The future..without a crystal ball

I read an article last night on the drought. According to this article the Feds say that beef prices have taken a hike...duh. Like we hasn't already figured that out ,
Some 6.9 percent. Chicken took a 4.2 percent hike.

Their stats say that prices of food went down in 2009 and went up overall 2.7 percent from June 2010 -2011. I don't know about their overall stats. I do know that the price comparisons I have done between 2009 and 2011 are up 13 percent. In 2009 I could get hamburger for 3/5.00 at QFC. Now the price is 2.29 on sale for 80 percent. Corn used to be 6/1 in season. Now we are lucky to get it for 3/1.00. I started out in the 70's allowing .39 cents a pound for fresh veggies, if they were over that, I bought something else, then it was .69. One it's a dollar and sometimes I have to break my rule to get apples. The one thing that should be cheap in Washington.

Because of the worst drought in 25 years, we will probably see anything connected to soy and corn take a hike. I am not going to panic and start horsing at this time.
My normal stock will take care of us for a while.

The government might subsidize like they have in the past. If not, we homemakers have got a real knack for adjusting. If you look in old cookbooks written during 2
WW 2, there are all kinds of recipes for the things that were in short supply. That s how red velvet cake came I to being. Someone wanted to make a cake that resembled chocolate cake without using chocolate!

Exactly what foods will be impacted by the drought, I really don't know. But, I will worry about it when it happens. In the 70's we used tvp to stretch hamburger. Yuk.it wasn't very good.

This article reminded me of what I already have been saying, but in different terms. The grocery stores put items on sale as loss leaders . They do thisbto get you to shop at their store. They are assuming that you are going to shop at one store a week and spend money on high priced items too.

When you only buy the specials, and shop two stores you beat the system. There are still going to be some things that you have to have, but if you avoid the high priced things, you will win out.

Stocking when something is really cheap helps us get through times when it's not cheap and will help your food budget.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment or e mail and let me know what you want to see on this blog.

Jane










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