Posted on 03/19/2020 8:03:21 PM PDT by EinNYC
I just got back from trying to get some common items I need in my refrigerator: carrots, Lactaid milk, and Stok unsweetened coffee. Now I feel very depressed and apprehensive for what's gonna be coming up in the next few weeks.
Went to BJs, as they have great prices on all of the above. I walked into a near-empty store--and immediately the theme music from "The Twilight Zone" started playing. Vegetables--pretty wiped out, and NO carrots. Milk--NO milk of any kind, except goat milk. Guys, you can have my portion of the goat milk! I bought some Silk Almond Milk just to have something. I felt like I'd been slapped, like I had stepped into a nightmare. Here I was in America, and I was being forced to live like someone in a turd world country, with extensive food shortages.
I continued on to Wegmans, and was treated to pretty much the same experience. There was a sign over the carrots -- "Limit: 2 bags of carrots"--but they needn't have bothered, as there WERE no carrots to buy. I needed some for a recipe, so I bought baby food carrots. And a goo-goo to you, too! When I reached the dairy section, I was reminded of Texas--lots of WIDE OPEN SPACES. No milk in sight, and only a few cartons of eggs. I grabbed some eggs, as I needed to buy them before Passover.
As if I didn't hate China, murderous land of selling political prisoners' body parts and the most heinous methods of torturing and killing numerous animal species I ever heard of before, now they are firmly in my sights. I realize that not being able to buy carrots, milk, or refrigerated coffee does not begin to approach the horrible ramifications of the coronavirus plague on many families, putting wage-earners out of work itself, bringing death to loved ones, preventing freedom of movement, and all the other negative changes to our lives, but it's what happened to me now, so far. The food shortage was sufficient to bring it home to me, realtime.
How are the rest of you suffering and how are you coping? I feel for all Americans' suffering induced by the unspeakable lowlife Chinese and their selfishness.
Still pretty good. Only things are TP and PT that are hit and miss, mostly miss.
I've never seen Publix run out of milk... for dairy in an emergency - that's the place to shop.
Did my shopping 3 weeks ago and can last another 1-2 months.
I have also decided to fast for the next few days to detox my body because it will save food, and I am praying and my gym is closed anyway. :)
A trick for frozen milk from slow ships on long trips. Defrost in the refrigerator. The solids will separate less.
Because we live in a hurricane-prone region, we maintain a pretty good stock of non-perishables, but we saw this coming a few weeks ago and increased our supplies. We have enough for several weeks. We’ll be putting the garden in as soon as the pecan trees start budding, and IF it gets real bad, there will be several deer, squirrels, rabbits etc. that will be going “missing” around here. Any emergency water is from a nasty old well, but it’s good enough to survive on. Boiling and adding just a taint of bleach cleans it up pretty good. We have enough fuel & generator capacity to go for quite awhile if need be. We went almost six weeks without commercial power after Hurricane Rita and still had some reserve left...and we’re way better prepared now from that experience than we were back then.
FWIW, we went by a local rural supermarket three days ago because we forgot to buy additional butter. First problem: finding a parking spot! Once inside, it was packed and what I’d call “calm chaos”. I could see the fear in peoples’ eyes. People were nervous, and it probably wouldn’t have taken much to start a “stampede”. No TP, no paper towels, no bleach, no household cleaning products, no meat, no milk, no eggs, a few can goods, some frozen foods, snacks, chips, soft drinks were plentiful. There were a couple of employees trying to restock shelves as fast as customers were picking them clean. I talked to the manager for just a minute, and he told me that they were putting out the third truckload of product for the day and they were all dead tired!! He came right out and offered me a job stocking shelves which I didn’t take...and that kinda surprised me. We found two packs of real butter stuck way up in the back in the cooler out of sight. We grabbed those, some additional snacks, a frozen pizza and some can goods then got ta heck outta there. I can’t imagine what large urban areas are like.
Fresh ground popcorn makes a great cornmeal.
That is the best TP spoof I have seen yet.
If you eat MREs for six months you’ll never need toilet paper.
Not everybody clicked on the ‘happenings in wuhan’ threads.
I very nearly didn’t either.
I’m mystified at the reaction to all this though. Are there really that many people with almost no food in the house?
I can’t imagine what large urban areas are like.
==
What you described....only on steroids.
I can’t believe folks aren’t prepared for - at the very LEAST - several months. Food/supplies/meds.
Never wait till the last minute to stock your shelves or frig. Milk can be bought in bulk and froze for months at a time. Eggs, well get used to pickling those hard boiled puppies. Freezer should be stocked at all times with packages marked by date. Dry goods such as beans and rice van be vacuum sealed in mason jars and last for years. A little prepping can go a long way in times like this. Gardening and home canning has become a lost art but I am sure there will be a rush on the talent come spring planting. As far as cleaning and paper supplies you always buy the biggest package you an find and keep two in the shelf of everything minimum. When you open a new one go buy a replacement ASAP. Then I was amazed when we went to our Tuesday range day which we never miss unless there is a catastrophe. It was stuffed with first time buyers who most likely do not have a clue. I pity them for not having the foresight while rushing out in the spur to buy something that needs tender loving care and discipline before you even think about using it for self protection. The real tragedy will be the countless folks who through their own shortsightedness bought something that they will blow their own toe off while attempting to twirl it while watching reruns of Gunsmoke. Now is not the time to think weeks ahead. I did that years ago. The only thing I truly need is some water from time to time and that is about all I really worry about when I hit the store if they are out, beer will suffice. Anything extra is a bonus but I can survive just fine. Hope you are learning a lesson on what I could see coming weeks ago. This was predictable as they get but the worst I have ever seen.
I think most of us are praying.
I really need to consider the fasting thing right now too.
Yes I have never really done it for any significant length of time all my life so now’s a good time.
Your frozen stuff, don’t you need electricity?
Question for folks... If I try to buy a gun in the coming days, are prices jacked up? Is inventory depleted?
bump for later...
mr mm has never been much of the prepper type.
I've heard a lot of *DO we really need that?* of *Do we really need that much of _____?*
Last Friday, as he was crunching the numbers and I was out shopping (just before all hell broke loose), he's calling or texting me telling me to not forget _______ and do we have enough ________?
I have not heard ONE WORD from him about everything I have stored up for all these years.
I have been vindicated.
I know you’re concerned about getting paperback books that have been used, but I want to pass this on to you if you aren’t already aware of it. Several years ago I joined paperbackswap.com, and get books periodically that I have in my wish list on the site. You post books to trade, and earn points from the people who request books from you. For every book you ship, you get a point, and when you order a book from someone else, you lose a point. You pay the postage for the books you send out, and the person you request a book from pays for the postage when they ship it to you. They have different levels of membership. I have the standard membership which costs $20 a year. When I ship books to people, I use the site, and print the label from there. The cost is all figured out, so all I have to do is wrap the book up, put the label on, and drop it off at the post office. They do have minor service charges for adding money to your postage account, and for printing each label, but they require that the books you swap be in good condition, and have a list of condition requirements for the books you post.
You mean a root cellar?
Goat milk?
That’s great!
I read it can be a great substitute for baby formula, which some people are having difficulty acquiring because of scalpers. :(
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