There are near risk free options, including in a high inflation environment. An example treasury product is TIPS, which are treasury bonds indexed to CPI-U inflation rate – near guaranteed return above inflation, if you hold until the maturity date. 5-year TIPS currently are at 1.2% above inflation. 10-year TIPS are at 1.7% above inflation. 10-year treasury bonds are at 4.1%, so annualized inflation over next 10 years would need to exceed 2.4% for TIPS to have higher return than treasury bonds, if both are held until 10 year maturity. If not held to maturity, the result and break even inflation threshold are likely to differ.
The downside is you are giving up a lot of potential return in exchange for having near risk free returns. A relatively small 1.x% real return (may be significantly less after taxes) limits the magnitude of income/spending, as well as potential principle growth. This can make living longer than expected or similar event resulting in longer time horizon than anticipated a risk. A mixed portfolio can mitigate this longer time horizon risk and allow one to choose the risk-return that aligns with the particular investor.