To be surprised that some friends are buying extra food because of Brexit?

[abacucat]

I suspect that specific foods may get be in short supply for a short period of time, but there will still be plenty of food in the shops. It is not going to be Armageddon. So this seemed an over reaction to me. Or am I going to be that person in the disaster movie who is laughing saying everyone is over reacting, who ends up dead when the disaster finally hits?

The Highlands of Scotland are not good for growing edible crops, they are good at growing stuff sheep eat.

I'm starting now I've only just started to worry about this. Today I picked up some extra tins of veg and some Uht milk I'm wondering if the panic buying has already started as Aldi near me was crazy empty today I got the last pack of eggs in the shop and 1/2 the things on my list weren't in! I'm planning every week between now and March picking up a few tins or packets of food as I have a big chest freezer full of leftovers too as I always cook extra and freeze what's left. I didn't think about sanpro which I'll have to remember next week and I meant to pick up extra toilet roll too but I can do that next week too. The cooking on a bootstrap blog has a brexit stockpile guide type list with what to things to get and the vitamins etc that they'll provide I had a look today and found it quiet interesting.

For those of you worried about drugs (my daughter is on weekly injections of one of the drugs frequently mentioned on brexit boards) our consultants have warned us not to listen to scaremongering, there is already a good supply in this country and we have the labs already set up to produce more than enough, they are currently working on research but can easily switch to production and back again. I hope that is of some reassurance.

I am a senior scientist working in biopharmaceuticals, I work for a big company in the UK. We make multiple products a year. Most of our GMP reagents and consumables come from abroad, and the stuff that comes from the US comes via the European warehouses. To suggest that labs can swap from research to manufacture is laughable, I'd not want to justify that to the regulators (and if you think the regulations will slacken look forward to more health scares due to contaminated drugs). There might possibly be a misunderstanding by your doctors (who frankly know sweet FA about drug production) that the staff move from R&D to production to manufacture but that isn't instant unless you are talking vaccine labs that are set up to stockpile consumables ready to respond to a pandemic within ashort time frame (we have a site that does that as well). We typically allow 16 weeks for supply chain to source all the consumables required for a GMP manufacture and yet we still have specialist consumables arriving just in time. And then once the drug is made you have to test it. We do most testing in house but some external, including to labs in Europe and the States. Can't get the drugs dispositioned until all the testing is done and the QP is happy. But where is the QP registered and which regulations do we follow?

I've 'stocked up' one week worth of stuff but this thread has reminded me to get some more. I'm probably going to get some frozen chicken, thinking about it.

I don't think there will be a big problem but I think people will panic towards brexit day and the shelves will be empty. I have little ones - I can't risk empty shelves.

During the bad weather last year my local supermarkets were cut off for 3 days, and people were shouting abuse in the aisles fighting over the last packs of bread mix. There were no loaves and no milk, and it took a while for things to get back to normal when the snow cleared.

So I do have some extra loaves and milk in the freezer, and enough tins etc to feed us all for a week. Daft not to really.

How will going vegan help when a lot of our fresh fruit and veg is imported?

Because given a finite amount of soya, wheat etc it's a lot more efficient to eat it ourselves instead of relying on cows to turn it into milk and dairy protein.

Not that there will be any shortage of wheat, soya, oil, or any other commodity which is already traded globally and arrives in the UK in bulk, rather than on lorries.

As a previous poster said a vegan diet wouldn't suit everyone. Due to the high fibre content I couldn't do it as I'd be pretty ill.

Can I ask why anyone would be stockpiling bottled water?

Can I ask why anyone would be stockpiling bottled water?

Well you need certain things to purify water. And these are supplied from...? Not the UK.

It's certainly not on my list of priorities and tbh I'd rather just have a few empty plastic bottles knocking about so that they can be filled should I need to.

I have two 5litre bottles of water in the house as it is, because in the last two years we've had water leaks that have lasted longer than 24hrs and frankly even that is a pain in the arse and for the first DS was still in nappies.

We're potentially pretty self sufficient here; fuel shortages would mean we wouldn't be able to go out at all (no public transport, nothing in walking distance) but on the plus side we have our own water supply, own fuel, fruit trees etc. But I have still put a small stock of dried and tinned goods in the cellar and I will be adding to it. Why wouldn't I? It will get used anyway over time, the chances of being able to physically go out to buy could be quite low and March isn't a good time of year to live on foraged stuff. A small tray of things from Costco every so often should help.

@Deadbudgie
Red tooth, the milk to make British cheese could come from British cows???

Except we don't produce enough milk in the UK to match how much milk we use. We are dependent on imports.

Here is milk producer Arla, explaining this:www.arlafoods.co.uk/overview/news--press/2018/pressrelease/britains-biggest-dairy-company-warns-of-dairy-dilemma-of-impossible-choices-post-brexit-2586695/

And a version of the above with a little more background.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/18/dairy-products-may-become-luxuries-after-uk-leaves-eu
Dairy products 'may become luxuries' after UK leaves EU
Reliance on EU butter, cheese and yoghurt means sharp price rises, says milk producer Arla

Britain does not produce enough milk to keep up with demand, creating a dependency on the EU, including on dairy-surplus countries such as Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium and Denmark for everyday items such as cheddar cheese and butter.

If the UK crashes out of the EU with no deal and defaults to World Trading Organisation rules, prices will almost certainly rise as dairy products, along with meat, attract high tariffs.

A milk product with a fat content of 3% to 6% has a tariff of 74%, while fresh mozzarella is rated at 41% and unripened cheese at 68%.

If you don't like The Guardian, this was widely reported by most of the national newspapers, both pro Brexit and anti Brexit leaning.

Geography and the short shelf life of milk makes it difficult to replace imports of milk from other places across the world.

Big companies are setting up systems to ensure their food gets to consumers but this costs more, so food costs are highly likely to go up even without a hard Brexit. The systems they are setting up will increase costs even if a hard Brexit doesn't happen, because the warehouses still have to be paid for, if extra stockpiled food has to be written off that increases costs also. Damage is being done to food industry even if a hard Brexit doesn't happen.

IIRC the german government advises it's citizens to always have a weeks worth of food/drink/medicine. That advice is without something like brexit going on. I think it is a good advice to follow, you can get too sick to go to the shops, or get snowed in, or another chernobyl happening nearby (I was in eastern europa at the time and the shops went empty where I was). Things can happen, it's a good idea to always have a week extra till the situation is resolved or to figure out what to do next. That has nothing to do with brexit per se.

I also don't understand why people don't have any stockpile, do you shop every day? Do you need time off to go to the pharmacy the second your last pill is taken? Do you wait with buying baby food till it's hungry? You really can get into trouble if you have such a last minute lifestyle.

Only stockpiling prescription meds - been getting repeats progressively earlier so I can have a month of stock. Have advised DS to do the same for his anti seizure meds. Just in case. But food? No. Tbh we are guilty of having to much in our cupboards anyway, so it would do us good to eat it up

Exploding kitten, it’s the just in time system that’s going to have supermarkets empty if lorry’s get stuck at dover

Exploding kitten I’m a very do it at the last minute kind of person and so far it works . Having said that I probably do have enough pasta , rice , bland foods in the cupboard to last and always keep well stocked up with pet food .

@ivykaty44

But isn't that exactly why everyone should think about a small stockpile? Also after brexit.

@bengalcat
But what if it doesn't work for just once? Would you get into trouble (like missing medicine) or would you survive? I live in the Netherlands so Brexit doesn't effect me as much (just extra taxes apparantly) but I always have a small stockpile of food. Not my favourite biscuits but good enough to get by for a week. Same goes for my insulin, I get new insulin a week before it runs out.

Yes, if everyone stocks up on dry goods for the next 12 weeks then it will make life easier for many families. Those that can’t afford to stock up will then also still be able to shop with a mad panick shop

But many people won’t stock up and there will be panick buying, empty shelves as food doesn’t get through and of course food is perishable

Exploding kitten - why I’d survive of course as would my pets and family . I appreciate the concern of those on essential medication though .

I'm having a little laugh at the perceptions many people seem to have of British farming (I know that's not the point of the thread!)

If you pitched up at my farm offering to pick some vegetables in exchange for some meat or milk we would try and be kind but we would definitely laugh and then we would probably to tell you to go and try your luck at the Co-op in the next village.

We don't have any vegetables, they couldn't be grown here on any kind of commercial scale. We don't have dairy cows, so no milk, we have lots of beef cows and sheep but unless your offering to go out, slaughter, butch them and hang them correctly then the only meat we can offer you is what's in our fridge from the nice Sainsburys man who comes on a Wednesday (or the occassional box of half a lamb in deep freeze, but that's my Christmas present).

That's before you consider that farms are actual proper businesses and have to adhere to normal food biosecurity rules and regs and can't just have any old Sally turning up and wandering round the yard.

It seems half the public have this romantic view of farming from the 1940s and the other half think we are out to kill them/destroy the environment.

Do you mean you wouldn't enjoy a coach load of office workers turning up every evening @Scrowy?

It was an effective collapse of the JIT system which did for KFC last year.

They don't warehouse supplies. They just have them delivered direct from the supplier to the outlet and they keep limited amounts on the premises according to how much they forecast they will use over x number of days. Th

sorry haven't RTFT as got to this post

We didnt run out of food during the last war when ships were bombed and supplies could not get through

This is the stupidest thing I've read in long time 😂

FFS go fucking and educate yourself before talking such drivel.

Onescaredmuma I’ve just done a shop in Tesco and thought the same. Lots of completely empty shelves.

I don't even live in the UK and I feel like stocking up for you all! I live in Utah, USA which must be the prepping capital of the world. I only buy what I use though - for staples I'd be good for the next 2-3 months at least. If you have the room why not? But to each their own.