Bread & Milk - Why???

[Bonnie151]

A random, trivial question, but one has me up wondering at night sometimes (though I do have on/off insomnia and there are many silly questions which keep me occupied) - when the weather turns bad, why does everyone rush out for bread and milk???

Milk I sort of get as I have young children who would probably die of dehydration in oh, about 2 hours, if they didn't have a constant milk supply. However, bread??? I could go DAYS without bread. When it turns bad, I rush out for eggs. With eggs, I can make countless recipes (including bread! ).

I'm not being snarky, I'm genuinely curious. We're just out of two weeks of heavy snow and all the shops were runing out of bread and milk. Some shops had a limit of three loaves of bread (and I'm sorry, but who needs more than that? It goes stale! And it doesn't taste the same after it's frozen!). I've also seen a few people here reference going out to buy bread and milk during the recent bad weather some of you guys are getting so I know it's not a uniquely Scottish thing!

 

[dbrn]

I don't really know, but my guess is that it's because if the power goes out for an extended period of time, they can make sandwiches with bread.

 

[maslex]

I live in the Northeast, so I'm used to having major snowstorms on a regular basis. I also know that the stores around here also go crazy when there's a snowstorm. WHY? I don't know. Since we are a region known for bad weather, the state guys really get out there and know how to clean the roads off pretty quick. Plus growing up around here, you get to know how to drive in this type of weather.

With that being said, I usually have enough on hand in my house that I don't need to rush out and buy out 8 gallons of milk, 6 loaves of bread, 4 dozen eggs plus about $850 worth of groceries just incase we're "housebound" for 2 days.

I've never understood why everyone rushes out and buys everything in sight.

I usually do my grocery shopping every Sunday morning. If I hear that we're in for some pretty bad weather ON Sunday morning, then I will usually get it done the day before (only so I don't have to deal with bringing groceries in during bad weather) But while at the store, you see people *literally* running around the store, grabbing everything in sight. It's quite comical if you ask me. I just shop as I would normally shop, buy what I normally buy and go about my day. No crazy shopping for me.

 

[monkeyboy]

2 words

French Toast

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Well some folks get snowed in for several days. Some don't live close to a grocery store so when a strom strikes they want to the prepared. Especially if you have a baby in the house you need the milk. If your power goes out and you are unable to cook you can always make sandwiches. Sometimes it is days before your electric gets restored so these are essential items to have!

I have family in PA that live 25 miles from the nearest town/grocery store.


Hope that helps to clarify the run on milk/bread when bad weather strikes.

 

[olwyngdh]

Where I grew up, having the power go out in a bad snowstorm was not uncommon. We lived in an all electric house, so you couldn't count on being able to cook if there was a storm. Bread was for sandwiches, and milk was for Snow Ice Cream when we started driving Mom crazy!

 

[kaytieeldr]

And eggs. It's French Toast Storm Syndrome. Snow predicted? Everybody "needs" the ingredients to make French toast: bread/milk/eggs. Those are the first three shelves to empty out, every time. Remember, even with no electricity - you can still cook with gas.

The real reason, though? The media. They make everything sound drastic, as if the end of the world is coming with the next storm. I think it's collusion with the supermarkets...

 

[msmayor]

Folks can buy all the bread and milk they want as far as I'm concerned.

It leaves all the cheese doodles, twinkies, chips, dip and beer for me to stock up on.

 

[Disney Ella]

I don't get it either. I live in an urban/suburban area, but you would think that we all lived on the top of a mountain and wouldn't see a snowplow for two weeks based on the way people flock to the stores if even a few inches of snow is predicted.

 

[Keli]

I do my grocery shopping on the weekend (usually Saturdays). We're expecting about an inch this afternoon (enough to stop a good percentage of our population) so I thought yesterday would be horrible at the grocery. But it wasn't bad considering it's a Saturday two weeks before Christmas!
I guess people aren't as quick to do the bread/milk thing around here as they used to a few years ago.

 

[clori]

I used to work in a grocery store. I live near Boston so snow is typical in winter. I used to laugh at every time a storm was predicted the same people would show up to buy things like milk, bread, flashlights and ice cream. I never understood why they couldn't reuse the same flashlight and perhaps just need new batteries. I figured if the flashlights were that bad maybe they should buy better ones somewhere else.

So many people who lived within walking distance of the store would complain about losing electricity which rarely happened yet absolutely have to have lots of ice cream on hand. At least hot chocolate made sense to me. Once I did have to help open a grocery store the morning after a big storm. This storm was big enough that the t (subway) wasn't running some trains for a few days etc. I didn't normally work in the morning but had been asked to as a special favor since the full time person lived over an hour away.

I did manage to walk there but it wasn't fun - mostly because I took a dumb short cut and was soaked but my 20 minute walk took over an hour. I had originally planned on taking the bus which was a 5 minute ride but wasn't running. I had a line of people waiting to get in the store. They still wanted things like milk, bread, eggs and ice cream even though the snow had stopped.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Here in New England, it's because of one blizzard people still remember (I didn't live here yet) when those items ran short.

I also think it's because they're what I call the "mid-week items". Many people do their main grocery shopping once a week, but stop quickly for another gallon (or half) of milk and a second loaf of bread in the middle of the week. The don't like to buy it all at once because it's better fresh. So it's that "little" stop people would normally be making on the way home from work that they are trying to squeeze in before bad weather.

 

[Acklander]

I think when a storm is coming people will run out to the store and stock up on everything so they won't have to drive thru the snow to do their regular grocery shopping. However, milk and bread are perishables that are restocked every day from the vendors, as opposed to twinkies where they have a spare case in the back. So, I think the stores go through more of everything, but the bread and milk are more obvious since they're going thru more than a day's worth. At least that's my guess

 

[Bonnie151]

...and milk was for Snow Ice Cream when we started driving Mom crazy!

OMG - confession here, I'm actually originally from New England but moved to Scotland in 1990 and whenever it snows we make snow ice cream. People here think I'm MAD!!! They say, "ewwwwwww, how can you let your children eat snow" to which I respond, "it's a New England child's staple food in the winter!". I add cream to it as well and fortunately the shops haven't run low on cream over the past couple of weeks!

I wasn't thinking about loss of electricity (where's the slapping yourself on the forehead smilie?) and yeah, I'm old enough to remember the Blizzard of '78which I believe PollyAnnaMom is referencing, so that does make a bit more sense, doh!

 

[beaucoup]

Yes, unexpected & unpredicted Blizzard of '78 where they called for flurries and areas received over 30" of snow overnight. People were stuck in their houses & in their cars on roads. Roads not cleared for a week. Cars not allowed on cleared roads for a week. Therefore, people had to walk to stores to buy whatever was left. Delivery trucks were not able to get in to deliver. Store shelves were bare after just a couple of days. Even frozen bread you bake yourself was sold out.

 

[KatieA]

We usually have enough food in the house so that is not an issue. What we really need is water. We have a well and septic system, so no electricity means no water and no flushing the toilets. So we keep extra water around for such use.

 

[dis-happy]

I'm LOL that it happens in Scotland too.

You're forgetting one key shopping item though: milk, bread and TOILET PAPER! It's part of the equation here.

I've sworn to my dh for years that the "threat of snow flurries" weather reports are sponsored by the local grocery store. Same with those "possible hurricane developing" reports in the summer.

The only way to get a real forecast (and not the fear-mongering type) is to skip the local newscasts and go to the weather service reports on the internet. At least that way you aren't worried about braving the crowds trying to stock up for no reason whatsoever.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I think when a storm is coming people will run out to the store and stock up on everything so they won't have to drive thru the snow to do their regular grocery shopping. However, milk and bread are perishables that are restocked every day from the vendors, as opposed to twinkies where they have a spare case in the back. So, I think the stores go through more of everything, but the bread and milk are more obvious since they're going thru more than a day's worth. At least that's my guess

Yep. If the roads are not clear for the trucks to roll to restock and you are out of bread, milk and eggs, then no french toast FOR YOU!

 

[PatsMom]

We usually have enough food in the house so that is not an issue. What we really need is water. We have a well and septic system, so no electricity means no water and no flushing the toilets. So we keep extra water around for such use.

We have a well and septic too. But we also still have the old outhouse that goes with the guesthouse - the original camp we have used since I was a child. We don't waste our water on flushing the toilet - we keep enough for drinking and if the outage is going to last a while, move over to the camp. Its much easier to live without electricity in a small space that has alternative sanitary facilities!

No electricity also means no heat except for the wood stove. Kitchen range is gas so we can still cook. We could keep the house warm with the wood stove but it is easier to keep the camp warm. So we shut everything down in the big house and move. We've only had to do it twice in the last eight years. Usually electric is back in a day or so.

It is snowing hard here in my area of NH. I went to the store yesterday and got beer for the football game. We'll scrounge food from the pantry and freezer. I couldn't stand the thought of going into a real grocery store yesterday since the rest of the world was there getting bread and milk!

 

[kaytieeldr]

But back in those days, people DID walk. Granted, Thursday (in my mom's house, anyway) was grocery shopping day and The Blizzard was Monday/Tuesday into Wednesday. But Saturday morning, the people at the far aend of our street came by with the sled and took orders; they walked to that supermarket, picked up everybody's 'emergency' orders and voila! Food!

Plus, a couple of years after that I got a job working for a food wholesaler. The sales manager told us that company WAS open those days, their trucks were allowed on the road, and she got some type of special exemption to drive to and from work.