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Of all the commodities I can think of that are easy to buy, safe to store, have a long self life and are likely to go up in price in the next few years, granulated cane sugar looks more attractive every day. Over a year ago, I started buying a bag of sugar (whatever was the best price per pound), whenever I went to the grocery store. It was common for me to find a 4lb bag of a well known brand like C&H on sale for $1.50. These days, I'm lucky to find a store brand 5lb bag for $2.89. So in a little over a year, the retail price in my local area has gone from .375 per pound to .578 per pound. I expect both the price of sugar and retail sales tax to go up.

Granulated cane sugar has an almost indefinite shelf life, as long as you protect it from moisture and odors and it is stored at about room temp. Besides my own family's use of it in the future, it seems like an easily identifiable, easily divisible, fairly durable barter item. Think of all the things sugar can be used for. Salt is of course an attractive item to store also. But sugar can be fermented, distilled and used to make alcohol in a worst case scenario

I agree, particularly on the salt which I use in canning, preserving dried meat, and salting hides.

franklin wrote:I agree, particularly on the salt which I use in canning, preserving dried meat, and salting hides.

Have you ever made Biltong by any chance?

Hoarding sugar is a sweet idea.

Sorry, but that was too easy.

I have several large bags of sugar in storage...

Derek:
I have never made biltong but my uncle used to make something similar from deer and elk, eventually drying it in his attic. It was the most delicious meat I have ever eaten.

slickeast wrote:Hoarding sugar is a sweet idea.

Sorry, but that was too easy.

I was waiting for someone to say, "That's the dumbest idea I've heard since I heard about people hoarding pennies!"

about three weeks ago, a 25lb. bag of sugar here was $14.00. the following week, it jumped to $18.00 and still is!

Honey is a much better option than sugar. It would be worth the time to find beekeepers in your area and buy raw honey directly from them.

Nickelless wrote:Honey is a much better option than sugar. It would be worth the time to find beekeepers in your area and buy raw honey directly from them.

You forgot to explain why

Derek.Sheriff wrote:

Nickelless wrote:Honey is a much better option than sugar. It would be worth the time to find beekeepers in your area and buy raw honey directly from them.

You forgot to explain why

Honey does not go bad. I heard the they found honey in some tombs in Egypt and it is still good. The worst that can happen is that it starts to crystallize, but all you have to do is heat it up and it returns to its normal. When that happens I put the glass jar of honey in a pot of warm water and slowly heat it up on the stove. I have a friend who has a few bee hives and the honey is awesome, it's not like the stuff you buy in the store. If you have a chance to get some local honey, I would do so.

I am reading about hyper inflation in Weimar Germany and one of the commodities that went up in price the most as a percentage was sugar. It did not mention anything about honey. But I think stocking up on sugar and honey is a great idea.

Thanks Slapshot! If I had land, (hopefully someday), I'd definitely be keeping bees. I'll have to see if I can find some local bee keepers.

Honey (and maple leaf sirup) is a lot better for your health than white refined sugar.
It can also be used as antibiotics and antiseptic. Just never feed it to young baby (about 1 years and younger) it can paralyze them with botulism.
Usually the darker the better.

I'm happy that some local farmer sell honey around here in big jar for lot less than the groceries and it taste better

Honey can contain a bit of everything, including pesticides, weed killers, lead or other heavy metals, and fallout. I would not rely on it as my main source of sweeteners.

I've been buying sugar from the local LDS Cannery.
6.1 pounds in a #10 can for $6.
you have to can it yourself for that price,
but it was kinda fun "canning" different things.
they knew I'm not morman, but were still very friendly.
they said tell my friends about their store.
They have a lot of good food for storage, including canned meat.
here is a link to their price list.
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/mult ... 11_pdf.pdf

Bought 5lbs for $5.15 today.

Anyone remember when a 5 lb bag was under a buck...? Wasn't that long ago...

68Camaro wrote:Anyone remember when a 5 lb bag was under a buck...? Wasn't that long ago...

When I first started thinking about what a great commodity sugar would be to store about 1.5 years ago, the best price I found for a 4lb bag of C&H on sale was $1.50. Before that, I don't remember what it cost because I hardly ever use it. Inflation sneeks up on you

justoneguy wrote:I've been buying sugar from the local LDS Cannery.
6.1 pounds in a #10 can for $6.
you have to can it yourself for that price,
but it was kinda fun "canning" different things.
they knew I'm not morman, but were still very friendly.
they said tell my friends about their store.
They have a lot of good food for storage, including canned meat.
here is a link to their price list.
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/mult ... 11_pdf.pdf

I've got to check this out and visit the nearest LDS Cannery. However, this reinforces what I discovered early on -- the least expensive source of granulated cane sugar is usually the 4 or 5 lb bags sold at the nearest grocery store. I haven't been able to find better prices per pound by buying larger quantities at places like Smart and Final or anywhere else.

I'm going to check sugar prices at Aldi's this weekend, because they've got some cheap bulk products, but the best that BJs can do is 63/64 cents a pound on 10 to 25 pound bags. (I remember as a kid 69 cents for a 10 pound bag.) I've bought a couple of the 25 lb'rs (Domino's name brand) because they are heavy-duty fiber-reinforced poly-coated bags with sewn ends. But I've got some spare 5 gal food-grade buckets that I will stack some 4-5 pound conventional paper bags in, if Aldi's has a deal on them.

Mossy wrote:Honey can contain a bit of everything, including pesticides, weed killers, lead or other heavy metals, and fallout. I would not rely on it as my main source of sweeteners.

It depends on the source of your honey. I'm buying mine from a beekeeper a couple counties away instead of buying it in stores.

Just curious, do you have any links about honey contamination?

68Camaro wrote:I'm going to check sugar prices at Aldi's this weekend, because they've got some cheap bulk products, but the best that BJs can do is 63/64 cents a pound on 10 to 25 pound bags. (I remember as a kid 69 cents for a 10 pound bag.) I've bought a couple of the 25 lb'rs (Domino's name brand) because they are heavy-duty fiber-reinforced poly-coated bags with sewn ends. But I've got some spare 5 gal food-grade buckets that I will stack some 4-5 pound conventional paper bags in, if Aldi's has a deal on them.

Aldi's was 5 lbs for 2.58, so I got 12 bags and they fit 6 per bucket.

The south end of my town has a new HEB which has high priced sugar but, this week, $5.97/lb PRIME ribeye. The HEB on the north side of town which is primarily hispanic won't carry that cut of steak, has cheap ribs and has sugar that is a lot cheaper. I generally load up on 2 x 4 lbs every trip to the feed store. I think the last price was around 45 cents per pound.

franklin wrote:The south end of my town has a new HEB which has high priced sugar but, this week, $5.97/lb PRIME ribeye. The HEB on the north side of town which is primarily hispanic won't carry that cut of steak, has cheap ribs and has sugar that is a lot cheaper. I generally load up on 2 x 4 lbs every trip to the feed store. I think the last price was around 45 cents per pound.

Why is the hispanic stuff always cheaper for the same item...? Even in the same store, same product by same company with two labels, the one will be significantly cheaper. I always look for that and buy the cheaper as long as its equivalent or better.

Nickelless wrote: ...Just curious, do you have any links about honey contamination?

Where do bees get their nector? How do you know how far each bee flew to get it?