Posted on 07/24/2011 1:08:37 PM PDT by Mamzelle
All of my usual stores are rearranging and changing what they put on their shelves. I'm sensing that the big uptick in prices will start to arrive shortly, maybe before Christmas. I'm interested to hear what the impressions of FRugal Freepers. What are you seeing? What will you be buying in quanity before TSHTF?
Trade a roll for cartons of cigarettes.”
Saw a hilarious comedy skit on net - guy was eating lit cigarettes and then changed to eating napkins. Said if you do that you don’t need toilet paper.
Grab a roll of foil, duct tape, and a large cardboard box (tp box works well) and make a solar oven. Make the foldable model so that it folds flat and is easily stored until needed. Try it out now with old pots and pans so you’ll know what’s what when you run out of fuel.
Bacon
I bought 20 (12 oz) packages this week on sales at $1.99 per pack. It has been being about 3.70-3.80 per pack. I had bought some 10# boxes or bulk bacon for about $26 per carton, but they were uneven on the cut thickness. I even priced whole slab bacon (I have a commercial meat slicer) and that was going to cost about $112 per slab or about $4 per lb. on special order.
It historically has had ups and downs in price but recently it has stayed high. Pork in general is higher than normal compared to beef.
Here is the reason. Much of Texas and some surrounding states are in such a drought that they are selling off their herd stock. We sold all of our 3 weeks ago. I can only remember my family doing that 2 times in my lifetime. Short term, lower beef prices. Long term higher, heaven only knows what it will cost to replace breed stock.
Pork is normally volatile on price because the hogs can have 3 litters a year and with the number of pigs born from each litter the number can increase very fast. What is keeping them high now is the high price of grain. Where beef can be range fed and avoid that high price feed, but this year the drought has eliminated the grazing.
The critical part from here on out this year is the winter pasture. Normally there is a lot of wheat planted for winter grazing, but there is no moisture to bring that up now. If we do not get sufficient moisture to plant wheat by mid November this could be a real disaster. The recovery could be very very painful and expensive.
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On the bright side my garden is producing lots of fresh okra, squash and some blackeyed peas. The tomatoes and peppers look good, are bloomingb but not setting any fruit.
...rolls of today are like a third of what they used to be...and rolls are a shitload narrower. snick.
Just doing my part...I want those Obama voters to be consumed by their own guilt.
Also stocking up Cotton jeans, It is impossible to get 100% cotton jeans for females, Now I check Ross or Michals for my size jeans. Already bought 4 pairs of jeans in clearance sale. Original price was between $40-$60 and I paid between $7-$9 for each, big saving plus hate new jeans with Spandex in it.
Does McD still have their dollar menu? I think that’s what many people go for. Didn’t Wendy’s quit their dollar items? I know Sonic raised their dollar burgers to $1.29. Sonic has raised their prices considerably and what used to be their medium sized drinks are now their large. Their shakes have gotten small, too. They’ve lost me as a customer.
Milk is generally not allowed to be brought into the US unless it’s a component of baby formula.
I just noticed the price of coffee has gone up a lot in just the last couple of weeks. Wonder what’s up with that.
The cuts today are nothing but shoe leather and they've been that way for many years. Have you noticed you can't even get a decent sized roast these days? When I was a kid, I learned meat judging. When my kids learned it, it was like a whole 'nuther world. Where was the fat? Where was the marbling?
Lot of that going on right now. Been switching to generic/store brand, over name-brand, on lots of products lately because of it.
(such as....the incredibly shrinking Bay's English Muffins)
I agree with you on that statement. With the older cans I could squeeze the water out and the lid would be just over 1/4" from the top. Now it is about halfway down. I noticed the cheese in plastic jars was almost totally sold out at our local grocery store after church today.
For supplements; give Swanson’s a look, as well...
Indeed there is...
So true. We have that part taken care of for a few months.
Cereal costs more, and the box contains about half what it used to.
Hmmm....did you know that we didn’t start buying paper towels until the late ‘70s? They are not a necessity and are quite wasteful. You can launder rags repeatedly that you use for spills, instead of throwing them away.
Now TP is a necessity, as well as a good supply of laundry soap. If you know how to make your own, as we did when I was growing up on a farm, you will find that a very handy skill.
i think you’re right about .22 ammo being a good trading item. I have thought so for some time and now have lots of it.
All fell to the low fat meme. Best thing to do is get acquainted with a local meat packer, and buy a quarter or half beef, cut the way you want it.
What’s a good brand of tuna?
The other day, wanting to make a tuna sandwich, I opened three cans of ‘white CHUNK albacore’ and it was all practically the consistency of soup. How can they get away with this rip-off?
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