I took it as referring to how much perishable food people should buy at one time.Well, I can agree with that. I just don't understand what it had to do with intermittent electricity. Not a big deal. Understood the rest of your post, just that tiny bit left me confused.
It is more efficient for me to buy enough perishables to last for a week or two, because I can trust that my fridge & freezer will keep running, and then I don't have to spend time going to the store as often.
But if my electricity were unreliable, buying that much perishable food would be wasteful, because all that food would probably spoil the next time the power quit. It would be more efficient to go shopping more frequently, and have less on hand at any given time.
Of course, if someone has no electricity at all, the most sensible buying & storage patterns are different yet.