DH and his Brexit cupboard

[Anymom]

Dh has converted two of our kitchen units into his Brexit cupboard! He has filled them up with all sorts of tinned delacacies including different beans, chilli and dogs (hot!)
He's also stockpiled toilet rolls, medicines, cleaning products etc. It's all stashed away in his new Brexit cupboard, that we have been warned not to touch! I darent tell him that the dc have already been in there hunting for chocolate. They were disappointed to find numerous bags of rice and pasta but alas no chocolate. Seems he has got his priorities mixed up! 😁
AIBU to think this is unnecessary and over the top? I need help to convince him as he talking about stockpiling and filling up the freezer and I'm dreading what concoctions I will find in there! All joking aside, it is just Dh panicking isn't it? We don't really need to be stockpiling food in one of the richest countries of the world, do we?

No he’s not being unreasonable, don’t know what’s going to happen. But I do think we will get an extension & a “people’s vote”..... you heard it here first! No more negotiating with the EU27. There will be another vote 😱

Yes one reason I'd stopped stocking so much over recent was that sending my teens to buy food was a great way of motivating some much needed exercise! It is a bit like living with locusts.

Its not stockpiling.

Its 'forward purchasing' as its been called by the MoD who are currently 'forward purchasing' food, medicine, fuel and ammunition both at home and in the Falklands and Gibralatar in case of No Deal.

If you are paying attention, then this is today's Sunday Times and yesterday's Skynews:

news.sky.com/story/brexit-planners-could-use-martial-law-against-civil-disobedience-11619088?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter
Brexit planners could use martial law against civil disobedience
Legislation would give ministers the power to impose curfews, travel bans, confiscate property and deploy the armed forces.

and

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/uk-ready-to-declare-martial-law-to-avert-no-deal-brexit-chaos-bfqgzzlrw
UK ready to declare martial law to avert no-deal Brexit chaos
The government is gaming the use of drastic powers to halt unrest if the UK crashes out of the EU

Its on the Sunday Times front page today.

So are YABU about your husband's 'Brexit Cupboard'?

Well I guess that depends on why you think the newspapers are reporting this and whether that concerns you and are willing to take the gamble thats its all a load of bollocks.

Personally, when it comes to my family, I wouldn't take that gamble and I'd let him get on with it and hope it was never needed.

This is a lot more widespread than you think. Lots of people are doing it, even if they won't admit it.

But each to their own. Don't say you weren't told further on down the line.

Before UK joined you could buy pasta & rice in the UK, I imagine it will revert to how it was before.
Wine however, I might buy a stock, but there is so much good wine from SA, Oz, Argentina.......

I have a Brexit cupboard full of non-perishable basics and a few treats. I keep adding to it and could feed us out of it for about 6 weeks now. We also have extra supplies of loo rolls and no-frills toiletries - I can't afford to stock-pile posh ones. I haven't stockpiled anything we won't use if it isn't needed for post-Brexit emergency use so I haven't wasted any money.

I hope I'm proved wrong and don't need it as emergency supplies but it's there if I do. It's not panicking, it's being prepared and being able to look after my family.

(It's also quite a good idea seeing as we live quite remotely and often get cut off for days during snowy weather anyway. We're an end of the railway line town, with no motorway access anywhere near.)

So funny Elements
Catnis even made the same point as the poster directly above her.

I don't think it is necessarily a bad idea. I am not bothering, because I am sure there will be enough food, just not necessarily exactly what we want when we want it. I am quite sure there will be a lot of unexpected problems, but since I can't predict what they will be I am not stockpiling.

Except the prescription medicine which keeps my child alive. I always have a few weeks' stockpile of that and I am increasing it in advance of Brexit.

My Brexit cupboard has olive oil, olives and basic medicine.

Most prudent people are stockpiling, even if just to get through the first few months.

Chateau d’Auntie has been cursed with the lurgy since the week before Christmas.

Had the cupboard(s) & freezer not been recently stocked up for the festive season, we would have been truly shafted & possibly just had passata as our main food stuff.

So have a cupboard usefully stocked with essentials AND the varied everyday stuff is a smart move, irrespective of potential food shortages.

It has taken a filthy debilitating virus that felled everyone in the household to get across the point that the cupboard can run empty.

Ok I have not followed need it at all I just don't understand it... I don't understand politics why do we need to stockpile if we leave the eu surely our super market will still sell food and paracetamol etc

We are filling our garage with long life stuff we use a lot. It may not be the stuff that becomes unavailable but at least we know if there is pandemonium we can continue more or less as normal. If everything is fine we will use all this stuff up anyway.

I think those who have their head in the ground saying 'it'll be fine' are more foolish than those making contingency since we can't rely on the government making sensible decisions. There is a very fine line between a prosperous economy and chaos. It's ludicrous British supremacy ideals to say we're British, food shortages can't happen here.

@WhoAmIToTellYou

Agree with you that it is all quite exciting bit then I crave change in so many areas - life is to be lived, not just endured after all.
I do think that it is all a big drama that will become quite boring and back to normal come the end of March. Everything will be sorted, if a bit bumpy for a year or so but then I also hope it gets our obese and commercially glutenous society to face a bit of a shit storm.

I don't understand politics why do we need to stockpile if we leave the eu surely our super market will still sell food and paracetamol etc

You don't need to understand politics.

How do you think food and paracetamol etc magically arrives in the supermarket?

A large amount comes on lorries through the channel tunnel. At the moment there are no customs checks. If we have no deal then there will be. This will severely restrict the number of lorries that can come in and out of the country.

This is a supply chain shock and is a bit of a problem.

If there is a No Deal Brexit, how will those supermarkets get that food in to sell to us, crazydoglady?

The thing is, if/when people can’t get their preferred food, that is grown abroad, they will have to buy replacements. That means that the demand for the most common produces will increase. So you can’t get your nice olives, so you decide to get hummus instead, but that’s not available so you opt for tinned chickpeas and garlic to make your own. That means the demand on those long life tinned food increases, so people have to, yet again, get substitutes and so on. I don’t wan5 to be waiting in a line for a limited selection, so I’m buying them now.

onegiftedgal

I'm not sure what exactly it is you're 'gifted' in, but food shortages will probably exacerbate obesity, not solve it.

crazy

The government recognises (in leaked papers) that the simple task of getting goods across the border will be problematic. They expect significant delays which will severely f**K with the just in time delivery system that stocks our supermarkets.

Failure of just in time delivery means empty shelves - think heavy snow, floods, or just KFC running out of chicken because it didn’t plan properly.

Brexit isn’t a one off thing that will be righted within a few days - we have to rework our systems.

So - yes - the EU will continue to sell to us, but we might not be able to get the lorries to the shops when needed, and if it’s no deal, prices will also shoot up due to tariffs.

I think we need to add "solve the obesity crisis " to Brexit Bingo @TheElementsSong .
Just to be clear, just because you are carrying extra fat does not mean you don't need a healthy balanced diet to stay healthy. In fact, you will have serious health problems if you aren't eating properly.
And unless you have taken steps to get a buffer of food in at home, you cannot rely on tbe shops for a healthy balanced diet if supplies are interrupted and/or food prices rise.

What do we have on he Brexit bingo card these days?

And when is it appropriate to use the glitter ball

Way ahead of you, @bellinisurge.

I already have my standard response formulated, which is:

How is this going to solve the obesity crisis? Are the thin people going to eat slices off the fat people?

You're welcome

I love the glitter ball but am not sure when to use it? If it's for bingo then count me in!

Yep.

Mnhq could we have an faq/sticky?

1 why do you think it necessary? The U.K. Govt won't allow it all to go to hell in a handcart?

We are not as a country self sufficient. The govt has failed to organised increased production either by farmers or manufacturers and haven't even helped supermarkets arrange extra warehousing. At this point they are however starting to stockpile themselves and are refreshing training for police and armed forces in case of unrest.

2 But surely it won't affect uk products

many if not most uk products require ingredients/raw materials from outside the uk. Also, again as we're not self sufficient that means more people using U.K. Products who previously would have bought non uk alternatives. This means less uk made food to go around and probably higher prices.

3 stockpiling means you'll be responsible for empty shelves

no you'd be confusing stockpiling with panic buying. People buying and storing a little extra than they'd normally buy now means this frees up warehouse space for supermarkets and allows them to adjust their buying rates appropriately.

4 there was all this over the Millenium bug too and it was all hype

No - IT and telecoms people worked for YEARS in advance to prevent that issue from happening.

5 we managed before we were in the eu the population was much smaller, our productivity was higher per capita, and we still traded with Europe under established terms of the time.

6 we managed during WWII, people just pulled together

No there was at least a years planning by the government including rationing, plus crime rates soared and people did die from hunger/malnutrition related illness.

7 but if it proves unnecessary or govt finally pull their finger out won't you have wasted your money?

No. It will mean a reduced grocery bill for a while as I won't need to buy those long life products. Some better off mners have said they'll happily donate to food banks anything they're unlikely to use. Also if the "only" thing that happens is slight price rises perhaps due to £ falling initially then those of us on tight budgets won't be immediately in the shit!

What questions and answers would others add?

TheElementsSong - yes the arrogance is breathtaking!

Mix56 I refer you to point 5

"Wine however, I might buy a stock, but there is so much good wine from SA, Oz, Argentina......." Do you know how that wine gets to the uk? It's often not shipped direct to the uk but flown in vats to...eu and then bottled and distributed out from there.

"why do we need to stockpile if we leave the eu surely our super market will still sell food and paracetamol etc" they can't sell what they don't have. Do you think it just magically appears in their warehouses?

How is this going to solve the obesity crisis? Are the thin people going to eat slices off the fat people?

But...but....I’m vegan!