Reasons Why We Store Food

There are many reasons why we store food. Here’s a list of practical, sensible reasons to have your own food storage. Some reasons are quite obvious. I list a few other reasons that may seem fairly unlikely to some people, but I would take it seriously. It makes so much sense to store food. Unfortunately it seems that many people have hardly any food storage at all. A day or two, or three… But in today’s world of uncertainty, can you really ever have enough? Anyway, lets get to it.

Why Do We Store Food?

What Are The Reasons for Storing Food?

In no particular order of priority…

Convenience

One of the most practical reasons why we store food is for convenience. Build up your own “mini mart” of sorts. Your own little grocery store stash. It sure is convenient to simply go to your pantry/closet/shelves and pick out what you might want for a meal. Seriously, that’s a great reason all by itself. It’s convenient. The more food storage, the more convenient (and more choices)!

Independence

Food storage enables some self-reliance and a warm fuzzy feeling of independence. It just happens. That’s probably because of a subconscious assurance that you have plenty of extra. Anything that you do towards becoming more self-reliant will result in a feeling of more independence (not just food). It’s a good feeling! Food storage equals peace of mind.

Food Price Inflation

Prices always go up over time. Sometimes rapidly and significantly! Buying foods now rather than later when it will cost even more – is another great reason why we store food. It is a good investment for the household. The more food that you buy now, the less you will pay in the long run when prices are higher.

The Systemic Risk of “Just-In-Time” Delivery

JIT: Just In Time delivery. Some call it Just On Time. It’s pretty much how all distribution works these days. Basically there is zero extra inventory in stores (including grocery stores). If this is disrupted (for any number of reasons), there will be shortages. This is a major systemic risk.

Generally speaking, most grocery stores may run out of many or most food items within 3 days of missed regular deliveries – especially coupled with people panic. That should be motivation enough to store more food!

[ Read: Food Delivery System Disaster Waiting To Happen ]

Severe Weather Events Disruption

An interesting observation: People preemptively freak out right before a forecast major weather event (snow storm, hurricane, etc.). I have seen it many times. They flock to the grocery stores to clear out the shelves. Why? Because most don’t have more than a day of food at home! This is another reason why we store food…so you don’t have to be part of that crowd.

[ Read: 10-80-10 Rule of Human Behavior ]

Stranded at home from Severe Weather Impact. A major snowstorm, ice-storm, flooding, hurricane, (fill in the blank) can leave you stranded at home for a while. It may leave people isolated for days or even a week or more! Power and utilities are often damaged while roadways and distribution is affected (availability of food & supplies). Severe weather is one of the common reasons for storing food — for preparedness.

[ Read: Best Emergency Survival Food Companies (Short List) ]

• Augason Farms
• ReadyWise
• Peak Refuel
• Mountain House
• Legacy
  

Sick, Injured, Recovering at Home

Unable To Leave Home: You might become sick. Maybe a health issue or injury has you home-bound for a while. You will be glad that you have at least a minimal food storage and one less thing to worry about!

Epidemic or Pandemic

Just look what happened with Covid. Shortages! First the TP, then more and more foods from supply chain disruptions. When people notice a shortage of something, they will buy more of that ‘something’ the second they see it on the shelf. It’s a natural reaction. Quickly, the supply chains are disrupted. Basically, all of our food comes from a complicated supply chain. A pandemic will directly and negatively affect that.

[ Read: When The Trucks Stop, It’s Over ]

Crop Failures Caused By Weather Patterns

There are times when major weather patterns shift to such an extent to cause regional and widespread damage. Extremes. Drought. Too much rain. Flooding. This will affect price and availability.

Personal Budget Disruption

Job loss. It’s not unheard of to lose one’s job. Expected or unexpected. With no more paycheck, if you’ve built up a food storage supply it will be one less expense to deal with until you get back on your feet.

Squeezed Budget: It happens. For whatever of the many possible reasons, if you are suddenly faced with reduced income (maybe you retire, a pay cut, your spouse loses a job) – having a food storage supply in the house will be a relief.

A reader here said, “I learned from experience! We had a financial crisis. It taught me…if I hadn’t had a deep pantry we wouldn’t have eaten.”

[ Read: 8 Lessons Learned From The Great Depression Era ]

Hunger Is A Motivator

A commenter here on the blog once said, “I have been hungry before. It was not a good feeling. I still remember that feeling today.” ” I try to make sure that never happens to me again. ever… “

As a society, we are not that many missed meals away from anarchy and chaos. Though it may seem quite improbable, a SHTF situation could quickly result in people going hungry and becoming desperate. Don’t let that be you. Build an inventory of food storage.

[ Read: 9 Missed Meals From Anarchy ]

[ Read: 98% Depend On 2% Who Are Farmers ]

Major Earthquake and Regional Disaster

Earthquake: For those who live in earthquake country, do yourself a favor and build up emergency food storage. The “big one” is going to happen some day. You don’t know when. It could be tomorrow. Building and infrastructure damage could bring an entire region into shutdown. What you have will be all there is.

[ Read: Natural Hazards Leading To Natural Disasters ]

Civil Unrest – War Times

The follow-on effects could be bad enough to limit movements and travel. The reasons why we store food are many, and this is just another one. It might seem unlikely to happen (due to normalcy bias), but we do live in very uncertain times. Prices go up as these uncertainties may pressure the markets and supply chains. What if there were to be a war right here? Unthinkable, right? On the other hand, it may be worth a thought… Yet another reason why we might choose to store food.

Societal Chaos

Societal division percolating to a boil, leading to chaos. Mass protests, rioting, looting on a grand scale, perhaps caused by a trigger event that chain reacts into society. The resulting chaos more likely in urban areas and regions of high population density. Perhaps even widespread.

Trigger events could be nearly anything. There is so much tension and division. We even hear talk of the potential for ‘civil war’. Could it happen here again?

Food storage – it’s a good thing to have!

EMP or CME Event

EMP: An electromagnetic pulse, either weaponized (EMP nuke) or a natural event (massive solar flare and CME, coronal mass ejection). These events could badly damage or destroy parts of (or all of) the electric power grid. Anything electronic. We could be sent back to the Stone Age, and most will not survive it. This is a worst case scenario, but worth mentioning.

[ Read: Solar SuperStorm 1859 ‘Carrington Event’ – In the Blink of an Eye ]

Food Storage Equals Personal Security

A commenter on the blog said, “I went to observe my local super market 8 hours after the Hurricane had passed. There was definitely a lot of people panic buying. If there is a run on Food you do not want to be anywhere near the masses of people that’s for sure.”

Food Insurance

Another commenter said, “You buy insurance, hoping you won’t need it. You buy food, and you know you will use it. Even if some of it gets wasted, the majority of it will be used at some point in time. It’s illogical not to have food insurance!”

These are just a few (of many) reasons why we store food. To have extra food storage on hand. It’s a security blanket for survival.

[ Read: Four Things That Affect Food Storage ]

[ Read: Food Storage Mistakes To Avoid ]