Price increases and shortages

[ducks4you]

Bought 25 more pounds of flour on Friday, put it away yesterday. It was about $8.00

Ducks4you for 2022

Window shopping for spray paint that will glow in the dark (for the top of the posts) OR reflect light. Glow in the Dark paints for exterior metal are Brutally expensive, for the ones that work. I am thinking of this, instead, bc it reFLECTS light...

www.theeasygarden.com

Post #216, for photos
I still have a lot of the 25 pounds that I bought last Fall, but I froze that. Gotta use it/move it bc we are getting a whole cow next month and freezer space will be sparse.
Here are the flour sizes available right NOW at WM, which unFORtunately is the still the cheapest place to buy.

flour 25 lbs - Walmart.com

flour 25 lbs - Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

This is what I bought last Fall, for about $15.00

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/product/gold-medal-all-purpose-flour-25-lb/1600051048.html

and here is their selection--

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/departments/grocery/pantry/cooking-meal-helpers/flours-meals.html

I think if you could pick up any sun tea jars at garage sales, about 5-6 of them will hold 25 pounds of flour. NOBODY uses them anymore, but they might clean out the basement or garage and dump them cheap.
I think I will Also pick up another large pickle jar, and **gulp** enJOY ??? pickles for a few weeks straight, like for snacks, so I have another jar to use for storage.
I was really surprised that the expiration dates for this large size package of flour is about 15-18 months.
I have an UNopened jar of active yeast, but I should probably pick up another one, since the one in my kitchen, unopened, is only good through this year. The partial in the fridge is still good.
This is what I'm talking about, if you are still wasting your money on envelope yeast.
3 envelopes of yeast: $1.19-$2.65/3 packages, which means 40 cents for one loaf of bread
1 jar of yeast: $3.30-$5.00/16 packages measure worth, which means 20-31 cents for one loaf of bread
This is A LOT of cash, if you bake often. Usually the jars have an expiration date past one full year, or, that has been experience.

When you look for the expiration date on Any packaging, you may be on a "scavenger hunt." Sometimes it is printed on the paper label. Sometimes, it's on the top of the lid, sometimes, just below the rim of the neck of the jar, and sometimes it's printed on the bottom.
I take a Sharpie and rewrite it in big letters, just month/year. They give you mm/dd/yyyy

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Bought 25 more pounds of flour on Friday, put it away yesterday. It was about $8.00

Ducks4you for 2022

Window shopping for spray paint that will glow in the dark (for the top of the posts) OR reflect light. Glow in the Dark paints for exterior metal are Brutally expensive, for the ones that work. I am thinking of this, instead, bc it reFLECTS light...

www.theeasygarden.com

Post #216, for photos
I still have a lot of the 25 pounds that I bought last Fall, but I froze that. Gotta use it/move it bc we are getting a whole cow next month and freezer space will be sparse.
Here are the flour sizes available right NOW at WM, which unFORtunately is the still the cheapest place to buy.

flour 25 lbs - Walmart.com

flour 25 lbs - Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

This is what I bought last Fall, for about $15.00

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/product/gold-medal-all-purpose-flour-25-lb/1600051048.html

and here is their selection--

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/departments/grocery/pantry/cooking-meal-helpers/flours-meals.html

I think if you could pick up any sun tea jars at garage sales, about 5-6 of them will hold 25 pounds of flour. NOBODY uses them anymore, but they might clean out the basement or garage and dump them cheap.
I think I will Also pick up another large pickle jar, and **gulp** enJOY ??? pickles for a few weeks straight, like for snacks, so I have another jar to use for storage.
I was really surprised that the expiration dates for this large size package of flour is about 15-18 months.
I have an UNopened jar of active yeast, but I should probably pick up another one, since the one in my kitchen, unopened, is only good through this year. The partial in the fridge is still good.
This is what I'm talking about, if you are still wasting your money on envelope yeast.
3 envelopes of yeast: $1.19-$2.65/3 packages, which means 40 cents for one loaf of bread
1 jar of yeast: $3.30-$5.00/16 packages measure worth, which means 20-31 cents for one loaf of bread
This is A LOT of cash, if you bake often. Usually the jars have an expiration date past one full year, or, that has been experience.
View attachment 47920
When you look for the expiration date on Any packaging, you may be on a "scavenger hunt." Sometimes it is printed on the paper label. Sometimes, it's on the top of the lid, sometimes, just below the rim of the neck of the jar, and sometimes it's printed on the bottom.
I take a Sharpie and rewrite it in big letters, just month/year. They give you mm/dd/yyyy

I rarely bake and use yeast but I have some in the freezer. I am going to get more flour, but this sourdough is using a lot. I am baking more than ever and so is DD.

 

[ducks4you]

I had to do a lot of searching to find expiration dates on packaged products that expire in about a year or so. Here is a primer. One date was so hard to find it took me 5 minutes to find iut. I couldn't find an example online, but I still have the jar. I'll take a picture later for you.

 

[flowerbug]

Bought 25 more pounds of flour on Friday, put it away yesterday. It was about $8.00

Ducks4you for 2022

Window shopping for spray paint that will glow in the dark (for the top of the posts) OR reflect light. Glow in the Dark paints for exterior metal are Brutally expensive, for the ones that work. I am thinking of this, instead, bc it reFLECTS light...

www.theeasygarden.com

Post #216, for photos
I still have a lot of the 25 pounds that I bought last Fall, but I froze that. Gotta use it/move it bc we are getting a whole cow next month and freezer space will be sparse.
Here are the flour sizes available right NOW at WM, which unFORtunately is the still the cheapest place to buy.

flour 25 lbs - Walmart.com

flour 25 lbs - Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

This is what I bought last Fall, for about $15.00

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/product/gold-medal-all-purpose-flour-25-lb/1600051048.html

and here is their selection--

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/departments/grocery/pantry/cooking-meal-helpers/flours-meals.html

I think if you could pick up any sun tea jars at garage sales, about 5-6 of them will hold 25 pounds of flour. NOBODY uses them anymore, but they might clean out the basement or garage and dump them cheap.
I think I will Also pick up another large pickle jar, and **gulp** enJOY ??? pickles for a few weeks straight, like for snacks, so I have another jar to use for storage.
I was really surprised that the expiration dates for this large size package of flour is about 15-18 months.
I have an UNopened jar of active yeast, but I should probably pick up another one, since the one in my kitchen, unopened, is only good through this year. The partial in the fridge is still good.
This is what I'm talking about, if you are still wasting your money on envelope yeast.
3 envelopes of yeast: $1.19-$2.65/3 packages, which means 40 cents for one loaf of bread
1 jar of yeast: $3.30-$5.00/16 packages measure worth, which means 20-31 cents for one loaf of bread
This is A LOT of cash, if you bake often. Usually the jars have an expiration date past one full year, or, that has been experience.
View attachment 47920
When you look for the expiration date on Any packaging, you may be on a "scavenger hunt." Sometimes it is printed on the paper label. Sometimes, it's on the top of the lid, sometimes, just below the rim of the neck of the jar, and sometimes it's printed on the bottom.
I take a Sharpie and rewrite it in big letters, just month/year. They give you mm/dd/yyyy

you can get 2lbs of yeast at a big box store like sams for about the same price.

 

[ducks4you]

NOT a Sam's Club member.
Good to know. ALWAYS buy the best price.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

This is actually why I try to avoid plastic waste entirely when ever practical. Unfortunately the world we live in is such that you pretty much have to live like Laura Ingles on the prairie if you don't want plastic waste, but I've swapped out laundry soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a bunch of other things for plastic free/reusable options.

Even if you 'recycle' it, it ends up in the dump as often as not.

This sort of gets to something I have wondered about for a while. In this day and age (or indeed, ever) is it possible for a family, or even a group as big as a village, to be TRULY self sufficient for an indeterminate time? That is, is it possible to be able to last indefinitely with absolutely NO outside input in the form of trade or communication with others? I am aware that such a situation has basically never happened in human history, since there has basically been trade and contact on some level between people since the dawn of time. But depending on the circumstances, I CAN see such situations arising for some people in the future (say, your village survives whatever catastrophe brings the world as we know it to an end, but that catastrophe leaves you TOTALLY PERMENANTLY blocked off from the rest of the world.)

NOT a Sam's Club member.
Good to know. ALWAYS buy the best price.

Correct, so long as you know that "best price" doesn't always mean the same thing as "cheapest". You want the best value for your money, and that may or may not be the same thing as spending as little money as possible. One needs to factor things like quality of product into the equation. A more expensive item may actually be a better deal than a cheaper one if the quality of it is such that it will last a lot longer. For example, one of the reasons I am willing to pay the fairly high prices I do for the brands of bacon I buy (besides the fact that I love their taste) is that they are shelf-stable, so even if the power goes out long term (or I run out of room in the refrigerator) I don't have to worry about them spoiling. As anyone will tell you, good quality clothes are usually worth their price, because you will be able to still be wearing them long after cheaper ones have fallen apart. I have tools I inherited from my grandfather that are still in EXCELLENT condition, FAR better than ones I have bought more recently. Heck I got some from my GREAT Grandfather that probably would still work if I needed them. People say "They don't make them like they used to", to which I reply "Then save up and go find someone who DOES make it like they used to, and buy from THEM, they are still here and there."

 

[AMKuska]

This sort of gets to something I have wondered about for a while. In this day and age (or indeed, ever) is it possible for a family, or even a group as big as a village, to be TRULY self sufficient for an indeterminate time? That is, is it possible to be able to last indefinitely with absolutely NO outside input in the form of trade or communication with others? I am aware that such a situation has basically never happened in human history, since there has basically been trade and contact on some level between people since the dawn of time. But depending on the circumstances, I CAN see such situations arising for some people in the future (say, your village survives whatever catastrophe brings the world as we know it to an end, but that catastrophe leaves you TOTALLY PERMENANTLY blocked off from the rest of the world.)


Correct, so long as you know that "best price" doesn't always mean the same thing as "cheapest". You want the best value for your money, and that may or may not be the same thing as spending as little money as possible. One needs to factor things like quality of product into the equation. A more expensive item may actually be a better deal than a cheaper one if the quality of it is such that it will last a lot longer. For example, one of the reasons I am willing to pay the fairly high prices I do for the brands of bacon I buy (besides the fact that I love their taste) is that they are shelf-stable, so even if the power goes out long term (or I run out of room in the refrigerator) I don't have to worry about them spoiling. As anyone will tell you, good quality clothes are usually worth their price, because you will be able to still be wearing them long after cheaper ones have fallen apart. I have tools I inherited from my grandfather that are still in EXCELLENT condition, FAR better than ones I have bought more recently. Heck I got some from my GREAT Grandfather that probably would still work if I needed them. People say "They don't make them like they used to", to which I reply "Then save up and go find someone who DOES make it like they used to, and buy from THEM, they are still here and there."

You might be interested in this story: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-family-who-lived-in-complete-isolation-for-42-years-6d24b8b39c83

It's rare but it does happen. In this story the mother starved to death though, so while it's possible there is a price.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

You might be interested in this story: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-family-who-lived-in-complete-isolation-for-42-years-6d24b8b39c83

It's rare but it does happen. In this story the mother starved to death though, so while it's possible there is a price.

That's sort of what I was getting at, but not totally. It is patently obvious that a single family is going to run into trouble eventually (from inbreeding, if nothing else). And the Siberian Tundra is particularly no place for really long term survival (they picked it BECAUSE it was hard to get to, not because the living was easy).

I was thinking more in line with how long an isolated village could survive without outside inputs. Food would probably not be a big problem if you pick the right area (good soil,, good grazing land/plenty of game etc.

The real problem comes in terms of tools, and what you do when the ones you had when you started start to wear out. You can have someone who know how to do blacksmithing, but even HE needs metal (you can't just recycle the same metal over and over again, eventually you'll lose too much to rust or it won't be usable anymore. So that means you need a source of ore. If you go back to stone tools, you need a source of suitable stone. You CAN make a lot of normally metal tools from solid wood, like pitchforks, but wood isn't great for making a sharp blade (bone CAN be made into a decent blade, but you generally need something harder than bone to make the bone into one). You need to either put yourself on a coast or have a salt deposit of some sort (so you have salt to preserve food). And you need enough of these things to be able to last indefinitely. And even then, you'll need a pretty large group of people to keep genes diverse enough to avoid inbreeding problems on a permanent basis (which magnifies all of the other ones.)

I suppose, now that I think of it, that I really should have asked if a SETTLED, AGRIULTURAL type civilization can do it. I is manifest that hunter gatherers can. After all, every "uncontacted" tribe left has basically not been in contact with much of anyone for thousands of years. The people on North Sentinel Island off India haven't really been in contact with anyone since the Stone Age (and seem to be determined to keep it that way!)

 

[flowerbug]

That's sort of what I was getting at, but not totally. It is patently obvious that a single family is going to run into trouble eventually (from inbreeding, if nothing else). And the Siberian Tundra is particularly no place for really long term survival (they picked it BECAUSE it was hard to get to, not because the living was easy).

I was thinking more in line with how long an isolated village could survive without outside inputs. Food would probably not be a big problem if you pick the right area (good soil,, good grazing land/plenty of game etc.

The real problem comes in terms of tools, and what you do when the ones you had when you started start to wear out. You can have someone who know how to do blacksmithing, but even HE needs metal (you can't just recycle the same metal over and over again, eventually you'll lose too much to rust or it won't be usable anymore. So that means you need a source of ore. If you go back to stone tools, you need a source of suitable stone. You CAN make a lot of normally metal tools from solid wood, like pitchforks, but wood isn't great for making a sharp blade (bone CAN be made into a decent blade, but you generally need something harder than bone to make the bone into one). You need to either put yourself on a coast or have a salt deposit of some sort (so you have salt to preserve food). And you need enough of these things to be able to last indefinitely. And even then, you'll need a pretty large group of people to keep genes diverse enough to avoid inbreeding problems on a permanent basis (which magnifies all of the other ones.)

I suppose, now that I think of it, that I really should have asked if a SETTLED, AGRIULTURAL type civilization can do it. I is manifest that hunter gatherers can. After all, every "uncontacted" tribe left has basically not been in contact with much of anyone for thousands of years. The people on North Sentinel Island off India haven't really been in contact with anyone since the Stone Age (and seem to be determined to keep it that way!)

as another example if you look at the supposed cradle of primates it is the African rain forest and in that area you need nothing at all other than enough range to forage. the weather is mostly ok enough that shelter can be provided as needed. currently the bonobos and some other primates survive without metal. they do not really farm but they are interesting and as alive as we are. i'm no longer studying them so i've probably missed more recent news but i sure wish them well and continued long and healthy lives.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

This is actually why I try to avoid plastic waste entirely when ever practical. Unfortunately the world we live in is such that you pretty much have to live like Laura Ingles on the prairie if you don't want plastic waste, but I've swapped out laundry soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a bunch of other things for plastic free/reusable options.

Even if you 'recycle' it, it ends up in the dump as often as not.

There is a sort of cute funny thing on Facebook shared now and then.

We Didn't Have the "Green Thing" Back In My Day

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren't good
for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, we didn't have the
"green thing" back in my day.
That's right, they didn't have the "green thing" in her day. Back then, they returned their
milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the
plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So
they really were recycled. But they didn't have the "green thing" back in her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store
and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-
horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she's right. They didn't
have the "green thing" in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away
kind? They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220
volts wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes
from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.? But that old lady is right,
they didn't have the "green thing" back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house not a TV in every room. And the TV
had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric
machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the
mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble
wrap.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used
a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need
to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right, they
didn't have the "green thing" back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic
bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying
a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the
whole razor just because the blade got dull. But they didn't have the "green thing" back
then.
Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the
school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one
electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.
And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites
2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.