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I’m sure that everyone is familiar with the fact that over 50% of the United States. I’ve seen several news reports that indicate we can expect grocery prices to increase 3-5% on average.

I’m noticing that even many of the things I buy from local people are increasing. My grass fed beef is going up, I fully expect to have an increase in my cow share (I pay room and board on a cow that I share with others),  buying feed for our own chickens has went up lots as has the small amount of hay that we buy to use for them. Plus we’ve even had a hard time finding hay! I did not receive the wheat I ordered with my last Azure Standard order and wonder if I will receive it next time.  Also something interesting is the big game hunting tags here in Wyoming, the radio has mentioned several times that all big game leftover tags are ‘sold out’.  Fortunately, my husband and daughter both got their antelope draws and there are still plenty of doe tags for antelope and deer so we can fill up our freezer. I do have to wonder though if the drought is part of the reason the tags sold out so quickly.

Have you noticed similar increases in your area?  Do you have a plan for altering your diet with the price increases/shortages or will you just adjust your budget to accommodate for it? 

At this point we don’t have a definite plan but do have a few ideas.  And I am happy that we have some food storage.  Buying food in advance is a good hedge against price increases and shortages. We are also fortunate to live in an area where we have a good amount of deer and antelope to put in our freezer and/or pressure can.  We are in the process of using up the rest of last years game and chickens in preparation for refilling.  We are raising ducks and chickens also (for eggs and meat) which we had started early before we knew there was a drought.  Even though the cost to raise them has increased significantly we’ll still have a good amount.  The bad thing is I had hoped to increase the size of our laying flock this year and now think that might not be a good idea.  We’ll have to decide just how many chicken and ducks it will make sense to keep over the winter.  So that is pretty much where we are. No firm decisions yet, mostly just a wait and see time.

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