For months now I have been telling people to slowly stock up their pantry. 2 months ago I got called a conspiracy theorist, and a scaremonger. Hopefully people are waking up now with what is happening in the world. I watch the world financial, and farming, news in order to be ahead of shortages and price increases. This saves me so much money. A prepared pantry will stop people being scared,and spread the risk. I don’t want people to panic as that is when they waste their money and buy too much of the wrong type of things.
Why should I stock up?
It will give you food security and save you money. We already know that the price of fuel and fertiliser are rising rapidly. Anything imported, processed in a factory, packaged, distributed around the country, industrially grown, or reared, is going to cost more in the long run. Those costs haven’t really hit us a lot yet, except for maybe coffee and chocolate, but they will. Reports are saying that food prices, generally, will be up by 20% by the end of July. Supermarkets have also warned of possible shortages.
We have all heard on the media about food shortages, too, though not officially from the government. The European parliament have talked about rationing, and our own government recently ran a planning exercise in April 2026 to simulate what will happen to our food supply if the Strait of Hormoz stays closed. It was called Exercise Turnstone. It showed shortages. Now I don’t want people to be scared, as shortages can just mean that we pay higher prices, not that we will all starve. It will probably also mean less choice, with odd ingredients missing, or running out each week.
Shortages in fertiliser will impact on crop yields. That will hit us in Autumn. Even if farmers got fertiliser tomorrow, it would be too late to sow some crops. There is a shortage of CO² which is used for animals to be slaughtered. Avian flu is still apparently hanging around, and some countries have suffered bad harvests. All these things added to the current oil crisis, impact on the price of food.
This is your window to slowly stock up.
Add some extra items to your shopping now if you can. The window to prepare is getting smaller each week. Things like pasta and rice are imported and so if you can buy extra of them it won’t cost you much now. I know people are struggling but it will save you money in the long run. These following points are also worth bearing in mind.
Only buy things that you like and already use. There is no point in buying bags of chick peas if you never use them. We are not talking survival here, we are talking about living with as little stress as possible. I focussed on proteins like tins of tuna, mackerel, and meat for my freezer when it was on offer. These are the most expensive items that may become luxuries later.
Don’t go overboard as some things don’t have long shelf lives, eg. oil or flour. Mylar bags will make flour last a bit longer. Buying extra doesn’t mean that you put it in a cupboard and leave it. Rotate it into your every day pantry, and then replace it as you do so. It is a good idea to write dates on some things.
Buy some treats like biscuits and tins of fruit, but make sure that you have things to make whole meals. Don’t go out and buy 100 granola bars. I think about what we use most for our every day meals and baking, and stock up on those.
Only buy what you have room to store. You don’t need a homestead type pantry. A few shelves in a cupboard, under the bed, on top of the wardrobe, etc, are all ok. Maybe this will motivate you to declutter, as it has me.
I don’t want you to buy it all at once so that everything is out of date at the same time. Look for sales. Here in the UK a shop called Farmfoods has butter, sugar, and other items at really good prices. I stocked up on these last week.
If you don’t have a garden, buy seasonal produce as it becomes available to preserve. It is better to practice the skills now before you have to use them. This doesn’t just involve canning or waterbathing. I am dehydrating things on my dining room table in the sun today.
Spread the risk
The government has warned of energy black outs this winter. Therefore don’t rely on your freezer. Things will stay frozen for a few days if it is not opened, though. The energy blackouts may impact on our water supply and so I have stocked some drinking water and have learned how to filter water. Water isn’t just about drinking, it is also needed for food preparation. Therefore it is not a good idea to have just dehydrated food, and things like pasta, dried beans and rice in you pantry. They will need a lot of energy and water in order to eat them. I therefore have a mixture of tins (including beans and lentils that we use regularly), dried goods, and the freezer, so that we will still eat, whatever winter throws at us.
I also have the garden and foraging for fresh food. All this may sound over the top, but those of us that are frugal and prepared, deal with a crisis better. I didn’t have to panic buy in 2020, was short of nothing, and actually kept my extended family in flour and toilet rolls. If you think about it, our ancestors have been living like this for centuries before us. They stocked up in the summer to survive the winter. If they didn’t they starved.
A Glimmer
A glimmer today is that UAE have left OPEC. OPEC is like a cartel of all the oil producers who fix how much oil can be pumped, and set the price of oil. UAE want to pump more and sell it and decide their own price. I guess they don’t want to be left with the oil which will be worthless if the world decides to just use green energy.
This won’t change anything in the short term whilst the strait of Hormuz remains closed. However. It could lead to cheaper fuel later.
Remember. A frugal person prepares with intention and doesn’t waste money buying in panic mode. Buy now and beat inflation, even if there aren’t shortages. You will be eating later at today’s prices and be less stressed. Are you prepared?
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A really great read Toni ive been stocking up on tinned tomatoes,fish coffee ,pasta and flour. Will buy some bulk items of prunes and dates as I use lots of those as well. Well have a think of other things,ive got plenty of yeast to. I also bought a 2 burner stove and grill recently second hand and a small bottle of gas,ive got 2 of those bottles now so will get them filled ,just not sure how to tell how much gas is in them though 😊 Thanks for sharing.x
Thanks. The cost of the gas is going up a lot. I don’t know how you tell either. We have cannisters. It sounds like you have made a great start with food.
We have stocked up quite well, I discovered some tinned foods are cheaper from Amazon, so if it was what we would buy we bought it but only using the free delivery. We also went to Home Bargains and bought things that we would use. We have candles and solar torches, a solar radio, a portable solar charging mat that will charge phones. We got portable gas rings, also charcoal. Some was an accident as we were somewhere where it was being sold and I suggested we got some .ore in case of electric or gas shortages. When we got home we had already got a few bags from last year. We hope to have a fair bit of our own produce too.
Brilliant. You sound very well prepared.