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Are you stockpiling?

581 replies

CravingHobnobs · 01/09/2021 23:22

Are you stockpiling food, clothes, toys, medicines? I’ve gotten a bit worried lately with the news of price increases and limited supplies. Shelves seem fairly full where I am (London) but perhaps that’s not going to last? Can’t help but notice much of my food comes from abroad, not to mention medicines, DC clothes and toys, etc.

I’m a bit skint already but if prices will rise and I can do a bit of Christmas shopping for DC now I reckon I’d rather have it sorted.

OP posts:
Tigerlilynuj · 03/09/2021 23:21

@Dreamzzs

🤣 My first thought too

wildchild554 · 03/09/2021 23:36

@shouldbeworkingmore It depends on the person, everyone's needs and circumstances are different. For me it's to have 3-4 months of certain things on hand to see us through illness ect that we use anyway so it's what would be called a working pantry where everything get's used and rotated. I know roughly what we get through each month so there's never any waste. Our milk is UHT dairy free alternative due to allergies so that keeps for a long time too and we make our own bread so it helps alot. If we're struggling I always know we can fall back on what we have and although it probably wouldn't all last 3-4 months without fresh stuff to substitute it will keep us fed till can get to the shops and don't have to worry when things are out of stock when doing online orders for heavy stuff either. For instance tried ordering cat litter but they were out, but I know I have 2 bags and the one we are using so should keep us going till I place the next online order. Also means I can help my friend and her kids when she needs help.

LolalolaLola · 03/09/2021 23:47

I will be buying extra each time I go shopping now, until I'm happy I'm well stocked up for the winter. I don't look at it as stockpiling though, I look at it as...being stocked up for the winter. Like my mother did and her mother did before her.

If I don't, I realistically could go hungry. Even without another lockdown or anything like that. There isn't a local shop I can walk to for 'bits', I have to be prepared. There is one bus a day and a trip on a ferry to get to a supermarket. If there roads are bad with snow or the ferry isn't running because of the weather I'm screwed.

So no, not going to 'crazy prepper' lengths but will make no apologies for filling my cupboards.

Shamsa03 · 03/09/2021 23:55

Horrible responses.

OP i understand you do what you need to do for your family. Some people have a limited amount of money and need to make plans and some just don't understand i hope they are never in the same position.

Preech · 03/09/2021 23:56

We had a very well-stocked Brexit cabinet, but either used it up ourselves or gave it away to food banks when the COVID shortages kicked in. It's looking lighter now, but we regularly add back a can or two of tomatoes or beans, which we use up pretty quickly for meals. We usually keep a few different kinds of pasta at a time, because that's something we can always cook quickly and our kids will eat.

Freezer space is limited at ours: my fridge-freezer is annoyingly skinny. So, I do keep it full with frozen ingredients, but the actual amount I've got in there wouldn't fill half of a freezer unit on a typical American-sized side-by-side fridge. And there's definitely no capacity for a chest freezer at my house. TBH, my dad kept one growing up, but had to bin a ton of meat that he'd placed in there and forgot about for years. I would also forget chest freezer contents completely, or at best be so disorganised with meal planning that I'd never remember to defrost anything in time.

I did buy extra paracetamol and ibuprofen in the lead-up to Brexit. The adult tablets were slowly chipped away at as required and worth having to hand, but it wasn't worth having more than one Calpol. I'm going to have to bin a nearly-full bottle of generic age-6 paracetamol because it wasn't used up before the expiry date. :(

I've seen news about Christmas being "ruined" potentially because of supply issues. I'm trying to take a more zen outlook on that now; if I can't get what I expected to for a Christmas meal, I will improvise. Vegetarian Christmas if I can't get meat, or I might get creative about what other countries serve at the holidays and see if I can improvise. If I had to go without booze at the holidays, I'd be a bit boo-urns about that, but I also know I'd be fine.

As far as gifts go, we've had fortunate years and leaner years as a family already. As long as the kids can see we're in tune with their interests and likes, we can usually find a way to put a smile on their faces with presents, regardless of what we can acquire for them in a given year. I try to spread out the cost of Christmas by picking up things for their stockings here and there in September or October, but the danger there is Ive often forgotten what I purchased until Christmas Eve.... so the strategy has had limited benefits for us.

We do limit the lengths of our kids' Santa lists and remind them every year that Santa can't always bring everything they ask for. Santa doesn't bring expensive things like iPads to our house either. I definitely started that with our family because of the social media meme, but the concept has also let DH and me off the hook when we couldn't manage a super expensive gift in a given year (and when we could, we took the credit).

Clothes for my youngest are just hand me downs from the older two. I have tried buying ahead in sales, but it's a waste of money: by the time the older DDs grow into the thing I've set aside, they usually hate it and have a completely different style.

Preech · 03/09/2021 23:57

I did start a Who Gives a Crap subscription once they opened up again post COVID. We're a family of five and are always running out of toilet paper...

dementor72 · 04/09/2021 00:05

I cannot afford to stockpile and have little space for storage in any case.
I need 6 types of medication all the time and the supply has been difficult
recently, that’s my main concern .
I always shop ahead for birthday presents if I can but that is just a budgeting plan.

Preech · 04/09/2021 00:14

Yeah, when the pharmacist hands the prescription back to you and sends you away, that is unsettling. I've had the most luck using a smaller community pharmacy rather than the larger one based in a big supermarket. The smaller pharmacy seems to have more ability to get supplies in somehow.

As for fresh veggies, fruits and eggs, we do subscribe to a fortnightly box delivery from a local farm. If supply issues threaten fresh food stocks in a few months, I'm hoping that having that existing subscription will at least keep some of the seasonal produce coming our way.

Tyredofallthis1 · 04/09/2021 00:22

@Harls1969 Last time I bought antipersperant, I got a pack of half a dozen from Amazon as that seemed to be the cheapest way of buying it. I have sensitive skin (I have more issues than Time Magazine - gluten intolerant, can't risk too much dairy and my skin is utterly fucked) and I think I've got three left.

Subscribe and Save on Amazon is an incentive to stock up, if not stock pile.

Harls1969 · 04/09/2021 00:28

[quote Tyredofallthis1]@Harls1969 Last time I bought antipersperant, I got a pack of half a dozen from Amazon as that seemed to be the cheapest way of buying it. I have sensitive skin (I have more issues than Time Magazine - gluten intolerant, can't risk too much dairy and my skin is utterly fucked) and I think I've got three left.

Subscribe and Save on Amazon is an incentive to stock up, if not stock pile.[/quote]
I don't want to run out so I buy a few when I'm in Home Bargains. Subscribe and save is a good idea. I do the Smol dishwasher tab subscribe too

BadLad · 04/09/2021 00:35

I'm not stockpiling, but if something I usually buy which has a long expiry date is on offer, then I buy a shitload of it before it goes back up in price. That saves me quite a lot.

A chain near me offered Coke and Coke Zero at about half the usual price last weekend, so my wife and I pretty much cleared the local area out of Coke Zero.

Mamanyt · 04/09/2021 00:56

I am, by nature, a stockpiler of some items. I buy a year's supply of toilet paper and of paper towels at a time. I buy a six-months' supply of cat food and cat litter at a time. No, I don't worry about shortages, I simply do not like having to lug those items around on a regular basis. But this past year and 3/4, that habit has stood me in VERY good stead!

NotMyCat · 04/09/2021 00:59

Sometimes it makes you money too. I bought a lush shower gel ages and ages ago. Was idly browsing eBay and listed it as it was a limited edition
FORTY FIVE pounds it sold for ShockBlush
And yes I went rummaging to find if I had any more!

Lookingoutside · 04/09/2021 01:00

No but I am getting Christmas sorted now.

Snugglybuggly · 04/09/2021 01:13

Noooooooooo

Snugglybuggly · 04/09/2021 01:13

@Lookingoutside

No but I am getting Christmas sorted now.
Confused
LovePoppy · 04/09/2021 03:08

@Itsnotover

I think a lot of people just hate preppers because preppers admit fear and do something about it, whereas in British society suppressing fear is the norm. We are all just a little scared of the zombie apocalypse really, but most push it out of their minds.

No, we've just seen what happens when people are selfish and walk out of supermarkets with their trolleys pilled high. It creates a problem for everyone else especially people who can't afford this.

But as long as you're alright Jack, eh?

Those are panic buyers. Not preppers. Why is that so hard to understand?
LovePoppy · 04/09/2021 03:13

@Bertiebiscuit

No, in principle I refuse to stockpile - I am single, frugal and healthy so I will not buy extra as it means someone vulnerable may have to go without - I used washable rags rather than toilet roll and sewed my own masks in the worst of the lockdown panic, my view is that we shouldn't be greedy, none of us will die without pigs in blankets
So you have nothing extra or spare in your fridge/cupboard at the end of the week? It’s bare?

If not, I hate to break it to you but…

YetAnotherSpartacus · 04/09/2021 08:09

Those are panic buyers. Not preppers. Why is that so hard to understand?

Indeed. It's not like it hasn't been explained eleventy billion times.

MrsSkylerWhite · 04/09/2021 08:12

No, not this time. Still getting through the Brexit beans and sausages.

phishy · 04/09/2021 08:15

@YetAnotherSpartacus

Those are panic buyers. Not preppers. Why is that so hard to understand?

Indeed. It's not like it hasn't been explained eleventy billion times.

What are preppers prepping for with a couple of years worth of tinned food?
CrunchyCarrot · 04/09/2021 08:16

I am a prepper and always have a stockpile for rainy days, being ill, being snowed in, end of the world, etc. It diminished somewhat over the past few weeks but I am taking stock and replenishing things I'd gotten low on (e.g. cooking oil).

Ignore the rude responses, OP. It's sensible to make sure you have at least a 2 week supply in your cupboards. In some countries it's a requirement, they obviously don't think it's selfish or stupid!

YetAnotherSpartacus · 04/09/2021 08:41

What are preppers prepping for with a couple of years worth of tinned food?

Who said this? Most people on this thread who prep do so for a few weeks only, or, in many cases, as has been explained again and again, are simply in the long-time habit of buying items when discounted and having a good store of these in order to save money.

Backwaterjunction · 04/09/2021 08:58

No in not a selfish wanker, and anyone who has started thier sentence ‘no but’ is clearly a selfish wanker

speakout · 04/09/2021 08:59

Those of us who keep good supplies are consuming no more than people who keep limited stock at home.
I will only buy in bulk if an item is reduced- and that usually happens if products are in an overstock situation in a supermarket, or discontinued so not depriving anyone. I keep good amounts but usually only buy two or three units to top up existing supplies