I used to live on the east coast specifically New Jersey. I remember seeing more than my share of snowstorms. Because most of my family still live on the east coast I was informed by them that they were supposed to get a major snowstorm. Let me tell you living here in the desert we rarely ever watch the weather reports because there are only so many ways you can say sunny and warm or sunny and hot. Now that I knew my family was in for a big storm I actually watched the weather for the east coast.
Now if you live on the east coast you know the second they say major snow storm everyone and there uncle hit the grocery stores and the two items that run out the quickest are milk and bread. Now I am a curious person by nature so I google “Why do people by bread and milk when a snowstorm is predicted. Well to my surprise there were hundreds of articles on this subject. Some say it started in New England during a storm in 1978 when people were trapped in their homes for weeks. Others say it began in 1950 when a storm caused a shortage of milk supplies. Psychologist say it comes from our nature to hoard. As I read through article after article all I got was someone else’s opinion on why this happens.
Now if you think about it from a logical point of view you would have to consider that these are both perishable items that have a very short shelf life. Also these days nobody gets trapped in for more than a day or two and those who live so far from a store, well that bread and milk will not last you more than a few days. So logically it makes no sense at all for the stores to run out of these items. This leads me to believe that our minds have been programmed from a very early age that snow equals bread and milk. Keep in mind this is only my personal opinion and I have no evidence to back this theory up.
I myself would be more inclined to buy flour, sugar, powdered milk and other non perishable items and make my own bread, but hey that’s just my opinion again. Now I guess I will never get a true answer of why these items are so important in a snow storm.
To those of you who live on the east coast I wish you all well and I hope you survive the snow storm without to much inconvenience. Just remember your non perishable items will get you a lot further then your bread and milk.
As for me I will continue to enjoy my sunny and warm weather and be thankful that I moved where the snow stays on the mountains and people only buy milk and bread when they run out.