Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Make no mistake about it, these are Chinese-interesting times we are in. Oil is up, dollar is down, metals are way up, and theres uncertainty in the air. Its going to be ugly, its going to be uncomfortable and its going to be filled with alot of stress and sleepless nights, but in the end it will, like every other economic crisis, pass. Im no expert, but Id say that if you dont have one of those doomed adjustable rate mortgages, you have a job, youre not carrying huge amounts of debt, and youre disciplined enough to be careful how you spend your money youre probably going to be just fine.

That is, of course, no reason not to be careful. Losing ones job is a fast ticket to  Desperationville. Hence, todays acquisition.

The folks at HippieMart (Motto: “Can we carry that out to your Volvo/Subaru?”) called to tell me my 30# of orzo was in. Dutifully, I headed down there and picked up three 10# boxes and took them home. Hey, interesting fact: 30# of orzo will not fit in the usual 5-gallon bucket mylar liner. Twentyfive pounds fits just fine, however. So, 25# of orzo safely tucked away in the bunker against the day when there just ain’t enough money to go around, or there aint enough food to go around, or both.

Fortunately, the girlfriend is 100% on board on these matters although, to be fair, while she sometimes will retrieve stuff from the bunker I dont think she’s actually aware of exactly whats in there. Nothing illegal, of course….just some stuff that might make someone scratch their head and say “Dude..seriously…you really think youre gonna need that?” Better to have it and not need it, my friend…

The guys at HippieMart also said they can get me 10# bags of whole egg mix. That would be nice but I need to figure out how to repackage it. I’d like to trundle it up to the local Mormon cannery and use their facility but theyre probably sticklers about not canning anything that they don’t provide. Speaking of, my local Mormon cannery is not open to heathen infidels like myself…gotta be one of the collective. Fortunately, one of my customers who shares my interests said that I could tag along with him next time he goes. Now its incumbent upon me to start nagging him every time I see him.

Alternatively, I could just get my owning canning stuff. eBay seems to have a fairly decent selection. And it would let me do some very creative things like canning ammo (or guns) and mislabelling them as something innocuous like fruit cocktail or something. Admit, that would be pretty cool.

But, my budget isnt ready for that sort of expense.

Anyway, so Ive got an addition to the Bucket O’Food collection. A little more peace of mind, and thats always nice.