PLEASE. I implore everyone:
It costs VERY LITTLE to operate a pantry. Especially in a time of inflation.
Look at it like a savings account - except in food. There is little loss in carrying 3 months to 3 years of canned and dry goods in your house - You WILL eat them someday. You WILL realize value. There is very little spoilage in such things.
What you buy today is going to go farther and cost less than what you will buy tomorrow, until inflation is under control.
Now things are getting rough, even out here... There are things I cannot buy from the grocer... My beloved Rooster sauce has been gone from the shelves, or only very intermittently available, since before spring. And I am currently on my last bottle.
Kraft Mac and Cheese (which I keep around) is likewise a difficulty from time to time - I have never before found that to be unavailable... But now it often is.
But it would be impossible for me to starve, barring someone taking what I have, or the house burning down... I could very likely live for a year or better on beans and rice alone, not to mention all the rest I have put by.
This is no aberration, this thing that I do. This practice is done everywhere in rural settings. Every farmer or rancher you know has months if not years of food put up in the pantry and the root cellar. Because the going gets tough often out on the farm... So it pays to lay stores up. Always.
The very same can be practiced in suburbia and in the cities. Y'all won't put it up yourselves, but canned goods are cheap by the case. Especially if you can be content with store brands instead of name brands. Dry goods are so cheap by the 10 or 25 pound bag that it is ridiculous what y'all pay at the grocer for smaller portions. I mean crazy.
So start buying extra and putting it away. Start finding sources for case lots, and places to buy bulk (that ain't Costco)...
500 bucks, or maybe a thousand will put a significant buffer between you and days of suffering. And a significant buffer between you and unavailable things at the store. It ain't so bad if something ain't on the shelves if you already have several of that thing in rotation.
It literally takes nothing except figuring where to put it and increasing your purchasing to buy a little extra every time. 6 cans instead of 2... every time, means you are growing your pantry by 4 cans - Soon that is a case on the shelf.
Please listen! This is SO easy, reasonably cheap, super scalable to your personal ability, and the very best thing you could do, right now, today, to fortify your position.
Seriously!
