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?

I am surprised by people saying they are surprised friends have told me they are doing this. We talk to each other. Some friends tell me much more than I actually want to know about them, such as their financial situation.

Its because advice is always not to tell. Otherwise friends come knocking at your door...

I worry about this as my food budget is limited. I am going to start adding a couple of bits to my shopping each week though; tins, pasta, lentils and veg that I can prep and freeze, toilet roll, medicine.

I will be ensuring plentiful supplies of wine and am keeping my Christmas gin for emergencies.
I am mainly wondering about petrol as Ihave an hour's commute to work and there are no longer any buses near me.

I'm surprised you're surprised I'm surprised . Unless you want people dropping in unexpectedly to eat your hard earned supplies, I wouldn't tell anyone.
Friends tell other people. Other people find where you live.
It has come to that.

Basically, do I trust this government not to walk us over a cliff to benefit their tax dodging, disaster capitalist mates?

To be fair, they are trying to get a deal through. Whether we like the deal or not is a whole other issue, but they are pushing hard to get one through Parliament and avoid a No Deal.

There does not have to be actual food insecurity to cause problematic buying patterns, only the belief that there may be...

Buying some extra tins and packets at each weekly shop I do now is not going to cause anyone any problems. The supply chain is still intact and no-one is inconvenienced. If I start doing it on 29 March...well that is a different story...

Maybe I should stock up on wine, chocolate and porridge then? That would get me through most crises.

The issue I have with this shit shower is that - as ever with this government - it will be those on the lowest incomes hit hardest. Most of us will be fine, we'll have higher shopping bills but we can afford it.

But what about those who are already budgeted to their limit? They don't have even a few spare pounds to make up the difference.

What about food banks? Demand will be higher but supply lower. If you've got from just about coping to your limit, you're going to provide for your own first, not be donating to the food bank.

Yes, I think people should be putting aside food for a worst case scenario (no deal), but what about those that can't afford to do that? The government are issuing guidance to big businesses, and totally ignoring those that will really struggle.

Panic buying is more likely to cause shortages than real shortages. So it would probably be worth stocking up a bit for that reason alone. I wouldn't be surprised if shops are a bit empty leading up to 29th March for that reason.

However it will be fresh stuff that we can't import (mainly fruit and veg) that there may be shortages of, not dried/tinned etc, and fresh stuff won't keep anyway, so I don't see the point in stocking up too much, if it wasn't for the risk of panic buying.

As for the prospect of fuel shortages - I live in hope!

This thread is hilarious!

I don’t post on preppers, on the basis that scoffing at the ludicrous Apocalyptic nonsense on there would be like intruding into private grief.

But I figure on AIBU it’s fair game.

Famine and civil disorder? Because of a legal change in our relationship with the EU? FFS

I’m a firm Remainer, by the way.

This thing where people say that stockpiling is the very thing that will cause shortages.

What is the proposed causal link between gradually purchasing quantities of items beforehand and lack of said items at a future date?

For most products, I don't think it has been suggested that there have been, or currently are, difficulties with supply chains which tend to operate on JIT anyway. Ergo, if (say) somebody has bought 5 extra tins of tomatoes last week, the supermarket would have seen this in its inventory and ordered 5 extra tins of tomatoes, which would probably already be back on the shelves this week. It's not like the supermarkets already, at some undefined past date, contained all the food items ever in existence, and therefore if a MNer bought 5 extra tins of tomatoes that that's 5! tins! of! tomatoes! eternally erased from availability

I've always had half a suspicion that No Deal has been the plan all along though. All they have to do is run the clock down now.

Also, am I wrong in thinking that even if the Withdrawal Agreement goes through, that we can still end up with No Deal at a later date?

*Basically, do I trust this government not to walk us over a cliff to benefit their tax dodging, disaster capitalist mates?

To be fair, they are trying to get a deal through. Whether we like the deal or not is a whole other issue, but they are pushing hard to get one through Parliament and avoid a No Deal.*

Well - TM and one or two others are trying to get the deal through. A significant number of those in government would rather throw us off a cliff.

bellini Oh no! Shouldn't have mentioned on here that I might stock up on wine and chocolate. Don't think most people will be bothered about the pooridge.
TBH we always have enough food in that we could manage 3 days quite comfortably, and longer often. At the moment have 5 home made frozen meals in and enough supplies to make 2 large pots of curry.

KissingintheRain Yes I have been thinking the same way.

Tell me if I'm being naive but we're not going to run out of EVERYTHING are we? Surely there will be some food left, we might just have to swap some of our favourites for a while but is that the end of the world?

Maybe it'll be a good chance to try new foods, produced in the UK (assuming it's not all been stockpiled )

@bellinisurge - sorry to be dim, but what happens after 3 days? I am going to look at the preppers board but are you expecting our competent and compassionate government to have got things moving after 3 days?

@abacucat when I was young free and single and experienced martial law in another country, I survived on Weetabix and Hob nobs for three days because I happened to have them in. Now I have a family, I don't think "whatever". That's irresponsible.

But if people can't get fresh fruit they will buy the tinned fruit, so then tinned fruit is also more difficult to get hold of and thus more expensive...

As for the prospect of fuel shortages - I live in hope!

Foolishly, since fuel shortages mean people can't get to work which means services become restricted and things stop functioning smoothly...

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.

To be fair, they are trying to get a deal through. Whether we like the deal or not is a whole other issue, but they are pushing hard to get one through Parliament and avoid a No Deal.

They've spent the best part of two years doing sod all. Pushing hard to get a poorly negotiated deal through parliament still makes it a poorly negotiated deal.

We've truly reached the depths when someone tries to defend such ineptitude.

*This thing where people say that stockpiling is the very thing that will cause shortages.

What is the proposed causal link between gradually purchasing quantities of items beforehand and lack of said items at a future date?*

It's not the gradual purchasing that will cause the shortage - it's when people go mad 2 days before 29th March and buy weeks worth of food that they would normally buy over several weeks. If a lot of people all buy 5 tins of tomatoes at once when normally they would buy 1 tin a week, it will take the supermarket a week to replenish the stocks.

@JustMabel , as I said in my post, three days gives you time to suss out your area without going to the shops to get necessities.
Obviously, I think people should do more but it is overwhelming and one size doesn't fit all. That feeling stops people doing anything at all.

^That's not ALL drugs though is it Harpingon. Plus, Doctors and Pharmaceutical Companies have had to sign NDAs and have been told to reassure patients.