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

I had to head over to the other side of town to pick up some clamps at Home Depot for a carpentry project. (Im building some shelving units for a friends reloading bench). Since CostCo and SuperWallyWorld are fairly close to each other I figured I’d do a walk though and do some price comparisons.

WallyWorld wins on grape juice and canned vegetables. CostCo wins on Chicken broth, canned fruit, and apple sauce. Differences were kinda niggling….seventeen cents a can on vegetables, that sort of thing. But when youre buying a case of 24 at a time, it can add up. And, with the economy looking grim, every penny helps, y’know?

I enjoy going through these warehouse food stores because I love the bulk packaging. I also appreciate the things you dont find in every store. One item I found today that Im somewhat excited about is Welch’s grape juice concentrate. I loves me grape juice. Normally, you buy frozen concentrate and leave it at that. Here, however, we have room temperateure Welch’s grape juice concentrate packed in, essentially, a pop can. Makes 48 oz. with an average cost of $0.03 per oz. Thats 25% cheaper than any other form of Welch’s. Plust the room temperature thing is nice too. Shelf life is about a year, so I’ll pick up a dozen later this week.

Speaking of shelf life, ain’t technology grand? I was in CostCo and they had the chick there doing the food samples. Product in question was hash brown potatoes from dried. Reconstitute them for a half hour in hot water and fry ‘em up. They were damn good. So I wander down the aisle and find them. Hmmm…no expiration date. Wonder what the shelf life is. Flip the package over, find the company’s toll free number and whip out the cell phone. Got my answer and made a note to buy these things on my next trip. (One year shelf life, by the way, but I expect that with proper storage it should be at least several times that.

At t his rate, my post apocalyptic breakfasts are going to be better than the breakfasts Im having now – corned beef hash, hash browns, scrambled eggs, grits, oatmeal and orange drink. Hell, I dont eat that well when there isn’t a crisis.

Also found vacuum sealed packages of Italian risotto which I may have to try. As I understand it, risotto is a laborious project in the kitchen requiring much attention but it looks like an excellent meal with a shelf life that appeals to me.

.22 ammo came down a bit. Last check at WallyWorld it was $12.50. Girlfriend picked some more up the other day and said it was about a buck below that. Still….signs of the times, man.