Snowmageddon… did you stockpile food?

The best thing to ensure panic buying of food is for the media to run stories on panic buying of food. Yes – for a few days our local Coop ran out of greens, but then the roads were blocked at times, so we expected it. And we do have an enormous freezer in the dungeon which plays its part when the weather sets in.

Remember, the supermarket stock replenishment model is based on delivery on demand, now, so that the lorries clog the roads 24/7 and when there’s any sort of disruptive weather things go wrong.

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When the poor weather set in I picked up a little extra food from the supermarket, cooked some of it and put it in the freezer. I bought some UHT milk, more fruit than usual and some extra flour for bread, but otherwise little more than usual. I’m glad I did not panic buy.

I have not been near a supermarket since last November as I can almost guarantee I will go down with a virus 3 days later. I do however keep up to date with the weather forecast and now shop online every 2/3 weeks during the cold winter months and stock up with freezer food, bread and long life milk in case of bad weather. I freeze fresh milk for drinks and keep a supply of LL milk in case I run out of fresh (it makes nice porridge). The village shop supplies anything I forget to order online, although choice is more limited but I don’t find that a problem. I wrap up and take myself off for a walk when the weather is not too inclement and often stop and chat to someone enroute or sit on a bench by the river and meditate a little to refresh my mind in the present moment.

The 3 day freak Beast from the East was pretty punishing and much worse for those who had to negotiate the road and rail systems who understandably, are reluctant to invest in an extreme event that only occurs about once every 5 years or so in this country, but we are now enjoying more reliable and accurate satellite assisted weather forecasts which enables us to plan ahead for any eventuality.

Most survived, but a few unfortunately didn’t but we witnessed human nature at its very best with people leaving their homes armed with sandwiches a drinks for stranded motorists stuck on snow bound motorways and local farmers and 4 x 4 owners braving the icy conditions to help out where needed.

A couple of days and miraculously, everything was more or less back to normal as if, just like a bad dream, it had never happened. But the kids did have a couple of days off school and took advantage of free trips on home made sledges down slippery snow covered slopes, some coming to grief before reaching the bottom with maybe just a few bruises. Wonderful days in which to relive and remember the days when I used to be able to do likewise 🙂

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Doing a little routine shopping this morning and the shelves were half empty. Asking why at the check out, I was told that it was due to panic buying. I remain surprised that it has taken so long to re-stock supplies. It seems as though the supply chain is less efficient than I believed it to be. I dread to think of the food wastage that will occur next. I do hope those who panic bought did so with an eye on storage and future use.

I think a major problem for the supermarkets is that they have centralised their warehousing and distribution in massive out-of-town locations – often in the wilds of nowhere – so staff and delivery vehicles bringing in supplies from manufacturers and wholesalers could not reach them. Many imported goods and produce were probably held up at their point of arrival in the UK. I expect there will be a lot of waste as products reached their use-by date. I must admit I was somewhat surprised that even large stores containing an in-store bakery could not meet the demand for bread and I suspect that is because much of the bread and rolls is prepared off-site and just oven-heated in small quantities. The mainstream bread seems to be wrapped loaves from national bakery companies which suffer the same problem of remote locations, reliance on large transport operations, and staff having to make long journeys to work.

We tend to take advantage of the long shelf-life of filtered milk and always have plenty in hand [or in the fridge to be more accurate], and there is always a loaf or two in the freezer. Newspapers like the “Daily Express” have been warning about extreme weather every other day for weeks in advance and the population did take precautions by stocking-up. The major stores failed to plan ahead as their just-in-time replenishment system does not have the capacity to shift large volumes of additional supplies even if they are available. Never mind, though, there were thousands of Mother’s Day “treats” and Easter Eggs in stock. I noticed in Sainsbury’s a large sales area given over to children’s fancy dress items; I don’t recollect seeing those kinds of essentials in previous years so that was a smart move. There seemed to be a national toboggan shortage this time around and I think the Army should have been called in earlier to helicopter additional supplies in from strategic reserves.