Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

309 replies

JumpOrBePushed · 01/02/2019 17:21

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?

OP posts:
bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 15:49

Do you have any young children in your house? No, then do what I did last time I lived under martial law- eat Weetabix and hob nobs because that's all I had.
But if you have other people in the house relying on you for food, that's a bit shit.

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 15:50

Cheeky fuckers are not really on my mind, most of our family are in Australia, they are unlikely to turn up begging on our doorstep. In the event of starvation hitting they can send Tim tams

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 15:51

And the young children in your house?

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 15:52

The child in my house would bbq the next door neighbour before she would eat a tin of tuna

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 15:54

Then maybe you should think about what to do if there is a patchy supply of food for the young child. Or not. Your choice. But don't have a go at people who do want to think about it.

bubblewire · 02/02/2019 15:54

If food supplies are patchy, it won't be fun going to the shops! I'll stay at home and eat my homemade lentil soup and bread until things calm down.

Nancy75 - don't you ever freeze stuff that you've made or bought? I buy a lot of yellow stickered meat and fish and freeze it, I get some great bargains I also freeze portions of meals. A well-stocked freezer doesn't need to be full of crap food.

Hotterthanahotthing · 02/02/2019 15:55

I've stocked up incase we get to no Brexit and the stampede starts not so much because I think supplies may be delayed.

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 15:56

All through this thread I have said each to their own, if you want to stock up with stuff go for it, tie thing I have found ridiculous is the idea that you need to keep it secret because people will be out stealing food because they are starving. I have said that more than once.

Clavinova · 02/02/2019 15:56

Think about snacks and treats. And entertainment. Because being stuck indoors is boring

Why is everyone stuck indoors for 3 days after Brexit?

bubblewire · 02/02/2019 15:57

Yes, that's my thinking too @Hotterthanahotthing.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:00

You don't know anyone apart from the people in Australia? Your child doesn't have any friends? No body likely to turn up and assume you will take care of them?
Martial law will take care of any marauders. But the law will not stop people you vaguely know turning up with a sob story and assuming you will feed them.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:02

@Clavinova , if people want to steer clear of supermarkets, a three day buffer will help.
I have no special seeing into the future powers but a three day buffer is recommended by pretty much every emergency management UK thing that I have read (prior to Brexit). In other countries they ask you to have a bigger more long lasting buffer of food.

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 16:02

bubblewire no, the freezer has 2 tubs of ice cream and a packet of emergency oven chips!
I love cooking, it’s my hour of relaxing when I get home from work so I just cook fresh every night (left overs for lunch the next day but not more than that) We eat more fish than meat & other than prawns I’m not too keen on freezing fish because it’s often been frozen once by the supermarket & then sold as fresh

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:04

Lovely nancy75 just carry on assuming that everything will be just like that and you will be fine. There is not even the remotest possibility that a No Deal Brexit would dare impact on such a happy lovely set up.

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 16:05

bellinisurge no, I don’t know anyone that would turn up expecting me to feed them. My parents have homes in more than one country, they certainly won’t be begging for food, my friends have their own families to rely on & Dd is a teen so her friends parents are not well known to us & very unlikely to turn up expecting dinner. Other than the globetrotting parents surely most people are in the same boat?

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:06

Not really, no.

Clavinova · 02/02/2019 16:06

if people want to steer clear of supermarkets, a three day buffer will help
I wouldn't regard going to the supermarket as entertainment, although Waitrose is pleasant enough. For a moment there, I thought I should be worried about zombies outside.

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 16:07

bellinisurge you obviously don’t think much of your friends.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:11

I prioritise my daughter over my friends. I'm funny like that.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:13

Don't you just love AIBU.

PositivelyPERF · 02/02/2019 16:14

It has been suggested, by the experts, that food prices may raise by as much as 20%, so a 32 pence Tesco own brand tin of beans will increase to 38 pence. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you start thinking about your other products and a price increase, your weekly shopping will massively increase.

I don’t want to suddenly have to fork out for more expensive foods, so have a good supply to soften the blow. As I stated earlier, I have CF relatives that would expect me to give them my food at today’s prices, in order for THEM to save money. They would also think I was being unreasonable if I pointed out hat it would mean I’d have to spend more to replace it. 😒

nancy75 · 02/02/2019 16:14

You clearly didn’t understand what I meant. You thinking that your friends would come & take food when it would leave you short means that you have a low opinion of your friends.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:16

I have a low opinion of desperate and grumpy people.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2019 16:38

The op explains that she had seen pictures of people's supplies in Facebook. You can have the highest privacy settings in the world but if you announce on FB that you have supplies, you have no way of knowing who else sees that announcement.

cloudtree · 02/02/2019 16:38

Nancy to answer your question I am probably in a slightly different position to many since we have chickens and a large kitchen garden plus space to store stuff. Without sounding like a knob I would also be less affected than many by price rises since we both earn six figures. I don’t want to pay more for things but I could.

I have tinned versions of things we’d generally eat fresh like vegetables.

I have freezers full of cheese, butter, meat, fish and home cooked meals.

I have flour, yeast, rice, pasta, suet, ghee, oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs spices, sugar

I have wine, juice, squash, coffee, tea, soft drinks, milk

I could go on but you can see it isn’t just tinned spam and lentils