If you want to be one of those
silver lining people, there is a real upside to the timing of this horrific
event that has the twenty-two of us trapped inside this grocery store. You may
not know this but the first of the month is always the busiest times for a
grocery store. Food stamps are issued, state employees are paid, social
security checks are issued, WIC vouchers become eligible. So in those first
couple days of the month, the check stands are slammed with people. And if you
know what you are doing (spoiler alert: We did), you always had your shelves
fully stocked and ready before the rush hit.
You have seen the shelving spaces on
our maps. The shelves span 68 feet and length and have five to seven levels
depending on the product stocked. Then there is the back room and the “top
decks” which is the area above the shelves where extra back stock is kept to
refill the shelves as customers come through and purchase things throughout the
day.
With summer coming on fast, the store
was really starting to get prepped by ordering in heavy stock levels. Which
means, we literally have tons of food here in the store. Working in a grocery
store, we all understand rotation, so the closest dated stuff was consumed
first and we are keeping a very sharp eye on our inventories.
Fearing losing power and as a
consequence refrigeration, we have been chewing through everything frozen and
refrigerated first. For instance, the pancake batter located on the Baking
Aisle (5A) is being left sealed and we are eating all the frozen waffles,
pancakes, and Toaster Strudels first.
The fresh milk, orange juice and
everything short dated from the Dairy was drank first and then we switched to
the frozen concentrate. Anything with a long shelf life (i.e. anything
non-refrigerated on 4A) was left sealed to last us late into the Year One plan.
Powder mixes were immediately placed on the “Last to Use” lists.
And as time is an issue, we run the
top decks on a regular basis. It gives people something to do, helps us keep an
accurate judge of how much foot we are consuming and allows us to plan and
ration for the coming year.
Honestly, I think with smart planning
we could triple our number of survivors and still eat very well. And as long as
we can eat well, we can just hole up and ride this thing out. At the very
least, with all the smart rationing and planning, food is one thing that we
don’t have to worry about. I would think that for most people out there, that
would be a pretty high ranking concern. Thankfully, that is not our
problem.
I hope that it is not yours either…
More soon.
