Many of us have saved house deposits, and some have sold to rent. The housing crash/downswing/lull is likely to last at least 3 years, so we need to invest our money sensibly in the interim. This isn't so easy - pay tax on a savings account and your money depreciates once inflation is taken into account; buy shares or gold and you're gambling in a very volatile market; fail to diversify currency and you could lose out big-time on a sterling crash. So here's an idea:

I have some idea what goods I will require over the next 5 years - a certain amount of energy for heating/lighting, a certain amount of food, a certain amount of oil for travel and manufacture of goods etc. Why not put my savings in basic commodities covering each of these fields? The EFT Securities funds can be traded as shares, and make it quite straightforward to invest in commodity markets. Annual charges are around 0.5%. Here's my rough-and-ready suggestion for investing 25k in commodities for the next 5 years:

8k agriculture fund (food)
5k petroleum fund (I don't drive, but have family/friends in Australasia who I will want to visit)
5k energy fund (heating/lighting - this fund is largely in natural gas, but as most electricity in UK comes from gas, seems logical to buy in)
3k industrial metals fund (manufactured goods)
1k livestock fund (meat is a luxury, but I do like it occasionally)
1k cotton fund (clothes)
1k coffee fund (I'm an addict)
1k precious metals fund (might get engaged/married over next few years)

If the price of goods rises, so would these commodities (hopefully), so I won't lose out. If the price of goods falls I'll lose on the funds, but on the other hand I should be able to afford the goods. Consider this an 'insurance policy' or hedge against soaring commodity prices/inflation. What do you think?

buy also shares in water, gas, electricity companies to hedge for price rises

Sounds like an interesting plan! The annual fees aren't too harsh and it looks like you can stick ETCs into an ISA too.

great idea.

id suggest putting the petroleum fund into shares like exxon or shell....still a hedge against oil inflation plus dividends whilst waiting.

also consider shares in german electricity producer RWE as a complement to the energy fund.....as above dividends the bonus.

they also have natural gas and crude oil production in addition to the core utility business.

not outrageously priced at about 15/16 times earnings