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?

@toilet

Why, in late 2020, is suggesting that something could happen in the not too distant future that would make getting food more difficult (even if not impossible), so unthinkable?

what happens when my 2 wk reserves run out? will all the issues have been sorted?

Well, depending on the nature of the problem they might. Or, if not, it's given you a 2 week head start on the problem.

MahaliaJ
Or we just like having some float for unforseen circumstances. When DC have been unwell or the weather has been bad I've always found it helpful to have a bit extra so we don't have to go out.

Some supermarkets near me are already limiting items again. I don't want to have to burden my PIL, who are already shopping for another relative, to do a full shop for us if we have to isolate.

I feel happier having a little buffer in my pantry so that I can ask them to get me milk/cheese/fruit etc from the local shop to go with pantry staples as to do our family shop, plus relative's, plus their own is a burden I don't want to place on them as there's no way they could do all that shopping in one trip with item restrictions.

See conflicted views of preppers as demonstrated by @Elsewyre.

I think the reality is you're probably a prepper if you have 3 months plus reserves available so you don't need to leave the house, require others to do so & you have being stocking up for yrs.

This is different to having 2 wks of extra tins in that you have started picking up in the last month or so & doesn't make you some how superior to someone who hasn't or couldn't do this. @MahaliaJ what happens after the 2 wks? I guess your not disrupting the supply chain then or endangering others 🤔

@EinsteinaGogo

"I guess you may be part of the problem, if you COULD afford to buy in a little extra over time, but are too lazy / disorganised to do so"

Didn't pretend for long this was anything other than a brag, did you?

@CrunchyNutNC head start for what though? panic buying?

I don't have any stocks in really! I was just saying the OP was asking why people don't have 2 weeks of food in, presumably because you might get a text saying self isolate. I could probably manage for 4 or 5 days.

@LolaSmiles I completely understand why someone may need to have a bit more food in eg logistics, finances etc. My point is the view that if you don't have extra in you're risking people's lives.

@toilet

Some of those people have taken the opportunity to do so and, when those delivery systems fall down, those people will be the ones reducing the demand on a limited supply of goods - to the benefit of the people who did not have the means to buy anything in advance.

But people on this thread are talking about having 2 wks worth of food in. Which does make sense for isolation purposes. What doesn't make sense is that you can't be talking about people with 2 wks of food in in your post because there was threads on here with people saying they couldn't get deliveries or pasta, flour for weeks on end. So for those that had 2 wks indoors & used that up in say March there were back needing food 2 wks later when the shortages were affecting some & doing exactly what you say is not fine if you’re in the shops during the shortages taking a bag of pasta or flour

It’s like saying ‘it looks like rain but I won’t bother to take an umbrella because if we end up with a force ten storm that umbrella won’t do me any good.’

I don't even own an umbrella! 😂

Some people built up a large enough supply of essentials that they didn’t need to shop at all during the shortages. They helped ease the stress and left their usual purchases for others for the duration.

Some people built up two weeks’ worth of food. They eased the stress and left their usual purchases for others during those two weeks.

Some people think it’s ridiculous, unnecessary and selfish to buy anything until they run out, even if they can afford to do otherwise. They did not ease any stress and were competing with people living hand to mouth for the limited supplies on the shelves during the most difficult weeks.

It would be good if, during times of plenty, people for whom it is financially viable took the trouble to prepare, even just a little. Anything is more helpful than nothing. Helpful to you, your family and everyone else.

Obviously this only applies while the supply chain is robust. If you decide against doing it then please don’t attempt to do it once supply issues manifest themselves.

It’s fine not to have an umbrella. If you get wet it’s unlikely to disadvantage anyone. 😉

They did not ease any stress and were competing with people living hand to mouth for the limited supplies on the shelves during the most difficult weeks

It didn't seem that limited to be fair. Loo roll and yeast were the only things I couldn't get.

We always have a full freezer and a well stocked cupboard, replacing something each time we use it, so we're always 'prepared' so to speak. It was a case of building up stock when we first had the kitchen done though, so not once did we go to the supermarket and fill the trolley with tins, or anything like that.

@toilet

As my cupboards were low on everything I did buy twice as much as I usually do just to replenish what we'd used.

The shelves were stripped bare

🤣

Don't misquote me - only the coconut milk was missing!

@Yesthesearemymonkeys it's like talking to a brick wall.

Some people built up two weeks’ worth of food. They eased the stress and left their usual purchases for others during those two weeks.

Do you have evidence of this? What happens if you built up that stock the Friday before lockdown, surely thats panic buying?

It’s fine not to have an umbrella. If you get wet it’s unlikely to disadvantage anyone.

Who said anything about getting wet? A hood is far superior to an umbrella in my experience!

Yes logistically its confusing. When did they buy their 2 weeks of food? The day before lockdown (surely panic buying then!) or the week before, in which case they would have had to shop a week into lockdown, like most people?

[quote toilet]@CrunchyNutNC head start for what though? panic buying?

[/quote]
If there was a problem getting hold of any item, food or otherwise, would you prefer to find an empty shelf when you needed it, or well in advance?

E.g. If if I plan tomorrow's dinner is mince, and then there is none when I shop, I don't want to be forced to plan an alternative whilst standing in the mince aisle because there's nothing else for dinner otherwise.

There's always mince!

And thst happens to me all the time - no aubergines? Damn. Ok,.something else then. It's really not a problem

@Elphame Of course it went over you're head. You see no correlation between buying twice as much as you usually do & bare shelves. Could it possible be that other people were in a similar position?

It reminds of the March threads when you would see the "I drove to the shop today & couldn't believe how busy the traffic was" or "I went for a run and the park was full of joggers". Give me a break!

How did I misquote you? coconut milk or the lack of it is irrelevant to my point.

@CrunchyNutNC but why would you be standing in an aisle looking for mince if you were isolating at home?

@MahaliaJ

There's always mince!

And thst happens to me all the time - no aubergines? Damn. Ok,.something else then. It's really not a problem

There wasn't always mince here! Everyone seemed to want mince all at once! No chicken breast either.

I usually have plenty of meat in the freezer, I buy when on offer/reduced. But during lockdown the mince/chicken shelves in my local supermarket were pretty bare.

I think some substitutes can be made easily enough. But if you can't get a core ingredient for a recipe then you may need to switch to a different dish altogether, then you realise that you haven't put the other key ingredients on your list and are standing there next to an empty shelf trying to remember what you need to make the alternative. Or you realise that your go-to alternative which is one of your go-to meals because it's cheap, suddenly isn't cheap if you need tinned tomatoes and the only ones left are the really expensive organic ones.

It's a stress I don't need!

[quote toilet]@CrunchyNutNC but why would you be standing in an aisle looking for mince if you were isolating at home? [/quote]
You wouldn't. But you might want to have some mince in your freezer already* so that if you're standing in an empty mince aisle you're not having to rethink that night's dinner.

Are you hard of thinking, or just trying to pick a fight?

• if you have a freezer, if you have space in your freezer, if you can afford mince, if you aren't a vegetarian, etc .

Throughout all this time I have been getting an extra one or two cans of beans, or an extra bag of pasta each time we shop (not an extra trolley full). I have been doing this because we are a family of 6 adults, and if any of us contract Covid, we may have to self isolate for at least a fortnight, and not be able to go to the shops. Surely anyone who can take this precaution should? I am not talking about hoarding several months worth of food, toilet rolls, etc just a couple of weeks worth.

For years we have had a good supply of food such as pasta, rice, different lentils, chickpeas, different beans, tinned tomatoes. We also always have bread and milk in the freezer along with frozen veg, frozen home made soup and meals I have batched cooked and frozen.

We always have at least 3 months of food although probably more with the lentils, chickpeas etc.

This is for a few reasons. Me and DH absolutely hate any kind of shopping so we go as as little as possible. We do a big shop probably once every 6 to 8 weeks and just buy fruit and veg weekly (usually at the local market which is a lot nicer than shopping in supermarkets).

Also we got snowed in around 40 years ago when we liked in Kent and had very little food in the house. We had only been married around a year and had no money.

So many things could happen - snowed in, roads flooded (we live at the top of a hill and thought our area could never be flooded but it was just because of all the rain and the water just pouring off of the fields. The roads to the local town (6 miles away) were just not driveable. Also if you can't get to shops because of snow or floods a delivery will not be able to get to you.

Also you could be ill and not able to get to a shop, your car could breakdown. Yes you might well be able to get a delivery but for weeks after the beginning of lock down there were no deliveries, sometime even for vulnerable people. You could, for various reasons, have very little money to buy food.

I could never ever only have enough food for only a couple of days or even for a week or two.

We don't have a big house but its surprising just how much you can fit in even 1 kitchen cupboard. We do have a fridge freezer and another upright freezer and that is in the garage.

I think it is sensible to have a good stock of food.

[quote toilet]@Yesthesearemymonkeys it's like talking to a brick wall.

Some people built up two weeks’ worth of food. They eased the stress and left their usual purchases for others during those two weeks.

Do you have evidence of this? What happens if you built up that stock the Friday before lockdown, surely thats panic buying?

It’s fine not to have an umbrella. If you get wet it’s unlikely to disadvantage anyone.

Who said anything about getting wet? A hood is far superior to an umbrella in my experience! [/quote]
It’s like talking to a brick wall? Oh the irony 😂

Do you have any evidence of this? Yes. They had already bought food so did not need to buy what was in the shops during the shortages. For example, I bought no toiletries, cleaning products, pasta, loo roll, oat milk, canned or otherwise preserved food at all in March. Therefore, whatever I might have bought in a normal month was available to someone else. Others who prepared would have done the same. That’s the whole point of prepping.

What happens if you built up that stock the Friday before lockdown, surely thats panic buying?. Yes, bingo! That’s the exact same point I was making. I have repeatedly said it’s responsible to build stocks but only while the supply chain is robust. Gradually. Gradually. Jesus Christ, how many times? Of course if you rushed out and bought a month’s worth just before lockdown that’s panic buying and clearly not what I am talking about.

But you know that don’t you?

I got sucked into the madness last time, and ended up buying extra, which I'm still working my way through.

Won't be doing that again.

That being said, it's usually around this time of year that I stock up a bit on tinned and freezer stuff, in anticipation of being "iced in" (we live on a fairly steep hill). I will get a bit extra, but not as much as I usually would.

I love how some posters are still triggered by the idea that other people have a bit extra food in. Cracks me up.

I got sucked in by the brexit preppers. Won't bother again. As I said, I had a broken ankle during lockdown and we also live a 20 min drive from the nearest shop. We are a family of 5 and we managed fine.