Grocery Shopping

I’ve been waiting for the crash for the past 35 years, so I should be ready for it if anybody is. But I find myself bargaining with reality: "Give me 6 more months to get ready!" "Or better yet, give me another couple of years!"

I think we have all been given ample warning this time. The real crash hasn’t happened yet, but it surely will. It’s not a matter of if, but when. So what do we do in the meantime? Do we stand here like deer in the headlights, or do we get off our butts and do something? Which is to say, do we spend our money intelligently now (or very soon), or do we wait until it loses most or all of its value?

So yesterday, Laura and I did some serious grocery shopping. We bought $200 worth of staples – mostly beans, rice, and whole-grain pasta. Next we’ll go to the feed store and buy a couple of bags of wheat – a very inexpensive food source. Then we’ll go to the food co-op and order some staples from their wholesale catalog. We’ll probably spend over $500 before we’re through.

Ironically, most of this is food we seldom eat in everyday life. Our priority right now is food that will store for several years. This leaves out nuts (one of our favorite foods), because they go rancid fairly quickly due to their high oil content. Not only do the foods we’re buying store well, they combine well with foods we can grow in our garden.

In my 40 years of gardening experience, I’ve learned that gardens in the high desert are very good at providing greens and root crops during the winter, and a plethora of veggies during the summer. The one thing it’s hard to grow enough of are the concentrated protein foods – beans and grains. So that’s what we’re concentrating on with our food storage program.

I’ve got a lot to say, but not enough time to say it in. So I’ll try to write a few hundred words as frequently as possible, and eventually it will add up to quite a little archive. I think the coming era has the potential to be a creative, exciting, and liberating time if we keep our act together. It behooves us to be as prepared as possible, to remain upbeat and positive, and to be prepared to work harder than we ever have in our lives. Fortunately, we will no longer be paralyzed by the Earth-destroying glut and the mind-numbing dumbness of mass American culture. Imagine waking up each morning, excited by what the day will bring. Wow... reminds me of today!

More to come...