I think this is what they mean by "Hyperinflation"

Of course, we've all heard about the unseasonable freezes down South and it's effect on food prices.  The mass media is downplaying it and talking about increases of 12-15%.

Well, try 25-300% as evidenced by the price changes I recorded at our local Wal-Mart Superstore, generally the cheapest place in town to buy food.

Oranges (5 pound bag)        3.97 NOW 6.97
Fresh Broccoli                     1.47 NOW 3.47
Baby Carrots                       0.97 Now 1.47

Even though I was expecting a price increase, I was astounded at the huge inflation I saw.  Luckily, yesterday the prices of frozen veggies remained unchanged.  I bought as much as I could stuff into my freezer.  As well, I bought a 10 pound bag of flour and 3 small bags of rice.  Because I'm moving in less than a week, I had been putting off purchasing larger amounts until I relocated.  However, I don't feel like this can wait.

If prices continue to leap up like this, people are going to be desperate within months.  Prep your little hearts out, my friends.  While others are trying to figure out how to by food, this won't hurt our budgets nearly as much.  Get that garden planned and figure out how to extend your growing season and preserve your harvests for as long as possible!

If you read this....

If you are the type of person who reads prepping blogs, you are likely the type of person who watches the news and understands that today's news was all bad.
Of all the frightening news I heard today, the prediction of a global food shortage was the most alarming of all.  Even bloggers who don't alarm easily are ringing the warning bells. The price of food is on the rise...DRAMATICALLY on the rise.

What you are paying for food right now may easily double by the end of the year.

Bloggers that I follow have described it as a perfect storm:  freakishly cold weather causing poor harvests, civil unrest in the Middle East triggering a rise in fuel prices, and the dangerously indebted economy in the US. This all boils down to one thing.

PREPARE NOW. 

Time is not just running out.  Time is out.

I'm between a rock and a hard place because I'm in the process of moving, along with all of the expense that it involves.  That being said, I'm taking everything I can spare and investing it in food.  Beans, grains and

frozen veggies.  Dairy products that I can store.  Powdered milk for my morning coffee.

I feel like I should be so much further ahead than I am now, but I know that by prepping at all, I'm further ahead than most people.  I just hope that is enough to keep us afloat through this crisis.  I'm mentally planning my garden and trying to figure out how to afford a dehydrator. I'm ready for action.

Getting Ready to Move

We are moving in less than two weeks now.

While I'm really excited, this wretched back of mine certainly puts a damper on things.  I'm able to pack one or two boxes at a time before I have to sit down and rest because of the pain.  My youngest, who would be willing to help, is sick today, running a fever, and my oldest is allergic to work.  Because she lives with her dad it's pretty hard to motivate her, threaten her or force her to help me.  Hopefully guilt will kick in.

As I pack, I'm taking a long hard look at what I own.  There is nothing like a move to help one downsize and reflect on the usefulness of an item.  I'm keeping things I wouldn't have previously (like worn towels and sheets) and getting rid of things that I formerly found to be necessities (5 different curling irons!)

I'm packing our clothing in clear recycling bags, to be taken over to the new place before the guys and the truck come to move the furniture and heavier items.  I'm also planning on getting my kitchen stuff over there and set up the day before the move - it will really help me feed all the awesome friends that are helping.

How did I select my new apartment? Well, with prepping in mind.

I may be repeating myself (old age at 41!) but first and foremost, it's easily defendable.  It has one heavy wooden door as a main-floor entry and no other access except through second story windows.  We will be getting our new watchdog tomorrow, who, although gentle and quiet, has the loud resounding bark of a much bigger dog.  He's a 60 pound golden lab, 6 years old, and we are adopting him from a rescue organization. He has a hip issue that causes him to limp, but is otherwise sound.  The issue has been there since he was a pup (he was abused) and he doesn't seem to be in pain - his hip just developed differently and the one leg is shorter.  With my current state of gimpiness, I'm perfectly cool with a somewhat decrepit dog. *wink*

Secondly, the apartment is much bigger than the one we currently live in.  It has about 950 sq feet vs. 600 and the bonus of a full walk-up attic for all our preps!  (I'm so psyched about that attic!) I wish that there was a gas stove, but unfortunately all of the appliances are electric.  Well, you can't have everything, at least not when you rent.  I have a small backyard in which I'm, allowed to garden (or try very hard to), an expansive front porch for outdoor cooking, and a huge sunny kitchen with a laundry area where I can start seeds, dry foods and putter around to my heart's content.

Next on the list of benefits is the cheap rent.  It is 400 a month less than what I am paying now - all of which can be saved for preps and a secluded house ....somewhere - hopefully well before the SHTF.

All I've gotta do now is get there - moving sucks!

The Decision to Become a Vegetarian

Prepping has a lot to do with my decision to become a vegetarian.

I was searching for a way to reduce my grocery bill.  I looked at my grocery receipts for the previous month and realized that nearly 70% of the bill was meat purchases. I was spending over $500 a month on food. How was a single mom on a tight budget ever going to manage to stockpile food?


This led me to consider some other cold hard facts.  Could I ever slaughter and gut an animal with my own two hands?  Wouldn't it be twice as difficult if I had raised that animal?  I'm pretty sure that I would have a really tough time of that grisly task.  I know I could do whatever I had to if survival required it, but that's just somewhere I'd rather not go.

If I had no electricity to run a freezer, how would I preserve all the meat I planned to stockpile?  The answer at this point, became simple.  Life would be easier for me as a vegetarian.  I can store mountains of beans and grains with little effort and it will be far easier for me to produce those things in the future.  Instead of making a dramatic change of lifestyle post-SHTF, I'd rather make the change now and learn to cook these items in tasty and simple ways.  Making the transition now also helps me to know what seasonings and other staples I need to stockpile.

Going vegetarian might not be the right choice for everyone, but for our situation it seems the best course of action.

Physical Preparedness

Last October I seriously injured my back.  Over the past 6 months the injury has flared up again and again.  Last week, as I was packing for our move, it flared up to the point that I can hardly walk. 

Instead of putting it off with my usual sense of procrastination, I made an appointment with my family doctor and took time off work to have this taken care of.  Generally, if I go to the doctor at all, I hit a walk-in clinic after work.  To be fair, I've gone to walk-ins twice since the injury.  One doctor prescribed anti-depressants and the other offered narcotic pain killers.  None of which, of course, actually solve the problem.

At last some relief!

The doctor sent me immediately for x-rays and found some degenerative disc issues.  She also suspects a herniation.  She has given me an anti-inflammatory that provided some instant relief and got me into physical therapy the next day.

Preparedness is more than storing food.  If I can't garden or walk up and down my stairs, all the food in the world won't save us if the SHTF and survival requires me to actively defend my home or produce our food.

Beans 'n' Cornbread

My late father's favorite meal was beans and cornbread.  He was just a little fellow during the Great Depression and that was common fare for his family.  Anytime you asked him what he wanted for dinner, he responded, "Beans and cornbread!"

Today I cooked my first ever batch of pinto beans from scratch.  It was astoundingly easy and it left me feeling silly that I've never done it before.

I tend to cook a week's worth of food on Sundays so that I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen during the busy work week.  Today I made beans, baked brown rice, Mexican cornbread, homemade cheese pizza (to be topped when we have it) and a vegetable quiche.  Good eats with no nasty chemicals and very easy on the grocery budget.

Let's talk about beans.  This solution isn't for everyone but I've decided to become a vegetarian for many reasons.  First of all, meat may not be in plentiful supply if and when the SHTF.  It definitely won't be if I have to be depended upon to kill it and butcher it.  I wouldn't say that I don't have it in me - I'm a Just Do It kind of girl, but I don't want to do it.  Supplying meat for the world is far harder on the environment than supplying the needs of a vegetarian diet.  Storing a whole bunch of meat makes me far more dependent on electricity than does storing pound after pound of dried beans.  And finally, cutting meat out of my budget has freed up a lot of money for preps.

Today's project was learning to cook the darn things from scratch.  You can store many more servings of beans in the form of dried bean than canned.

step one:

I measured out 1 cup of beans and 2 cups of water.  I picked through the beans, tossing some that were withered and funny-looking. I soaked the beans for about 7 hours.

step two:

Once the beans had soaked, I rinsed them and picked out any yucky ones that I had missed earlier. I drained them and then put them in a large stockpot with 4 cups of water, some sea salt and some all-purpose seasoning mix (with no MSG).

step three:

I put the lid on, brought the pot to a boil and then turned it down to simmer for an hour and a half.  I stirred it a couple of times to be sure nothing was sticking, and to also check that enough water was in the pot.  Each time I stirred it, I could see the bean water becoming thicker and darker.

finally!!!!

After an hour and a half, I had delicious, tender pinto beans that cost a fraction of the price of canned ones.

Tonight's dinner could have been supper on the homestead!  We had beans, cornbread and rice, along with some baby carrots (okay, except for the carrots, but Rome wasn't built in a day!)

I think it's very important to become accustomed to cooking basics like this.  That way, if I ever have to improvise by using a solar oven, a camping stove or a fire pit, I'll have the basics down pat.  This will help me make the necessary changes to use the tools at my disposal to make a familiar, nourishing meal.

This meal's for you, Daddy!

Don't be Weighed Down

I'm about 20 pounds overweight and pretty darned out of shape.

I have a reoccurring back issue that leaves me nearly crippled sometimes.

If the SHTF, these things are really going to hold me back from protecting and providing for my children.

One of the first things I need to do is drop 20 pounds.  Lots of benefits there:

~ I'll be more comfortable eating less, which will allow supplies to go further
~ It will reduce some of the strain on my back
~ It will help me build my endurance by having 20 less pounds of myself to lug around.

As far as the stupid back injury is concerned, that's a little tougher.  I have a herniated disc and the pain comes and goes.  Lifting heavy things puts me out of action for days.  So does turning the wrong direction, pivoting from the waist and, heck, batting my eyelashes hard, on occasion.  I'm going to make a concentrated effort to heal this issue, using every method at my disposal and by learning all I can about it.

If we had to bug out, right now I'd be pretty useless.  With this injury we have no option except bugging in.  I can't walk very far without excruciating crippling pain and I sure couldn't carry a 20 pound pack. Thank goodness we will be moving to an easier-to-defend home at the end of them month (although the difficulty of moving in this condition is another story altogether!)

For me, the diet and fitness plan starts today.  By the end of May I intend to be 20 pounds lighter and way more fit.  Strong body, strong mind, strong home.  The physio exercises the doctor gave me will be completed every day before I allow myself coffee (a little internal bribery there!)

Look at your physical situation.  Prepping may be more than stocking in supplies if your weight or fitness levels aren't where they should be.  This kind of prepping doesn't have to cost a penny!