Do we actually need to get two weeks of food in?

We import nearly 50% of all food and rely heavily on imported oil and gas. It wouldn't take much for politcal instability on a global scale to disruption food supply and after such a dry summer domestic supply will be down too. We've seen how quickly people rush out and panic buy fuel and food / toilet rollsevwn when they don't need it (dm who drives about 1 mile a month and never normally fills her tank up for example). Add to that extreme weather / el nino and there are lots of scenario's where fuel / electricity or supermarket supply chains could easily be disrupted.

The most likely thing to happen will be what happens every year that some areas will be temporarily without power or water due to bad weather. The rest is hysterics. Most reporting can't even decide what emergency we're supposed to prepare for so they just throw in everything from war to climate change and all that's in between. If the apocalypse comes then two weeks worth of beans and toilet roll isn't going to help.

You've made your views abundantly clear. You are welcome to believe what you want to believe and live with the consequences.

The food will not magically vanish from the shelves of all shops simultaneously though.

Last year there was a power cut when I was shopping in a big store. We were ushered out damn quickly. Didn’t know they had so many staff tbh. We just left the food in trolleys and were escorted out and staff were standing by the door. Having cash certainly didn’t help. 😂 Turned out half our town had a power cut including the hospital.

All of those scenarios would not close the shops immediately. People would still be able to buy food. When the Co-op’s stock control went down it remained open, with some shortages.

Someone shared this with me yesterday as I was asking for recommendations as to what to store (I refuse to say stockpile ffs) for a few days for my family familyprep.co.uk/

I like how it covers different age groups and pets because I also have 2 dogs and a cat to think of!

I see a few days of food and water more as a sensible thing to have as opposed to some kind of doomsday prepping.

That's grand unless the supermarket is empty.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I don't think you are understanding the reason. The shop won't have the food in store for you to go buy.

No one can explain why.

You've been given several plausible scenarios:

• bad weather - interrupting the Just In Time supply chain
• failure of national IT systems - taking down the banking system or supermarket stock control
• failure of physical infrastructure - electricity grid damage (Spain 2025); contamination of water supply (Devon 2024)

It isn't new guidance. The media just jump on it whenever it's reviewed or updated.

Have you needed 2 weeks worth of food for the last 5 years?

Saying we live in risky times does not explain why anyone needs to keep a week’s worth of beans and noodles.

If the risk simultaneously closes every single shop without even a minute’s notice then I suspect we wouldn’t have to worry about making dinner.

Your last line literally made me laugh out loud.

I can imagine supermarket staff climbing over each other to be the one standing at the doors, shouting fuck off with great enthusiasm, to all the customers who have treated them like shit over the years, when the staff have had to just stand there and take it

It was literally in the news last week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp931m8n3p5o

Why don’t you read this brochure. Especially the Home Preparedness part. It’s really good with check lists and everything. I imagine the UK version is something similar. Ours is not that new and it’s not the first one we’ve had.

rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf

It's necessary because we live in extremely risky times, with unpredictable outcomes from scenarios we haven't faced yet.

Anybody with at least fleeting contact with reality, who is equipped with any mainstream mix of common sense and self-preservation would take at least some rudimentary precautions if they were in a position to do so. Building a bit of resilience into the inputs that sustain life is now recommended action.

Anyone who is determined not to is bloody self-deluded and, anyone who wails that they don't see the point - and therefore won't take really basic steps - is frankly a menace to everyone else.

Only if there is cash

I do like the look of those chilli noodles!

The only place I have seen this is on here. Where is the guidance and why, what for?

Ive got about 3 months worth of food in the cupboards and freezer to be fair, although by the end of it I would be living on rice with caraway seeds with some chutney perhaps.

They won't be able to WhatsApp the parent group and ask whether there is school on Wednesdays or not.

People just keep posting to say read the guidance. No one seems to be able to explain why this is necessary for people who live in urban areas.

😂 I honestly do not understand how some people get by in their daily life.

But yes, I will take your advice - thank you.

Shh.

Let people weed themselves out if something does happen.