Plan well, don’t be complacent

PANIC buying is a very real phenomenon that rears its ugly head every time the whiff of flood or cyclone enters our collective snouts.

The old “love thy neighbour” verse is a tough one to live out when you have a fussy batch of kids at home who want their rib-eye steak every night at seven on the dot.

Judging by the increasingly bare shelves at several major supermarkets yesterday, this latest monsoonal malaise is playing out along the same old story arc.

Cairns is likely to be cut off from major freight routes for a few days to come, except for potential small gaps where trucks can poke their way through for sporadic deliveries.

Fresh meat, fruit and vegetables — at least those that are not grown locally — are likely to be in short supply towards Wednesday unless the massive weather system hovering over Townsville decides to pack up and make an early exit.

It is not the end of the world — in fact, it might be an opportunity to dust off a few Depression-era recipes from nan’s old cookbook.

Grandmothers who have lived through the lean times, endured droughts in the outback or remember wartime rationing seem to have an innate knack of creating gum-drenching feasts from a few meagre ingredients, even if they do come from a can.

If they can do it, there is no reason the rest of us can’t.

The bigger issue for the Far North over the coming days is likely to be complacency.

Current forecasts do not have the Far North in the direct line of fire of this angry trough but weather predictions are made to fail, as recent weeks have proved time and time again.

Stay safe, plan ahead and eat well, even if wagyu steak is off the menu. Chris Calcino chris.calcino@news.com.au