Hot Items During a Recession

I read in the newspaper a month or so ago that there are some items that are selling really well right now. I think this is very, very funny. Here are the items:

Chocolate

Pepto-Bismol

Guns

Macaroni and Cheese

Spam

There are all sorts of interesting ideas that support profits for the producers of these items. Here are my thoughts:

Mac and Cheese: This is the automatic, "I'm poor and out of time" food, next to hot dogs, ramen and apparently spam. The funny thing about eating mac and cheese is that it takes butt/marg and milk, which just experienced a price increase a few years ago, and milk and butter are not shelf-stable, they require refrigeration. Not exactly an emergency ideal. It's not really that cheap and it's not really that quick and easy to make, if you ask me. You've got to wait for the water to boil, wait for the noodles to cook and stir up the rest of the ingredients and then blow on it for your kids until it reaches just the right temperature. I'm not a fan. It is a comfort food though, and we do need comfort right now.

Spam: What can I say about Spam that has not already been said? We visited the Spam Museum (twice) while living in Minnesota. It is located in Austin, MN. The whole town smells like pork. Spam is a tried and true, get us through the depression, something you can brag about later, kind of food i.e. "back in '09 all I lived on was Spam and mac and cheese. We didn't even have enough money to buy fruits or vegetables, just Spam and mac and cheese. If we were really lucky, we could mix the two." Oddly enough, a can of Spam is $2.75. There are cheaper ways to get protein, and more of it, with less fat, than a can of Spam. But oh, the stories you can tell. Check out the Spam merchandise: http://www.spam.com/

Chocolate: It's smooth going down and tastes great. Sounds like a beer commercial. But then, it can make you a little intoxicated, which might be exactly what you want. Chocolate offers a moment of escape. Chocolate increases your serotonin levels. Chocolate is a relatively cheap indulgence, that when in the midst of recession stress, can make you feel like you are treating yourself right, at least for a minute. Unfortunately, chocolate has a tendancy to aggrivate your stomach. . . . . .

Pepto-Bismol: After the first three, I don't need to explain this. On top of the stress, we are apparently eating high fat foods that slowly digest. It's a good thing it's a happy pink color!

Guns: I can't figure the exact reason for this. Do we want to make sure that we have a way to provide food during a recession? Either by killing our own food or robbing our neighbor's food storage? Do guns make us feel more secure or more in control than we really are? What will guns do for us if the hottest commodities are mac and cheese, chocolate and perto-bismol. I'm thinking squirrel, quail or rabbit isn't going to help an upset stomach and I'm not sure pepto-bismol is up for that job. Does this mean that the people who own guns know how to clean the animals they shoot? And cook them and store them? Do we all need a hunter's safety/instruction class? Maybe if I own a gun and people know how inexperienced I am with a gun, they will live in fear wondering what crazy Lisa will do with her gun. And that will make me feel so much better that other people are living in fear, just like I am. Misery loves company. Whatever. I think I'll buy water guns. They will make me laugh. Laughter in recession is very valuable. And it's cheap.