Prepare: Budget Survival Food List

I have made similar entries on this topic before, but it comes up frequently in conversations with others unfamiliar or new to preparing.

Food. We take for granted that the grocers will be open twenty four by seven down the street or that Costco will have pallets of food always available. The reality is, we have it good with the amount and supply of food in our stores. It was not always that way.

"The First Things To Go After A Crisis"

Two generations ago, the standard grocery store was a corner Piggly Wiggly not much bigger than a 7-11. It was dominated by canned goods and staples like flour and sugar. Produce was out front in barrows for passersby to examine and purchase. A butcher stood at the back of the store and cut steaks and chops to order. There was no plastic wrapped meat and shoppers had a limited, but fresh choice of meats.

A generation before that, we had open markets with butchers, green grocers and the like often time hawking still living animals like chickens, geese and ducks. Eggs sat in baskets next to metal covered cans of milk.

And here we are today. With massive warehouses of food minutes away from home. Walmart, Sams, Costco and he numerous supermarkets as well.

Food, comparatively speaking to earlier generations, is still cheap. Those oranges from Brazil, coconuts and bananas from the Pacific, limes from Mexico were unheard of in our grandparents time. And the cost back then would have been a working man's wages for a handful or bananas or lemons.

However, at the same time that food is available and cheap, it is also a blink away from being gone. For instance, what happens when gasoline is no longer available for shipping? Or if civil war breaks out in Mexico? Or a virus or bug affects crops in Florida or North Dakota?

We depend so much upon healthy water, air, conditions, weather, relations with other countries and fuel that any of these factors or a combination of them could disrupt our food supplies in just a few days.

Fortunately for you and me, most of our fellow citizens are still scarfing down a) fast food, b) to go meals from restaurants, c) prepared foods from the gourmet grocers, d) frozen meals and e) a pre-packaged diet plan advertised by a middle aged celebrity which means..

There is plenty of food for us today and tomorrow to stock up on. Regular things like produce, meat, canned and packaged food, and frozen staples. That means we can stock up now and go back for more tomorrow before it is all gone.

With the diminishing power of the dollar, how long before Mexico, Chile or Brazil decide they aren't going to send any more lemons, limes, oranges or bananas our way?

Or what if the Middle East goes nuclear bonkers (five minutes away any day) and oil shoots to 200.00 a barrel? Nearly everything in the store will be in short supply or so high priced your mortgage payment will look like a deal compared to food.

With money tight, what can you do today?

First, stock up on things which can make meals for several days and months. Not a frozen "hot pocket pizza" but real food.

Suggestions -

- Rice
- Dried beans
- Powdered milk
- oil and cooking lard
- canned vegetables and fruit
- canned meats like tuna and salmon.
- Sugar, syrup and honey.
- spices
- salt
- canned soups
- flour, baking powder and baking soda

All of these foods will keep for months if not years. And when combined together, can make healthy and filling foods.

This will work as long as water and power are available. For water, start storing water now and have a plan to get more. Even rain water can be filtered and boiled and drunk. Further power can come from a hot plate attached to a car battery if need be.

Best of all, budget and money. These foods above are relatively inexpensive. Unlike Long Term Foods like MRE, these ingredients can be combined to make many meals over a long period of time. MRE and the like are good for short term, on the move meals and worse of all, are very expensive.

So, save some money, make a list and start stockpiling these foods now. One more piece of advice, augment your stored food with a decent garden. Seeds are real cheap and available right now.

SHTF: Starving Children

Here is the standard survivalist line: Provide for me, my family, my select friends who were invited to join us only. The list is closed after that.

Here is the un-standard problem. The next door neighbor comes over three weeks after the event and begs for anything to eat. You know the family; your kids and theirs played together before everything went in the handbasket.

What would you do?

For me, that means "Sure, come on in and let's get them fed". Period.

I won't let a child I know go hungry no more than I would want one of my children to go hungry. What's more is you, me and everyone else does better when we work together within our own community in this case, with our neighbors.

They will be one more set of eyes to watch my back and can do it because I helped feed them.

Now, here are some scenarios where I am not helping anyone.

- Stranger shows up at front door and says "Hey, yall got some food?" or something like that. Sorry, I don't know you and by the way, we are starving in here too. Nope, no food here.

- Dad (or mom) shows up with kids and proceeds to help himself before the children have been served and have eaten their fill. This Dad piles his plate and scarfs it down. Sorry, I take the plate (with gun in hand) and Dad waits outside for kids to get be done.

- Kids balk at eating, complain about the food and demand something different. After pausing to notice Mom's face turning whiter then death, I take the food up and show the little tikes the front door. Mom can teach manners at that point.

Which brings up a real scenario which will happen when you help the neighbors out.

My family and I have had more than a few families over for dinner. My wife cooks from scratch, serves healthy food and there is never a shortage of fresh vegetables at any meal.

Family number one comes over. Little boy says the food my wife places before him is yucky. His mother makes excuses and let's him stuff himself on bread and dessert. Little girl proceeds to drown her food in a half a bottle of ranch dressing and dumps a bowl of parmesian cheese on the whole mess. Than says she is full. Dad comments on how cute she is and let's her play on the floor while he eats three helpings of everything including the last of the pasta and meat without noticing if anyone else has eaten.

Family number two comes over. Children are home schooled by mom, incidentally and have manners which are strangers among today's coddled children. Both Little Girl and Little Boy gorge themselves on my wife's fresh cucumber salad and have two servings each of her homemade soup. Both sit at table while parents are still eating and despite their fondness for the bread my wife made, leave the last piece for my son (who is chastised to give to one of his guests).

Post SHTF you will see both kinds in your home once the stores are empty. Exhibit your Christian kindness, but be prepared to remind people of manners and behavior while eating your hard saved preps.

Ho ho ho. Happy Holidays.

Rice? What rice? What price rice?

Rice is a staple food eaten all over the world. The top producers of rice are:

China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Brazil and Japan.

Of these countries, only Thailand and Vietnam export (send out of the country) any measurable amounts. The third largest exporter of rice is the United States and by the numbers, is not in the top ten producing countries.

China and India consume much of their production. The Philippines cannot produce enough to meet demand and must import a certain amount of rice annually.

Rice is inexpensive, nutritious and filling. It can be used a main dish and augmented with other foods such as meat and vegetables to create a healthy meal.

And now the problem.

Because of demand, weather and costs, rice has become difficult to buy. Check out this story from Costco's CEO. This is taking place in the U.S. Not some third world country, but here.

The demand for rice is outstripping the supply. As I said, there are many causes. A healthier economy in Asia. A colder than expected winter in China and Vietnam. Higher demand from third world nations. Even commodity speculation.

With so few countries exporting, then the other shoe drops. India announces that they are curtailing their exports to keep prices low at home. Thailand, which usually holds a large surplus, has found itself with a three month supply and multiple customers including oil-rich, cash in hand nations like Iran shopping for a dwindling supply.

Food, once considered a boring commodity, is now a hot resource, much like petroleum and precious metals.

How does this affect us?

Rice, like wheat, constitutes a large part of our preparedness stores. At our home, we regularly keep 100 to 400 pounds of rice on hand in storage buckets. I recently checked at our Costco and found no rice in stock at all, save for the 10 lb bags of basmati rice which is not a big favorite at our house.

Rice, which used to be cheap and could be counted on as an everyday and emergency food stock is now hard to obtain and more costly when available. This can seriously hurt our preparedness plans.

What can we do?

First, we are facing a demand problem and not necessarily a shortage. Rice is available, but it might be hard to find.

Second, the time to buy was last year, but the time to buy is also now before the shipments stop and there are no restocks.

A few suggestions;

- Purchase smaller bags (1, 2 and 5lb) from your grocer.
- Check big box retailers like Walmart. Often they have the big bags like Costco or Sams.
- Check with Asian and Middle Eastern retailers. I would buy 25 and 50 lb bags from the Asian market near our house anyway. Also check the Hispanic oriented supermarkets if they are in your town.
- Keep an eye out at Sams and Costco. Ask the manager when shipments may arrive. According to the news, new stock arrives daily.
- Buy in reason. There is no need to snatch every 50lb bag you see. Buy what you can afford and reasonably store.
- Store what you buy, eat what you store.
- Consider other grains which may be in stock.

A note.

There have been a number of news articles about food shortages and riots. So far, this has not happened in the U.S. yet and I don't see it happening for some time.

Also, there is plenty to eat (real long term storage food) in the markets. I have not seen the all edged shortages of flour, sugar, salt or yeast some are hysterically reporting nor have my retailers placed any limits on purchases.

Finally, the government has not issued a statement on the rice demand. When the government issues a statement like "please limit purchases" or worse, "we have implemented price controls and rationing", then you have a real problem on your hand.

That does not mean to say that you should not continue to store food. On the contrary, we prepare for all eventualities which includes short term shortages such as what we are experiencing in addition to more serious events.