More relaxed now?

[Onlycakesshouldhavetiers]

Heard the news about a deal and, with Our have read the details admittedly, feel relieved. Are people still building their stashs up? I'm starting to get a bit fearful that I won't be able to go back to normal and have a spare room that's a spare room rather than something that coild double as a corner shop

[Mintjulia]

I was looking at my Brexit stash today (a spare cupboard, not a room). I'll run it down gradually over the next couple of months.

One good thing, during all the talk about our dependence on EU for fruit in winter, I learned to bottle summer fruit. We had homegrown berries with croissants for breakfast this morning. They were lovely, and no need to defrost

[Dugee]

Just means our food shop will be cheaper for the next 3 months, as we will only need to buy fresh.

I was wondering about the switch in mindset though, from building to depleting, am I (almost subconsciously) going to continue buying a bit extra every time I go to the supermarket and not actually deplete my stash?

[Onlycakesshouldhavetiers]

That's bothered me too as a 'pepper light' someone who usually keeps a weeks worth of stuff extra and does the monthly shop st Costco. I started for Brexit and ramped up for C19. Some things haven't been used (thankfully) like an oxygen reader and hopefully won't ever need to be but will be good to have. As for food though I'm getting a little bit worried that I won't be able to let go which isn't great news as I'm downsizing massively in the imminent future

[JamieLeesCurtains]

I'd forgotten how good tins of mandarin oranges are!

I'm still concerned about C19 (I'm CEV and our local supermarket is seemingly a mask-free zone, thanks Asda), and price rises / availability of certain foods. Oh and weather.

So I'll probably maintain a reasonable stash, and keep donating to food banks too.

[badpuma]

I'm going to keep a stock at some level until there is no realistic prospect of suddenly having to self isolate again. My mum and dad moved in with us just before lockdown as mum needed some additional care while she recovered from a planned operation.

They're still here - luckily we have an annexe but feeding 6 people (including two teens) for 2 weeks takes quite a bit of food as I've found a couple of times this year. Deliveries are slightly better now, but I'd like to keep a weeks supply in stock.

[AnneLovesGilbert]

More relaxed but no one saw march coming and I was very glad of my stocked pantry when the world went mad. I’ll never be without a spare 50 loo rolls.

Worth having enough to comfortably get you through a period of self isolation or illness given the ongoing state of the world. We’re very rural too and after getting badly snowed in a few years ago and nearly running out of food then I’m not going back to living shop to shop. Love my second freezer and have found all the types of frozen veg we like using.

This year has been an interesting exercise in finding out we really use a lot of. In practise it’s quite different from in theory especially now toddler DD eats 5 meals a day and as many types of veg as she can get her hands on.

[skankingpiglet]

I will be waiting until Summer before using up our supplies if things are looking ok. I'm not convinced things will necessarily go smoothly and there is no rush plus Covid isolations and disruption still to contend with. I have always kept a couple of weeks food in though (in case of snow, illness etc), so will be returning to that level not empty cuoboards.

[Sexnotgender]

More relaxed but always cautious. I’ve always kept a well stocked level of basics and I don’t think I’ll move away from that.

[CrunchyCarrot]

Nope, to early to call things yet, still got winter to get through. I'd love to have more space again, though!

[Dugee]

I'll still keep a few weeks in, always have. I'd got it up to 3 months though. Contemplating not going to the supermarket at all in Jan, that way we will free up space, hopefully avoid the mutant strain but still have 2 months supplies in.

[EzzieLove]

Being into preparedness, the coming and going of Brexit will make very little difference to my stock levels or other prepper considerations. We are still in the throws of an ever changing pandemic. Has food production been compromised around the world over the last year? Very possibly. Could it continue to be going forward? I expect so. I may be wrong but although I try to be situationally aware, I don’t always see upcoming disasters. I started prepping seriously 6 years ago following a personal family situation. I hate it when one of my preps fail. Something as simple as having a lighter (I don’t smoke) or flashlight in my handbag or extra cash available at home has helped out on so many occasions. So I am really hopeful that Brexit may pass a little more gently but remember folks “fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”.

[Whenwillow]

No, because I still can't work out how much of an impact border checks are going to have, or whether EU drivers will be willing to put themselves out to drive her after the way they've been treated. I'd already decided to do no more food shopping beyond getting fresh stuff, but I am certainly very glad to have my stash. I don't expect it to be business as usual, though the deal seems to have averted real chaos.
Food poverty a few years back has made me a bit of a prepper anyway, I just ramped it up a bit.

[BlackeyedSusan]

Not going to be growing it now. It is fucking mad at the moment. Maybe use up the stuff in the most annoying places. or rather use some stuff up and put other stuff away.

[InvincibleInvisibility]

Nope not relaxing and I live on the continent. We don't know how 2021 will pan out or indeed any other year.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

The devil is in the detail - too early to 'relax' over Brexit yet. Plus it'll be a long time before I get to the head of the vaccine queue, Tier 4 beckons, and I might need to self-isolate at the drop of a hat.

[LunarSea]

Will be running it down a bit now - but will still make sure we have enough for a couple of weeks in case we end up having to isolate. January/February shopping bills should be low at least, and will have the option of pretty much avoiding even supermarkets for a bit if the Covid situation gets even worse.

[InconvenientPeg]

I feel relieved that we're probably not going to have the crash in border trading that no deal might have been. I'm not confident that the next year will prove less challenging than this year. I think we're poised on a knife edge to be heading towards multiple lockdowns next year depending on Christmas fall out and how the new mutations of covid pan out.
I will certainly be bringing my preps down to 'normal for me' levels. About 1/3 less than we're currently carrying. Just so everything fits back where it's intended to go. Looking forward to a few months cheaper shopping as we go through that process, so win win for the prepping!

[bellinisurge]

More relaxed? Possibly on the effects of No Deal because we have a deal. I predict stuff will be more expensive so my preps will help with that.
I'm a general prepper which came in handy for short notice lockdowns that we have experienced and will probably have again.
In short, being a general prepper helps me be more relaxed about whatever heads our way.

[IndecentFeminist]

I like having my supply, so will not run it down but will not necessarily keep adding to it. Will keep on top of rotation etc

[Legoandloldolls]

I'm going to run everything down to my normal months worth of food rather than six weeks worth.

Still need to keep some extra in case we need to self isolate or it snows. I will need to rotate the majority of it out.

Going forward I'm just going to make sure we have enough of the kids staple foods in which is pasta, things to make pasta sauces and instant noodles for the son with ASD.

I'm.so glad we wasnt out panic buying and dont need to really shop during the period just before and after lockdown when the shops was crazy empty.

Prepping is definitely something I'm going to learn from going forward.

With four kids who eat a kg of pasta a week I was very glad I wasnt having to find pasta, forget face the judgemental pickforkers who cant comprehend that not everyone lives alone and makes 250g of pasta last a month.

That's what i found really scary. The pure hatred towards people who bought more than one bag of food per visit. Asking shops if they could hold a pack of loo rolls back for me as my son is disabled and getting filthy looks in return. Not being able to go out near a shop with my kids because of the vitriol on SM to parents dared go out with a baby.

I'm not going stop making sure my essentials are never depleted while I have young kids. If I can protect my children that, I will. Especially when a 8kg of pasta costs 40p to put aside

[HMSBeagle]

8kg? 1 kg is 40p I mean!

[FeralUnicorn]

I won’t be running mine down either but at the same time won’t be building it up anymore, not that I have the room anyway! I will rotate though.
I have about a months worth between the freezer and cupboard and could probably stretch to 6 weeks if needed, so depending on what time of the month it is I’d have between a 6 weeks to 2.5 months.

[Haggyhaggerson]

I won’t be running down stocks, only rotating. Even when the worry of self-isolation is eventually over, I really enjoy the security of knowing that on a tight month I can still eat well, or that if I forget something in my shop there is always at least one in the stores.

I do have a handful of items that are not my typical purchases (like UHT milk), I donate those items.

[HasaDigaEebowai]

I have a large stock of food which I will run down now but I will always keep enough for a month of no shopping - just in case.

[FoolShapeHeart]

I'm overrun and whilst having the security is helping my mental health, having stuff everywhere is damaging it. So I'm going to try using it up a little & prioritising better, moving to stash items that are more compact so I can make better use of the space I have (e.g. just started dehydrating, hot some of those ocean wave cleaning capsules, work out how to make the prepared foods that we currently buy etc) & get my working garden established. I'm not sure how well I'll manage the shift from building to using the stash, so need to look at it as reprioritising. And try to focus more on developing useful skills, not just having stocks.