Wait... what?

[Captain Trips]

As to the ice cream, it kind of makes sense. You want a food item that takes no power to store or prepare. In the middle of winter, you can keep the ice cream on your back porch, and you don't need power to ready it to eat either.

(My sister, who lives in Lexington, MA, has been know to use her garage as a second refrigerator in winter. A two-car refrigerator! For frozen, she probably puts stuff in the unheated basement...)

[ohsobitter]

I'm in Cincinnati. We're supposed to get a few inches of snow tomorrow, and I have to work all day, so I made sure I had my beer supply in today since I won't be able to get out tomorrow. The grocery store was packed though, people buying carts full of food.

I'm the worst stock piler of food too. If it's on sale I buy it. Plus I make all my own soups.
When we lived in South FL, during the worst of the hurricane seasons, I could not believe my neighbors didn't have any canned goods. I feed my neighbors for a week after Wilma. They were trying to boil potatoes on a grill! I cleaned out my freezer, so that was nice though.

[bainsidhe]

I never understood the ice cream thing either, just assumed it was a comfort food binge. We'd also sell lots of ice cream whenever we got a real cold spell, even without snow and ice.

Buying ice makes sense to me, actually. Growing up, we'd be out of power for a couple days during big storms. It's easy to say you'll store your entire fridge outside, but not very practical. And since I live in an apartment, that would mean storing it amongst the doggie doo doo snow.

Pizza is also nice. I have a gas stove, so could still cook it if the power went out. It's also uncomplicated and can be cooked by candlelight.

And for booze? I'm not much of a drinker, but when I was snowed in with family over Christmas....oy.

[MoonCat]

I never did get the "milk and bread" thing. Canned stuff, sure. My essentials list goes like this: Coffee, chocolate, wine, toilet paper, cat food.

Kidding (mostly). We don't drink that much. But I MUST have coffee!

We always have other stuff around, like Ramen soups, cereal, pasta, etc. If the power goes out we can still light the stove burners with a match, and we have an old-fashioned percolator coffee pot that goes on the stove.

Oh, yeah, and flashlight batteries. The last time the power went out I looked all over town for batteries...even tried the "adult" store...that was embarrassing....and they had just sold the last set of D batteries!

[Kogarashi]

buying a lot of perishable food right before a winter storm has never made sense to me. canned food does.

My parents actually were the types to use the huge snowdrift just off their back porch as a second fridge in weather like this. Saved a lot of room when we bought the extra bottles of soda for the various wintry holidays.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

quick, what's the a common thing to happen because of snow and ice?

if you guessed, "the power goes out" then you're right!

buying a lot of perishable food right before a winter storm has never made sense to me. canned food does.

How about renting movies?

Yes, at my old job at the video store, we used to have customers come in to rent movies DURING a blackout.

[Tama]

My guess is, portable DVD players, or laptops?

[EvilEmpryss]

Generators. Then they assume that if they were wise enough to invest in such equipment, so was the rest of the town.

I have a neighbor who thinks like this. Forget the fact that in the five years I've lived in my current house, we haven't had a black out that lasted more than half an hour or so. But this one time, almost a decade ago, there was a massive ice storm that knocked out power for a whole day. He bought into a salesman's hype about it happening again, and hasn't let anyone forget that if there should be another long-term blackout, he won't have to worry about his food going bad.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm the worst stock piler of food too. If it's on sale I buy it. Plus I make all my own soups.

So... You stockpile soup stock?

^-.-^

[dalesys]

So... You stockpile soup stock?

^-.-^

Just souping up.

[Andara Bledin]

Just souping up.

Ah, ok. Souper.

^-.-^

[dalesys]

Ah, ok. Souper.

^-.-^

"No soup for you."

Godwin's Law provoked.

[Hyena Dandy]

This whole conversation is Soupid.

[EricKei]

Ah, ok. Souper.

...~Thanks for askiiiing~

Soup?! Ah, Nuts to that!

[Jester]

You people are too stocked with puns.

Frankly, it's a bit too base for me, and I just won't stew on it any longer.

It's insane what people in the area of my store have decided are 'essentials' thanks to the sleet/frozen rain two days ago, and the three inches of snow we're receiving right now...
... but, I swear, the liquor section, what little I straightened of it before I headed home, was a DISASTER! Out, just, completely OUT, of more than half our selection...
What really confused me was the number of people going, "Oh, yeah, I need a bag of ice, too..." 'Why?'

Drinker here. And this all makes perfect sense to me.

Liquor: Major storm, can't get out to get more booze, want to be stocked up. Power goes out, can't read, watch tv, play on the computer, what are you going to do? Down here, we have a lot of blackouts. Now, often I will go to the bars during these, but we are talking about winter storms, which of course I don't deal with, so we have to assume that getting out is not really an option, which is why people are stocking up. So, with no power, I personally have two things I can do....read my Kindle (it has its own light) and drink. Last power outage, I sat on my balcony drinking beer, enjoying the night.

Ice: Now, I prefer my rum straight, and would even more so if I were dealing with cold, but most people who drink liquor make cocktails, like rum and coke, and frankly, you need ice for such things. No power means no ice being made in your freezer. More on the ice thing:

The ice is for the alcohol, of course. You wouldn't want to put the crap outside in your liquor, would you?

While you can use the outside snow as a fridge/freezer for your booze, or even for your bags of ice until you're ready to break them open, it would be unsanitary to use outside ice in your drinks (not to mention gross), and snow just doesn't work in a cocktail, as it melts too quickly, watering down your drink.

I'd like to point out that I am a Sun Belter, who is from the desert and lives in the tropics, and while I dealt with snow and ice and winter as a child, as an adult I have dealt with snow for 1 day in my life. And yet, as a drinker, all of this makes perfect and immediate sense to me.

buying a lot of perishable food right before a winter storm has never made sense to me. canned food does.

Canned food is not all that tasty, especially if you can't heat it up, which much of it needs.

Perishable food you can keep in the fridge (even with the power out, while closed, the fridge will act as a giant cooler for quite some time) or, as mentioned above, outside in your yard's snow. And for the few days that you are homebound, even with the power out, you will have nice tasty meals. Can't cook without power (well, not electrically), but sandwiches are a definite idea. I myself would buy bread, meat, cheese, and mustard. Since there are plenty of ways to keep them cold even without power, these make perfect sense to me.

As to the ice cream, it kind of makes sense. You want a food item that takes no power to store or prepare. In the middle of winter, you can keep the ice cream on your back porch, and you don't need power to ready it to eat either.

That...actually....makes a whole lot of sense. Wow. Learn something new every day.

My sister, who lives in Lexington, MA, has been know to use her garage as a second refrigerator in winter.

I actually know many people who do this very type of thing. Makes perfect sense.

They were trying to boil potatoes on a grill!

Now, I don't know your neighbors, and I don't know how they were trying to do it, but I could totally see it.

Charcoal or gas grill, doesn't matter. Get that grill up hot. Metal pot with water in it right on the grill, get the water boiling, boil the potatoes.

Me, I'd just grill or steam the taters, but either way, it works.

How about renting movies?

Yes, at my old job at the video store, we used to have customers come in to rent movies DURING a blackout.

As someone else pointed out, there are plenty of ways to watch movies without power.

Also, in many if not most cases, blackouts don't last that long, but you may still be stuck in the house for a lot longer. Even if the blackout is going on right now, chances are good that at some point in the next few days, you'll be sitting around the house with power but without anything to do....movie time!