Shortening - BUY NOW

[Charsee]

I couldn't see another thread on this subject so I thought I would address this for a minute. The price of oils is expected to go up between 1-4 percent per year for the next ten years (not taking into account inflation). With corn and soy beans becoming in increasingly short supply the source of oils is quickly depleting. Right now most of us don't use a lot of shortening because it is added to a lot of our food in the form of shortening powder as we buy prepared foods more than in the past. However, as bread gets too expensive to buy we will need more oil...and vegetable oils do not have a long shelf life (1-2 years if you are lucky and keep them in a cool, dark place.). In other words you need oils which have longer shelf lives for your long term storage...such as olive oils (for dressings), coconut oil (for baking and frying) and/or shortening. Shortening does not have the health benefits of the other oils (particularly if it is made from canola oil) but it is more affordable.

However, shortening has gone up in price in the last couple of weeks. You could get a 6 lb. container from Costco a couple of weeks ago for $5.50 and now it is $6.75. At Honeyville they had a 50 lb. square container of shortening in a cardboard box for $46.00 then and now it is almost $60.00.

My sister-in-law showed me her one 50 gallon container (she bought last summer for $25) of shortening and said she was set for her family of 8. My sister just went out and bought 12 lbs of shortening because that is twice as much as they now use in a year. These are people that have a 1-2 year supply of grains...and they think they are set for oils!

How many recipes do you have that don't require oil in the ingredients or in the pan?

If we were ever to be without power and we had to cook using cast iron over fires, could you do that without oil? How much of your food would be wasted burned on the sides of the pan if you didn't have oil to care for the pan?

You need oils to produce important vitamins and to keep your body healthy. My husbands uncle was a german in WWII and came home from the war 70 lbs and loosing his eye sight from lack of oil. The food at that time that was most barterable was vegetable oil.

I checked Sam's Club the other day and their 6 lb. Crisco was still $5.33. I would like to encourage you to get some if you don't have enough oil. Check this price before you go because it will change any day...

How much is enough oil? The church used to sell a 3 lb. container in their month supply kits. So a case of Crisco from Costco (6 cans) should be a year supply for one person.

Again coconut oil (I think I listed good sources on another thread) is better if you can afford it and olive oil can be bought from the Costco and/or Sam's club in bulk containers, and some emergency group buys can get you good prices from where it is produced.

With the dollar loosing value and a lot of food oil coming from other countries it is a good time to buy before the prices go up any more. However, we have been told not to go into debt to get these things...so please be wise in what you buy.

I don't think that you are going to be able to find any shortening for under a dollar a pound. So if you know of another source besides Sam's please share it. I know in the recent case lot sales the 3 lb containers were $3.20.