I really like rice. Rice is so awesome. Rice-A-Roni is not exactly rice, but mostly pasta. Haystacks are made with rice. Minute rice is good when you're in a hurry (don't tell Val). Rice and beans make a complete protein. Rice can be brown, white or wild. I tend to like the wild. Then again, that's not really rice but special grass seeds. But no one wants to eat chicken and grass seeds for dinner (especially Val) so they just call it rice. You can't wear shoes when you pick rice. Rice gets bigger when you cook it in water. Rice Krispies come from rice. So does rice pudding. That stuff is great with a little nutmeg and cinnamon. yum!

There are food riots in places, especially Haiti. Some people in Haiti are reduced to eating dirt cookies, since they can't afford rice or other staples. Some people can't afford dirt cookies. No joke; the dirt they use is from a place that takes a bit of travel to get to, so you have to buy the dirt from someone who can make the trip there and back.
Bok is right; other nations will suffer before we will. But that doesn't mean that we won't suffer, even if it just means that our diets become much more basic because we can't afford anything else.
I'm just not sure how americans would deal with shortages. When I was on my mission, I got used to it. For instance, once there was a period of weeks where I couldn't buy cheese anywhere in my area. The only cheese I could find was really expensive import cheese. When we couldn't find toilet paper for sale we came up with creative solutions. But I think that if there comes a time when you can't find their favorite snack food in the store, I'm not sure how people will take it.

They wouldn't take it well, but I don't think that we'll see food riots just because the store is out of Wheat Thins and doesn't expect any for a few weeks. I think it would take something like food rationing because there isn't enough in the store for everyone.

Just a heads up... I just bought a bunch of rice recently and it was a bit less expensive at Sam's club vs. the cannery.

You could always get a higher paying job.

rayb wrote:

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You could always get a higher paying job.

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Dude!  Never thought of that!

Actually, it's kind of amazing I got the good paying job I've got.  I'm paid by speed, which is a good thing.

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Paid by output, I guess you could say. And I got a lot more where that came from!!


Hmm... I'll have to see if Macey's has rice.

Winco had 25 lb bags for around $16. Haven't made it to Costco yet.

I stopped by the cannery last night I put up 200 pounds of rice, 25 pounds of black beans.

I tell you, though, that place was the barest I have ever seen it. Absolutely no wheat, most beans were gone, powdered milk (white gold at $13.30 a can!), only about 500 pounds of rice, 200 of which I took.

The cannery people said people had been coming in and buying the wheat in bulk, like a 1,000 pounds at a time and leaving nothing for people to can, so it sounds like they are going to put the brakes on that. The suspicion is that some people are just trying to resell the cheaper church stuff at higher prices elsewhere. They also said that since the church is doing the online purchases and shipping it to people that less wheat is getting out to the canneries. That is quite annoying.

FYI, our Sam's dropped the price of a 25lb bag of rice back down to $7.49. (Yeah, I know. I go to Sam's too much. I'll be finding a 12-step program for that real soon now.)

Actually, from what I read, Walmart wasn't limiting, just Sam's. Oh, here, linky: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/24/rice.prices.ap/index.html

There weren't any signs up about it in my Sam's, though. I'm not sure they're doing it everywhere.

Today, Costco only had brown rice, and lots and lots of Minute Rice. We did get some dry beans there.

I'm going to hit Sam's tomorrow and get some more rice if they still have it.

Sometimes Minute Rice is really yummy. I never had the stuff until like a month ago. It's like the white bread/donuts of rice. Wow! Plus it's so fast... like... a minute!

Am I the only one craving more rice lately?

I'm not really a fan of Minute rice. I don't actually eat much rice these days, though I wouldn't hesitate to eat our stored rice in a time of need.

There was some mention (on a the HD thread of all places) about the difficulty of eating rice with chopsticks. Having sat across from MrHic at many asian meals, I can say it's definitely a talent that can be acquired. I think it runs in his family, though. His cousin used to be able to eat jello with chopsticks.

"about the difficulty of eating rice with chopsticks" which is why they eat sticky rice.

If there's rice at the store, there's not a shortage?

This should be a learning experience for all of us, especially Latter-day Saints.  We have been counseled that food storage is something we should have been steadily doing for decades (the Great Depression was the painful learning threshhold).  Now,prices spike and most people panic (including Latter-day Saints), sending emails about where to buy wheat and beans, how to cash out your retirement funds because they will be empty in a year, and the profiteers are laughing all the way to the bank. Prices will stabalize eventually.  In the meantime, we need to follow the counsel of the Brethren who have said "let us not go to extremes".  If you don't have adequate food storage, now is not the time to go buy mass quantities. Let this be a lesson, and next time gradually and prudently build up your food reserves.

The reason this topic irks me is that some Latter-day Saints have a tendency to be pharaseical about this issue.  I had about seven months of food when I started college with my family.  We are now down to three because it sustained us during a couple semesters when there was viritually no income. It was truly a blessing and it strengthened my testimony about the need to be prepared.

Now, consider this.  How would all of you like it if I told you to quit your careers and go get a Ph.D. or a Masters degree becasue you were not prepared for the difficult economic times ahead and your current career would be gone in a year? I mean, President Hinckley urged education just as much (if not more so than) food storage. Of course, that is absurd for most people. All things must be done in wisdom and order. Yet, when panic ensues, people preach food storage like it is the only commandement in force.

Ok, I have ranted long enough.....my apologies.  I think I'm just worried about Fast Sunday testimony meeting and I know of a few in my ward who will stand up and give us the "I told you sooo!" testimony on food storage.

We have been counselled to acquire food storage for years, but sometimes it takes a real "experience" for some people to "get it." Maybe they will lose their income or have some other real-world event that will suddenly shake them enough to really do it.

One of the articles called it a "media-fueled hysteria" ... how does this sort of thing happen and why?

And I think I would agree that regardless of what the USDA in Missouri says, if I can't get rice, I can't get rice and that affects me. I don't know what the situation will look like in 6 months when everything's supposed to smooth out.

And I think I would agree that regardless of what the USDA in Missouri says, if I can't get rice, I can't get rice and that affects me. I don't know what the situation will look like in 6 months when everything's supposed to smooth out.
And there's the rub.  It only affects a person if that person doesn't already have rice stored.

But then I'm feeling all superior because my staple supplies are complete.  Don't listen to me.

Val's post raises a question. At what point do you "tap into" that food storage? Do you use it as an insulation from prices driven by the current "food bubble", or wait until there's no food on the shelves anymore?

Seems to me that having rice in storage, but continuing to buy "extra" anyway so you don't have to use that stored rice kinda defeats the purpose of storing food. But I imagine that Val sees his storage as a SHTF protection only. I don't view it that way so much.