To think they shouldn’t be advertising that they’re stocking up for Brexit?

[JumpOrBePushed]

So with Brexit approaching, some people (including me) are concerned about the possibility of food shortages etc afterwards.

One of my Facebook friends has started posting photos on Facebook of them stocking up.

Photos of crates and crates filled with a variety of tinned food, dried food, UHT milk, bottled water and other drinks, toiletries, medicines etc.

With comments along the lines of “we’re stocking up for Brexit, we’ll be ok”

I think they’re daft.
Not about the stocking up, I’m buying in extra stuff just in case too - but I think it’s daft to be telling hundreds of people on Facebook.

If things get to the point where shelves are bare and they’re reliant on their stash of food, then there’s now loads of other people who know they’ve got loads of non-perishable food stashed. People who might be very hungry.

AIBU to think that telling everyone about your food hoarding is a really bad idea if you’re planning for possible food shortages?

CoughLaughFart Have you seriously never ever read the relationship boards? Have you never read how people get financially screwed over by friends and family? You haven’t read anything about men who are financially and physically abusive to the current or ex partners? You really don’t think that people who behave like that aren’t going to take advantage if they start struggling and know someone else is doing better than them?

Which surely proves my point that Facebook announcements aren’t the problem, but the kind of people to whom they’re making the announcement?

yep, it’s rice every day in my house grin I wonder if it goes with tinned caramel ...

Make rice pudding!

We go through shitloads of rice too! I love a curry. The claims that rice and lentils aren't normal just made me think, do you not know anyone who's Indian or just eats a lot of Indian food? Neither of those things is exactly uncommon in the UK, after all. I'm white, but SIL is Indian and she goes through bags and bags of both!

CoughLaughFart caramel risotto rice pudding, topped with milo & a swirl of Vegemite, sounds divine!

I buy my rice in 10kg sacks. This is not because of Brexit, and therefore my large purchases of rice will not cause panic, shortages, or price rises.

How is it possible that anybody has never had lentil soup? Good god nancy75, how do you get warm when you come in out of a storm in the winter?

On "fresh" food; many vegetables can be chopped and frozen so they stay fresh. Lots are in this house so we have a big variety each day without wastage, we can grab handfuls to put in meals and a selection to steam for the baby (fresh tomato and lettuce but frozen cubes of sweet potato, swede, aubergine, mushrooms, baby corn, green beans, spinach leaves etc etc etc). Same with fruit; frozen chopped berries hold their shape better in a pancake anyway. On which note; fine to have no lentils but don't your cupboards at least have flour, oats, cereals, tins of chopped tomato / sweetcorn / other veg, soup, rice / pasta /couscous, breads / wraps, spices, beans, pearl barley, crackers? Don't you have pots of leftovers in the freezer to use up in lunches?

I'm surprised how much I'm struggling to get my head around deliberately not having a stocked cupboard if someone can afford it. I just can't imagine the stress of having to define every single meal every couple of days; it's so expensive to buy that way and you must be in constant using-up mode.

MRex I have managed to live to the grand old age of 43 without lentil soup!
I don’t get what you find hard to understand, I do a weekly shop it’s meat, fish, fruit & veg & in the cupboard I’ve got pasta, rice & cous cous. It’s quite possible to eat like that for a week. Leftover dinner is often lunch for the next day & I buy bread as I need it. I live in London within walking distance of 4 supermarkets & loads of other shops - take Brexit out of the conversation for a moment- why would I need a cupboard full of tins & a freezer full of food I don’t want?

The worst cases of looting occurred in the Blitz, hence the original point of this post, i think, might be true.

But @nancy75 , that is all predicated on there being uninterrupted food supply and distribution post Brexit. If there are no problems, great. If there are, getting in stuff that you actually eat as a buffer for three days hurts no one.

Tbf she has a stash of what sounds like a few days worth of rice. I'm not saying that's the most balanced or interesting diet the world has ever seen but it's food.

Yeah I've thought similar. I've also thought what if you were the only person in the street with food. And people were starving?

@nancy75 - so it gets to day 5/6 every week and you've got left one type of meat and some scraps of veg for dinner; no choices that day. What happens if you're hungrier one week (go hungry?) or ill (waste food?). Why do that to yourself when you could just store some cupboard and freezer food?

MrRex because we don’t like cupboard or freezer food. It’s really not a weird way to shop, I just plan what we are going to have for dinner for the week & that’s what we have. In the case of being hungrier one week - I’m not sure what you mean? Ive never been so hungry that I want 2 different dinners! If there are leftovers I have them for lunch, if there aren’t leftovers I just buy lunch. If we’ve run out of veg/bread/tinned caramel I just buy more. It seems to be causing you a lot more stress than it causes me!
My point originally was that we don’t eat tinned food because we don’t like it, we don’t eat beans or tuna or whatever else comes in tins - that’s why I don’t have a load of it.

@headinhands , that's a general prepper discussion. I think martial law would be used if things got that hairy. I've lived under martial law in another country so I know a bit about it.

I have a good stockpile for brexit. Months worth. I also frequent the prepper boards even when we're not facing problems and always have a stockpile.

I only have one pack of lentils. We don't use them really. Occasionally I might remember and use them to bulk out a bolognese. I've never had lentil soup in my life.

I also don't use tins in the normal course of things. Excepting baked beans and tinned sweetcorn.

Stereotypes are a bit silly.

Its foolish to advertise what you have, not because you think your friends and family might nick it but more because they might ask you to share. You're then facing a moral dilemma about helping everyone and in the process having much less for your own family or being hard nosed and refusing. Could you really do it?

I'm telling people I have enough for a couple of weeks.

And so @nancy75 , can you conceive of the possibility that your shopping programme will be thrown out of wack if there is an interruption to the normal food supply and distribution system? Even for a few days.
Do you think that is even slightly possible with Brexit?

cloudtree so If you don’t have tinned stuff what have you got? I’m not taking the piss or generalising, I’m genuinely asking what you are supposed to buy if you don’t eat tinned food!

bellinisurge can you conceive that it’s possible to bold my name without using @?

Few people "eat tinned food" @nancy75 . But if it is a choice between tinned food and patchy food supply, which are you going for?

Yes nancy75. Thank goodness you have come on and told me that. You are clearly an expert at something.

bellinisurge my shopping routine may be interrupted however the only advice I’ve seen on here is to buy stuff we don’t eat which seems a false economy to me.
I still do not believe people are going to break in to steal my food.

Well you haven't been looking very hard. Here is the advice I have been giving for months now .
Imagine you are snowed in for three days. What will you and your family actually eat? Get freezer friendly and/or shelf stable versions of that. What are your hygiene needs - toothpaste, sanpro, shampoo etc. Make-up too if it makes you feel good.
Think about snacks and treats. And entertainment. Because being stuck indoors is boring.
Why 3 days? It's doable and storable and keeps you away from the shops while you suss out how things are locally. Want to do more? Plenty of advice on MN.

Nobody is going to break in and steal your food. If it got that bad there would be martial law.
But cheeky fuckers may rock up at your house and assume you will feed them.

But if it is a choice between tinned food and patchy food supply, which are you going for?
I’ll stick with patchy food supply - just over half the food we buy is from the Uk, I’m sure the shops won’t be completely empty