Infrastructure Threats: Food Distribution Systems

Are you prepared for a food emergency? If you’re not, you may need to rethink your preparedness priorities.

If you’re like most Americans, you’ve probably never considered the possibility of a widespread food famine hitting this country. For most people, the very mention of famine seems ridiculous, something that could never happen here in America.

Every day millions of Americans walk into their local supermarket, filling their baskets with only enough food to make it through the week. But, sadly, most people have never even thought about grabbing a couple of extra cans of food while at the store — you know, just in case something terrible happens! Instead, they stroll through the store, blissfully unaware that the whole system is built on a house of cards, a house just waiting to collapse.

Most of these people believe the back of their local grocery store is filled with pallets upon pallets of food. In fact, I often hear people asking the store clerk if they can, “go take a look in the back” to see if they have more of a product that’s not out on the shelf. But, unfortunately, while your parent’s grocery stores may have worked like that, today’s superstores have very little resemblance to their past counterparts.

The Illusion of Food

Modern-day grocery stores operate on what’s known as just-in-time food delivery systems. As a result, very little product is actually stocked at the physical store. In fact, the backs of these stores are often only big enough to process what’s coming in on the trucks. That means what you see on the shelves is what’s available.

To stay profitable, today’s grocery stores have about a 3-day supply of food on hand at all times. They use complex delivery systems to monitor, track and reorder products as needed. While these systems have allowed big box stores like Walmart to thrive and take over the entire industry, they have left the average American incredibly vulnerable to even the slightest disruption in the food distribution system.

Every time a natural disaster hits, we witness firsthand how vulnerable our system really is. In what sometimes can be a matter of minutes, entire grocery stores can be stripped bare by a population that’s completely unprepared to deal with even short-term disasters. If you’ve lived through an earthquake, hurricane, or even a decent size winter storm, I’m sure you’re probably pretty familiar with the sight of an entire store filled with empty shelves.

While these small-scale disasters usually only last a couple of days or weeks, they provide a very real and very disturbing glimpse into our future. Should our country ever be hit by a significant drought, shipping disruption, fuel shortage, or war, the delivery systems we depend on will be brought to its knees in very short order.

It’s already happening…

If you’re still not convinced, head on over to your local sporting goods store and ask to buy some .22lr ammo.

For years now, it’s become almost impossible to find certain types of ammunition in this country. While you can find some off calibers, the popular ones are still hard to find and they are not coming back anytime soon.

People are literally waiting for hours in lines, hoping to be at the store when the delivery truck comes in. What’s most freighting about this situation is the fact that the people buying the ammo are still a very small minority of the country. Most Americans are not gun owners, and even among gun owners, very few realize there’s even a problem until they buy new ammo.

Everyone needs food; let me repeat that, everyone needs food! If the ammo supplies can be wiped out, what amounts to only a handful of people compared to those who buy food, what do you think the grocery stores will look like during a major food shortage or crisis?

There will be Riots on the Streets!

During a major food crisis, areas with a high population density will be the hardest hit. These areas rely on a constant flow of goods that must be shipped in on a regular basis. Once the supply lines stop, these areas cannot fulfill people’s basic food and water requirements.

There will be riots in the streets, and that’s probably majorly understating what will happen! Most Americans are not prepared to survive a food shortage or crisis; they simply don’t have the skills, the supplies, or the mental strength to survive for more than a couple of days without food and water.

You must be Prepared to Feed Yourself

Don’t listen to the government’s bullshit advice about having 72 hours’ worth of supplies; that number doesn’t even come close to what you really need. In my opinion, two weeks is the absolute minimum amount of supplies that you should have on hand at all times, and even that’s a very conservative number.

I advise immediately going out and buying two weeks’ worth of food and water.  Once you hit that goal, you should set a goal for 3, 6, and 12 months’ worth of food.

• Best Emergency Food: The Top Survival Food Supplies
• Survival Food – 56 Long-Term Survival Foods and Supplies at the Grocery Store

Here are some Grocery Options that ship right to your Home: 

• Amazon Fresh
• Bulk Emergency Foods
• Amazon Grocery

You Need to Be Prepared to Defend Yourself

While the world might be filled with millions of good and decent people, during a crisis, these people can and will quickly become unpredictable. For example, your once jolly neighbor might become a raving madman when he’s faced with the prospect of not being able to feed himself and his family. Therefore, you must be prepared and know how to defend yourself from those that fail to take preparedness seriously.

• Situational Awareness: How to Protect Yourself by Developing your Situational Awareness
• 7 Rules of Self Defense
• Self Defense: Defending yourself from multiple attackers
• Improvised Weapons: Self-defense in the Real World
• The Ultimate Situational Survival Guide: Self-Reliance Strategies for a Dangerous World

You Have to Learn to Be Self-sufficient

Preparing for a food crisis means much more than just stockpiling food.  To be truly prepared, you must learn how to be self-sufficient. This means learning how to grow your own foods, studying the wild edibles in your area, and learning how to hunt, fish, and trap your own food.

• 30+ Self-Reliant Resources: Preparedness Skills that Everyone Should Know
• Urban Resources: Finding Food & Water During a Long-term Disaster

Preparedness Resources: Preparing for disasters, crises, and threats.

• Prepper 101: Your Survival Guide to Getting Started
• Prepper Mom Essentials: How to Prepare your Family for Disasters and Survival Situations
• BUGOUT: 60+ Preparedness Resources for Bugging Out
• Preparedness for Children: How to Make sure your kids are ready to face Disasters
• Preparedness: Preparing for Emergencies and Disasters