Hoarding is definitely a bad word nowadays.  It conjures up images of deranged people living amongst piles of things they’ve accumulated for years, unable to part with a even single rubber band.  But there’s another type of hoarder who is now in the spotlight.  It’s the person who has a closet full of toilet paper, or a trunk full of bottled picante sauce.  Yes, I’ve witnessed this type of hoarding during this pandemic.  But there’s a euphemism for the term, “hoarding,”  and its called stockpiling.  You might even think of it as saving, or stocking up for the uncertainty ahead.  Is stockpiling selfish or smart?

Stockpiling is generally frowned upon by the media.  We’re told that it’s a selfish act, depriving others of access to much needed goods.  But to my mind, it’s kind of a natural act of self preservation.  Everyone has their own wants and needs.  For my husband, it’s canned soup.  Being a diabetic, he is careful to avoid high carbohydrate foods.  Most soup is nutritious without being high in calories.  Beside that, it warms the tummy on cold wintry days.  It’s also one of the first things that started disappearing from the grocery store shelves in March..

And so, starting last spring, we would buy a few extra cans of his favorite soups whenever we shopped.  No, we didn’t walk out with a cartful of soup, but we did buy more than we could use in a week.  Consequently, we have two pantry shelves full of canned soup.  It’s at least a  month’s supply. I don’t see this as a stupid expense or a selfish act.  The money isn’t wasted.  Canned foods are good for years. And we really didn’t deprive anyone else of a can of soup in the long run. And at our age, there could be weeks when the weather is so bad we can’t leave the house.  Or one of us could get sick.

When I was a child, everyone stockpiled food .  Women canned.  We had a basement full of canned peaches, pears, tomatoes and green beans.  My husband lived on a farm, and they even canned the meat which they had raised.  Was that selfish or stupid?  No, it was called planning for the long winter months ahead.

This is a time of uncertainty.  A change in government, a new president of the United States.  A Covid-19 epidemic predicted to spiral out of control. Many economists are predicting a worldwide stagflation.  So Is stockpiling stupid, selfish,  or smart?  I’ll vote for smart.