Prepping vs Hoarding

Day One of the Blog

It's time for the annual Passover cleaning and sorting of the pantry, fridge, and freezers.  It only takes one day, but I always stress over it.  Cleaning the fridge shelves before food gets warm is the hardest part.

This is also the one-year anniversary of the grocery panic at the start of the pandemic, at least in my area.  The shortages made me rethink my buy-everything-fresh mentality.  I still did not want to get to the place I started when I began this blog.  Dozens of Prepper videos later, I think I have a system in place to prevent hoarding.  Actually, I know I have a system since having to quarantine.  I went two weeks between shopping trips and only ran out of bananas.  The fresh milk came out even, but I do have powdered in the pantry.  I still had a few days of meat in the freezer and weeks of non-meat proteins.  I was not out of frozen vegetables.  And I was still making blog-worthy meals.

So what's the difference between Prepping and Hoarding?  In my opinion, it has to do with planning.  Hoarders buy everything that looks like they might use it someday.  Preppers might buy the same amount, but they know how much they have and when they're going to use it.  Before it goes into the cart, there's a plan.

1.  Set Goals.  What do you hope to accomplish with your pantry?  Is it for natural disasters, security if there are money issues, illness, product shortages, coming up on retirement?  You can have more than one reason.  My goal for food was to manage two weeks if I was stuck home with Covid or my shop closed and I needed to stop spending money until I had a new paycheck.  Both happened simultaneously, so I didn't need to do that twice.  Whew.  Separately, I decided to carry about four months of paper goods, toiletries, and cleaning supplies in case of new shortages.  Some people want to have more on hand than that, but I live in a large metropolitan area in a temperate climate and have seen what shortages around here look like.  You can still get something, at least as long as no one hoards toilet paper.  It might be zucchini, but it's there.

2.  Learn what you Have.  Inventory is key, and what my mom never did.  She would buy something with no idea if she already had too much (wax paper, pimientos), then shove it in a random spot in the pantry, fridge, or freezer, not next to anything of its kind, and often not labeled.  Definitely not labeled with a purchase date.  I'm guessing that there was no such thing as a shopping list.  I don't remember ever seeing her with one.  I'm big on grocery lists.  I have one for perishable weekly shopping, and the "Target" list with items that can wait until I hit the restock point on something.  I don't actually always go to Target for those items, it's just called the Target list so I can draw a bullseye instead of writing out the word.  During the height of pandemic shortages, it was called the Wish List.

3.  Learn what you Use.  Don't buy stuff Just Because.  If you aren't a canned tamales person, don't buy them "just in case".  Only buy foods you like and eat often enough to rotate.  Yes, there should be some items to get you through a 3-day emergency, but you probably don't need as much as you think.  If the power is out in just your neighborhood, you can Uber Eats a hot meal, or go get it yourself.  Road closures due to weather are generally less than a week, and you probably will have power for most of it.  But you can't get cough syrup and a few other OTC cold remedies delivered due to legal restrictions, so make sure you have enough of those to handle a quarantine.

4.  Organization.  An itemized inventory, including purchase and best-by dates, is useful if you are prepping for 3+ months or keep items in multiple locations.  My 2-4 weeks of foodstuffs can be kept in a single place.  I only inventory my spices, since the collection is a bit unwieldy.  Part of this organization is being aware of FIFO: First In, First Out.  Always rotate new items behind older purchases, like they do in the grocery store.  I do that with my home-canned jams, even different varieties.  Right now, if I want the marmalade I made in January, I have to reach behind jams with a July expiration.  It makes you think twice.  It also keeps me from extra jamming sessions until I have somewhere to put the product.  Try to keep like items together in the pantry: soups, canned meats, pasta next to the sauce, oils and condiments near each other, baking supplies on the same section of their shelf, etc.  A disorganized pantry leads to hoarding and spoiled food faster than any other issue.

5.  Establish Par Levels.  A par level is an inventory management device.  It helps you estimate how much you need until the next restocking interval.  Generally, you want to keep about 10-15% more on hand than you think you need, in case of delays or product shortages.  Let's say you go grocery shopping every Friday.  Your par level for eggs would be whatever you need to make it until the following Saturday, in case something comes up and the trip to the market is delayed.  For something longer term like laundry soap, it's a learning process.  What I did was write on the package the day I opened it.  When it ran out, I knew that the large jug takes me about 8 months to use.  For a household with five people and a dog, that time would be significantly less.  Once you know how often you go through an item, you can make an informed choice how much to stock to meet your preparation goals.  This is when you establish your resupply point.  Maybe it's when you open the last of an item, or even halfway through it.  Maybe you need two - or more - unopened on the shelf.  It depends on your goals and usage.

6.  Routine Cleaning.  At least once a year, take everything out of the pantry/ shelving/ fridge/ freezer and examine it for spoilage.  Clean the shelves, defrost the freezer, and make that tough choice to toss or donate something that you are never going to use.  Or, do a Pantry Challenge week to get rid of anything that seemed like a good idea at the time and make a note - on actual paper - never to buy it again.  It's a waste of your time and money to store something that ends up in the trash.

7.  Learn from Experience.  Not only your own experience, but what has happened elsewhere.  The aftereffects of the storm in Texas and an essay by seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones convinced me to stock a little more water than I've been.  I'm not a bottled water person, but one gallon a day for a week is a reasonable amount to keep on hand if the San Andreas breaks.  In colder climates, various forms of non-electric heating might be a priority.  Evaluate how likely you are to need something if a certain type of emergency happens.

Whether you carry an inventory of one week or one year is a personal choice.  Neither is wrong if it works for you.  My problem a year ago was that it was no longer working for me because the world had changed.  By necessity, I changed to match the new reality.  By creating a personal set of guidelines, I avoided hoarding food and goods while still providing for a possible 2-week emergency.

I've already finished my Passover shopping, except for perishables.  That was done two weeks ago, and is sitting in a box waiting for the great pantry rearranging.  I did get stuck with the 5-pack case of matzoh.  Why won't they sell it by the single box?!  That is the only thing in the pantry that I would count as hoarding.  Unavoidable, inconvenient hoarding.