Just thought I'd put this out there...
During and after lockdown 2020, I ordered dried goods from a co-op. Well, I recently checked the prices ... and it blew my mind.
I'm not surprised, given the food factory fires and natural disasters and bad weather and crop failures happening all over the place, but I fear that if the prices of unprocessed, bulk grains are skyrocketing this bad, this fast, then it's a sign of terrible times to come (and these increases are even before the massive gas price increases set in and before the upcoming diesel shortages and before the massive trucker lay-off in California and before the sudden increase in natural gas line explosions and before the possible railway labor strike which would shut down railroad deliveries).
So just to give you an idea of the hard times that might be coming, here's a comparison of what the catalog prices were in January 2021 and what they currently are in 2022 (it doesn't matter what size the bag is, just look at the price increase) ...
For organic wheat berries in bulk (different types of wheat, different brands):
A bag that was $24 last year is now $52
A bag that was $19 is now $68
Another that was $21 is now $58
One that was $54 is now $117
For various oat products, in bulk:
A bag of steel cut oats was $49 last year, but it's now $108
A bag of whole oat groats was $48, now it's $117
And oatmeal was $49, but now it's $76
Rice that was $54 is now $87
Popcorn that was $65 is now $123
Various types of dried beans were about $54, now they're $85
Dried organic corn, in bulk, was $35, but now it's a whopping $102 (and there's been no bags of frozen corn at Costco the last couple times I went shopping).
Sea salt that was less than $4 is now on sale for $7 (marked down from $12). And another brand that was $3.75 for 5 pounds is now gone, replaced by a brand that costs $3.95 for less than 1.5 pounds. (And just today I saw that 5 pounds of pink salt from Costco, which I'm sure used to be $5, is now $8. SALT! Salt is in everything, and so if salt goes up this much ... and wheat ... and corn, etc.... imagine how much all the processed food is going to go up.)
Not a good sign of what's ahead. And it's only June.
Stock up on what you can now. It's going to get bad.
[Knowing early on that all this was coming, we put in a large vegetable garden so that we can grow and save some things. Oh goodness, it makes me crazy to see lots of empty space in people's yards where they could be growing a garden. Now is the time to put one in, before food becomes scarce. I am planning on dehydrating whatever I can to save space and energy, instead of freezing or canning. Of course, we'll lose some quality and texture, but at least we'll have food.
And I stocked up on various health things we need, like vitamins and essential oils (everyone should have tea tree essential oil and lavender essential oil) and diffusers and the herbal anxiety remedies I like (see here for what I use - just the idea of not having these anxiety remedies available makes me anxious, so I have a couple years' worth stored).
And ... if that wasn't enough ... I also spent the winter researching which garden plants and weeds (not pot!) are edible or can be used medicinally or medically, such as to put on wounds/stings or to make into healing tea blends. There's so much we can do with the plants in our own backyards, but we've lost that old-timey wisdom. Instead, we run to the pharmacy and pick up whatever the pharmaceutical companies tell us to get.
But what will you do if conventional medicine runs out or can't be shipped or gets hard to find? It's good to know this stuff ahead of time and to start growing/preserving your own herbs/weeds/plants/etc. (I probably looked like a crazy person on my hands and knees for days in the spring, picking hundreds and hundreds of violet flowers to dehydrate for tea! But now I have two beautiful quart-sized jars of dried violet flowers - and two of dried violet leaves - for when we have coughs and colds in the fall or winter.
Oh, and have some 80-proof vodka on hand for homemade tinctures, if you need it someday. And get some books on how to do it, on how to use plants medicinally or on home-grown remedies for common ailments. Don't wait till you need it to learn how to do it. Because by the time you need it, it'll be too late. Learn now. And start harvesting and preserving some things.]
