Why do people buy perishable food when they hear a bad winter storm is coming.

Atlanta was hit by a second big storm. Only 2 weeks after the last one. Many others states are also being hit. Many people without power. I heard this woman call into a radio show. She said her power had been out for a long time and her food will go bad soon and she was not able to cook. People always buy the wrong stuff. Eggs, milk and stuff you need to keep cold or cook. I never hear the news reporters telling people about what foods they should or should not bad. Always be ready for a least 3 days without power.

People never think things will ever get that bad for them, so they continue to stock up on the perishables as per the usual shop, then freak out when there is a prolonged power outage.

I'm not sure if you are meaning people bulk buying 'extra' food, then buying perishables. If you are, people can be a little short sighted and daft.

reply to post by jdoors

Actually eggs doesn't need to be keept cool, it's only the western world and city folks who does that.

The other thing is, it's cold outside so keeping your food cold shouldn't be to hard.

because the average person is an idiot (and, most likely, the storm and its effects will not last long enough for most perishable foods to spoil).

reply to post by jdoors


How is ANYTHING perishable when the entirety of all outdoors is one big friggin refrigerator?

Take all the milk and eggs and ice cream and anything else and just put it OUTSIDE in the open air?
I mean, it's a WINTER storm, right?

All of outside is a refrigerator/freezer.

???

AliceBleachWhite
reply to post by jdoors

 

How is ANYTHING perishable when the entirety of all outdoors is one big friggin refrigerator?

Take all the milk and eggs and ice cream and anything else and just put it OUTSIDE in the open air?
I mean, it's a WINTER storm, right?

All of outside is a refrigerator/freezer.

???

Exactly AliceBleachWhite. Unless of course you live in the city of Toronto. The people are idiots, and the government pays a fast hundred to those that were stupid enough not to store it outside in the cold. The provincial government has not only idiots at the helm, they used a major ice storm to pander to voters in a soon to be held election. Talk about a bunch of useless tools!

It is baffling to say the least. I live in PA and we get snow (almost) every year and have storms in spring and fall, all of which tend to knock out power somewhere near me. We are told by TPTB (PEMA, state gov, news anchors, etc.) to "be prepared, stock up on food, candles, bottled water and so on. Honestly, they very rarely say non-perishable food... just food. I was in the grocery store yesterday (I needed cat food, not a knee-jerk preparedness shop lol) and people had the stupidest things in their overflowing carts. Freezer stuff, meats, eggs, MILK, lunch meat, cheese... I mean duh! Of course we have over a foot of snow on the ground so that sort of thing could be kept outside, but how many people would think to shovel out an outdoor "freezer" or even bother for that matter? Nope, just gonna complain when the power goes out and their DiGiorno gets all soggy. pfft

jdoors
Always be ready for a least 3 days without power.

THIS!!!

I have a hard time mustering any sympathy for people who fail to prepare - no matter where they are. It's not that hard or expensive to have 3 days of emergency supplies (non-perishable) on hand nor does it take up very much space. Even if you don't have much money you can buy things over time to add to your supplies.

There is absolutely no reason for people to not be prepared in this way.

We always figured that a limited amount of stuff could be kept between our heavy inner door and our lighter exterior screen door. If it's cold enough to freeze in the inside of that screen door ... it should be cold enough to keep perishables for a few days. In fact, when we stay our at my folks in the country for the holidays and we run out of frig space, we usually do keep some of the frig stuff out between the doors. It works just fine.

Our biggest worry about using the backyard is that we have a neighborhood fox and there are always 'coons and squirrels and opossums you have to figure out how to keep out of your food. And if you have a fox running the area, their are likely also coyotes. That also doesn't take into account any stray dogs or cats. We've also had cougar sightings in the past three or four years although the odds that a cougar is going to raid your backyard food stash are highly unlikely.

AliceBleachWhite
reply to post by jdoors

 

How is ANYTHING perishable when the entirety of all outdoors is one big friggin refrigerator?

Take all the milk and eggs and ice cream and anything else and just put it OUTSIDE in the open air?
I mean, it's a WINTER storm, right?

All of outside is a refrigerator/freezer.

???

Very cold the past few days, 30 and below, now in Atlanta 45, next day 52, 54 by Sunday. Also people lose power in summer , with hurricanes and others storms.

My wife worked 2 days a week in a grocery store and they loved storms. People would buy a months worth of food and be out in 3 days. People would call to see what kind of smokes they had left and would you save me a pack!! Risk their lives to kill themselves.

Whenever a big storm was certain to hit the owner knew exactly what to double up on and just watch the crazy people buy 10 boxed of Pop Tarts and 3 gallons of milk.

reply to post by Mianeye


That's true for normal eggs. But the eggs in most U.S. grocery stores have been overly washed, removing the protective coating that naturally coats the outside. This makes the shells much more porous, requiring refrigeration.

I've heard that you can coat them in mineral oil to get back some of that protection, but I'll just keep my eggs the way they came out of the hen like nature intended.

Mianeye
reply to post by jdoors

 

Actually eggs dosn't need to be keept cool, it's only the western world and city folks who does that.

The other thing is, it's cold outside so keeping your food cold shouldn't be to hard.

this is from page called Handling and Storage | Egg Farmers of Alberta ,

"Eggs are perishable. When shopping, pick up eggs last. Ask the cashier to pack them with frozen items to keep them cold longer. Get them home and into a refrigerator immediately."

Maybe eggs a few days out of the refrigerator will not kill you. But eggs will not be on my shopping list when a storm is coming.

reply to post by jdoors


...because the great outdoors becomes a refrigerator/freezer?

Well, speaking for myself anyway, I would say that - at the moment - I could probably comfortably survive being locked in my house with my family for a minimum of a month with the food and supplies I have. I can cook on our camp stoves and other gas powered gear if necessary...even build a fire in the yard and cook on it if it came to that. I regularly rotate my "survival stock" and use up the storables that are approaching their "use by" dates as well as rotating the bottled water supply.

So, again in my case, if we were told to prepare for power outages/weather/etc. and needed to stay in place - you might see me out there buying some perishables. You can store them outside if needed and your fridge/freezer will stay quite cool for a while if you don't keep opening and closing it. No need to be stuck eating just canned or dried or other storable types of food if you don't have to. For me, those types off things are for the long term survival needs. If it's just a few days or a week - I'm still going to have eggs, milk, meat, etc. regardless of what someone else thinks. There are a great many of us who truly are always ready for an emergency situation. That doesn't mean we can't have perishables.

It's quite possible to safely store eggs in a power outage with proper preparation.

During WWII, they used to take lots of eggs on the warships and they didn't have huge walk-ins on board, so they had to have methods for storing those eggs long-term. Obviously, the sailors weren't dying of food poisoning.

reply to post by jdoors

Well we are both right, here is why.

Click me

Any world traveler has probably noticed that in most countries outside of the US and Canada, eggs aren't stored under refrigeration. Whether you are wandering in an outdoor market, shopping in a grocery store or visiting a home, you will find eggs sitting on the counter, at room temperature. Why is that?The answer appears to be that US regulations require that eggs be power-washed, which removes all organic matter (and any harmful bacteria) but also strips the egg's shell of its protective coating, thus rendering it more porous and open to contamination. A synthetic coating is often applied in commercial operations to combat this but the eggs are still refrigerated. The USDA also requires that eggs be sold under refrigeration, regardless of how they are washed, so even your super-crunchy health food stores are going to keep their eggs in the refrigerator or risk being shut down.

As a sailor and ships cook we bought eggs in the hundreds, and always stored them in dry storage, they lasted for a month or almost two.

AnonymousCitizen
reply to post by Mianeye

 

That's true for normal eggs. But the eggs in most U.S. grocery stores have been overly washed, removing the protective coating that naturally coats the outside. This makes the shells much more porous, requiring refrigeration.

I've heard that you can coat them in mineral oil to get back some of that protection, but I'll just keep my eggs the way they came out of the hen like nature intended.

Didn't see your post before i posted my above, gave you a star

lol at some people. freezing cold,no power. "oh em gee the milk and everything in the freezer is gone bad!" but they do the same stuff during warm weather emergencies. buy all the perishables up like they can keep it in the fridge/freezer. It all comes down to people relying on getting food from the grocery store without knowing anything about the food they buy nor how people have stored said food before the inventing of cold keeping technology

EDIT: you can keep eggs unrefrigerated for a good while by coating them in oil. mineral/vegetable/olive

I think a lot of folks are missing the point. We ALL have perishable stuff in our fridge, etc., just that it isn't ALL we have. I'll still lose a couple hundred bucks worth of food if we lose power...if we lose it for more than a day. Doesn't matter that I still have stuff to eat...NOBODY likes to lose a chunk of change....

Also, even an OFF fridge will still keep things for about 4-6 hours, as long as you don't go in and out of it. Of course though, when it's freezing outside, kind of a no-brainer... THERE IS YOUR FRIDGE!!!

If not cold outside, there are some steps. First, keep a couple bags of ice in a freezer (if you can). Power goes out, take a bag out and put it in the fridge to help. Freezer packs also work for this. Also, you can consolidate food together, to have it keep other foods cool. Especially if you can move food to the freezer (just be sure to move it back once you have power!)

Some folks may advise dry ice. Personally, If your fridge/freezer is still cold, this could simply cause dry ice to go bye-bye (not to mention the expense, and usually not something one has on hand....

If I have meat in the fridge/freezer, and we lose power...after 4 hours, I'm having a barbeque!!! Fire up the grill!!!

Here is a neat little trick to build your own fridge from pots and sand, no electricity required, works in warm periods.

Click me

In a community or situation without electricity, storage of food long-term can be tricky. One simple solution is to build your own pot-in-pot fridge, using basic pots, sand and water. An idea revived by Muhammed Bah Abba, this refrigerator is now being used by many farmers in warm climates who need to preserve their food for a longer time and keep the insects away.