I’ve noticed a rash of Internet articles the last couple of months promoting panic buying. While they don’t use the term “panic buying” that is exactly what they are trying to convince you to do.
Here are a few examples of clickbait article headlines:
- Top Ten Things That Will Disappear in the Next COVID Wave
- Top 20 Items to Buy Now
- Top 15 Food Items That Are Disappearing Fast
- What you must buy now before it is too late!
Well, that is a pretty limited sample of the article headlines that I am talking about, I could go on. But, you are smart, you get the idea. Here’s the problem…they are promoting panic buying.
So what if pinto beans are in short supply! You should already have your supply of pinto beans…or have a plan to acquire the correct amount of pinto beans. So there is no reason to go out and buy 100pounds of beans…right! Especially if you need medical supplies or ammo as well. You fall back on your priorities…not your panic.
Why use the great pinto bean scare? Several months ago a lot of people got sucked into the pinto bean panic. Meaning, that there was supposedly a shortage of pinto beans and that you better buy them now before they disappeared. So, a lot of people went out and bought pinto beans…thus creating the shortage…an artificial shortage. There never was any abnormal shortage of pinto beans…ever…period. Yes, meaning I checked it out myself…there were plenty on the shelf when supposedly they were all gone.
So when you read headlines…or the body of an article telling you there is some kind of shortage and you better go buy some top ten list…IGNORE IT! It is someone trying to talk you into panic buying.
So what should you do?
- Read the series of articles “Layering & the Common 7” <click here to start reading>
- Then review where you have the holes in your prepping, list them, then prioritize them.
- Then develop a plan to purchase, make, grow, or otherwise acquire those items to plug the holes.
- And above all…do not panic. There simply is no reason to and it doesn’t help.
Do not fall victim to the hustlers, hucksters, and wannabes out there.
- Get educated.
- Assess your needs.
- Identify the deficiencies in your preps.
- Have a plan to remedy those deficiencies.
- Work your plan.
Don’t fall for the calls to panic buy. Panic, like fear, is not your friend.
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A.H. Trimble - Emergency preparedness information for disasters and grid-down 
Those that are here should only be looking to fill gaps. I had no shortage of anything when the panic buying started. In fact, I didn’t even have to get into my storage.
You are correct in that people started much of the shortage. But the other side of that story is so have many states. I take with a grain of salt much of what’s being said on the internet. But a friend sent me this and it’s also a story put out by the Seattle Times and KIRO a Seattle TV station. If you haven’t seen this yet, it is definitely worth it.
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Nice catch! States love to stockpile food…and have been doing so for years, actually, decades. Back in the early 2000’s after a particularly bad hurricane season I was contracted by one of the largest Florida counties to teach their county and municipal employees ICS. What an experience! But, during that time they also asked me to review their EOC operations from top to bottom and lead a couple of leadership sessions of their folks. Now that was eye opening. Included with that was reviewing their preparedness to take care of their county residence after a disaster. And guess what??? They had several warehouses full of emergency food. It is a natural part of any civil emergency preparedness…have emergency food ready for their population. So their is nothing secret or sinister or predictive in regards to cities and counties, even states, having large stockpiles of food on hand. The federal government has more food on hand than you could possibly imagine. But it all in accordance with standard practices for emergency preparedness. Hope this helps in understanding this issue. AH
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