Thurston, Amy Calder’s cat, slinks by in front of the paper goods Calder has amassed. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

A friend asked me if I’m doing anything to prepare for price increases on household goods due to tariffs.

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I am.

Ignoring advice from pundits not to hoard, I’ve done the opposite. My hallway closet contains some 200 rolls of toilet paper and a few dozen rolls of paper towels.

But I figure I was smart about it. I purchased them from a discount store, spending only a fraction of what one would shell out in a regular store.

Vanilla? They say that, too, will be cost prohibitive. I wasn’t so panicked about vanilla because I don’t have a lot of time to bake but when I do, I want the real thing, not imitation.

I can hear my mother’s long-ago voice in my head saying, “Buy Madagascar vanilla, not the cheap stuff!” so at my trusted supermarket a few days ago, I splurged on an 8 ounce bottle of vanilla from Madagascar. Damages, $23.49. And I already had a smaller bottle in my baking drawer, so the stash should carry me a while.

Unlike many of my friends and relatives, I also shop at a bakery outlet for things like bread and English muffins. Why pay $5 or $6 for a loaf of quality bread when you can get it for $1.50? Same for English muffins: good quality for a fraction of the price. No brainer. Who cares if they are slightly older than what you’d buy at the market? I stocked up on both, and my freezer shows it.

The fact that I snare these goods at a discount alleviates any thoughts I might have of taking away from others. I know it is drilled into our heads not to hoard, but I figure I have circumnavigated the process in honorable fashion.

Now, when it comes to things like bananas and avocados, it’ll be a different story. I’ll just have to bite the bullet, I’m afraid. I love bananas and for years have sliced a half-banana in my breakfast cereal every day. I won’t be able to skimp on that but if things get really bad, I figure I can cut down to every other day.

And avocados? A salad is much diminished without them, and we eat a lot of it. That may be a luxury we can afford to do without, if the price gets out of hand.

Lest you think I’m a bit nutty, consider my friends who live in New Hampshire. They have a whole room in their cellar devoted to disaster readiness: shelves of canned food, MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat) intended to last 20 years or longer, coffee, big jugs of water and other supplies.

I can’t quite see myself going that far and it would likely backfire, anyway. In a real disaster I’d probably invite my neighbors over to share the rations which would disappear quickly, nullifying my dreams of survival. We’d all go at the same time.

In all seriousness, I am changing the way I live these days, purchasing fewer nonessentials, curbing my penchant for eating out and doing other things to be frugal in these uncertain times.

We’ve always done our own yard work such as raking, mulching and planting. This carries the dual benefit of improved physical and mental health, and this year I plan to grow more herbs than usual (some, such as oregano, are predicted to increase in price).

Besides enjoying our own fresh vegetables, I also make and freeze tomato sauce and pesto, dry herbs for use all winter and buy corn at the local farm stand to blanch and freeze, right on the cob. It’s great in the middle of a frigid January.

For me at least, taking such steps affords a sense of control in this out-of-control world. I highly recommend it.

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 37 years. Her columns appear here Sundays. She is the author of the book, “Comfort is an Old Barn,” a collection of her curated columns, published in 2023 by Islandport Press. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com. For previous Reporting Aside columns, go to centralmaine.com