AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling?

Yes!! Omg...I've got a bed with drawers underneath. It's only got a load of old paperwork in so I can throw it all out. Omg..thank you! 😅😅

Under bed storage?

I suppose I could put tins and water in my mini, but then it would use more fuel due to the weight, so false economy 🙃

No bookcase unfortunately...

Totally get where you're coming from; although we're in a bungalow, we genuinely don't have a lot of storage space. I've had to clear some kitchen cupboard space and it wasn't easy, and relegated some of what was in there to up on top of the wall units. It's not a big kitchen. We aren't allowed to store anything at all in the loft due to insulation rules (new build HA) and being a new build it has literally no other cupboards. I won't store food in the shed which is only small anyway. Totally get though, having lived in small flats, no garden etc, if no space at all it is very difficult indeed.

Do you have a book case? If you do, behind the books?

Yes, even more difficult in a flat!

This is the thing, it's OK for the government advising us to stockpile, but if you live in a flat with no storage space, what the hell are we supposed to do? And I mean "no storage space!)"

Yes, space is an issue as we don't have a garage and the shed is full, unless we build shelves.

I could store it in the attic but I know it would never get date checked so I'd have loads of expired food in a couple of years.

Exactly. I've been limited on what I can afford to do but decided to use the small savings I had in the end to to what's best for my household.

6 months worth is yes extremely excessive. Planning for shorter periods is not gratuitous greed, at all. It's less of us then needing to be helped if there's an emergency, so that what is available can go to more vulnerable households, and less people rushing out to buy items, causing more problems. Also like me households with someone severely disabled with long term health conditions will plan and prepare as they can, and in my circumstances I couldn't care less if people think that's greed (hardly, considering my limited finances anyway)/over reacting or whatever. To me it's sensible, and the fact I never buy anything I won't use normally anyway means it all gets used going forward, so if not needed I'd just be shopping a lot less for quite a while and would have bought a lot of it before the prices rises that are coming, make no mistake about that.

If I could afford and had the room to store stuff, I'd be stockpiling certain things. Especially since stuff is going to get even more expensive. As it is, unfortunately I can only afford the bare minimum as it is.

YANBU - we all saw the gratuitous greed during Covid. I won’t buy into it at all.

Yes, food we use anyway, tinned sauces, fruit, more pasta, rice pudding, milk powder (full cream I hate the skimmed), breadsticks, crackers, cereal bars, more tuna, cat food, instant mash, noodles etc. Also more wipes.

There are very important safety risks, yes, in using a portable stove inside. Ours is sturdy, checked regularly, and I used it inside frequently during power cuts where we last lived. I would use it in the garden if possible, but I am not averse to using it indoors. The biggest risks are obvious: they produce gases, only if faulty or not burning correctly, carbon monoxide is a risk. We have a mains carbon monoxide detector (with battery back up) but also have a separate extra battery operated one to be doubly safe.
If using indoors, placed on top of our ceramic flat top electric cooker which is always switched off at the wall when not in use anyway, and has a stainless splashback and natural ventilation plus a large window adjacent and no flammable risk fabrics or similar nearby. This is the safest I can manage, if needed. We also have a firepit and bbq outside and large supply of charcoal and wood. I kept a few old pans in case I ever needed to heat water or food on firepit. Again, only because we have outside space do we have that option.

What did you get, food?

I suggest a ghillie kettle or a kelly kettle or similar. They have to be used outside

I'm well prepped on the food front now, all in hand.
Medicines etc.
Solar panels.
Candles.
Getting to grips with some water.
Now turning my attention to a means of cooking. Never having been a camper, I'm a bit wary of camping stoves and gas canisters. Some of the cheap camping stoves look very flimsy. And I'm assuming they need to be used outside. We have a decent sized garden and I'm thinking about what could be a good spot to cook if we can't cook indoors.
Anyone with thoughts on this? Recommendations for a camping stove or other method of cooking if the electricity is off?

No prepping for me lol got a few of the normal things like pasta/tinned soup/baked beans but that’s normal!

Yep. This.
I put away the last of the extra stores I could afford to buy this afternoon and not ashamed to admit I used my very small amount of savings to do so.

Probably.

Prices. Like mad prices. Particularly on diesel.

Diesel=deliveries.

Then if we hit the next level possible panic when people start to grasp there's an issue, before the government get their act together.

Then possible shortages. Even if there is enough to go around (similar to runs on fuel in the 2000s).

Rationing is probably a better option than chaos and roads blocked as people queue for fuel. So hope for this as mad as it sounds. (Been there done that).

Beyond that, I don't think I'm going to speculate presently.

But yeah. It should be higher in the news cycle than it is.

Slightly off topic though relevant in some ways, I ordered some more gas canisters yesterday for our portable stove and noticed a price rise already hitting those which obviously wasn't a surprise. If mainstream media does actually start reporting the current issues you can guarantee there will be a spike in buying certain items. Possible that they're not doing so exactly for that reason...? Though we've been told to prepare to an extent..

Got to agree.

If they were our oil orders for september and october then things get pretty serious very quickly. It's the wrong time of year for this to happen since it's about to get cold. If we rely on another country to supply us with certain products and it was their orders then we start seeing shortages and big gaps on shelves coupled with rapid price increases.