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Several days back, they put out a video to try to discourage panic buying by reassuring customers they have plenty of everything in their warehouse: https://ww

Several days back, they put out a video to try to discourage panic buying by reassuring customers they have plenty of everything in their warehouse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hCw5Q8qGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7hCw5Q8qGw I enjoyed watching the video just because it gives an idea how big one of these company's warehouses is. (Best view starts about 0m55s.) Those are some tall shelves, and there are a lot of rows of them. They're supplying probably millions of people with food, so it makes sense, but I still found the visual impact interesting.

mc32 7y ago
What I don’t get is people hoarding perishables. Like what is your plan? Have it, is that the plan, have it? At least TP or water have a long shelflife, but (regular) milk and eggs???
- stagger87 7y ago
  You can freeze milk and eggs for like a year no problem.
  - StillBored 7y ago
    If the st really hits the fan you won't be able to run that freezer for long unless you also have sufficient solar and an ability to run it without grid tie.
    - maxerickson 7y ago
      There is shelf stable milk. Buying a sensible amount of that in normal times is probably the way to go. I haven't tried it, but my understanding is that it has the same caramel-sweet flavor that most lactose free milk has, because of the higher heat during pasteurization (UHT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process... ). I think the shelf stable is heated more than the lactose milk, which the lactose milk is still plenty noticeable.
      - StillBored 7y ago
        Or just dry milk. I remember getting that stuff as a kid because I had issues with normal cows milk. Not the best, but if your desperate it will work.
      - lsaferite 7y ago
        Having tried both I would disagree. Shelf stable UHT milk doesn't taste sweet to me at all. That is likely because lactose free milk is made by adding a lactase and then using UHT pasteurization to stop the chemical reaction (and extend the shelf life). This means the lactose is already pre-converted into glucose (and galactose) in this milk. Shelf-stable UHT milk doesn't have lactase added and isn't sweeter than normal milk. At least in my experience.
  - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
    I never had any luck unfreezing milk - the water and cream unfroze at different rate, and it ended up weird.
    - effingwewt 7y ago
      You can just shake it vigorously to reconstitute it. More places than you may think freeze their milk until they are ready to use it. I personally find that low fat or skim milk takes to unfreezing better.
- aidos 7y ago
  Eggs last quite a long time. Not that it worries me, my hens laid their first egg today! Believe it or not, people in the Uk actually panic purchased chickens this week.
  - yardie 7y ago
    American eggs have a relatively short shelflife. In order to make it look more marketable they wash and bleach the protective coating. A natural egg should be brown but in America they are all white. If you buy your eggs from a farm you're fine to leave it in the pantry. If you buy it from an American supermarket you'll need to keep it in the fridge.
    - learc83 7y ago
      >A natural egg should be brown but in America they are all white. That is incorrect. Different hens lay different colored eggs.
      - aidos 7y ago
        Yup, can confirm. Our first egg is from our Pheasant Leghorn, which lays white eggs.
      - DanBC 7y ago
        Yes. The shell colour is genetic. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why_are_chicken_eggs_different_colors https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why_are_chicken_eggs_different... Also, the thing farmers do have control over is the colour of the yolk. You can buy Egg Yolk Color Charts: http://www.robotmation.co.jp/keiranycceng.htm http://www.robotmation.co.jp/keiranycceng.htm This article talks about it a bit more: http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2013/03/influencing-egg-yolk-color.html http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2013/03/influencing-egg-yolk-...
        aidos 7y ago
        Even weirder, if a chicken has white earlobes, it probably lays white eggs. Not always, but mostly (apparently).
- gwern 7y ago
  To eat first, obviously. Delay being forced back onto the nonperishables as long as possible.

mc32 7y ago

What I don’t get is people hoarding perishables. Like what is your plan? Have it, is that the plan, have it? At least TP or water have a long shelflife, but (regular) milk and eggs???

stagger87 7y ago
You can freeze milk and eggs for like a year no problem.
- StillBored 7y ago
  If the st really hits the fan you won't be able to run that freezer for long unless you also have sufficient solar and an ability to run it without grid tie.
  - maxerickson 7y ago
    There is shelf stable milk. Buying a sensible amount of that in normal times is probably the way to go. I haven't tried it, but my understanding is that it has the same caramel-sweet flavor that most lactose free milk has, because of the higher heat during pasteurization (UHT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_processing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-temperature_process... ). I think the shelf stable is heated more than the lactose milk, which the lactose milk is still plenty noticeable.
    - StillBored 7y ago
      Or just dry milk. I remember getting that stuff as a kid because I had issues with normal cows milk. Not the best, but if your desperate it will work.
    - lsaferite 7y ago
      Having tried both I would disagree. Shelf stable UHT milk doesn't taste sweet to me at all. That is likely because lactose free milk is made by adding a lactase and then using UHT pasteurization to stop the chemical reaction (and extend the shelf life). This means the lactose is already pre-converted into glucose (and galactose) in this milk. Shelf-stable UHT milk doesn't have lactase added and isn't sweeter than normal milk. At least in my experience.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  I never had any luck unfreezing milk - the water and cream unfroze at different rate, and it ended up weird.
  - effingwewt 7y ago
    You can just shake it vigorously to reconstitute it. More places than you may think freeze their milk until they are ready to use it. I personally find that low fat or skim milk takes to unfreezing better.
aidos 7y ago
Eggs last quite a long time. Not that it worries me, my hens laid their first egg today! Believe it or not, people in the Uk actually panic purchased chickens this week.
- yardie 7y ago
  American eggs have a relatively short shelflife. In order to make it look more marketable they wash and bleach the protective coating. A natural egg should be brown but in America they are all white. If you buy your eggs from a farm you're fine to leave it in the pantry. If you buy it from an American supermarket you'll need to keep it in the fridge.
  - learc83 7y ago
    >A natural egg should be brown but in America they are all white. That is incorrect. Different hens lay different colored eggs.
    - aidos 7y ago
      Yup, can confirm. Our first egg is from our Pheasant Leghorn, which lays white eggs.
    - DanBC 7y ago
      Yes. The shell colour is genetic. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why_are_chicken_eggs_different_colors https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/why_are_chicken_eggs_different... Also, the thing farmers do have control over is the colour of the yolk. You can buy Egg Yolk Color Charts: http://www.robotmation.co.jp/keiranycceng.htm http://www.robotmation.co.jp/keiranycceng.htm This article talks about it a bit more: http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2013/03/influencing-egg-yolk-color.html http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2013/03/influencing-egg-yolk-...
      - aidos 7y ago
        Even weirder, if a chicken has white earlobes, it probably lays white eggs. Not always, but mostly (apparently).
gwern 7y ago
To eat first, obviously. Delay being forced back onto the nonperishables as long as possible.