(NEXSTAR) – As millions of people braced for a massive winter storm to hit two-thirds of the country, grocery store shelves in the South, Midwest and Northeast started to look a little bare.
Two essentials everyone seems to stock up on ahead of winter weather, bread and milk, were hit especially hard.
But why do people gravitate to those two items in particular? Milk could go bad if you lose power, after all, and bread isn’t exactly a strong source of nutrition.
Accuweather reports the idea of buying milk and bread before a winter storm dates back to the Great Blizzard of 1978, which hit New England. People were trapped in their homes for days without those staple products.
Since then it has turned into a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, suggests HowStuffWorks: People fear the stores will run out of perishable items, so they stockpile them, and then the stores do run out of bread and milk, creating the illusion that there really is a short supply, prompting more people to snag the items when they see them.
University of Georgia psychology professor Dr. Janet Frick told Forbes in 2017 that people are not always logical or rational when facing a dangerous event, or when they weigh the risks.
“So apparently where weather is concerned, we are not terribly worried about getting struck by lightning, but we are terrified of the idea of having to make a meal from items in our pantry that doesn’t include bread and milk,” Dr. Frick said.
What should you stock up on instead?
Instead of buying foods such as milk and bread that are perishable, Ready.gov suggests this list of foods ahead of a winter storm:
- Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, vegetables and a can opener
- Protein or fruit bars
- Dry cereal or granola
- Peanut butter
- Dried fruit
- Canned juices
- Non-perishable pasteurized milk
- High-energy foods
- Food for infants
- Comfort/stress foods
- Plenty of water
If you do lose power, try and keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to keep the food inside fresh.
