It felt really good going to Sam's Club and getting 80/20 for the freeze drier today a tube was $31..... I think that is going to be a bargain a year from now and it's just one of the things I can stock up on today, freeze dry, and not have to worry about paying $20/lb for when inflation really gets bad.

I'd be really happy to wrong and it's not like it costs anything to keep putting FD food away but I don't see how it can go any other way right now.

I also picked up more pasta, rice a ronie, spices etc. as I have been amassing more meats than full meals thru the machine.





Am I the only one trying to get ahead of this? I was already in pretty good shape with long term storage, but I'll be married in a month and not knowing how long it could go.... a guy has to consider that there is a difference between being "fed" and being "not hungry.

Only been a few minutes, but I see this has 1323 views..... Glad to see y'all aren't worried about inflation at all.


BTW: I've been watching a YT channel called "starpath academy" by a Romanian dude that lived thru their hyperinflation and is giving video classes on what it was like, what to expect, how to prepare, and how people took advantage of other people's misery and made money during that time. Even goes into what happens with pets. The delivery is a little dry, but I think it's reasonably straight dope he's offering and doesn't seem like he's selling anything.

About the only thing we can count on is:

It Will Get Worse.

My food is just part of my preps. I’m learning and investing in crypto and stocks.  If I can keep pace with inflation I don’t have to fight it

I’m all for buying food at reduced prices when possible but I don’t plan for food purchases to avoid inflation. I view food as a mandatory expense. I’m going to buy it because we need it….and will end up paying whatever I have to to get it. We do stock up during sales and we have a membership at Sams (soon to have one at Costco too). We also buy in bulk and vacuum seal and toss in the deep freeze….but realistically we don’t try to stock up to stay ahead of inflation. I don’t think it’s realistically possible given how relatively short most foods last. We save money when we are able when buying food but we don’t buy food for the purpose of staying ahead of inflation. The food will eventually get consumed and then we’ll have to buy more….at whatever the going rate is.

I’m buying durable goods to stay ahead of inflation. For example, I just bought a couple more 5 and 11 lb propane bottles and then filled them. I’ve been buying gas cans and just ordered the first of my planned fuel storage boxes. I’m also buying tools.

Pretty tall order to try and "keep up" when your currency loses value and inflation takes off. My numbers say those two added together are around 12%.

Walmart’s 2 1lb propane bottles are over $9. They were $7 something last part of May in my AO.

I've pretty much quit using the 1lb bottles.  I have refilled them in the past and it works fine but I now run my camping stoves and heater with 5 and 11 lb tanks.  No more bottle freezeups and no more running out of propane in the middle of a cook.  I have hoses and hose splitters to run what I need to run and the hoses are the type that enable one to adapt a larger tank to an appliance that normally uses 1lb bottle.  I usually refill them from my 500 gallon tank.  

I keep a few 1lb bottles on hand but don't use them any more.  Refilling the small bottles saves money but is a bit of a hassle.  Using the 5 and 11 lb bottles is a lot more convenient.  

I do expect to see the price of bottles rise (as we are seeing with the small bottles) so that's the reason for my purchases.  I'm going to buy a couple more 20 lb bottles as well in the near future.

Some things are so cheap and last so long that it's a no brainer though..... Most pasta or rice dishes are good for years in a cool environment. Peanut butter is cheap, cooking oil is cheap.

The way I look at it is that if I can go to Sam's club and get a 6 pack of Rice-a-Roni for under $5 and 10lbs of meat for $31, when inflation does hit, it will mean not having to pay $6 for a single box of Rice-a-Roni and $19 for a single pound of low grade hamburger so that I can afford to buy that $400 tire that I just punctured a sidewall on.

It's not about having the food, it's about having options.

In general the 20 lb standard grill size tanks will be your most cost effective sizes to stock, with the added ability to swap out the tanks at an exchange if they loose certification or start to leak.

I wonder if you were referring to 20 lb tanks that hold 4.5 to 5 gallons of LP gas, and the 40 lb tanks that hold 9 to 9.5 gallons.  If so, the 20 lb tank usually costs less for more storage, with the added benefit of limiting loss.  The downside is having to switch out the tank more often.

true... But my portfolio for this adventure is up like 24% for the year.

I don't buy a ton of food to stave off inflation, because like many say here you'll buy it when you need it and pay what it costs. I can eat hamburger instead of steak if it gets crazy. I can also keep my skillset and finances as up as possible. Doesn't matter if steak becomes 10x more than it costs now if my stocks are 12x what they are now.

I use the smaller tanks for the convenience.  Basically, any appliance that uses 1 lb tanks gets used with 5 and 11lb tanks.  My propane grill gets used with 20 lb tanks.  I also have 40 lb tanks and 100 lb tanks.  I'll agree the best value in tanks is the 20 lb tanks.  However, the smaller tanks are far more convenient when camping and running my camp stove and camp grill.  They also work well to run a Mr. Heater Buddy heater.

No one around here cares about tank certifications.  The only thing any local propane fill place cares about is if the tank has a OPD valve (which all but my 100 lb tanks have).  But if they did, I have my own fill kit to fill my small tanks from my 500 gallon house tank.

I did an inventory on my carbide inserts for my mills and lathe. I have around 500. That represents tens of thousands of pounds of metal chips. I have enough high speed steel to cut steel for the rest of my lifetime. I ordered a few specialized boring bars for my boring facing head and made a bar to cut snap ring grooves with it. I've got drill bits galore. I have a decent stash of endmills. I've got lots of solid carbide indexible boring bars for the lathe.

Now I'm just working out how to finance a bigger lathe before it goes up a couple more grand or China invades Taiwan....

It's the same meat whether you buy it as an inflation hedge or survival prep.  As long as you don't let it go to waste, stack it deep.  You'll use it eventually. FIFO it to maintain whatever size buffer you're comfortable with.

Anyone investing in solid friends who will help watch your back and pull security?

I could have a mountain of goods here but I cannot guard it with just two people.

Crime and break ins will increase as inflation worsens.

Beginning to think I should have married in my early 20s and started making babys...i could have had a child soldier fire team by now.

Inflation is why I buy meat by the quarter or half direct from the farmer.  He gets paid more than he gets from the slaughterhouse, and I pay him less than I would pay at the grocery store.

I've already put deposits down on a half hogs and quarter beef for this fall.

My thoughts are pretty much the same. I do think when China and Russia kick off their expansion goals, supply lines will be a lot worse.
Chips and oil prices will go up or cut off. I am buying stuff with chips. Led flashlights and other electronics

Our local butcher is booked out for months with no end in sight. We are going to have to learn to butcher our own cows.

I think that along with inflation, availability is also affected. That's why the majority of us can, dehydrate, store stuff. Prices rise exponentially more with less availability.

And what if you don't have access to your investments, say the financial institutions are closed down or worse?

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bank.

@anachronism I never said I'm not ALSO doing the regular prepping stuff. Food, ammo, skills, water, etc etc. They are really important and I have what I think it a pretty solid set up for our family of 4. Can go months and about to hit the 12 month supply threshold, which I'm honestly OK with. If society isn't working again by then I'll have to be self sufficient or I'll just be dead.

there have been people prepping for whatever since always. But the risk of getting older, hurt and not able to work, or generally just sick of driving to an office 5/7th of the week makes me think retirement and old age is also something to prep for.

Your post originally sounded to me like you'd just whip out your debit card and pay  whatever the price was because you can afford it.

My mistake.

Many people ridicule those who plan for retirement (I have some of those people in my family). But, you may never need your stored food and supplies but you WILL get old (assuming you don’t die early). Poor planning for retirement is just as bad as not preparing for disasters. I have family members who are paying the price now for lack of retirement planning years ago. Retirement planning has become one of my most important preps especially now that I have seen the consequences of NOT planning for retirement. Luckily for me(not due to my own early planning though-I didn’t get good retirement planning advise early in life), I’ve been building a retirement since I was 19 yrs old.

Other preps are important as well. Two separate things to prepare for but both are important.

Another thing many preppers forget is simply living. Yes you should prepare but it’s also important to enjoy life so not everything in your life needs to be about prepping.

Amen brother.  Its easy to get sucked into the "what if" thing, and all of a sudden your entire life revolves around "being ready for trouble", and you are constantly worrying.  Good way to stress yourself out into an early grave.

Some preppers remind me of that person who we have all heard about who lives a destitute life and when they die their family or someone discovers they have millions squirreled away in their mattress. They were so determined to live frugally that they forgot to live life.

Some preppers are opposed to traveling places because -I can’t carry a gun/what might happen/there are bad people out there/-or whatever their chosen reason is. Well life experiences turn us into who we are. Mistakes, good decisions, bad decisions- all those things make us into the person we are.

It reminds me of something the military does….Operational Risk Management. Many preppers worry so much about “what if” that it causes paralysis and instead they decide to hunker down. Now, there are certainly scenarios where hunkering down or hiding out IS the best course of action but not always. If you do a risk assessment for everything you do, you can decide if you should or should not do whatever you are thinking about doing. There is risk to virtually every thing we do. Only you can decide if the risk is worth it.

Some people discover, either by accident or not, that being prepared for things is a good idea. They then go 100mph preparing. After the “big one” never happens, they burn out and go on to their next interest. We see it around here. People will discover this part of the forum, post lots of questions, talk about all their prepping projects, and then they vanish.

Live life to the fullest. You never know when it’s going to end.

I have the best of both worlds.  Always gardened and raised critters and whatnot, always knew I'd live out in the country, always kept stockpiles of stuff because it saved trips to the store and just seemed like a smart thing to do.  It's what I love; it IS my life.  It wasn't until later that I found out there was a name for people like me... I was a prepper before prepping was even cool.  

Next stage is hoarder, I believe.  

I do think there is a fine line between prepper and hoarder. Whenever I’m ordering small parts or nuts and bolts, I always order extras. In my shop I have bins and small parts drawers to keep things organized and I then label everything. As time has gone on, I have found I don’t have to make as many trips to the store because I often have what I need sitting on the shelf. That said, it’s a good thing I don’t plan to move again. We last moved 5 years ago and we now have a lot more stuff. I’m going to have to build a storage building pretty soon…….

I think preppers accumulate stuff they think they'll need.  Hoarders accumulate stuff nobody needs.

I do the same with hardware, btw.  And lumber, and metal, and PVC pipe fittings, and drill bits, and...  

I work with woodworking companies nation wide. I see the failures in the "Organic Market" that creates the supply chain for industry after industry. This is a consequence of the manipulation of government interference with the organic market. They shut down parts of a supply chain with lock downs and either shut down or destroy companies that are critical to multiple supply chains.

The better you understand economics the easier the true crisis is to see.

Common sense works too.