Sue, I think this LA Times article touches a bit on some of these things you are observing and feeling in your gut.

Until I just read this article, I was thinking that all these backorders and delays at stored food companies like Mountain House were due to big government contracts caused by all the disasters lately or maybe the 2012 crowd getting a head start. But now that I read this article, maybe I've been completely missing the sentiments of people like the couple in this news story who are doing things like storing food long term for a number of different reasons and not just disaster preparedness. People who are not poor or out of work, but who are insecure nonetheless and worry about the future, as Blast was also pointing.