There are many people here talking about preparing for another crash, but my question is how do you prepare when you have no money? I can barely afford food right now, so gold and silver seem to be out of the question.
Lots of good advice in this thread, but let's get down and dirty, simple and primal, shall we? Imagine you're in catastrophic deflationary depression-like times already. Like the Great Depression, with shortages, bread and soup lines, and signs everywhere telling people to take a hike and move on, as there's no work and no extra food available.
The position you are in right now is akin to one of the more fortunate people of the future. You can "barely afford food right now", but many around you can't even afford food. You'd be surprised what you can do working just within your present means.
If I was in your position right now my strategy would be very simple: Change my eating and food-buying habits NOW -
because food prices are going up anyway. Way up. That includes non-perishable foods down the road - which is like buying silver and gold - a store of food value and hedge against food price inflation. When everything else skyrockets everyone else will start making serious food substitutions. You already have to spend money on food, so you have a budget for it. You can save yourself a lot of money and a lot of grief RIGHT NOW by staying WAY ahead of that wave - knowing which substitutions will be made and allocating resources to make those substitutions RIGHT NOW - while you have those foods are available, let alone cheap, and while you have the means to acquire them. Two of those - critical:
RICE AND BEANS: When combined the amino acids between them form a complete protein. Not a perfect protein, mind you, and not a perfect substitute for meat protein, but certainly good for sustaining life. You really can't have too much. Those are two cheap staples you can buy a lot of now
IN BULK ONLY. You already know what you can get for $25 at a grocery store, and already know too well that it's not much. Ask yourself EVERY TIME you look at what you're buying at the checkout stand: will $25 worth of this crap last me as long as a HUGE 25 POUND BAG OF RICE? The answer will be no just about every time.
Get food storage buckets and put them in it. If you can't afford those, start collecting and hoarding used 5 gallon paint buckets. The idea is NOT to "save money on groceries", or to buy yourself "a little time". The idea is to invest in futures - future groceries TODAY. So be a fanatic about it and start stockpiling and hoarding. Be the idiot buying 25 lbs. of rice and 25 lbs. of beans that you don't even need today, tomorrow or next month - every time you turn around. Every time you do that, it's that much less dependence you will have on future food prices AND availability when it comes down to that.
I would immediately lose the bread, and count it a luxury item. It's too expensive at any price. Substitute rice instead, and start learning to love it and figure out a zillion ways to prepare it. Likewise, pinto beans as well as a variety of others, like kidney and white.
PASTA - there's your bread, your concentrated wheat source with a long shelf-life that won't mold or go stale. Buy it on sale, buy it in bulk, the competition in the pasta market is fierce. Elbow macaroni, spaghetti, all your favorite varieties, STOCK THE HELL UP. It is NOT difficult to get a year's supply of that in no time at all. For now, anyway. Not tomorrow.
Those are your cheap, plentiful foundation foods. That foundational rug can be yanked out from under you in the future, so stock up now. With the money you save, stock up on more - and you can give yourself a food budget buffer that will enable you to buy other things -- with what was once your grocery money.
GROW SAN MARZANO TOMATOES. The sauciest cooking tomato on Earth. Unlike pasty bland Romas, which are only good for cooking, San Marzanos are bigger and delicious straight off the vine, and pretty much anyone can grow them. Indeterminate (not a bush - you stake and prune the plant to size) one plant will give you a great vegetable source for eating, storing and combining with those rice and beans. I don't care if it's just one plant grown on a tiny patio, it can yield a ton, and unlike determinate varieties which yield a finite amount and die, indeterminates will yield for as long as growing conditions are right. The surplus tomatoes can be canned in used mayo jars (EASY). Just buy the seals, they're cheap. Get jars from friends for FREE. If you don't have the seals, or the lemon juice needed to preserve canned tomatoes, can them anyway in just clean used jars (many used lids will seal), and refrigerate to be safe. They don't have to keep forever, it's just to save money and make sure the surplus tomatoes aren't wasted.
Look for those kinds of substitutions - be in the future now.
