Time to Reflect on My Grocery Hoarding.

I haven't reviewed my overall results and status for bit, so here goes. But am I really a hoarder. I wasn't early on, but became one. 

Early on, I found myself scrambling, just to keep certain things in supply. Obviously toilet paper was an issue and I even ordered from God knows where. Many paper products were not to be found on the shelves and on line ordering became the go to source. 

Even on line was bereft of many of these items. Staples such as a variety of beans, as well as other pantry items were not to be found. Granted, I was picky about brand, etc. but still it was quite a challenge. Even distilled water disappeared from shelves and led me to distilling my own... with limited success. 

By fall of 2020, the shortages seemed to have eased up. I was using curbside for groceries from 2 different stores and was still coming up with "out of stock" on numerous items. For example the T.P. orders were for different quantities and was very hit and miss... until one week, all quantities from both stores were in the basket. I stopped ordering curbside on the same day, as the vehicle was absolutely full. About 18 months of T.P. and I could wipe that from the list for awhile.

The pantry items started rolling in as well. I built some shelves in the den and began piling up the goods. By end of 2020, I was well supplied.

Here it is, middle of 2022 and I am still hoarding, but have long since began reducing volumes in storage. I am about half of where I was in late 2020, with more to go.

In 2020, people were hoarding because of Covid, but it would appear that inflation is now in the driver's seat, with people starting to buy pantry items before the price goes up. 

Where do I stand? I will continue to back off the storage and really see no purpose to stockpiling. I understand the concern of food "shortages" being a possibility... but the cynic in me suggests this could be a bit of fearmongering for the USA, although not for certain regions of the world. Besides, I have been hoarding fat for years and it might not hurt to reduce that bit of buildup. 

I think the food "shortage" will most likely be food insecurity and that could be worrying, as prices of basic commodities rise out of range of many people. 

Hoarding Update and Other Random Things.

It has been over two years since hoarding became my mantra and quite frankly… I am getting rather sick of it. 

Outside of a few perishable items, my grocery purchases are now limited. It has become time to reduce the inventory. Not of stuff I might use, but stuff that “seemed” intriguing or stuff that might be used once upon a time… before hasn’t done anything but collect dust. 

Cannellini Beans; smooth Jif peanut butter; kidney beans; chickpeas, canned pinto beans (other than Lucks); single cans of other stuff that remain from failed taste tests. All this was due to one of those food drives. Like most Americans, my generosity is limited to stuff I don't want or need. More on that later.

Don’t get me wrong, I will not starve to death. I am experiencing a strong case of food boredom. On the bright side, I am saving money on the old grocery budget, but somehow this only seems to increase my curbside/takeout/delivery expenses. Even those are starting to wear thin.

As inflation is all the rage… allow me to dive into that barrel of outrage. It was not long ago, I was led to believe everyone was okay with gasoline costing more, if we were to reduce our imports of Russian energy. The we, are the many individuals on the many social media outlets I frequent saying... "Let’s support Ukraine!!!"

Now we have these same individuals screaming about the price of gasoline. It makes it hard to believe anyone about anything. Sacrificing for the cause is merely an illusion in modern America... and elsewhere, if people are telling the truth about their locations. I people really wanted to send a message... it would be use less, but that ain't the American way. I may be biased, as I drive an average of 20 miles per week.

It seems that everything is politicized and is being used to further divide. 

Maybe Time for a Hoarding Update and Some General Trivia!

I should start by pointing out that I am starting this blog on 1-16-2022. At this time, I am sitting here, awaiting the big storm Izzy to descend upon us. No worries, as I have no need to leave the house until 1-31-22 and maybe not then, as I have become quite the hoarder. The only issue would be a prolonged loss of power, which should not be such a worry in my community.

1-19... There are apparently, a number of storms likely to cycle through the region over the next couple of weeks, so just need to hunker down. Have ordered the covid tests, but not sure if we will use them or need them anytime soon. Of course, it sounds like we won't get them anytime soon as well. 

1-21... Checking the 2 week weather outlook and it seems to indicate prolonged colder than normal temps, with bouts of snowfall. Nothing is set in stone, so I'll keep checking. Typically order groceries for pickup on Wednesday's and Thursdays. 

This may seem odd, considering the first paragraph, but while I have stored a good amount of groceries and can claim starvation is not in the cards... there are certain food groups that don't store well over time. Such as veggies, fruits, etc. 

On one social websites I frequent, the following was posted... "there is a pasta shortage, as shipments from Italy cannot get into U.S. ports." This reminded me of the BBC show from the 50s, on an April Fool's broadcast... about spaghetti trees.

That is not to say we do not import some pasta from Italy, but it would be specialty brands, as most pasta is made in the USA. It was good for a laugh at least.

There are many nuggets of humor to be found on these websites, as long as you look for the humor, instead of looking to criticize. Shaking your head in disbelief and then having a good laugh is probably the best medicine. 

Is My Attempt at Hoarding Merely Transitory?

 

It depends on definitions. An individual's life is transitory, in the grand scheme of things.

This term cropped up regarding inflation and it may or may not be transitory, but what about my hoarding habits, due to covid? I realize that Jerome Powell has said it might be time to retire the term "transitory". Seems like an admission that someone was wrong, when first describing inflation as merely transitory. Which begs the question of how much else might be wrong? Oh well, back to my situation.

Shortages early in the Pandemic caused me to add shelves inside the house; stuff the pantry full and then those added shelves being packed. It took a while to get that done but was largely completed in August 2020. At that time, it became just a matter of maintaining the stash. 

Since then, there has been limited contact with people and mostly visits to healthcare settings, etc. This has become normal, and I don't seem to have a problem with the lifestyle. In fact, discovering the many "curbside" opportunities have led me to the conclusion that I can get by quite nicely.

Having established the "stash" of goods, worry over shortages have abated. Granted, there are items each week that are marked "unavailable", but generally within a couple of weeks... they become available. The stash covers that, except for "perishables" which at times is hit or miss. Doing curbside from 2 different stores each week, reduces that as well.

Periodically, I try to evaluate the hoarded goods and estimate long term needs. Generally, this means looking at the world of covid, which currently looks dicey, even with double doses and boosters. 

Which brings me to discuss this Omicron variant. A lot seems to be missing regarding knowledge of this variant. I feel confident our own personal lifestyle should keep us safe from these variants. These variants will likely continue for quite a while as new types of vaccines will likely need to be developed and the lag time between development and sufficient global uptake to slow the rate of mutations... seems to be out of reach.

I would suspect the "supply chain" crisis will be alleviated in the spring, but that does not necessarily mean everything will be readily available, especially in the food area. When I refer to supply chain crisis, I am referring to the piles of goods at our ports, intermodal congestion, etc. We still have the issue of countries closing borders, the flow of goods, etc. You can't really have port congestion if there is no cargo coming in. 

Inflation will likely continue to be a factor, well into 2022, imo. I can almost guarantee the CPI for November will be at 40-year highs and December might ease a bit from the November numbers, as energy seems to be plateauing. However, nothing else seems to be easing, although it may well be the October retail sales, which were stellar and might just be people ordering Holiday "stuff" early... to avoid any potential shortages. That might explain the less than stellar sales of the past Thanksgiving weekend.

Food does not seem to be catching a break and given the disruption to meat packers, etc. due to covid; disruption to farmers worldwide, due to weather and covid, it would seem to indicate no immediate relief in the inflation trajectory. 

While most of our food supplies are of North American origin and would seemingly be safe from issues overseas, etc., the packaging materials, equipment, and replacement parts of equipment used in the food sector are not so safe, imo. 

Just as many industries are moving from the just-in-time model to the just-in-case model, it seems imperative that I consider that as well... which I did but need to continue.

I cannot say when I will ease off the hoarding or if I ever will. There are certain benefits to knowing I have enough to overcome most issues. So, renewing my zeal for hoarding and maintaining the current stockpile will continue and perhaps I will consider expanding, although the latter is much less likely.

Everything stated to this point is about unknowns, regarding inflation and supplies, but another worry and also unknown as well... is breakdown of societal norms, via social upheaval and in case anyone has forgotten... 2022 is an election year for all of Congress and 1/3 of the Senate. By the way... vaccine hesitancy will likely become a bigger issue, the Supreme Court is weighing in on some "hot" topics and people are generally in a bad mood over just about anything you can imagine. Some people are mad at other people because the other people are mad and it escalates from there. 

Outbreaks of the past have seen public trust eroded and with it... a breakdown in societal norms. The Spanish Flu saw some of these societal issues regarding trust in authority figures and the Black Plague was catastrophic.

Trust in leadership had been waning pre-pandemic and multiple factors not directly related to Covid... has eroded the trust even more. 

History indicates that breakdowns in society are not merely transitory, in that it requires changes over may years to achieve a new normalcy. Transitory might mean a lifetime.