Most of the American Midwest has been in drought this summer and that drought extended up to Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This means that the cost of wheat and corn products is likely to go up. Meat already went up in price after last year's western drought. Georgia's peanut crop suffered, too. Last winter I found a good sale on peanut butter at 99 cents per 18 ounce jar of peanut butter. This past week, the same peanut butter was $2.99 and that was on sale.
Though there should be a cost of living raise for those of us on social security, it isn't likely to cover the increased cost of our food. With that in mind, I've been gradually stocking up on staples, particularly thinking about wheat products. Last week, I found packages of pancake mix for 25 cents each. Each package makes enough pancakes for two people. I bought enough for the winter. I bought five pounds of rice and ten pounds of pasta.
I'm using our garden harvest to make batches of soup and freezing them up, three batches so far and tomorrow I'll make another.
A warm spell in March was followed by April frost which was disastrous for orchards. There was only one pear on our pear tree this year. Gary and I split it. It was delicious. But fruit will be expensive this winter. I received a postcard from one of my favorite apple orchards. The owners were notifying their customers that there will be no pick your own apples this autumn, something we've done with Evan for several years.
To make sure there will always be fruit and vegetables this winter, I've been stocking up on canned fruit and frozen vegetables.
I watch for other sales. This weekend our local supermarket had a truckload sale. I bought cases of tomato sauce and mushrooms so I can make sauce for the pasta I bought.
Because we live on fixed incomes, we have to plan ahead to make sure there is food on our table.
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