PREPARING is buying well ahead of time, while there is plenty.

HOARDING is buying much more than you need when an emergency is expeced, and there is not sufficient supply for everybody.

If you buy 100 sheets of plywood for hurricane season in December, that is preparing. If you buy the same plywood two days before the storm is expected, that is hoarding.

Of course, buying with the intent to resell could also easily be considered hoarding. Think "ticket scalpers."

Never tried the civy MREs, but in the military we usually referred to the MRE as Meals Refused by Ethiopians. Not all that tasty to most folks! Hard to eat enough of the pack to get sufficient calories also. Most of the GIs prefered the LRP rations to MREs. A LRP is a freeze-dried meal.