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?

I just don't understand the vitriol against people who have been keeping a well stocked pantry. It's not affected you, it's not caused any shortages and it means there's more for you when the bunfights break out.

Because we're demonstrating that we clearly don't think Brexit is a wonderful thing so the vitriol brigade feel the need to chastise us for not cooing and clapping our hands at the approaching disaster.

No, we don’t NEED to eat strawberries in January, but which crops can we harvest in the UK between now and the summer?

And will there be enough of them to go round?

But a lot of them don't believe they've made a wrong decision. Remember "we are going to made Britain great again". Not entirely sure when Britain was very great, especially for the working classes. Those working classes, given half the chance, would build up a stockpile for harder times to protect their families. It's only sensible.

I hate that I'm having do this, but the fact is the risk is much higher than we'd want, so we all have to look after our own interests. Some of us have decided to do it at a time when food is freely flowing so as not to affect the just in time system.

I can guarantee that if there is even a sniff at shortages then those people saying we are being ridiculous will be at the supermarket stripping the shelves. Yet they call us selfish. I'll be at home with my stash

I think I am going to start a Brexit cupboard now - hadn't thought of doing it before but actually reading this it seems obvious! Even if it just delays paying more for things.....

What an appropriate thing to use as a strawman - strawberries in December 😂

Exactly, I won't need to buy a great deal for quite a number of months, although would still prefer to each fresh food where possible. But it gives that extra bit of security if the prices are a bit unstable. I struggle to understand why anyone would not this this is a good idea.

Hope you're industry ain't teaching @Maryjoyce!

No-one is talking about stockpiling fresh fruit, not sure what your point is.

Anyway, as you say no-one really knows how things will pan out, so best to be prepared, eh?

The link I was shown specifies fresh fruits etc that’s why I said about it no other reason

Good idea @JamieFrasersSassenach .
Apologies to anyone who has seen this advice a thousand times already but people might just be coming around to the idea.
@JamieFrasersSassenach , think about being snowed in for 3 days. What do you and your actually eat. Buy freezer friendly/shelf stable versions on that. Including breakfast options.
Think about hygiene- toothpaste sanpro, that sort of thing.
Think about snacks and treats. Think about entertainment.
3 days gives you the breathing space to check out your local situation without worrying about food. 3 days is doable and storable. Do more if you want- loads of ideas all over MN. Don't do less if you can manage it.

I’m not against you stockpiling anyway I just don’t see the point I’ve never said you shouldn’t just that stockpiling in itself causes the reaction that it was meant to avoid.
And luckily no im not teaching

WrongKindOfFace we can go back to the lovely 60s diet of meat and two veg, as long as it’s potatoes or cabbage or carrots or parsnips. But probably with only one veg. And not much meat.

But I do need to do some work now anyway

It's not just remainers who are stock piling. It's anyone with an ounce of sense who can afford to and has the space

You can think of it as each stockpiler helping to provide extra warehousing (a bit like the way everyone's front garden en masse can help increase wildlife reserves and ground drainage) so that there will be more stuff on the shelves for those who don't have the cash or space when the SHTF. The supermarkets don't have any more warehouse space available.

@Maryjoyce . How does buying stuff now or , even better, a few months ago, harm the current Just in Time food supply and distribution system.
I've been having posters trot out this nonsense at me for months.
The closer we get to March 29 with no deal, I grant you, the more difficult it will be to keep up with demand. But we are nowhere near that yet. And certainly were not a few months ago when I started giving advice and posters like you kept saying that beans will run out if you buy them or whatever.

Maryjoyce you just don't get it. Thousands (If not millions) of people are currently stockpiling. Is there a shortage at the supermarkets? No. Because that is how the just in time system works. Just in time won't work when lorries are all stuck on motorways. It is at that point that people like you will race out and buy whatever you can, thereby causing shortages.

But that's your prerogative. Just don't be moaning when you are fighting over loo rolls.

A huge plus of this is that I've cut a massive chunk from my weekly shopping bill as I'm learning new things to do with more veg + dried pulses type thing. I'd become far too lazy in the kitchen and eating 100% fresh whilst all very lovely = £££.

This weekend I have sorted out my kitchen cupboards and medical supplies and restocked before finding this thread. I have an Indian husband so we always buy lentils, wheat flour, pulses, spices in bulk, but I’ve decided to add a few extras to my cupboards, to tide us over, extra oil, coffee, tinned veg, paracetamol etc. It’ll only cost a few pennies more and I would much prefer to just plough through my extra stuff and carry on as normal than be caught short with two young kids. Nothing over the top, but it seems sensible to me to have a few spares

Mary, what part of the "hungry gap" do you not understand? Apart from a bit of rhubarb and some bolted cabbages, the UK is producing hardly any fresh produce during the end of march/April. Even the organic box schemes, that for the rest of the year promise local organic vegetables, suspend this pledge, in order to make up their boxes.

A few shoots of rhubarb and some woody brassicas are not going to fill 70 million bellies for a few weeks, until the summer crops ripen and we get new trade deals underway.

During WW2, we could only produce enough food to 50% or so feed the population, and there's many more of us now... there is not enough food produced on these islands to be self sufficient. We are reliant on food imports to keep most of us fed, especially with the vitamins in fresh produce to keep us healthy. That arrangement is going to fall off a cliff edge come end of March. Even stuff that comes from outside the EU, firstly the trading arrangements are on the basis of being in the EU. Tear them up on 29th March... there will be no trade until we can get new ones established. Which will take months/years. No trade = no goods. Secondly, a large amount of our goods arrive in ports like Rotterdam first, then are trucked into the UK. With increased customs checks, of even a few seconds, that will slow the lorries down to a trickle and Kent will turn into a huge lorry park with rotting produce in the back as they can't move anywhere. Incoming goods will diminish by around 75 - 87%. That's a lot of missing food to feed the population.

RedToothBrush
Nope. That's not a reason, to despatch with critical thinking and consider the consequences of your actions. Ever.

I suspect that a goodly proportion of Leave voters know they were bamboozled, but now have to double down on the rhetoric because otherwise they'd have to admit to themselves and others that they'd swallowed the propaganda.

Maryjoyce my mind is not that good.

Oh look!
A no-deal Brexit threatens the UK's food security and will lead to higher prices and empty shelves, retailers are preparing to warn MPs.

M&S, Sainsbury's and Waitrose are among those warning stockpiling fresh food is impossible and that the UK is very reliant on the EU for produce.

The warning comes in a letter from the British Retail Consortium and is signed by the main food retailers.

It comes ahead of crucial votes in Parliament tomorrow.

The letter, seen by the BBC, uses the government's own estimate that freight through Calais may fall 87% from current levels, threatening the availability and shelf life of many products.

(continues)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47028748

@Travellingmamma you mentioning your Indian husband has reminded me to grab a bag of chickpea flour. That stuff is fab for making delicious savoury pancakes (pudlas) and it doesn't need eggs or milk adding to the batter.