Stockpiling Food?

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Rocklobster

Master Chef
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Ottawa Valley, Ontario, Canada
I am seriously considering stockpiling some food items for the coming winter. With the drought in Eastern Canada and some of the US, you can bet the food prices will rise. I am thinking flour, cornmeal, beef, chicken for sure. Maybe canola oil. Anything else be affected by the drought?
 
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I have a different way of addressing this. I like to maintain a rather large pantry stocked with goods I often use, particularly those in packages, jars and cans, items that have a significant shelf life (as opposed to fresh vegetables or meats).

My method is targeted at (1) having a nice supply of stock goods that I use often so that I don't have to keep running back to the market, so I save shopping time by buying multiples when I stock up, and (2) I always stock up on items I frequently use when they are on sale. By combining these concepts I save money by buying more often when on sale, I save convenience by often having the item in stock, and I save time because it's hardly more effort to buy a dozen cans or packages instead of buying just one.

I hope to buy a deep freeze one day soon and apply this concept to meat, poultry, fish and other frozen goods. I particularly recall when turkeys used to be on sale for the holidays (not the last few years) where I'd buy 1-2 extra and have delicious, inexpensive turkey a few times several months later. (I'm not so sure we'll ever again see holiday turkey sales. I haven't seen them on sale for a couple years.)
 
I am seriously considering stockpiling some food items for the coming winter. With the drought in Eastern Canada and some of the US, you can bet the food prices will rise. I am thinking flour, cornmeal, beef, chicken for sure. Maybe canola oil. Anything else be affected by the drought?

Heard that on the News. They were walking through a cornfield at the time, but didn't get into specifics.
 
It would be interesting if anybody can name any food product that is not expected to cost more in the future, or fuel prices, noting that even when food prices stay constant they always have to be transported to stores, by a combination of trains and trucking, and those prices are (IMO) expected to rise forever.

I can't imagine any food costing less or same tomorrow than today.

Remember Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons, "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." That was in the 1930's yet nothing seems to have changed since then. (Although perhaps Wimpy was motivated more by hoping for forgetfulness than contemplating inflation.)
 
I shudder to think of $200 in July costing $250 by late December, an increase of 50% per year. At that rate I'll have to give up eating in another few years.
 
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I keep a fairly good stocked pantry, buy things on sale, can/dehydrate/freeze anything extra from the garden.
Before peanut butter went up, we bought it for $1.25/lb and you can't buy peanuts for that. Sadly, it has added sugar, fats, etc, but we'll still use it.
Last week I blanched and froze pea pods and beans. It sure keeps me working on staying stocked.
Today we picked up 10 lbs of sugar and 20 lbs of flour, that should get me through to Christmas (along with all the other flours--whole wheat, rye, etc).
 
I like stockpiling food even if for no other reason than convenience. For example, if you use chicken stock and you see it on sale, why not buy a dozen cans? Then the next dozen times you need it you won't have to put it on your shopping list, or take another 1-2 minutes to add it to your shopping cart.
 
I heard meat like beef, pork, and chicken are going to rise because the price of feed is going to become more expensive this fall. A twenty percent rise in price can add up to a lot of extra expense over the long winter...
 
Absolutely, I stockpile whenever I can, for many of the reasons listed above. Also, my town only has two grocery stores - the nearest other supermarkets are about a hundred miles away. :ohmy: Whenever I go to my daughter's in the city, we hit Costco's and Trader Joe's.

I LOVE my foodsaver and use it a lot. The bags are spendy, but I figure it still saves $$ in the long run, especially since it's just me here.
 
I usually have a pretty good stock of food so have not put much thought into adding more to that because of the drought. Over the many years that I've been married, I've been able to adjust my meal plans to pretty much fit our supply of money as needed.
 
I was mainly referring to higher priced stuff like meat. I have a large freezer, so to buy a few extra pieces when they go on sale will save me some money this winter. Unfortunately it is almost too late for rain to make a difference. Farmers in Ontario are already calling their insurance companies. If the price does go up, it will likely last until spring and the next growing season.
 
I read there was not enough hay/straw food for pigs/cows and farmers will be selling off and slaughtering them before winter due to lack of food, many farmers, so the price will temporarily drop, then once winter begins the prices will go up.
If you are going to buy, buy now, slaughter in August/September. Of course, I could be wrong, buy at your own risk. That is what I would do and I've been needing some bacon and pork roasts.
 
i'm stockpiling mexican food because of the mayan long count calendar...

Ahhh, what did they know? They didn't even wear pants, for chris'sakes.
food's good tho' & they did invent the potato.....i think,ummm,the bit about the potato that is,errr,not the food bit,that is good:wacko:!
same problem over here chaps for the opposite reason.all the rain & flooding has knackered a lot of crops here.....b*gger!
 
Buonasera,

Interesting Post. Here in the Mediterranean, it is more difficult to stock pile food. Perhaps, one can stock flour, dry pasta when Barilla has a sale, jar Piquillo Red Basque Peppers, jar Sundried Tomatoes, Anchovies, Capers, Olives, Evoo, Olive Oil, Pickles, Vinegars, Wines, Beer, however, not much else because we use local daily fresh ingredients ...

Hope those affected by draught, shall have the needed rains.

Ciao and enjoy your Sunday,
Margaux.
 
I hadn't thought of stockpiling. Mainly because I don't have the room. Cabinets and freezer. I live in a studio apartment. And it is one of the bigger ones in the building. I suppose if I did some shifting of furniture and cleaned out the storage closet, I could make room for dry goods. I have always stocked up on sale items. I guess it is time to look into it seriously. I do keep large packages of paper towels under the small side tables that have a long skirt. I have two of them. The other is for the large packages of toilet paper. The large phone books could go under the TV. I never use them. And I don't think I have called 411 more than three times so far this year. More space for dry goods. And if I put a skirt around my day/bed, I could put more stuff under there. Place the items on cookie trays for easy pulling out. Time to do some housecleaning. There is talk that Congress wants to cut back on food stamps. For folks like me that depend wholly on food stamps for food money, that could greatly affect my diabetic diet.

Time to give this some serious thought. Great subject. :)
 
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