For those of you who do have a winter with snow, rain and gales, do you stock up on food supplies? I spent two winters in New England where I was snowed in for a periods and was glad I stocked up on things beforehand. It does make sense, but when the weather is bad, sometimes you can made do with what you have. Right now, I'm stocking up on cans of soup and cartons of milk and basics in case the weather turns bad again and going out becomes difficult.
Let's see. I buy potatoes in large quantities that I store in the building basement. I cut, portion and freeze vegetables like onions or carrots, this way they're soup ready. The same I do with fresh herbs. We also buy (me and my old folks) a pig that we fatten until snow comes - at that point the pig ends in the freezer. This is about it, enough to be snowed in for the whole winter
We had three snows this year-two more than we usually have. Work was closed for 3 straight days, first time ever. Anyway, I believed that it was going to snow but I didn't stock up. I guess I might have been worried that the power was going to go out and I would lose most of the food. Anyway, at Dollar Tree I have recently discovered Gossner Foods Premium Milk. It comes in one quart cartons and is all natural without artificial hormones. I buy the 1% low fat milk. The milk has special packaging that gives it a long shelf life. If the carton is unopened, it will stay fresh for one year and if opened, it will stay fresh in the fridge for two weeks! I will stock up on this milk this winter in case I am snowed in again.
i don't really stock up. I always keep a lot of dried goods, canned goods, and water on hand in case of an emergency but that's about it. I probably do buy more groceries than normal in the winter so I have to go to the store less, though.
I stock up on pantry items all the time in general, not just during the winter months. I mainly stock up on oil, vinegar, spices, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauces, pastas, and canned beans, and rice. Push comes to shove, a big plate of pasta with a red sauce will always hit the spot for me, plus it's relatively healthy since I am making my sauce from scratch. In addition, for a few years I was unable to drive and living on my own at the time, so I had to wait about every two weeks for my family or friends to stop over and take me grocery shopping. So I would buy a ton of stuff and pack my fridge and freezer to the max. I never knew if there might be some unforeseen circumstances where I cannot get anyone to take me shopping for like 3 weeks or more. So I always tried to be prepared for the worst. Bread was a tough thing to go without, when I was low on food at my place, so I would try to buy a few loaves or some pre-made bread dough and freeze them.
I think it's a great idea to stock up the pantry during periods of heavy weather, be it in a cold or hot climate. I used to live in the tropics, and every time before the monsoon season would start, I would buy some extra supplies in case we got cut off from town by sudden floods. It used to happen quite frequently and often last for days, and sometimes even weeks. Basically, I always keep an small stock of emergency food in my home, as one never knows what can happen next.
