How to think outside-the-box when food shortages are real and prices are rising
Grocery store food shortages, supply chain problems, food prices rising fast, talk of hyperinflation and eventual rationing…. It’s hard to stay positive when you’re told to watch out for these! Truth is, you can thrive during food shortage and rising food prices.
Let’s figure out some ways to bring food security into our homes! Your usual preferences may be getting harder to find or becoming too expensive. Affordability, enjoyability and nutrition are the new indicators for finding food now.
How to switch to a whole foods diet
I call myself a whole foodist and herbalist because you can’t be healthy on a poor diet. In fact, a healthy keto diet plan has changed my life — healthy weight loss, increased energy, and cravings are gone. My grocery budget is happy too.
If you’ve ever wondered how to switch to a whole foods diet, I can help. Dr. Berg’s videos show how to get started to become healthier, which also transitions into these new times of food uncertainty. (I’m not affiliated with Dr. Berg but I follow his eating plan. I do not buy his products.)
A whole foods diet — based on meat or other protein foods, vegetables and fruit, along with the right amount of healthy fat — is more than just a healthy diet. It’s the food you’ll have the easiest access to should food availability continue on its current path.
If you’ve ever studied Traditional Diets, you might also notice that these whole foods are part of every traditional diet around the world. The people with the best health and longevity eat this type of diet.
A couple differences between a traditional diet vs. modern diet is the absence (or minimization) of grains — flour, bread, crackers and rice, for example.
You might wonder how you could ever live without grains, but let me tell you from experience that I don’t miss them. And I used to be the Carb Queen! I feel so much better and my health has improved in many ways. Please consider it before you dismiss it.
Another difference is that traditionally, people used as much of the animal as possible. For example, they ate the liver and made broth from the bones. Funny, but science has proven that these often-discarded parts provide really valuable nutrition!
All of this is to encourage you to open your mind, as well as your palate, to some foods that might be new to you. They’re as delicious as they are practical in hard times.
Getting the food you need
My ultimate goal is food independence. That means no more reliance on grocery stores or food delivery. Is it realistic? No. But I fear that our society may be headed in that direction. I want to be able to choose the food I eat. Let’s design our lives to thrive during food shortages and rising food prices.
Until we get there, let’s talk about affordability in the foods we buy. Aside from nutrition, we need cheap groceries. With rising prices, job losses, and hungry bellies to fill, we need an idea of cheap food to buy when we’re broke. We need cheap meals that fill us, satisfy, and build us up. Remember, as much as it’s possible, select healthy foods over unhealthy ones.
See my cheap groceries tips here.
Assistance programs
Food banks and EBT food assistance help people get food when they’ve come upon hard times. However, if you rely on these systems every month with no end in sight, please join me in thinking about independence from a system that could disappear at any time.
These systems are fragile. You’ll be more secure if you have food apart from these programs. Yes, they’re valuable and life-saving when they are available and functioning. But please take steps to reduce your reliance on them.
How to forage for food
Have you ever thought about how to forage for food? Wherever you live, plants grow outdoors. Learn to identify the plants and trees in your area.
It’s important to read foraging books that are written for your specific area because plant varieties differ greatly, depending on the region. A great place to start is with your local county extension office. And local libraries and plant nurseries. If you tell them you’re learning to forage for food, they’ll look at you strange. That’s ok. Just tell them you’re wanting to learn something new and they will help you. Ask what books they recommend for your specific area.
Once you know the names of the plants and trees, you can research them. You want to know which plants are poisonous so you can avoid them. Then learn the most common plants near you. Find out if they have poisonous look-alikes.
When you have a short list of plants you want to try, do a Google search for recipes. For example, “purple dead nettle pesto recipe” or “dandelion salad recipe” or “sauteed lamb’s quarters recipe.” All are delicious and highly nutritious. And free. This really is a great way to thrive during food shortage and rising food prices.
When you forage, avoid areas that have been sprayed or next to busy highways. These plants have been contaminated and may not be safe to eat.
Hunting
Research local laws to find out what animals you can hunt without a permit. I’m thinking rabbits and birds. Follow all laws and safety principles using weapons and traps especially in populated areas. Safety First, Always.
There are quite a few good books that teach step-by-step how to dress and butcher wild game.
Wild meat generally has a stronger flavor than domestic meat that you find in the grocery store. Also, it’s often leaner and needs a different way of cooking it. There are thousands of recipes online that optimize different flavor combinations to create delicious dishes.
Foraging and hunting can help you thrive in food shortages and rising food prices, as long as everyone else doesn’t have the same idea. Lean on it to add variety to your diet, but grow your own livestock for food security.
How to prepare your food
It’s an important skill to know how to create delicious meals from whatever you have on hand. The proof is in all the apps out there that let you type in the ingredients you have and it tells you what to make. This skill was valued by every granny and housewife, but has fallen out of favor today. Yet, with all the challenges we’re facing now, it’s a skill to revive.
Check this out for my method of putting a meal together using whatever is on hand. Learn this important skill so you can save money, as well as have the ability to pull together a meal using whatever is available.
Cooking without a stove
It’s important to have options for meal prep if the power goes out or fuel prices become cost prohibitive.
One often overlooked tip is to eat more raw foods — salads, fruit, and produce fresh out of the garden. Canned foods can be eaten at room temperature. Many leftovers can be eaten cold. Let’s rethink the notion of heating or cooking everything we eat.
It should go without saying, but safety is critical. Do not use grills or camping stoves indoors. Do not build a fire in the garage. Work in a ventilated area. Use caution around an open flame. Keep young children and pets safe when you’re cooking. Keep a fire extinguisher or box of baking soda nearby to put out fires.
Hay Box Cooker
This is my favorite way to slow cook food. It’s basically a non-electric slow cooker that results in the same kind of easy, fast and tasty meals that you would make in a crock pot.
Read about how I make my own, using materials that I had around the house. It took all of 5 minutes to throw together and requires no tools or skills!
Solar ovens
Which is better — hay box cooker or solar ovens? It’s a tie for first place! The advantage of solar ovens is that you don’t have to preheat the food. The disadvantage is that it’s not always sunny. However, if you can see your shadow, even a little, it’s sunny enough to use a solar cooker.
Like the hay box cooker, solar ovens are a non-electric way to slow cook food. There are different types of solar cookers that you can buy or build.
I’ve built a few solar ovens that don’t get hot enough to really cook the food. Plans for the best DIY solar oven can be found here. I love this oven so much. It’s a little extra work to figure out the angles, but well worth it. Make this oven and it will create enough heat to really cook your food. Confession — I literally wore out my DIY oven and plan to make another one.
Though I don’t plan to buy one, if I were, it would be the All American Sun Oven, here. (I’m not affiliated with this company, I just think it’s a great oven!)
To cook food in a solar oven, you need a black or dark colored covered pot. I use my black granite ware pot for this. Similar to how you would use any crock pot recipe, place your food in the pot, cover it, and place in the solar oven early in the day. Keep the oven’s reflectors pointed at the sun and enjoy a great meal at the end of the day!
Fireplace
If your fireplace is in safe working order, you can cook in it. Here’s a pretty thorough article that tells how to do this safely and tips for making great food.
Dutch oven cooking
This is a really effective way to cook if you have access to charcoal. A good step-by-step article here explains exactly what you need and how to get it done. The food prepared this way turns out moist and delicious.
Practice makes perfect
It hasn’t become necessary (yet?) for these alternative cooking techniques to be a way of life. For now it’s a novelty, fun, adventurous.
This is the time to scour thrift shops for supplies, practice different recipes, and try different techniques to see which one(s) work for you. In this way, you can thrive during food shortage and rising food prices.
Food storage
RiseAboveTheTimes.com
No pantry is complete until it’s filled with cans and jars of food put by. Give yourself food security by stocking up on essentials. Ideally, the goal is to store 2 years’ worth of food.
If you’re not there yet, or if you haven’t begun, start today. Purchase extra shelf-stable foods that you can sock away for the future. If you don’t have the extra cash to do this, what expenses can you eliminate, to free up some money for food?
Read here to see what food you should stockpile in case of food shortage. How much food do you need to store? How do you stock your pantry for 6 months? What are the guidelines for food storage? Find out in this exhaustive list of common American foods. Feel confident that you’ll thrive during food shortages and rising food prices.
Storing produce — ferment, can and dehydrate
Fermenting is my favorite way to store fresh produce. Don’t let the word worry you. It just means that beneficial microbes which occur naturally in the environment have chemically changed the food for the better. It preserves freshness and nutrients, and produces beneficial probiotics and enzymes. I’ve fermented a huge variety of vegetables; condiments too!
If you don’t like the sour flavor of fermented foods, the solution is simple. Stop the fermentation process as soon as you see tiny bubbles forming in the jar of food (instead of letting it ferment for 1 to 2 weeks) and refrigerate the food to prevent further fermentation. In this short amount of time, the fermentation process has begun, yielding its health benefits while keeping the sourness to a minimum.
Canning is a great way to preserve meat, soups and broth. If you choose not to ferment vegetables, then canning is a way to make them last. Be aware that you must pressure can low acid foods like meat, soup, broth, and most vegetables. The pressure must be increased as your altitude increases.
Water bath canning is not safe for low acid foods. Save the water bath for high acid foods like pickles, jelly and jam. A good canning book will help you know exactly how to can all foods. Make sure your book is a recent copy because older canning books contain some outdated information that has since been deemed unsafe.
Dehydrating food is another great way to preserve most fresh or frozen produce. You can use a commercial electric dehydrator if power is available, or you can make one. To keep foods from molding during the dehydrating process, try to dehydrate during a low-humidity spell. Hot humid weather will cause mold growth.
For a tutorial on dehydrating food, read here.
Here’s how to make your own food dehydrator.
After the food is dried completely with absolutely no moisture left, store it in jars. These foods are shelf stable.
You can use canning jars, or to save money, repurpose old pickle or spaghetti sauce. To make sure your dried food doesn’t take on the smell of the jar, wash the jar thoroughly and let the lid soak in some white vinegar overnight; rinse well and let dry completely . This should remove any residual smells that can transfer to your dried foods. Be extra sure there is no moisture in the jar or lid before putting the dried foods in them.
Growing food to fight food shortages and rising prices
I believe very strongly that storing food is important. But it’s equally important to grow food. Your stored food will run out. It’s designed to get you by until your crops come in every year. Of course, you’ll be preserving and storing food every year, too.
The easiest food to grow is sprouts. It only takes a wide mouth jar, a piece of cheesecloth or something similar, and sprouting seeds. Super simple. You’ll have fresh veg in a few days. Because this happens right in your kitchen, it can be done year round, no matter the weather. Visit here to see just how easy it is! Keep a variety of sprouting seeds on hand for a variety of flavors and nutrient profiles.
You can grow a garden on acres of land or in a few buckets on the patio. Food is a priority right now, so you might consider prioritizing an area to grow food, even as far as replacing current ornamental landscape plants with edible landscaping. Go the extra mile and include pots of cooking herbs growing in the kitchen. Whatever space you have should be devoted to growing food.
See this post for info on the fastest and easiest vegetables to grow.
Raise some chickens in your backyard for eggs, meat and a source of fat. Most jurisdictions allow at least a few laying hens in the backyard. Research your local laws and get the maximum number of chickens allowed. If you have the space, build a simple chicken tractor for pastured meat and eggs.
Meat rabbits are another option. They’re quiet (unlike chickens) and can be raised in a shed or garage if they need to be kept out of public view.
You could even look into raising tilapia or koi in a fish pond for food purposes. You’d have to predator-proof the pond and keep the fish from freezing in winter.
Herbs for food and health
I’ve trusted herbs to build my family’s well-being for over 20 years. I love to study and experiment with plants for flavoring foods and building health. Aromatherapy, based on the essential oils found in plants, is equally powerful and fascinating. This lifestyle has certainly helped me thrive during personal hard times.
It’s possible that modern medicine will falter in the future. With so many things falling apart, we must consider that medical care could, too. Therefore it’s important to know how to take care of yourself and your family if this should happen. By taking good care of your overall health now, including normal weight and physical fitness, you lower your risk of illness later.
I hope I’ve given you some practical, affordable, simple ways to thrive during shortages and inflation. Come back often for even more ideas.
What are you doing to be ready for whatever comes?
Here’s a recipe idea for an easy healthy meal during hard times.
How are you getting ready to thrive during food shortage and rising food prices? Please leave a comment below.
Disclaimers: I get commissions for purchases made through links in posts on this website. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There is no extra cost to the customer. See disclaimers here and privacy policy here.