Food shortages are here and getting worse.

[Proud Prepper]

Bought another months of food for our household. Canned food that was on sale.

I finished cutting about 2 cords of wood today that fell from IDA and stacked it on a new wood rack.

 

[DrHenley]

My wife just bought the last case of frozen baudze (steamed pork buns) of any kind at the Chinese food supply place in Atlanta. The kind we really want has been out of stock for months.
Chinese restaurants will either have make them from scratch or take them off the menu.

 

[Amish Heart]

At our amish deli, their order for pepper jack cheese didn't come in. A cousin of mine goes in twice a week and makes their bierrocks from scratch. The pepper jack ones she said she made had monterey jack and red pepper flakes in them. That works. They do meat ones, too, I think similar to pork buns, only these are baked and not steamed.

 

[Brent S]

Went to Walmart today. Lots of empty shelves, especially meats and cheeses. Not sure how much was the weekend wiping out supplies or if it is becoming the norm here. Never saw the meat and dairy cases that low before though. Prices hve gone up quite a bit across the board too. Saw Swanson chicken broth for 1.98. Used to be .88.
I’m really not too concerned for me as I am pretty wise with money. But for the average American with no savings or clue as to how a budget works it will likely be a lot harder to make ends meet in the future.

 

[DrHenley]

My wife just bought the last case of frozen baudze (steamed pork buns) of any kind at the Chinese food supply place in Atlanta. The kind we really want has been out of stock for months.
Chinese restaurants will either have make them from scratch or take them off the menu.

Things that have to come from California (the baudze are made in Kali) were out or very high. Produce from Florida was on sale cheap.

 

[Tornad0Alley]

Prices are higher in our area, but, so-far, no real shortages. Added some canned goods that were on sale to our stock....we're good for the winter. Looking forward to next spring to see what we can plant in this accursed Indiana soil. Once I start growing, the only concern will be protein, primarily.

 

[Helen Back]

Went out shopping a couple of days ago and the prices are significantly higher. Salt for the well was $4.80 last year, now $7.99. Dairy products up $25-30%, bags of rice/beans up 25%, a couple of the big increases escape at the moment, but the general rule was that food has gone up 25-40% in the last two weeks. My math is bad, but that seems like MUCH more than the 5% inflation the Brandon admin is reporting.

I also noticed on some of the items that had not changed much in price, that the packages were smaller. So, another way they get people.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Picked up a case of 12 chicken broth on sale for 4.89. Didn’t need it but we’ll go through it. Got Foodsaver refill on sale for $10 off.
Across the board everything is higher than a 5% rate. Probably closer to 10% on food. Just going by my weekly trip totals.

 

[Amish Heart]

I'm going to have to start tracking my chicken feed costs. Bought 300# (half scratch, half crumble) for $72 today.
That's a good price on broth, Easterner. I've seen it for 50 cents a can, that's it.

 

[Helen Back]

Yeah, AH, chicken feed has skyrocketed too, % wise. Wife said the new pine shavings look suspect too, in quality.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

I'm going to have to start tracking my chicken feed costs. Bought 300# (half scratch, half crumble) for $72 today.
That's a good price on broth, Easterner. I've seen it for 50 cents a can, that's it.

Costco

 

[Brent S]

I'm going to have to start tracking my chicken feed costs. Bought 300# (half scratch, half crumble) for $72 today.
That's a good price on broth, Easterner. I've seen it for 50 cents a can, that's it.

I did the math on both rabbits and chickens and it’s cheaper to buy them than raise your own. UNLESS you have a lot of land where they can forage a lot. Here I had land but too many predators. (Including my own dumb dogs)… but if your pen raising animals it’s for the experience, not the price.
I keep three cases of chicken, beef and turkey broth each. You can add flavor to everything with the stuff.

 

[Amish Heart]

We raise rabbits, quineas, chickens, and turkeys but have land. I grow food for them, too. But, you know, winter coming. Still they can have all the arugula growing in the greenhouse that husband wanted me to plant and now decided he doesn't like it.
We incubate our own chicken and turkey eggs, raise our own replacer chicks. Use the excess eggs for barter.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

We raise rabbits, quineas, chickens, and turkeys but have land. I grow food for them, too. But, you know, winter coming. Still they can have all the arugula growing in the greenhouse that husband wanted me to plant and now decided he doesn't like it.
We incubate our own chicken and turkey eggs, raise our own replacer chicks. Use the excess eggs for barter.

Our chickens are getting the kale I’m growing. Hubby decided he doesn’t want it and instead insists on arugula or romaine I’m also growing. Swiss chard isn’t ready yet, but have a feeling it won’t eat it either. We purchased 200 lbs of scratch and 300 lbs of crumbles to last us awhile. Nervous about the supply chain.

 

[Amish Heart]

Ha, funny about the kale. I still have elephant kale growing outside that husband wanted, but he'll eat it in salad if it's chopped small. The animals eat most of it, and it's been going strong since spring. So I like to grow different greens in the greenhouse this time of year, and it's great till it gets to negative temps. He insisted on the arugula, but I also green mustard spinach, two types of lettuce, and another type of kale which is not as "thick" as the elephant . I get tired of buying iceberg. Not only is it bad quality, it's up to $1.50 a head.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Ha, funny about the kale. I still have elephant kale growing outside that husband wanted, but he'll eat it in salad if it's chopped small. The animals eat most of it, and it's been going strong since spring. So I like to grow different greens in the greenhouse this time of year, and it's great till it gets to negative temps. He insisted on the arugula, but I also green mustard spinach, two types of lettuce, and another type of kale which is not as "thick" as the elephant . I get tired of buying iceberg. Not only is it bad quality, it's up to $1.50 a head.

Agree! Iceberg is useless health wise too. We’ve got 2 kinds of kale in the greenhouse. One is thinner than the other. My spinach is doing pretty well...just not as fast as the kale. Hoping to keep all these growing through until the end of February. Do you put heat mats under yours? Or heat your greenhouse?

 

[Amish Heart]

No we just close it off. There isn't any electricity out there or anything near it, but it's in a sunny spot. We did ok last year until January, I think. The herbs will freeze first. I have 5 super big tomatoes in there, too, and some spring onions that I keep going, and chop and dehydrate or use fresh as needed.

 

[GaRp58]

We plowed the garden on Sat. and re-filled it a bit with some sand, fertiliser, compost and hay to get it ready for next year. The early potatos, peas, garlic and onions go in deeper than normal and will come up around the end of Feb. Bought the V50 Volvo station wagon finally. Is better than we thought and much more safety items and is also more comfortable than any other car we have ever had.

 

[DrHenley]

Agree! Iceberg is useless health wise too.

What do you have against water GP?
I don't get the hate for iceberg lettuce. It doesn't have anything bad in it, it's mostly water, and I don't see how that is a bad thing. The glycemic index for iceberg lettuce is 32. Eat your lettuce and hydrate at the same time!

 

[SHTFPREPPER]

I did the math on both rabbits and chickens and it’s cheaper to buy them than raise your own. UNLESS you have a lot of land where they can forage a lot. Here I had land but too many predators. (Including my own dumb dogs)… but if your pen raising animals it’s for the experience, not the price.
I keep three cases of chicken, beef and turkey broth each. You can add flavor to everything with the stuff.

No it isn’t always cheaper to raise your own, but I know what goes into the meat and eggs that go into me, my 5 grandchildren and the rest of our extended family. Ditto with our beef cattle and our dairy cow. The yolks on our eggs are pumpkin orange, our chicken actually tastes like the chicken I grew up on, and the beef is flavorful. I have a huge poultry run with turkeys, geese, ducks and chickens. I feed them a combination of garden surplus, cracked corn, free gleaned wheat, kitchen scraps and layer pellets. Life’s a trade off. I can buy cheap meat/eggs raised God knows where and fed God knows what, or I can walk outside and see exactly what they’re eating, if anyone is acting sick or injured, and that’s more than worth it to me.