I read on Twitter last night that two men at the grocery store got into a fight over bacon. Yes, bacon. Nothing says storm preps like breaking someone's nose for a cured pig product.
The Northeast is planning for a major snowstorm thatwill could dump a ton of snow-- some even say record-breaking-- so people all over New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and more are doing exactly what the news is telling them to do: they are going ape-shit crazy and buying everything they can get their hands on.
Including bacon.
This is what drives me nuts about severe weather. News stations go crazy with wall-to-wall coverage talking about the impending doom (which is always major, according to them), so eventually everyone at home panics and feels like they must go buy 7 times more food than they need. For viewers, it's further exasperated by the fact that when they go to the grocery, everyone else is panicking and filling their carts to the brim, and suddenly the hoarding mentality tells them it makes sense to fight over bacon.
Here are my top 5 reasons why y'all need to calm down.
As an environmentalist, it's hard seeing all these empty shelves, because I know how much of this food will get trashed after it goes bad. Americans throw away 133 BILLION pounds every year.
So my advice--relax, be careful and don't go crazy. The only item you should be stocking up on: wine.
The Northeast is planning for a major snowstorm that
Including bacon.
This is what drives me nuts about severe weather. News stations go crazy with wall-to-wall coverage talking about the impending doom (which is always major, according to them), so eventually everyone at home panics and feels like they must go buy 7 times more food than they need. For viewers, it's further exasperated by the fact that when they go to the grocery, everyone else is panicking and filling their carts to the brim, and suddenly the hoarding mentality tells them it makes sense to fight over bacon.
Here are my top 5 reasons why y'all need to calm down.
- News stations' ratings go up when they do weather coverage, so they do a lot of it. And they go overboard. Take it with a grain of salt.
- As a former news gal, I know that reporters have to fill 1.5 to 2 minutes during their weather live shots, so they will also hype up that people are buying supplies and hunkering down. Also take it with a grain of sidewalk salt. (I once had to do snow coverage when it wasn't snowing. That is how smart TV stations are.)
- Okay, so say you are stuck in your house for two days. For me, this is what I call a weekend. Trust me, you have enough food.
- Just because you can't leave the house for a few days doesn't mean that you need to buy several gallons of milk, tons of bread, eggs, bacon-- unless suddenly you've become a 400-pound man who can only leave the house after rescuers cut a hole in the wall and lift you out with a forklift.
- Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean you have to.
As an environmentalist, it's hard seeing all these empty shelves, because I know how much of this food will get trashed after it goes bad. Americans throw away 133 BILLION pounds every year.
So my advice--relax, be careful and don't go crazy. The only item you should be stocking up on: wine.
