substitute for the much needed over the counter mass produced medicine.
People here talk a lot about “buying local” but there is no local for cough syrup, motrin, laundry or dish detergent, and the so many things that we take for granted and can usually be picked up at a gas station convenience store.
Will these be available?
Buy a few bars of Fels Naptha soap, a box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda) and a box of Borax. Sundance’s recipe for laundry soap using these items. It costs about 40 cents per jug and takes about 15 minutes to make. Recipe:
Laundry Detergent-Homemade
Makes 2 detergent containers’ full.
1/6 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated or chopped into a large saucepan
ADD: 3 cups water to the shavings. Heat over medium high heat until soap dissolves and melts.
ADD to the hot mixture: 1/4 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda) and 1/4 cup Borax.
STIR until dissolved.
POUR 2 cups Hot Water from the sink into a large bucket.
ADD the hot soap mixture and stir well.
ADD additional 11 CUPS of tap water. Stir.
POUR, using funnel, into the empty detergent containers. Put the tops/caps on the containers.
SET ASIDE overnight, allowing it to thicken and gel up.
It will be like a watery gel, perhaps a little lumpy. STIR OR SHAKE BEFORE EACH USE, as it will continue to gel. The detergent is low-sudsing. It may also be used as a laundry pre-treatment. Try it for pre-treatment using a spray bottle, if desired.
Cost: about 40-50 cents. Other than the overnight wait, it takes about 10-15 minutes to make.
I think a lot of us have been stocking up all along. I did notice yesterday at Costco that it was packed to the point of driving around waiting for a spot to park, yet people were buying only a couple of things. I had my cart loaded down and I looked around wondering if people were already prepared, oblivious, or shopping every other day for items. On that note, our Costco was well stocked by all appearances. Lamb was missing, which was expected as that comes from New Zealand. They’ve stopped carrying the yeast blocks in store and did not have any Basmati rice.
Buy local products = no supply chain.
I love these threads in which Treepers are giving us updates on grocery store inventories around the country. It would be really helpful to know what states or regions folks are talking about.
North Florida here
To add to this learn to cook from scratch. Remember the term cooking from scratch only means it didn’t come from a box, bag or can. If you eat bread, learn to make it yourself. There are tons of bread recipes out there and it’s easy to make. A bag of bread flour goes a long way. Buy whole chickens and learn how to butcher it yourself. It’s easy and takes about 5 minutes once you get it down. Casseroles are king! Stick whatever goes together in a pyrex, season it and cook it. Heats up well for multiple meals.
When buying a bread maker, I did a rough calculation, and for the $2.50 it costs me for 1 loaf of bread, I can buy the ingredients for MANY.
I buy $1 bread.
I am not sure that I have even seen a whole chicken in the store in years.
Will need to look next time, was taught to cut a chicken as a kid.
I know people are tired of the “when I was a kid story” but I am really glad I was raised the way I was.
No processed food, simple cooking and what my Mom called a farm table.
Whole milk, real butter etc along with lots of fresh vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, avocados, celery at every meal.
We also had at least two hot vegetables, I think with 5 boys and me Mom was trying to stretch the meat or maybe she was just taught to cook that way herself.
My husband was raised in a family that had a huge slab of meat and hardly any vegetables for dinner and tried to raise a fuss when I set out our table with small meat portions and lots of fruit and vegetables and bread.
Always bread at every meal.
He told me that it was uncouth to eat bread and potatoes together and I told him he was a stuck up snob and his Mother could shove it where the sun didn’t shine.
Sadly all of his sisters had weight problems as did his mother.
Genetic, maybe or was it all of the sweets they ate at every meal and the sugary drinks they sucked down.
Anyway back to the topic, yes and casseroles are King.
He’d have apoplexy in the UK. At full meals, called roast dinners, two types of potatoes are served…boiled and mashed. I got used to everything British, but could never understand that.
He loves potatoes just for some reason did not think that bread and potatoes should be served together.
Go figure.
Yes. We started cooking from scratch years ago because of food allergies. Also there are other grains to make bread than just traditional wheat. My youngest has a wheat allergy so we have experimented with many different grains. Buckwheat has become a staple. It is also good to grind your own, as the whole groats/berries hold their nutrition/are shelf stable longer than grains that have already been milled.
(4) Purchase freeze dried (not the same thing as dehydrated) from emergency suppliers.
Expensive, so be very selective, with freeze dried.
Pretty much anything you can buy in an old fashioned tin can, do.
Save freeze drying for specialty items.
Did a Sam’s Club shopping and found meat prices are up. Butter is a 100% increase and the freezer is stocked with every brand of “plant-based” garbage. I’m a vegetarian ( most of my life) and would never touch those “impossible” or “beyond” over-processed burgers. I guess, I don’t understand the need for foods to have “meat” textures. It looks like the government is pushing such a concept and companies are complying.
At Publix Grocery Store, dairy is constantly running low, fries were wiped out in the freezer, some produce absent, crackers aisle gone.
I have been noticing for some time in our local grocery chain that in some instances the organic is the same price as non organic, occasionally lower. Best deal for organic fruit: bananas. Check it out, same price as non organic sometimes less. Ditto organic lemons. It varies, but why would you buy non organic if you can get organic for the same price? Tastes better…still can’t figure out why sockeye salmon has gotten more expensive..what’s going on in Alaska?
Fukushima is going on in Alaska. Crab harvest crashed . Legions on fish , seals , whales……..
” Experts ” are baffled !
Not sure what you mean; are the fisherman sick? Of Biden? And Murkowski? Just kidding, but sockeye salmon is the one fish I have been able to depend on…
here in the upper Midwest — plenty of Canadian Rye Whiskey and red wine from CA and france — cheers
well I did notice in western nc my chardonnay was on sale for a very good price so I stocked up.
At the store today, I noticed that most of the frozen potato items (tater tots, french fries) were out of stock, that organic fruit was about the same price as regular fruit, and that there was a lot more turkey and a lot less chicken in the meat area. And I don’t normally notice things like that unless the contrast is extreme, like it was today.
Well in Western NC which has seen empty shelves for almost two years, this week was actually a disaster. I have never seen anything like this. We had a snow storm on Monday and trucks did not make it in..I can see stuff has now arrived but at Whole Foods, holy cow, employee told me that the missed trucks due to storm just caused everything to backup and it will take a while to recup.
They’re expecting something like 5 million people to call in sick next week with Chi Com Fauci Moronic Flu.
Funny that the big story is in UK DM not the US media.
Looks like the Bidenistas are paying a major game of Chicken with the American people to see who flinches first.
There are many of us who are armed and who are not going to back down. If the NY Gestapo thinks that they are going to come to my home and inject me with the gene treatment, they had better be prepared for what’s going to happen. Not something I am going to elaborate here but use your imagination. And I am not the only one.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10381669/Five-million-people-call-sick-week-hits-second-highest-daily-case-count.html
Keep hanging tough Seneca!
And look at the labels as they are beginning to discontinue where the product originated or was made. They are now announcing only “distributed from”.
Out of the blue some years ago under Obama but when the GOP was in majority they passed a law taking Country of origin off the label
No one was asking for it but it happened
I thought then that it was done to allow big Ag the ability to maximize profit margin by manipulating distribution
I believe Sundance has written about this sort of thing too
Why would the USA be buying food products from Europe?
I don’t trust the EU folks making our food, let alone shipping it to the USA… for what?
There is a lot of funny business going on since Biden stole the WH….
Would take it from Europe, much better than China.
Noodles, garlic and pet food products.
I don’t want any of it, the EU is socialist with all kinds of problems right now. Just as bad as China.