Author Topic: blizzard, stores running low on food (Read 2668 times)

lee1954 · « **on:** December 26, 2009, 10:48:17 AM »

We are just on the west edge of the big blizzars that is covering the midwest...But the one small town grocries store is out of egg and very low on milk and bread ...
East of us where icey rain took out power befor the blizzard..

I think that this is a good time to look around and see what is happening ,,,,,
And what to be prepard for -- whether the next time be a storm or worse..

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** December 26, 2009, 11:04:16 AM »

Around here all it takes is mention of the word snow and EVERY store in the county is out of bread, milk and eggs. That's a LOT of grocery stores and three Wal-Mart Super Centers.

Dee · « **Reply #2 on:** December 26, 2009, 12:31:25 PM »

It truly is amazing how much junk folks keep in their home to play with, and how little storable food. Priorities I guess.

bilmac · « **Reply #3 on:** December 26, 2009, 12:44:04 PM »

Box of dried milk, box of Bisquick, box of dried eggs on the shelf and you don't have to go play games with dummys.

hillbill · « **Reply #4 on:** December 26, 2009, 01:50:44 PM »

couple boxes of oatmeal and 5lbs of beans and yur good for a couple weeks. well longer if yu have any livestock like cows or horses.

Dee · « **Reply #5 on:** December 26, 2009, 02:35:49 PM »

Yep! But on this website, how many members do you think have even that?

efremtags · « **Reply #6 on:** December 26, 2009, 03:21:53 PM »

It's amazing how snow storms spur people to buy milk, eggs and bread. Everyone must make french toast during an emergency. The maple syrup industry must trump up the weather to sell more product.

Almtnman · « **Reply #7 on:** December 26, 2009, 03:50:28 PM »

Peanut butter, crackers, canned soup, chili and coffee and water, maybe a few cans of vienna sausage and that will hold my family for quite a few days. Ask any long haul trucker and they will give you a list of what to have on hand.

mechanic · « **Reply #8 on:** December 26, 2009, 04:04:24 PM »

Got lucky, found a guy selling MRE's for $15.00 a case. Best survival food around.

kynardsj · « **Reply #9 on:** December 26, 2009, 04:25:47 PM »

My wife ask's me why I keep stocking food when we have plenty. I just tell her that I hope you never have to thank me for doing it. Lots of stuff here like Almtnman and mechanic are talking about. Plus 30 pounds or so of vacumn packed rice.

rio grande · « **Reply #10 on:** December 27, 2009, 12:56:41 AM »

Sounds just like hurricanes around here. Panic buying, price-gouging, closures, shortages.
A person is crazy not to have at least a couple weeks food and water, fuel, stoves, etc.
At least y'all don't have to worry about mosquitoes biting you and the Air Conditioner not working!

lee1954 · « **Reply #11 on:** December 27, 2009, 05:30:24 AM »

We like to get extra of stuff we use anyway - rice, beans ,pancakemix ,a few cans of evaporated milk -canned tuna or salmon and an extrra bag of pototos.... But fruites and sweets are nice, they help out in lifting sprits.
This is the third day with our Grand kids and more, snowed in.. and blueberry waffles had every one smiling !!!!

moxgrove · « **Reply #12 on:** December 27, 2009, 07:50:57 AM »

It's funny how that works, considering we had a 3 day notice the blizzard was coming. We are always well stocked, but had extra creature comforts to avoid going out and fighting the last minute Christmas shoppers . Not a hitch.

mechanic · « **Reply #13 on:** December 27, 2009, 09:46:37 AM »

We've been collecting stuff for a while now. My goal is to have at least 3 month's survivability with food. A worse problem in a potential breakdown of society is medications. Some of us old geezers are kept alive by medications that we may not be able to get short term. You can only buy 90 days worth, and must wait till those are used to refill. Dependent on when it should hit, that could be trouble. I am collecting stuff so my children and grandkids, and wife can survive. I wouldn't last long anyway.

Almtnman · « **Reply #14 on:** December 27, 2009, 10:09:00 AM »

mechanic, I also get my medications 90 day supply at a time. Here's how I make sure I have enough on hand when that stock gets low. Every year when I take my yearly physical I ask the attending nurse with my doctor to see if they have any samples. Sometimes I manage to get a months supply of just samples for reserve. You see all those drug sales people coming in and out while you're waiting your turn, well they leave a lot of perfectly good samples to get business and if you have a good doctor, they will pass them out to their customers if asked for. Once my doctor gave me some cholesterol pills that were twice the size that I take as that's all that he had of that sample size. He told me to be sure to split them and they will last 2 months instead of one month. Some folks have their doctors to give a larger size pill that can be split with a pill splitter so they only have to buy half as many pills. There's variables out there that can save a few bucks.

hillbill · « **Reply #15 on:** December 27, 2009, 01:04:52 PM »

i have really enjoyed this topic and have learned a lot from all the good replys.main thing i have learned is just how lucky i am to live in a rural area where where food, both wild and tame abounds everywhere.im lucky to have family all around me that are of a similiar mindset as me and just as self suffecient.its good to be able to thumb yur nose at ma nature and feel like your prepared for anything she can dish out.

goodshot · « **Reply #16 on:** December 27, 2009, 04:27:12 PM »

check when your insurance provider allows you to refill your prescription, some of mine are 21 days., some are 23 days etc.
By refilling every 21 days you can gain a week a month at end of the year you can have 3 months in reserve, keep them in the fridge.

powderman · « **Reply #17 on:** December 28, 2009, 11:00:48 AM »

HEH. My wife used to complain when I bought spam. After that last ice storm she decided it's pretty darned good to have around. We had plenty to survive on already on hand. The only thing I was short on was coleman fuel. I've since bought a couple more gallons. We are pretty well prepared for such things. Keep plenty of candles, kerosene, and lamps. POWDERMAN.

bearmgc · « **Reply #18 on:** December 29, 2009, 07:05:40 AM »

Got lots of food stored, pancke mix, oatmeal, bisquick, peanut butter, crackers, foodbars, dried fruit, canned stuff, chili, beans, vegies, juice, milk, cases of Ensure, vitamins, and other essentials. I can stay put for months. It is just a matter of priorities. Unfortunately, many folks are into learned helplessness.

Bigeasy · « **Reply #19 on:** December 29, 2009, 07:21:56 AM »

Between my home, truck, boat, and camper, I try to keep several cases of MRE's. Use and replace every few years. Several times I have spent unexpected nights on the water, or in the woods, and they have come in handy.

Larry

bilmac · « **Reply #20 on:** December 29, 2009, 08:43:14 AM »

Easy, I take it you live in the southland too. I used to try to keep MRE's or C rations in my camper and boat ect. but forget them just once and they freeze and you can throw them away. Gets a little expensive when you are getting as forgetful as me. Now for emergency foods in these places I keep suger candies like lifesavers, that don't melt in the summer, and trail mixes, mostly peanuts and raisins, maybe some crackers in places like the boat. Even then I have to remember to rotate this stuff or the time you need it it will be inedible.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #21 on:** December 29, 2009, 10:24:50 AM »

I have had the image of most of my Mid West relatives always being prepared for the Big Storm. My Dad was raised on Michigan farm which did not get electricity until 1925. By that time he had moved to California. He moved to remote areas in the North where horse, buggy, and farm wagons were still a common form of transportation. In the house I was raised in there was a store room that had floor to ceiling shelves. Those shelves were filled with Mason jars filled with can vegetables from the family garden, fruits bought by the lug in Southern Oregon, and canned Mom. There was canned salmon out of the river, and on occasion can venison and bear meat.

Dad always spoke about how his family always put up a lot of food on the farm. And the large flour bin in the kitchen and the smell of bread baking in the kitchen. I was naive to believe that was how Mid West folks stocked up for the big storm. Those who did not live on a farm always maintained a supply of food. I rather suspect farm folks are better prepared today.

I was visited by a Mid West cousin and her husband. She was raised in a small town in Michigan, and they receive an income off of his family farm. They long become city people and use to having nearby grocery stores. She expressed surprise at how much food we have stored in our house. She could not get over it.

I explained to her that my wife and I have lived in some locations where the nearest was two hours away. When the roads are closed due to storms, slides, floods, and forest fires we are on our own. She could not imagine that we live at a spot that when the power went out it took the power company eight weeks to repair the powerlines. We no longer live in a remote location.

Fresh groceries are not necessary to survive, they do make life better. I can live on water and pancake mix.

It is hard to judge how long our food supply will last. What if the kids and grandkids show up?

The smell of food does bring visitors. A few years ago we were hit by a heavy snow what brought down a lot of trees on the powerline. We heated up some food on the wood stove for the neighbors and there little ones. They lived in an all electric house. I showed off and started up my generator and made coffee. A little sharing pays off at times.

charles p · « **Reply #22 on:** December 29, 2009, 01:43:59 PM »

We had ocean overwash on the island where I live about six weeks ago and our only road was cut into. DOT required about four days to get it filled in and surfaced. People bought all the milk, eggs, veggies, fruit, and meat in the grocery stores, but to my amazement the beer supply was never threatened. Gasoline ran out also. Hemmed up some tourist for a few days and they scooted as soon as they could.

vacek · « **Reply #23 on:** December 30, 2009, 06:03:16 AM »

My Mom and Dad grew up in the depression. If I didn't have a freezer full of meat, 20 lbs of pasta, 50+ pounds of rice, 25+ lbs of beans and tons of rotated canned food then they would rise from the grave and slap my face.

. I actually calculated that we have a minimum of 2 years food supply at 1500 calories per day (3 people) in the house.

ironglow · « **Reply #24 on:** January 01, 2010, 12:37:25 PM »

  Until 10 years ago, we always lived somewhat 'off the beaten path"..often on a dirt road. When a blizzard hits you are quite isolated. I maintained 3 ways to heat the home..and although I had freezers, I also maintained canned goods. When the electric goes..the freezer does too (but then, I had a metal bin out in a cold outbuilding I could put frozen stuff in to keep it). During the famous "Blizzard of '77"..we were isolated for about 2.5 weeks, before the D8 Cats came to plow out the road. We had lots of food, books, fuel etc..so just enjoyed ourselves...couldn't get to work..but most others couldn't either.
   Now we live in a small hamlet, but I can't break the wife of the "stocking up" habit.
  As mechanic said however, medications are a problem in case of societal breakdown. My wife would not last long without them, starting with Parkinson's, she has several very important meds. Mine is not so severe and I could probably survive for some years without meds.
  ..But probably high blood pressure or cholestrol would eventually fell me....sooner or later.
   That being said, we are most concerned with our progeny and their well being in such a case.. Long ago I took old Joshua seriously when he said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"..(Joshua 24:15)
   So.....each member of my direct family are committed to Jesus. That negates most fear & trepidation.

Almtnman · « **Reply #25 on:** January 02, 2010, 01:48:01 AM »

ironglow, two other things that would work to control your symptoms in case you ran out of your regular medication. Aspirin to control the blood pressure if you can take aspirin and Red Yeast Rice (herbal remedy) to control the cholesterol. You can always stock up up this from your local pharmacy. I use a regular medicine to control my cholesterol, but my wife uses the Red Yeast Rice to control hers and hers works just as good as mine does. I also take arthritis medicine, but I can always fall back on Advil in case I run out of my regular.

ironglow · « **Reply #26 on:** January 02, 2010, 12:01:28 PM »

thanks almtman;
Never can tell when one might need such info, i do already use the 81 gr asprin, but the red yeast rice is new to me. Might try that stuff anyway, I only take a "fat absorber" thing for Cholestrol, since finding out a few years ago...that statins would like to kill me.

Almtnman · « **Reply #27 on:** January 02, 2010, 02:19:23 PM »

I found out about the Red Yeast Rice from a nutritionist a couple of years back. I was already using the statin drugs for my cholesterol and my wife was having problems with her cholesterol level. She started using the Red Yeast Rice and it lowered her cholesterol way down. You can find it on the vitamin aisle at your pharmacy.

Duane · « **Reply #28 on:** January 07, 2010, 02:18:24 PM »

Survival means to me Hide ,evasion and live to tell about it not confront .22 magnum all the way enough for medium to small game and just incase I need to convince someone not to follow me .Presently i own 3 .22 WMR weapons I think it is one very underestimated caliber.Give me a single six and a marlin 925 and im gonna live pretty well .Shotgun shells entirley to heavy to carry any usable quanity.

don heath · « **Reply #29 on:** January 07, 2010, 08:23:21 PM »

In Africa it is beaked beans and candles that are the first things to run out when trouble threatens... Probably contributes to global warming later.....