Planning for food prices

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ommnian@reddit

Eat what you store . Store what you eat.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

Unpopular opinion: I've helped a lot of people get their food storage put together, and this mantra is one of the key factors that keeps people from actually getting their food storage in order.

In other words, I think it is quite alright to buy a stockpile of dry foods that you don't normally eat and rotate through. Rotating through an actual 90-day food supply is really hard to do for most people.

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finns-momm@reddit

That is a good point. Some people would rather set it and forget it or managing rotating foods is too much. I get it.

What’s working for us is gradually stocking up on the big cans of freeze dried foods with 20+ years shelf life, while simultaneously building our deep pantry with just foods we already eat and rotating stock there.

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Academic_1989@reddit

I agree - I do not eat the kind of food that I store for emergencies, unless you count the stuff in the freezer, which is medium term use. Normal life is a lot of cheese, butter, olive oil, nuts, cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables, corn tortillas, grass fed beef, chicken tenders, potatoes, some beans, dark chocolate, and did I say cheese. Minimal salt and very few (heavily) processed foods. Could not facilitate that with longer term food storage, which in my pantry includes canned fruits, veggies, and meats/tuna/salmon, beans, peanut butter, asian and Mexican style jarred sauces, soups, canned peppers and chilis, dried grains, tasty bite Indian foods, and some cake/bread mixes. Sometimes they cross over. For example, this evening I used a can of cream style corn and one of green chilis from the pantry to make corn, potato, and green chili chowder. I use the pantry items like soup when I am sick, tired, or really busy at work, but not often.

My approach to deal with what I worry will be terrible inflation and food supply chain issues is three fold. First focus on one thing each week. This week it was coffee and tea. I need one more grocery trip to get more ginger tea and black tea (lots of empty shelves here and limited stock this weekend), and I will be good for 6-8 months on coffee and tea. Next week will be baking supplies and spices - egg substitute, gluten free baking mixes, cocoa powder, baking powder, yeast, cinnamon, garlic, vanilla, flax seeds, nuts (I freeze these), and oils. Second thing I do is take advantage of sales. Food king had canned pineapple and mandarin oranges for $1.17 each (a huge bargain), so I bought 10 cans total. Libby's vegetables were on sale for 0.81, so I bought several of those as well (that's cheap here). Third thing is I use a "use one up, replace with two" philosophy. I just used the last paper towel roll in one of my packages. My next grocery order, I will buy two. When one of those is used up, I'll buy two more. It builds up pretty fast.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

What do you have in dry food storage? (Rice, beans, flour, sugar, wheat, etc.)

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Academic_1989@reddit

I have celiac so am wheat free and grains overall can be an irritant if I have too many. I keep pinto beans, black beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, buckwheat, millet, cornmeal, almond flour, rice flour, gluten free pancake mix, and gluten free dried pasta. I have a small amount of sugar, pink salt, chili powder, and other spices in bulk from Anthony's or nuts.com like cinnamon, turmeric, sage, oregano, lemon pepper, etc. Also powdered non-fat milk, powdered butter and cheese, and powdered peanut butter. Shorter term I keep a ton of gluten free crackers and kind bars.

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OtherwiseAlbatross14@reddit

There's nothing wrong with stockpiling food you don't normally eat. It just depends on your goals. Many prefer to be able to just FIFO and not have to worry about expiration dates.

Storing a year's worth of calories of rice and beans in buckets in a closet for like $500 and not having to think about it for years is also a completely valid strategy.

I prefer a sort of hybrid system so I could go a month or more eating stuff I normally would before having to think about breaking open the bulk long term storage stuff. The goal is to never need the bulk stuff but it's nice to know it's there.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

You have a similar strategy to mine.

Among the hundreds of people I've interacted with (both in real life and on the internet), I have found that people drastically overestimate how much food storage they have on hand. My own mother insisted she had a year's supply of food after buying a couple buckets of wheat. She was less than enthused when I explained to her that this was barely a month's supply for just her and my dad.

Other people I run into are super proud to show off their pantry of soups and cereals. I run the math with them and demonstrate that a family of four can easily consume 200 cans of soup in a week, while that bag of pretzels has barely enough calories in it for one person for one day.

Rotating through a pantry of food that will last you more than a month during an emergency is very challenging for most people.

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OtherwiseAlbatross14@reddit

Rotating through a pantry of food that will last you more than a month during an emergency is very challenging for most people.

It's very simple for me as an individual. I don't try to have a month's worth of every single item that I normally eat on hand. If something has a year shelf life and I eat it at least 3 times per month on average, I can buy 30 of that thing and never have to worry about it expiring. Do this with my favorites and with just these deep pantry items I'm actually currently stocked at over 3 months as I've been bulking up my reserves recently.

That doesn't even include the chest freezer full of meat or anything refrigerated which would itself be another 6 months worth of calories assuming electricity is still available.

I could definitely see it being more difficult as the number of people included increases.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

Yeah, you summed up my feelings on the matter.

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ommnian@reddit

That's because most people don't cook. If you cook it's very easy. Pasta, rice, beans, canned tomatoes, corn, fruit, pickled peppers, cucumbers, jelly, jam, flour and sugar and spices all store very well.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

That's part of the problem.

At my local congregation, I ran a survey asking people what was the biggest thing that kept them from stocking up on food. The #1 and #2 answers were "space" and "not knowing how to rotate".

It took me a while, but I eventually realized that these were essentially the same concern.

You see, stocking a 90-day+ supply can up a lot of space in one's home. To overcome this, I recommend people stock it very tightly without shelves. The problem with this method is that it suddenly becomes very difficult to access and rotate through - even if you cook every day. It's just so much easier to buy new rice at the grocery store than it is to dig through your pile of food storage, break open a tin of rice, and then later replace it.

If you're one of those people who has difficulty rotating through your food storage (i.e. 90% of us) the best strategy is to not worry about it. Properly stored rice and beans has a shelf-life of at least 30 years (probably way higher than that). Stock it tall and tight, then forget about it.

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AliceReadsThis@reddit

Agree and I'm struggling with this right now. The only canned veg I really like is green beans, I'll tolerate others like peas and mixed veg. And, I guess carrots if I have to but I'd rather have them raw. And I don't like any canned fruit at all (applesauce doesn't count). Mostly because peaches are just OK and I hate pears at any time and if you don't want a lot of syrup the choices are limited. I just really prefer fresh but frozen is OK for fruit. So I end up staring at the choices in the can aisle trying to figure out what can I get, what should I get, what will I eat. If I went with the rotate structure I'd have little to no stock.

So I need to find a way to balance my taste buds and preferences against the need to be prepared and I don't think what you said is an unpopular opinion at all.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

I would recommend you look into dry foods - rice, wheat, flour, sugar, beans, etc. These foods are much more calorically dense than canned food.

Canned food is great to balance out some of your micro-nutrients, but they usually don't have a whole lot of calories in them. Your average can of soup has \~250 calories in it. At that rate, you'll be eating at least six cans a day just to barely get by. A family of four can burn through 200 cans in a week without breaking a sweat.

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coffeebooksandplants@reddit

u/snuffy_bodacious u/ommnian So true. It's a skill and transition for many people. I worked with people for, "How do I save money," and groceries/inventory is one of the biggest things. And: that comes with planning and flow. For me, this is part of a larger picture of healthier eating, but showing it off--I notice people see that it can be easy and tastier without a lot of complexity. And, they feel relieved to try.

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blitzm056@reddit

Large Chest Freezer: Hedge against inflation and provide good food storage

It is always nice to have the deep pantry, freeze dried food, and the like. However, let me suggest a large chest freezer. Unless things just really hit the fan, that chest freezer allows you to store food that is bought for good deals. Take a trip to the grocery store, and it is immediately obvious that all food prices have sky rocketed and particularly meat. The large chest freezer will allow you to purchase a large stock when the deals are good. You have a little win against inflation, a large supply of food, and a way to store food for long term. Now the caveat to that is you need a way to power the freezer for extended periods of no power. For the purposes of powering your freezer, a decent solar generator with a capacity to power the freezer for days or so and solar panels should work fine. You may even consider having insulation wrap on hand to provide further insulation and reduce power consumption.

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finns-momm@reddit

And buy your chest freezer now, unless you can find one made in America with all US made parts and inputs.

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ConclusionOne6122@reddit

Grow it.

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Routine_Umpire_3071@reddit

Some of my basic go-tos that my family loves to eat that actually have a decent shelf life:

Peanut Butter. 2 year best by date, so I store a 2 year supply based on how kuch we eat on a regular basis, and replenish as we eat it. We eat a LOT of peanut butter.

Pasta and pasta sauce - 2 year best by date, same thing.

Frozen meatballs - 1 year supply

Flour - 6 month supply. We make lots of sourdough.

Wheat berries - 50 lbs, but I could store more if I start moving some to mylar. We grind and add to the flour for a whole grain addition.

Quick oats - 2 year supply. We usually just add peanut butter for flavoring.

Sugar - 2 year supply, but could easily up that, especially in mylar.

Brown sugar - 1 year supply

Campbell's condensed chicken noodles and tomato soups - 2 year supply. For some reason it's the only chicken noodles my kids will eat, and we love the tomato soup with milk.

Trying to get my kids to like Chef boyardee beef ravioli and spegettios. I still love them, and they would be a nice simple meal I could stock up.

There's a lot more, but these are some of the staples.

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RosieReadsReddit@reddit

Why Mylar?

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Routine_Umpire_3071@reddit

Keeps bugs, light, moisture, and air out. When you throw an o2 absorber in there, kills things that are in there already, and prevents the oxygen from breaking down the food.

O2 absorber isn't needed as much for, say, sugar and salt, but for most other things, it significantly extends the shelf life.

I could stock hundreds of lbs of wheat berries and sugar if I stored them in mylar, without concern of them going bad before I used them.

One thing people will swear by is storing white rice in mylar with o2 absorbers. Supposedly, it can have a 30+ year shelf life if stored in a cool place.

If you want to look into it, Wallaby is a very good and well priced brand. Look for black friday deals. It ends up pretty cheap per bag. They sell kits with mylar and the right-sized o2 absorbers.

The last thing you need is to be able to seal it with heat. You can just use a hair straightener - they get hot enough to seal mylar without issue. Or you can buy an impulse sealer, which is basically just longer and is stable on a table.

I'd start with a few and a hair straightener if you have one to see if it's a good idea for you.

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OtherwiseAlbatross14@reddit

Mylar can extend shelf life when done properly

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premar16@reddit

I noticed while going through my pantry and meal plans. I do not eat a lot of peanut butter. I don't hate it I just don't think to use it. How does your family use peanut butter and what meals/snacks do they go on??

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Led_Zeppole_73@reddit

I haven‘t eaten PB in years but wife and kids do.

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Rose_de_MaiTai@reddit

My kids don’t like pb&j sandwiches or cookies, so we pretty much just eat it on celery sticks or in Shin ramen.

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Routine_Umpire_3071@reddit

Mainly my wife and I eat it. Oatmeal with pb and a quick snack. I count macros closely, so a low-carb, cheap protein source is nice.

My kids eat it with sandwiches once in a while.

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getoutnow2024@reddit

Bro, I gotta ask how much peanut butter do you currently have right now?

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Routine_Umpire_3071@reddit

We're actually down quite a bit... about 40 lbs. Should have about double that.

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OtherwiseAlbatross14@reddit

Yes

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Protect_your_2a@reddit

The LDS food storage guide is a goldmine. http://www.provident-living-today.com/Bulk-Food-Storage.html

Outside of that some things that I stock up on a lot is canned tomatoes and all different types of canned beans. We do a ton of salsa and soups so we burn through them pretty quick. I’ll usually get a full chicken at the store, use the meat for whatever dish and then add the neck, bones and whatever else to a pot with left over vegetable scraps and water and cook it down into a nice broth, gives me about 2 quarts. I’ll also get canned chicken and use it in either pasta dishes or make chicken crusted pizza which is super high in protein

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

America is the world's largest food exporter. We are arguably the most food-secure (and energy secure) nation on the planet. We take \~40% of our corn and divert it to ethanol production, and then another 30-35% of food is thrown away for frivolous reasons. Even in an extremely dire drought, the US would have no problem feeding itself.

Therefore, I would argue that a famine would come to the US only after a catastrophic collapse of the electrical grid.

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PrepperBoi@reddit

You will grow a lot less yield without fertilizer and fancy seeds that are forbidden to reproduce.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

Fertilizer is a key component, but America is one of the few nations that is secured in this department as well.

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Marxist_Liberation@reddit

Corn used for ethanol is not corn used for food. Different cultivars with different growing needs. Even changing that production a little bit is going to be wildly expensive.

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snuffy_bodacious@reddit

I agree, though if we hit a point of dire droughts in America, there is still plenty of room for us to make adjustments to make sure everyone gets fed.

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RedYamOnthego@reddit

I agree that outright famine is not in the cards (at least, not for anyone over the poverty line) but those foods need to be moved and stored properly. So, we're also dependent on vehicle parts, and parts for the machines that cool facilities or process food.

Prices are going to rise and keep rising if the chain supply isn't kept running smoothly.

Farming itself is a hard business, even though America is very fertile in many states. If you know a good farmer, maybe through a farmer's market, it might be a good idea to throw them some extra support this winter and pre-buy part of their harvest.

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Led_Zeppole_73@reddit

I don’t eat flour, grains, canned or processed food, but have 2 large chest freezers. Bought a quarter cow locally @ $5.50/lb including steaks, I put up bass, bluegill and catfish from the pond, 40# venison, pounds of jerky, summer sausage and hunter‘s sticks that I process myself, chicken, lots of pork that I buy when under $2/lb, berries, fruits, nuts and veggies grown/foraged by myself, excess eggs from my hens that I sell or freeze when they come in by a dozen/day.

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kkinnison@reddit

I dont see food prices going up much. the issue was scarcity as "just in time" production was outstripped by demand during the pandemic of 2020. yes you will get typical inflation.

just stock up on pantry items. learn how to make bread. Get some preserves or jam. Nothing better than warm bread with some jam on it when

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Marxist_Liberation@reddit

You don't think mass deportations is going to up food prices?

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BroadButterscotch349@reddit

Not to mention tariffs

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CivilAd9851@reddit

Who do you think is working a lot of those jobs?

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CrazyQuiltCat@reddit

Or honey!

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onthestickagain@reddit

I don’t have much more to add to the rest of the comments except: if you have a deep freezer and access to a “Business Center” Costco, take advantage. We get bulk meats there and haven’t paid more than $3.49 for ground beef in over a year. But “Biz Costco,” as we call it in my house, also allows us to buy in bulk in a less-wasteful way than regular Costco, because you can get single flavors/types of things instead of variety packs. We buy single serve bags of Fritos (big chili eaters here!) and the box of little bags will last 6-12 months without going stale (as opposed to buying a gigantic bag of them and then it going stale after a few weeks).

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december116@reddit

We have a freeze drier and love it. We also grow lettuce, herbs, peppers, small tomatoes hydroponically indoors. We grind our own wheat and make our own dairy products using milk from a local farm. I keep a deep pantry with staples/spices.

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coffeebooksandplants@reddit

u/december116 I just got my freeze dryer. I keep staring at it--takes quite a while for a load. Recommended first load was Skittles, but I did strawberries and apples. I'm being commanded to use it to clean out the freezer and "make meat space." My interest: finding some really great meals and quality foods for the family. We've got a vegetarian, two meat people and a couple dogs who asked for treats. With freezing, we're space-limited, and with canning--a lot of things taste canned and recipes have to follow food safety.

It's off topic for this post, but if you've got any fan favorites in your household you're freeze drying--for when everyone whines about dinner, camping, etc... would love to hear.

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december116@reddit

We love steak bites and rice, chicken, butternut squash soup, mushroom soup, biscuits and gravy, most vegetables except for cucumber, fruit.

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december116@reddit

We do a lot of ingredients - mushroom, squash, carrots/celery/onions., lemons/ginger, jalapeños, cheese. The freeze drying cookbook is pretty great. It’s new but walks through how to best prepare each item prior to freeze drying..

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coffeebooksandplants@reddit

Thanks! That soup idea is fantastic. I do wish I bought the large but I tend to overdo it so I'll be efficient with cycling through my medium.

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Taggart3629@reddit

I keep a "deep pantry" with plenty of rice (jasmine, basmati, and CalRose), different kinds of pasta, canned vegetables/fruit/beans, cooking oils, vinegars, hot sauces, curry pastes, soy sauce and lots of spices. When meat is on sale, I vacuum seal and freeze it. (Sadly, the freezer is not very large.) It has helped a lot with inflation because I can cook using ingredients from my pantry, and just purchase fresh produce and items to restock (when they go back on sale).

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Alternative-Leek-629@reddit

How long cooking oil can store? I'm not from US but planning to stock up food for at least 1 years so in case I don't work for maybe 2-3 month, I don't need spend money buy groceries.

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Taggart3629@reddit

Reportedly, cooking oil lasts for a few years before going rancid. Coconut oil is supposed to have a longer shelf life than extra virgin olive oil, which has a longer shelf life than vegetable oil. Although the reported shelf life is approximately 18 months for unopened olive oil, I have used oil that is older than that with no "off" taste.

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Alternative-Leek-629@reddit

Normally you store in can container or just in plastic bottle?

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Taggart3629@reddit

I store them in whatever unopened containers they are sold. Most are plastic bottles. I believe the sesame oil is in a can.

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Alternative-Leek-629@reddit

Alright..to so much for you respond. It really help me to about how to store cooking oil.

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coffeebooksandplants@reddit

TL:DR: shop with a strategy, don't waste, store what you eat. Cook from scratch and your pantry. Do these things and you can combat inflation while getting the foods you want to eat--not just 20 cases of green beans.

---

I don't like shopping. I'm a former broke teacher who lived overseas for a while in a place with real supply chain issues. I've worked in restaurants where everything's stocked and inventoried. These things shaped my inventory philosophy. I used to stockpile cheap "in-case" stuff, but as I started growing food, preserving, and sourcing better food, cooking entirely from scratch, I noticed it was healthier and less expensive in the long run because I didn't waste. And: during Covid, because of great inventory management: I needed nothing. That was an eye-opener. I was a prepared "non-prepper."

This is what I usually advise:

1/Shop in season. Learn to preserve food. You get the best foods that taste really great.

2/ Even if you don't want to freeze, dehydrate and can food: get what you eat on sale. But: only stock until the next sale cycle (or preserve the extra) Or: you'll toss more than you use. Worse: when you need it, it'll be unhealthily past time of best use (buggy, spoiled stuff).

3/ Optimize for things you eat not fear/sales. This is a big one. When I was super-teacher-broke... I'd coupon, go around, and buy the cheap/free stuff. Turns out: it's not stuff we eat. We don't eat preserved boxed foods. In the end: it sat around then expired and got wasted. "Cheap" stuff wasted costs much more than "expensive" stuff that is used 100%.

4/ Rotate your food like a grocery store. Yesterday, I picked something off my canning shelf from the dark ages, so I went through all the shelves and culled two milk crates of things from Napoleon's battle stockpile that should've been rotated and eaten. Food preferences change: I noticed what we're not eating and am shifting seasonal production (or shopping) away from those things.

5/ Shop at the right place. For me, the big grocery store often isn't it. I go to the Asian market, Indian, Latin, bulk, warehouse, Middle Eastern. Used to be Cosco/Super Walmart for a few staples, but I find they're not always best anymore, so my master list shifts. Herbs and spices: if you buy them in "the grocery store" they'll cost a ton. Buy them online or at the correct global store: 10x less expensive. That alone: saves a ton of cash.

6/ Have an active inventory awareness and flow. I use 2 3-5 gal food grade buckets with gamma lids for each grain/pantry staple I never want to run out of (bread flour, beans, steel-cut oats, rices--things we always use). When bucket 1 empties, it goes on The List. I'll get it next sale, bulk, etc... That way: I'm never pressured to buy at neighborhood store top price. It's on the rotation radar. This works for longer-term storage if you mylar bag smaller portions of items and have an extra bucket. Keep rotating them, when one's left, resupply!

7/ No waste = more savings. I just tossed about 4 meals of chili I forgot to freeze. When I'm on my game, I cook extra and immediately freeze those additional meals (now, I'm going to start freeze drying them).

8/ Meal prep and plan meals from your pantry. If you've managed the inventory right, you should eventually have ingredients you like. Bonus if you can double-batch cook and have some things in the freezer for "blah" mood nights. Then you won't run to the store for "one thing" at inflation prices.

This system is an evolution from fear-based broke teacher shopping to quality, seasonal focused foods and a deep pantry food storage that unintentionally lasts through storms, epidemics, and lazy "hate shopping" doldrums. I hope it keeps you out of green bean fatigue u/SarahMessali

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27Believe@reddit

Chick peas are 🌟. Dried is cheaper but you can get a can for .99. Whole Foods even had them on sale for .79 near me last week. You can do a lot with them.

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coffeebooksandplants@reddit

I also love chick peas, legumes, etc.

But: I buy dried for the cost effectiveness, taste, and storage life.

1/ bulk is very inexpensive. 2/ If you have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker: it's easy to cook dry beans (if you don't, Black Friday is coming--that and Amazon Prime Day I call "Instant Pot Day" for a reason!!) Also: dried tastes much better--I can now taste the feeling of packaging in the canned beans. To store long term: You can repackage in mylar, mason jars, or dump in a bucket with a gamma lid, but use oxygen absorbers (I learned the hard way that legumes have pests, too, not just flour!! )

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Stuck-in-the-Tundra@reddit

Great idea! Thanks!

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27Believe@reddit

I use them in soup, salads, hummus. Raw with salt and pepper for a snack. Roasted with seasoning. You can add to baked goods. Mashed on a sandwich with avocado and tomato. I just made some with garlic, shallots, kale and sun dried tomatoes over spaghetti squash.

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Stuck-in-the-Tundra@reddit

New ideas to try. 🥰

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NorthernPrepz@reddit

Chickpeas. Tomato sauce, paprika, onion and some sausage in a skillet!

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AdditionalAd9794@reddit

I think the goal should be a degree of self sustainability. Grow more food to off set increasing costs. If you can grow 20% of your food, be it by volume, price, or calories that goes a long way. If you're already at 20%, maybe make the goal to be 30% or 40%.

Learn to grow your own food, learn to forage, imagine off setting your grocery bill by 20% via what you grow and raise yourself, then another 5% via what you can forage from the environment around you

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DeflatedDirigible@reddit

Reducing one’s grocery bill by 20% is much different than growing 20% of one’s food. Important distinction because time is money and with limited space it’s important to focus growing items that yield bigger cost savings.

Fresh herbs, lettuces/greens, and cherry tomatoes are all expensive if bought at the store but easy and cheap to grow and be available throughout the growing season. Determinate tomato plants make sense if you do something like can your own salsa recipe or cucumbers of a pickle lover. But most food is still cheaper to buy in bulk.

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Independent-Chef-374@reddit

Honey is always a great ingredient to store as it won't go bad!

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ThisIsAbuse@reddit

Me personally i am not worried about higher prices - i am worried about severe shortages of foods

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EmberOnTheSea@reddit

I bought 24 cans of green beans today. I feel attacked.

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SarahMessali@reddit (OP)

lol!

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TheRealPallando@reddit

And gassy

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Grand-Corner1030@reddit

Canning supplies.

During Covid, lids and jars got expensive. If food prices spike and people start gardening, it creates a shortage of the lids.

Lids have long life spans. If I’m wrong, it’s not a big deal.

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Rude_Veterinarian639@reddit

I actually started this line of thinking several years ago.

Half of my basement is unfinished.

I bought a largish greenhouse, lights, aluminum bed frames etc and built a greenhouse back there.

It increases my yield during traditional gardening months plus I do two sets of crops, starting seeds early September and January.

It's 10 x 6 so I can grow a decent amount and have fresh veggies (and limited fruit) year round.

My initial cost was close to $1500. But I've saved $30 per week on my groceries, and close to 50 per week during winter months.

I'd estimate I'm close to break even now and into actual savings with the next harvest.

I stagger my seedlings so I've got fresh stuff every week.

I'd like to add dwarf varieties of lemons, mandarins, and peaches this spring.

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PrepperBoi@reddit

Are you buying dwarf seedlings or ones that are already fruit bearing?

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Rude_Veterinarian639@reddit

Not fruit bearing yet.

1 and 2 year olds from my local nursery.

I've also looked at ordering online since it's cheaper but I'm worried about them arriving dead or sick.

With the local nursery, I can pick the healthiest and take it home.

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PrepperBoi@reddit

Ive been thinking of getting a dwarf apple tree but peaches sound good now that you mention it!

How much are your local plants? The fruit bearing ones online are kinda pricey.

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Rude_Veterinarian639@reddit

The peach I'm looking is called contender and it's about 60 CDN.

It's hardy to zone 4, freestone (means I could can the peaches) and considered a semi dwarf.

These are young, not fruit bearing yet and may or may not produce fruit the first year.

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RedYamOnthego@reddit

Ramen: six months. Japanese curry: about a year. (These are my husband's faves.)

Boiled quail eggs:six to eight months. Canned fruit: a year for home canned, more for commercially canned.

Tortilla chips, whole grain crackers: six to 12 months. Variety of canned soups, kidney beans, chickpeas: see label. Tomatoes, bone broth soup in cardboard: see labels. Sardines. Salsa in a jar. Pears and apples in crisper, ones known for long storage. See root cellar.

Fridge: cheese, salsa and condiments will live in the fridge for ages under sanitary conditions. Pickles, too.

Root cellar or cool pantry: onions, potatoes, carrots, daikon radish, burdock root (until spring), squash (until January); cabbage and napa cabbage wrapped in newspaper, sweet potatoes (check on these, ymmv).

Apples are supposed to have a long life if the right variety and stored properly, but I haven't tried it. Applesauce seems easier.

Grapes, if stored airtight, are supposed to last months. There was some Arabic method of sealing them in clay that I watched on YouTube. But also see raisins as a back-up.

I also store a season's worth of almonds, walnuts, raisins, apricots and jujubes in my pantry. Cherries when I can get them and figs are good, too. Dried, of course.

And if chocolate chips are cost effective for you, get those.

Flour, sugar, spices, oils: one year.

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NorthernPrepz@reddit

So i deep pantry. The thing is, it’s not the pantry that’s expensive. It’s meat generally. I buy a half cow from a farmer friend. As a result we don’t eat a ton of chicken or pork.

The things that will go scarce are fresh veggies because markets are global. Keep in mind In the US (and most places) a hyperinflation in unlikely without a wage spiral.

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No-Patience-7861@reddit

We just put 400# of beef in two chest freezers and will do a whole hog early in the year too. Beef came out to less than $8/lb for every single cut, including all the best steaks. 175# of ground and roasts + steaks should last us at least a year. Keeping the tallow to render for cooking oil and lotions.

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Appropriate_Ad_4416@reddit

Learn to pressure can. Then can foods you not only will eat, but that you actually like. You can grow it, forage, glean, or hunt.

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SofiaFreja@reddit

If tariffs really do get slapped on imported goods, it'll raise prices on everything. For instance, when the first Trump administration raised tariffs on imported olives it allowed domestic US olive makers to increase their prices too. Everything will be impacted.

Some products, though, are mostly available only as imports. Like Thai or Japanese rice. If you enjoy it buy as much as you think you can use and store it properly.

If you own an imported vehicle or tractor or side by side, maybe think about any parts that you'll need in the near future. Buy them now and store them for later.

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wpbth@reddit

I’ve been planting fruit. I don’t want to add up what it cost me so far lol!

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soular412@reddit

Get into baking if you haven't already. You can make alot of tasty stuff with long life items

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Sunny_Fortune92145@reddit

I have already been buying essentials in bulk because of the insane prices. I only buy meats if they are on sale at a decent price.

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elenajm@reddit

We bought a deeper chest freezer (pretty affordable) and put it in our basement. I think the freezer was less than $200 and it’s been such a good investment. I love lasagna so my family made triple batches in bulk and we froze a bunch. Not going to last forever but if you buy in bulk now, and make extra enjoyable meals and freeze them, it’s really awesome. My dad vacuum sealed meatloaf for me and it was amazing 9 months later. If you have an Aldi’s near you, they have really good random discounts (if you are lucky) and also just in general are a lot cheaper. Also, look for more and more places doing BOGOs. The stop and shop by us wanted to be competitive so they just started BOGO’ing a lot of stuff. This might only be happening in places with multiple grocery stores around to stay competitive but maybe not? I got buy one get one Cheerios for like 3$. Smaller box but still that’s good for our area. Also there were like .99 cents a pound chicken thighs.

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Nufonewhodis4@reddit

Chest freezer helps you shop the sales. We almost never eat meat that was full priced, and our weekly veggies are either grown or what's in season (and on sale) at the grocery store.

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elenajm@reddit

This is the way

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Engineerasorus_rex@reddit

X3. I haven't paid over $4/lb for ground beef this year. And I was at $3.50/lb or less till this summer.

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meshreplacer@reddit

When the great disruption kicks in it will be more of a supply issue. More and more empty shelves at the grocery store and rapid inflation near hyperinflation will make it difficult to acquire goods. You need to also plan for not being able to find sustenance.

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ProfuseMongoose@reddit

For me it's flour and rice, masa harina and bulgur wheat since I use both them and they only take hot water. I looked at the foods that the US imports the most of, so those include tomatoes, peppers, rice, sugars, cocoa, and coffee. I've heard that cooking oil will stay the same price but butter and other dairy will go up significantly.

I store beans and spices.

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