10 Million Pounds of Food: Should We Be Paying Attention?

BIG NEWS!! Pantry Peace - Security For Real Life : A Beginner's Complete Guide to Building Your 3-Month Food Security Plan
 https://amzn.to/4a48yja

June starts today. And so does the most important food preparation window of the year.  Between now and September 1st, the domestic growing season is open — produce is at its cheapest and most abundant. The tariff wave is completing its pipeline to your grocery store. The fertilizer shortage's harvest impact is building toward fall. And a Cornell economist is projecting 11% food inflation by December.  Today I give you the complete, specific, week-by-week plan for every action to take between June and Labor Day. Not a summary. The actual plan.  

#pantrypreparedness #foodstorage #90dayplan #canning #forjars #thrivalist #wevac #bluetti #foodprices2026 #actionplan


🌟 Hey there, Dazers! Let’s talk about how you can support SuttonsDaze — and your own preparedness journey — all at the same time! 🌟
You know me — I’m always testing new tools, trying new gear, and sharing the real results so you can make smart choices for your pantry and preparedness goals. But did you know you can help keep those videos coming just by shopping through my affiliate links?
Every time you use one of my links, it doesn’t cost you a penny more — but it helps me keep bringing you honest reviews, real-world tutorials, and those practical preparedness videos we all love.
🛒 Your Support Makes a Difference:
✨ Amazon — https://a.co/d/004e8zgQ  — everyday pantry & preparedness finds
🥫 ForJars —Save 10% using the code SUTTONS10  https://forjars.shop/ — my go-to for canning lids, tools, and now their pressure canner!
🍲 Emergency Essentials — https://www.rzmaf8trk.com/27JCHTW/3QQG7/ — long-term food storage and emergency meals
🌿 Thrivalist — https://thrivalist.com/?ref=LEISASUTTON — high-quality survival kits, ponchos, and practical gear
❄️ Harvest Right — https://affiliates.harvestright.com/3563.html — the freeze dryer that makes food security possible year-round
💨 Wevac: Get 15% off using my link!  https://wevactech.com?source_type=sales_plugin_af&slt=sales_plugin_af&referral_code=SVDN6VCN33WP — powerful vacuum sealers & bags that protect your food investment
🛡️ Wallaby:  https://wallabygoods.com/?rfsn=7783301.3d11aa6  — Mylar bags & oxygen absorbers for long-term storage made easy
🌾 Nutrimill: https://nutrimill.com/SUTTON — grind your own flour, bake better bread, and boost nutrition
🌱 Palouse Brand: https://www.palousebrand.com/SUTTON — non-GMO grains, beans, and lentils straight from the farm
🚜 Azure Standard: https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=f6fcb8c6eb — my favorite source for bulk pantry staples, organic foods, and natural household products
📚 And don’t forget my books!
Find my preparedness guides and planners right here:
👉 On Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4300336903/the-frugal-prepared-pantry 
👉 On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3WlYgUy 
Your clicks help me test new equipment, create more videos, and keep building the resources that make preparedness simple, affordable, and doable — for everyone.
💬 So the next time you’re stocking up or upgrading your gear, start with one of my links — and together, we’ll keep stacking that peace of mind, one jar at a time. ❤️
❤️HANG OUT WITH ME: 
➡️BECOME A PANTRY PAL (Optional Membership Community): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_JPNIxSg8llJJTOupC86jQ/join  
Facebook: https://facebook.com/suttonsdaze 
Facebook Private Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SuttonsDaze 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/suttonsdaze 
❤️Email: SuttonsDaze@outlook.com
 ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Mailing Address ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 
SuttonsDaze   P.O.Box 45   Mikado, MI 48745

Disclaimer In compliance with FTC guidelines: Any/all of the links on the site/video are affiliate links of which SuttonsDaze receives product credit or a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you. SuttonsDaze is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Affiliate Disclaimer
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that some of the links on this site (or in my emails and social media posts) are affiliate links, and if you click through and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
I only recommend products or services I believe will provide value to my audience. These commissions help support my work and allow me to continue creating content to serve you better.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Participation in the Amazon Associates Program is governed by the program’s terms and conditions, and I comply fully with all disclosure requirements as outlined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Amazon’s Operating Agreement.

Thank you for your support!l.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It is June 1st. Believe it or not, June 1st. And if you've been with me for at least last month, right? The month of May, we saw some of the most significant food and agricultural news that I can remember ever being covered. There was everything. The wheat harvest at its lowest since 1972. 70% of farmers who could not afford full fertilizer this spring. A Cornell economist projecting 11% food inflation by December. Dairy producers, more than half of them, expecting to lose money this year. Drought covering 61% of the country. That's a lot. That's a lot to carry. And if you've been watching, you know, every week, then you've been carrying it right along with me. And it gets pretty heavy. I mean, I know it did for me. Today is different, though. Today is absolutely different. Today we put the data down, uh, you know, a little bit. Not because it's not real and not because the urgency is gone, because that is not the case. Uh, it's it's not gone. It's just as urgent. But because data without action is just anxiety, and you did not come to this channel to be anxious. That's not what we do, that's not what we promote. You came to be prepared, and so that is what we are going to make happen now. 90 days, three months, 12 weeks of intentional, sequential work that will put your household, your family in a fundamentally different position by Labor Day than you are in right now. We can do it. So go grab something to write with, and let's get started. Let me explain why I chose 90 days as the framework for this plan. Because I think that time horizon matters. It really does. June, July, and August represent a very specific convergence. On one side of this window, you have the domestic growing season at peak abundance, absolute peak. Produce is the cheapest, it is the freshest, it is the most available at exactly this moment during these three months. Strawberries, cherries, uh, green beans, you know, all the things. And in July, the tomatoes are the single most important canning priority of the summer. Absolutely the most important. On the other side of this window, September and October, four things happen simultaneously. The domestic growing season ends, and we shift back to heavy, heavy import dependence for fresh produce. The tariff wave that analysts have been tracking for 18 months now uh completes its pipeline and it arrives at retail shelves. So they've been talking about it and talking about it, and everybody's been kind of like, nothing's changing. Well, that's because there's a pipeline that it literally travels before we see the impact. That shows up. The harvest impact of the fertilizer shortage, that begins showing up in commodity supply data and the seasonal budget pressure of heating costs, back to school, and the holidays. That all begins. Now, I've been talking about the unprecedented window that we have been given, that we have been notified of about being able to get better prepared for when all of this hits. And we are in that window right now. It is the next 90 days. Michigan State agricultural economist David Ortega said it directly last week, and I quote, there is a pretty significant lag from when we see a shock to when this trickles down to higher prices in the grocery store. It could be the better part of six months or longer before we see the full impacts. That's a direct quote. So six months from February, March, which is when you know all of the chaos started, uh, puts the full impact in August through October. So we are sitting at the beginning of that window today, the very beginning. The work that we do today, in June, in July, in August, is what determines how fall feels for our households. It's so very important that you understand that. Not the data, not the forecast, the jars that you fill, the staples that you purchase, uh, and the proteins that you preserve, whether it's freezing or canning or freeze drying, uh, between now and Labor Day. That is what's going to make the biggest difference. I want to quickly anchor the point for urgency because I think it's worth, I think it's worth naming the specific pressures so that you understand what you're building protection against. Because the better that we understand it, the better job we do at protecting ourselves at the end of the day. It's like, you know, you know not to take a shower and plug your hairdryer in in there because you know what's gonna happen. Same kind of deal. We, if we understand the consequences, then hopefully we will take action moving forward to try to put off some of that pain, you know. Uh, beef is up 14% year over year right now, and it's gonna keep doing that for the next couple of years. The cattle herd is at its smallest since 1951. Supply recovery is not until 2028. I honestly feel like we need to add another year. Peak grilling season demand, that's right now, everybody's grilling right now. Uh, and fall and winter holiday demand is gonna follow. So if you are very particular about your traditions and you want a certain cut of meat for your holiday meals, do not wait. Do not wait. Get it now, put it in the freezer, okay? Uh, ground beef at today's prices is on sale compared to what it's gonna be in November. So if you really want to uh get a reality check, stock up number one, but write down today's prices and then check back in November and see where they're at. It's gonna boggle your mind. Wheat and grain products. The USDA WASDE report from May 13th projected wheat production at its lowest since 1972. Wheat futures are at their highest since June of last year, up 27% year over year. Flour, bread, pasta, and cereal prices will follow that commodity price over the next three to six months. So all of those that you buy are going to go up. Tomato prices are already up 39.7% year over year. Just amazing. The domestic season provides some price relief, not a lot, but a little bit. But when it ends in the fall, we shift back to Mexican and international imports, uh, facing 17 to 25% tariffs. The produce price cliff in October is real and it's documented. We are gonna hit that cliff. We are potentially going to go face fit first over that cliff. And so the more prepared that you can get today, the better. And it doesn't mean that you have to home can it all. I will be the first to tell you that I am hedging my bets. And while I normally wait until fall to stock up on any extra tomato goods that are commercially canned uh based on what my garden does, yeah, I didn't wait this year. I bought and I have a veritable tomato forest in my garden. Okay. But if something happens and that doesn't go well, I wanted to make sure I was covered at today's prices. I highly recommend you do the same thing. Now, fertilizer and the fall harvest. We need to factor that one in. 70% of American farmers could not afford full fertilizer inputs this spring. Underfertilized crops produce lower yields, less product, okay? Lower yields arrive at your grocery store as higher prices in August through November. The planting decisions have already been made. They've already been made. It's done, it's gone, that window's closed. Okay. The harvest impact, it's baked in already. It's going to happen. Nothing's going to change that. Then there's the tariff pipeline, and it is what it is, okay? Uh major tariff actions from spring 2025 are completing their 12 to 18 month-long uh lag to consumer prices right now, today. Italian pasta facing combined tariffs approaching 107%, olive oil, coffee, canned goods made more expensive by steel and aluminum tariffs. This is not a future risk. This is literally arriving now. One more number. The Global FAO Food Price Index, the United Nations measure of worldwide food commodity prices, posted its third consecutive monthly increase in April. Vegetable oil, meat, and cereal prices all rose. The global trend is upward. So it's not just us. That right there is the case for urgency. So now let's talk about what to do about it. I'm going to give you very specific action items for each week of the next 90 days. But before I do, I need to give you the framework. Because without framework, without a framework for it, a list of things to buy and do can it can feel overwhelming and it can feel random. And there really is a method to this madness. There really is. With the framework, every action makes sense and the whole thing builds coherently. And that way you don't have chaos. Think of your pantry in three distinct layers, because at the end of the day, that's what it is. They serve different purposes, and not everybody's is the same, but you can still create these three different layers. They have different skill requirements, I get, and they protect against different kinds of problems because that's life. Understanding the layers helps you to prioritize when you have limited time or money, and it helps you see your gaps very, very quickly. So let's talk about layer one. Now, layer one is everything that you buy already preserved and ready to store. Super simple, right? No processing by you required. You buy it, you put it away. It's just that simple. And it's there when you need it. This includes commercial canned goods, uh, dry goods, flour, pasta, rice, dry beans, oats, wheat, okay? Freeze-dried food because Thrivalist has a sale on this month. Uh, coffee, olive oil, sugar, salt, vinegar, and any other shelf stable foods, any other shelf-stable items that are part of your family's regular cooking. Layer one is your most accessible layer. Absolutely. Uh, it's the lowest skill barrier. You do not need a canner or special equipment. You just need to buy intentionally and ahead of the price curve. So that makes it the easiest. The principle for layer one is very simple. Every dollar that you spend on shelf stable food today is buying at today's price. Every dollar you spend in October is buying at October's price. The gap, the gap between those two numbers is what you are protecting against. The goal for layer one by September 1st, a minimum three-month supply of every shelf stable staple that your family actually uses today. Not categories you might see someday, things you actually cook with and eat. Remember, if you don't eat it, don't buy it. Don't stock it. Focus on what you currently eat today. Layer number two is your home preserved foods. You know, I'm a huge advocate of this. I think it's one of the best ways to save money. Layer two is everything that you make for yourself: pressure canned proteins, water bath fruit, you know, high acid vegetables, uh, pickles, salsa, sauces, jams, vacuum-sealed frozen proteins. Layer two requires a little bit of skill and a little bit of time. It also gives you your best dollar per serving value of anything in this plan. Absolutely anything. When you buy strawberries at peak season for their domestic season, right? And put them up, make them into preserves, make them into pie fillings, you know, whatever. Uh, you are creating preserved food at a price that does not exist anywhere in a commercial supply chain. You can't beat that. Layer two is also where your real food independence lives. I mean, that's its address, is right there in layer two. A shelf of home canned chicken, beef, tomatoes, all the good stuff, fruit is food that came from your hands and your decisions. Not all your extra preservatives and stuff, right? No tariff affects it, no supply chain disrupts it, uh, and no drought changes its price. Once it's in the jar, it's yours. So the goal for layer two, uh, by September 1st, they all have the same September 1st date, is a meaningful canning season completed. I will define meaningful specifically, you know, as we go through each month. The overall principle is can something every single week. If you can do it two or three times, but can something every single week between now and mid-August. Even one batch a week over 11 weeks is 50 to 75 jars on your shelf that were not there before. Now we go to layer number three, which is fresh, frozen, and protected. Yes, it is. Layer three is everything in your refrigerator and your freezer. Yeah, think about that one. Uh, your daily proteins, your current produce, your bulk meat purchases, because I'm hoping that you're getting out there getting some. This is your normal daily eating life. Layer three requires the least active management out of all of these. You are already living in it, you are already doing it. But it requires one specific protection investment, just one, making sure that you have some kind of backup power for your freezer during the summer storm season or the winter storm season. If you strategically fill your freezer with vacuum-sealed proteins over the next 90 days, and that is exactly what I'm asking you to do. If you're not a home canner, okay, you are building a meaningful financial investment in frozen food. One single extended power outage can destroy that investment in 48 hours. That is something that you need to protect against. That is something that you need to work on. And they're not all as cost prohibitive as you may think. So we're going to be discussing a few of those. I will cover those specifically, you know, a little bit later on. But for now, just keep the principle in mind that you need to protect what you build. Now there is the Thrivalist layer where it fits, because I get that it's not for everybody, okay? I want to say one specific thing about Thrivalist before we get into the month-by-month plan because I reference it throughout, and I want you to understand where it sits in this framework because it all is in this framework. Thrivalist is a supplement to layer one. At the end of the day, it's a supplement to layer one. It is the freeze-dried foundation that covers the nutritional variety, complete meals, and specific ingredients that are hardest to home preserve. Because not everything can be canned and not everything should be frozen for the best quality. You know, having it freeze-dried, either doing it yourself or purchasing it from a company like Thrivalist, uh, Thrivalist specifically, because I have found they have the best quality. But the freeze-dried food, you know, it has a shelf life of about 25 years, depending on the product. It requires no refrigeration at all, no rotation management, and is completely immune to every supply chain problem that I described earlier. Every single one. When I think about building a pantry, you know, that could see our family through whatever, whatever happens come fall, winter, and beyond. Thrivalist is the layer that handles the long-term insecurity, uncertainty. It's there, it's done. I don't have to do anything else. And when the time comes, I'll have it. Your home canned goods, they're a seasonal layer. Your home dried goods, that's another great layer. Okay. Thrivalist is the floor underneath all of that, the foundation that exists, regardless of what happens next. Absolutely. So there is a link in the description box below to go to check it out. You will see my name at the top of the website. You know, I would love to be your connector. I can answer all of your questions. I highly recommend this. I have not been so excited about a company in a long time. Um I just love their products, absolutely love them. So I hope that if you are in the market, that you will check them out. Okay. If you have been thinking about starting a subscription or ordering a bundle, this is a good month to do it. Uh, the opening of your 90-day window, you know, is the right time. It's June. Happy June. June is your most urgent month of the three. Straight up, the most urgent one. Not because it has the most work. July does that, okay? But because June has a time window that closes and doesn't come back. It will not be back. There is no going back to normal. Normal's dead. We don't have it anymore. Okay, so our job is to get ahead of whatever chaos is coming our way. And it is. Strawberries are at the end of their peak season right now. Uh, in most of the country, you have two to three weeks left of peak strawberry season uh at domestic season prices. Something to keep in mind. And after that, they are gone until next year, unless you're going to have them imported and you're willing to pay the import prices. Cherries are arriving uh in most regions, you know, right now, not yet in Michigan, but we're getting there. Uh, early blueberries in some, we don't get our blueberries until a little bit later. Green beans and zucchini are starting for some. I mean, now I'm gonna stop with the disclaimers. We just got our garden in. It's been cold, it's been wet, it's been horrible. So um, we just got our garden in. But the rest of the country, you know, they're they're doing their thing. So this is all starting to come in. And asparagus is coming up right now. That is coming up for us right now. Uh, so, but for anybody else that might still be available in your area, check it out. These are the crops that are the most affordable this moment out of the entire year, right now. Domestic season, peak supply, no tariff markup, no drought-driven import price. Every jar that you fill in June buys food at June prices, and it protects it from whatever October prices look like. That's not abstract. That's your grocery budget in real time. So, week one. This is it, week one, okay. Um, you want to audit, equip, and begin. That's what you're gonna do. This is your setup week. You've got this before you buy a single pantry item. Spend one hour doing an honest audit of what you already have. This means you're free. Your pantry, your cabinets, everything. Okay. Walk shelf by shelf. Write down what's in there and what is thin. Do not count what you wish you had. This is not a time for wishes. Count what is actually there. Then check your canning equipment if you're a home canner. Pull out your pressure canner, test your gauge, or replace it with a, you know, uh uh, thank you, a weighted regulator. Um, you know, you can get the gauge tested if it's going to take some time, so get it done. Okay. And this is the most important canning safety check that you'll do all year long. Check your water bath canner, count your jars, count your lids. Do all of that. Now, if you need to get any lids, obviously I always recommend four jars lids. You can get 10% off using my code. If you go to thestackpantry.com, you will see all of this great information. Okay, but now's the time to get it. Every single summer, canning lid supplies get tight in July and August when the peak demand actually hits. Getting your lids in June, it means that you are never in a position of having 20 pounds of tomatoes on your counter and no lids to process them, because that's painful. Just painful. Okay. This week also start your protection foundation. Find one sale on pork shoulder, pork butt, chicken leg quarters, you know, chicken breasts. Buy two packs, put them in the freezer for right now. Vacuum seal if you have your, you know, your WeVAC or uh your you know regular vacuum sealer, do that. You will add to this every time you find a good price between now and August. Start that this week, my friends. Dry goods. Dry goods, make a list of the shelf stable staples your family actually uses: flour, pasta, rice, beans, oats, olive oil. This week, buy one extra of each unit. That is your beginning. Now it costs maybe $30 to $50, depending on quantity and everything else, you know. But it starts the habit, and that's what we need to do. Week two. Uh, this is June 9th through the 15th-ish. Okay. It's the first canning session of the summer. It, you know, if you only can during the summer, but the this is the week that you actually can something, your first batch of the summer, which is always so good. Uh, if strawberries are still available in your area, then time to make some jam if you use jam, right? Strawberry jam is one of the simplest canning projects that you could possibly do. It's a water bath process, so you don't have to go buy, you know, any special equipment if you don't have it. Uh, I will put a link down below to the National Center for Home Food Preservation for their strawberry jam. Super simple. Uh, one batch produces eight to ten jars. That's fantastic. And those jars will sit on your shelf until next March, but they're not going to last that long. Now, if strawberries have already peaked in your region, pivot. That's part of preparedness, being able to pivot, okay, to whatever is at peak right now in your season. So cherries, early blueberries, asparagus, if it's still available. Uh, the principle is, as always, can what is at the highest abundance and lowest price in your specific area right now? And like I said, we are just getting started here. But in other areas of the country, the more west you move, you guys are already through some of this. So can whatever is the most abundant and lowest price for your season in your area right now. Also, this week is uh your first protein canning session of the summer. If you're ready for it, you can do it. I have faith in you. Yes, you must have a pressure canner. Okay. Now, ground beef, if you can get some ground beef on sale, fantastic. Uh, it's already up 15.5%, you know. So, yeah, we're just gonna kind of struggle bust through this. But if it's not, then it could be ugly chicken, it could be pork butt, it could be pork loin is on sale a lot right now, I see. So, all of those can absolutely be pressure canned. I will put a link to my canning playlist down below. I only teach safe methods of canning, and I will put a link for the National Center for Home Food Preservation so that you can reference that. So don't risk your family's health. Don't waste your money by doing any kind of rebel canning. It's foolish, honestly. And you might as well just sit there and light your dollar bills on fire because you'll get more use out of them than you will doing any kind of rebel canning. So you want to make sure that you get the canning done. Now we're gonna go on to week three. And I but and I'm gonna back up for a second. All I'm talking about for week two is one batch, just one batch of canning. That's it. And you can do this. Week three, which is June 16th through the 22nd-ish. Okay, uh, you want to deepen one layer and have a second canning session. Just one canning session, that's all I'm asking. Layer one depth this week. So take that list that you made in week one and add to it. Honestly, just add to it. One large bag of rice, two extra cans of tuna, an extra bottle of you know, olive oil, one extra bag of dried lentils. You are building a supply, you are not creating a warehouse. That is not what this is about. Coffee this week, specifically, buy three months of whole beans and store them in an airtight container in your freezer, and you're good. Coffee is up 19% year over year. It's not looking to get better soon. The global coffee market is in its fourth consecutive season of deficit, and they are predicting a fifth. There is no quick fix for this uh supply problem. Buying three months of coffee now costs you today's price, but buying it in October will cost you October's price, and that's gonna be higher. Olive oil this week specifically, buy uh two to four extra bottles, store them in your freezer. You can store them in your freezer, okay? So that's that's not a problem, that's not a hardship. Yes, you have to defrost them before you use them. But these are for longer term, so store them in your freezer. It's not a big deal. The U.S. only produces 2% of what it consumes in olive oil. So if olive oil is important to you, I know it is to me. You want to get it, okay? Um, the second canning session of this month is another fruit batch if the season still supports it uh in your area, or a second protein batch. Absolutely fantastic. Two batches of home canned protein in June is a genuine accomplishment and a meaningful foundation in your pantry. Hugely meaningful. Week four, the final week. Okay, you want to review, warehouse run, and prep for July because, oh, it's July. The end of June review is what we're gonna do. Uh, what did you build up this month? Count your jars, assess your dry goods, and ask honestly, did you do the work? Answer yourself honestly. Uh, if not, this week is your catch up. You can catch up at the you know in the last week, not a big deal. And if yes, this is your momentum week because it's gonna help catapult you forward, okay? Uh, if you have a membership to a warehouse store, uh make a warehouse run this week. Sam's Club, Costco, BJ's, whatever. Uh, this is where you get the best per unit price on some of the dry goods, the bulk stuff, or some of the canned goods. But do some price comparison, really, because sometimes it's not as good a deal as you think. Um, these don't go bad. These don't go bad. Uh, buying them at warehouse price is buying them at the best available price anywhere. And that's the goal of this. So, Italian pasta is still going to be an issue. Uh, and this is the category with combined tariffs approaching 107%. It's just crazy. So, buy your preferred Italian pasta this week in depth. Make it happen in depth, okay? Whatever you actually cook with, that's what you want to stock up on. Two to three pounds more than you normally would say. Uh, this is a direct, concrete response to a documented, sourced tariff pressure that is arriving at retail shelves. You want to keep you just you need to be on top of it. You need to get ahead of it. And also, this week is the week to prepare for July, the fourth week in June. That's when you get ready for July. Tomatoes, uh, they begin in late July in most of the country, with some regions starting earlier. So you need jar space cleared. You have to have space for that. You have to have your lids, you have to have your jars, you have to have someplace to put them once they're processed. Um, you have to create a specific plan for what you're going to do with the tomatoes. Don't just do it to do it. Do it because you have a plan and that you're actually going to use them. Make that plan the fourth week of June. Not in the middle of July when you're standing in front of a bushel of tomatoes trying to decide because that's the worst possible time. Now, your end of June goal very simply is three to four canning sessions uh completed, done, on the shelf, you know. Protein foundation started in the freezer, one to two month supply of shelf stable staples established. Get your canning jars stocked up and your lids stocked up. Um, get your thrivalist subscription, you know, it ordered, your bundle ordered and in so that it shows up before the end of the month into and onto your shelves. So now we're gonna hit July because it's July. Summer is July. You know, July is when the domestic uh growing season reaches its abundance. That's when it is just beautiful. The variety is flat out overwhelming. Prices drop as supply peaks, farmers' markets are at their fullest, farm stands are running bushel deals on tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini. Yeah. Uh, this is also the most financially critical canning window of the year. Absolutely critical. I can't emphasize that enough because tomatoes, which are your single highest priority canning project, uh, peak in late July through mid-August. That's when they're going to be in. Tomatoes are already up 39.7%, and they face tariff pressure as soon as we have to start importing them when the season is over. July requires more time than June, if that makes any sense. Block out two or three weekend mornings for canning sessions. Get your family involved if possible. Uh, one person blanches, the other person peels, one person packs jars. You know, canning goes faster with help? Absolutely, it does, and it's more fun and it builds memories. It's great. Uh, it's helping the culture of preparedness also in your household. So, in a way, you know, nothing else really matches is getting them involved in that canning process. It's it's a great thing to experience. I want to spend a little more time on tomatoes. I hope you'll bear with me, okay? Uh, because they are the most important thing you will can this summer. And I want you to go in with a plan. So we're gonna make a little sub-plan here, okay? What to put up with tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes, the most valuable and the most versatile thing that you can do. It goes in every sauce, every soup, every stew, you know, they're in everything. Um, if you only do one tomato product, make it crushed tomatoes or like a marinara, uh, complete, ready-to-use sauce, like cook your pasta, add your meat, throw your sauce in, you're good. Pizza sauce, if you make your own pizza, which is the best pizza ever, ever, ever. Um, it's thicker, it's more concentrated. You know, it's a staple for families who make pizza at home. Uh, salsa. I love my homemade salsa, love it. So, salsa, one of the most popular home canned items. Can you ever have too much? I do not think so. I don't. Uh, definitely you want to stock up on your tomato paste and you know, get all of that done. But how much to aim for? Yeah. At a minimum, minimum, minimum, uh 24 quarts of tomatoes in some form for a household that cooks regularly with tomatoes. Does it have to be in quarts? No, it can be in pints, but the equivalent of 24 quarts, okay? Um, that is a one to two case purchase of fresh tomatoes to make that. For a family that makes pasta sauce weekly, double that goal. You're gonna have to double it. So you just you know how much you and your household eat. So you have to determine exactly how much you're gonna can. Um, you wanna watch your local farmers markets, your farm stands, your sales, you know, all of that fun stuff. When you see bulk deals, which are gonna be, you know, they're out there, but watch yourself. Uh a 10-pound flat or a 25-pound box or bushel prices, they're gonna be higher than they were last year, which was higher than the year before. Um, that's your signal. Jump on it when you start seeing those. Late July through early August is when plum tomatoes are at their peak and they're least expensive. Are they gonna be cheap? They're not gonna be cheap, not unless you pull them out of your own garden. Okay. Uh definitely focus on the tomatoes. So for the rest of July, though, the canning calendar for the rest of July is green beans if you eat them. Your most practical pressure canned, you know, vegetable. Green beans must be pressure canned. I don't care what anybody says. Now they're easy to grow, they're easy to source from farm stands, they're affordable at peak season. Um, and you know, you'll find the directions for how to do it in the link down below. Corn. I'm not a huge fan of canning my corn. I prefer it frozen because the public at large has decided everything has to taste like a candy bar, and so they want the corn extra sweet. So the corn has been hybrid to the point where if you can it for the proper amount of time, it actually comes out kind of scorched, you know. So I just prefer, I just prefer to freeze it. It works for me. But keep an eye because when corn starts coming in and you are corn eaters, you want to load up on that stuff. Cucumbers and pickles, because it's cucumbers and pickles, my friends. And yes, technically they're the same thing, they're just you know handled differently. So July is prime pickle season. I love that pickle has a season, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, uh, pickled peppers. Oh my gosh, so good. All water bath can. So that's a beautiful thing. All simple-ish, as long as you follow the you know, the guidelines. All deeply, deeply satisfying to pull off the shelf in February. Oh my gosh, it's so good. So plan on those. Um, blueberries start coming in at certain areas. So peak blueberry season is you know, mid to late July, early August. Uh, you want to keep an eye on those. Blueberry jam, blueberry syrup, blueberry pie filling. Uh, buy them by the flat, go to a UPIC because it's so much fun. Um, and you know, do the do the work ahead of time so that you've got them as the year goes on, because blueberries are fantastic. They're very good for you. Uh, peaches. We may have some problems with peaches from what I'm reading, but late July through early August in most regions is peach season. You know, peaches and light syrup, peach jam, uh, peach preserves, one of the most beloved uh jars in a well-stocked pantry. Honestly, everybody's like, oh, peaches, I love peaches. We might have a little problem this year. So protein and freezer work in July is something to take very seriously, also. Even in peak canning season, do not let the freezer layer fall behind because it's very important. Every week in July, when pork or chicken goes on a meaningful sale, buy a batch, vacuum seal it immediately. Okay, label with the date and the cut that it is, flat freeze it in bags so it stacks nicely, and then you know, you're building towards 30 or more days of protein for your household, and that's how you do it. That's how you do it. If you have not yet started to pressure can uh proteins and you want to during July, between the the produce batches, do it, get it in there, you know. Nothing like ugly chicken, ugly chicken for the win. And you can do you can do chicken thighs, you can do chicken breasts, you can do all the ugly chicken that you want. Um, but pressure canning it means you can use it for soups, for stews, for casseroles, for sandwiches, all kinds of things. I make a pizza crust out of it. Uh, you know, do your work, do it right, do not be foolish. The Amish do not can it for three hours because they have better stuff to do with their times. They're smarter than that. Okay, so the end of July goal, very simply, your tomato project is at least, at least partially complete. You have put up a minimum of three additional canning sessions of vegetables or fruit. Uh, your protein supply, yes, is growing, and you have made it through peak season feeling accomplished and capable because you are, you all are. You're not gonna feel overwhelmed because you're taking it one step at a time and breaking it down. August is our finish line. It's our finish line. It's not the end of canning season. I mean, I keep my canner out 365, but apples and late produce they extend into September. By August is when you complete the course summer work and you cross into fall feeling, you know, genuinely prepared. Look at me go. Yeah. August is also uh when the news environment begins to shift. It's a given. The June and July CPI reports will drop in July and August. And the economists they they expect those reports to begin showing the fertilizer and energy cost impacts in the data for the first time. That's when we'll start to see it. The mood around grocery prices will get a lot more serious, a lot more serious. And the headlines will be less ambiguous. They might actually have to tell the whole story. You want to be on the right side of that shift, which is why I'm I'm really encouraging you to do this, okay? Finishing your preparation work, not starting it. Now's the time to get it started, not then. Now, week one of August is the final tomato push. So if you didn't complete your tomato goal in July, this is the time to complete it. Uh, you do not wait past mid-August. Tomato season definitely ends in most of the country by early September, sometime sooner in your region. Once it closes, it closes for the year and you're stuck with imports. It's just the way it works. Week number two, the soup and stew batch, which is perfect. Okay. This is one of my favorite canning projects, definitely. Uh, by mid-August, you have every summer vegetable that you can think of in abundance simultaneously. It's a beautiful world. Tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, squash, onions, it's all there. It's just great. And you can combine them, yes, you can, uh, with your home canned or fresh protein into complete ready-to-eat meals by canning soups and stews. There are so many options out there. You know, there's there's chicken or vegetable or beef stew, there's minestrone without the pasta. Don't put the pasta in there yet. Pressure canned soups that go from your shelf to a saucepan in two minutes, the best dinner ever. Um, and it's not just food storage, you know, it's food. Because it's not at any time just about food storage. Um, if it's the Tuesday of November when you're exhausted because there's a lot of them and you don't want to cook, you just open up a jar and you heat it. And it doesn't have all that nasty stuff that the commercial stuff does, you know. This is the quality of life value of this work that people they they often don't mention. They don't think about it, it's not not a priority, but it adds such a quality of life. These batched soups and stews give you maximum nutritional variety, excellent caloric, you know, density, and the kind of complete meal that makes a stock pantry feel like a genuine uh abundance. It's just abundant rather than survival food. I mean, nobody wants to eat pemmican on purpose ever. Now, week three of August. Uh, this is when some of the early apple varieties begin showing up. Yes, I love it. So pay attention to it because applesauce. Applesauce is infinitely useful, so many different uses. Okay. It pairs with pork. It goes into baking. It replaces oil in a lot of different recipes. It serves as a simple side dish that children and adults both love. Apple butter is a beautiful variation on uh, you know, that stores well also. So apple butter, hello, apple pie filling makes the world a better place, period, regardless of what's going on. Apple pie filling for the win. Okay. Now, if pears are available in your area, you can do all of that too. That's like all around the same time. Now, week four, this is the final week of August. Whew, this is a lot. I know. Um, you need to do your audit and your completion week because this is it. You're gonna go shelf by shelf by shelf. You're gonna write down what you have, then you're gonna ask three questions, my friends. Okay. Do I have 90 days of protein frozen or shelf stable or both? If not, what is the gap that I have to fill and can I fill it this week? Number two, do I have 60 or more days of shelf stable staples? Flour, pasta, rice, beans, oats, coffee, olive oil. If not, specifically, what is short? Number three, do I have tomatoes in multiple forms that will last through spring at the very least? If not, there's still time to do maybe one more batch? I'll bet you there is. Okay. And number four or five, number five, um, do I have number four, do I have depth on the highest risk categories? Italian pasta, cantuna, olive oil, garlic. If not, buy more this week. Number five, what did I use up in a normal week this summer? Make sure that item is on your shelf in volume. That's what you have to look at. The answers to these questions are your final August shopping list, not general stockpiling. Specific gaps specifically filled. By August 31st, you're ready, you're done. Just like that. Now, what does Labor Day look like when you did the work? Labor Day. Let me paint a picture of what September 1st looks like, okay? When you spent the summer the way that I'm describing to spend the summer, because that's how I'm gonna spend my summer, definitely. Uh, you have home canned protein, chicken, ground beef, pork on your shelf, shelf stable, four years. It's all good. You have a full canning season's worth of tomatoes, tomatoes in abundance in multiple forms. It's a great thing. You have jams and fruits preserved, you have vegetables preserved, corn, pickles, green beans, all that stuff. And you have a three-month supply of flour, rice, dry beans, pasta, oats, olive oil that you bought at summer prices. It's great. And underneath all of that, you've got some thrivallist freeze-dried food as your base foundation. Your freezer has 30 or more days of vacuum-sealed uh pork, chicken, beef protected by a power supply that you will so that you don't let an outage take it away from you, because that is heartbreaking. That is just heartbreaking, okay? And then you walk into the grocery store in October. Beef is at $7.40 a pound, maybe higher. Italian pasta has jumped, tomato prices are expensive because the domestic season is over, coffee is at an all-time record high, and the tariff wave is visible on the shelf. You look at all of that, but you buy a few things you genuinely need, you know, maybe a little bit of milk, maybe some yogurt, butter, don't forget your butter, and you go home. And your family eats well, very well, at prices you paid in June and July. That's the goal. That is what this plan builds. Okay, so now we're going to talk about storage because I always get a ton of questions about storage. You can do every single thing that I described throughout this video and lose a significant portion of it due to two entirely preventable problems: improper storage and a power failure. It's just that simple. I want to make sure that the work you do is protected, and I'm sure that you want to make sure of that also. So, temperature and darkness, home canned foods, commercial canned, you know, all of it. Uh, they all need three things: cool, dark, and dry. It's, you know, stable humidity. That's that's what they need. That's what they need. You do not need a basement to pull that off. Does it mean that you cannot stock a pantry if you live in Arizona and you don't have air conditioning? No. But it means it's not gonna last as long as it does for me here in Michigan, okay? So just understand that you're cutting that lifespan in half uh if you have to store it that way. It's done all the time, folks. Don't freak out, okay? So you want to keep it so that your pantry does not exceed 85 degrees, if at all possible. If it does, over an extended amount of time, you just want to go in there and make sure everything's sealed. Super important. And as long as it's sealed, it'll be good. Will it last 10 years? Probably not. No. So plan on using it sooner, okay? Labeling it is it's non-negotiable. As somebody who has not labeled all kinds of stuff and then played mystery, what is this? I still have no idea if that was arrowroot powder or pectin. I finally gave up the ghost after a few years and got rid of it. So home canned, commercially bought, dry goods, freezer goods, all of it. You want to label it and you want to put a date on it when it came in. Okay. Uh, organization, always, always, always, always first in, first out. That never changes and it never should change. Okay. Vacuum sealing, it protects your layers, it protects your protein layer uh, you know, from freezer burn and numerous other things. Um, so that, you know, if you buy it and you vacuum seal it properly and it keeps that seal in your freezer, it's good for like 18 to 24 months. Can you beat that? Yeah. Regular freezer bags leave behind 20 to 40 percent of the air, even when you press them out. So you really do want a good vacuum sealer or a chamber vac if you're looking at uh quantity, definitely. Um, that fat oxidation on there is not, it's all bad. It's just bad. So I do highly recommend uh the Wii VAC and you know do anything that you can to vacuum seal it. Okay. We're gonna talk real quick about backup power. As some of you may know, um, I recently got myself a uh Blue Eddie fridge power unit. Um, they are starting to ship out today, uh, but they have other units too. Now, the next one that is coming to this house, I'm getting ready to put in the order, is something that will help you uh during a power outage. And that's the primary thing here. So my thing is to make sure that the freezer stays frozen, you know, if I have an extended outage. So you either have a full-on gas generator, God and country knows that you're running it, or you have something like one of these uh they call them solar generators, but back, you know, basically they're a backup battery that you can either charge with the electric grid or you can charge via solar. And so these are I I'm going to be amping this up big time because I have so little faith in the power grid as a whole. So if you check on the link down below, you'll see they have all kinds of different things going on, especially for hurricane season. Yeah, there's no fa la la la with that, none at all. So you want to make sure that you have a way to keep that freezer going, you know what I mean? 90 days, June, July, August. You can do this. You have everything that you need to be able to pull this off, okay? If you do the work that I described today, even most of it, even imperfectly, because nobody's perfect, okay? You will arrive at September 1st in a fundamentally different position than you are in right now. So before I close, I just want to say one more thing. Just one more thing. Building a pantry is an act of love. Never forget that. It's not an act of fear, it's an act of love. When you spend a Saturday morning canning chicken instead of sleeping in, you're making a decision that next winter the people that you love will eat, regardless of what happens at the grocery store. That is not anxiety, that is care. So don't mislabel it. Don't let anybody else tell you something that it's not. Okay. Do the work, do it methodically, do it at a pace that is sustainable for your household. Uh, start this week. Today's the first. Even just buying your four jars lids and making your pantry list. That's a huge step forward. Huge step. And here's the one commitment that I want you to make right now. Because you got to put a little skin in the game, too. Drop a comment down below with the single first thing that you're gonna do this week. There's just one thing that you're gonna do this week. Drop it in the comment section down below. Not a goal for the whole summer. You know, I have all those, I have all those, yeah. But just one thing. All the links for everything you can find at thestackedpantry.com. That link will be in the pinned comment. Everything will be in the pinned comment, everything will be in the description box. You guys can do this. I have the utmost faith in you. So let's do it. Let's get this going. 90 days to a buffer stocked pantry. Who's in? Let me know. Until next time, everybody, be safe. Keep stacking it to the rafters, my friends.