SHTF in Europe

[ORChick]

DH, German by birth and upbringing, brought this to my attention today - Europe has been weathering extreme snow storms the last few days; apparently even Spain has had record cold weather. Anyway, one article in a German newspaper is recommending that, because of the storms, people should (gasp!) stock up!! A little late, but still ... Germans, like many Europeans, tend to shop everyday - I should add here though that they also live with very small refrigerators (about the size of a dishwasher), and not much storage space. Oddly enough, one of the very first words I learned in my college German class was "Vorratskammer", which is a pantry. I don't know how common it is now, but my parents-in-law always ordered potatoes to store in the cellar, though I'm not sure how much else my MIL had in storage. Both parents-in-law were older teenagers/adults during WWII and the aftermath, so I know they were intimately familiar with the shortages of the time. But, except for the one SIL with a freezer, I don't know that any of the friends/relatives do much in the way of stocking up.
Its in German, but for the sake of full disclosure here is the link:
http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article5780635/Katastrophenschuetzer-raten-zu-Hamsterkaeufen.html

 

[pioneergirl]

Seems I recall reading about that....Europeans shopping for the day, not the week or month. I know when I visited Germany (only briefly) the houses were much like our Townhouses....small and on top of each other. Some had patio gardens, but for the majority, they went to the street market daily. Makes me wonder how things will go should there really be a problem....???

 

[sufficientforme]

This brings me back. We lived there for 3 years in a 500 year old restored barn, it was beautiful and huge, but the kitchen was the size of an American bathroom, the fridge was smaller than most apartment fridges and the oven would not even fit a turkey, ughhh. It was interesting seeing the looks on our landlords faces to see my pantry shelves for storage. They are like why would you do that when you can shop fresh everyday? I loved the idea of shopping everyday but it is just not within my genetic makeup to not have food in and on the shelves. And what amazed me is we got snow/ice there in the winter, so I can see what you are saying for sure.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I was born and raised in Germany. I came here when I was 13 in 1969. We used to buy and store a huge bag of potatoes (enough to last all winter), coal for burning in the stove for heat, and oil for cooking. My mother figured that way we could always have potato pancakes.
The apt buildings had cellars and every apt had their storage space for the coal, potatoes and anything else they wanted to store there. My mother kept her canned goods in a cupboard as did most of the people. It is also where out of season things were stored and our bicycles etc. Some places had additional storage in the attic. The apt building I lived in had the washing machines in the attic and laundry lines for hanging the wash. This was all back in 1969. I wouldn't know what they do these days.
My mother also went shopping every day for the things she needed, or she would send me to do it. And yes, our refrigerator was the size of the one my roommate had in college, very small!!! An mom was so happy to finally have one

Thanks for posting that site, I'll go and read it now.

 

[FarmerDenise]

That was a very interesting article. The photo is from the general area where I grew up. That is a beautiful photo, and I don't remember there being that much snow, when I was a kid!!! But I do remember the Rhein river freezing up and the ships being stuck.
Kind of scary.