Scarcity is at the very least annoying....

Scarcity in good times is annoying. Scarcity in an emergency situation is worse, worse, worse--at best, best, best...

I have run into various levels of scarcity lately, and the first I will mention here involves ground turkey, which I generally buy in a 3 lb. package, brown, and store in the freezer. It held steady for a long time at either $5.58 or $5.38 (I think it was $5.58, but I am striving for accuarcy here :). Then one day, I went to get some, and was surprised (probably shouldn't have been, considering how long the price held steady, but I was..) to find that it was now $6.22. Still very reasonable price per pound, considering the prices of other meats, (and in comparison with prices at other stores, from what I've seen) but still. Who doesn't want it for less? So the price had gone up.

Thing is, I went back for some more, and the display case was empty. I was in the position that at that point I didn't need to buy turkey, so I decided to wait. If memory serves the following then happened: I went back two more times, and each time the display was empty. So I decided to ask an employee when there would be more ground turkey. Very kindly, she went in the back to see if there was any ground turkey back there, but to no avail. I asked her when the turkey would be replenished, and was told that she didn't know exactly, that I should probably try in the mornings, and that it generally disappeared pretty much as soon as it was put out. As a result, because by the third time, I did need the turkey, I asked my husband to pick up a 3 lb. package on his way home from a different grocery store. The price on that package was $7-something, although it had a different fat content, but the real difference was this: The $7-something package was in my hands. Sounds like something that they would put on a TV commercial, and then say "priceless".

If you are still reading, :) my point is this: I could have used something else for dinner, so at this point, scarcity was an annoyance. What happens when you have no other options? That's when scarcity becomes much, much, more than an annoyance and turns into an emergency....

One other example: when it comes to macaroni and cheese, there is one brand that I buy that (a) my children like, and (b) is cheaper than the (seems like ever-upward-spiraling prices of) other brands. Soooo, every time I go to the particular store that sells this macaroni and cheese (it's a store brand) I pick up a couple of extra boxes usually at 2/$1.00, and on good days, or with coupon, 3/$1.00. Last time I looked, that brand was gone. There were other brands, but the space for this particular macaroni and cheese was eeemmmmppppttty. So there wasn't a scarcity of macaroni and cheese, per se, but the kind I wanted, and I knew that my children would eat was unavailable. My point? Serving my children something that they don't really like during an emergency situation is so much less than ideal that I'm trying to avoid it. I still have some boxes of said macaroni here, so again, scarcity of it right now is more a matter of annoyance and inconvenience. But in a case where there might be less fuel available to cook (pasta's pretty much a quick-cook meal) scarcity could turn into so much more...

Hope everyone is doing well, and stocking up at prices where they are now (read: steadily rising) even if it's only one box of macaroni and cheese at a time--or even better, at 3/$1.00. It may not seem like much, but it all adds up, and it will be priceless if there should come a time when you can't get whatever item you are looking for at any price....