KathyD wrote:Is anyone particularly concerned about the forecasted food shortages?
Every year I kept a box of emergency foods because many times after a summer hurricane or winter blizzard we would lose power, sometimes for a few hours, but after Hurricane Sandy it was over a week. We have a gas stove, so even with the electric out we were always able to cook rice & beans, soups,even potatoes and veggies. The veggies come from my stash of dehydrated and freeze dried foods. When covid started, even Dr McDougall suggested in 2 different videos that people should start stocking up in the same things I already had plenty of on hand.
As things got low the past 2 years I would not only replace them but buy a bit extra, just in case. As prices start soaring, I'm glad I have a lot already on hand I can add to the fresh and frozen produce I can still get at reasonable costs.
but I pay attention to the information regarding wheat and fertilizer. Fertilizer is used to grow plant foods.
I did notice the prices of some staples increasing. Rice is up a bit, but many of the heirloom bean places I used to shop through on-line have really increased their prices, especially those out in California. They blame not only increases in shipping costs but weather conditions causing smaller yields from the acreages. So now I'll buy less heirlooms and more conventional and from local grocery stores instead of on-line.
I can't grow enough in my garden to replace all of my produce.
One of the hazards of urban living - no garden in sight and our apartment has poor sources of sunlight.
Even potatoes were difficult to find during the height of the pandemic.
The quality of potatoes around this area has been poor for a number of years now. Full of eyes, cut marks, chunks chopped out by blades in harvesting (I assume), or green and moldy. When I can find a decent bag, or even loose, I grab them, but many of the meals I make are done using the dehydrated cubed or sliced or frozen cubed or shredded hash browns.
Tofu also disappeared, which I still don't understand.
Very few people pre-covid carried the only low fat tofu, the boxes of MoriNu silken low fat style, and since then the local health food store stopped carrying MoriNu altogether (They say people complained it was cheaper by mail order), and the one grocery store that had it recently underwent a massive renovation and they got back soft silken (full fat) but not the low fat. The manager said it wasn't a big seller. I only used it once or twice a year to make Mary McDougall's chocolate pudding around Christmas or a birthday, so I guess it's time to find a different special dessert or order from Amazon.