January 22, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Grocery stores see runs on milk, eggs and cat food before snowstorms, but also comfort foods like ice cream and ingredients for baking and 'project meals' as people hunker down for winter weather.
Grocery stores in Philadelphia have been a little more crowded this week, as residents brace for a storm that could deliver a foot or more of snow.
Frenzied food shopping is a time-honored tradition before any winter storm, as essential as salting the sidewalk or curating a movie marathon. And for decades now, the stereotypical items in every customer's cart have been bread, milk and eggs.
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Are those really the items flying off the grocery shelves? Local and national shops say, yes. Riverwards Produce, Weavers Way Co-op, Klein's Supermarket and Giant all confirm they see an uptick in sales of these items when a storm is in the forecast. Jon Roesser, the general manager of Weavers Way, said sales of eggs were 135% higher than normal the Sunday before roughly two inches of snow fell in Philly on Jan. 6, 2025.
Ashley Flower, a public relations manager for Giant, said their customers tend to seek out additional "essentials" like water, nonperishable foods and batteries. Shovels and windshield wiper fluid, necessary for any snow-covered car excavation, also make the list.
But people aren't just buying survival supplies. Comfort foods like ice cream, cookies, chips, pretzels and crackers are also in high demand. Purchases of baking mixes were 143% higher at Weavers Way ahead of the 2025 storm, Roesser said.
Riverwards Produce, which has stores in Fishtown and Old City, also tends to see an increase in sales of ingredients for "project meals" like pizza dough, founder Vincent Finazzo said.
"People might take this opportunity to roast a chicken or tackle that classic Martha Stewart recipe that's been haunting them," he added via email.
People don't forget their furry friends in the chaos, either. Ahead of last year's snow, Weavers Way saw the biggest surge in cat food, sales of which were 281% higher than normal. Dog food purchases also trended 192% higher. The co-op has three grocery stores in Northwest Philly and another in Ambler, Montgomery County.
Anticipating these spikes can be tricky, depending on the item. Andrew Klein, who runs Klein's Supermarket near 24th Street and Fairmount Avenue, said he will often order more from local vendors "who are more likely to be able to pivot" in the days before anticipated snow. He might up his coffee inventory from La Colombe and Herman's, for instance, and bread stock from Merzbacher's, Mighty Bread and Lost Bread Co. Other categories are a bit more locked in.
"The main items that sell out first – eggs, milk, general grocery – are typically ordered a week in advance," he explained via email. "By the time we know for sure what the storm is going to do, our orders are already set and can't be altered. Plus at this point every store is asking their local rep for more product. If I tried to ask my Pepperidge Farm guy for more sandwich bread the day before a storm, I'm pretty sure he would laugh in my face. "
Like everyone else, the shops prep as best they can for the fickle weather. But if you want to be safe, pick up your quart of milk and pint of Moose Tracks sooner rather than later.
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