Buy This Before It Gets Stupid Expensive: US 2025 Tariffs Edition
Look, we aren’t telling you to panic. That’s not our jam. But we’re not telling you to not panic. And given the current political climate and everything going on in the world – waiting until the shelves are empty and prices have doubled is a dumb plan.
If tariffs are looming, supply chains are twitchy, or inflation is about to do a barrel roll again…here’s what to get now, while it’s still reasonably priced and easy to find.
Stock up on staple dry goods
These are cheap, keep forever, and are easy to rotate:
- Rice
- Dried beans or lentils
- Pasta and oats
- Shelf-stable milk or plant milks
- Peanut butter (if you’re not allergic, ofc)
- Canned tomatoes, canned fruit/veggies
Prices on these tend to spike with tariffs or shortages – better to buy when they’re boring.
Household basics
If you’re gonna go ahead and use it for sure, might as well buy a few extra containers of things that may (or may not) cost more later:
- Toilet paper (don’t act brand new, you remember 2020)
- Personal care products like soap, shampoo, toothpaste
- Batteries
- Light bulbs
- Cleaning supplies (especially vinegar, bleach, dish soap)
- But note the relatively short shelf life of bleach – if you’re going to drop something from this checklist, bleach is the thing to drop
- Over-the-counter meds (acetaminophen/Tylenol, ibuprofen, allergy meds – most of these are made overseas)
These aren’t fun to buy, but they will be annoying to replace when they’re $11 each or missing entirely.
Think about future-you
Need school supplies soon? Get ’em now. Got a growing kiddo? Grab the next shoe size up. Can you repair instead of replace something? Get the parts now.
Take like, five minutes out of your day to zoom ahead and think what might be affected in 6-12 months.
If tariffs land hard on imports, it won’t just be food – it’ll be everything from garden tools to eyeglass frames.
(Here’s an example of the things that I stocked up on personally:)
- 2 extra containers of toothpaste, deodorant, other preferred personal care products
- An extra bag of pet foods for the dogs and the cats
- 2 extra containers of shelf-stable foods the kiddos prefer (we can substitute out as adults but man oh man, kiddos 100% suck at handling change)
- 3 extra boxes of pasta
- Lots of diapers
- Next size up on kiddo shoes
There’s a ton of advice right now to stock up on big appliances or cars or larger ticket items. Be wary of doing this, please. NPR does a great job of summing this up but there are scammers out there and you still need to be mindful of your personal budget. A ton of folks are out there buying new cars right now without being mindful of what they can afford or keeping their emergency fund intact.
3 Takeaways
- Buy staple pantry items now – they last forever and a day and get hit first.
- Grab basics you’ll use anyway like soap, meds, and TP.
- Think one season ahead for kids, clothes, and recurring needs.
Feature image courtesy Pixabay/Pexels.
