Food Prices and Prepping

[Survival Goddess]

Food prices have skyrocketed since 2010 and now as we near the end of 2011 from January 2010 to December 2011 the price of eggs rose a total 24.8%, milk 12.2%, Beef 14.6%, Vegetables 14.9%, Fruits 16.9%, and grains are at 13.8% but are expected to skyrocket in 2012 due to the many droughts of 2011 and the increased consumption by foreign countries along with the demands of bio fuels.



Only 2% of the United States population produce food.



From my perspective in 2010 to now the price difference in some of the things I buy..



2010 Now



Totinos Pizza $.98 $1.59

1 gal of 2% Milk $1.29 $2.89

Bread $.99 $1.89

Eggs $.99 $1.89

Beef Roast $9.90 $14.69



I have like most of you had to make that dollar stretch farther than I ever have. I find myself shopping at the Dollar Store more, use more coupons, and really search for deals. When you factor in the price of fuel it may seem like a losing battle. Here are some of the things I am doing to help with these prices and also try to prep.



The store that I do much of my grocery shopping at offers customer rewards each week, like 1 free item (this week it was a free box of pasta) They also award points for every dollar you spend and you can use these points to trade in for free groceries. They always have the buy 1 get 1 free and lately they have been offering soups, box dinners, and meat buy 5 get 5 free (this really helps on the prepping) They have their own gas station and when you spend so many dollars on groceries you get a discount on gas. (usually between 3 and 5 cents per gallon)



Make A Grocery List



I am a compulsive list maker and I always go to the store with a list and very seldom do I buy extra. By making a list and sticking to it you will find that you can keep your spending in check. Most grocery stores send out a weekly deal flyer, you can make your list and coupons accordingly. Also if possible try not to take your children shopping with you because as you mothers know your kids are victims of the advertising world and want what they see on TV so you will tend to spend more if you have them along.



20% For Prepping



Because I am single I spend $100 every two weeks for groceries and 20% ($20.00) of that goes toward prepping. Now mind you I will make a pot of chili (or large batch of something) that will feed me all week plus freeze a few containers.



Pack A Lunch



It amazes me how many people I know that will eat fast food or run to the corner convenience store and buy their lunch? $5 to $10 a day adds up! I have always packed my lunch just to save that money and also I like my stuff better than some heart attack in a sack.



Let me know how you save on the price of food and prepping@

Survival Goddess

Be prepared, not sorry

[The Stig]

Thread moved to the correct forum.

Folks, please take a stab at putting these in the correct forum. A thread with food in the title more than likely should start life in the food sub-forum.

[Sniper-T]

From my perspective in 2010 to now the price difference in some of the things I buy..

I wish I had your problems... responses in red
2010 Now I Pay

Totinos Pizza $.98 $1.59 $2.79
1 gal of 2% Milk $1.29 $2.89 $4.99+
Bread $.99 $1.89 $3.29
Eggs $.99 $1.89 $3.79
Beef Roast $9.90 $14.69 I eat deer

what pisses me off the most is the healthy things like veggies an fruit, produce, and meat go up and up, rarely on sale... yet walk past the junk food aisles, and all the crap is stupid cheap.

[bacpacker]

We shop sales, coupon, and try to stretch our dollars till they pop. A big thing we try to do is grow as many veggies as we can. We are also working on getting fruits out and growing. Plus thru the growing season we hit as many farmers markets and farm sales as we can looking for deals on stuff we can, dry, and freeze.
We got chickens back in the spring and are starting to get some eggs. Soon we will be putting some chicken in the freezer. I'm hoping to raise some young in the spring to increase flock size.
We also got a steer from a local farmer (thanks Izzy) for the freezer.
It's a pain to have to grow thru all this to save $ but it's worth it, plus we know pretty much what all we are eating.

[msomnipotent]

So much of what I usually buy has risen 50% or more. It would take me all day to list them. Orange juice and milk are up about 100% this year. I used to buy almost everything organic, and now I have cut back to just apples, grapes, and carrots. I am trying to plant the most expensive fruits and veggies, but it seems like I should just go ahead and plant everything at this point. Gardens are not really allowed in our subdivision, so I keep mine kind of small and then plant things like pansies, rose bushes, and blueberries in our front yard for "foliage". I have a few cherry saplings but I don't think they will survive the winter, which is a shame because they survived our stupid dog that has already dug up 4 apple trees and 2 cherry, and an Asian beetle infestation. We will try again this spring. I plan on finally using the dehydrator this year. It has been sitting in a box for over a year, so I hope it even works. I also plan on figuring out how to use my pressure canner this year, too.

I am already used to pinching pennies hard enough to make Lincoln scream, so figuring deals out is pretty easy for me. I have been buying a lot of food from Amazon lately because they have been having great deals on breakfast foods, and I earn Amazon gift cards from doing surveys so the food is basically free. None of the stores here double coupons or anything. I have to go shopping on an empty stomach or else I will only buy things that are on sale. Too many times I have come home with $300 worth of food, but no meat for dinner because meat wasn't on sale. I make a weekly menu now and buy everything that I need even if it isn't on sale. It still saves me money because we don't eat out as much.

I save $50 a month on gas now that my daughter takes the bus to school. I have been driving her myself because the bus doesn't have seat belts and we have to cross one of the most dangerous streets in the county to get to her school. But it turns out that they make the bus go way out of its way to avoid crossing that intersection.

[Survival Goddess]

As discussed in the first part of this series, food prices are on the rise and we need to make our food dollars stretch. We also need to be creative. I have 1 large room that is dedicated to my preps and I have to be creative on how I use that space. Currently I am installing more shelves along the walls and once that is completed in the center of the room my indoor aquaponics garden will be constructed.

I will construct a frame that will house two large totes on top and two on bottom and I will need two dual aerators. The bottom totes, 1 will contain spices (basil, thyme, etc) and 1 container of beans (Pinto and Great Northern). The two top totes will contain 1 of tomatoes and the other will be green and red peppers.

If you go on You Tube you can find many videos to create your aquaponics but I have include these 2 basic ones to give you an idea. To watch the videos go to
Survival Goddess

Be prepared, not sorry

[madpiper]

In my opinion, rice is the best food to buy on a budget and get your stores going. You can get a 50lb bag at GFS for under $20.00. Put it in some empty 2 liter bottles and it's basically good until the plastic deteriates in like 10,000 years. It may not be appetizing, but it feeds 75% of the world on a daily basis. Other than that, I grab some dried beans, peanut butter, boullion cubes (for the rice), or whatever I walk past that is cheap in the store. I also grab salt whenever I can - it has to many uses not to have a large quantity at hand.

[Gunfixr]

We went just a bit further on the rice. Since rice is typically cooked by the cup, we put it in vacuum seal bags in cup amounts (1, 2, etc), and seal it up. The write on the package the month and yr, and the cup amount. We don't buy the bags, but the long tubes which you cut to length and mke your own bags from.
These packages are further put into 5gal buckets, for extra protection. Then you can open a specific, usable amount to prepare, without opening any more. They are also easy to pack and carry as homemade mres.
Cat litter buckets are great for this, as they are the food grade type plastic. They are usually square, so they stack tighter in the pantry than round buckets. You can get 48 packs of Ramen Noodles into one of these buckets, if you pack it right. Also will keep Ramen indefinitely this way. Just replaced some that was 3yrs old and ate what came out of the bucket, all fine. The flimsy packets it comes in is only good for about 6 months. Rice is only good for about 6 months also is not sealed up properly, such as the bag it comes in.
We take salt and sugar, remove it from the paper containers it comes in, and pour it into the plastic jugs that fruit juices come in, like the big gallon apple juice jugs with the handle at the top. Just wash it good, let it dry very thoroughly, and it's ready. Be sure to identify it somehow. We use 1 gallon jugs for sugar, and 1/2 gallon for salt, exclusively, therefore they are identifiable even when unmarked. IIRC, a gallon jug will hold about 8lbs of sugar. So far, I've just left the pepper, as it comes in metal cans.
If you really want salt, in large amounts, find a local pork packing plant, that does the old dry cure method, which is salt packing. I got a 50 or 60lb bag of salt for 20.00. Wish I'd known that before I had stocked it. It will be slightly larger grained than table salt, but not by much.

[izzyscout21]

The 4 of us go through so much in groceries it's not even funny. My wife and I can eat whatever, but due to their medical issues, the twins have to eat extremely healthy. We go through at least $75 bucks worth of fresh fruit and veggies a week just for the kids. I never knew toddlers could eat so many veggies. My wife and I don't partake in the fresh stuff simply because we can't afford to. Prices are astronomical.

I've got to get a garden started. If S ever HTF, please, someone show up here that can actually grow food.

[realist]

Twins??? I can't imagine having twins, just wait till they become teenagers. When my son comes home from college I have to just about double my food buying. He is into nutrition so it is no longer casseroles but chicken breasts and lots of veggies. I can't remember when I had a hamburger, it is better for us. That said I went to Cash and Carry a few days ago and was amazed at the price difference from grocery store. Their meats were substantially cheaper than Costco. You have to buy in quantity but then that is what we are talking about.

Sniper I am showing my ignorance, why are your prices so much higher??