I received an email from Herbal Healer with this article attached.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120881517227532621.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Folks, this is some scary stuff! I don't know what to believe. What I do know is my husband had heard about a worldwide rice shortage. Now rice is our family's staple food because of gluten intolerance. We had the foresight to stock up on rice milk and other rice products we use. Lately in the grocery stores, the rice shelf has been bare. Yes, there is still the white enriched stuff (that we can not tolerate) but all the whole grain brown rice is gone. Usually just an empty hole on the shelf. If you are lucky enough to find the rice, be prepared to shell out at least $1 more per bag!
I guess what bothers me most is that I have heard that there were some adverse climate conditions which resulted in less than optimal growing seasons, but most of the food shortage boils down to GREED!
The stock and housing market is bad, so people are investing in commodities, like food, electricity, and gasoline. These few people are controlling who gets what and what we pay for basic necessities. It doesn't surprise me, because we all know man is sinful in nature, but it saddens me that many people may go hungry at the expense of the wealthy.
My husband is a wise man. He told me months ago to invest in food because the gas prices would drive the food prices up. Boy, how right he is! He said that no bank investment will give me the return of stocking up on food. A can of peas from aldi is .49 this year, but next year it could be .79. Multiply that by 365 days in a year and you're talking a significant difference.
It's going to be hard to keep the grocery budget within range. We were planning on scaling down our garden this year, but have planted about a half acre again. I am using sales to load up my pantry and making our family's menu plans according to the sales. With all these changes, our grocery bill has actually come down. Unbelievable I know!
Is your family making any changes during this rough financial period? What are you doing? Please share ideas.
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It is so hard to know what is for real and what is hype. In this case, I honestly don't know...but I do know that like you, I have noticed big changes at the grocery store lately (in price and quantity of some items). I am doing similar things...planning menus, expanding our "garden" (pots on our patio for now), and trying to get the best deals that I can since prices are likely to continue to rise for some time (according to the media). Guess we just have to hang in there and do our best with planning, coupons, shopping around, and trying not to be very wasteful. Unfortunately we can only try our best since we have little control over rising food and gas prices.
Hope that you have a great week!
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