Three out of four food pantries in this country are feeding more people than they were a year ago, and a lot of the faces at the counter now belong to working families. Groceries cost roughly 30 percent more than they did in 2020. Food at home added another 1.8 percent over the last twelve months, food away from home ran near 3.5, and real wages have been slipping year over year since April. Housing, insurance, and the grocery bill all rise in the same month for a household with no cushion left. That is why the standard preparedness line about putting away three months of food lands flat. City Prepping made the point in a recent episode: telling a family to stock a quarter of a year of food while they stretch this week's groceries to Friday sets them up to fail. What they suggest instead is small enough to survive a real budget. Buy one extra shelf-stable item you already eat, something that keeps a year, in whatever week there is money left over. Skip the week there is not. Get to a few days, then a week, then three weeks, and let the shelf do the work. A pantry built one can at a time still ends up full. A family waiting for the month they can buy six months of food at once usually ends up with a plan and an empty shelf. I add one extra cut of beef to my freezer whenever I can and leave the rest of the year alone. That is how a pantry actually gets built. The shelf you stocked last spring is the one that feeds you the week prices jump again. Your rancher, Jason Hanley | 208-714-0478