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

reply to post by jdoors


If it is cold outside, and freezing...you have a natural freezer... so you can have your eggs,milk and other items that need refrigerated...place in a cooler with lid open, outside on deck or patio to keep cold and frozen...if you need to bring in and out of the cold, so some things will not freeze..than do it.
It is when its hot that it becomes a problem with no power in the south.
Up north I put things out like this all the time if we lose power in the winter...if it gets too warm, I simply cook a lot of it up and use it first, yes it might not be the greatest eating eggs all the time, but you can also hard boil them to have them last longer ...milk can be used to cook with to help use it up...my point being...you might not have a normal meal for yourself or your family while the power is out, but you would be fed...and you would be using the food and not wasting it...if you use your head...then once you use up all the perishable food, you get into the other food you have and continue on.
When it comes to wasting food...you need to use your head for something other than a hat rack...and if your not smart enough to do that, it might be good to do some research and gain some knowledge, after all that is going to be your best tool that you have. You can have everything you want or think you need, but without knowing how to do things or prioritizing them your going to fail..and we all do!! So get out and actually doing them, because watching a video is not the same as doing it with trial and error, get out and go gain some skills and sharpen the ones you already have.
this is just my .02 cents for what its worth

The reason people buy perishable food when they hear a bad winter storm is coming is:

"Because they're stupid, that's why. That's why everybody does everything."

- Homer Simpson

My biggest fear with regard to power failure in the warm is the freezer in the garage!

I've got at least 50 lbs of frozen tuna, large-mouth bass and channel cat. Then there's probably 120 lb. of venison, as well as some quail breasts and a quarter beef, along with frozen milk. some frozen berries from last june as well.

I can grill most of it, but it would take a couple of days. Not exactly what you want to be doing in a crisis, wafting the smell of smoking jerky throughout the neighborhood....

The real reason why people buy milk, bread and eggs when they hear a storm is coming is because............. the official storm food is French toast. (At least that is what my husband jokes every time a storm is headed our way and we see the bare shelves.)

In all seriousness though, I think the basics fly off the shelf before a storm because these are the items we always find ourselves making special trips to the store for and people want to make sure they have enough. (especially if you have kids)

We are located in PA, out of town and have been prepared for the winter. Generator to run appliances and enough fresh fuel stocked up for it (we bought it before Hurricane Sandy came through, haven't used it more than once, and never during a big storm).

Outside, we could use coolers out on the porch to keep refrigerated food cold, if we needed; but not just laying out there, or the bears, coyotes and all the other critters would be feasting.

Before this storm, my mother-in-law asked me about stopping to get milk, eggs and bread. I told her to just come home and not do that. She did the grocery shopping for the week already and we didn't need all that extra stuff to take up space.

As for keeping the fridge and freezers cold in a warmer climate; (I do this in the summer to conserve on buying ice for the coolers) I freeze water in empty jugs from juices and milk and such; along with the 1 gallon size ziplock baggies so they are ice packs to use for keeping other items cold.

There are many things you can do to make it through a week or 3 without power, if you use your head and one tip that is necessary; be sure to get money out of your bank accounts; if power is out, so is using any credit or debit cards for purchases.

A_L

jdoors
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.

A better question may be: "Why are there so many stupid people?"

If there is a bunch of snow and ice outside and your power is out, all you really need to do to keep your food good is to pack up the ice and snow in bags and keep your refrigerator or freezer food cold and packed in ice. The ice will melt so it might be easier to put it in a cooler and set it outside rather than changing bags of ice out every few hours.

I will agree many people are idiots. They will buy food that needs to be kept cold or eaten and then they wil buy all the supplies up at the grocery store and be the first to complain all their food went bad when the power went off. Idiots. Most of the time I do not see power outages in my area so maybe I'm lucky.

GMan420

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.

I agree fully!

I have talked about it for 30+ years and don't even care anymore. If they're too stupid to worry about themselves why should I?!

Nature has a way of weeding out the stupid ones, why should we interfere?

reply to post by jdoors

One issue with using your back porch as an "outdoor freezer," at least where we live, is the number of animal "pickers" in our neighborhood.

The raccoons are the worst, but there's also possums, coyotes, and stray cats.

If you just leave the stuff lying out on a table, it sure won't be there in the morning; and the coons will climb if you hang your treats from a nail where a potted plant usually hangs.

Sometimes I put my stuff inside the gas grill, because nothing but raccoons can lift the lid. An ice chest works well, too, as long as it is airtight, and they won't smell the meat inside. Bungee cords and some bricks on top won't hurt.