Emergency Food Supply

[choirfarm]

My concern is that the food processing places have been left open as essential. Now they are starting to have to close. Here is the latest example:
https://apnews.com/0cd7680d2d221944ed05f86691bb3537
Here is a concerning quotation from the article:
"Smithfield announced a three-day closure last week so it could sanitize the plant and install physical barriers to enhance social distancing. But on Sunday, it announced the plant’s indefinite closure.
“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Smithfield president and CEO Kenneth Sullivan said in a statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers.”

I am NOT saying panic. I AM saying to quietly start improving the amount of your supplies.

 

[choirfarm]

Sorry double post.

 

[VandVsmama]

I don't think there's anything wrong with having a stash of food on hand in case of emergencies. That's what FEMA recommends to all citizens on a regular basis, but most don't do that. For me, personally, I'm just going to quietly get maybe 1 or 2 extra cans each week of items that we regularly use. Then, over time, we will gradually build up our reserves. So, for example maybe next week, I'll get an extra container of soy sauce. The next week, maybe I'll get an extra container of olive oil. The following week, it'll be salt, coffee, Stevia sweetener, etc. You get the idea.

One needs to consider that it's just not rice, beans, eggs, milk, and flour. One might want to consider personal care items, too. Deoderant, feminine products (buy a bigger package instead of a smaller one), laundry detergent, shampoo, soap/body wash, pet food, etc.

 

[aprilchem]

I am wondering why the OP is doing fear mongering regarding the food supply. People need to be rational and think clearly and calmly during this time. It is not the time to be getting everyone anxious. I like the more supportive threads helping each other through this time.

It's been over a month where I live (in Virginia), and we are still not able to get most disinfecting supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues. I can't get any canned or fresh meat, pasta is hard to get, and sugar, flour, and other staples are hard to buy as well. My DH (who is our designated shopper) hasn't been able to find dry milk in 3 weeks (I use it bake our bread). It's getting pretty hard to get fresh milk as well. I don't buy the hoarding rationale - all grocery stores where I live are limiting purchases to 1 of each item, regardless of the item. So I'm having a hard time seeing where the supply chain is not disrupted, even though I see news articles saying it isn't.

 

[mombrontrent]

My concern is that the food processing places have been left open as essential. Now they are starting to have to close. Here is the latest example:
https://apnews.com/0cd7680d2d221944ed05f86691bb3537
Here is a concerning quotation from the article:
"Smithfield announced a three-day closure last week so it could sanitize the plant and install physical barriers to enhance social distancing. But on Sunday, it announced the plant’s indefinite closure.
“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Smithfield president and CEO Kenneth Sullivan said in a statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers.”

I am NOT saying panic. I AM saying to quietly start improving the amount of your supplies.

Good, I could only hope that one day all meat processing plants and factory farms are closed permanently. People eating meat is what got us into this mess in the first place and it will happen again, it’s just a matter of when. Maybe we should consider using our land to farm food directly for our people instead of food for livestock. Maybe we should consider the environmental implications of eating meat as well. The human race can survive and thrive on plant foods and out planet and the human race will be better off for it.

 

[ford family]

How does the ignore function work?

ford family

 

[AnnaS]

Talk about losing power - we lost power too this morning for a littler over an hour - high winds (up to 65 miles per hour today).

Thankfully back on. We did worry about our two refrigerators and stock freezer. I did not think it would come back so soon thinking the work force might be cut/short, etc. DH would have had to take out the generator. It has not been used since Sandy.

 

[Planogirl]

My concern is that the food processing places have been left open as essential. Now they are starting to have to close. Here is the latest example:
https://apnews.com/0cd7680d2d221944ed05f86691bb3537
Here is a concerning quotation from the article:
"Smithfield announced a three-day closure last week so it could sanitize the plant and install physical barriers to enhance social distancing. But on Sunday, it announced the plant’s indefinite closure.
“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Smithfield president and CEO Kenneth Sullivan said in a statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers.”

I am NOT saying panic. I AM saying to quietly start improving the amount of your supplies.

Interesting.... Is this really a thing? Have that many factories closed?

I wonder about other factories that don't process meat.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Talk about losing power - we lost power too this morning for a littler over an hour - high winds (up to 65 miles per hour today).

Thankfully back on. We did worry about our two refrigerators and stock freezer. I did not think it would come back so soon thinking the work force might be cut/short, etc. DH would have had to take out the generator. It has not been used since Sandy.

You might want to crank it up occasionally...

 

[AnnaS]

You might want to crank it up occasionally...

Good idea. DH used to do this about every two months or so after it was not needed anymore. Have not seen him do this in a while!!!! Thanks. I will remind him.

Thankfully we are usually pretty stocked up on items - always buying things on sale even if not needed (big family/three adult kids/grandchildren) - would have been shame if power not on all day and who wants to go out there to stock up during these times.

I hope everyone is safe and healthy!!! Nothing wrong with always having extras (especially for non-perishable items). I have backup for backups.

 

[gwynne]

Good, I could only hope that one day all meat processing plants and factory farms are closed permanently. People eating meat is what got us into this mess in the first place and it will happen again, it’s just a matter of when. Maybe we should consider using our land to farm food directly for our people instead of food for livestock. Maybe we should consider the environmental implications of eating meat as well. The human race can survive and thrive on plant foods and out planet and the human race will be better off for it.

Your opinions are noted.
These are stressful times for all types of consumers. Now might not be the best time to pull up a soapbox.

Most of us are the food planners for our families.
The positive ideas, suggestions and helpful information shared here can really make a difference as we walk through this crisis.

 

[choirfarm]

Interesting.... Is this really a thing? Have that many factories closed?

I wonder about other factories that don't process meat.

Well, this is from the article:
"The Sioux Falls facility is one of the largest pork processing plants in the U.S., Smithfield said. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day.

Other meat processing plants have also closed temporarily because of outbreaks of the coronavirus, including a Tyson Foods facility in Columbus Junction, Iowa, where more than two dozen employees tested positive"

I have no idea about other places or things. I'd have to research. My husband just noticed this one.

 

[Dan Murphy]

How does the ignore function work?

ford family

Click on your name at the upper right. You should see the ignore function.

 

[choirfarm]

Wow, another article about it said that of the 430 active cases in South Dakota, 240 are employees of the plant. I would think that plants like this would make social distancing impossible and be breeding grounds to spread the virus. I'm off to see what I can find out about other plants.

 

[Planogirl]

Well, this is from the article:
"The Sioux Falls facility is one of the largest pork processing plants in the U.S., Smithfield said. It supplies nearly 130 million servings of food per week, or about 18 million servings per day.

Other meat processing plants have also closed temporarily because of outbreaks of the coronavirus, including a Tyson Foods facility in Columbus Junction, Iowa, where more than two dozen employees tested positive"

I have no idea about other places or things. I'd have to research. My husband just noticed this one.

I appreciate the heads up. I hope that this is somehow confined to the meat industry!

 

[mombrontrent]

Your opinions are noted.
These are stressful times for all types of consumers. Now might not be the best time to pull up a soapbox.

Most of us are the food planners for our families.
The positive ideas, suggestions and helpful information shared here can really make a difference as we walk through this crisis.

I understand that but these are the times when we might actually rethink what we are doing as a society and what we can do to improve the planet for future generations. It usually takes something catastrophic for us to fundamentally change who we are as people and what we want the planet to look like after we are gone. If we don’t think about these things now and the impact they have when will we? not before it’s to late.

 

[choirfarm]

Here is the chicken meat industry article that shows problems:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/us/coronavirus-chicken-meat-processing-plants-immigrants.html

 

[Hikergirl]

My concern is that the food processing places have been left open as essential. Now they are starting to have to close. Here is the latest example:
https://apnews.com/0cd7680d2d221944ed05f86691bb3537
Here is a concerning quotation from the article:
"Smithfield announced a three-day closure last week so it could sanitize the plant and install physical barriers to enhance social distancing. But on Sunday, it announced the plant’s indefinite closure.
“The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply,” Smithfield president and CEO Kenneth Sullivan said in a statement. “It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running. These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers.”

I am NOT saying panic. I AM saying to quietly start improving the amount of your supplies.

I saw an article about Tyson closing a plant last week along with the Smilthfield one and made an Amazon order of pasta and canned sauce.
I normally have a well stocked pantry but things have been hard to find the last month so I'm trying to prepare in case it continues especially with the meat supply effected.

 

[choirfarm]

Article about produce. Note, this article is over a week old:
https://qz.com/1829558/covid-19-is-about-to-reach-us-farms/

 

[mrodgers]

The ONLY reason people would need an emergency 3 month supply of food is if there is total chaos panic buying by people like the OP. If everyone just carries on, food-wise, like normal there wouldn't be any shortages. Not TP, not paper towels. Just because you are staying home doesn't mean you need MORE food.

Oh good, thank you so much for the teachings. I suppose that now would be a good time people would need an emergency 3 month supply of food then because chaos panic buying is exactly what is and has been going on for the last 3 weeks.

Because of false securities instead of grocery shopping when there's very few people in the stores, I now have to grocery shop with thousands of other people. Thank you social distancing.

Because of the panic of society, I now have to visit multiple stores to grocery shop. I wasn't one to do that. Now everything is empty and I need to visit 5 or 6 stores instead of 1.

This whole process of overstepping their authority and trampling on our freedoms makes no sense for the uselessness of keeping people away from each other. People are closer to other people more than ever.