I used to think of survivalists as kind of a kooky group of half to full paranoid individuals. But, during these times it has become more of a insurance policy to be independent in terms of shelter, food, and such. I purchased heirloom seeds for much of my garden this year. Heirloom seeds are not the hybrid varieties and therefore you can save the seed each year and plant again the next year. I also have purchased some chickens for eggs and meat, guineas for meat and protection of the chickens and rabbits for meat and fur. We live on a farm and have been accustomed to providing most of our meat from hunting in the fall. I am going to start learning more about subsistence living this year...just in case. But, also for the challenge of doing so. We will probably be doing more canning now and less freezing. If one were to lose electricity all frozen food has maybe a little more than a week before going bad. Canned food lasts for years. We drink our water from a well and I suppose I should probably figure out how to hook up the pump to my generator should we need. Anyway, I don’t think that people have been driving the cost of food up by stockpiling. There have been droughts in Australia, high fuel prices, increased demand from China, India, etc. caused by the huge increase in peoples wealth worldwide from free trade that President Bush pushed and now Obama’s gang wishes to destroy. All those things contributed much more to higher food prices. Good news for all is that food prices and indeed pretty much all prices will be coming down. Unfortunately for all, so will wages, earnings, etc. Keep liquid and refrain from buying large ticket items right now...no matter how cheap they seem at present...todays prices will be expensive within a year.
A generator transfer switch is your safest method here. I have an 8 circuit switch I installed in the house I built. Northern Tools has a decent selection of them. I can run my freezer and fridge, wood stove blower, well pump, a few lights and outlets for TV, microwave, etc., off of my generator without worrying about backfeeding into the grid. I'm in a fairly rural area, one house from the end of the line. We get power outages from ice storms and other foul weather at least a couple of times a year here. The transfer switch has more than paid for itself in the past 14 years. My water heater is an LP fired on demand type made by Paloma. Nothing quite like having a hot shower when everybody else is doing without....
We will probably be doing more canning now and less freezing. If one were to lose electricity all frozen food has maybe a little more than a week before going bad. Canned food lasts for years.<<<
Yes, can or dehydrate as much food as you can.
You are right, when prices come down, it will be due to less money to buy the product with.
When the electric is going to be off for awhile, wrap the freezer in quilts and it will help it last longer, that is what we did in Wellton, it was outside in the summer heat.
All of your post makes good sense to me, I hope you will continue to share your thoughts with us.
Dela Where is the most up to date on canning, he has answered and added links for several who had questions on the thread #1, on the last 2 or 3 pages.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1990507/posts?page=9919#9919