Are you doing anything to prepare for a second wave?

[Emlou07]

Historically we are going to get one. Seeing pictures of places rammed is scary.

So if so, what are you doing to prepare? If only to make another potential lockdown a bit easier.

I've been picking up a couple of extra tins a week and some UHT milk. I've also put some bits aside for the kids to keep them entertained.

I haven't stocked up on anything yet but we are only at the point of having stuff in as we need it so I do need to start prepping again.

Will learn from the experience last time around - toilet roll, pasta and paracetamol!

Although I never see preppers talking about how stupid non preppers are.

Did you miss the smug threads when the shops ran out of things for a day?

Agree with @Rosebel and @Ladywinesalot - there wasn't any need to 'prepare' the first time and now know there isn't if we have to lock down again! I think part of the reason people panic bought is that they feared not being allowed to go to shops.

We did buy a stock cupboard of stuff which we haven't needed to use at all - keeping it in case needed for Brexit now, as the gov seems determined to completely fuck up the country regardless of how bad things are without it!

Although I never see preppers talking about how stupid non preppers are

Really?! I do. I also see preppers saying that everyone who doesn’t prep ends up being a panic buyer.
I am neither

I gave up with yeast in the end and bought some bread mix instead, I've never made bread before so might actually be a good thing in the long run, lol

Eggs I get from my milkman but they keep having to apologize for using plastic boxes, instead of cardboard.

We bought a sack of flour as a family and shared it between family (socially distanced).

No other problems so far.

I've also updated my first aid kit (not that you could call a few plasters and a tubigrip a kit lol) and got a carbon monoxide detector, but those were things I should have had in place anyway.

Maybe I did miss the "smug" threads, but I certainly don't see it now. I respect everyone's right to do whatever makes them feel okay. Everyone is going through this, everyone deals with things differently.

In spite of all the changes to regulations I've changed very little from the original "stay at home" policy. No picnics. No sitting in the park. No meeting relatives (except for a family funeral). I always anticipated a second wave. And I anticipate it being worse than the first. Cases in my area are increasing. I'll continue to stay at home as long as I can. Yes it's claustrophobic in our one bed flat with no outdoor space. But I wouldn't put my worst enemy at risk of death so I could have a nice day.

Can someone explain the flour /yeast panic buying and everyone panic baking their own bread?

Buying bread has never been a problem

Can someone explain the flour /yeast panic buying and everyone panic baking their own bread?

Buying bread has never been a problem

It depends whether you’re shielding or not.

But buy the same token, anyone who has concerns = dementor and anyone prepared = "hysterical or fear mongering.

Live and let live. Sorry to be cliché but

bekind

I will be setting up a pandemic box. Sounds a bit tin foil hat, but I've now done this twice in 17 years (did Sars lockdown over in HK) and I have had no masks or gloves this time round. In my box there are boxes of Paracetamol, ibuprofen (in case change of advice), Calpol, other medicine, gloves and home made and N95 masks when I can get my hands on them.

I don't think there will be another round as I actually think this is our 2nd wave, but I won't be hanging around to find out. I believe it made the rounds from Dec in a milder form and then came back again. I know lots of people who were really ill in Jan/Feb including myself in what would now be labelled Coronavirus if I rang 111 and gave them the symptoms.

I don't know if there will be a 2nd wave but I won't be waiting to find out before I get my masks, gloves, paracetamol and hand gel.

*sorry - by the same token

The baking bread thing is just me trying to keep busy, I bake a lot anyway but always been intimidated by bread (it's a lot of faffing) but I've always wanted to "master" it.

I also took up cross stitch lol

I’m sure some of the flour shortage has been the amount of extra home baking that people have been doing, either with children or just having extra time as I myself have been doing. It is the small bags that are short not the large catering packs.

Jigsaws were also in short supply or went very expensive, DS told me this. It doesn’t take much when people’s habits change.

It depends whether you’re shielding or not. the shielded on the government lists were added to the supermarket priority booking system. Later Tesco extended that to those who had a disability/considered themselves vulnerable.

But if you weren’t on the supermarket lists, there are still local delivery services, milkandmore, or whatever your local bread/milk delivery is, plus M&S/Morrison’s/co-op have all gone on to deliveroo with a limited amount of items, all of which include bread.

OP how irresponsible you are to get people panicking.

It's fine. The supply chain is fine.

Flour shortage = lack of bags made in factories overseas.

You can buy sacks of flour on the Internet or from many local cafes/ pizza places/ restaurants/ pubs (google is your friend) who are bagging it up and selling it to the public. Can't find it in any supermarket though.

Buying bread has never been a problem

It's not a problem if you want to pop out to the supermarket every few days for fresh bread.

Maintaining the stock for my household doesn't mean emptying the shelf or even buying as much as a large family might. It means reaching what we use in a pantry that we work hard to keep supplied.

Whether or not there's another lockdown, we want to be able to continue feeding ourselves even if regular shopping or deliveries become tricky (or simply something we avoid as much as possible out of an abundance of caution). This is in preparation for any number of potential scenarios-- but at the moment, it's largely because of the pandemic.

If you don't see the need, that's your business, but it's neither foolish nor panicky to prepare sensibly, as far as you're able.

Keeping my family fed isn't taking food out of the months of others. If anything, it may prevent us from relying on scarce supplies that will stretch further precisely because some are prepared enough not to need them.

@m0therofdragons you really don't get it do you. It's not about buying 2 weeks worth of food in one go. It's about buying an extra tin of tomatoes or pack of pasta, buying a jar of coffee when you open the last jar you have.

@Raaaa I bet you do have some space if you look for it. If you waste food because you buy for more than a week that is due to bad planning. I really do not ever waste food.

Well hopefully the shops are not going to close but if the pandemic had been worse and shops had almost all their staff off sick they would have had to close wouldn't they? What if you become too ill to go out (not necessarily with the virus). Some single parents may have a child too ill to take out to the shop and cannot get a delivery. There are lots of possibilities and you can never say they will not happen. As I said I thought it impossible that where I live would be flooded and yet it was and we could not go anywhere for a few days.

We did not have to shop for weeks. I think we did a small shop on about the 15th March and then did not go to a shop again until the 22nd April and, again, that was only to get a small shop mainly fresh fruit and veg.

We didn't have to join queues of people wanting/needing to shop. At the start we all had no idea how contagious the virus is so why would anyone want to go shopping if they did not have to?

We also were not responsible for the shops selling out of toilet roll, pasta, flour etc. Unprepared people and idiot panic buyers were

*replacing, not reaching

I’m sure some of the flour shortage has been the amount of extra home baking that people have been doing, either with children or just having extra time as I myself have been doing. It is the small bags that are short not the large catering packs. there was a thread on here questioning how people could dare to make their own play dough when flour is in short supply. and suggesting that the amount of people making playdough with their kids were actually contributing to people going hungry. .

I don't think there is a need to prepare as I think businesses are now set up to deal with it better. I think there were a lot of surprises with this first wave which aren't going to happen with any second wave.

I still have my emergency 4 pack of loo roll in the bathroom 😂

Even if there is no second wave, and there are no shortages in the shops, any one of us can be contacted at any time and be told to self isolate for 2 weeks, by the t and t system.
So it makes sense to have two weeks of basic supplies in the house.
Because you can't think "oh ok, I have been told to go straight home cos I may be I infected, I'll just stop on my way at tesco and do a huge two week shop"

Some of my relatives were shielding, they got boxes from the gov & then were on the Sainsbury's list, no issues for them.

I did see yeast in March & thought Oh I should buy it, then i remembered I've never baked bread in my life. With home schooling, wfh & childcare I wouldn't have had time to make bread anyway! 😁