Food Rationing in the USA

[darkchocolate]

There is an article in the New York Sun about food rationing in some cities in the United States. This is my first post, so I can't give you a link. If someone can, maybe they can post the link for me. The article comes from the New York Sun. Maybe someone can Google it and find it. The title is, Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

I have been buying flour weekly because I know the price will be increasing. We eat very little rice, so that isn't something I have been paying attention to.

Are any of you stocking up on anything?

darkchocolate

[latierra84]

food rationing article mentioned above.

honestly ive never thought about food actually being rationed in my life time. i stockpile mostly just to keep the cost low. i cant even imagine someone at cvs trying to tell me.... im sorry miss, but you have one too many rolls of toilet paper. step away. and then id say... but i have ecb's!!!! im a cvs addict. i havent been to a store in a few weeks now.... withdrawl.

reading about the rice thing in california though.. thats unbelievable.

[mmy2grls]

http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994

How would you store so much oil, rice, or flour?

[darkchocolate]

Thank you so much mmy2girls and latierra84, for posting the link.

I have some flour but by no means a lot. I just like to bake and want to be able to bake and not have it cost me a fortune. I have been keeping my flour in the freezer in a Rubbermaid container. I don't know if the Rubbermaid container is necessary or not. I mainly did it to keep away the little bugs (weevils, I think they are called). I have never had a problem, but I don't want to start now, so I was trying to play it safe. I Googled about long term flour storage and read that 48 hours in the freezer kills any larva and storing it in the freezer prolongs the shelf life.

I did buy 3 containers of Crisco Canola Oil about two weeks ago when Krogers had it on sale. I only bought it because I was trying to get the best possible price. I paid $2 and my local Wal-Mart was selling it for $3.98. I would be afraid to have to much oil for fear of it going rancid.

I am also a CVS shopper and I am wondering if limits will be put on us. I have been reading some posts and noticing that the limits are decreasing. For instance, today I bought the Mennan 24/7 deodorant and the limit was 1 for the $3.99 ECB. In the past, the limit was 5. I don't think CVS limits are due to shortages, just customers complaining about not getting items because the shelves are wiped out and possibly some so many people using multiple cards and CVS losing money.

darkchocolate

[warramra]

Not to add to the 'rush' but I was going to BJs this week to pick up my flour and rice, what I generally buy every 3-4 months. I may also pick up some extra bags at Kroger this week also. We make our own bread & snacks, so we use a lot of flour.

[darkchocolate]

We also have to remember that anything we buy that is made with wheat will be increasing in price or be in short supply.

I bought some Pop Tarts when Krogers had their brand for .50. I also have some cereal but need to buy more. If we can't get flour/wheat imagine what the food manufactures will be facing.

I didn't do the Y2K thing, but I truly believe that at least wheat and it looks like rice will be in shortages or at least very expensive. How far into the future I don't know, but I want to be prepared. I usually buy Gold Medal and the price went from $1.98 one week to $2.62 the following week.

I love to make homemade bread, but I do prefer store bought bread for sandwiches. Bread is something I don't like after it has been frozen for a long period of time. I don't mind freezing for 2-3 weeks, but I haven't been successful freezing for months at a time. I do triple wrap my bread. I save my bread bags and use those when I freeze bread.

I will continue to pick up a bag of flour weekly, but I won't go in debt to hoard it.

darkchocolate

[darkchocolate]

I was just wondering if you think Crisco shortening is considered in the "oil family"? I don't remember reading about that specifically but I do know that it has jumped in price by almost $2 since last summer.

darkchocolate

[i.m.cheap]

I thought the last statement in that article was interesting. The woman who refused to pay $30 for a 25 lb. bag of rice said "...that is too expensive, maybe we will just eat bread!" Ha-ha! Good luck saving money that way! Most bread is around $3.00 a loaf here.

[Marie78]

I don't even know how much I would need to stockpile. I don't have the room in the fridge or freezer to stock up on flour. There's two of us and we go through about 5 pounds every 2 months. We don't eat that much rice here. I say that now, but if things were really bad I would make more foods with flour and rice. What does everyone else think about stock piling these items? How much is enough if there is an impending food shortage?

[darkchocolate]

Marie78,

If I were you I would buy 6 bags and that would last you for 1 year if you only use a 5# bag every two months. I might use 2 bags a month because I bake a lot of cookies, brownies and muffins. In that case, I would need to buy about 24 bags to last me one year.

I think once you freeze your flour for at least 48 hours you could then store the flour somewhere else.

As far as how much you might need if things get worse, I don't know. I think I read where it would take 3 years to get the worlds supply back to where it needs to be, but I am not sure on that. If you Google, wheat/flour shortage you will come up with a lot of articles.

I agree that rice and flour will go a long ways in feeding us in the worst of times. If you have flour you want to make sure you have yeast, baking soda/baking powder or whatever else you need to make bread, muffins or whatever else you may be baking. You will also need oil or shortening most likely for bread and muffins.

[forHISglory]

Because flour comes from a grain, it can go rancid if not kept in the freezer. Freezing for a while kills the bugs, but if you take it out and just store it, it will get rancid. Be sure to keep it sealed while in freezer so that it doesn't pick up freezer odors.

[i.m.cheap]

I don't bake much from scratch, because if I do, I eat too many carbs. I did check the price of a bag of flour in Dillon's tonight. The store brand was $1.81 for a 5 lb. bag. They had only one bag left on the shelf, so I bought it, and stuck it in the freezer (wrapped in plastic).

I haven't purchased shortening in many years. We use butter or Canola oil. I checked the price of a large can of Crisco shortening, because I was curious, and they were $5.09!

[Athena31]

I just saw on the news tonight how Costco in California is limiting people to their "regular amount" when buying rice, meaning the same amount of rice they have been usually buying over the last few months. This is to avoid people buying a lot to stock up. Weird!

[Frugal Cook]

Not really weird since it is a situation that has been progressing for almost 2 years now, but many people chose to ignore the warning signs, figuring it was just a temporary hiccup. According to the United Nations, the middle-class, urban people are being “priced out of the food market” because of rising food prices," and will see food rationing within a year or two.

There is also a troubling prediction that we will be involved in World War III by late next year.

Being prepared as much as possible for the time ahead will help keep life normal for the most part.

[Odilia]

White flour will not go rancid, AFIK. I've never had it go rancid or even ever heard of it going rancid. It's been stripped of oils and is basically "dead" food.

Whole grain flour will definately go rancid if not frozen. It starts to degrade within hours of being ground. You can store wheat berries at room temp and grind as needed. Wheat was found in Egyptian tombs and a portion still sprouted -- amazing!

I remember my granny telling me about rationing -- and always ending with her belief/hope that her grandchildren would never experience it.