Milk and Bread

I forgot to share this funny story when I was posting snow pics.  

Anytime I am in the grocery store right before bad weather I always ask myself why everyone runs to the store for milk and bread.  You know what I am talking about.  I mean man can't live by bread alone and milk will spoil if the power goes out.  I usually give people a pass when it snows because at least you could set the milk outside and it would be fine.  But all of you who live around here know that is not the only time the stores' shelves are bare in the bread and milk section.  Tornadic weather, hurricane's a brewin', it's out to stock up on those two things.  Sometimes I feel like some people are just looking for a chance to rid those refrigerators.  And who is going to touch that milk if the power has been off all day.

So knowing that Sunday would produce some snow, some forecasts being up to 10 inches (but how often does that ever happen here, really) everyone and their mommas were out and about on Saturday with buggies full of groceries.  Milk and bread were not the only thing on some of these lists but you can bet most of them had about triple of what they would normally get.  

Now I had to get things for Sterling's birthday party that was happening the next day so I was shopping in Walmart for a few party items.  But I also needed bread and milk (of course).  Maybe if I hadn't had party on the mind I would have thought of a few other grocery items we needed, but the only other things I was getting on that side was candy, cokes, and powdered sugar.  

In my defense I have a 2-year-old that has just discovered the joys of chocolate milk, or "hot tocwate miwk" as he calls it.  So that is all that he has wanted to drink lately.  Whether he gets chocolate or plain, anytime you ask him what he wants to drink in the past few weeks the answer has been "milk."  I also have a husband who LOVES milk.  His whole family drinks milk with just about every meal.  Then there is me.  I hate milk, but I will put it on cereal and when I am pregnant I try to be good about getting more into my diet so I drink it with that Carnation Breakfast powder in it.  Normally I buy milk in threes and it never goes bad, but lately I think I could buy four at a time and be just fine.

Anyway, back to Walmart.  Of course the food side is crammed full of people and there is almost a line at the milk section.  So, I get to the milk and remember that I have about half a gallon at home.  Normally I would be safe with getting just two gallons, but like I said I could have gotten three with what we had at home and never thrown out a drop.  But I remember why I am having to park my cart and walk over to the milk instead of drive up like usual, SNOW IS COMING!  Everyone is freaked out about this snow so everyone is getting all this milk.  I heard the man beside me saying, "Well, you think we should get two instead before it is gone" and being a little bit prideful about not buying into the hype and a little bit caring about those who did, I decided to be conservative and just get one.  ONE!  Remember I really could use three.  But so there is enough to go around I think, "Well, even if we can't get out Monday morning, by Tuesday we will be ok and I'll just get Alex to get some on the way home from work that day. We'll just be conservative."

I then get some candy for the party and then I remember we are out of bread, I need to get that to.  Since my child would eat a sandwich for every meal of the day, every day of his life if I let him, I could probably buy bread in twos as well, but I just pick up one and go on my merry way, secretly sneering at all of these crazies who would have been better off purchasing a cow.  

I check out, we have the party and the snow indeed comes.  I have shared that we got quite a bit and that our roads were bad for days.  Not only were the roads bad but we have to go over a bridge (and not just a tiny one) to get into town to actually go to the store.  

Somehow we make it through Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with a little over a gallon and a half of milk, but by Tuesday afternoon we were out of both milk.  Alex told me that he would have to go in to work for at least a little while on Tuesday so instead of continuing our ration, we all had toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.  So we are out of bread too.  

When Alex got home he brought in two or three gallons of milk and no bread.  I was like, "Where is the bread."  He said apparently the bread truck couldn't make it to the store or something because there was none.  Not just none of the kind we like, he went on to say there were no hot dog buns, no hamburger buns, nothing.  

So we went for days with no bread and a child who asks for a sandwich for every meal.  When he gets at least one for lunch he usually doesn't put up too much of a fuss when you say "No, we are having ___."  But after three days the kid just wanted a sandwich, and by then I was starting to feel sorry for him. I was about start digging through the pantry for that packet of yeast that I know I have somewhere and try to make a loaf (which didn't turn out successful last try) when I got the good news, the store finally got more bread!  

Next time the weather is bad I am not going to be worried about what others are thinking, if I need milk I am going to proudly look like one of those paranoid shoppers hording before the storm.  Maybe I'll even make a shirt that says, "Yes, I always buy this much milk" on the back it can say "and we drink every last drop"