So TF investing/trading advice for food inflation = coupons..? How far has it fallen...

Binney,
Crumple up a couple aluminum foil balls and put them on the bottom. Stick your meat on top of them. Won't burn.

Bozonian,

i'd say 12 eggs for a bag of 4 or 5 tomatoes

but it would depend on the local demand for the vegetables and eggs - you have a good supply of eggs coming in daily, but the vegetables only come two or three times a year (depending on the plant harvest schedule), so unless your neighbor is really hankering for some eggs, they'll have the negotiation advantage.

I have a Rival pot as well. Love the thing. The low setting never burns; the high setting only burns if you let the liquid completely evaporate. It's all in how you manage the amount of liquid you use.

Please Dakine - don't let us hold you back from giving better advice to save money on food than strategic buying with sales/coupons, we're all ears and look forward to your words of wisdom.

Other than buying two for one's and stockpiling, we don't have any magic. We have stocked as much as one reasonably can, and are looking for ways to reduce other expenses. As an example, I spent the last five weekends adding R-30 insulation on top of our existing insulation to lower our energy bills going forward. We also have a photovoltaic system (not cheap) that was up and running as of December 30th.

If you haven't already done so, buying underclothes now is also probably a good idea with cotton prices spiraling out of control. What is happening with food is a likely precursor to price changes in clothing...

Talked with a guy that's a top manager in a 100 million dollar food purveyor business tonight.


He said Deans just raise their prices for milk 32%. Meat is skyrocketing and he selling everything he can get.

The jump in demand is not from the US but selling it to China. He told me this spring US businesses will have to pass the price increases to consumer. He said the price increases will be a shock. He meant it.

Wow. Time to back up the truck then.

I know a number of people in the restaurant business and what they're getting hammered with is out of the realm of reason. This IS going to show up in the grocery store and restaurant, and as Trades said, you will be shocked when it does.

You're being blatantly lied to with all the claims that this is "no big deal." Well, if you have a 100k+ income and live in a place like Florida, you'll say "damn!" If you make $50k, live in a big city and have a couple of kids? You might be eating cardboard by fall.

Watch for those food stamp numbers to rise, fast.

The jump in demand is not from the US but selling it to China. He told me this spring US businesses will have to pass the price increases to consumer. He said the price increases will be a shock. He meant it.

Aha! I predicted this. Wage inflation or not, the Chinese will give more value for this stuff and so Americans will have to pay more too.

I'm going to have to order mass quantities this weekend.

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So TF investing/trading advice for food inflation = coupons..? How far has it fallen...

I'm not the brightest person here, but I always thought it prudent when investing to "buy the dip," as it were, right?

So how has TF advice for food inflation fallen so far when some of the discussion revolves around buying a certainly inflating commodity using all discounts available?
Peanut butter (cereal, rice, etc) will be increasing in price over the next year. Buy a reasonable amount now using any discount possible before that happens so you're not eating cardboard by fall as Karl said. I dunno, in my neck of the woods that's called being practical.

Instead of offering anything constructive to the conversation, I suppose you could post another weekly sales ad from a local Waldorf butcher shop. That would certainly be helpful.

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Watch for those food stamp numbers to rise, fast.

I'll be watching my front door to see when it gets kicked in. I'll be ready for it.

Food shortages, or an inability to afford food is THE basis for revolution.

I recall this happening in 1973. It was on the cover of every news magazine and the front pages of the newspapers, which people still read back then.

And it was shocking.

Then the gas lines started a little after that.

Nixon resigned in the summer of '74.

Ever see that DOW trough in the charts going back to the 70's? That was during that period and a year or so after.

A couple years down the road, by 1978, the REAL inflation got started.

Chellie, I think you are on the right track and thinking constructively. What I did in 2007 when I first went to Costco and started building a long term food supply was do this:

1. Build a food supply that would last long term in the closet
2. Maximize calories per unit of money spent

You identify which foods satisfy both requirements and buy them. Sometimes I went outside the guidelines and bought more canned protein (fish or peanut butter) at high price, just to add the required protein needed. But foods like canned green beans and canned green peas don't make sense from a calorie-per-dollar perspective. Corn (even if you hate GMO food) is a much cheaper store of calories per unit volume and cost, relatively.

And it should go without saying a backyard garden can greatly alleviate potential issues like this.

Amazon often has clearance sales (They don't call it that but I think these things don't sell well).

http://www.amazon.com/Sales-Grocery/b/re....

Binney - just for you:
http://angrycheapskate.blogspot.com/2011....

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You identify which foods satisfy both requirements and buy them. Sometimes I went outside the guidelines and bought more canned protein (fish or peanut butter) at high price, just to add the required protein needed. But foods like canned green beans and canned green peas don't make sense from a calorie-per-dollar perspective. Corn (even if you hate GMO food) is a much cheaper store of calories per unit volume and cost, relatively.

And it should go without saying a backyard garden can greatly alleviate potential issues like this.

I've done pretty well (IMO) at building a long-term food supply. I've got at least 12 months of some items, and I'm working on building up others. A good friend of mine is a serious doomer and I've discussed with him the best bang for my proverbial buck; I have lots of peanut butter and tuna for healthy protein/fat, rice and oats for grains, and I need to up my flour and sugar stocks for carbs. I've got lots of canned corn, primarily because it's one of the few canned veggies I like (prefer fresh, but beggars can't be choosers!) but it is a better calorie store as you said. I also have a stack of nasty, but edible, prepared meals that need no refrigeration; those are more for short term weather emergencies than long term planning.

I also stocked up on knowledge. That's something that's overlooked. I can cook an entire meal over an open fire if needed - not only do I know how, but I also have the hardware to do it in cast-iron cookware. Best investment one can make.
Another oft-overlooked bit of knowledge is bread - it's a good source of energy and a cheap filler to round out a meal. I can make bread. I can also cultivate a wild yeast starter, use it to leaven bread, and keep the ****er alive for years.
I can butcher meat. My Grandpa slingshotted rabbits during the Depression; I figure it doesn't hurt to be prepared to have to do the same thing he did. You gotta know what to do with meat if you catch some.

Even if **** doesn't degrade to that level, I feel very secure that I've got this sort of knowledge just in case.

Being an apartment dweller with no balcony/porch, I'm limited in a "backyard" garden. I do have a window garden that I plan to expand some this spring. I figure I can get a tomato plant or two growing in pots.

That's pretty awesome. Sounds excellent. You're doing more than me there. :-)

The best Italian beef recipe you'll ever have:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/itali....

(Nick & Vito's is a tiny pizza place at 84th & Pulaski in the city, and has the best thin-crust pizza in the city, bar none. The beef is also great.)

Chellie - having knowledge and hardware is a REALLY good idea. You don't have to live like a pioneer right now, but we all should know how to do it just in case. Hell, it even helps in blackouts and when camping, etc.

I've gotten in arguments with people on prep boards who insist that if you aren't (for example) canning ALL your own food RIGHT NOW you aren't prepared. I don't agree. If you have the know-how and the equipment and have actually practiced it enough to become proficient you should be set if TSHTF. But you don't have to be living it full-time, and it may make more sense not to be while life remains relatively normal.

Right now I have a full time well-paid job and I'm raking in far more cash than canning my own stuff would save me, and I don't have time to do both. If the job goes away then out comes the canner and the jars and the lids etc and away I go.

LQ

Great points, LQ and Chellie. We have long been advocates of building skills in the basics. We only learned to can four years ago, but now put up several hundred jars per year. And we've upgraded our supply of cast iron cookware, created a wood fired cook surface, and built our use of basic foodstuffs into our daily diet.

We don't live like pioneers, but increasingly are able if needed.

But even after last week's stock up trip, after reading the last few posts to this thread, I'm going tomorrow to pick up a few more cases of canned fish, and another couple of hwt of grains.

NOT. GOING. TO. BE. HUNGRY!

I got tired of the people on prep boards a while back and just focus on what I think will be effective for what I can deploy with what I have at hand here in my environment. Game theory is a bit useless after so many permutations and Nth degrees of prepping.

Beyond basic common sense, what else would have helped the people in New Orleans for Katrina or in Argentina for the debt default? It's hard to plan around an event like that with exact accuracy. The 900 pound government gorilla in the room will try to screw all of that up for you, guaranteed, so you will have to reformulate on the spot.

I've been thinking about this since 2007 and have learned not to worry about it. I just plan to run faster than the other campers. I think I probably got this analogy originally from Mike Ruppert, but I'm not sure; I've been using it for a while. In a crisis (and in capitalist life in general), if your campsite gets attacked by a bear, you don't have to outrun the bear. You only have to outrun your fellow campers.

That is how it will be, but speeded up by a factor of 10, I think. So better to prep now. I'm already all doomed-out with a doom vehicle, book of county maps of the state, fuel storage, food, etc.

By the way, all Texans, get a county-by-county road atlas for Texas for this reason. If you don't already have one of these get it soon. These are awesome for weekend trips or when you have to go off the main roads to get somewhere. And if main roads are blocked, this book, a light, and a sense of direction could be invaluable.

Call and order from TXDOT here:
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/

Tell them you want the "publications" section so you can buy the county map book.

Tell them you want the "County Maps of Texas 20XX" book. Get the most recent one. It's around $27. On mine, the "20XX" is "2004". It has every ******n road in this state in the book.

That's extremely well-reasoned thinking, Jota. Flexibility is a critical factor under emergency conditions. And as we've thoroughly discussed, sussing out HOW and WHEN things get dicey is simply not possible.

Nice to have options...

Jota - it might be smart to get books from every state.