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?

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...

People just have to get around in other ways which don't pollute the environment or make lots of noise. It was bliss in the fuel strikes of the late 90s

@Harpingon A research lab is entirely different to a production facility. Unless the drug is produced in tiny quantities there's no way a research lab could meet the needs of a population.

Kissing relatively few people are prepping for "famine". Short-term shortages of specific products are not an unrealistic expectation. And I don't want to be in a situation where I cannot easily get hold of specific foodstuffs for my son and he refuses to eat anything but biscuits for three weeks because of that (or I have to spend my time driving around looking for things he can eat when I should be at work). He won't starve, no, but it's not good for him and I can forestall that from happening, so why not.

I think it’s only sensible to be thinking about it. I’ve made sure I’ve got a supply of formula ready in case I can’t breastfeed for a baby due in March. I doubt it will be prioritised like medicines but is still pretty vital if supplies are delayed. If we’re looking like no deal is happening, I’ll buy more and start stocking up on food. I wouldn’t be buying anything that would go to waste as it would get used eventually.

I think the whole fact that people are not confident of food supplies shows what a colossal cock up the whole bloody Brexit thing is.

I think Harpingon may have been on the receiving end of some government issued reassurance.

@JustMabel , there was a time when prepping was just my little hobby and, like other little hobbies, makes little sense to other people. However, there are a lot of people on Preppers Topic with lots of skills knowledge and advice that is a handy shortcut for non Preppers who need some tips.
I so want to be utterly wrong about the impact of a no Deal Brexit. I'll happily have rotten tomatoes thrown at me over it.

We didnrely on imports and in 1943 the country nearly did run out of food because of the U boats and the changes in the German ciphers that stumped Bletchley for some months. Britain was not able to provide enough food and farmers were put under great pressure to increase production.

Some of the farmland that yielded the extra calories is being dug up now and even more, in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire will be dug up for the one million new houses on the proposed expressway.

I'm more concerned about rise in food prices. Even a relatively small increase will impact me a lot. Probably cheaper to get stuff now.

Eightoclock, do you have children? Or grandchildren? Fuel shortages mean the schools will be closed. If teachers can't get to them or there isn't fuel to heat them if we get another cold April.

assuming it's not all been stockpiled

Aha! You see, all the tinned tomatoes (567,093,899 tins, fact fans) available for purchase in the UK were installed in a secret warehouse in 1983 and no more will ever be brought in. Each time somebody buys a tin, that's one less tin available. And that is how, by people stockpiling in January, they will somehow cause shortages in March

(Or, in fact, the entire reason why people are concerned is because we have these things called supply chains, which keep up a nearly constant flow of products for us to buy, and there is the teeniest-tiniest-microscopic possibility that a No Deal crash-out Brexit might just veeeeeeery slightly disrupt the aforementioned supply chains).

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

it's not scaremongering. I'm genuinely pleased that your DD's drugs are going to be available. There is no way the UK can produce all the drugs needed for a population with many chronic conditions. Hence talk of the govt stockpiling. I wouldn't trust our govt to be able to manage this.

@eightoclock , it wasn't bliss during the fuel strikes, I had a recently widowed mother 60 miles away who , despite being a tough old bird, had terrible panic attacks and a racing heart. Not bliss to get to her at all.

Aha! You see, all the tinned tomatoes (567,093,899 tins, fact fans) available for purchase in the UK were installed in a secret warehouse in 1983

please provide a link for this data

Thanks bellinisurge

@bellinisurge, have you thought of doing an AMA? I’d be interested to hear more about your experience of living under martial law, etc, but don’t want to derail the thread.

I am not stocking up. Will eat what is readily available and adapt meal plan, if necessary. Might as well get used to the new reality.

@PavlovianLunge , I did an AMA a while back.

Sadly I can’t stock up on avocados

You can slice and freeze them, or buy them frozen.

I think it's bit ridiculous. Unless you have a special medical diet, there will allways be plenty of food available.

Not if you are often hangry @OftenHangry

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?

May I refer you to 'The Great KFC Shortage of 2018'.

People were very upset and outraged they had to go the Burger King instead.

Given that my 4 year old won't eat Burger King but will eat KFC this nearly affected me. Fortunately I didn't fancy a KFC at the time.

More seriously though, I can't reason with a four year old about what he is fussy about and shortages of anything are liable to result in prices of other things going up.

Besides if the government were confident of no shortages and thought stockpiling would create shortages that otherwise wouldn't happen, why are they suggesting ANYONE stockpile ANYTHING?

Surely this in itself is an irresponsible action by a government responsible for managing food supplies.

We can't similatianously have no need for stockpiling whilst having an official government policy to encourage stockpiling fgs!!!

@bellinisurge 😂 Nice one

Frozen avocados are rank. I bought some and still have some in the freezer.

I find it really hard to take this seriously. The amount of food this country wastes is disgusting. We all have cupboards full of food we let go out of date. Why don't we all just buy only what we need, and actually eat what we buy? It's not like we like in a remote desert area of the us where a storm could come in and lend us miles from a shop and we need emergency rations.

Your banana supply should be safe as they come from South America mostly. Theres also fresh fruits that we get from South Africa. Our potaotes are grown here, and carrots too. We export those as well.
We aren't going to have shortages of some things.
Avocados are grown in south america too. Maybe we can switch to importing from there.
I imagine there won't be as many oranges (some come from South Africa) and other more European fruits and veg. But those being grown in Europe have to go somewhere. I'm sure the growers would prefer to sell them to us than waste them.
I'm not bothering to stockpile, I'll just carry on doing the normal shop and if thigs are not there, switch to what is. We aren't too fussy, and eating seasonaly is probably better.
Maybe we should all clean out our green houses and grow our own tomatoes this summer.