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?

@Housingcraze , while power supply is unlikely to be a problem, the Prepper response is to mix freezer storage with shelf stable storage.

I didn't mean to get into a leave/remain debate. I just wanted to say that stocking up makes me feel a little like I have some control over my life where the current political situation does not.

No, of course, and I didn't mean to imply any criticism. I just wanted to catch the thread before it fell.

Honestly I despair of it all. Brexit COULD have been done efficiently and smoothly if there had been honesty and a properly thought out plan of what we were doing and how we could achieve it BEFORE we triggered A50. But no. And that's the biggest scandal of all. The recklessness and ill thought out nature of something so big and complex that it needed more than someone 'winging it'

You’re absolutely right. I’m currently involved in academic research on the future of agricultural support in Scotland and everything I’ve read so far from government departments, think tanks, other academics and anyone who is conducting research or writing policy in this area has produced fantastic stuff setting out the potential short and long term problems and some solutions.

Unfortunately, those who make decisions at Westminster have proved to be utterly incompetent idiots. The information is there and has been for some time and plans could have been put in place. It’s actually astonishing how poorly informed many members of the government and the opposition are on how the U.K. functions. It’s no wonder many of the general public don’t get what Brexit will mean when politicians spout so much nonsense.

DSIL has just told me she is stocking up. This is an about turn for her. She was saying it was nonsense a couple of months ago.

Yes. You are unreasonable to be surprised. Brexit is a disaster and this government couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery.

So the Europeans that export to our country will suddenly stop will they? They would the lose business. Stop listening to all the scaremongering.

Have you actually RTFT threatmatrix

People are really stocking up on food because of Brexit? Nothings changed round here, no one's stocking up more than a normal weekly shop 😐

How would you know though? People could be ordering online or buying a extra tin or two each week

Rule 1 of stockpiling is don’t tell anyone... otherwise when the SHTF, others will be expecting help from your resources. Your carefully planned 6 week stash then gets decimated! Best to keep quiet

I will stock up. The food supply operates on a just in time delivery- nothing is stored. So your supermarket has what’s on the shelves, there isn’t anything in reserve in the back. It takes the slightest change in circumstances to throw the system out of kilter - this can be an actual lack of product being delivered ( eg weather too bad for trucks to run) or a change in consumer behaviour ( trucks are fine, but people fear the bad weather may stop them and dash off to buy 16 loaves of bread). Either way, shelves can empty in the space of a few hours. I went shopping on New Year’s Eve just before lunch. Everything predictable, the shop knew the next day was a bank holiday and must know roughly how much they would sell of what. Even so, fruit and veg were nearly gone, milk nearly gone, I got the last tub of cream, etc. Regardless of what Brexit is, people will likely change their shopping behaviour and there will be shortages. No, we won’t starve to death, but rather than living on plain rice for days I will have some reserves in hand!

I’m not stocking up as I am concerned about where I would put it all. I don’t have any space!

I always smile at people stockpiling food. Are you stockpiling the fuel you'll need to cook it, too? Because that is what is most likely to be effected.

Why do you say that fuel will be most affected Plump?

And actually, yes, because we get power cuts here sometimes, I do have back up methods of cooking.

So the Europeans that export to our country will suddenly stop will they? They would the lose business.

@threatmatrix

No thats not what people are saying.

If we go to WTO terms which No Deal would mean, that involves customs checks we currently don't have, and customs tariffs which we don't currently have.

This would disrupt the length of time it took for goods to come from the EU and arrive in UK stores / factories and make things more expensive.

Before we joined the Single Market in 1992 our industry was equiped to do this, and we had a supply chain which included more warehouses. However being a member of the Single Market removed the need for this, so we switched to a system where goods went straight from suppliers in Europe to UK buyers where the factory is set up to the minute to recieve produce as they need it for the production line or is sent immediately to store instead of a warehouse stage.

This also was bad for parts of the UK food industry (diary farming being a notable one) which led to the closure of many dairy farms as they could not compete with EU suppliers thus making us much more dependent on the EU for certain products we were previously much more self sufficient in. It was also very good for other parts of the UK food industry as it allowed us to export far more (notable would be offal which we didn't really eat but there is a large demand for in Spain). It also allowed us to import things like fresh tomatoes out of season much cheaper and out of season in a scale that we hadn't previously which has affected our expectations as a nation and how we cook and what we cook.

So its a system shock which MIGHT produce delays due to extra customs checks or shortages of certain products due to issues with paper work or volatile and large price rises for certain products because of new customs tariffs. How the system is set up and what the public demand is very different to before we joined the Single Market and WTO terms are a lot less favourable than the bilateral deals we had with various EU countries prior to 1992.

It is a BIG change for which we are ill prepared and the public don't fully comprehend and the government have repeatedly refused to acknowledge for internal party political reasons.

Its not that the EU will stop trading with us - its that there are more barriers to that same trade that is the issue.

threatmatrix - how do you think goods from Europe are going to be able to get to the UK in the event of a no deal Brexit? Do you really think the ports will continue to operate in the same way as now even when the UK has left the EU?

Because we import a lot of of our fuel, Oh, and with no trade deal in place to cover that . . .

Your power supply is also dependent on others.

You're wasting your time stockpiling food even with a few backup methods of cooking.

Camping stoves let you cook stuff.

Spare tin openers are always a good idea too

Maybe I'm missing something, but why would Brexit have an effect on the import of foodstuffs and other goods that we get from outside the EU?

And what are all those hundreds of thousands of farmers and suppliers within the EU with perishable goods going to do with them if they can't send them here?

Are you stockpiling the fuel you'll need to cook it, too?

We use lpg so I've accidentally prepped as we always have four large tanks, two connected, two spare.

Another issue to consider is that food inflation has been low for a long time and price rises have been contained both for human and pet food despite rising costs. Brexit regardless of how hard or soft it is will enable price rises to be put through as it an event that can be explained to the public. Therefore even if there are no food shortages some large food companies are planing price rises following Brexit.

So the Europeans that export to our country will suddenly stop will they? They would the lose business. Stop listening to all the scaremongering.

Have you actually RTFT threatmatrix?

Or, ya know, seen the news at any point in the last two years?

I have bought a extra cow and a pig, I shall be fine 😐

Seriously I don’t see what the fuss is about, I’m sure there will be plenty of food just not as much choice, we have got used to having so much choice and now we are panicking that certain foods may not be available, there will be food, just not the food your used to buying. I’m happy to eat what every on offer and realistically I could probably survive on what’s in the cupboards for a few weeks if I needed too.

What things are people actually worried about not being able to buy?

This is turning into the petrol crisis of 2000 again. No in our house we're not stockpiling food. Don't believe everything the media tells you. I've read into it and yes the disruption will be severe but only short term. Medicines will also be affected but what, are people going to start asking their doctors for medicines so they can stockpile as well?
It's fresh veg like salad and stuff that would be affected the most, the kind of stuff you use on the same day and can't really freeze due to quality issues so you can't really do much about that.
But of course the first to moan about it all will be those who voted for it asked for itof course.