➡ The video discusses the expected rise in prices of various items in 2026 due to factors like war, trade uncertainties, and resource scarcity. Key commodities like copper, silver, and other rare earth elements, which are crucial for items like solar panels and batteries, are expected to become more expensive due to export restrictions and increased demand. Additionally, the prices of gold, power banks, and food are also predicted to increase. The video suggests taking advantage of current deals and considering investments in long-lasting items like freeze-dried food to prepare for these price hikes.
➡ The cost of ammunition, land, and body armor is expected to rise due to increased military spending worldwide, supply disruptions, and increased demand. This is particularly true for ammunition, which relies on materials like antimony and copper, whose prices are also rising. Additionally, good land for self-sustainability is becoming scarce, and body armor prices may increase due to demand and material costs. Therefore, if you find a good deal on these items, it’s advisable to take it, as prices are unlikely to decrease in the near future.

Today on the channel, we’re gonna talk about prepping items that are about to skyrocket in price in 2026. Let’s get to it. The main reason why prices are gonna go up in 2026 is one three-letter word. War. War is very inflationary and unfortunately war is everywhere. From Venezuela to Ukraine, Sudan, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Thailand, the Indo-Pacific, World War III is abound. Even in the off chance that there was peace deals achieved, chances are those countries will continue the trend of record military expenditures in the years to come. When combined with trade war uncertainty, tariffs, potential embargoes, deglobalization, artificial intelligence sucking up vital resources, and even climate anomalies impacting our ability to extract and grow and deliver vital resources at scale, it’s expected that many items are about to skyrocket in price throughout 2026.

In order to understand why some vital prepping commodities are going to increase in price in 2026, we need to go to the source of the supply chain. In 2026, the US has named some vital critical minerals that are going to have export restrictions because these things are so precious and so important for the cause of national security that the US doesn’t want them exported. We’re talking about things like copper, silver, gallium, germanium, indium, lithium, nickel, and other rare earth elements, even titanium. These of course are vital ingredients for things that are important to preppers like solar panels, battery banks, and ammunition.

The price of copper has skyrocketed. In fact, it hit record highs in 2025. This is a vital component in solar wiring and many off-grid components. Analysts are expecting a record copper shortfall in 2026 of around 150,000 tons. It’s very likely that the days of cheap solar panels and cheap battery banks are coming to an end. I went down to Home Depot the other day, I bought myself an electrical cord, and I was stunned at the cost of a simple 100 foot heavy gauge cord. It’s in the hundreds of dollars here in Canada. This is why I encourage people to seize on any good deals you can get for these things because the combination of the rising price of components as well as Chinese tariffs where a lot of these products are made, I think this could potentially lead to a shocking increase in prices throughout 2026.

There is of course added pressure from the artificial intelligence boom. AI data centers are about to consume record amounts of these vital critical minerals. That’s going to put immense demand on an already strained supply chain throughout 2026. An interesting fact that a lot of people might not know about copper. Throughout the Cold War, it was seen as so vital for the war effort that the USSR explicitly treated copper as a war critical metal and held strategic reserves. In fact, they went so far as to stockpiling it in bunkers. That’s how vital it was to national defense.

In addition to solar panels and other electrical components, you might want to also consider stocking up on things like heavy duty extension cords, generator cords, battery cables, connectors, and any spare cord ends that match what you already use. These things are likely going to increase in price. In addition to the record price of copper, we also have aluminum, which is at all time highs. This of course is a vital component to the panel frames and the mounting and enclosures of solar panel systems. Because of erratic energy costs, trade policy, and rising industrial demand, as well as demand linked to data center buildouts, it’s expected that anything that’s made of aluminum is likely to rise in price throughout 2026.

Silver prices are also at all time highs. In fact, year to date, silver is up nearly 110%. There’s been an annual shortage of around 184 million ounces of silver per year, and forecasts indicate that that’s expected to continue well into 2026. In addition to its utility as a monetary metal, silver also has a variety of industrial applications. It’s used in military systems for electronics, shielding, optics. For example, in one Tomahawk missile, there are hundreds of ounces of silver, and it’s estimated that to build out one large AI data center takes hundreds of tons of silver, especially if there’s a solar power component.

Needless to say, this stuff is going to be in high demand, which explains the skyrocketing price. While many experts are expecting some kind of pullback or correction in the monetary silvers market, others suspect that prices can continue to rise, with some estimates in the range of hundreds of dollars per ounce. Unfortunately, that means that the price of anything that has silver is going to skyrocket. Something else that’s expected to increase in price throughout 2026? Gold. This is actually fractional gold, meaning each one of these represents one gram. When I first bought this, I think it was like 1600 bucks an ounce.

Now the price is like 4400 dollars an ounce. Many market analysts, including Goldman Sachs, are expecting gold prices to top 5000 dollars at the end of 2026. Many of those firms are actually advising their investors to allocate 20% of their entire net worth into gold, if you can believe it. That is a market increase from previous prescriptions. While gold is not a vital commodity as far as survival is concerned, it’s a valuable means of wealth preservation and possibly even barter, which is why this fractional form is so handy. As global uncertainty continues to rise and the threat of war looms overhead, central banks are continuing to accumulate this precious metal as a means of hedging against possible economic turmoil that might be coming in 2026.

Up next are power banks. You guys know how saturated the market has been and you know how much I can’t stand doing power bank review videos. That said, I think the golden era of cheap and abundant lithium power banks is about to come to an end. The demand for lithium from grid scale energy storage is rising fast. Market analysts have raised their battery demand outlook for 2026 to 2030. This is driven by higher expected energy storage deployments around the world. Potential supply concentration and export controls can raise costs even when demand is steady.

Right now we’re enjoying a bit of a glut in the market because quite frankly, a lot of people are broke and sales of these power bank systems is actually down. However, the demand for lithium in every aspect of our lives is only going to continue to grow, especially with the electric vehicle revolution. That is why I would encourage people to capitalize on the great deals that you can get right now for these things. Up next is food. While the World Bank projects that food commodity prices are expected to stabilize in 2026, that doesn’t mean we’re going to get deflation.

In fact, a lot of things are expected to continue to rise in price, including of course, animal proteins. In Canada, food prices are expected to rise nearly 6% in 2026 on top of the prices that we’re already accustomed to. It’s not just the food itself that’s rising in price. It’s the packaging components and the transport of that food. The date of manufacture of this number 10 can of freeze dried diced beef is 2024. Now the expected lifespan of this food is around 25 to 30 years. Honestly, it will probably last indefinitely, but for legal purposes, they limit their expiration to 25 years.

Now imagine how much the price of beef is going to cost in 2035, 2040, 2045, 2050. It’s unimaginable what the price could possibly be. Now while you do pay a premium for freeze dried food upfront, chances are in 5 to 10 years when this doubles in price, you’ll not only have made your premium back by that point, but you’ll also have kind of made money in a way. Food was never regarded as a monetary medium because food typically spoils. But what freeze drying allows you to do is have food that effectively doesn’t spoil, at least not for many, many decades.

When I open this can of food in the year 2050, it’s arguably going to taste pretty much the same as it does now. Now why is the price of beef, pork, chicken, things like that increasing? Drought across Canada has reduced grazing and force herd reductions. In order to rebuild their herds, it’s going to take many years and that presumes that the drought has slowly ended. This is why the price of beef is likely to remain elevated 2 to 300% over what it was just a few years ago. The same is true for most meats, be they pork or poultry.

A lot of these prices are elevated due to the aforementioned factors and likely will continue to be so throughout 2026. This is why freeze dried food is never a bad investment. The first mistake that probably 50% of people make when they get into prepping is they run out and they find the cheapest, biggest bucket of so-called emergency food that money can buy. The problem is it usually tastes awful. And I know what you’re thinking, Nate, in a disaster situation, I’m going to rise to the occasion. My palate is formidable. No, it’s not.

You’re not built like that. You’re a first-worlder just like me. There’s a much better solution that your family is going to love you for. Let’s check it out. Would you like some chocolate cake that will last 25 years? How about some vegetables or some shredded beef or hundreds of other varieties? Go through the link in the description below and get 15% off the number one freeze dried food company in America, the only one that I 100% resolutely endorse, Wholesale Freeze Dried Foods. Use the coupon code in the description for 15% off.

Up next is ammunition. Now in the United States, ammunition is a lot cheaper than it is in Canada. In Canada, they’re expected to bring forth some new transport regulations that could potentially raise the price of ammunition significantly. But even in the United States, the price of ammo is going to go up. Consider that NATO countries are expected to up their military spend to 5% over the next few years. That’s up from about 1% of their GDP on weapons. That’s going to put immense amounts of stress on the global small arms market.

In fact, if you look at the producer price index, the small arms and manufacturing sector has seen pretty significant increases in costs over the last 10 years. And that’s only expected to continue as every nation on earth allots more money to military spending. One of the key hidden ingredients in ammunition is something called antimony. This is considered a vital critical mineral. Reuters has reported that the United States military is building small refineries specifically to produce antimony trisulfide because it’s used in bullet primers and because supply disruptions have been a major concern.

It’s also been reported that China has severely restricted antimony exports. And as a dominant producer, this has increased the risk of price spikes and supply disruptions by flowing into primary related inputs. Perhaps most importantly, is that ammunition contains copper or brass. This is for parts like the casings and the jackets for the ammunition. So higher copper costs raise manufacturing costs and eventually those costs get passed on to the consumer. The short of it is this as many countries get on a war footing, there’s going to be a lot more demand for bullets.

And that means that that’s going to have an impact on the civilian market. So if you do see some good deals on ammunition, don’t hesitate to pick it up because chances are prices ain’t going down anytime soon. Another thing which is vital for preppers is land. I predict and this is just my gut feeling is that you’re going to see an urban egress once again in 2026. As population and immigration increases, the supply of really good land is shrinking and shrinking. Good parcels with reliable water, usable soil and access tend to stay scarce in the market.

If you want more information on how to find a good off-grid property, I suggest that you go check out my ongoing series on the topic where we review various properties using a system I devised called the preparedness property rating scale. That’s going to give you a sense of some things that you should look for if you’re planning on purchasing land for self-sustainability. Even if we are in a bit of a housing bubble, a lot of rural properties and land in particular are kind of immune from that. The further you go from the city, the more prices tend to normalize.

But that might not be the case in the future. If there’s a major black swan event like another pandemic or another war flares up, the prices of land outside the city is going to skyrocket once again. There’s a finite supply of land. They ain’t making any more of it. So if you get a good deal, don’t hesitate. But that’s not financial advice. So in the same way that the global military industrial complex is putting a lot of stress on the ammunition market, the same is going to be true for body armor and pretty much anything that can be used in warfare.

Body armor could very well cost more in 2026 because police and military purchases are going to continue to increase. Prices can jump if key materials get tight, especially Kevlar type fibers that you might find in some of these plates. Lightweight armor is probably going to get more expensive because its materials are more specialized and harder to ramp up quickly. But steel and aluminum costs and trade policy can raise prices on metal plates, carriers and shipping. And this is before the government decides to regulate some of this stuff. So a lot of the inflation that we might see in terms of ammunition and body armor and any firearms related product may be to the fact that the government is imposing increased restrictions due to the fact that there’s a lot of crazy people running around violating the law and we all know what happens when a tragedy occurs.

It’s the law abiding gun owners that get penalized. If not in terms of legality, we get hit in the pocketbook. In terms of what’s going to go up in price, it’s not really any specific product per se. There’s always going to be ebbs and flows in terms of the global marketplace. But the trend is towards increased costs. And that’s primarily because war is inflationary and everybody is going on a war footing. If you guys want links to any of these items, I’ll post them in the description below. You can get discounts on certain ones using the coupon codes.

With the exception, of course, of the ammunition, YouTube kind of frowns on that sort of thing. But I’m sure you can find it somewhere from my family to yours. Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe if you enjoy the video. Take care. Canadian Pepper out. The best way to support this channel is to support yourself by gearing up at CanadianPreparedness.com, where you’ll find high quality survival gear at the best prices, no junk and no gimmicks. Use discount code prepping gear for 10% off. Don’t forget the strong survive, but the prepared thrive.

Stay safe. [tr:trw].

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