We’ve actually opened some of my food supplies because we’ve run out of a few things but aren’t willing to risk going to the store.
I have mixed feelings about this – I hoard food (NOT all at once, this is years of ‘extra’ purchases), and I feel safest when I know I have a lot of food.
But this food is for ’emergencies’.
And this?
Yeah. It’s an emergency.
When we cracked open my five gallon bucket of rice I was teary and stressed, but this is the moment it’s intended for. This was my justification for buying it, and using it will keep us home and safe.
I hear a lot of people saying food hoarding is selfish. And I get that – buying up all the toilet paper at once is selfish and hurts others. This bit us because we don’t tend to stash more than a month’s toilet paper at a time, and we were down to using wash cloths until I was able to find and buy more.
But my food storage?
It’s the result of buying a little extra each time we shopped and squirreling it away. I made the choice to take money that we could have spent frivolously and instead purchased an extra bag of rice or an extra spice packet or… you get the picture.
Just a handful of things at a time.
I gave up a little fun each time so that we could add to our stash.
So, while I agree that buying all the flour/toilet paper/hand sanitizer at once is selfish, I don’t feel that putting a little aside at a time for later is selfish. Some religions require this actually, most visibly Mormons who are encouraged to have a year’s food supply in storage.
If you bulk buy dry foods for storage, they have websites that are great for this. Bulk buying isn’t my thing, but I’ve looked at their shops.
What are your thoughts on hoarding? Have shortages affected you? Inquiring minds want to know!
