How to Avoid Food Hoarding
Original photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels.
Hoarding items you do not need or will not use puts pressure on the supply chain, and creates a scarcity of items needed by those who cannot afford to buy more than they need.
1. Reassure yourself to prevent overbuying and thus, hoarding.
The U.S. currently has an oversupply of food: producers are discarding vast amounts of food due to restaurant and school closures. (Even in normal/good times, the U.S. wastes 30 - 40% of its available food.) Any shortage is highly likely to be temporary, and due more to illness among packing plant personnel than an actual dearth of food.
2. Learn to recognize the hoarder’s warning signs.
If you cannot close your cabinets, need to purchase a spare fridge or chest freezer, have many items with freezer burn, have many expired items, or can’t walk into your storage room/basement/garage, you may be hoarding.
3. Organize your refrigerator, freezer and pantry.
Store like items together to prevent your purchasing more of something that appears to be running low, but isn’t, and to allow you to easily get rid of items that are expired or that you will never use.
4. Ask yourself the following question: “Have I used this item in the last month?”
If the answer is “no,” and you don’t have any plans to use it in the near future, you don’t need the item and should give or throw it away (if it is expired). If the answer is “yes” you can keep it.
5. Shop for two weeks of groceries at a time.
For non-perishable groceries, aim for a two week supply: enough food to prepare three meals a day for 14 days, or slightly fewer if you plan to order in. Freeze meat/fish/poultry you won’t use for five days or more. Fresh fruits and vegetables (with some exceptions like apples, potatoes, and onions) are likely to go bad within a week if not eaten. For those, buy a week’s worth only. (If the supply chain is disrupted for a week or more, you won’t starve if you can’t find a banana.)
6. Make accurate assessments of non-grocery item usage.
Over the course of a single week, keep a log of how much of each staple household item you use: toilet paper, laundry and dish detergent, soap and shampoo, cleaning supplies, and so on. Use this as a buying guide. If you run three loads of laundry a week, a single large bottle of detergent will last months. Similarly, if your household goes through two rolls of toilet paper a week, one twelve-pack will last a month-and-a-half.