When people know a snowstorm is coming, why do they freak out and buy milk & bread?

Question

It boggles my mind how people freak out when they hear snow is coming and they run to the grocery store / convenience store for MILK & BREAD!!!! The isles look as if savages raided them with ripped opened bags of bread on the floor. What the hell is this?

I live in the same area these nervous morons do and they are not going to be trapped from ONE snow storm. Furthermore, they are just buying MILK & BREAD!!!! Is this some kind of special diet when it snows? I just don't get it - why just MILK & BREAD? What if they have pets - is it MILK & BREAD for the animals too?

Answer 1

If you live in the North East, people do this because they were trapped in their houses during the blizzard of 1978 for a week with nothing. No electricity, no heat, and if they hadn't gone shopping, no food. Bread and milk are staples, so they buy them. At least it is something to eat that you don't need to cook. If you had been trapped in your house for any period of time, you'd probably try to be prepared the next time it might happen.

Answer 2

i have no idea but i have wondered the same thing. I grew up in the north and moved to the south and i made the mistake of going to the store to get some basic stuff when there was snow forcasted and all of the bread was gone. I had to buy hot dog buns for my sandwich for work the next day because of it. I think because they are not use to snow and they do not want to leave so they have to have these things. But then again I dont know if there really was a storm what good milk would do with no cereal i mean come on now why dont they rush the cereal and milk......

Answer 3

Their morons!

Any home typically has enough supplies within to remain self sufficient for at least a week. You can live without bread for a week, you can live without milk for a week. You need water, food, toilet paper and beer/booze.

Open up any food closet and you will usually find anywhere from 100-200 lbs. of canned goods that can be stretched for even two weeks.

I live in the NE and when I see people preparing for a storm, I just laugh. They go out and drop a couple of hundred dollars for a 3-day storm. I spend those three days eating all of the canned things we bought in the past and never ate in the first place.

Storm Requirements: A generator, beer/wine/booze, canned food and toilet paper. Bonus: A freezer with a frozen 1/2 cow in it.

Answer 4

Because many people believe there may be food shortages and they don't take any chances. I live in the metro Atlanta area and here snow is a rarity, and the mere mention of snow is known to send people rushing to the stores buying up all of the milk and bread there is. (And then the next day there is only maybe 1 or 2 inches of snow and its melts by the next day.)

Answer 5

You must live in an area that doesn’t get much snow! lmao.. here where I live we hear snow storm and its not that big of an issue. If I know I am going to be snowed in, I will get the things I need to make sure I do not do with out but I have never observed ripped open bags of bread on the floor of any store but like I said its not that big of a deal here. Our town is well equipped and makes sure the roads are fairly clear and we are use to driving in the snow. What’s irritating is when you get a southern or western who gets a couple of flurries and they are driving 5mph down the middle of the road.

Answer 6

I don't know about them, but I got paid today and my house was barren regarding our food situation. I had to go out and buy all my groceries and pet supplies early this morning before we got bogged down because that is when my funds hit my account.

They say milk and bread they are buying, but it's usually more in case they can't get out and about. Especially the elderly. I'm not that old yet, but I do not want to go driving through 12 inches of snow to get my groceries tomorrow. We would have been eating rice and butter, not good. Stop picking on us. We need food on our shelves.

Answer 7

Great question! You are so right though. I think it has to do with survival instincts. People become paranoid, afraid to go without the staples, WE HAVE NOOOOOOOO MILK!!!!, and there is going to be 3 INCHES OF SNOW!!! Seriously, I think people just do not want to run out of their favorite items, we have become a spoiled society. Maybe the food industry slips the weathermen an incentive to increase business. I know I did not answer your question thoroughly, but it is funny. Just for the record, I do feel for the people who are in serious trouble with the last blitz of snow storms. I hope they are safe.

Answer 8

OMFG I'm so glad you asked this only because I've observed it before as well. The supermarket turns into a madhouse as if zombies are attacking or Dick Cheney became president or something.

I remember walking through the store once during a snowstorm threat and some lady had her cart filled with....... pretzels. I guess they were out of bread.

But why MILK? Why the food that spoils faster than anything?!?! If you want protein, how about beans or some dried item that won't spoil in five seconds?

I'll never understand it.

Answer 9

Part of it is residual memeroy.Fifty years ago a big storm would limit delivereys from farmers to wholesalers. And a storm could disrupt dilivereys to the stores also. I know that the 1967 storm in Chicago of 24 inches kept the shelves bare for 5 days.

Answer 10

i'm in Rochester manhattan, and that i've got been thinking a similar element - WHY? i do no longer comprehend the logic at the back of it. I admit, i've got have been given to circulate to Wegmans this evening after paintings to purchase milk, yet that's basically via fact I forgot to %. it up the day earlier right this moment. yet that's no longer the only reason i circulate to the shop. If i did no longer would desire to circulate there for dinner stuff this evening, i would not worry. i'd think of that those human beings would have discovered via now that a snow typhoon isn't the top of the worldwide. in the event that they choose to purchase something, purchase some rock salt - so which you do no longer slip and kill your self going out of the domicile! i'd %. up some bottles of wine on the way domicile however - if we get what they're predicting, i'm unlikely to return into paintings the following day, so i'm going to stay at domicile, and luxuriate interior the day - a solid glass of wine, a solid e book, and a few snacks. feels like a solid snow day to me :)