Why do people buy milk and bread is snow is predicted?

[Mom2SamandJames]

Okay, I live in Alabama, and snow is predicted to start falling today and accumulate through tomorrow morning. They are saying maybe some ice on top of the snow. There isn't bread at any grocery store or milk. Why do people go nuts and buy milk? If our power goes out, the milk does no good. I just replenished my pantry of the canned goods I was out of and purchased a few extra snacks.

 

[Marionnette]

Okay, I live in Alabama, and snow is predicted to start falling today and accumulate through tomorrow morning. They are saying maybe some ice on top of the snow. There isn't bread at any grocery store or milk. Why do people go nuts and buy milk? If our power goes out, the milk does no good. I just replenished my pantry of the canned goods I was out of and purchased a few extra snacks.

Tradition.

You need to make french toast when it snows! Dont forget to buy eggs too!

 

[Mom2SamandJames]

It cracks me up to see what the stores are out of. People have gone absolutely nuts and are buying things that don't make sense. I have made big gallon jugs of kool-aid for my boys because that doesn't require refrigeration if the power happens to go out. If it doesn't go out...great...I am prepared and won't have to do as much

If you live in Alabama and your weatherman says the word snow, look out. The grocery stores are going to be totally packed with people fighting over milk and bread.

 

[crusoe2]

I'm in Alabama too. A lot of people I know have generators and when the power goes out they plug up the fridge ever so often to keep it cold. So I suppose that could explain how they would keep that much milk from going bad. Now what they're going to do with that much milk in just 2 or 3 days? I'm sure some have a large enough family that they go thru more milk that my little family of four. Others tho - I don't know. I've wondered that same thing.

 

[gillenkl]

lol - no clue, I guess it's just something we feel we have to do? Orange Juice is another biggie that gets wiped out here during an impending storm - by "impending storm" I mean 1-2 inches..... Nothing will really go bad though because if you lose power you could just put it outside to keep it cool I guess. It's a mystery.

 

[roscoepc1]

I live in Ontario, so snow is a common occurance...we just set things outside in the snow if the power goes out...

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

I think it makes sense...those are the perishable things I most often have to run out and get mid-week, so those would be the things I would opt to pick up if I were running by the store on the way home from work and I knew bad weather was coming. My pantry is pretty well stocked, but with milk and bread (and eggs) my options of what to make increase exponentially.

 

[crusoe2]

It cracks me up to see what the stores are out of. People have gone absolutely nuts and are buying things that don't make sense. I have made big gallon jugs of kool-aid for my boys because that doesn't require refrigeration if the power happens to go out. If it doesn't go out...great...I am prepared and won't have to do as much

If you live in Alabama and your weatherman says the word snow, look out. The grocery stores are going to be totally packed with people fighting over milk and bread.

Yep, I had to brave Walmart yesterday and it was insane. Since our heat is electric, DH and I were looking for a backup source of heat in case the power goes out. We were really wanting a propane heater and they did actually have a few left but there wasn't a propane bottle to be found anywhere. We found 4 kerosene heaters and put one in our cart while we looked at something in another part of the store and mulled over whether to buy it or look elsewhere for propane. Ten minutes later we went back to the area with the kerosene heaters and they were all gone and the shelf had been halfway torn from the wall. Geez. Then someone told us that the canned food aisles on the other side of the store were almost completely emptied and people were literally fighting over what was left. Glad I keep a pretty good supply of canned stuff all the time - we didn't need much and I was able to find what I needed to top us off.

Great idea on the Kool-Aid, btw. I'll have to remember that one. My trick is to bake a ham before the storm hits and then we eat off that for a couple days. We also try to keep some bags of ice in our big freezer so that if the power goes out we can transfer some of the items from the fridge to a cooler and not have to open the fridge door too often.

 

[MinnieLove]

lets not forget the eggs!

My theory is that all people make FRENCH TOAST during a snow storm. Think about it - they buy eggs, milk and bread. So they must be making french toast!

 

[kacaju]

Don't forget hot chocolate!! You need a good supply of milk to make the hot chocolate for when you come in from shoveling snow

 

[Trixiezzz]

Well, if the fridge goes out you could always just put your stuff outside...

 

[MamaJessie]

Ok so I have turned into one of those people and I can explain why..
When it snows and my kids are home from school I have time to make a better breakfast (which usually requires bread and eggs) As for milk, we go through about a gallon a day so I buy milk every 2-3 days as is and go through more of it when the kids are home. I also use the milk to make cocoa from scratch when they come in from sledding (which is what they do when it snows )

I remember reading once that Walmart sells more poptarts before a snowfall than any other time. THAT phenomenon is one I don't understand.

 

[6264EVER]

We live in Central Illinois - snow is common during the winter.....always make sure we have milk, bread, lunch meat and CHOCOLATE. We have a full house generator. If I am "snowed in" I need to have chocolate.....

 

[GinnyEmma]

A friend in Atlanta is cooking for the next five days because they lost power for 10 last time they were hit.

I always check my supplies when I might be snowed in. Cat food and tp are high in our list, too. Right now, I have no bread or milk, lol, because we ran out of both yesterday.

 

[3boymthr]

Actually, I can give you a better reason. It started in the Northeast when they had some really really bad blizzards back in the 70's. I can name one storm in particular in 1978. So little snow was predicted that everyone went to work and school and basically went about life as usual. Things got bad and everyone headed right home. Well, the storms got so, so bad (in the storm I'm thinking of over 4ft of snow fell in our town) and lasted so long (3 days or so) that nothing could get in or out (the highways were parking lots with people freezing to death because they were snowed into their cars) and people who did get home were trapped in their homes for days - I can remember that after the storm stopped you were not allowed to drive for a week. People were skiing or walking to the stores to get food. Well, everyone ran out of milk and bread and eggs and... including the stores because nothing was moving. The big thing about this is that the storms were only predicted to last a little while with only a few inches of snow so now whenever snow comes people around here remember those storms and what happened and always make sure they are stocked up. IMO the remembered paranoia seems to have spread...

 

[Nayan]

It's almost like when we have tropical storms/hurricanes here in the south. The number one seller? Strawberry Pop-Tarts! Not the first thing I would grab, but there's quite a few folks who do.

 

[momof1princess]

i live in alabama as well, and i guess bread and milk are just the two main things people seem to use most when bad weather hits. bread for sandwiches, french toast, or regular toast; and milk, well, i guess everyone drinks a lot of it. there's 3 of us, and between DH and DD (i'm allergic to milk) they go through 2 gallons a week.

we went shopping at our super walmart on friday, and the store shelves were getting bare. a PP mentioned pop-tarts....the great value brand pop-tarts at my store were completely wiped out. i needed a box for DD, and had to buy the actual pop-tarts brand. we buy our milk at the local bakery thrift store, and stocked up there last week, so no issues with bread, and we got milk at aldi (much cheaper than walmart). we have plenty of candles and flashlights if the power goes out, but i don't expect it to. we're in the light ice zone, so our power lines should be okay. if power does go out, we're total electric, so we'll be hiking up the hill to the in-laws' house (they have gas heat).
everyone stay safe!

 

[Colleen27]

We don't do that because we're in Michigan and it takes a foot or more of snow to stop me from getting to the store, but I can understand it. Kids home from school means going through more food (esp. if they usually buy breakfast and/or lunch at school), and those are the things one tends to run out of between big shopping trips. And if it is cold enough for snow, you can always stick the milk and other perishables outside to keep if the power fails.

The thing that always leaves me scratching my head is that whenever we've been down south for a hurricane/tropical storm (and I've been in more than you'd expect for a Michigan girl - 2 of each), the stores sell out not of bottled water or non-perishable foods, but of BEER!

 

[Leajess99]

Okay, I live in Alabama, and snow is predicted to start falling today and accumulate through tomorrow morning. They are saying maybe some ice on top of the snow. There isn't bread at any grocery store or milk. Why do people go nuts and buy milk? If our power goes out, the milk does no good. I just replenished my pantry of the canned goods I was out of and purchased a few extra snacks.

If power goes out the milk can actually be stored outside in the cold especially since snow and ice generally accumulate when it is less than 36 degrees. Also it does not go bad that quickly if you limit access to the refridgerator. It is easier to make a bowl of cereal without power than to cook anything. The same for bread as it is easeir to make a sandwich than to cook. If you have ever been in an ice storm in which you are unable to get out of the house than you could probably understand. Just because you have an ice/snow storm does not mean that you lose power and again if you do than there is always the option of placing cold items right outside.

 

[Sinderelly]

Tradition.

You need to make french toast when it snows! Dont forget to buy eggs too!

Don't forget to add Mrs. Butterworth's to your list!