Fresh Food in the Winter (Bath, Orono: home, transfer, buying)

[Tenebrae]

I have a bit of an odd question that I've never given much thought to...
My fiance eats a ton of eggs. Like, at LEAST a dozen a day. We also consume other perishable items like heavy cream daily.
Fiance is a bodybuilder, so he has a pretty strict way of eating. He asked me what he would do in the Winter when we are likely to get snowed in. I had a few thoughts, but couldn't really give him a good answer.
Do we...
Wait for the roads to clear, and then get our eggs and cream?
Stock up and make sure we always have a month's worth of perishables and a generator to make sure it doesn't go bad?
Switch our diets and have powdered / shelf-stable versions of the above on hand?

What do you guys usually do, and what's the longest you've ever been snowed in and unable to hit up the store? I know it's going to vary by location and how rural the area is. I'm thinking back to my Missouri "farm in the country" days, and thinking we just need to have a second fridge and a chest freezer with extras of "the essentials" on hand at all times.

-T.

[znlwovuhrjw]

You know the roads are plowed regularly unless you live too far in the stix right? Where exactly do you intend to live, Aroostook county?

[Tenebrae]

For some reason, I like B towns in Maine. I've been looking at Bridgton, Brunswich, and Bath (yes, I know Bridgton's kinda out there, but not Aroostook out there).
So I guess what you're saying is that even in the godawful snowstorms you had this Winter, the roads were pretty clear most of the time? Like I said, just going by what I had to deal with in Missouri in the winters. We had a neighbour with a truck that would plough the roads. If he didn't get out and plough, we were snowed in. And even sometimes when he did, the drifts were so high they would bury a truck. -_-

-T.

[znlwovuhrjw]

Well, honestly I have the least amount of room to talk coming from Crapfornia, but I'm going upon the words of several Mainers that have told me the roads are plowed regularly. I talked to one counselor that transferred from Fresno, CA to Orono, ME and she told me that she has never driven in snow once while living in Maine.

[trailblazer2]

It's always good to think ahead when there is a storm coming, which is why the grocery stores are so busy the day before a big storm. You will be plowed out fairly soon, unless we have an ice storm or blizzard and there are lines or trees down. But you won't want to be driving on the road then anyway. Just because the roads are plowed doesn't mean that they are that great for driving in general for a few hours after a big storm. Sometimes, you should just stay home and leave the roads to the people that have to be out. If you are used to going to the store every day to buy eggs (that's a LOT of eggs!), then you will need to start thinking ahead and buying several dozen at a time when it looks like some weather is coming. Most storms are no big deal as far as being able to get around goes.

[mainebrokerman]

what to do when you are snowed in??

it's not a coincidence... most maine babies are born in September/October/November

very very rarely will you be snowed in,,,,also there are gyms/fitness centers all over maine

plenty of organic produce and eats at Hannaford...

find a place that has chickens or ducks,,,, I never realized ducks lay like chickens,,
but they do..

[slyfox2]

When I moved here from PA, i was used to very poor road maintenance during winter storms. At least where I live on MDI(Mount Desert Island, Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park---there is a bridge), the roads are clear before the storm is over. This is caused by two things:

1. The Town Maintenance crews get a lot of practice, so they really know what they are doing. This means spreading brine on the roads before the storm to plowing.

2. Everybody and his uncle has a pick up truck with a plow on it. During the storm they are out there plowing people's driveways(not mine, I have a blower). On the way to the next job they also plow the roads to help the road crews.

Unless you live in a way way far out area, you won't need to worry about getting to the store. Now this doesn't mean that you won't benefit from having a Subaru and winter tires.

[maineborzoi]

Originally Posted by kingdomkz

You know the roads are plowed regularly unless you live too far in the stix right? Where exactly do you intend to live, Aroostook county?

Absolutely plowed and quickly!

Originally Posted by Tenebrae

For some reason, I like B towns in Maine. I've been looking at Bridgton, Brunswich, and Bath (yes, I know Bridgton's kinda out there, but not Aroostook out there).
So I guess what you're saying is that even in the godawful snowstorms you had this Winter, the roads were pretty clear most of the time? Like I said, just going by what I had to deal with in Missouri in the winters. We had a neighbour with a truck that would plough the roads. If he didn't get out and plough, we were snowed in. And even sometimes when he did, the drifts were so high they would bury a truck. -_-

-T.

We had one heck of a winter- one storm after another. I have no idea how many records were broken, but even the locals were flat out shocked, not just the snow but the temps as well.
Always- storm after storm- the roads were clear by the end of the storm.
I have never seen anything like it as in Virginia even one of the storms we had would have crippled the cities for an entire week.

We bought one of those sleds at the start of the winter with the idea to use it to walk to the store... Uh.. we ended up using it only for ice fishing

I could post photo after photo showing the same thing stated. All we had to do was run the snow blower to clear the driveway...

[Tenebrae]

Haha, ok. Thanks. Point taken, guys.
Although I haven't been posting as much here (putting off my retirement plans a few years), I'm still lurking about. I saw the horrible storms and just wondered how "stuck" people ended up being.
Glad to see Maine's kept in practice and doesn't shut down for "a little 6 foot of snow".



Edited to add:
We had ducks for a while on that farm when I was a kid. I used to go collect the duck eggs. The difference is, ours were "free range" ducks - Mallards IIRC. It always ended up being more like an Easter Egg hunt! Good times...good times...

-T.

[znlwovuhrjw]

The news media does a very good job of making the northeast winter as undesirable as possible so nobody will want to move there, keep up the good work national news!