To let you know that panic buying starts next week.

[GladAllOver]

The government is starting an advertising campaign next week telling us all to "Get Ready!".

What else can it mean?

By the way, it's costing £100m.

I don't doubt for a moment that you're right about this, OP. We are, after all, a nation of people who call the police when KFC runs out of chicken, and who cannot let the opening of a new branch of Ikea pass without having a mass brawl at the very least. I remember the fuel strikes nearly 20 years ago and the wildly out of range behaviour that ensued. I am so very very very bored of the whole thing.

Food shortages would do us the world of good.

Yeah, fuck everyone else affected by them, you're alright, Jack.

We're like Venger. Also rural. I have a major stockpile now.

Also good for people who stand to be moved onto Universal Credit.

Re: water, our purification chemicals come from Holland so boiling water is not so far fetched.

I am more concerned about this years intake of uni students if there is a run on things, they I would think are not geared up to fight off seasoned city folk if they have come from the sticks.

@Smotheroffive no I'm just saying it's a generally sensible idea if you can to have some stuff in. I don't ever think oh I've got no bin bags or toothpaste or paracetamol or anything because as soon as I open/start the back up, it goes in the list to be stocked up again. The water thing was a point to show why it's handy to have a couple of litres aside as it meant I could have a glass of water!
Especially if you live alone, I had emergency surgery and it was a relief to know I have everything I needed. I don't hoard but stuff like keeping a carton of UHT milk in a cupboard etc etc

You know what will cause people to go out and stockpile and panic buy? It's not brexit, it's threads like this and scaremongering in the press.

I believe that was the OP's point, reporting that the govt is spending a small fortune telling people to 'Get Ready' and predicting that it will cause panic buying.

I don't think that simply talking about the government's campaign counts as contributing to the issue. Not when they're already throwing 100 million quid at it.

I remember the fuel strikes nearly 20 years ago and the wildly out of range behaviour that ensued.

And remember, the fuel strikes didn't actually cause supply problems! The supermarkets were very clear about that at the time; their supplies were not interrupted. It was the panic buying that cleared them out.

To those who are still not clear on this: panic buying and stockpiling are not the same thing. There's nothing wrong with being organised and having some extra things in. I always have a stockpile of soy milk in the fridge because my local supermarket's supplies are intermittent. Panic buying would be me running down the shops and buying up 10 loaves of bread and 10 pints of milk and, I don't know, 10 tins of baked beans when I don't usually, because of something I've just heard. When lots of people do it at once, you get shortages. Stockpiling that's staggered across the community over time doesn't have that impact.

@timshelthechoice, you should be delighted people like me aren’t stockpiling. All the more for you. If you’re right, it’ll be you who’s all right, Jack.

Eh, I'm not stockpiling anything. I don't do it anyway.

I like this thread. A nice antithesis to all the panicked ones.

I also voted Remain, as did pretty much everyone I know. I have, in my immediate social and familial circle, the following people who are not stockpiling and who are not unduly concerned:

• several NHS doctors
• several civil servants
• my DH and my BIL who both work in finance
• a supermarket manager (not in store, higher up)
• several people with long term health conditions

None of those sensible people think that brexit is going to be great or anything, but they also don't think it's going to be the ends of civilization disaster event that some threads on here make out. They are going about their lives, moving houses, having children, booking holidays, spending money, all the usual bits of life, without taking brexit into account.

I do not have a crystal ball, and nor do they, and maybe it really will turn out to be the zombie apocalypse, but I have to go with the sensible opinions of sensible people, and the general consensus seems to be that it will be a bit shit but life will basically go on as normal.

Of course all the stockpiling will be useful.

Don't you know Remainers are predicting a nuclear war after Brexit?

Candles, matches, corned beef, gas masks- get shopping before they run out.

It's the millennium bug all over again
I love it when people say that. It reminds me of all the hard work and investment that went into making sure the general public weren't affected.

Having run the rainy day stash down a bit over the summer for camping, I think it's time to re-stock the basics.

I don't expect the world to end on 1st November. But I do expect visible gaps on shelves by the end of November and going into Christmas. I know how supply chains work. And I know how irrational UK shoppers can be.

I have got my stockpile sorted people!

One lovely large bottle of gin, that will see my friends and I through the weekend as we see absolutely nothing happen. 2000 million bug all over again. Don't waste your money on dry noodles you will never eat.

Wouldn't it be the perishable things like milk and bread, eg things you can't stockpile, that would be potentially in low supply? Making the whole exercise redundant?

Shooting season starts in September for duck and October for pheasant so we will at least be able to have a Sunday roast. Milk we can can direct from the farm up the road. Vegtables will be interesting though as they are largely imported. Hopefully we can get them direct from the countries supplying them rather than via the EU.
Anything else and I’ll do the food equivalent of a booze cruise to France.

The only visible gaps you will see are those in people's wallets, as the supermarkets make the very most of this collective stockpiling effort, and rub their hands with glee. Magically, I guarantee you the shelves WILL be groaning as usual come mid November ready for christmas.

Drugs - there's been a significant shortage in HRT drugs and certain types of contraceptive pill that I know of where people have had get their prescriptions changed because there is no stock of what they were originally prescribed.

Shortages don't happen as a result of stockpiling now. The supermarkets stock according to demand - so an increase in people wanting X thing now, is quite quickly sorted out because they can put out what's in the back warehouse and order more and it will be here reasonably quickly with few - if any - days where stock is not available. If logistics are interrupted because of border controls then that ability to re-stock will lengthen considerably and lead to days without X being available.

It's basics - we import over 80% of the materials needed to manufacture loo roll. Most of our citrus fruit is imported. 90% of our salad is imported from Spain over the winter. In the case of salads and veg - they have limited shelf life and are therefore time sensitive; any delays mean that they'll rot and have to be binned.

Telling people to be prepared isn't scaremongering - it's asking them to take sensible steps to ensure that they aren't caught short.

Flossie you can freeze milk and bread

There is a big difference between stock piling and panic buying.

Someone who has stock piled won't need to panic buy. Stock piling averts shortages, it doesn't cause them. And if you take some time to think through what you need, you won't be living on beans and pot noodles.

Even the most positive no-deal forecasts estimate a rise in food prices of 10%, some as high as 30%. Buying stuff now that won't go off before you consume it is just saving money.

Government advice to schools, care homes, etc, is to "prepare for food shortages" i. e. stockpile. Supermarkets don't have enough space to warehouse more than a day or two of food. If we go out with no deal then we could easily be looking at several weeks of disruption at ports. In that case medications and water purification chemicals will be prioritised. Non essential food items will be way down the list. I like non essential food items, so I'm getting them in now. I'm not buying anything I wouldn't normally buy, so it will all get used.

And if we do get a deal (and please God, stay in the customs union) then I will have reduced grocery bills in the run up to Christmas. What's not to like?

If you're still sceptical try googling Operation Yellowhammer.

Store stuff under the sofa? It'll get caught in the reclining mechanism! The bed is a divan so that's no good either. I've obviously got the wrong furniture for a crisis!

In all seriousness, I'll buy a few tins of spaghetti and some other bits and pieces that keep. I'm more worried about making sure I've got cat food and his meds as I'm sure supplies of that won't be a priority after Brexit!

but they also don't think it's going to be the ends of civilization disaster event that some threads on here make out

Who makes out

Ive not seen posts saying this

What Juells said - Why is it important to some posters to look down their noses at posters who prefer to be prepared? You do what you want to do, and let the rest of us do what we want to do. I've stocked up on coffee, rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes and beans, and vitamins..

As has been said over. And over. And over, there is a difference between having strategically shopped for a few months and continue over the next few weeks to add a few extra tins, pasta packs and hob nobs to ones food shop, and "panic buying ". I think it is sensible to have a week or twos worth of meals and essential health/toiletries in your home just in case and hey, if we are all frolicking with the unicorns in November then that's a bonus. I realise that many people choose to mock people who are prepared though.

The irony is that so many people will buy shit loads more food and drink than they really need every Christmas and that's just round the corner. It'll be a different matter if supply chain problems affect December gluttony.

Comparisons to the millennium bug are bollocks too. That crisis was averted because of preparation. Plus it wasn't self inflicted

Oh, we so need your song elements

My sister is a pharmacist and she has stocked piled her epilepsy medication...just in case, she says.

I know that some people on here have said that they are stockpiling what they like so yes they can buy any brand of beans for example but might prefer a particular type

Or things like oat or almond milk...not that i can see a run on those

But when the fuel ‘crisis’ was on you couldn’t get bread and milk locally for love nor money...which always struck me as a bit strange and possibly indicates a real love of a sandwich in the English

As long as they don't run out of gin.

Especially if you live alone, I had emergency surgery and it was a relief to know I have everything I needed. I don't hoard but stuff like keeping a carton of UHT milk in a cupboard etc etc

Hooe you are better

I agree, yes, to having a reasonable backup, and have started keeping a uht milk for example, and do agree that it makes sense to have some stocks in. I wasnt disagreeing with that.

Also, do have concerns about uni students like pp, new to a city a running out of food options, especially if very far from home. Surely they would be the perfect examples for keeping spares stocks in. A couple of extra boxes on top of a wardrobe with some tins and uht, toothpaste, sanpro, where are durex made