What Your Grocery Store Will Look Like In An Emergency

SHTFPlan ^ | 3/15/11 | Mac Slavo

[Kartographer]

Jason Kelly is an author and blogger living in Japan. He has been documenting events at his blog since the earthquake hit last week. In his latest post, aptly titled Cleaned Out, Kelly gives us a picture tour of a grocery store in Sano, Japan, about 40 miles northwest of Tokyo.

According to Jason, infrastructure damage, rolling blackouts and other problems have left about 35% to 50% of all stores in his town closed, with grocery stores completely out of food. Gas stations are either rationing fuel or have run completely dry.

[Kartographer]

[GeronL]

Yes. Let us see how calm and collected they are when they get really really hungry.

[Grizzled Bear]

In certain American urban areas, the shelves wouldn’t have been so clean. The local wild life would have destroyed anything they didn’t carry off. At least the Japanese likely paid for what they took.

[Kartographer]

FReeper Free Vulcan:"Pay very close attention, you are seeing what happens when the modern distribution system of goods breaks down."

PING!

My Preparedness Manual (PDF file) can now be downloaded more cleanly from here: http://www.tomeaker.com/kart/preparedness1h.pdf

[PA Engineer]

I will go on record and apologize if I am wrong. This was not panic buying and hoarding. This was a supply chain collapse. 72 hours and no food.

[max americana]

I will agree. The human mindset is about survival first, decorum second. I really dont want to imagine what they are going through.

[GonzoGOP]

I live in Chicago. If we have a real emergency I don't think the place will be that clean, tidy and orderly after the Obama voters get done with it. The Japanese lined up to buy whatever supplies they could get. Obama voters just loot up a bin of Heineken and head for Best Buy to loot up a big screen TV.

[GeronL]

me either

[Kartographer]

I’ve seen several stories about hoarding, but then I don’t believe there is such a thing as hording:

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134552919/stunned-japan-struggles-to-bind-its-wounds

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jOHBiPeRjTLF042AVf2dTZLJBhAA?docId=N0017111300203930209A

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110315p2a00m0na018000c.html

[Cheetahcat]

Most grocery stores only stock a couple days of food anyway.

[HMS Surprise]

Info just for you. Go asap to nearest Wally World when you SENSE trouble like that which is now upon Japan. Buy rice, beans, canned goods, jerky, water, water, and more water. This is the last-ditch-omg-Ishouldacouldawoulda-plan. You’re welcome.

[Michael.SF.]

Just a thought here, not knowing the Japanese lifestyle, but my guess would be that their shopping habits would tend to be more frequent trips to the market, buying in small batches and thus do not have a lot of food at home. Thus a high level of panic buying.

Whereas here we tend to shop less frequently, buying in larger quantities and thus have larger amounts of food stored at home.

Before subjecting myself to the crowd of frenzied buyers I would seriously consider how much food I have in the house and how long it will last.

[Michael.SF.]

[PA Engineer]

I’ve seen several stories about hoarding, but then I don’t believe there is such a thing as hording:

I don't know. I have seen the stories too. I just don't believe them. There are still many areas without power. Ports, roads and utility distribution are severely disrupted. I believe that after the 72 hours we are seeing the result of this disruption. How does one report on a city the size of Tokyo with any sense of certainty and without major culture prejudices and assumptions. I believe we are looking at reporters with a lack of imagination. In their minds, empty shelves means hoarding. Maybe I am a bit too analytical, but in my mind empty shelves means supply line disruption.

[Kartographer]

Why would you want him to do that? The Obama voters would only rape him to death, eat his flesh, and sew his skin into their clothing. And, if he’s very, very lucky, they’ll do it in that order.
(Apologies to Firefly Fans)

[GonzoGOP]

Go asap to nearest Wally World when you SENSE trouble like that which is now upon Japan.

I already have canned goods and dried beans for a couple of weeks stocked up in the basement. Three days water on hand, and reverse osmosis drinking water filtration system, combined with rain barrels and if desperate the pond behind the house. In a total SHTF where more than that is required the plan is to pull out and head for my sister's place further West. I'm too deep in blue territory to hold out indefinitely at this location.

[JohnKinAK]

Just a thought here, not knowing the Japanese lifestyle, but my guess would be that their shopping habits would tend to be more frequent trips to the market, buying in small batches and thus do not have a lot of food at home.

---

Compared to us they live in tiny homes (esp Tokyo), so storage and pantry space is an issue I am sure.

[ottbmare]

They don’t have the room to store things that we do. Most of us have kitchens bigger than the average Japanese apartment. We may have a basement, a garage, an attic, big walk-in closets, a 27-cubic-foot refrigerator, a separate freezer, maybe a shed. We can store enough food to feed a family for a year. We have big SUVs to haul food home from Costco or Sam’s, and a lot of people will bring home a deer or two or three. The Japanese do not have those options.

[Dick Bachert]

It’s been reported that the average US city has about a 7 day supply of consumable food and there is only about 28 days in the entire US pipeline.

If you don’t have some food storage, better have plenty of ammo for that .22 in the closet because you’ll need it to “harvest” the neighborhood livestock to feed your crew.

[Kartographer]

.22 for rabbit I have a AK74 and a Mossy 12 with plenty of 00 buck for ‘zombies’.