Price of rice could triple

Forgot where I saw or heard this (been multitasking like crazy lately) but within the last day or two I heard that there has been flooding that led to a sizable crop failure somewhere in Asia, Thailand I think, and the commentary was that the price of rice could as much as triple over the next 18 months as a result.

If this happens, prices will end up roughly 50% higher than during the last shortage a couple of years ago. Just a word to the wise...

ETA: Linky at Bloomberg

 

Thanks for the heads up. We just found a bunch of FDA buckets and a new Super Wally World just went up. We bought 40 lbs recently. I will add more to the grocery list.

This will hit me double as I use it as a tumbling media for reloading as well.

 

rice prices

here is an article that supports this thread.

Rice Caps Biggest Weekly Gain Since 2009 on Concern About Global Supplies - Bloomberg

and a quote:

"Prices may triple in 18 months as supplies shrink and demand increases, Ed Peter, the chief executive officer of Duxton Asset Management Pte., said this week."

 

Rice and beans are how much of the impoverished third world gets complete protein. IMO, this should be the foundation of everyone's preps. Right now, you can still buy 300 lbs. of white rice and 60 lbs. of beans for well under $200, which is 1 year's food for one person. (As a minimum survival ration, five pounds of beans and 25 pounds of rice will keep 1 adult alive and reasonably healthy for one month. That's not as boring as it sounds if you have an assortment of beans, spices and soup fixins...)

It doesn't take much fuel to cook rice, and beans can be cooked fairly energy efficiently as well, if you cook them by pressure canning them after soaking them overnight. Note that I said CAN, as in cooked in glass canning jars under pressure. Beans can be problematic in pressure cookers since when they boil the thick sauce bubbles up and can clog the vent of a pressure cooker causing an explosion. Pressure canning eliminates this risk, but still cooks beans fairly quickly with minimal energy. Canned beans also make it easy to throw together homemade soups and other quick meals.

Rice and beans are surprisingly flexible staples. Get 'em while they're cheap!

 

So if any of you need a bit of lead in your diet you can re-use your tumbler media

 

Just checked the LDS dry pack cannery price sheet and they STILL haven't raised their prices on staples like wheat and rice, which have gone up sharply in the last few months.

Here's the PDF

The columns, from left to right, show prices for #10 cans, mylar bags and 25 lb. bulk.

I'm not Mormon, but they welcomed me and that's where I got a lot of my staples. A lot of that stuff is grown on church farms and the quality is good. The rice is Riceland brand, which is the same you'll find at Sam's or Costco.

I canned my long-term stuff in #10 cans with oxygen absorbers, which is labor intensive and you have to do the work yourself. (Two people working cuts the time by 2/3!) Remember that you don't need to can the stuff you'll use in the next year.

Note the prices and storage life of all the staples. If you live anywhere near a dry pack cannery, it would be well worth it to make the trip before prices change. A number of those staples are priced below current wholesale...

 

rice n beans

that pressure canning cooking technique is brilliant. thanks for posting that. I've never seen that mentioned before.

 

You're welcome (blush!) and welcome aboard the Monkey! Thanks for the link and the quote you added, too.

 

I'm a little ignernt when it comes to canning. How would you cook beans like this? Is it possible to cook rice the same way and reduce the amount of fuel needed?

Thanks,

 

Here is my recipe for canning dry beans by the pressure cooker method.
.
No need to buy expensive survival food vender dry beans in #10 cans.
.
You can buy all the dry beans you will ever need locally a whole lot cheaper. Repacking them in reuseable glass canning jars with regular canning lids and rings or with Ball plastic storage caps (also found most anyplace you find canning supplies.) They will store this way as long as you need to store them.
.
No need to buy expensive, two year recommended maximum storage fully cooked and canned supermarket beans either. At one dollar a can or more now days that's just too damn expensive. Take your oldest dated beans dry packed as above and make yourself some fully cooked convenience beans with the recipe below.
.
PRESSURE COOKER RECIPE:
.
Quick Cooking Dry Beans:
.
. have enough jars to fill your pressure canner.
.in each quart jar add one cup of dry beans, fill jar with water and soak overnight.
.the next morning pour out the soaking water, and refill with fresh water to 1 inch below the rim.
.put rings and lids on jars, and snug down.
.fill canner with recommended level of water (two inches minimum).
.place jars in canner, pressure cook at 10-15 lbs for appropriate time.
.quarts 90 minutes.
.
note: pints can be done as above by reducing dry beans in each to 1/2 cup and time for canning to 75 minutes.
.
Caution: do not exceed 1 cup dry beans in quarts, or 1/2 cup in pints. Beans will expand even more than they have while soaking overnight and very few beans in excess of amount listed will cause some jars to burst in canner and others not to seal.
.
These fully cooked beans can be used just like the expensive supermarket canned ones. One pint is the equal to the store can, and a quart to 2 store cans.
.
salt added to beans prior to canning may result in hard not fully cooked beans. seasonings such as garlic powder or onion powder or others can be added prior to canning if you want.
.
Final note: for dry storage purposes 16 lbs dry beans fills 11 quart jars and is then equal to 44 quarts fully cooked. or 88 supermarket pints $88. 16 lbs dry beans $16 or less. Canning helps keep the house warm in winter and adds humidity, and saves you money at least two ways! Do it!
__________________

 

For low-fuel, efficient cooking WITHOUT the canning see this post:
http://www.survivalmonkey.com/forum/back-basics/25058-cooking-cheap.html
It outlines "Hay Box" cooking.

 

Add your home garden produce and it might even be a healthy diet!

 

That's the idea. It would take a tremendous effort and an extremely large garden to actually feed a family.

However, if you start with stored rice and beans, it would already be a healthy diet, because that mix gives complete protein. The only problem with that would be boredom, but with those staples stored in bulk it's a lot less work to grow a variety of fresh produce to make your soups and stews more interesting. Beans are pretty easy to grow, so I go heavy on rice in my storage.

I just made a batch of bean/rice/chicken soup with a bunch of fresh Kale and some carrots in it from my garden. Kale is one of the most nutritious greens, and the Red Russian kale I grow keeps growing until the temps are below zero, which usually means it grows all winter long. (And, if it freezes hard enough to die, that just concentrates the sugars and makes it more tender!) The carrots I leave in the ground under a few inches of straw. They stay perfectly fresh and are dug as needed all winter long.

I just picked up another 150 pounds of my favorite Jasmine rice and 60 pounds of sticky rice at an Asian market up in town. The owner was there, and she smiled when I ordered it. (I've brought a number of folks there and she knows what's up. She said "soon price going up!" as she took my money!) Next stop is Sam's for a few more bags of Riceland long grain white.

 

Thanks for the tip.

 

Ditto for my carrots.. natures freezer! I'll have to give kale a try

We buy our rice at Costco.. if I remember aright I have at least 800 lbs stored, and 300 lbs of beans. Now the wheat, have a lot more of that, plus a US made cast iron grain grinder. Another handy item to have for baking is sugar or honey. Next I want to store blackstrap molasses.. I wonder how long it will keep?

 

Guess we'll have to stock up on rice next month then, we're all spent out this month already. If things would just quit costing money we'd be fine.

 

Cool, a lot of good info here. Thanks for the posts above about canning and cooking efficiently.

 

According to the web sulphered molasses stores like honey.. no worries..great news!

 

So, basic long grain white rice has been out of stock for over a week at my local Sam's. It's back in stock now, and the price is up 15%!