I can not believe what is happening with the cost of food lately. I food is now the biggest monthly expenditure in my family’s budget. I have thought lately that we’ve been spending too much on food, but today I decided to run the figures and see for myself. I wish I could say I was surprised with the results.
We now spend more money on food during a month than we spend on rent and utilities, transportation, and even those crazy miscellaneous expenses. We are a family of four and we don’t eat lavishly. I wish I had some good records to see just how much more we are spending for food now than 6 months or a year ago.
I really feel for people in a marginal economic situation. I know when I lived abroad, I know people who would only eat rice with sardines, Malanggay leaves or even just salt. With the way prices are going up, I can imagine that they have no way to cut down on expenses any further and they are just going to resort to being hungry.
I think this means that we will be donating more in our fast offerings using the money we are going to cut from our food budget.
I know there are things that I like to keep hidden from the general public knowledge for one big reason. I don’t like embarrassment. I decided to share a story in my first video. It shows you what happens when you don’t pay attention to things you should pay attention to, like proper safety in inclement weather.
It also kind of reminds me about the precautions that you need to take when you enjoy Gulf oysters. They’re a great food and are very healthy as long as you use hygenic preparation methods. You can learn more about how to eat Gulf oysters safely at BeOysterAware.com. Remember, just don’t be stupid about safety like I was.
I have been following the story about the tainted cantaloupes that have been sold in the US. They come from Honduras, but guess what? There is no evidence at all that they were tainted in Honduras and in fact, evidence points to the fact that they were tainted in the US.
What hurts is that hundreds and possibly thousands of hard working Hondurans are going to be tossed out of their jobs. Honduras is a strong US ally and its exports are clean. They are export quality cantaloupes. This means they have the best quality you can get. Agropecuaria Montelibano uses the best techniques.
How do I know this? I spent time in San Lorenzo, Honduras where they are based. I got to know the owner of the company and many of the workers. I see the human faces of this.
Let me say this, Agropecuaria Montelibano doesn’t deserve this. I believe they are being scape goated by large agricultural interests that are out to destroy the little guy.
Rice is the staple food for more than a billion people in Asia. It’s eaten for 3 meals a day and many people base their well being on the amount of rice and quality of the rice they eat. Right now the news seems to be limited to the Philippines, but an impending rice shortage could have major political implications throughout Asia.
The Philippines is bracing for severe rice shortages this fall, so severe that they are unable to buy rice on the open market to satisfy demand. This means that people may not be able to have enough rice to feed their families at any price. This particularly bodes badly for the marginalized families.
But this is a problem not limited to the Philippines, it affect the all of Asia. Without enough food to feed its people, rice importing nations could experience severe instability. Lacking food, people will become angry and may become violent. I guess time will tell what happens.
It seems like I normally write about business, opportunities and real estate, as well technologies and politics. It’s a pretty broad base of topics and that’s ok, because I love them all. It’s exciting to have such topics to write about and pretty much guarantees that I always have something to write about and something to say. I am going to shift focus for just this post. This post is about being prepared.
I think that lately with the economy doing what it is doing and the way many families are having tough time, it is time to get prepared. I think it’s a good time to fill up a pantry with food. The advantage of having food on hand means that when it gets tight before payday, you can still have food to eat. It also means that you use it as a savings bank. With inflation the way it is and the way interest rates are so low at the bank, it is like a savings plan that keeps with the pace of inflation. It just makes economic sense.
How much to keep on hand? I’d say you start off with 7 days and then trying to add to it until you get to 30 days. You’ll be glad you did.