This article was written by Michael Snyder and first appeared on The Economic Collapse.
I’m just going to be very blunt with you. Things have already gotten quite crazy, but they are going to get even crazier. Global food supplies have already gotten tight, but they are going to get even tighter. When even the UN starts using the word “biblical” to describe the famine that the world is facing, that is a sign that the hour is very late.
Thankfully, we are not facing famine in the short-term here in the United States, but “temporary shortages” of certain items have already been popping up, and food prices are aggressively shooting higher.
Earlier today my wife stopped by the grocery store to pick up a couple of things, and one particular item that used to cost about 12 dollars was now 20 dollars instead. But thanks to the Federal Reserve, this is about as low as food prices are going to get. The Fed seems absolutely determined to crank up inflation, and that is going to have very serious implications during the times that are ahead.
Right now, we have a window of opportunity before the next wave of trouble comes along, and I would greatly encourage you to use this window of opportunity to buy lots of food and store it some place safe.
Related: 10 Expenses You Need to Cut Now for the Upcoming Economic Depression
Some people seem to think that if they have stored up a couple months’ worth of food that they will be just fine.
Unfortunately, that is not the reality of what we are facing. The truth is that you should have enough food to feed every single person in your household for an extended period, and many of you will need much more than that. Because when things get really crazy, many of the friends, neighbors and extended family members that neglected to prepare will come knocking on your door asking for help.
There are some people that would turn away those friends, neighbors and extended family members, but I couldn’t do that. Yes, they are at fault for refusing to get prepared, but I just couldn’t turn them out into the street.
If you also plan to assist those around you that are in need, that just makes your job even bigger. In the end, there is a limit to what any of us can do, and so we will do what we can with what we have, and we will leave the rest to God.
Related: How $5 A Week Can Get Your Family 295 Pounds Of Food
The overwhelming demand that we are witnessing at food banks around the nation right now gives us some clues about what we can expect as economic conditions get even worse. In Alameda County, vehicles are lining up “as early as seven in the morning” just to get a little bit of food from the local food banks.
They start lining up as early as seven in the morning and this will run for six straight hours – said Altfest.
Hundreds of cars slowly snake their way through the parking lot across from the Acura dealership on Interstate 880. Folks from all walks of life driving everything from Toyota’s, BMW’s, to Mercedes, all coming to get food. Folks are grateful for the charity.
When I read that quote from a local CBS news report, it struck me that it sounded almost exactly like what Heidi Baker said when she saw people waiting in line to get food.
And I saw all these people and they had beautiful cars, 4 by 4’s and Lexus, Mercedes, BMW’s, Toyotas. There they were with fancy shiny cars, but they were standing in line.
On the east coast we are seeing similar things happen.
In fact, there was a quarter-mile line at the break of dawn at a food bank in Queens on Saturday…
The line stretched a quarter mile before the sun was barely up Saturday, snaking around corners like bread lines in the 1930’s. But the hungry in Queens are today’s New Yorkers, left jobless by the corona virus.
Until the pandemic struck the city, La Jornada food pantry used to hand out groceries to roughly 1,000 families a week. Now, the figure tops 10,000. And volunteers serve lunch every day to 1,000 — many of them kids with growling stomachs. Across the five boroughs, the hungry number in the hundreds of thousands, the Food Bank of New York estimates.
I found it quite interesting that the New York Post is comparing what is happening now to the “bread lines in the 1930’s”.
This is the reality of what we are facing people. So many people are already in desperate need, and this “perfect storm” is just getting started.
In the Richmond, Virginia area things are even worse. According to one recent report, vehicles have been lining up at one food bank “as early as six hours” before it opens…
Every Friday, cars line up as early as six hours before the food bank on Iron Bridge Road opens the drive thru. At noon, the first 20 cars or so are allowed to park in the parking lot where they wait another three hours. Once 3 p.m. hits, the operation begins with a slew of volunteers working in the warehouse to fill grocery carts with fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat, prepared foods, and non-perishable items.
Can you imagine sitting in your vehicle for six hours waiting for a food bank to open?
This is how desperate some people in America have already become.
And as I noted at the beginning of this article, the United Nations is using the word “biblical” to describe the famine and starvation that are coming all around the world. The following comes from CNBC.
Famines of “biblical proportions” are becoming a serious risk as the corona virus crisis threatens to double the number of people nearing starvation, a U.N. body has warned.
In projections released Tuesday, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) predicted that the number of people facing “acute food insecurity” stood to rise to 265 million by the end of this year, up from 135 million in 2019.
Related: Ingenious Foods People Made During Famines
I don’t know about you, but I find that warning to be quite sobering.
In a “worst-case scenario”, the UN projects that “about a tenth of the world’s population won’t have enough to eat this year”.
Initial United Nations forecasts show that in a worst-case scenario, about a tenth of the world’s population will not have enough to eat this year. The impact will go beyond just hunger as millions more are also likely to experience other forms of food insecurity, including not being able to afford healthy diets, which can lead to malnutrition and obesity.
Sadly, even though we have already seen so many crazy things happen in 2020, most Americans are still not prepping.
And so, when things really start to unravel in a major way, most of them are going to be short on food and supplies very rapidly.
The other day I was interviewed by Dr. Steve Greene, and we discussed some of the reasons why the troubles that we have experienced so far are just the tip of the iceberg.
So much more is coming, but most people do not want to hear that.
Most Americans still want to believe that the future is going to be just wonderful, and so they see absolutely no need to prepare for the chaotic times that are approaching.
This article was written by Michael Snyder and first appeared on The Economic Collapse.
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Note that some of those people in line for food don’t need to be there. So if you find yourself in a line, you’re not just competing with others in need.
Also, COVID changed the way food banks operate. Some closed down, perhaps permanently. Drive-thru style food banks mean people who walked, rode bike, or took a bus before are having a harder time being served, while people with shiny new cars get free food, no questions asked. The items given have also changed; less canned and dry goods than last year.
Good luck.
That line in Queens, NY referenced above is a local neighborhood called Jackson Heights. This is a neighborhood bursting with illegal immigrants, many of whom are now out of work in the COVID19 era as the restaurant, and food service business is on life support and the construction or lawn services industries have experienced a down turn. Most if not all were getting all sorts of government welfare subsidies while they were paid off the books in cash. Now they’re in limbo. I would have thought DeBlas would open the restaurants fully just for them, but in typical communist fashion he believes that restaurants are only for the rich!
P S. All this is happening while the City has had Federal funding since March to hand out food to everyone no questions asked at sites set up in every neighborhood in local schools. You can also get free masks there too.
City Chick, I wonder how many people in those lines realize or would admit that too much free stuff, with no questions asked, leads to dependency. Not having to work for the basics of life precludes any effort to prepare for the coming hard times. When there is no longer any free stuff to give out, what will they do to survive? Steal it from each other? The TVs and Niki shoes they will loot won’t be edible, and when no one has food to steal or trade stupid basketball shoes for, then what? You would think the brief shortage of food due to Covid that we went through would be a motivator to prepare for worse. But, I suppose a lifetime of being lazy is hard to break free of.
Very thought provoking article. If we prepare, the government/unprepared may come take our supplies. If we don’t prepare, there won’t be enough left to survive on. Foraging will help some, but if the government wants us totally controlled, then they may begin a spraying campaign to destroy the available vegetation.
People are worried that the world may come to an end. I am not preparing for the end of the world, but I AM preparing for the end of MY world. I can only do so much, and I can only hope that the steps I have taken to protect my physical body and my family is enough to get me strong in protecting my spiritual body.
I too have noticed the increase in my grocery/prepping bills. It kind of reminds me of a blonde joke where the girl says the increase in gas price doesn’t affect her because she only puts $20 in her tank each time she needs gas. I don’t buy based on price, I buy based on need. I have noticed that at the same time a price goes up, it sometimes follows with a decrease in size. Spending “X” amount per week just means people will starve faster. I want to help as many people as I can, but I don’t want someone else to force me to help others.
I am in the process of moving to a new location. Fortunately, I should have the means available to properly set up for defensive actions and to provide those “family” members that either under-prepared or were too compassionate. Prepare for the worst/hope for the best, is a good motto, but with family, you know to expect the worst because of their “entitled” attitude.
Churches in our area are the local “food bank”. They don’t have near enough to service major shortage, and the wealthy people around here are all too self-absorbed to care about others. I see these same wealthy people going to the food bank to get free food, and also go to convenience stores to get Monsters, cigarettes, and snack food or whatever.
I see problems on the horizon, and I hope the small town mentality prevails over the riots that I am sure are coming.
Bullbagels.
People are lining up for FREE stuff. That’s it. My guess is those Mercedes and BMWs are of much older vintages (and like here, the A/C doesn’t work in them… but hey, I’m in a BMW!).
I’m amused at the “lining up for six hours before they open” IN THEIR CARS!
Nothing more than, “Hey, free stuff here!”
As for items costing more, that’s because there was no demand six months ago and said item(s) had to be destroyed. Remember seeing crops rotting in fields because restaurants weren’t buying them (because they were forced to close)? Just now they’re catching up. SO, supply and demand in action. Ditto with meat prices.
Not everything is TEOTWAWKI. This is human nature and simple economics.
By the way, you’re suggesting people run out and hoard…
I would assume it’s in most part poor planning on their part! Many people live for today not for tomorrow. Many people do not know how or care to to save. Many people want to have everything new. Many people have made bad decisions and have put themselves in situations wherein they have now been unable to stay afloat! It’s a hard lesson and rude awakening for many.
The UN is not our friend. We do not owe the UN the time of day! I havent believed anything coming out of the UN in years. If anything, they will play this up now to get everyone to open up their wallets and pocketbooks and keep them open until they are all drained into theirs!
It is hard for me to believe that folks who are driving newer high end cars have to be in a food line. Just like almost all governments in this country from the feds down to the cities, it isn’t an income problem, it is a spending problem.
My wife really likes ice cream and so we buy it regularly. I have noticed that first the 64 ounce container became 48 ounce container at the same price as the 64 ounce container, an approximately 25% increase in price. Next, the regular price went form $2.50 to $3.00 for the smaller container, a 20% increase in price. Then the price went from $3.00 to $4.00, a 33% increase in price. The last price increase has been since March. The preceding price increase was sometime last year. While ice cream is hardly a necessity, it is just one indicator of what the article is talking about that is rather dramatic, almost a 50% increase in price in just about a year.
Other food prices may not be as dramatic but it is an indicator of what is happening.
Some may point out that ice cream is not really a necessity and that is too true. However, we all need a little cheer in our lives and if a scoop of ice cream after dinner is what brings that cheer into my wife’s life, it then becomes a necessity in my view.
Ya know, there is a time when I say…NO MORE!!!!
Around here, folks are paying $4.50 for corn.
I bought corn all season for $3 and some for $2.75(but I gave her $3)
I always wonder if that $4.50 corn tastes better than my $3 but ain’t gonna pay that price to find out.
Supply and demand–when folks stop paying, prices will come down or the evil will destroy the excess not knowing God is watching and they will answer some day.
Oh, my nickname is ‘generic’ and I am proud of it. Folks don’t know the same generic brands are probably made by the same name brand companies.
Mom worked at Whirlpool for 17 years and laughs at folks loyal to the brand–it depended on the labels at the end of the assembly line what brand went on that day.
LCC, you think it bad now, we haven’t even felt the impact of the $2,000,000,000,000.00 congress gave away for the China Virus bail out. I’m not an economist but I was once told a large part of inflation is the inverse relationship between how much (fiat) money is in circulation and how much the Fed just prints up. (Actually, just puts digitally into the system). I have watched over the last several decades and what I was told is VERY true.
Let us say today for one dollar you can purchase a can of beans. Also, today there is $1.95Trillian in circulation. (This number comes from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12773.htm). 12 to 18 months after the Fed dumps money into the system the percentage of new money is the amount of lost purchasing power your dollar has. The checks started going out in May of 2020. So, between May 2021 and October 2021 that can of beans will eventually cost you at least $2. This does not account for other possible factors, like supply and demand, maybe a bad crop that year, etc.
If you can afford it and can find a reliable source of freeze-dried foods, I would definitely recommend getting some.
There is no question that the multi-trillion dollar “epidemic” bailout blew the value of the dollar (har de har har) further into an abysmal pit. Politicians of all breeds seem unable to grasp the lessons of ancient history and not so ancient history. Countries have gone down in flames when they devalued their currency and adding to the “money” in circulation without a solid base for that “money” only devalues it. We don’t even have paper to represent all the “money” that is being circulated.
We can see the results of monetary devaluation as far back as the Roman Empire with examples in history all the way to present Venezuela and Argentina in our own continent.
The Government didn’t just print 2 trillion for the bailout, they also made 5 trillion available to the investment sector in the form of 0% interest loans, so the stock market has stayed up because they’re playing with house money. Nobody knows what happens next, and nobody knows what kind of shape the economy is really in. But it’s probably bad.
Whether FOX, OAN, MSNBC or the Clinton News Network the Media will not, probably cannot, report on anything substantial.
Little known fact being ignored by everybody, Texas already started paying Trump’s 300.00/wk unemployment supplement, it ain’t 600.00 but it sure will help a lot of people. I’m much better off than most people in the world and would never get into line for free food but I shut my business down when Covidia came to town because I’m in the over 65 risk group and have been taking that weekly disaster relief money the whole time. One thing and another the Guvmint has already sent me about 40,000.00 this year, life is good.
So far as all the Appliances being a different name plate on the same parts, that’s pretty much true. I am the world’s biggest cheapskate and when I had to replace my HVAC last year I researched the equipment down to the very last detail and found they all use the same parts from the same manufacturers. I did manage to upgrade my system and save 4000.00 over typical cost for a new system in my area.
There are short term shortages of one thing and another, right now I can’t find pork ribs, I love pork ribs.
I like that the author of the article says prepare to help others, too, that’s what its going to take.
Ivy: The last time I bought a washing machine the saleslady said that they were all made by LG, no matter what the nameplate said. I don’t know if that is true or not, but she was a very helpful sales person, one of the more helpful I have dealt with in recent years, although that has no bearing on her veracity although I was impressed with her good product knowledge.
You want the best example, in this lifetime for all of us, the Zimbabwe one hundred trillion dollar bill. There is our future, the fastest decline and it is documented right here, in our very, very recent history, to be studied before the victors rewrite it. Look it up and study hard what is about your happen. If the Fed is smarting will not happen near as quick. But that is hoping “we” are smart enough to not let it happen.
LCC, I hang on your every word. But Venezuela and Argentina ARE NOT in our own continent. Perhaps you meant hemisphere. I still think you are great!!!!
LCC – With the new line of kitchen appliances, it’s real easy now to make ice cream at home. Recipes included. All you need are some simple ingredients. No hand cranking! By the time you finish diner, the ice cream will be ready to serve! Something to consider Incase it’s difficult to get out to the stores.
Thanks, CC. I’ll have to look up ice cream makers and see just how much of a chore it is.
LCC – Check Out Cuisinart. You can make any kind you like whenever you want! Probably impress the Mrs
Too!
But I have wonderful memories of the adults fixing up the homemade from scratch vanilla/peach ice cream batter and how happy we kids were to be extorted into endlessly turning the hand crank on the freezer. Preppers buying Cuisinart? Me too, my Cuisinart coffee maker keeps me alive.
CC, I am near Brewster, NY. We are almost neighbors.
If there is a food shortage, I believe it will be a process food shortage. If my reading is correct, we should just about now be finishing up on using last years stored grains and legumes. The overall crop yield in the US this year is not bad so the silos should be in the process of getting refilled. Since we are now energy independent, farmers should have enough fuel to continue farming.
I believe that a shortage of process foods is highly possible. The question we should ask ourselves is what do you do with that sack of grain the government hands out. Can you process that into food as is done in third world countries?
Good introduction to the problem but does not go nearly far enough. For instance, what are the social/political implications long term of these food shortages? Are the problems we see around the world part of the Globalist agenda to “reset” the world’s economies? How do we come out on the other end of all these calamities? I know it’s an awful lot to think about but the alternative is really “unthinkable”.
I agree with the author about friends and relatives knocking on my door looking for hand outs. These are the same ones who laughed up their sleeves at me. I’m not going to bow to these morons, I will give a little but very little. My advice to them will be to find some other benefactor. They have had as much advanced notice as I had. Go stand in the line at the government food distribution points. Also the friends will become enemies and the family will call me names, to bad.
Ray. My sentiments exactly ! I have some canned items for just that occasion…Some of my family and friends have written me off, laughed at me ,called me names. They laugh at my faith and my efforts to at least try to prepare for what may be coming or should I say what is coming.
Keep a little of the nastier stuff on hand to give to beggars. You know pigs feet, pigs snouts, chicken feet, and beaks.
Just wondering about the amount of gas being used while waiting in line for the food.
What about the elderly and infirm, who can’t sit in a line or stand in line.
Rhx
With the engine running so the a/c can be running full blast.
And then complain about the high cost of gasoline.
The poor will continue to get free food while the rest of us pay double the price. Just like obama care insurance. The poor got it for free while the rest of us paid much higher premiums. This is another case of Income Redistribution.
The fact needs to be repeated over and over until everyone gets it—when you feed a family, that family will tell all their relatives, friends, church members and in a day or two, those folks will be at your door.
Best advice?? Don’t open your door to any one.
JayJay. I’m inclined to agree with you.
Definitely keeping it 100% with that comment JayJay. I have a few friends that are aware of what I am doing in my prepping and those that are assisting are welcome in my home but they also understand that when SHTF for real this is where they will stay and defend. The only family I have are my 2 sons and they are definitely welcome but those that laughed at me and called me crazy…well, I hope that they are preparing for themselves because I will not have anything set aside for them. I have been telling people that even if things seem like they are getting better today that it is only temporary and it is the ‘calm before the storm’ more than anything else. I only started in Feb 2020 but I believe that at this point I have enough to feed me and mine for at least 8 months. Still working on getting to that 1 years worth but at least I am close. Things are going to get very ugly if what I’ve been seeing is any indication.
If everything in this article is true, you guy’s in the U S have it bad. Here, school has just started again with some extra measures like masks and washing hands all the time. Most people are working and the economy seems to be starting back up to an extent. This is just my point of view in big places like Paris it might be different.
Things here in the US have started to open again but now there is the ‘second’ wave for lack of something better to call it. All of the things you say in your comment are also happening in the US The issue is that it’s temporary at best. Things almost always get just a little better before things really start to get ‘ugly’. I hope that it doesn’t happen but in the event it does we are only trying to help others learn to prepare.
Things here in the US have started to open again but now there is the ‘second’ wave for lack of something better to call it. All of the things you say in your comment are also happening in the US The issue is that it’s temporary at best. Things almost always get just a little better before things really start to get ‘ugly’. I hope that it doesn’t happen but in the event it does we are only trying to help others learn to prepare.
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” It’s all very well to prepare for emergencies and future disasters, but how does one truly prepare for every eventuality?
We’ve always lived frugally. I’ve always frozen, preserved in jars or dried any extra foods from our food garden, or from gifts of produce. We’ve grown vegies, herbs, fruit. Had poultry, milking cow, goat, Bought our clothes from the Op shop, then repaired and kept them going for years. Turned no longer viable clothing into dusters and rags for use in cleaning, patching, whatever. Made vinegar from the apple cores and skins after using the apples. Then composted anything that couldn’t be used in some other way, to produce more soil for growing food in. Wasted nothing that we could possibly use in some way. BUT – one bushfire and it is all gone. A bushfire that devastated not just our farm, but over half the island we live on, as it travelled approximately 80 kilometres/50miles from its source (a lightning strike into bushland in a conservation park) and taking out about a hundred homes from our small five thousand population.
How does one prepare for such an event, when almost everything over such a large distance is so easily and swiftly destroyed? Even if we had stuff stored in various places, it would most likely still been lost, with not anything we could have done to prevent it.
Fires, floods, landslides, earthquakes, cyclones – and probably others I haven’t thought of, they are all natural disasters that can instantly destroy years of prepping
I’d be interested to hear members’ thoughts on how one can prep for those worst case senarios, as quite apart from terrorism, civil unrest and war, we need to be prepared for natural disasters that can affect a wide swarth of the countryside and whatever you think you have safely stored away.
Lorizin, when planning our move back to the states from Mexico 3 years ago I made a list of what I wanted and what to avoid when buying our new property:
Remote Location:
Large city pop. 250,000 or more: a minimum of 200 miles distance preferred.
Medium size city pop. 100,000-150,000: a minimum of 50 miles distance.
Small town pop. 15,000 to 25,000: a minimum of 20 miles distance.
Small village pop. 1500 or less: 5 to 10 miles distance.
Nearest Interstate highway: 20 miles minimum, with circuitous route to reach our highway.
Highway road frontage: 2-lane black top with little traffic, not adjoining large towns.
Private entrance road to property: 1 mile minimum, dead end, private, gravel road.
Driveway: 1000 feet minimum from road to house.
House not visible from entrance road, located at top elevation of property.
Cleared area surrounding house: 360 degree view of 100 to 300 yards distance for security purposes and to avoid fires.
Land: 100 acres or more with house centered on property made up of old growth forest with oaks and hickory for firewood.
10 acres or more cleared for gardens and animals.
Wild game, fresh water, a water well.
Surrounding land:
Farms, cattle ranches, forest and timber land.
No industry.
Not heavily populated.
Nearest neighbor 1/2 mile or farther.
House:
Large enough to house a family of 8. Modern amenities and sturdily built.
Wood fired heater, wood fired cook stove.
Basement for storage.
Barn
Garage
Areas to hide caches.
Community- Neighbors preferred:
Family units
Christians
Conservatives
Republicans
Farmers
Cattlemen
Hard working people
Preppers
Survivalists
Community-Neighbors to Avoid:
Liberals
Permanent welfare recipients
Deteriorating trailer parks
Public housing
Drug users, drug dealers, or their families
Uncontrollable Situations to Avoid:
Nuclear power plant: 150 miles minimum, not downwind.
Missile range: 500 miles minimum. Not under flight path to Russia, China, or Mideast.
Military base: 100 miles minimum.
Air force base: 200 miles minimum.
Earthquake fault line: 200 miles minimum.
Yellow Stone super volcano: 1000 mile minimum.
Hurricane zone: 400 miles minimum
Forest fire area: 200 miles minimum
Weather Preferred:
7-months growing season minimum
Growing season rainfall – 2 to 4 inches annually
Average temperatures: Winter 21- 55 Average lows. Summer 69 -88 average highs.
It took me 2 years, but I matched everything on the list with this property we now own. Regards, Oracle
I once worked in home health. I went to homes to supervise nurses’ aides. There were many times I realized that there were people in the homes with the patients that had at least a locked room or a locked closet or pantry where they stored food and supplies. It was usually a single working woman taking care of an elderly relative and raising kids. These women did not know each other yet they used the same prepping method. They were also low income. They bought food and supplies usually on sale. They locked it up to keep it from being eaten up too fast especially by teenage boys. They used food stamps and government assistance to buy supplies also.. They put out after school drinks and snacks on the table. Then when they came home from work they cooked the evening meal. One woman was an immigrant from the Philippines. She came here as an adult. This was already a custom with her of locking up and guarding food. Her ex husband was an addict and he would come in and steal anything. He would steal her food and sell it to get money to buy his drugs. She would keep her cash at someone’s house that she trusted just so he couldn’t get it. We will also have to practice protecting our stash. You may be able to get it but you have to also keep it. Many people are preppers but don’t know it.