Buying your 2026 groceries now: smart saving or paranoia
Stockpiling food for 2026? Today's prices on legumes, toilet paper as a saving case study, and the debate between preppers and skeptics.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Buying your 2026 groceries now: smart saving or paranoia
Anyone who bought toilet paper during ELbichito is still using it at 2020 prices, and the accumulated savings far exceed any deposit interest. That is the flagship argument of those in favor of buying everything for 2026 in advance: non-perishable goods, hygiene and cleaning products, over-the-counter medicines. With inflation still present and geopolitical tensions in the background, the idea of stocking a pantry for a whole year is gaining trinc.
The cost of being prepared
The initial outlay is not trivial. Estimates put the spend at around 2,500 euros for a typical family, a figure many consider too high to pay in one go. But defenders of the strategy counter that the money would be spent anyway over the year, just at higher prices. For example, legumes can be found today at 1 euro per kilo of lentils, 1.44 for chickpeas and 0.75 for white rice. Prices that, according to the most alarmist voices, could double within months.
Toilet paper as a case study
The recurring example is toilet paper. Those who bought large quantities during the 2020 lockdown have been using their stock for five years at those prices, while store-brand products rose 19% and leading-brand ones 30% since 2021. That logic extends to any durable or non-perishable consumer item. The debate is not just about saving: it is framed as a life insurance policy against inflation, where the premium is the storage cost and product expiration.
The drawbacks of mass stockpiling
However, the other camp points out the practical drawbacks: where do you store a year's worth of supplies in a city apartment? What do you do with products that expire before 2026? Moreover, the strategy assumes prices will only go up, but a deflationary shock or an improvement in the supply chain could leave the buyer with overvalued stock. Most skeptics prefer to keep up their usual monthly shopping and put the surplus into other assets.
What no analysis manages to explain is why, after four years of runaway inflation, most households still live paycheck to paycheck. The answer may lie in the lack of liquidity, or in the confidence that the wolf will not come. But as preppers like to remind us, the wolf never warns you.
Related discussions in the forum
Anyone who bought toilet paper during ELbichito is still using it at 2020 prices, and the accumulated savings far exceed any deposit interest. That is the flagship argument of those in favor of buying everything for 2026 in advance: non-perishable goods, hygiene and cleaning products, over-the-counter medicines. With inflation still present and geopolitical tensions in the background, the idea of stocking a pantry for a whole year is gaining trinc.
The cost of being prepared
The initial outlay is not trivial. Estimates put the spend at around 2,500 euros for a typical family, a figure many consider too high to pay in one go. But defenders of the strategy counter that the money would be spent anyway over the year, just at higher prices. For example, legumes can be found today at 1 euro per kilo of lentils, 1.44 for chickpeas and 0.75 for white rice. Prices that, according to the most alarmist voices, could double within months.
Toilet paper as a case study
The recurring example is toilet paper. Those who bought large quantities during the 2020 lockdown have been using their stock for five years at those prices, while store-brand products rose 19% and leading-brand ones 30% since 2021. That logic extends to any durable or non-perishable consumer item. The debate is not just about saving: it is framed as a life insurance policy against inflation, where the premium is the storage cost and product expiration.
The drawbacks of mass stockpiling
However, the other camp points out the practical drawbacks: where do you store a year's worth of supplies in a city apartment? What do you do with products that expire before 2026? Moreover, the strategy assumes prices will only go up, but a deflationary shock or an improvement in the supply chain could leave the buyer with overvalued stock. Most skeptics prefer to keep up their usual monthly shopping and put the surplus into other assets.
What no analysis manages to explain is why, after four years of runaway inflation, most households still live paycheck to paycheck. The answer may lie in the lack of liquidity, or in the confidence that the wolf will not come. But as preppers like to remind us, the wolf never warns you.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (74 replies).
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