Send us Fan Mail Labor Day is September 7th. That is six weeks from today — and it is historically when the summer pantry building window closes, domestic produce seasons wind down, and fall food prices begin reflecting the structural pressures we have been tracking all month. Today I am giving you the week-by-week action plan: six weeks, five category focuses, specific quantities, specific reasoning, and a realistic budget for each week. This is not a list of things to eventually buy. It is...

Send us Fan Mail Consumer Reports caught a major grocery delivery platform charging some shoppers up to 23% more for identical items from the same store at the same minute. Meanwhile, Walmart is rolling out price tags that can change up to six times a minute to all 4,600 of its US stores by end of 2026. Kroger has them in nearly one in four stores already. Today I'm walking through exactly what is happening, which stores have this technology, what 24 states and the federal government are doi...

Send us Fan Mail NOAA released its July El Nino forecast four days ago. The numbers are significant — and almost nobody in the pantry preparedness space has connected them to the specific foods on your grocery store shelves. https://youtu.be/lCrOb-qCFLM Today I am walking through six specific food categories that are directly in the path of what is building in the Pacific right now, why each one is exposed, and what the summer window you are still in means for what to do before f...

Send us Fan Mail The USDA released its July crop production report on July 10th. The wheat number is the one I've been watching all season — and on Thursday, it was officially confirmed. Total US wheat production for 2026: 1.536 billion bushels. The lowest since 1970. That is 56 years. Winter wheat — the class that makes your bread flour and all-purpose flour — came in at 990 million bushels. Down 29% from last year. Hard Red Winter wheat, which is specifically the bread wheat g...

Send us Fan Mail Something is happening at your grocery store right now that most shoppers are walking right past. Packages are getting smaller. Products are being reformulated. And manufacturers are counting on you not to check the net weight. This week I have covered the big structural forces bearing down on fall grocery prices — the fertilizer crisis (Monday) and the record Fourth of July cookout costs (Wednesday). Today I want to bring it to the shelf level: what is actually changi...

Send us Fan Mail The American Farm Bureau Federation just released their 2026 Summer Cookout Cost Survey — and this year's Fourth of July cookout hit a record high. Ground beef is now $14.06 for two pounds, the highest ever recorded in the survey. Pork and beans rose 13.8%. Fresh strawberries up 12.4%. But here's what I want you to understand: the cookout numbers are not just a news story. They are a diagnostic. The forces that drove those prices — the cattle herd at a 75-year low, the tarif...

Send us Fan Mail The story you're not seeing in the mainstream coverage of the Strait of Hormuz crisis: one-third of the world's fertilizer supply was disrupted at the exact moment of spring planting. The FAO has warned this will reduce crop yields and tighten food supplies in the second half of 2026 and into 2027. That window starts now. I spent time going through the institutional reports — the FAO, the World Economic Forum, agricultural economists at the University of Illinois, and i...

Send us Fan Mail Everything I’ve been tracking points toward fall 2026 being a rough season for grocery budgets. I’m going to show you exactly what I’m seeing — and what I’m doing about it right now, while summer is still here. A former USDA economist has specifically warned that food price inflation will intensify "towards the end of the growing and harvesting season — late summer." This video explains exactly why he's right, which specific categories are at greatest risk, and what the summe...

Send us Fan Mail Something strange is happening with meat — and the data is more alarming than the headlines are letting on. Wheat was last month. Dairy before that. This is the most serious "Something Strange" video I've made, because this time it's not one problem in one category. It's multiple compounding crises hitting beef, chicken, and turkey simultaneously. Here's everything I'm seeing, where the data comes from, and what I'm personally doing about it right now. www.thestackedpantry.co...

Send us Fan Mail Here's what's quietly disappearing from grocery store shelves this summer, and what I'm personally doing about each one. Seven specific items. Real reasons behind each one. And a practical action plan you can actually use. Support the show 📚My Books 📖Pantry Preparedness: The Best Insurance Money Can Buy! Paperback https://amzn.to/45HhtEh 📖The Frugal Prepared Pantry E-book: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4300336903/the-frugal-prepared-pantry 📖100 Days To Preparedness...