A friend sent this article to me. I was pretty surprised. Coming from the Wall Street Journal, I think I might actually take heed. Not to be paranoid, but to be prepared. I have heard that Costco and Walmart are limiting how much rice and flour you can buy. So there must be something to it. I'll post the article here, then I'll go check out Snopes and see what that says. Still, I probably will do something. The Boyscout motto is running in the back of my mind, "Be prepared!".... (Oh well, at least I'll have plenty of mustard!!! lol) Here's the article:
Load Up the Pantry
R.O.I.
By BRETT ARENDS
April 21, 2008 6:47 p.m.
I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.
No, this is not a drill.
You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.
Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster.
"Load up the pantry," says Manu Daftary, one of Wall Street's top investors and the manager of the Quaker Strategic Growth mutual fund. "I think prices are going higher. People are too complacent. They think it isn't going to happen here. But I don't know how the food companies can absorb higher costs." (Full disclosure: I am an investor in Quaker Strategic)
Stocking up on food may not replace your long-term investments, but it may make a sensible home for some of your shorter-term cash. Do the math. If you keep your standby cash in a money-market fund you'll be lucky to get a 2.5% interest rate. Even the best one-year certificate of deposit you can find is only going to pay you about 4.1%, according to Bankrate.com. And those yields are before tax.
Meanwhile the most recent government data shows food inflation for the average American household is now running at 4.5% a year.
And some prices are rising even more quickly. The latest data show cereal prices rising by more than 8% a year. Both flour and rice are up more than 13%. Milk, cheese, bananas and even peanut butter: They're all up by more than 10%. Eggs have rocketed up 30% in a year. Ground beef prices are up 4.8% and chicken by 5.4%.
These are trends that have been in place for some time.
And if you are hoping they will pass, here's the bad news: They may actually accelerate.
The reason? The prices of many underlying raw materials have risen much more quickly still. Wheat prices, for example, have roughly tripled in the past three years.
Sooner or later, the food companies are going to have to pass those costs on. Kraft saw its raw material costs soar by about $1.25 billion last year, squeezing profit margins. The company recently warned that higher prices are here to stay. Last month the chief executive of General Mills, Kendall Powell, made a similar point.
The main reason for rising prices, of course, is the surge in demand from China and India. Hundreds of millions of people are joining the middle class each year, and that means they want to eat more and better food.
A secondary reason has been the growing demand for ethanol as a fuel additive. That's soaking up some of the corn supply.
You can't easily stock up on perishables like eggs or milk. But other products will keep. Among them: Dried pasta, rice, cereals, and cans of everything from tuna fish to fruit and vegetables. The kicker: You should also save money by buying them in bulk.
If this seems a stretch, ponder this: The emerging bull market in agricultural products is following in the footsteps of oil. A few years ago, many Americans hoped $2 gas was a temporary spike. Now it's the rosy memory of a bygone age.
The good news is that it's easier to store Cap'n Crunch or cans of Starkist in your home than it is to store lots of gasoline. Safer, too.
Yum! I have been to a Norwegian dinner when I was younger and enjoyed all the traditional foods - even Lutifisk! Of course, I wasn't so fond of lye-soaked fish, but at last I can say I tried it! My dad loves it! My kids were able to see them make Cumkake. (If you are true Norwegian, please pardon my spelling of the Norwegian words... not exactly sure if I'm spelling them right.) The hosts gave each of the kids one. It was yummy! They weren't able to try the lefse, but my mom and I watched closely at how they make it, while my dad got the recipe. We hope to make some in the near future. My grandfather came from Norway, so we have the Norwegian genes. Of course, I'm not sure how Norwegian my kids are, but I'm positive they have some Norwegian in them! They are all blond and blue eyed after all!
We had such a busy week! We spent the first part of it getting ready for the Science Fair with our local home school group. The kids worked very hard on their projects. Josiah did Bones, Joshua did the Brain, Joseph did Muscles and Christalin did the Lungs. I think they did a great job! Josiah won 3rd place in the 13+ category. The rest of the kids didn't place, but I think they were all winners! Josiah has the gift of gab from his dad. The rest of the kids kind of had stage fright when the judges came through. That's ok, I know they know more than they were able to tell the judges. My nephew Ryan did a great job on The Ape Caves. He actually made some staglamites (hmmm.... how DO you spell that word?) I held them on my lap on the way to the fair. I was so afraid of breaking them before they got there! My dear sister took the kids out for a frosty as a reward for all the hard work. She's so nice! After church today I took my kids to the dollar store to pick out a prize. They had fun choosing a prize. All the kids did a great job at the Science Fair. It's fun to see what others are doing in their homeschool.
DH brought our trailer out for us to stay in. It was dry camping with no electricity or heat. It was really cold. However, I was glad to not be in a tent! Josiah and Joshua put up their own tent and stayed in it. They did great! 
