Prices of Many Basic Food Staples up 20% Since January

I read a lot of other blogs: cooking blogs, couponing blogs, and especially blogs that promote self reliance.  I firmly believe that self reliance is one (very important) key to happiness.  While I appreciate much (most) of the information I find on these other blogs, one thing I've tried to stay away from here at Your Own Home Store is the "doom and gloom" approach.  I don't want to scare anyone into buying "food insurance" or emergency supplies.  When people buy such things out of panic they often go into debt to do so and that is never a good idea.  Debt does not bring self reliance.

So, when I saw the following interesting article on many other blogs, I debated whether to mention it here or not.  Well, I've decided to do so.  Please just take it as helpful information.  If you have the funds to purchase "food insurance," but have just been waiting to for one reason or another, please take this article into consideration.

The LDS Church (of which I am a member) has many canneries all over the world where they package basic foods for long term storage: wheat, beans, powdered milk, rice, sugar, oats, flour. The LDS church strongly promotes self reliance (in all aspects, not just food insurance) and does all it can to make that possible for people all over the world.  You can read more about this mission on their website: Provident Living.  I purchase many items from the cannery as they have the lowest prices around.  The reason they can offer these low prices is because the canneries operate on a non-profit basis.  You pay the cost of the food + the cost to have it properly packaged.  Period. 

That is the reason why I found the following article interesting.  The LDS Church has raised the prices of the many of the foods in their canneries by more than 20% since January.  That is a HUGE increase! And since they operate on a non-profit basis, I believe (and note that I'm not an expert) that to be a reliable barometer for food price increases overall.  If someone who is just trying to break even (not make a profit) is being forced to significantly increase their prices, what is going to happen at grocery stores or restaurants?  The owners of these businesses make their livelihood on selling their goods to us.  Food price increases are going to hit them hard and they are going to have to pass those costs on to us: the consumer.

Besides our country's own economic situation, there are many world events that are behind this increase.  I hope this increase is just a temporary increase that only lasts a few month, but even if it is, a few months is a long time to be paying 20% more for your food.  That means that a family that was spending $600 a month on food will now be spending $720!

For me personally, this is the biggest reason why I have a home store.  Yes, I want to be prepared in case I survive a natural disaster and yes, I'd like to be prepared if I were to suddenly have unexpected medical bills, but in my mind, the "disaster" I believe I am most likely to face is economic.  I want to be prepared in case food simply becomes unaffordable.  And when (and if) that happens, I want to be able to feed my family foods they enjoy and are familiar with.  That is why I am investing in THRIVE foods: I can use them just like the fresh product in most cases and would be able to continue to make many of the same meals I do now.

If you are interested in reading more about the LDS cannery increasing their food prices, you can find the article here: Prices for LDS canneries show inflation up between 11% and 49%.