AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling?

I have a bit of food, let's say a pantry full. But only the stuff I normally use anyway as I don't fancy throwing anything away when it goes out of date etc
But I'm having a multi fuel burner/stove put in because I live a bit rurally and I'm worried about a harsh winter and issues with power. We have central heating but no power - no gas.
I can store a bit of wood and other fuels.
In the last 24hrs we had a power cut and water was out last night.
Before covid I would be laughing, my other half was laughing at me a few years ago when I said about the stove, now he's booking the tradesmen to get the work done. I'm not too sure where anything is heading so I want to prepare a bare minimum.
If nothing else, it will be nice to throw a log on the fire for Xmas.

I don't think companies, even if plc, can be legally forced to have that kind of contingencies. I don't think we would want that powers to exist tbh

Legally robust such as what/how though? This is how our infrastructure is set up now and has been for a long time- almost entirely dependent upon technology.

Yes I have a generator that uses petrol and I have 10 litres of petrol and a camping stove and 6 gas bombs.

I would hope that legally they had to have something more robust in place but my hopes are probably misplaced.

You’d think but M&S couldn’t despite having a smaller range of products and fewer customers than the supermarkets. Apparently the system simply isn’t set up for manual calculation. Computers are used for everything from ordering to calculating lorry loads to planning routes. No computers, no goods moving.

@Era that's a good point about Russia attempting to cut our Internet cables. We are, because of our complete dependence on the Internet, correspondingly vulnerable to the utter chaos that would result if they were successful.
Everything would be temporarily disabled and we do not know for how long.

Well clearly many people don't have such common sense given the mockery on these threads directed towards those who are taking sensible steps.

Good grief. I thought most people already had the common sense to store a few days’ worth of emergency supplies. Seems like a load of nonsense.

The government has officially asked everyone to have an additional emergency supply to see them through a few days of disruption caused by anything from extreme weather events through to cyber attacks on our infrastructure. We are seeing attacks every week. Just this week the Russians were trying to cut our undersea internet cables.

If you have a few weeks of food and water set aside for emergencies you will be in a far better position since the government has no back up supplies. They effectively want us to store the back up at home.

Most people on this thread are discussing complying with government guidelines to have in 3 or 4 days of food / water plus wind up radio etc in case of emergency.

It could be anything - El Niño is meant to mean worse storms which could lead to lorries not being able to get to shops or a possible cyber attack on food distribution networks and/or power grid. It could be something unforeseen. I certainly didn’t see COVID shortages coming but I had enough in my cupboards to get by anyway.

Very few people are following the OP’s friend and storing 6 months worth. Most people today have neither the space nor the funds to stock that much.

The idea is to have enough for an emergency until the government sorts out food / water distribution not survive the apocalypse.

Maybe it’s been covered up thread, but what event(s) are you all prepping for where you think food and water will be unavailable for weeks?!

Hooray for you. I had to tear up and use old flannelette pyjamas and dispose of the squares in a bin. Good times.

😆

@EvieBB yes, I reckon if it came to some kind of emergency my kids would eat me!

A happy medium is needed here- a few days is definitely not enough , but 6 months is excessive. Having an alternative way to cook if one or other supply fails is usually a good idea-if you can manage it.

Same! My 2 teenagers demolish it quicker than I can buy it!

Do you have a generator and/or solar that works if the grid goes down (apparently many solar panels don’t)?

If not, and you do want to have emergency supplies, you may want to ignore the contents of the freezer and consider whether you are happy with your shelf stable items.

I have enough food for about 4 months as I have 2 large chest freezers. 1 is mainly for harvest from our garden with a couple of bags of frozen chips and loaves of bread. I have enough water for about a week. I have frozen milk too and coffee whitener. I have pet food for 2 months. I only have prescription medication for about 6 weeks. My youngest DS who lives about a mile away says he's coming straight home if we are under attack and bringing his 2 cats too.

They should be able to work on averages though. The sort of things that everyone needs probably don’t vary much. They might vary on a seasonal basis, like salad being preferred over cooked vegetables over Summer, but items like bread or milk should be fairly consistent over time and even if they slightly under ordered, they should be able to cobble together an order to restock.

@Nighttimenoise same! Glad it’s not just me 🤣

My God, don't do it if you don't want to!
For me, I absolutely am preparing for the most likely short term scenarios.
During covid I swore I would never let my family get in the situation we were in again if I could help it.
I don't drive and I was working outside the home still during covid. The local shops reserved earlier shopping for blue light workers, which I wasn't. By the time I finished work the shops were bare, and I wasn't eligible for deliveries.
We were down to the dregs of our food and its not nice I can assure you.
But, hey, I'm glad others had a fine old time of it during covid.
If nothing else does anyone not remember the price gouging during covid for face masks etc?
I don't really give a shiny shit what others decide to do. I'm planning on helping others who couldn't prepare, but if you could and you laughed at those who have prepared....well, you made your bed.