[xyzelement]

There’s an evolutionary advantage for those whose children don’t starve if the Tesco has a brief supply disruption

[kergonath]

If the local Tesco has a disruption, there’s always the Morrison, Asda, or Sainsbury a slightly longer walk or a short drive away. There are many problems in the UK, but there is still food.

[xyzelement]

You can’t imagine a scenario where your kids go hungry from this type of thinking while your neighbor with a well stock pantry can ride it out?

We had a toilet paper shortage during Covid, you really can’t imagine a food shortage?

[inglor_cz]

Not the OP (though I am the GP), but if you are planning for emergencies, the food that you stock should be non-perishable, or at least long-lasting, and you can always eat the oldest stock and replenish it with newer one.

If the main concern is food waste - as it probably was in the article that we are discussing - disaster planning is not the problem. Impulsive buying of attractive stuff that you cannot finish later is.

[kergonath]

> We had a toilet paper shortage during Covid, you really can’t imagine a food shortage?

We had a run on food as well. What happened is that we prioritised food delivery, with in some instances the support of the army IIRC. Something we understandable were not willing to do for toilet paper.

There is a simple reason for that: you cannot have a functioning country if there is a famine and governments will do everything they can to keep a grip on their country.

If it comes to this, having a well stocked pantry becomes the least of your worries as you now have to defend it against your starving neighbours. They won’t be deterred by tough guy smugness.

It’s a good idea to have stocks because it helps mitigating short-term price spikes or unforeseen circumstances such as an accident. Not having stocks won’t cause anyone to starve.

[BrandoElFollito]

We had in France a shortage of pasta, flour and yeast (for a short time). I think there was a problem with butter at some point (I remember that because I bought margarine and it was uneatable).

At the same time there were plenty of other supplies uninterrupted and au no point was someone alarming about food shortages.

[john61]

Intermediate fasting is healthy, so it is probably the other way round.

[inglor_cz]

So many interesting takes in this hypothetical.

Fatter people have bigger reserves to lean on, but leaner people can hunt the fatties down and, uh, consume their fat in a certain non-consensual way.

[xyzelement]

The simple answer is that you should keep some “just in case” calories in your pantry, not in fat rolls. Best of both worlds.

[noduerme]

Well, yeah, but the real evolutionary advantage is just to people who have a mountain of children you need a superstore to feed.

[xyzelement]

Yes I totally agree with that. It’s orthogonal. You should have a lot of kids and have a non-fragile approach feeding whatever kids you have.

[noduerme]

Totally. But in the or case, I think most people are voting for quantity over quality, and I'm not seeing a great deal of evidence that it's an insufficient method (so far).

FWIW, kids are great but I have no interest in having any - I'll leave this world to you fine folks to kill each other over.

[groestl]

Mid-term. Long term evolutionary advantage is achieved by not killing the ecosystem that fills the Tesco.