Same in ‘not-rural’ Tennessee, at least in my part. But I’ve noticed some shifting of products on the shelves. That is to say, the cracker aisle has a smaller section for crackers (the crunchy kind, not people like me) than it had. I keep a pretty good supply of triscuit crackers at home, but only buy when on sale. Of course, today’s sale price is higher than the normal price a few years ago, and like many products, the package is shrinking.
I’ll have to read up on freezing things like milk and butter - two staples that I do use to a great extent.
As for power sources, I’m intrigued by solar w/batteries for the primary essentials (fridge, freezer, small amount of lighting), but the cost of entry is high. Frankly, buying a large solar system would take about 80 years to pay for itself, which is most likely longer than the system would last. But as a backup source, it might have some value.
The current political situation isn’t what caused me to start “prepping” and I’m not a hardcore prepper. We live close enough to Watt’s Bar Dam nuclear plant that I can see the condensation coming off of the cooling towers. The sirens start a mile from me. So...I keep a bugout bag ready for us and the pups. They have their own duffle with spare collars, leashes, and food. I keep their dry food in gallon freezer bags in the freezer to grab and go.
I started doing this after we were riding the horses in the mountains above the dam a few years ago. We were on a barely-there trail that only locals knew about and ran up on a camp full of middle eastern men camping where they could see the nuclear plant. They just stared at us and didn’t speak. We didn’t speak. We took a different trail back. That made me nervous so I made the bug out bags. We reported it but nothing was probably checked out.
Other shortages: This may have been mentioned before and I didn’t see it. On Thursday I took one of my parents to UAB for a post treatment scan. The lab was out of contrast dye. When we went afterward to the radiologist appt. we mentioned that and he said there was none in the U.S. Hoped to have some that situation resolved by July.
To freeze milk, just freeze it. DH recommends opening the gallon jug and pouring out a cup or two first.
Butter freezes perfectly.
And as noted above, cheese keeps almost forever in the fridge. It just gets a bit sharper which is fine withe me. Freezing it works but makes it crumbly, no need to freeze it. Keeps in fridge 2 yrs at least as long as not cut into or opened.