Why do people stock up on milk before a hurricane?

[fleur-de-lisa]

I have lived through many of them, from coastal Louisiana and Mississippi, to coastal Virginia and North Carolina. As a kid during Hurricane Camille, we were without water and power for almost a month. In Charlotte during Hurricane Hugo, we were without power for two weeks. During Isaac in New Orleans, no power for a week.

The first thing to go is electricity. Unless you can keep it in an ice chest, your milk will sour quickly.

Many neighborhoods that I have lived in have held huge block parties a few days before expected landfall, with everyone barbecuing all of their meat to feast on before the storm and likely power outages.

I stock up on non-perishables in preparation for a hurricane . . . nuts, crackers, canned stuff (and lots of cat food).

I understand buying the stores out of bread and water, but what's the deal with milk?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. For babies and children, probably.

[Historic NY]

2. Because the cows leave until its safe..........

[PearliePoo2]

3. I would think if you needed milk for cereal (for example) ...

why not buy powdered or canned milk?

[FSogol]

4. When my sons were teenagers, we used 3 gallons a milk a week.

They could survive on cold cereal and pb&j.

[aikoaiko]

5. My kid drinks a lot of milk. Half gallon a day.

A cooler with ice can last 4 - 5 days now.

[MiniMe]

6. Bread, milk, and toilet paper

[brooklynite]

7. How else are you going to make French Toast?

[barbtries]

18. i never use milk for french toast.

water, eggs, a tablespoon of sugar. if you run out of milk and are dying to cook french toast on your sterno stove, try it, it's good.
it was my Jewish ex-MIL who taught me that.

[GulfCoast66]

47. I am sure you like it.

But Pain Perdu without milk or cream is just not French Toast to me.

But again. To each his or her own.

[hlthe2b]

8. I assume they stock up on ice for their coolers. That's the first thing I'd do

and that would include seeking out some dry ice too (increasingly hard to find, but a real help if you can).

I love my lattes and life is worth living if I can brew one on my butane burner...LOL And, yes, I have done so in a power outage.

[zipplewrath]

9. People stock up "stupid"

We generally buy groceries for a week. So before one thinks they are going to be hit by a storm, they shouldn't be going out a buying more than a weeks worth of perishables. Even with coolers, if the problem is going to be longer than that, ice chests aren't going to last that long. Having lived through a few of these, I make alot of ice prior, and we actually LOWER the amount of perishables we have on hand. Within days there are often supplies available. In really horrible situations, the real solution is probably to leave for a while.

[fleur-de-lisa]

11. That's what I have noticed . . . stocking up on "stupid."

I live in New Orleans. My priorities before a huuricane are:

Water
Booze (without electricity to read my Nook or surf the net I get bored very quickly)
Cat food
Non-perishable human food
Batteries
Gas for the cars
Prescription refills

A few weeks ago we had a storm headed our way (turned out to be a dud).

What were people buying in bulk days before the storm? Ice cream and milk!

[zipplewrath]

39. Hell I have to stop the spouse

Last hurricane, I come home and find a crate of water. Mind you, we have like 5000 jugs into which to put water. But the shelves were so empty the spouse "didn't know what else to get".

Hell, by booze if nothing else. It doesn't spoil. (Bottled water actually can).

[nolabear]

45. LOL-you ARE in New Orleans. I keep telling people how important liquor is.

And barbecue grills. Perishable meats first, veggies and carbs next (crackers are your friend), canned goods last. Tuna. NEOSPORIN. Bandages. Water, water, water. And a hand crank radio/cellphone charger. Ours is a lifesaver.

[FakeNoose]

10. Even when your power goes out, the food keeps in the fridge for several days

... especially if you refrain from opening the door frequently.

Frozen food will eventually thaw of course, but it won't go bad for several days. Probably the first thing to spoil is milk, so I do see your point. Most important of all is potable water - you don't know if your municipal water supply will be safe after a power outage or flooding. Best to fill up a 5-gallon carboy (large glass container) with clean water before the storm hits. If you don't have a carboy, fill clean plastic soda bottles and tighten the caps to keep clean water handy.

Stay safe everybody!

[Mariana]

46. Even better, fill clean plastic soda bottles most of the way

and freeze them. They last a lot longer than ice cubes to keep your stuff cold, and as they melt they provide nice cold drinking water - wonderful to have when there's no A/C!

[smirkymonkey]

12. Not sure since it's so perishable. Drinkable water is the most important thing.

I guess maybe it's because they get it for their kids.

[GoCubsGo]

13. It's not just for hurricanes.

Milk, bread, and beer were always the first things off the shelves, whether a hurricane is approaching, or winter weather/possible ice storms. Where I live, they'll shut everything down for even the possibility that we might get a quarter of an inch of snow. Not kidding. People will hit the stores beforehand, and clean them out of milk, bread, and beer. And, probably junk food, too. I guess they're afraid the suppliers will get cut off, and there will be shortages after the storm.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. I've wondered about that, too. Never got to ask anyone who actually does...

stock up on milk before an emergency, though.

Canned and powdered, infant formula... lots of storable milky stuff out there to have around if the lights go out.

[Hekate]

15. Canned milk makes a lot more sense

[fleur-de-lisa]

17. I agree. Probably tastes like shit, but then, so does sour milk. n/t

[joshcryer]

22. I grew up on powdered milk from WIC.

Love the taste, heh.

[fleur-de-lisa]

24. We were a military family (fixed income with 4 kids).

My mom mixed about half a gallon of real milk with half a gallon of powdered milk/water.

Now I remember why I hate cereal!

[Hekate]

32. My mom too! Four kids drink a lot of milk. nt

[hunter]

37. In college, I'd use powdered milk to make buttermilk.

My housemates thought I was strange, but the top of the electric water heater was just the right temperature.

Like you, me and my siblings grew up on powdered milk. It cost less than fresh then.

It wasn't terrible if it sat in the fridge a day or two after mixing.

The trouble was whenever I mixed up a batch of milk and put it into the fridge my siblings would get to it first.

[Hekate]

29. Old-timers used to call it "coffee milk"--I didn't know that all the years I used it in my coffee...

...up until I decided I really could afford half-and-half. Basically, it tastes "cooked," which it is, because half the water has been boiled out.

Canned mlk is a safe and nutritious product, so much so that it was the gold standard for infant formula in the days when cow's milk was unpasteurized. (Yes, yes, yes -- breast is best. I was given formula of canned milk, boiled water, and Karo syrup as an infant because my poor mother was told her milk caused my colic -- but when I had my babies I used the LaMaze Method and soldiered on breastfeeding them for a year despite terrible pain and associated problems. I don't know about them, but I look back and realize ideology can only carry you so far, and I would have been better off feeding them Similac or Enfamil.)

Anyhow, when I still had kids at home to plan for regarding emergencies, canned milk was on my shelves and I used it in all kinds of cooking.

[barbtries]

16. i sort of automatically told my son to add milk to the water

he's picking up anyway (if there's any left in the store that is), and then thought better of it for exactly that reason. we have more than enough in the house to last if it's going to go bad anyway. unless there is a way to get ice once the power is gone, that milk will be toast.

[SummerSnow]

19. What am I going to do with all this Nestle Quik I have?

[fleur-de-lisa]

21. Keep straws handy and snort it.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

20. Johnny Walker Black for me!

[fleur-de-lisa]

23. We could be friends!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

25. haha!! cheers!!

[qazplm135]

26. you also need a crossbow and machete...

because what if THIS time, it actually IS the zombie apocalypse?

[Mike Nelson]

27. People...

… consider milk an essential food for babies and pre-teens... bones and teeth? I go with it, but I wonder... why it's not so good for adults? We always had a few cans of the Carnation milk in the cupboard, too. I thought it tasted bad.

[Codeine]

38. I hated milk as a kid.

Just despised it. I was forced to drink a glass each day with dinner and I would gulp it down as fast as humanly possible just to get it over with.

My wife and kids are lactose intolerant and I’m a vegan, so we shan’t be stocking up on moo-juice anytime soon.

[NutmegYankee]

28. For children to drink.

The stocking up is to ensure there is enough while the storm rages. It will likely be consumed before it spoils.

I keep canned evaporated milk to use as coffee creamer in case of lost power.

[Kajun Gal]

30. Beer, bread, peanut butter and a generator!

[woodsprite]

31. I'd do powdered milk and jugs of water, and some vanilla.

I add the vanilla because once that stuff is made up, it tastes nasty. A few drops of vanilla make it taste better. At least it's shelf stable!

You could also use powdered Ensure.

[JHan]

33. Evap Milk or Powdered Milk ( even condensed milk) . I could understand those.

[sl8]

34. One thing in its favor is that it freezes well.

If you're filling the empty space in your freezer with jugs of water anyway, it wouldn't hurt to make some them jugs of milk, instead.

[Hortensis]

51. Oh, good point for those who need milk for

children or whomever. I've never frozen milk, but certainly with care it should stretch out the supply another 2-3 days.

Getting babies and small children, particularly one who already have feeding issues, to take in foods they don't like can become a serious matter, worst cases possibly becoming feeding emergencies.

[Revanchist]

35. I'm originally from blizzard/snow storm county

So milk made sense, you could always stick it on the porch if you lose power

[WhiteTara]

36. I would think powered milk would be the way to go.

[Kaleva]

40. I have no dairy products in my 1 week emergency food stock for two people

Here's a link to it:

"My frugal 7 day emergency food & water stock for 2 people
Food

7 -15 oz. cans of pork and beans ( 1 can for two people per day)
7 -12 oz. cans of luncheon meat ( 1 can for two people per day)
14 -5 oz. cans of tuna in water (1 can per person per day)
14 - 14.5 oz. cans of various vegetables (1 can per person per day)
2 - 16 oz. jars of peanut butter (4 tbsp per person per day)
7 - 15 oz. cans of unsweetened applesauce ( 1 can for two people per day)
4 - loafs of bread kept in the freezer to be taken out and thawed when needed (4 slices per person per day)
3 - 18 oz. boxes of Cheerios (3 cups per person per day. To be eaten w/o milk like crackers or chips)
1 - 24 oz. bottle of ketchup
1 - 14 oz. bottle of yellow mustard


Water

83 - 16 oz. water bottles
1 -5 gal. container of water
1 - 55 gal. container of water (for flushing the toilet only)
1 - 40 gal. of water in the water heater (for personal hygiene, the dog and washing kitchen utensils) "

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11284048

[Mr. Ected]

41. Milk, eggs, bread

I think a lot of people use an impending catastrophic storm as an excuse to make lots and lots of French Toast.

[Takket]

42. CDC food safety info...........

Seeing a lot of poor information in this thread, so posting a link below to the CDC's site for food safety in emergencies.

https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/foodwater/facts.html

[Gothmog]

43. I am guilty of this also

In my defense, you can use the milk rather quickly on cereal for a couple of fast meals after a hurricane.

[Gothmog]

44. I guess that I may get another chance to experience a named storm

Link to tweet

[ecstatic]

48. I would leave town immediately if the power went out

and it was projected that it would to take weeks to come back on. Of course, that's assuming that other parts of the US have power.

[barbtries]

50. by that time you probably can't go anywhere

because of flooding and trees down. the decision to leave has to come before the storm.

[ecstatic]

54. Good point and a good reminder of how important it is to

be prepared.

[Hortensis]

52. We went on a little road trip exploring Kentucky,

a bit of Indiana and Tennessee, when the remains of Hurricane Irma took out power to most of our county. We had stored water and other supplies needed for sheltering snugly at home without power, but it just seemed a far more pleasant idea. Our children are long grown and gone, though, and we can depend on them to take good care of our grandchildren for us.

[edbermac]

49. Helps wash down the Oreos.

[SWBTATTReg]

53. Maybe to make cheese or butter? Keep safe all! nt