This Inflation Business Is Getting Crazy!

For 1 case of non-fat, non-instant dry milk (including shipping):

March 2011: $78.92

June 2011: $95.05

August 2011: $107.17


That is INSANE!! I don't know if the price increase is due to inflation in general or simply increased demand for preparedness products. What I do know is I don't like it!

In case you're wondering, I didn't buy the milk. Who knows what the price will be next month?

No inflation here! (Cough)

How much will this buy in 2011?

Every few months I add to our supply of dry milk by ordering a case of it from Walton Feed. The last time I bought it was in March, during our Food Storage Blitz Month. It cost $78.92, including shipping.

I bought another case of it today and had an unpleasant shock. 

My total this time was $95.05.

I checked various online food storage vendors and found that Walton Feed is still the best deal for me, even with the $16 jump in prices. (Check out this post if you want to know how I came to that conclusion.)

I'm sure this has nothing to do with inflation. Uncle Sam has been telling us that there is no inflation and the government is never wrong. And it probably has nothing to do with people deciding that things in our country are going down the tubes and that they should stock up on food storage.

Nope. I'm probably imagining the whole thing. I'd better check my Quicken account for errors. (Massive eyeroll.)


Have you noticed inflation in your neck of the woods? Is it affecting your family's preparedness efforts?

Could the Japanese Tsunami Deepen the Global Food Crisis?

While I was up with Baby Dear in the wee hours of this morning, I happened to turn the TV to CNN. I listened to accounts of the horrifying earthquake damage in Japan. I watched the tsunami waters consume homes, vehicles, and countless lives. The magnitude of the disaster is stunning.

Now, I'm obviously not an economist, agronomist, or any other -ist that means anything. I'm just a paranoid mom who knows that the world is already on the brink of a massive food crisis. With that caveat in mind, here are my thoughts:

1. If you watched any of the tsunami footage, you saw the waters engulf what appeared to be fields and greenhouses. A quick check on Google confirmed that Sendai, ground zero for the disaster, is in the midst of the Japanese agricultural heartland.



A rice paddy

2. The same Google search showed that one of the major crops of this area of Japan is rice.
3. Salt water, debris, any chemicals picked up by the water, etc. are bad for crops! Not to mention the huge societal disruption Japan is facing. This could disrupt agriculture in the area for some time to come.
4. Japan consumes a massive amount of rice.
5. Up until now, the Japanese have imported very little rice and mainly consume what they grow themselves.
6. With a large portion of their rice crop in jeopardy, Japan will be forced to import rice.
7. This could lead to a spike in the price for rice, or perhaps even a rice shortage.
8. Even worse: If the unthinkable happens and those damaged nuclear plants have a Chernobyl-type accident, crop land in Japan could be contaminated for years to come. This would continue the food shortage/price increase scenario in addition to all the other tragic effects of such a disaster.

Again, these are just my own thoughts. Who knows if they have any real validity. I do know one thing. I'm buying a bunch of rice the next time I make a trip into town. I was going to do that anyway, but this gives me added motivation.

Month Nine in Review and Month Ten Prepping Plan

It's been a very productive month here at the Harried Homemaker Acres. I'm very pleased with what Hubby Dear and I have accomplished.

In Month Nine....

1. I got a FoodSaver and used it to vacuum seal dry goods like nuts and chocolate as well as meat for the freezer. I'm very happy with my purchase and I'll keep you posted about just how long it extends the shelf life of my stored foods.
2. I made a first aid stockpile plan and purchased quite a few items on the list.
3. I'm learning how to sew using the antique sewing machine that was gifted to us. My first sewing project - cloth pads - is coming along very slowly. I definitely am an inept seamstress, but I'll keep plugging away at it. I'll let you know how my handcrafted feminine items work after they get put through their paces.
4. I bought some more food storage items, including dry milk, snack foods (Nutella!), and miscellaneous canned goods. I also canned more ground beef and chicken.
5. Hubby Dear and I did some work outside in the garden in preparation for the spring planting season. We made our seed and berry orders and we'll be ready to go next month. I hope. We still have a lot of Mel's Mix to prepare and garden boxes to fill and we're going to get blasted with up to 6" of snow.



Most of our seeds and some new garden goodies arrived today

6. I finally got a shelf for the top of my Shelf Reliance Harvest 72" can organizer. One of my fabulous readers pointed out to me that Shelf Reliance actually does sell a top shelf (separately) for their food storage systems. I decided not to add to Hubby Dear's workload by having him make one and just ordered it. It cost $26.48 (ordered through a consultant, including shipping) and it will support up to 150 lbs.

The gray metal grid on top is the new shelf. It is sturdy and will be very useful.

In Month Ten:

1. I'm going to add to my EDC, which stands for Everyday Carry. These are survival items you carry with you everywhere. I'm going to add some things to my keychain and purse to help me be prepared for a wide variety of situations.
2. The majority of my prepping budget is going to be spent on food storage. In fact, the news articles about the looming food shortage/inflation problem that I've shown Hubby Dear have convinced him that we need to build our food storage more quickly. He thinks we should double our monthly prepping budget for next month and spend it all on food storage. Is he becoming a prepper or is he just trying to shut me up? ;0) I'm thinking our purchases through carefully so that I spend this money wisely. I'll definitely keep you all know what I end up buying.
3. We need to finish putting soil into our garden beds and begin planting at the end of the month. Our strawberry plants should arrive in late March and we'll also plant peas, potatoes, and lettuce around that time.
4. Hopefully, I'll finish my cloth pad project.

What have you done to prepare recently? What preps do you have in store for the next month?

The Mainstream Media Wakes Up

My third child, Sweetie Pie, has a mild obsession with Brian Williams, thus we always watch the NBC Nightly News at our house. Today they presented a story about sharply rising food costs across the globe. Wow, finally a mainstream news source saying something that preparedness-minded folks have been warning about for a while.

Food costs reach crisis proportions

It sure makes me glad we're building our food storage!

Month Seven in Review and Month Eight Preps

Month Seven:

This month of my Prepping Plan featured a few bumps, namely on the grain mill front.

I bought a lot of food storage-related items this month. I have another 100 lbs of beans, 90 lb of wheat, and lots of odds and ends like drink mix. My food storage buckets seem to have multiplied all of a sudden. I wasn't aware that I had this many.

Buckets galore but we need so many more

I also bought a couple of packs of Can Organizers, which made neat work of one of my cabinets. I learned how to can meat and found out it wasn't so scary after all. I also made a first aid kit out of an Altoids tin for my purse.

Tall, dark, and handsome

Month Eight Preps:

I feel a lot of pressure to complete my food storage ASAP because the specter of high inflation looms ever larger, so next month will also be focused on that area. If I can get rid of some of the junk in my storage room, I plan on buying a nifty Shelf Reliance shelving system. It should really help maintain FIFO (first in, first out) when it comes to my canned goods. I also plan on buying a few more items to fill my shiny new shelves.

The weird thing about these Shelf Reliance organizers is that they don't come with a shelf across the top. That's too much space to waste so I'm going to figure out what kind of wood I need to buy and get Hubby Dear to cut a piece to serve as a shelf.

I also plan on getting a P-Touch labeler so that I can create neatly printed labels for all my storage containers. I've always wanted one of those, so I'm pretty excited about that purchase. That's it for Month Eight.

Do you have any preps planned for next month?

Coming Soon: 2010 in Review and Goals for 2011

Inflation is coming, or rather, is already here

I don't watch Glenn Beck regularly. My personal political beliefs are a curious mixture of moderate, libertarian, and (occasionally) apathetic. Glenn Beck could very well be telling the truth about massive left wing conspiracies, etc. but the way he delivers his message makes me uncomfortable. I don't cotton to pontification. I prefer to hear both sides of the issue and make my own conclusions. The more I learn, however, the more Glenn Beck makes sense.

I did find yesterday's show interesting. After being tipped off to it by The Survival Blog and The Survival Mom, I tuned in and listened to his segments on inflation and food storage. I didn't think he gave very much useful information on food storage (he should have let Lisa, The Survival Mom, talk more!), but I appreciated his explanation on why we are going to experience inflation.





I sat on Hubby Dear and made him watch this with me. I've been trying to explain this kind of stuff to him but I'm notoriously bad with numbers and mathematical explanations. This did a better job.

If you've been shopping for groceries recently, you've probably noticed prices spiking on certain items. It sounds like we could very well be in store for more of this. This makes me want to buckle down even more and get my year's supply of food ASAP. I think more and more people are going to pull their heads out of the sand and realize food storage is only prudent.

The time for preparedness is now. If hyperinflation comes, the consequences for ordinary Americans will be huge.

What is the state of your food storage? If inflation goes nuts, how do you think your family will cope?