Why Stock Up?

[big rockpile]

I was brought up you always set back stuff for later it seems now days kids think this is strange.

I don't care if its propane or wood for heat, food have plenty like my wife says we wouldn't have to go to the store for a month. We have three Freezers full and a Closet full.

Now days so many asking why do you have two years worth of wood, or why you buy all your propane in the Spring. Then you see them cutting wood in the snow or trying to come up with money for propane when they are out. Or have to run to town every day because they are out of food

Do others find this as the norm now days to not stock up?

big rockpile

[fishhead]

Yep. We're a bunch of grasshoppers and winter is coming.

[Pony]

The populace has been taught to live for today. Saving - money, food, stores, whatever - has become passe'. Those who look to the future are viewed as strange or greedy.

We live in bad times. Worse times are coming.

[farmmaid]

My dad always said...."in a year of plenty save for a year of lean". I so agree, we start the farm harvest with maple syrup making. This year we are good to go but who knows what next year will bring!

[fishhead]

We should also be thinking long term when it comes to water because of what seems like a spreading worldwide drought. I'm not saying everywhere is drought but some very important food production areas are getting hit with drought. With our exploding population the intersection between food supply and food demand is approaching for us. It used to be just for third world countries but now we are in for a taste of it.

Here's an interesting read on storing water in the ground.

http://ag.arizona.edu/oals/ALN/aln46/lancaster.html

Similar projects are taking place in India where villagers are learning how to store rainwater in ponds and water seeping into the ground is replenishing the wells that were running dry.

[ErinP]

No, it's not just the grasshopper/ant thing.

I'll be the devil's advocate because I just saw this in an organizing book recently. Organizing for adult's with ADHD, actually, so we're talking people who need serious help.

An over-arching theme is to keep things minimal. No cutesy storage baskets unless you can see directly into them, and they only hold the essentials. No place settings for more people than you actually have in your family (keep Thanksgiving/Christmas tableware in an out-of-the-way spot and ONLY bring it out then).
And no mega-packs of TP, multiple shampoos, more food than you'll eat in a couple of weeks, etc.

The point was that most of us are no more than 20 minutes from a store so we don't need to keep so much stuff on hand. And instead, by doing so, we create stress and disorder for ourselves.
Ie, the rare times when those extras truly come in handy creates a stress for those most-of-the-times when they are unnecessary.



I would venture to guess that struggling with too much "stuff" is more of a problem for people than actually running OUT of "stuff."

[Maura]

I agree, even with all this snow, I can get to a grocery store in 20 minutes. Remember that when people moved into apartments they didn't have storage in their kitchen for more than a few days, the little freezers that came with the refrigerator didn't hold much. Other than a few extra canned goods that were bought on sale, most people shopped for a week at a time. That's what they taught their children. Our storage mostly consists of what is in the freezer (side of beef, sheep, pig), and what is on the shelves in the garage. Granted, we could make it through several weeks without shopping, and have enough meat for months at a time. Most people don't can, so they don't have a harvest in jars in the cellar.

[LoonyK]

Hoarding is not popular nowadays, its considered a disorder

[Terri]

It is going to be -15 in a bit, and there is 7 inches of snow in the driveway.

I think if I did *NOT* have plenty of food in the house I would be stressed!

As a mother of a hyperactive son I do understand the need to keep things like the back of the closet visible: with my son it is all or nothing: either it is clean or the room is 2 feet deep in junk and there is NOTHING in between! Or so it seems. This is why I have been stressing the concept of an "oops" cupboard! I keep it full of canned meals that can be heated and eaten AND I have had him get his own meals if I cannot cook that night.

I HOPE that when he is independant he has his own "oops" cupboard: it sure is convenient to open a can of chili or stew when life is busy or you are snowed in!

[ErinP]

But it's a rare snowstorm that would keep one trapped longer than 2 weeks (which was the recommended amount to have on hand)...

[Rosepath]

Colorado floods. Little more than 20 minutes (or days) to the store for some.
Being minimalist and organized is nice, not so much when there's nothing to eat for the fam though.

[jwal10]

Originally Posted by LoonyK

Hoarding is not popular nowadays, its considered a disorder

SAD. So now putting away is called hoarding....James

[Pony]

Most folks (not us, BTW) may be within a 20 minute drive to the grocery store, but when you have a major weather event or other event that stops trucks, the stock on hand at Kroger or Walmart will become non-existent.

There are no such things as local warehouses anymore. The "warehouse" of today - aside from distribution centers - is the OTR truck.

Let something really big happen, and that "local" store may as well be a million miles away. They won't have a blessed thing on the shelves.

[SFM in KY]

I grew up on a ranch in MT that was 60 miles of gravel road to town (pre-4 x 4 days) so you got to town once a month during the summer (unless the baler broke down) and maybe once every 2 or 3 months during the winter if you were lucky. Growing up that way had an effect on my mindset about stocking up, even after I did move to town ... and I moved back to the country after 12 years of town.

Now ... 10 minutes from a Dollar store ... 30 minutes from bigger town, Wal Mart, Kroger, Sav A Lot, etc. ... but I still shop once a month at most. It's by choice, as I do not enjoy going to town.

[ErinP]

Colorado floods. Little more than 20 minutes (or days) to the store for some.

Good example.
Even a disaster of that magnitude didn't cut people off for more than 2 weeks.

[rambler]

While there are hoarding issues some people face and that is a problem, I really have to disagree with the 20 minutes to a store and everything you ever need is there just a plastic card swipe away.

That is fine for the junk we all want and accumulate.

But seems very wrong for staples of life. Some basic food supplies, some basic heating, access to water, access to power.

Homesteading used to be about being a bit isolated and being prepared to go it alone for a while.

You put up garden and fruit and meat supplies when you get them, so you have them available for the next 12 months. Not 2 weeks.

You lay in a supply of wood for the furnace 2 years from now, because good seasoning and drying takes 20 months.

You buy a large propane tank, or diesel heating fuel tank, so when the weeks of snow and blowing and such come you have heat even if the trucks cant get out and about. And you fill the tank when there is a summer discount, not put in the bare minimum they will deliver every 2 weeks because you have no resources to pay. You were prepared for being out there and a bit isolated.

Now on homesteading I read about water shutoffs on the curb, and that its bad to have more than 2 weeks of flour and beans and toilet paper and furnace fuel because the stores are so close?

Oh my.

I also recall reading about how stores get depleted right before a storm, and the parking lot is too full to get in, but I guess that isn't a symptom of things to worry about?

Oh my.

Paul

[ErinP]

I worked in a grocery store when I was in HS/college. Know what the first item to disappear in a blizzard was?




Chocolate chips. lol
Without fail, baking goods were always the first things cleared off the shelves. People would WALK a mile or more to the store, in the snow, to get stuff to bake.

[jwal10]

Might have been then, now it is bread, milk and cereal. The rest is junk food. Walk out the door, eat it and be back tomorrow. OOOOPPS tomorrow the truck didn't make it, the store is out. Everyone that lives that way panics. Good luck....James

[LoonyK]

Originally Posted by jwal10

SAD. So now putting away is called hoarding....James

and preppers are seen as potential terrorists

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by jwal10

Might have been then, now it is bread, milk and cereal. The rest is junk food. Walk out the door, eat it and be back tomorrow. OOOOPPS tomorrow the truck didn't make it, the store is out. Everyone that lives that way panics. Good luck....James

how old do you think I am?!?!? lol
Though yeah, junk food. That's kind of my point.
People aren't worried so much as wanting something fun while they're stuck.


No milk, bread or cereal? That might indeed be an annoyance, but it's hardly the line in the sand before starvation...