They buy stew and dry rations: why the Russians rushed for supplies

“Involuntarily you want to make sure”

The Russians have only two allies – dry rations and stew. So, taking into account the current realities, you can change the catchphrase about the army and navy, presumably belonging to Emperor Alexander III. In the two weeks following the Kremlin’s announcement of a partial mobilization, consumer demand for these two goods rose by 81% and 34%, respectively. Which, according to the “MK experts” interviewed, is very symptomatic.

Average prices have also jumped: today a package with dry rations costs 1198 rubles, a can of beef stew – 170, according to statistics obtained by the fiscal data operator from September 21 to October 5, 2022. And according to the marketplace analytics service, sales of products in the Canned Meat category grew by 287% from September 20 to September 30 compared to the previous ten days. All these figures are in perfect agreement with the results of a recent study conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation in 104 settlements of the Russian Federation: the level of anxiety among Russians has risen from 35% (September 18) to 69% (September 25).

In principle, our people are no strangers to all sorts of hard times. In troubled times, genetic memory works flawlessly, forcing you to buy flour, buckwheat, stew, pasta, salt, soap, matches, condensed milk, candles, vegetable oil. All this is stored indefinitely. There have been more radical examples of increased demand in history: for example, in the fall of 1983, the Soviet people rushed to pharmacies for iodine, which, in combination with vodka, allegedly helps to remove radiation from the body. Moreover, schoolchildren were taught to put on gas masks, march into a bomb shelter and master Morse code. On the eve of September 1, a Su-15 fighter-interceptor shot down a South Korean passenger Boeing – the incident aggravated international tensions and made the threat of a nuclear apocalypse tangible.

As for dry rations (today it appears in the army under the name IRP – individual diet), finding it is not so easy. In military stores, it ends quickly, in online stores the price is constantly growing. In a small box weighing 2.1 kilograms, products are tightly packed for daily consumption. The main meal consists of two full hearty dishes: goulash with potatoes and rice with chicken and vegetables.

“About 300,000 people were called up for mobilization,” says Nikita Maslennikov, a leading expert at the Center for Political Technologies. – Plus, tens of thousands hastily left abroad – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and other countries. And these two categories just bought dry rations and stew. Firstly, you need to take with you to the collection point something that, with a high degree of probability, you will not be provided with. The motivation is clear: even if you are provided with everything, people tend to play it safe. They took these products with a margin, so that family members also had left. The fugitives from the mobilization were overwhelmed with approximately the same thoughts: how will I settle down there in the first days, will I run into low-quality food? It’s better to have everything at hand, in the car.”

However, the increase in sales by 81% and even more so by 34% is not too much in physical, absolute terms (although it is impressive in relative terms). Previously, these products were not in high demand. Suppose, Maslennikov argues, usually the family bought two cans of stew a month, and bought three or four. We are talking about a local surge related to two specific categories of citizens: firstly, to the mobilized and their families, and secondly, to those who left the country after September 21. In February and early March, there was a completely different picture: consumer, buying hype covered literally the entire population – because no one understood what to expect after the start of the special operation.

“I would also add that sales of automobile first-aid kits have sharply increased in Russian pharmacies in recent weeks – in a number of regions the growth has exceeded 80%,” notes Igor Nikolaev, chief researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. – Plus, first aid courses, both short-term and long-term, have become in high demand. By the way, they are very cheap. Everything is one to one: against the backdrop of uncertainty, anxious moods are intensifying, people are trying to insure themselves by any means. And this is an absolutely adequate reaction to events. The instinct of self-preservation drives to stores – for dry rations, stew and other products with almost indefinite shelf life. Of course, manufacturers do not miss such a rare opportunity for themselves to raise prices.