My Thoughts On Stockpiling & Natural Disasters

My stockpile is at last filling up again.

Stockpiles of food are marvelous things for when times are tough or a disaster occurs.  Mine has dwindled to almost nothing since September, so foremost in my mind at the moment is buying extra as I can afford it.  The major earthquake we experienced in September last year has taught me many lessons on this particular subject.  There is nothing like actually living during a natural disaster to learn just how ill-equipped or well-equipped you are.

boxing day earthquake YouTube clip

Naturally when a disaster strikes, everyone panics and rushes to the supermarket/petrol station/money machine.  All these things happened  here in Canterbury.  Power went out to most of the city and outlying areas immediately.  This was not so much because the actual wires were damaged, more because the power is supposed to trip out, preventing more damage.  With no power the petrol station pumps didn't work nor the money machines.  The shops had no power for most of Saturday as well. We were told by civil defense not to make any unnecessary trips and to stay at home.  However, people soon flooded the supermarkets buying mostly bottled water and batteries.  Note here, make sure you are always stocked up on these things, they are the first things to sell out in an emergencyy.  The distribution centres suffered major losses of groceries, and  I heard that supermarkets only stock enough goods on site for 2 days.  So the supermarket shelves were almost completely bare after several days.  At this point I should add, it took a long time before the wine smell from all the smashed wine bottles went away at our local Pak N Save.  So you cannot rely on just popping out to grab something you are short of when disaster strikes out of the blue.  Since the earthquake people have mentioned about making sure there is always petrol in you car and that you keep some spare cash somewhere safe at home.

Each week I try to buy as much as I can on special and so I am "shopping" out of my store cupboard. This last week I purchased 4 boxes of 1kg Weetbix and 30 tins of Oak Spaghetti and Baked Beans.  The tins were a great buy at  6 tins for $5.00. This week I need more rice, so I will head to a local Asian Supermarket that is much cheaper than the supermarket chains.  While there I will get more noodles for fried noodles and a 25kg bag of rice.  Back in 2008 there was talk of rice prices increasing dramatically, this has since happened.  I am only just now restocking after bulk buying back then.  I need to brace myself for the new prices.

This side of the cupboard needs some tidying

Slowly filling the shelves again