Price increases and shortages

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Everyday I hear more and more gloom and doom. Yesterday it was that we will have a shortage of coffee. My brother took the week off from his job because work is very slow and they are sending people home and he is afraid they will have to go on unemployment for awhile. Their shortage is related to computer chips. I hear gas is going up, food will go up, so I am wondering what others are seeing or thinking. I just got my stimulus check. I told my brother I was going to buy extra food and he said I should save the money and I am thinking save for what. If there will be shortages and price increases it would seem buying extra now would be better, but extra what? I heard people saying even car parts, windshield wipers and then there is the wood prices. I started an Etsy store and have sold a few things without even really trying, just kind of deciding what I want to do. I sew for the 2 granddaughters. I am wondering should I buy extra sewing supplies or even another sewing machine to have if this one needed repairs. I really could spend money on new lights for the greenhouse and I am sure I could find other gardening supplies I could use. I heard a shortage of cardboard and things like cereal will be a shortage or have to put in plastic bags, but there is a shortage of plastic. I go to Costco and see people looking like preparing for World War III. Any thoughts on this or seeing price increases?

 

[GottaGo]

Gas has gone up a good .70 since January, food prices definitely up. Housing around here is just shy of shocking, that's been going up over the last 2 years or so, and zoomed up during lock down.

Some people are in panic mode. I know I laid in an extra supply of seeds, but that was about it. I won't worry what I can't change or stop.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

We have been keeping a 3 month supply of food since stores were restocked in August. I’ve bulked you my seed stash and made sure I have varieties I can save seed from. Beyond that we aren’t really doing anything. If things get really bad between the chickens and the garden we can feed the whole family for less than 500 for a year. Less than that if we give up or greatly reduce our flour, sugar and dairy consumption. I’d like a goat but the rest of the family disagrees.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I've been prepped for over a year. I only buy on sale and I spread my bucks between two to three stores, by scouring the Wednesday food ad and taking advantage of the online only clip coupon sale items at those same stores. I've canned alot of clearance protein this winter and I only buy clearance meat. It has to be on sale AND marked down 30%. I'm going to lose my SNAP when I start my SS, so its important to stock up.

Gas is almost $4 a gal in parts of Calif, mostly due to taxes. Our gas is now over $3 at Costco.

I still try to sell things on FB marketplace. But mostly to provide a cash resource for improving the value of this home.

 

[baymule]

We could probably eat for 6 months to a year, might get boring but we wouldn’t starve. Throw in the garden produce and we’d be eating pretty darn good. We have practically every thing we need. Never have enough canning lids, but I buy continuously when I find them.

We have a diesel tank and got diesel when it started going up. We’ll be able to run the tractor! LOL
We just put half a steer in the freezer, have 3 feeder pigs, 2 are presold. ATM we have 85 Cornish Cross chicks, 40 are presold, we trade some for catfish, cleaned and frozen. A neighbor has an ice machine and we “pay” with a couple of chickens. Got 8 black sex link chicks today to go with the 1 year old red sex links we have, to keep the eggs coming.

I don’t have a dairy animal and don’t really want one, but I’ve thought about it.

We still buy food and things at the store, can’t raise everything. Prices are hitting the stratosphere and going higher. If I need one, I buy 2-3. Next time I may get a couple more. I am organized chaos.

My advice is to stock up on everything that you can. Bare shelves are no joke. Disruptions in the supply chain affect everything else right down the line. Here in Texas we had record breaking cold temperatures and a couple of weeks of snow and ice. Toss in electric grid failures and it was a mess. Hatcheries lost electricity and eggs died. Chicken houses lost power, birds died. Milk was dumped out, no trucks could get on the roads to pick it up. Custom slaughter places closed, pushing back meat supply for us grow our own folks. Vegetables froze in the fields, citrus crop was lost. Shelves were bare. It is just now getting back to normal.
We were ok, just needed milk for 2 bottle lambs and that got real interesting. There were limits on what there was, so we got a couple of neighbors to find milk for us too. I mixed in the powdered milk replacer to stretch it out. We have more darned milk in those two adorable little stinkers, more than they are worth. LOL They are down to 2 bottles a day, 10 ounces each feeding, I’ll wean them in another week or two.

What could disrupt the supply chain in your area? What would you be out of if everything stopped again like it did due to Covid last year? Clean out a closet, add shelves and fill them up. Or buy plastic totes with lids that will fit under the bed and fill them up. Whatever you use a lot of, stock up on it. Not stoking fear, just common sense. Galloping inflation is making every thing more expensive and shortages could occur.

 

[Collector]

If anybody needs lumber for projects better get it now, the prices have gone up a lot but I think that they are going to get way higher. We have also been buying the heirloom seeds and building an emergency seed bank that will get stored away for the future. Some of the local slaughter houses are booked out for 1.5/2yrs so if you want to get an animal harvested you had better get on the list. We have 5 gallon buckets full of rice and beans usually all the time already but may fill a few more just to have something basic to eat if the stores run low for awhile. We are lucky to have family members who are also in to various ag endeavors that we can trade with and have things processed by ,I can only process deer size animals by myself. Main thing is keep your ear to the ground and try to anticipate what may be happening next or not. If fuel,and lumber prices keep going up it will impact the housing boom we are having now, and my work may be negatively affected. Hope for the best prepare for something less than that.

 

[seedcorn]

According to weather service I use for trends (worthless on day to day) this summer will be hot and fairly dry after July 4th week. That will make crops in Midwest interesting. Corn/bean inventories are low as foreign countries buying up excess. That will increase meat costs as feed costs go up. Will make gardens very helpful economically as well as quality-which it always is.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Well, thank you for the information. I am one of those Y2K people that did everything possible including buying land and no electricity. Then, later I would hear another disaster coming and tell DH, there is going to be a rice shortage and he would go buy a bunch. I told him the some kind of flu was coming in 2009 or so and I paid a fortune for 2 elderberry bushes and he planted them for me. Now I do not have somebody who thinks like me. DD and her husband are buying a lot extra, but not from listening to me, but they have young friends who stock up. They have their reasons why the need is there. My brother did stock up for Y2K right at the end, just in case. I always have beans and rice and freezers full of stuff, and I feel the need to stock up. I put the question here because I belong to a message board that are all into stocking up for different reasons and most reasons are pretty much wild. I have just tried to not turn into a Y2K psycho again, because I was and when the toilet paper thing happened, the Y2K psycho was totally taken by surprise. I did not have a clue what was going on. I had not been listening to the news and had no idea what was going on in China and DS and I went for our usual shopping and could not believe the shelves being emptied and I was mad at myself and said never again and I have been preparing best I can. I agree with Collector and keeping ear to the ground. I just thought maybe mine was too tight on the ground again and overreacting. I agree with all of you and seedcorn and I had heard that but was not sure if it was really anything, but all of this is. Glad people preparing for whatever is coming. DD is very upset with the housing and no houses to buy and even renting an apartment here is crazy and I get offers daily almost and today got another letter from a real estate company stating they have buyers and contact them if I want to sell, but I believe moving in these times would be very, very bad. I told DD it is time to just hunker down and stay in place for whatever it is. Thank you for the opinions and very interesting to hear what is going on in other states. About garden seeds, I think I posted here years ago about sprouting some old survival seeds and I opened a can this year and it says inside 1997 seeds. I got the tomatoes to sprout without doing anything special. The peppers did not come up. If I soak them or baby them they might, but the tomatoes look as good as new seed.

 

[baymule]

The best seeds are the ones you plant every year or every other year.

Collector if you can slaughter a deer, you can slaughter a pig. If you don’t have a meat grinder, get one. With a bone saw and hack saw, sharp knives, you can do it. Package everything in Foodsaver vacuumed sealed bags, buy the rolls and cut your own size. Raising a couple of pigs would provide meat for you and entire family. Well worth it.

 

[Rammy]

Ive been stocking up since last year. Just bought my third generator in case the grid goes down. Stocked up on gas for them too, with Stabil in it. Last year got a 55g drum filled with ethanol free gas for the mowers and emergencies.
Two full freezers. Three if you count the small one in the refrigerator. Canning like a crazy person. Buying canning supplies as I find them. Mylar bagged tons of rice, beans, pasta, flour. Two shelving units full of canned goods. More room under the beds.
Went to Lowes and bought 4 more food grade 5g buckets and two big things of 6 mil plastic since Ive heard plastics are going to become scarce. Heard that about tin too but not noticed too much of a shortage on that yet. However, Ive been going to Sams and buying the 60 count case of cat food for my cat. Plan on getting enough for a year.
I have noticed the shelves in some stores a little sparse with canned cat food.
Cows have a Oct or Nov slaughter date. Mom and I bought 2 small freezers for them.
I still think, with all thats going on, we still have no real clue what this is really all about. Its not good.
Stock up on what you can now. The prices are going to go up. Stock it, stack it to the rafters, repeat.