# When Did Storing Food Become Crazy?



## VBF (Apr 15, 2017)

When did storing more than 3-7 days worth of food become crazy or label you as a prepper? When did putting up stores for winter fall out of fashion? Maybe it was different time periods in different parts of the country? Was it over time that this thought train happened or was it an all at once thing?


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

McDonalds, Grocery Sores, TV Dinners, Walmart, Amazon.
It started around 1946.
I don't think anyone from the city that comes out for a visit would label me a prepper; traveling thru the area would convince them of the lack of services and convenience.
Crazy was the mobs hitting stores for toilet paper and alcohol wipes like they were in the 6th circle of black friday.


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## RJ2019 (Aug 27, 2019)

I don't really care how crazy people think I am


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## doozie (May 21, 2005)

3 to 7 days is crazy?? 
I must be really nuts then, I know anything less than two weeks worth would make me nervous..
I think more people don't even cook for themselves, everything just magically appears before them now!


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## VBF (Apr 15, 2017)

doozie said:


> 3 to 7 days is crazy??
> I must be really nuts then, I know anything less than two weeks worth would make me nervous..
> I think more people don't even cook for themselves, everything just magically appears before them now!


Apparently, from what I've read, the average American has 3-7 days worth of food in their house.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Yes, the average American has about a weeks food stores, about 2k in the bank and are about 2 paychecks from missing the bills. They are also overweight, uninformed and lack the basic home economic skills of just a generation or two ago.
And we are still the greatest country on earth.


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## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

GTX63 said:


> Yes, the average American has about a weeks food stores, about 2k in the bank and are about 2 paychecks from missing the bills. They are also overweight, uninformed and lack the basic home economic skills of just a generation or two ago.
> And we are still the greatest country on earth.


I'm in the overweight category but that's it. I'm good to go ☺...


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Aesop's fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper is at least 2600 yrs old, and The Noah/Gilgamesh legend is at least twice that old.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

In the 1960's food prices went up, and it was blamed on "hoarders" for a while. My family was a large one, and total strangers would stop my Mom and yell at her for buying too many groceries, and nobody would listen when she said that she was feeding 8. Even when my Mom took all 6 of us kids to the store with her made no difference: When Mom said that she was only buying 1 weeks worth of food just like they were nobody listened

It was also noted in the newspapers that 1/3 of the price went to the stores, and so they were blamed as well for a while. Shopkeepers pointed out that they had to pay employees, utilities, insurance, rent, and that they made hardly any profit and so total strangers, after a while, stopped yelling at the check out people and managers. Strangers continues to yell at my Mom, though, and accuse her of driving up prices by "hoarding"

I have no idea if it goes back older than that, as I was born in 1955 and my memories before the 1960's are just of kid stuff. However, in my considered opinion, humans are simply weird. I never COULD convince an old room mate that my family did not gorge on butter because we used 3 sticks of butter a week when her own family of 3 only used 1 stick of butter a week. 3 sticks of butter for 8 people is about the same a 1 stick of butter for 3, but she never could get that. I just decided that my husband is right: if the good Lord had wanted us to be logical He would have created us as Vulcans


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Terri wins POST OF THE DAY!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)




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## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

We are obviously certifiably nuts here. This was the red potato harvest. I didn't document the Yukon harvest this year.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Hiro said:


> We are obviously certifiably nuts here. ...


A bit of trivia in case you get to be a contestant on Jeopardy, gleaned from an old time radio program about superstitions--In the middle ages, a suitor would take dinner with a joung maiden;s famly. If he was served nuts as desert, it was given as a sign that his attentions were undesirable...."Nuts to you."


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

It was the worst generation, the one spawned by the greatest generation. Convenience is the rule. No point owning a cow when you can get a Mexican guy to mow your grass while you eat ice creme and get the kids that were raised by their own wits and occasional wisdom from their grandparents to foot the bill for your bypasses. It's all about what is allowed to become normal, and a bunch of folks fed out on imitation cheese can make enough noise to make something seem normal.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

I know my pantry saved me and mine many times. Grew up with parents born in the great depression. Pantry stocking was a way of living after food became available. Grandfather was a railroad engineer he had the Baltimore to York pa run went right by his families farm. His brothers would bring vegetables and meat if they had it to the tracks. He was the only one that had a job at the time and took in other city family members. Lessons learned as a girl stuck with me. Canned food rotation and stock what you like to eat is the key. No point have 15 can of creamed corn if your family wont eat it. But yes people think your crazy. When i build my house i wanted a walk in pantry. Contractor thought i was nuts.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

A bigger point-- for most of the world, harvest comes only once a year, but you gotta eat all year...Before refrigeration and mechanized transport, you had to store food if you wanted to stay alive 'til next harvest...If the power to provide those two things fails, you starve if you're not prepared.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

for sure! when i was growing up we had a pantry all along one side of the house. it was always full. we had a lot of salt goods. i would help dad salt the meat and fish in barrels. also dried cod,caplin and whatnot. everything we needed for the winter. we had built in bins for flour,sugar,dried fruit etc.

dad did have land outside of town but only for hay for the horses. we bought our veggies on saturday from the veggie man who would go around with his wagon. my bro who was 15 when i was born would provide us with fresh fish every other day. that was when fish was abundant and you were allowed as many trout as you could catch. we were never hungry. dad was a good provider and mom a good manager. i've always stocked up myself but nobodys says i'm crazy because no one knows what i have and who shouts at people for what they have in their cart. i've been shopping a good many years and have yet to see it. i dont notice what other people have in their cart either unless they are coming straight at me loaded down with tp etc. ~Georgia


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

newfieannie said:


> i've always stocked up myself but nobodys says i'm crazy because no one knows what i have and who shouts at people for what they have in their cart. i've been shopping a good many years and have yet to see it. i dont notice what other people have in their cart either unless they are coming straight at me loaded down with tp etc. ~Georgia


 People in Canada have the reputation of being very polite. It sounds like it is true!


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

newfieannie said:


> i dont notice what other people have in their cart either unless they are coming straight at me loaded down with tp etc. ~Georgia


Seasoned shoppers have learned to rim the sides of their shopping cart with twelve pack plastic bottles of Pepsi and Mt Dew. It allows one to bounce off another cart during impact and protect their chips and cookies from whiplash.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

GTX63 said:


> Seasoned shoppers have learned to rim the sides of their shopping cart with twelve pack plastic bottles of Pepsi and Mt Dew. It allows one to bounce off another cart during impact and protect their chips and cookies from whiplash.


Also true.

Sigh

I should not criticize as I enjoy junk food: it is just that my middle aged body cannot tolerate what my taste buds are demanding, LOL! And so my own cart will be full of produce and meat and I fel superior when I look at other peoples cart fulls of desserts and chips


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

doc- said:


> If the power to provide those two things fails, you starve if you're not prepared.


A homesteader type travels thru the country and they see farmhouses, and land and equipment and they admire what has been done.
Someone who isn't familiar with farm life and homesteading travels thru the backroads and they wonder what people do to earn a living? What do people do for entertainment? They stare down at their phone's gps app to see how much farther to the next city and note they have no signal.
Farming and country living used to be the majority of American industry; now it is a shadow of its former self, however, should bad things happen, those farms and homesteads will be as an oasis.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

The US has population has been more urban than rural since sometime in the 30s or 40s.


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## no really (Aug 7, 2013)

painterswife said:


> The US has population has been more urban than rural since sometime in the 30s or 40s.


For that I am grateful, prefer the rural and would rather it stayed that way.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Terri said:


> Also true.
> 
> Sigh
> 
> I should not criticize as I enjoy junk food: it is just that my middle aged body cannot tolerate what my taste buds are demanding, LOL! And so my own cart will be full of produce and meat and I fel superior when I look at other peoples cart fulls of desserts and chips


There is no comparison to how I feel after a meal like yesterday of a thick ribeye, baked potato, baked beans and corn vs my son dumping his left over hostess and dip chips onto our counter.


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## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

I don't have any experience with people mocking us for having food storage as well as other safety precautions. And we do talk about it openly. Living in this territory everyone knows that we can be cut off at any time for all sorts of reasons and we have been - so people do stock up. However when we lived down south everyone also stocked up. In fact anytime there has been or is a discussion about "prepping", preserving, gardening or how bad the weather conditions can get those who are new or inexperienced seem to be anxious to ask our advice. Same down south.


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## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

I heard a few freezers getting filled last night. Fireworks going off in town. Random single pops coming from out in the boonies, sounded like the 25 to 30 caliber firecrackers. The uninitiated would not realize what was happening, they would also call the law if they thought that someone was poaching one of the thousands of vermin deer that litter the roadways. Glad to know some people still know how to procure protein and skirt the out of town people that don't know how to survive without a supermarket.


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

I'll admit it - I grew up in the city, small family, zero gardening experience or historical background. My parents did not have food or necessities stored up. We went through pretty hard times (I will never willingly eat tuna casserole again, if I live to be 200 yo). I remember kitchen cupboards and the freezer that was part of the refrigerator - no pantry, no free standing freezer, no garden and no money. I never went without but we didn't go out to eat. Mom and Dad both cooked, so not much prepared foods. When I got married and visited my MIL's farm house - . I learned about spring fed water, a root cellar, a pantry, canning foods. What! there's freestanding freezers you can fill up...... That was all it took and I was off to the races. Just flipped a switch in my head and it seemed to make so much sense. My mother went to her grave sweetly shaking her head and telling people her daughter was Laura Ingalls stuck in an episode of Sex & The City.

One story -- one time, living in a subdivision with our 2 teenage boys, there was a bad storm and electricity was out for several days. Everytime I went to the basement pantry - there were a couple more teenage boys camped out. We were grilling in the garage (doors open), had the campstove set up, making food - we never missed a beat and didn't think about it. Finally I asked the boys -- how come you're all here (I didn't mind, I just thought it was funny because we were pretty strict about language, no smoking, no drinking, not the party house). Well, they say, you have food and a way to cook it and we don't. SMH, poor kids had been eating pop tarts, graham crackers and peanut butter until my sons started bringing them home cause they felt sorry for them. Ok by me. Having my teen boys under my roof knowing what they were doing - I would have fed the whole neighborhood at that time.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

I don't remember having anyone ever comment on how much food I was buying, except occasionally when I would have a shopping cart piled as high as I could get it with large pumpkins. When pumpkins are on sale really cheap, I buy a bunch and use them in dog food. That's unusual enough that sometimes people ask what I am doing with all those pumpkins.

Occasionally, I chat with other shoppers in the grocery line, waiting our turn, and we discuss how to cook whatever is in our cart, or ask if a product is any good. But we are just bored and killing time until we can get to the front of the check-out line. Nobody is criticizing. 

I do most of my shopping in places where people buy large amounts, so my cart doesn't look any different than anyone else's cart. Except for the lady who buys milk 30 gallons at a time and many dozens of pastries.. She stands out as a bulk buyer, even in Costco wher ethe rest of us are pushing around cargo flats of food. I've never asked. I guess maybe she owns a coffee kiosk.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Mzgarden. you have fine boys! A real man has a real heart.

It was actually an ice storm that got me serious about my pantry: we already had canned tuna, noodles and such but how many times a day does a person want to eat tuna?!?!? I also now have canned chicken, beef, spam, etc as well as canned fruit, chili, etc

I also have a much better source of light than candles, as the light from candles flickers too bad to do much of anything and nights in December are very long indeed.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

Call me crazy, I am storing some verde sauce right now.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

If you are doing something that, "everyone knows is crazy, or nobody else is doing", you are probably right. So ignore "what everybody knows" and just keep stocking your pantry.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

Someone said something to me once when I had a 20 lb bag of rice and a 20lb bag of pinto beans in the cart. Big bag of sugar and one of flour. Just told them it was cheaper to buy that size, I would use it in time, and it would keep well in the freezer. As to the sugar, told them I was making jelly.


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## Redlands Okie (Nov 28, 2017)

HDRider said:


> Call me crazy, I am storing some verde sauce right now.


Hi crazy, yum


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## 101pigs (Sep 18, 2018)

Terri said:


> In the 1960's food prices went up, and it was blamed on "hoarders" for a while. My family was a large one, and total strangers would stop my Mom and yell at her for buying too many groceries, and nobody would listen when she said that she was feeding 8. Even when my Mom took all 6 of us kids to the store with her made no difference: When Mom said that she was only buying 1 weeks worth of food just like they were nobody listened
> 
> It was also noted in the newspapers that 1/3 of the price went to the stores, and so they were blamed as well for a while. Shopkeepers pointed out that they had to pay employees, utilities, insurance, rent, and that they made hardly any profit and so total strangers, after a while, stopped yelling at the check out people and managers. Strangers continues to yell at my Mom, though, and accuse her of driving up prices by "hoarding"
> 
> I have no idea if it goes back older than that, as I was born in 1955 and my memories before the 1960's are just of kid stuff. However, in my considered opinion, humans are simply weird. I never COULD convince an old room mate that my family did not gorge on butter because we used 3 sticks of butter a week when her own family of 3 only used 1 stick of butter a week. 3 sticks of butter for 8 people is about the same a 1 stick of butter for 3, but she never could get that. I just decided that my husband is right: if the good Lord had wanted us to be logical He would have created us as Vulcans


 i lived and worked in salt lake cilty 1960-65. No shortage of food there at that time. Once a year all the markets in SLC had food sales by the box. Buy a box of can goods for half price. We used to buy enough can goods at that time for one full year. The LDS folks all would stock up on canned goods for the full year. I still buy months of can goods when they are on sell. Same as TP and other paper goods. Saves about 25% on food etc. for the year. I butcher Hogs, Cattle, etc. once a year 2 freezers full of food.


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## Rural Kanuck (Apr 13, 2020)

101pigs said:


> I still buy months of can goods when they are on sell. Same as TP and other paper goods. Saves about 25% on food etc. for the year.


Same here, figure I have at least 3 months supply on hand in canned goods and dry goods, beans etc most of the time, being a ways out of town seems to give us rural folk a diffternt outlook when the grocery store is not just round the corner. It could be 'interesting for many of us if the power went off for a few days though with the reliance on the freezer .... eat like pigs, cook up a storm or throw out a lot of stuff....!


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## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

Stocking up paid off in Central Texas this past winter when the snowpocalypse occurred.


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## whiterock (Mar 26, 2003)

During that cold spell, cowboy preacher called and asked if I had food. Told him I was country, he liked that answer.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

HDRider said:


> Call me crazy, I am storing some verde sauce right now.


Just because times are bad doesn’t mean your food has to taste that way. Sauces and spices become valuable in rough times.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> Just because times are bad doesn’t mean your food has to taste that way. Sauces and spices become valuable in rough times.


It came out fantablo. 8 pint jars.

Picante is next

Then my version of a Caribbean sauce


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## emdeengee (Apr 20, 2010)

As i wrote - no one ever mocked us for storing food - but once people did give us funny looks. It was at Christmas. We had a huge ice storm the previous winter. Fortunately none of ou family was severely impacted but some friends really were. No electricity for months and unable to get the food needed for weeks and only because of the military.

So we decided that the Christmas gifts would have a theme. Anything that would be useful in an emergency. Fire extinguishers, crank flashlights and radios, medical kit, propane camp stove, lanterns, sleeping bags, tent, back packs etc. Family did give us funny looks (disappointed that they did not get the usual socks and ties???) but also seemed happy not to have to spend their own money for these things. The kids loved it. Set up their tent in the basement and spent all of Christmas :surviving. We did the same the next year.

No huge emergencies for anyone yet but they have had reason to use many of the emergency themed items. Fire extinguisher twice in one house.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

VBF said:


> When did storing more than 3-7 days worth of food become crazy or label you as a prepper? When did putting up stores for winter fall out of fashion? Maybe it was different time periods in different parts of the country? Was it over time that this thought train happened or was it an all at once thing?


I think it started back when some of us were labeled "bitter clingers."

They can call it what they want. Like @mzgarden, I grew up in the city. My mom had zero canning/food preservation skills, and mocked those who did put food by.

I didn't care. I taught myself how to can using the Ball Blue Book, and any other information I could get my hands on. Like many others, I learned to butcher with a knife in one hand and a book in the other.

Took me the longest time to finally get to the farm I'd been set on since first grade, but I got here. <3


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## alida (Feb 8, 2015)

My parents knew hunger during WW2 so we were always brought up to put stuff by in case something happened, and "something" did happen several times over the years to us, job loss, injuries drop in business etc , life.
While money was tight then, we never went hungry. Between the massive garden, the cold cellar and sales there was always enough to feed our family of seven for months. One note, that it does take time to build up three months worth,and it's hard work, but it is doable.

I've always kept a few months worth of groceries in my home, and yes, the odd time someone does comment on the cabinet full. I just smile and say I like the way it looks. I do not care. And yes, there have been times over the years when I was really glad I didn't have to buy groceries for a few weeks.

I do live in the city, in an area with families and I still do see people with carts with multiple 10 lb bags of rice and potatos when there's a sale, plus multiple cans of other foods. I do think there are still many people who couldn't imagine having only a few days worth of food in the house.


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Pony said:


> , I learned to butcher with a knife in one hand and a book in the other.


Thanks for that comment. It brought back fond memories of medical school.


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## GunMonkeyIntl (May 13, 2013)

HDRider said:


> It came out fantablo. 8 pint jars.
> 
> Picante is next
> 
> Then my version of a Caribbean sauce


Most of my jalapeños become Sriracha.


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## HDRider (Jul 21, 2011)

GunMonkeyIntl said:


> Most of my jalapeños become Sriracha.


I do that too.


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## DKJ (Jan 17, 2021)

Pony said:


> I think it started back when some of us were labeled "bitter clingers."
> 
> They can call it what they want. Like @mzgarden, I grew up in the city. My mom had zero canning/food preservation skills, and mocked those who did put food by.
> 
> ...


I used to help Mom butcher elk and deer 50+ years ago, a quarter at a time on the kitchen table. I sure don't remember much, but maybe like riding a bike, it would come back to me if I had to do it again.


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## Redlands Okie (Nov 28, 2017)

When your hungry a chunk of meat is all it takes. No one is going to care if its processed just right for stakes, etc.


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## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

DKJ said:


> I used to help Mom butcher elk and deer 50+ years ago, a quarter at a time on the kitchen table. I sure don't remember much, but maybe like riding a bike, it would come back to me if I had to do it again.


I have two hogs to do in March or April. I like this thread!!!


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## Oregon1986 (Apr 25, 2017)

They would really think I am nuts than. Honestly I don't care what others think though.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

When I was working I would get one big paycheck a month and buy enough food (except for fresh produce) to last until the next paycheck plus a couple weeks. Now hubby gets paid 2x a month so I go shopping a bit more often. I avoid stores except for quick grab and go purchases in December. Shoppers are crazy and stores need to be avoided in December. 

IMO, having only 3 to 7 days worth of food is crazy.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

TripleD said:


> I have two hogs to do in March or April. I like this thread!!!


A friend of my wife brought another friend with her to visit. I didn't know we were having company and had a crockpot of homegrown pork cooking. It smelled delicious, looked fantastic and tasted like heaven, but with a wink and a quick look at the kitchen from her, I knew not to mention to her friends "friend" that dinner had been rooting around in back less than a week ago.


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## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

GTX63 said:


> Seasoned shoppers have learned to rim the sides of their shopping cart with twelve pack plastic bottles of Pepsi and Mt Dew. It allows one to bounce off another cart during impact and protect their chips and cookies from whiplash.


Saw on tv . that carts have loops on the push side ti hang your bags with bread chips ect. Ill have to look cause i never knew that


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Its a very different food transportation system now than then. Very few people live rural where they can have an acre garden let alone find canning lids/jars anymore. We actually import food from China. Bizarro World indeed.










Anyway they have it all figured to how much food will be sold per week and only deliver that much. Nobody in business stockpiles anything as they see that as wasted money cause inventory usually bought on credit. They only want to buy as much as will sell in very short order. So consumers that do stock up, throw off their nice neat calculations and make it look like shortages. 

Yea the toilet paper shortage was truly historic, shows America corporate monopolies are going down the Soviet monopoly path. Monopolies never good for anybody except the monopolist.


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## DKJ (Jan 17, 2021)

Redlands Okie said:


> When your hungry a chunk of meat is all it takes. No one is going to care if its processed just right for stakes, etc.


You're right, a pressure cooker can make any hunk of mangled meat into something delicious.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

HermitJohn said:


> Its a very different food transportation system now than then. Very few people live rural where they can have an acre garden let alone find canning lids/jars anymore. We actually import food from China. Bizarro World indeed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The system they use for delivery is called JIT - Just In Time. It saves on storage/warehousing, and it is a 3-day turnaround. In theory, items spend the majority of their time in the trucks, not warehouses (now "distribution centers").

Except now that there is no one to fill the trucks when they pull into the distribution centers, the items are backing up in those distribution centers (now, ad hoc warehouses).

Anyway, if you ever wondered why TPTB tell people to stock up for at least 3 days, that's where they got that magic number.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

I think the tin foil hat, crazy prepper stereotype came to life around the non event we called Y2K. 

Some people really did go off the deep end a bit for that. 

We all have our own standards for what is prudent reserve supplies and what is excessive. I try not to judge anyone but I also have an opinion on what is realistic.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

In the little town where I get my groceries, if you show up at the counter with only one shopping cart full, everyone else looks at you like you are odd.


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## DKJ (Jan 17, 2021)

muleskinner2 said:


> In the little town where I get my groceries, if you show up at the counter with only one shopping cart full, everyone else looks at you like you are odd.


Oh,I love it. When we were little, we went to town twice a month to buy groceries for a family of 6. One of the kids went into the store with Mom for the sole purpose of driving the second grocery cart! 

A friend has a care home and keeps a week or so of groceries at a time. It would keep me up nights thinking I was responsible for 6 or 7 people and didn't have adequate supplies, including bottled water, to keep everyone fed for 3 or 4 months. Someone commented that the state would just send food if the grocery store shelves were bare. I asked where they thought the state would get the food if the very people who distribute food couldn't get products to sell?????

I would have 55 gallon tanks for water, a solar set up, several back up generators, etc. if I had more than just my hubby and I to worry about.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

seems like a good time to bring this thread back , since they are now warning food shortages.

you got labeled crazy when they needed you to be ill prepared because your failure to plan constitutes an emergency and if they can show emergency they can seize more power , more money and do it all in the name of providing for you.

let no tragedy go to waste is the moto of current government.

now that you have lived through the Great TP shortage , as well as many other supply line issues , I hope you decided to store more than a few days worth of the things you use.

even more so I hope you educated yourself in how to cook things that are raw foods , cooking from scratch.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

yes indeed! good time to bring this one back. as i said on the other thread i'm feeling restless about it all myself and feel the need to get in more supplies


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Go to Walmart and get one of those bidets for your toilet and you won't fret so much when toilet paper becomes a rumor again.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

no bidets for me. can't stand them myself! i'll stick to my tp. failing that i'll use soft face cloths i knitted from baby wool and already have stored for just that purpose. i was just up counting what i have while pking away the stuff i bought today. 316 rolls. that's nothing compared to what some people have but i plan a few more when the sale starts on thursday. i just pick up a bit here and there. my son only needs a roll for a couple weeks. sometimes i use a roll a day (especially if i've taken MOM) but women use more than men anyway. ~Georgia


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

GTX63 said:


> Go to Walmart and get one of those bidets for your toilet and you won't fret so much when toilet paper becomes a rumor again.


Push comes to shove, use a squirt water bottle to keep things fresh.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

no not that either i can't stand water coming at me. i tried a shower once when my back was wrote off. nearly smothered!


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

My concern is for family out of state who, as far as I know, are not really aware that it would be a good time to have a couple extra things. Maybe they have caught on and started to put a few things away. I have been looking for a chance to bring it up in a gentle way.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

wdcutrsdaughter said:


> My concern is for family out of state who, as far as I know, are not really aware that it would be a good time to have a couple extra things. Maybe they have caught on and started to put a few things away. I have been looking for a chance to bring it up in a gentle way.


If you find a way to get through to them (other than going Full Patara), please share.

I've tried encouraging my sibs to put something by, but... SMH


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## Tom Horn (Feb 10, 2021)

VBF said:


> When did storing more than 3-7 days worth of food become crazy or label you as a prepper? When did putting up stores for winter fall out of fashion? Maybe it was different time periods in different parts of the country? Was it over time that this thought train happened or was it an all at once thing?



When it became apparent that critical thinking and food independence was a characteristic of conservative thinkers.

The left then labeled those with a full pantry as dangerous radicals.


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

Funny, at church a friend was talking to us about his DIL's mother. Shaking his head he was saying how she had put shelves in her basement and filled them with food and paper products. He kept talking and we kept nodding. We made some comments about how we thought she probably was on to something, she wouldn't have to worry if TP was in short supply again and how she would be prepared in case anything happened. He thought it was silly. He has no idea what we have and I wasn't about to tell him. Not because I was concerned about what he would think but because nobody needs to know.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I bought one of those bidets at Walmart last week. Now I have to wait for the plumber to get time off his paying job to install it. But my toilet water is often COLD! I'm not real fond of 50° water hitting that area. 

Sam's Club did not have the tissues we usually buy when we went shopping last week. I've done the washable hanky thing, I am not a fan.

I really need to reorganize the kitchen and basement food storage areas. What good is having stored food if you can't get to it? Canned goods need to be all together and in an easily accessible location. If you forget about it and find it 10 years later it won't be worth eating.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

Ikwym. i have to do better with mine. i had to throw out a can of vegetable beef soup last week but at the same time my son found a 10 year old can spaghetti in his preps and he had it on toast that night. said it was perfect. i plan to rearrange things today. i still haven't got the load i bought yesterday pk'd away. i know i'll never eat half of it but it feels good to see it on the shelf and who knows someone might need it. ~Georgia


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## mzgarden (Mar 16, 2012)

Must be some spring cleaning thing hitting - I also took the pantry apart and reorganized it (it's an extra bedroom with shelves and a rolling cart). Wiped down the shelves, inspecting for any signs of vermin or bugs having visited (or stayed). Condensed, combined, organized, cleaned, all good. Hmm, now it looks a little bare (lol, hardly) but I'll probably add just a little bit. My theory is -- buy when I can afford to, use it, rotate it but with prices going up - buy, buy, buy. I can always skip shopping for several months, later on but for now - I'm stocking up when I can find it and afford it.


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## Mish (Oct 15, 2015)

mzgarden said:


> Funny, at church a friend was talking to us about his DIL's mother. Shaking his head he was saying how she had put shelves in her basement and filled them with food and paper products. He kept talking and we kept nodding. We made some comments about how we thought she probably was on to something, she wouldn't have to worry if TP was in short supply again and how she would be prepared in case anything happened. He thought it was silly. He has no idea what we have and I wasn't about to tell him. Not because I was concerned about what he would think but because nobody needs to know.


This is what EVERYONE did when I was growing up. My grandparents always had their basement shelves full of extra necessities, as did my mother, and all of my friends' parents. If it wasn't the stuff out of their gardens that they canned themselves, it was extra canned goods from the grocery when they had sales. Most everyone had a second freezer filled with either garden surplus or deer/other hunted meat. Some had several. I think most of the people I grew up with still do this to some extent, it's kind of a cultural thing, maybe?

I just think it's weird that people think this is weird.


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## newfieannie (Dec 24, 2006)

we didn't have a basement. we had a 2story house but we had a large walk-in pantry for many years. always plenty food stored in there. i dont remember much canned meat .with the exception of Hereford corned beef. (that stuff must have been around for over a hundred years). 

dad had sheep so we had lots of lamb and as i've mentioned several times we were practically on the ocean so no trouble getting lots of different types of fish.course with every meal we would have home made bread and a pie made from berries that we picked ourselves for dessert

during the war there were ration books so there was a shortage of some stuff like margarine i think mom use to tell me. or marg. without color. something like that.my bro was around then and he remembers all the sugary molasses they would use on their bread. i still use a lot of molasses myself. i can make a meal out of bread ,butter and molasses if i got tea to go with it. 

when my husband became ill and i couldn't get out i was glad to be well prepared. when i was out shopping yesterday i was thinking the same as Mzgarden mentioned above. i can always skip shopping for awhile but right now i'm buying and being thankfull that i can. my son is picking up flour and sug that is on sale on the way in tomorrow and i'm heading out myself on friday. i still have a few holes in my preps. ~Georgia


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## Adirondackian (Sep 26, 2021)

I wasnt aware it had become "crazy". Whatever you do in life, somebody, somewhere thinks its wrong, crazy or stupid. Who cares? You know the old story of the man, the boy and the donkey?

An old man and a boy had a donkey they wanted to take to the market to sell. So they started out on their way, the boy walking and the old man riding. They came up on a group of old women sitting around talking. When the women saw them passing they said "what a shame, he makes the poor kid walk while he rides!". Thinking the women were right, the boy and old man switched places.

Down the road they passed a group of old men. When they passed the old men shook their heads "Terrible, the young strong boy rides while the poor old man walks!". Feeling ashamed, the boy got off and they both walked. Then they passed a group of workmen who said "Two dummies, walking while they have a perfectly good donkey to ride! LOL!"

Feeling that the workmen were probably right, they both mounted and rode the donkey. Then they passed a group of young girls who yelled out "What cruelty, two of them on top of that poor little donkey!". Thinking the girls were right, the old man and the boy decided to pick up the donkey and carry it. When they came to a rope bridge they lost their grip on the donkey and dropped into the water. The donkey swam to the bank and ran off into the woods.

Moral of the story? Dont try to make everyone happy or you might end up losing your ass.


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