Why MA Snowstorms Spark A Run On Milk, Bread And Eggs: Only In MA

Only In Massachusetts is an occasional series where Patch tries to find answers to questions about life in Massachusetts. Have a question about the Bay State that needs answering? Send it to dave.copeland@patch.com.

When my wife managed the Whole Foods in Arlington, she loved a good snowstorm like the Nor'easter we're supposed to get on Saturday. Whether the forecast was calling for a couple of inches or a couple of feet, the store would be busy, sales would be high and, by the time the first flakes flew, she'd be nearly sold out of bread, milk and eggs.

Anyone who has spent a winter in New England knows that when there's snow in the forecast, there's a massive run on the three main ingredients for French toast. But why?

While there are similar shopping lists in other snowy pars of the country, a 2011 AccuWeather segment suggested the custom originated in New England after the Blizzard of '78. New Englanders were caught off guard and, with days of road closures, stuck at home with nothing to eat. Since then, AccuWeather concluded, we've made sure we have the three basic snowstorm staples on hand whenever it may snow.

That report has since been disputed in other parts of the country, with a Pittsburgh magazine writer arguing Steel City residents started stocking up on bread, milk and toilet paper after a 1950 snow storm led to city-wide food shortages.

Also on Patch: Major Nor'easter Could Dump More Than A Foot Of Snow

The question of where the snowstorm shopping list first originated may never be definitively answered, but researchers at the University of Georgia at Athens looked at why it originated in a 2017 study. In short, stocking up on bread, eggs and milk gives us a sense of control over something uncontrollable, like the weather, according to Alan Stewart, a professor at UGA who studies how people react to the weather.

"It probably is fear of, one, not knowing how long the event is going to last, and two, do people have everything they need?" Stewart said after his study was published in 2017. "So if the weather service and the media want to prepare people-and they want to avoid what happened in Atlanta a few years ago-people get milk, bread and eggs. These are just things you get every few days."

Stewart found people's past weather experiences also play into their pre-storm prep. Those of us who lived through the Blizzard of '78, the winter of '93 or the Snowmageddon of '15 in Massachusetts are more likely to take storm prep more seriously.

"Individuals have very different ways of reacting to risks posed by the weather," Stewart said. "It’s more than being cautious...people who have had property damage or injuries tend to be more risk-adverse than the ones who take a risk and make out OK."

Another University of Georgia psychology professor, Janet Frick, was more blunt in her assessment of the bread, milk and egg hoarding.

"We are often not rational or logical in how we weigh the risks of various events," Frick said. "So apparently where weather is concerned, we are not terribly worried about getting struck by lightning, but we are terrified of the idea of having to make a meal from items in our pantry that doesn't include bread and milk."

Dave Copeland is Patch's regional editor for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).