Why do people panic buy bread when it snows

[Plun]

There is more food than bread. Yet bready things like English muffins and crumpets don’t get a look in.

Plus tins of soup. Don’t people have store cupboards anymore? I have enough food in for about a month. Though run out of FnV but at the end of the period, it will be any food for any meal

Last night I watched a tv documentary on BBC4 from the 1960s about the Big Freeze of 62/63. Anyone who is mid 60s or older will remember this. Devon, Dorset and Cornwall were the worst affected. 14ft snow drifts, villages completely cut off.

People now can’t cope with a single snowflake ❄️

Only if you have a big enough freezer.
Yes they are a staple food but you can survive without for a few days.
I just think there's better food/drink to stock up on if you're going to be stuck indoors for several days.

yes it snowed yesterday evening around my area, but I think the main roads must be okay because the primary school is open. I have an appointment at the drs Wednesday so I'm going to venture out then but I'm not panicking because I bought most items I need at the weekend.

Flour was impossible to get during Covid too. Apparently parents were buying it for their children to make play dough. Pasta also became very scarce.

I was some 18 months old during the 62/63 winter so don’t remember it but have photos courtesy of my dad.

I wonder this too. They buy bread and milk as though we’re living in the 40s and would be able to magic up three meals and snacks from a pint and half a loaf.
This country (or the south anyway) has never been able to deal with snow. I remember snow days as a kid where the roads were shut or buses weren’t running. But down here it snows a couple of days of the year at most. Heat seems to be becoming a much bigger problem

Hold my hands up to being guilty of forgetting the north of Scotland when talking about the amount of snow that’s fallen, but schools shutting still isn’t just about the teachers not living next door. DD works at a fairly remote school access wise and yes, lives about 8 miles away, but she doesn’t make the decision to not go in if the weather is bad, it’s actually the school caretaker who advises the head teacher if it’s safe to open the school having considered access via the roads, ability to clear the grounds etc

Winter is depressing enough without being reduced to using UHT or powdered milk in your tea and going without hot buttered toast.

Well yes but bread seems to go mouldy fairly quickly these days.
Personally I'd rather go without bread than eat mouldy bread.

I’ve never encountered mouldy bread personally(At least not recently) but then I freeze mine so it’s usually out for only a day or two at most.

Doesn’t get the chance to go mouldy in my house. We get through two loaves a day.

I remember still walking to school during the big freeze. The snow had been cleared to the side of the roads and was piled feet up into the air. It towered above us as young children and I still think of it to this day when I see people behaving as if the world is coming to an end when it snows a little bit nowadays.

Well yes but bread seems to go mouldy fairly quickly these days.Personally I'd rather go without bread than eat mouldy bread.

Those aren't the only choices though, are they?!

Freeze some!

I don't have room in my freezer for bread.
It does go mouldy 🙁 (I usually buy Kingsmill or Hovis). I had the last two slices of a loaf yesterday and had to cut out mouldy parts.

I don't have a big enough freezer for bread 😂
That's my point about bread - people panic buy it because they feel they can't possibly survive without bread. I could easily manage without bread and if I needed to stock up because I was going to be stuck indoors I'd buy packets of crackers. But you never hear of people panic buying crackers.

Do they? My entire team is working from home today.

My hovis lasts 5/6 days , my mum buys M&S bread and it lasts the week if that is of any use to you.

I used to have a 20 minute journey to the last school I taught in. Most of it on main roads. However, actually getting the mile to the main road proved impossible one year. After half an hour, in which I’d managed to travel half a mile, I gave up and spent another half an hour going back. No point in causing or being in an accident.

Teachers who commuted by train probably found it easier, as the station was about a mile from school.

I buy the 50/50 type. I wonder if that makes a difference 🤔
To be honest I could never buy a loaf of bread again and I wouldn't miss it.
I like a nice crusty roll every so often or the cheese covered baps but bread.... I eat it but I wouldn't miss it much if it no longer existed.

There's hardly any snow where I am. But I'm not going to the shops to check stock levels. Panic only sets in around day 3 and it's mostly melted on day 3. I bet people in Scotland are more prepaired for this kind of thing? Or is panic buying a British sport? I have my long life milk as back up so feeling smug btw.

Yes i think the whole meal doesn't last as long, could you buy some rolls for the freezer instead,

We keep all baked goods in the freezer, bread and rolls. We actually have two fridge freezers, one is in the garage. I like not having a bread bin cluttering up the worktop.

Probably because they enjoy bread much more than they do crackers. Your bread situation does sound very aggravating though so I’d probably be looking to crackers too in your situation.

Please be careful about cutting mould off bread. There can be mould present elsewhere in the bread even if you can’t see it. It’s safer to discard it.

I don't think it's a Gen Z thing. My high school had a catchment of the whole county so lots of children came in by bus. We were always the first in the area to close. This was in the 90s.

Rules regarding staffing levels are probably stricter now, as are RA requirements - I doubt anyone was suing schools because their child slipped on the ice back in the 80s. Schools also have attendance stats to consider - ironically, if they are open but not all children can get in, that will affect their stats because school is open. If they shut the school it won't.

It’s tradition

I'm in the northeast USA and despite more regular snow here, everyone still panic buys bread, milk, and eggs before a storm. It's such a cliche that someone started a French toast index for snow forecasts.

whether or not school is cancelled here is down to the buses and as such varies by area. In parts of Canada they don't cancel school at all, just the bus. In the US if the bus can't run, school is cancelled.

@Needmorelego i might panic buy oatcakes does that come under “crackers”?