[bgill]

Several members of my family in the NY metro area are without power and will be so for another 4-7 days. They also have to wait hours in line for either gas or to buy food

A couple days out and they're out of food. Such things boogles the mind. I read about one guy hollering at FEMA or whatever agency on day two (TWO!!!) about getting food to the starving hoards. Do people not have a can of soup in the cabinet? No Ramen noodles and a lit scented candle? Not even a box of crackers? Did they not expect trick or treaters so they don't even have a few bags of Halloween candy? They obviously don't live entirely off fast food or there wouldn't be groceries. So, what the heck do they buy at the grocery stores if they have zero food in their homes? Rover and Kitty must be getting nervous around the Donners.

[bert]

If you eat in restaurants and deli’s you have no need groceries.

That’s what I learned on Seinfeld

[3Fingas]

They have some food in their pantry, probably enough to last a week or two. Both of their cars have full tanks of gas too. Also, they have a couple grand in cash. My father and uncle both have generators. So they have some power. So, they are doing better than most. Many of their neighbors live paycheck to paycheck and aren’t so well prepared

That reminds me. I have to pick up a few more 5 gallon gas cans. I am good on food, water, ammo/guns, but woefully under prepared for gas shortages. I currently have only 1 gas can and my kids vehicles (college students that they are) are perpetually on “E”.

In any event, I think a lot of people are going to rethink this whole notion of prepping. I know members of family who used to kid me about my preps aren’t doing so anymore. This is a very “teachable moment” for most of them.

[PowderMonkey]

"They obviously don't live entirely off fast food or there wouldn't be groceries."

You would be surprised at the number of people who keep no food in the house. I watched a fascinating interview some years ago of two black Atlanta businessmen who started their version of the Yellow Pages phone directory. They called it the Black Pages, devoted exclusively to Black owned businesses in the metro Atlanta area. In their market research they discovered that an astounding 80-some percent of black household income devoted to food in Atlanta was spent entirely on one thing: fast food restaurants. As one New Yorker I know of once said, "Cook? Why cook? That's what phones are for. If you're hungry, have something delivered."