Looking at the 'stockpiling' threads..

[EinsteinaGogo]

Is there genuinely ANYONE who could afford to get a couple of weeks shopping into the house, who hasn't?

And if so, WHY?

I haven't. Admittedly we aren't at home at the moment , having a few days away , but literally have about 2 - 3 days food in the house , that you can make a meal with anyway , got some odd tins, frozen veg etc

Why? I don't see any panic to stock food in at the moment and spent last week eating our supplies as I couldn't be bothered to go out and shop . I haven't had any recent problem with lack of delivery slots or empty shelves.

I could afford to but haven’t because I’m not an arsehole who hoards resources at the expense of those who don’t have the luxury of driving to big supermarkets and spending £££ on a few weeks’ worth of shopping.

Well said. I've never known a serious shortage, in the UK, that wasn't caused by people panic-buying.

I used to shop every fortnight and we'd use pretty much everything we bought over those 2 weeks. My DH was strongly against 'prepping'. Early lockdown was stressful enough without worrying that we'd not be able to get the limited food types that my fussy DS would eat. Since shops are well stocked again I've bought a little extra so we don't run out of things like pasta. Seems sensible.

Apparently it was people 'just adding a couple of extra tins' that caused shortages last time.

CodenameVillanelle
Because i managed fine last time there was a lockdown and Don't expect things to ever get as bad as they were then??

Brexit says "hold my beer"

Janevaljane
"I suspect preppers don't work, otherwise they'd just pick stuff up on the way home.' or just get other people to shop for them like you eh?

Newsflash! Working from home ? Didn't you get the memo? The OP is on a hiding to nothing. People are wilfully misunderstanding the original question . Monkeys said it very well but you will never change such entrenched views imo.

I could but I won’t. It’s selfish.

Well I could but we eat most things fresh.

I shop on Mondays for all fresh stuff for week, small top up shop weds and we have delivery Friday.

We probably could survive a week or two on cupboard and freezer stuff.

I haven't panic bought anything though.

@ghostee

Apparently google images can't tell the difference between preppers & stockpilers or panic buyers & stockpilers but I've tried my best. 😆

A - stockpilers
B - preppers
C - panic buyers

Think you’ve got yourself a bit confused.

A- why are stockpilers building a stockpile? Presumably to prepare for something. So stockpilers and preppers pretty much interchangeable in this scenario.

B. I think you’ve confused preppers with survivalists. They are very different, although of course there is a prepping element. I mean, I’m worried about Brexit but I doubt that’s why the people in your picture have built a fallout shelter. 😉

C. Panic buyers - yes, that one looks pretty spot on.

Are you suggesting there's something wrong with other people shopping for others nic?
We all do it in our littke village. Noone went to the shop during lockdown without putting in the village facebook page!!

@ghostee

D - everyone else

Ghostee - are you suggesting everyone else has decided the mask rule doesn’t apply to them?

This picture looks more like a prepper, calmly selecting their extra tin of tomatoes some time last year, long before the masks in shops rule was introduced.

I do a big shop about once a month because it works out cheaper than going a couple of times a week - there's less opportunity to buy things that you don't really need - that extra packet of hot cross buns and a bar of chocolate soon add up. DH gets milk, bread, croissants etc once a week.
For the last 30 years, I've been buying toothpaste, washing powder, cleaning fluids etc when they've been on special offer because the shops get extra stock in for the offer - I buy a years supply of basmati rice every Diwali as it's greatly reduced in price and in non-standard bag sizes. I haven't had to buy toilet roll since late 2018 due to a groupon mix-up... Coffee is bought in bulk as beans from a shop 250 miles away, because we like that one & buy enough to keep us going until we go back there.

All this is what I call sensible, economical buying. It's probably a) as a result of not having enough food when my father lost his job when I was young, b) not liking going in supermarkets, and c) having bad experiences with online shopping.

And I've got about 12 bags of pasta in my pasta drawer so I guess I'm responsible for any pasta shortages (even though they're all different shapes!)

The shops did run out of food?

No, they didn’t.

There was plenty of food.

There were some temporary shortages of some types of food.

Buy different food.

@FubsyRambler

So the answer to your original question, OP, is that people choose not to have a fortnight’s groceries in because they are not selfish, greedy pigs but generous and sensitive souls.

Because they are selfless angels, when they have to self-isolate, there will be an army of friends and acquaintances risking their own health to shop for their wonderful, ill-prepared friends. However long it takes.

Or they will shop for themselves, protected from transmitting the virus by their Aura of Virtue.

@FubsyRambler

😂😂😂

Post of the thread. I thank you.

I live in Australia so don't have Brexit to contend with but I grew up rurally and so we always had a full pantry and full freezer in case the local shops were out or we wanted to entertain at short notice. That habit has stayed with me and so we could probably get close to two weeks out of what we have stored. It meant that when the shops were chaos at the start of the pandemic we didn't have to be there amongst it adding to the havoc. People who don't understand the difference between stockpiling and panic buying are ridiculous- people who regularly get in a little bit more than they need during their usual shop aren't the ones who cause the problems.

Nope! I work in a supermarket so I get first choice on every thing! My neighbours know where I work and have offered to pick stuff up if they need it. I've picked up toilet paper for some.
We also have a milk & more delivery 3 times a week. So all good here.

I had to isolate back in march and my colleague brought shopping to me.

@DollyDoneMore

The shops did run out of food?

No, they didn’t.

There was plenty of food.

There were some temporary shortages of some types of food.

Buy different food.

What if you have allergies and need a certain brand?

I don't need certain brands of anything. If you do then you must make your own decisions.

@Yesthesearemymonkeys It's not me confused it's the media & Google.

According to Google a prepper is

"a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies."

& lots of links about survivalism comes up so they seem intrinsically linked.

And Google what is a stockpiler & lots of news articles like the below are shown

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/coronavirus-stockpile-emergency-list-food-hand-sanitiser-panic-buying-a9373061.html%3famp

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-51883440

I guess its all fake news.

What has masks got to do with anything? When the panic buying & shortages occurred & the people who didn't participate carried on as normal it was March. Masks were not mandatory then were they? Or was that an attempt at humour? 😝

No idea why the UK's supermarket delivery infrastructure was so weak tbh

Probably because of arseholes block booking two Ocado deliveries per week...

I’m surprised at the level of well-meaning ignorance here.

I think anyone who can afford to buy food in advance and has capacity to store it should do so, in order to allow those who can’t better access to hoods when things are in short supply.

Surely we all understand now that supermarkets only carry limited stocks since they order to replenish rather than hold vast quantities of supplies themselves, although I remember reading that many were building extra warehousing to improve stocks.

Posters who think they are somehow doing the right thing by not stocking up - please rethink this. As long as you order a little extra, you’re not depriving people of anything.

Come Brexit and the almost certainty of interrupted supply chains (unless the supermarkets have been able to stockpile sufficient imported goods from Europe), your actions will benefit those vulnerable people you purport to protect with your misguided carry-on-as-usual-to-be-virtuous stance.

@EinsteinaGogo

Is there genuinely ANYONE who could afford to get a couple of weeks shopping into the house, who hasn't?

And if so, WHY?

I could afford to, but I'm not insane?

I’ve been buying a few extra bits when doing a weekly shop. So if we need pasta I buy two. Same with rice.

I’ve bought lots of tons recently but it’s al stuff weld ordinarily use.

@Choccorocco

I’m surprised at the level of well-meaning ignorance here.

I think anyone who can afford to buy food in advance and has capacity to store it should do so, in order to allow those who can’t better access to hoods when things are in short supply.

Surely we all understand now that supermarkets only carry limited stocks since they order to replenish rather than hold vast quantities of supplies themselves, although I remember reading that many were building extra warehousing to improve stocks.

Posters who think they are somehow doing the right thing by not stocking up - please rethink this. As long as you order a little extra, you’re not depriving people of anything.

Come Brexit and the almost certainty of interrupted supply chains (unless the supermarkets have been able to stockpile sufficient imported goods from Europe), your actions will benefit those vulnerable people you purport to protect with your misguided carry-on-as-usual-to-be-virtuous stance.

But the modern economy works on a "just in time" principal.

When a large group of people "just stock up" they cause the short supply. And completley and utterly fuck over those who cant afford to.

Do you jot remeber ealier this year? Buy in small amounts as you need it, because weve spent decades building up a supply chain to do that.

There isnt the capacity to randomly produce and deliver 2 weeks worth of pasta or bog roll randomly.

"Posters who think they are somehow doing the right thing by not stocking up - please rethink this. As long as you order a little extra, you’re not depriving people of anything. "

Can you please rethink, only buy what you need is the advice from food producers, from supermarkets and from governments.

Because again, that's what the industry is set up to do. There isnt huge spare capacity out there sat unused

People stocking up/panic buying is the only reason supermarkets every had bare shelves as ther was no interruption to production