Alexis Abell recently walked out of a BJ’s Wholesale Club outside Buffalo, N.Y., with 24 boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, a box of 50 frozen mozzarella sticks, a 40-pound bag of basmati rice and a 12-can pack of garbanzo beans.
“I don’t want to be in a position again where I can’t get something,” says Ms. Abell, a 41-year-old mother of five, who was laid off from her retail job at a quilt shop in 2020 and decided not to return to work.
She estimates her family is now spending about 25% more a week on food and staples than before the pandemic, and she is buying more than twice as much of some staples and household supplies.
“The stimulus money is gone, but we’ve gotten used to having more on hand and I’m cooking more at home, so I expect this to continue,” she says.
Retailers and analysts predicted that the bulk buying in the early days of the pandemic, when supplies of many goods were constrained, would subside once people returned to work, stores were able to restock and vaccinations became widespread. Instead, Americans continue to stockpile food and household goods. Wall Street Journal
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I predict that a fellow with a small escavator, a friend who can pour footings and lay block and a fellow who can bang together shelving would make a ton of money installing root cellars.
I finally figured out that the small hill that Jack, the dog in the Ukrainian Pavlo Youtube videos, was using for an observation post was the top of a partially buried root cellar. Later videos by Pavlo indicates that nearly every house has one. He doesn't SAY that but anybody can keep their eyes open.
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An intelligent contractor would offer discrete sizes in multiples (modules) of 4' by 8'. He would offer them "turn-key" and charge a bundle. In Michigan, he could probably get away with 4' buried and 2' above grade. Given that LED flashlights are very common I don't know that they would need to be wired for electricity.
Brilliant business idea ERJ. In point of fact with modern technology, you would likely not need to wire for electricity.
ReplyDeleteI would suspect, for both climate and historical reasons, such things would be perhaps more common in places like Ukraine.
I know several people here with them.
ReplyDeleteIf it is kept small (under 160 sq ft) and has no electric, in many places no permits are required.
I'm wondering if abandoned buried cement sanitary sewer tanks can be retrofitted for this. Line the walls with shelving, many of these have a top hatch for accessing. Nno new excavation required, maybe some creative hiding of door would be possible.
ReplyDeleteWould the 4’ below-2’ above keep the inside above 32 degrees at our latitude?
ReplyDeleteMy thinking is that the fill removed from the 4' would be pushed against the walls extending above the original grade. If you were after fast, modular build you might make the roof in 4' by 8' sections that you could sling into place with your back-hoe and deck-screw together. If the ceiling were adequately insulated with expanded polystyrene foam (for moisture resistance) I think you could make it work.
Deletehttps://www.fireflybooks.com/catalogue/adult-books/cooking-food-drink/cooking-reference/product/10154-the-complete-root-cellar-book-building-plans-uses-and-100-recipes?search=root
ReplyDeleteIronically, I just passed a display of this an hour ago.
With the price of cement nowadays, few could afford it.
ReplyDeleteI looked into it here in northern MI.
Last time was more than a new car.
If you can find someone who isn't to busy to bother with it.
It looks similar to a UK ice house.
ReplyDeleteERj - I didn't see a way to send you an email (not surprised by that), so I hope you see this comment on an old post? It's this post that pushed me forward to (finally) pick a side gig/inflation hedge and buy a mini-excavator and a dump trailer. I had to acknowledge my 401K was losing money every day, so in MAR I pulled out enough to purchase the two pieces of equipment. The shortest version is I'm now in the process of learning to use what I bought so I can help myself, my family, and others. The add-on commentary would be how supply-chain constraints (specifically the main pump) dramatically prevented timely order fulfillment for my first choice of excavator such that I ended up going with a slightly bigger available unit. In any case, thank you for helping me make a decision, as well as make a sizable contribution to the American economy as both units were made in the U.S.A.
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