AIBU to wish people would stop using flour for play dough

[Outtedagain]

Just that. Some people, like me, want to cook with it. I have just worked out (correctly I think) from Facebook feeds featuring play dough recipes that this is contributes to there being no flour.

@HoneysuckIejasmine

See the if there is a local wholesaler near you that normally sells to restaurants, some of them are selling to the public. They have very big bags of flour ( eg 5kg) but if you make all our own bread it is worth buying

How are people so dim that because there is a supply of x in Sainsbury's in their town there can't possibly be an empty shelf in a different part of the country.

People.need to widen their searches as has been pointed out. There are bags and bags of flour siting in wholesaler warehouses . They will sell to the public now. Search for them and call them if you need flour . They will have some, I guarantee.

I managed to order pasta,rice, peanut butter, flour, crackers, sugar, ketchup, mayonnaise, and even fresh milk and 3kg of new potatoes from our local one. The sizes are often quite big but for some products they would split packages. They even had eggs but the min order was 60!! So I gave those a miss. They did collection or even offered delivery if within 5 miles.

PLEASE tell me this was intended as a lighthearted thread.
Otherwise, FGS

Why not buy a sack from a mill if you use so much flour OP? They last a year so presumably you'd get through it and they often work out cheaper.

Try Matthew's Cotswald Flour, Shipton Mill, Mungoswells, Doves Farm, ScotlandtheBread etc etc. Your local farmer's market will often have a list of local suppliers who will deliver.

They last a year?? What about weevils?

Haha mean spirited?? You're the one begrudging kids having fun coz you can't find any flour. Boo hoo! Right, I'm off to paint some pasta and feed chocolate to the birds

They last a year?? What about weevils?

The shelf life of most flour is about a year

I'm not sure how you're storing it if weevils are a big problem for you...

Weevils aren't a problem because I buy flour as and when I need it and it doesn't stick around for very long. When I looked at how to store flour for longer there was talk of keeping it in the freezer to avoid weevils. But I can't spare the freezer space. So I was just asking.

I would rather donate flour to someone who needed to educate and stimulate their toddler than give it to someone who wanted to eat unnecessary refined carbs. Of course if there was an overall food shortage I would think differently. Sorry.

Where I live there's no bloody yeast, so it's not the playdough makers that are the problem.

So ... some evidence of shortages for all the nay sayers.

shortage for home supplies or factory supplies?

Even if there was a temporary flour shortage, so what? I am sure you can survive without cakes for a couple of days.

Eating is vital. Yes.

Making cakes is no more or less important than making play doh.

There is no shortage whatsoever of empty ‘treat’ calories in the shops.

People bemoaning the lack of flour for baking want a fun activity, exactly like the the play doh makers.

Good point OP. You would be failing all the children of the world if you didn't go tell everybody on all other websites about the situation.

Just to say, some of us can't go to the shops and can't get an online delivery, so flour is the only way of having bread regularly. Not everyone needs to lose weight either, some of us struggle to keep it on.

Any food waste is shameful at any point in time - there are people starving in many parts of the world - but in current circumstances, it is even worse.

I’ll never understand this.

Empty calories from baking ‘treats’ is every bit as wasteful as throwing it straight in the bin. Your body doesn’t need the refined carbs and sugar.

No one in this country is starving due to lack of supply of quality calories. There are plenty for all in the shops. The problem is the politics that makes quality food unaffordable and inaccessible.

Well I have been trying to buy flour for 2 weeks with no joy.....that and yeast!

I can't find any mills who are sling near me. They've all closed their order books due to demand. The shops I have had deliveries from haven't had it, and I am high risk so can't go trawling shops.

Thanks to the posters who have PM'd me with suggestions. I have tried. DH and I have stopped eating bread altogether now so our kids can have it.

If any neighbours had flour, I'd happily swap it for some actual playdoh.

If anybody knows where to buy flour online, could you pm me or post on here? I've saved enough flour for hot cross buns for Easter and a birthday cake for later this month, but I'd love to have enough to keep us in bread for a week.

BBC News could come on tomorrow and say there is a global shortage of flour.

I. Do. Not. Care.

I will still be making the bloody crafts. Because what's in the cupboard belongs to me. And if I do manage to get more I will go ahead and do whatever the hell I want with that.

Theres flour in all the shops I have been too.

@BubblyBarbara I assume you are joking.

I haven't been able to buy flour in our supermarket for about 2 weeks or pasta, so in some areas there are some food shortages.

I know if I was in self isolation and unable to get a food delivery I would rather have flour to bake bread with than have a pot of homemade play dough.

Fixed that for you, Outtedagain.