How's your personal food storage situation?

[K1052]

Trade imbalances are a fantastic deal for the US as long as the rest of the world is willing to accept our currency.

Something Trump is working his damndest to stop. EU certainly going to be eyeing opportunities to get transactions settled in Euros.

 

[Muse]

I became interested in "prepping" during the COVID lockdown five years ago. My local grocery stores were BARE for a full two weeks when that happened, as everyone went into panic mode! I never wanted to be in a situation where I was unprepared again. The first thing I did was get a hot-water bidet seat attachment from Costco to beat the toilet paper shortage. After that, I started getting into:

1. Food storage
2. Supplies storage
3. Emergency "go bags"

I grew up in California & Florida, which are famous for earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, and flooding. I've been through some major events & had to evacuate, but never really kept more than a week or two's worth of supplies. After COVID, I got a little more serious about maintaining a better supply, just to be able to ride things out. I don't really buy into the whole "prepper" thing in terms of society-ending survival because I am a soft, squishy computer geek & wouldn't last long anyway LOL, so to preface, I'm interested in preparedness as an emergency buffer, not a fatalist dystopian-future lifestyle. However, this month, I've been prompted to really dive into it due to recent American policy changes & ownership changes:

1. Immigration
2. Foreign aid & tariffs
3. Foreign ownership

I used to work in food service & currently have IT clients in food production. Things have been changing this week; people are starting to not show up due to ICE & wholesale food prices are up 7% from a year ago. For reference, our nation relies on immigrants for hospitality & food labor:

* Immigrant farmworkers make up an estimated 73% of agriculture workers in the United States
* Undocumented farm workers make up approximately 50% of the farm labor workforce
* 21% of restaurant workers in the United States are immigrants

The deportation project is already in process:



This is frustrating to me because I feel like we could be focused on more important things. I currently feed 7 people (elderly relatives etc.). Unrestricted corporate greed ("inflation") has made restaurant & grocery costs sky-high. Now we're removing the foundational layer of the support economy that makes things run. As there are two sides to every coin, on the flip side, this will force restaurants to pay people a living wage instead of exploiting a minority workforce. But on top of that, we are freezing almost ALL foreign aid & the tariff situation is kinda sketchy tight now. Plus we have CRAZY amounts of foreign ownership. For example, the largest pork producer in America is owned by China.

I'm optimistic about the future, however, I think we are going to go through some hard times like we did with the COVID lockdown. Bird flu is already affecting egg prices. So I'm revisiting my food-storage system this month to get a jump on building out a more sustainable supply. Hopefully this is all just my anxiety talking, but we do seem to go through recessions on a cyclical basis, so I'm attempting to be more prepared this time, haha!

How about you - any preparation plans? I learned that I can use my vacuum-sealer to store cookies for 15 years, hahaha:

I bought a vacuum sealer from Costco, must be around 15 years ago and maybe 100 bucks. Uncharacteristically for me, I have not used it yet! I bought extra sealing bags too! Thing is, I live alone and I haven't thought of use scenario for it... yet! But I just bought a dehydrator, so that, I figure, is gonna change pronto -- the dehydrator should arrive tomorrow.

Beside that, I'm pretty good at preserving and storing food for myself. My freezer's always close to full, my fridge too, the temperatures are excellent (I have wifi thermometers in them). I grow tomatoes 6 months of the year and can what I don't eat fresh, so always have hot and Italian sauces on tap. I can my plums in various ways in summer

I buy in bulk, mostly at Costco. Love my Instant Pot. I figure I have enough food on hand to last me a year if I have running water. No, I haven't made calculations to prove that.

 

[Kaido]

I bought a vacuum sealer from Costco, must be around 15 years ago and maybe 100 bucks. Uncharacteristically for me, I have not used it yet! I bought extra sealing bags too! Thing is, I live alone and I haven't thought of use scenario for it... yet! But I just bought a dehydrator, so that, I figure, is gonna change pronto -- the dehydrator should arrive tomorrow.

Beside that, I'm pretty good at preserving and storing food for myself. My freezer's always close to full, my fridge too, the temperatures are excellent (I have wifi thermometers in them). I grow tomatoes 6 months of the year and can what I don't eat fresh, so always have hot and Italian sauces on tap.

I buy in bulk, mostly at Costco. Love my Instant Pot. I figure I have enough food on hand to last me a year if I have running water. No, I haven't made calculations to prove that.

I recommend buying a jerky gun for your dehydrator!

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Uses ground beef to make any kind of flavors!

 

[Muse]

I recommend buying a jerky gun for your dehydrator!

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Uses ground beef to make any kind of flavors!

View attachment 116215

Thanks, got it in my cart (ordered!). I make my own pork breakfast sausage (always have some in the freezer), I can use it for that as well as jerky. I've been using a DIY sausage extruding system, it works but this should be a lot better.

Last week my sister gave me some dried bananas she produced with her dehydrator, evidently in plastic by virtue of a vacuum sealer. That got me into this. Bought the Cosori dehydrator Model # CFD-N051-W $49.99 Timer // Temp control to 165F.

Ha! That dehydrator I ordered last week, arriving tomorrow, has already jumped 10%. I snagged it before Trump's tariffs kicked in Saturday. A few other things too...

 

[Kaido]

Bruh

Waffle House is placing a surcharge on every egg it sells

 

[Kaido]

Thanks, got it in my cart (ordered!). I make my own pork breakfast sausage (always have some in the freezer), I can use it for that as well as jerky. I've been using a DIY sausage extruding system, it works but this should be a lot better.

Last week my sister gave me some dried bananas she produced with her dehydrator, evidently in plastic by virtue of a vacuum sealer. That got me into this. Bought the Cosori dehydrator Model # CFD-N051-W $49.99 Timer // Temp control to 165F.

Ha! That dehydrator I ordered last week, arriving tomorrow, has already jumped 10%. I snagged it before Trump's tariffs kicked in Saturday. A few other things too...

This $29 vacuum sealer works great:

Amazon.com

I use FoodVacBag brand bags:

FoodVacBags

Welcome to FoodVacBags! We want to be your source for all the food packaging products you need to reduce waste and keep food fresh longer. For almost a decade, FoodVacBags has been providing tremendous value to our customers - along with the fastest shipping and personal customer service. Give...

www.amazon.com

 

[Kaido]

Thanks, got it in my cart (ordered!). I make my own pork breakfast sausage (always have some in the freezer), I can use it for that as well as jerky. I've been using a DIY sausage extruding system, it works but this should be a lot better.

Last week my sister gave me some dried bananas she produced with her dehydrator, evidently in plastic by virtue of a vacuum sealer. That got me into this. Bought the Cosori dehydrator Model # CFD-N051-W $49.99 Timer // Temp control to 165F.

Ha! That dehydrator I ordered last week, arriving tomorrow, has already jumped 10%. I snagged it before Trump's tariffs kicked in Saturday. A few other things too...

Try chicken jerky sometime! Buffalo chicken sticks:

 

[Red Squirrel]

Bruh

Waffle House is placing a surcharge on every egg it sells

Like restaurant food is not already way overpriced lol. I'm sure there's plenty of margin to absorb the cost.

 

[lxskllr]

Don't know about that. Eggs went from basically free to $1/each. $2 profit off a cheap meal is a lot to lose.

 

[nakedfrog]

Like restaurant food is not already way overpriced lol. I'm sure there's plenty of margin to absorb the cost.

Something tells me you know absolutely nothing about typical restaurant margins.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Something tells me you know absolutely nothing about typical restaurant margins.

Yeah... restaurants do NOT have high margins.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Something tells me you know absolutely nothing about typical restaurant margins.

-Is it because every time he opens his mouth a bunch of ignorant shit comes out?

Is that why?

Is it?

 

[JTsyo]

Last 2 weeks I've been to Costco, they didn't have eggs available. I had to get the egg whites package. They were also missing the organic whole milk, picked 2% instead though.

 

[Muse]

Last 2 weeks I've been to Costco, they didn't have eggs available. I had to get the egg whites package. They were also missing the organic whole milk, picked 2% instead though.

I have had giant cans of powdered egg whites on my shelves for years. Used to use powdered eggs until I discovered that they aren't healthy, so stopped that. But the whites are OK. I guess it's time to start using my dried egg whites in recipes. It's supposed to be a reasonable substitute.

I'm going to Costco within 2 hours, will see if they have eggs. I figure a fair chance they do, fair chance they don't, but the pickings are apt to be slim if they do. Gonna pick up a rotisserie chicken if they have it, they always have in the past but now, who knows?

 

[herm0016]

eggs don't seem to be that big a problem around here.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Something tells me you know absolutely nothing about typical restaurant margins.

As part of a previous job, I had access to business financials. There was a very successful privately owned fast casual restaurant chain that would average a 35% annual pre tax return. Pay $4M for food and drinks and mark it up 6X ($24M), then pay expenses. Cant say more out of respect for privacy, but even today locations I go to are usually busy from breakfast to dinner.

But I was genuinely shocked seeing that crazy markup (6X !). These numbers are from 2017 and pre-covid and pre-massive inflation.

After some searching I found modern margins for restaurants are as low as 5% but median 12%. Successful national franchisors can make a lot more depending on location (mid 30s according to one article). Then you have those with negative margins due to competition and probably bad business decisions. They go bankrupt.

 

[Kaido]

eggs don't seem to be that big a problem around here.

Costco and Trader Joe’s are limiting how many eggs people can buy

 

[sdifox]

Just picked up a dozen large eggs for C$4.00. no sign posted limiting purchase. I did notice the shelves are only half full.

We don't eat enough eggs to worry about the price.

 

[Muse]

Bruh

Waffle House is placing a surcharge on every egg it sells

Went to Costco this week and NO EGGS! I was down to under a carton in the fridge. Got an idea: I used to use whole egg powder in my DIY recipe mixes to save time and effort. I'd buy large cans of the stuff, also egg whites powder. I stopped doing this because I saw info that dried eggs are not good for you, don't remember the details. Anyway I have a little left, I figure maybe 15 eggs worth. I used some today to make a recipe of mine.

I have 3 large cans of egg whites powder, maybe 3lb each. Can use that in recipes. Now's the time! (however, word is that egg prices are apt to increase by ~20% in the coming year!!!).

 

[IronWing]

The local yolkels are fine, some sympathetic price gauging but not too bad. The designer eggs are unavailable.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Eggs seem fine here, $4-7 range when I checked. As far as COL goes eggs are pretty much on the bottom of what hurts the most really.

 

[lxskllr]

Date​	Eggs​	Cart​	Notes​
2025-01-21​	$3.99​	$43.91​	​
2025-01-22​	$3.79​	$45.11​	​
2025-01-23​	$3.79​	$45.11​	​
2025-01-24​	$3.79​	$45.11​	​
2025-01-25​	$3.79​	$45.11​	​
2025-01-26​	$3.79​	$54.10​	added coffee cart price is unchanged​
2025-01-27​	$3.79​	$54.10​	​
2025-01-28​	$3.79​	$54.10​	​
2025-01-29​	$3.79​	$53.40​	​
2025-01-30​	$3.79​	$53.40​	​
2025-01-31​	$4.19​	$53.80​	​
2025-02-01​	$4.19​	$53.80​	​
2025-02-02​	$4.19​	$53.80​	​
2025-02-03​	$4.19​	$53.80​	​
2025-02-04​	$4.19​	$53.80​	​
2025-02-05​	$4.19​	$52.91​	Milk+10¢ hotdogs-99¢​
2025-02-06​	$4.19​	$52.91​	​
2025-02-07​	$4.99​	$53.61​	Eggs+80¢ milk-10¢​
2025-02-08​	$4.99​	$53.61​	​
2025-02-09​	$4.99​	$53.71​	Milk+10¢​
2025-02-09​	$4.99​	$53.71​	​
2025-02-10​	$4.99​	$53.71​	​
2025-02-11​	$4.99​	$53.71​	​
2025-02-12​	$4.99​	$53.50​	Htdgs+99¢ bcn-$1.50 btr-20¢ gb+50¢​

 

[Kaido]

Well, here we go:

China slaps extra tariffs of up to 15% on imports of major US farm exports and adds trade limits

Imports of US grown chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton will face an extra 15% tariff, while the tariff on sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafood, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products will be increased by 10%.

apnews.com

China responded to new U.S. tariffs by announcing Tuesday it will impose additional tariffs of up to 15% on imports of key U.S. farm products, including chicken, pork, soy and beef.

...

Now, imports of U.S.-grown chicken, wheat, corn and cotton will face an extra 15% tariff, the Chinese ministry said. Tariffs on sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafood, fruit, vegetables and dairy products will be increased by 10%.

 

[Kaido]

Trump Admin Says Americans Should Farm Chickens to Combat Egg Prices:

Trump admin says Americans should farm chickens to combat egg prices

The price of eggs has more than doubled since the start of the year, according to government figures.

www.newsweek.com

 

[Kaido]

Avian flu effects:

Trump calls egg prices a "disaster." Is a federal rule helping to keep egg prices high?

"FDA's decision... resulted in significant cost to Americans."

www.cbsnews.com

The government found the price of a dozen grade "A" eggs jumped to $4.95 in January, a 53% increase from the same month one year ago. The USDA said egg prices could climb 41% this year.