How are you dealing with inflation?

[catherine]

The Mountain House individual pouches are good for at least 30 years. Not too worried about shelf-life.

The #10 cans are good for 30+ years as well. I'm going through 20+ year old cans right now, and they seem just fine.

I prefer the cans for large-scale storage, and the pouches for more regular pantry rotation - they are tasty enough that they make fine meals when I am in a hurry.

Mountain House is mentioned in today's Bloomberg article about how preppers as a subculture are becoming more mainstream. People are driven by fear of climate change and geopolitical instability, and hence have more of a food hoarding mindset these days.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...b4WUUgZ-fD_BwE

[Tradd]

I know a lot of campers who use MH meals. They’ve been available in the camping aisle at Walmart and and outdoor stores for a number of years.

[catherine]

I know a lot of campers who use MH meals. They’ve been available in the camping aisle at Walmart and and outdoor stores for a number of years.

It's definitely a world I'm not familiar with, as I don't identify as either a camper or a prepper. But still interesting. My idea of prepping is making sure there's enough half and half in the fridge for my morning coffee.

[bae]

I know a lot of campers who use MH meals. They’ve been available in the camping aisle at Walmart and and outdoor stores for a number of years.

I think REI has has them forever.

[jp1]

As the human servant of two cats currently and three previously, not to mention all of the various cats that friends and family have served for over the years, I'm impressed by their ability to find either the warmest or coolest place in their home depending on the season. Our current cats figured out a couple of weeks after moving in with us that the second from the top step on our staircase (with open stairs) is directly in the path of the dining room furnace vent's airflow. Our previous cat Christian quickly figured out that lying on my feet when I was in bed was a good way to get extra warmth from below. My sister's long passed cats figured out that the fridge blew hot air out the bottom and hung out there so often that sister put a cat bed there and it became their favorite daytime napping spot.

[Rogar]

There is apparently an entire subculture devoted to collecting and taste-testing antique MREs.

https://www.youtube.com/@LetsGetThisOutOntoATrayNice

It's interesting how some of the WWII era kits seemed to contain a five pack of no filter smokes. I imagine there was some bargaining for favorites. I've high graded deserts from a few of mine.

[pinkytoe]

So true about the cats seeking warmth - my old Siamese parks his butt over the heater vent in the floor on cold mornings.

[Teacher Terry]

Yesterday had our hoa board meeting and the management company said be prepared for a significant increase in our Hoa fees as locally NV Energy raised rates 22% and the water company 16%. Our heat, water and AC are on central boiler systems.

The other board members told me later that significant probably means between 100-150/month. It goes by the size of the unit so glad I have a small 2 bedroom. I can probably kiss goodbye my entire 110/month raise between my pension and SS. We have had many big expenses this year as the building is 44 years old. Luckily we have a healthy reserve fund. IL, wondering if your fees are experiencing similar increases. Some people on Nextdoor have been reporting that their energy bills are doubling.

[Yppej]

The boss replenished the snacks at work so I am eating more of them until the healthy ones are all gone. Trying to eat what's in the house. Had some coconut oil straight out of the jar this morning and then I felt sick afterwards so I won't do that again.

[jp1]

Our HOA doesn't pay for any of the utilities for individual units. The major HOA expenses are insurance, gardeners, pool costs, and recycled water costs for the common areas. Thankfully none of these has gone up dramatically over the past year so our HOA fee only went up by about 4% this year. Hopefully that will continue.

Our electric/gas utility rates as well as water have definitely gone up though. Water rates have gone up almost 40% since last year and our usage is also up. I haven't looked to compare what electric/gas costs have done but we just paid $300 for the month ending in early January. It's been a lot colder this year so it's hard to compare without actually digging out last year's bills. And now SO is taking some time off work so we're actually using the heat all day because his tolerance for cool is a lot less than mine. I can hardly wait to see next month's bill...