@ai6yr The word is out in the TX Hill Country: it was 75 today but will be 13 by the weekend. I’ve got a pickup order at an Austin HEB tomorrow; will be interesting to see what I actually end up with. Texans all still suffer flashbacks from the freeze-trauma of Feb ‘21, when the power grid imploded and for 5 days we were flushing our toilets with melted snow and burning cardboard boxes for a few moments of warmth.
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@ai6yr I'm a bit further North, in the Texas Panhandle. My wife bought some milk, mostly because we need more soon, and we probably can't go shopping over the weekend. We haven't had much snow yet since we moved back to Texas, so I stopped by Home Depot this evening to buy a snow shovel and an inverter (so we can power a few things from our cars if there's an extended outage), and Home Depot was very chaotic - I guess people were panic buying road salt or something...? I really didn't expect that many people at a hardware store 2 days before the storm hits.
@ai6yr The word is out in the TX Hill Country: it was 75 today but will be 13 by the weekend. I’ve got a pickup order at an Austin HEB tomorrow; will be interesting to see what I actually end up with. Texans all still suffer flashbacks from the freeze-trauma of Feb ‘21, when the power grid imploded and for 5 days we were flushing our toilets with melted snow and burning cardboard boxes for a few moments of warmth.
@ai6yr UPDATE my grocery order arrived nearly intact; I guess I’m fortunate that my fellow Hill Countrians’ deep-freeze prep tastes don’t run to poncey foodie crap like smoked salmon and brussels sprouts. The saintly farm hand who picked up my stuff did report that our rural supermarket was a total mob scene, that bottled water and toilet paper were sold out, and that the whole town had apparently lost its entire damn mind. Northerners may laff, but in these parts we are scarred for life by the TX power grid failure of ‘21. #txwx
What I find odd is that Texans ignore who is responsible for these changes in climate & who is responsible for the grid failures.
The fossil fuel industry is responsible for both, especially Ted Cruz, the sell-out.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-power-outage/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/edhirs/2025/05/11/texas-is-failing-to-fix-the-grid-again/
https://www.propublica.org/article/ken-paxton-corruption-probe-justice-department-senate-race
https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2025-08-18/texas-energy-grid-winterize-blackouts-audit
@iBlame
I went yesterday after work. Didn't need much, but my usual day is Friday and I knew shelves would be bare. The bottled water was gone and of all things, buttermilk. I use it to bake and am almost out so I got two pint bottles. Anything chicken related except for roasting birds was gone. Lucky me I only cook the whole bird in the winter. So I was ok, but lines were super long. Took 30 minutes to check out.
@ai6yr
@iBlame Glad you actually got your order!!!
@ai6yr Farm hand says it was touch and go in the pickup area, with nowhere to park. The actual freeze is only supposed to last 24 hours, but we all know from bitter experience that the aftermath of a potential grid failure can be significant for days or weeks. And nobody trusts the TX grid anymore.
@ai6yr
Personally, I would look for quick-cooking oatmeal if I thought I could heat a kettle of water. That's my comfort food.
Beans. Cheese. Apples, or applesauce. Nuts.
Peanut butter pretzels in the car.
Make sure I have plenty of medication topped up.
@ai6yr hmm why is this funny? 🤔
@scott Why bread milk eggs, exactly? Everyone buys bread, milk, eggs. Even if they don't normally eat break, drink milk, or use eggs!!
@ai6yr hmm okay! I guess those items are what I’d expect to run out first… and bananas. A grocer told me recently everyone buys milk, bread, eggs, and bananas, which is why they spread those items out on opposite sides of the store (to make you walk through the intervening aisles).