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

You’re in a very unusual and privileged position that doesn’t apply to the vast majority of the country

I am aware of that. Hence the “We”.

However, it is still possible for most people to cook without electricity. It may take a degree of self reliance. A concept alien to some.

That wasn’t an unforeseen emergency. That was due to governmental incompetence and political ideology.

As we found at the start of covid, there's no resilience in the food supply chain. So if a major supermarket "goes down" for more than a day or two, all the others soon run short of food too as the supply chain can't ramp up production and deliveries soon enough. The remaining 4 big chains can't suddenly cope with a 25% increase in demand (assuming the "down" supermarket customers spread themselves evenly over the other 4!). Small shops would soon run out too as they have even slower supply chains and less stock in warehouses/store rooms. A bit of panic buying and the shelves soon become empty.

Have you so quickly forgotten the empty shelves in all supermarkets at the start of covid??

I went to the shops. There were bare shelves for tinned things, pasta, rice etc but the fresh food supply was always fine.

Yeah, you see the thing about disruptions is by their nature no one knows how long they are going to last. The gov doesn’t post a message saying “Please be advised, this latest Russian cyber attack is scheduled to last 3 days”. When things happen, people panic. They panic buy and strip the shelves and you don’t have petrol or bread or toilet roll for week. Honestly were you living in a cave during covid? During the recent Iran conflict?

That wasn’t an unforeseen emergency. That was due to governmental incompetence and political ideology.

Well said. It's the panic buying that empties the shop shelves within a few hours. Not just covid, but look at the queues at petrol stations a year or two ago re the Iraq war.

That was not the experience of lots of my neighbours and friends so it presumably varied across the country

Or a garden for the barbecue and camping stove.

Yeah, you see the thing about disruptions is by their nature no one knows how long they are going to last. The gov doesn’t post a message saying “Please be advised, this latest Russian cyber attack is scheduled to last 3 days”. When things happen, people panic. They panic buy and strip the shelves and you don’t have petrol or bread or toilet roll for week. Honestly were you living in a cave during covid? During the recent Iran conflict?

When the war started in our region we did stock up a bit, we could literalpy see the missiles floating past our window some days. However, what emerged was a new found love of shit food. As soon as I buy corned beef, tinned hot dogs and spam, they get eaten. Suddenly everyone in my house eats like its WW2! I stocked up on bottled water and trip over it every single morning so might up my fluid intake. I do have powdered milk squirreled away for the worst scenario, its fortified and apparently can keep you alive for ages. I have a vague memory of Marvel from childhood, dark yellow and smelled like puke so hoping Trump pops his clogs before he does too much damage.

I'm not sure why we have to stock up on food to be honest. I'm 5 minutes from a supermarket which I kind of use as my pantry anyway so in an emergency I'd just pop down there and get stuff. Wouldn't store it all at home "just in case".

Which could very easily happen in the UK given the poor quality of our politicians!

Has the recent Iranian conflict caused you to exist on tinned food from your stockpile? I haven’t noticed anything different in any shop I have been in.

People are either misremembering or misrepresenting what happened during Covid. The shops never ran out of food. They ran out of certain products, mainly pasta, and tinned and jarred products.

What sort of Russian cyber attack would close every single shop, takeaway, pub and restaurant? Maybe one on the National Grid, but even then the major supermarkets would have generators. If the generators were down we’d be in a national emergency.

About that.

There's the Great Orange One who could bring down the entire western world at the rate he's going.

Definitely. Fresh food was not available in my local supermarket every day.

You can use a gas camping stove indoors. It’s no different to using a gas cooker.

That’s assuming there’s enough common sense to ensure adequate ventilation and to not leave it unattended.

Living close to a supermarket is not enough if the supermarket runs out of food is it?

I have for over 40 years had a decent stock of food, toiletries, loo rolls, washing liquid etc.

When covid hit me and DH did not have to go to a shop for over a month which was great.

At present we probably have enough food to last a good 6 weeks, probably longer. In our freezer we have bread, milk, vegetables, fruit, home made meals such as curries, shepherds pie, chilli, soups, bean burgers etc. We also have quite a lot of pasta, rice, different types of beans, nuts etc. Tinned tomatoes, baked beans etc.

I just think it is sensible to have at least some stock of food

I think it's more because the supply may be disrupted due to storms that are expected.
I wouldn't go mad buying extra stuff but ( obviously only if you can afford it )
a few extra tins of
beans ,
tomatoes,
soup,
tuna,

meat ,
potatoes ,
carnation cream / long life milk

Instant noodles
Pita / wraps ( tend to keep longer and take up less space than a loaf)

The next size up than you'd normally buy of
Flour
Oil
Marg
butter
Lentils
Rice
Pasta
Porridge / cereal
Loo rolls
Toothpaste
Pain killers / dc over the counter meds
And make sure your 'scrip meds are ordered if possible .
All that said , if you can't afford/ don't want to I am fairly sure you'd be fine unless you habitually run your cupboards empty.

But then if it all goes to shit and you're without power, you're not going to be able to cook pasta etc - so does one then need just cold tomato soup and beans and tuna etc?

But then if it all goes to shit and you're without power, you're not going to be able to cook pasta etc - so does one then need just cold tomato soup and beans and tuna etc?

Your supermarket had not one edible food? What about the butcher, baker, corner shops?