AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling?

[bagpuss90]

I get that we have been advised to stock up on essentials, though I think it will encourage panic buying. I will probably get a few days worth of stuff at some point . My friend however has, at least in my opinion gone ott about it. She’s stocking up a six month supply of food. She’s bought head torches, a camping gas stove and various other stuff. She thinks I’m being naive …Am I missing something here ?

It doesn't matter who you have to consider if the country gets nuked. 50 bags of pasta isn't going to help if your house has been bombed mate

However, that is extremely unlikely to happen, and anyone with a brain knows why. In terms of potential outage of water/electric for a few days, yea, get a bit of extra food in. As i said to PP, im mostly referring to panic buyers who call it stockpiling when it really isn't. There's no need to clear the shelves of Tesco and call it 'common sense' cos the media has convinced you the country is going to collapse. Again, did we learn nothing from Covid?

Tbh I have never stockpiled. Mainly because (maybe it’s my autism) I hate looking at cupboards and fridges full of food
It annoys me.

I like to open a cupboard or a fridge and see exactly what I want.

I have lived through powercuts and walking past refrigerated lorry’s with dead bodies in parked on the street
I have lived through IRA bombings, tube bombings and worldwide pandemics without panic buying.

Look back on the threads on here and people have been stockpiling piling for years for a disaster that has yet to happen.

One day it might and those that stockpiled can be smug they have enough bog roll. Till someone finds out they have 6 months supply of food and then that stock pile might as well be a target on their backs

Careful, having common sense doesn't go down well on this site.

Make sure the pub looks like this

Enlighten me on what you mean by the way things are going.

I’m not anywhere near Winchester so if the worse happens I don’t think having 104 cans of tin beans or tomatoes is going to do me any good

Seriously? I haven't seen a single empty shelf in the supermarkets in our town. You sound like a professional victim.

I didn’t know this was something Mormons did? Is it because they believe we’re in the end times? Are they actually taught to stockpile food?

Well since the government has said nothing if the sort, that’s good.

Do you often invent strawman arguments to oppose?

Mind you, I generally find anyone who attacks the arguer not the argument (e.g. calling someone ‘defensive’ for not agreeing with them) generally does so because they know their argument is weak and they hope making enough noise will cover that fact (see certain politicians). Says everything, really.

Me either, sad times. Perhaps I'll buy an extra 30 bags of pasta though, "just in case"

Why are you being insulting? You've contradicted yourself entirely here, by saying people insult when their argument is weak, which is exactly what you're doing. Rather amusing.

I called you defensive because your comment was defensive. You put words in my mouth to attack me for something I didn't say because you applied it to yourself.

Get therapy?

I haven't seen a single empty shelf in the supermarkets in our town.

Well, that obviously applies to the rest of the country then.

Thanks for illustrating my point so beautifully. Much appreciated.

Thank you for the links.

Have gone through a few of them and my question remain - these are not foods I’d eat normally so I can buy them. Would eat them in an emergency.

But if there’s no emergency, then they’ll end up in the bin?

Like this list:
Crackers, rice cakes, bread sticks, oats. (Add powdered milk and soak) Rice pudding Go Noodles
tinned fruit, beans (of you like them cold) precooked sweetcorn, dried fruit (sultanas, dates, raisins apricots, various packs from Aldi)
Jars of pickled onion, cabbage, beetroot ,olives,
Nuts, peanut butter, sardines, mackerel, tuna, seeds
Jam, honey, sugar. (Add to rice pudding etc)
Biscuits, chocolate, crisps, sweets for treats, energy and morale.
Add hot water food:
Microwave rice, couscous, noodles, mug shots, cupsoup.
Heat through on a stove:
Tinned soups, curries, tinned veg, custard, baked beans, rice pudding,etc.

Yep great. But apart from a few of them (tinned mackerel, couscous, nuts and ofc biscuits) none of those foods ever go into my trolley.
The stuff we use tends to be either fresh of frozen. Freezer is full so plenty if we can’t go out (like covid). But if theres no electricity?

Same question about water. Yes I can buy 50l of water and store it but will it ever get used?

Ummm don’t tell anyone!

Does it matter if you store some water and then never use it? What's the downside?

Loving all the alliteration! Good effort 😄

I use mine for watering plants, but I have a big garden.

It's a few days of calories that you're storing, so you just make up those calories out of whatever you regularly buy anyway that's shelf-stable and doesn't need electricity. So if for you it has to be in the form of mackerel, couscous, nuts and biscuits, then so be it - OK the meals won't be very exciting, but that won't matter in an emergency.

Alternatively you could decide to deliberately introduce a small number of new things into your current diet that would also work with no electricity, so you'd have a bit more variety. Tinned peaches are gorgeous. It's not essential though. Just get what works for you/your family.

This. I only buy food I eat anyway - it just means I have (for example) 6 cans of tuna not 2. I then buy to replace what I use and put it at the back then use the tins at the front. The only exception is bottles of water - I’ve stuck them in a cupboard and in 18 months or so, the garden will get a slightly more expensive than usual watering if I haven’t used them. They only cost around £10 for the lot and I figure I can afford to lose that much to have water in a power cut (where I live we have pumped water so no power means no water either).

I’m very hopeful I won’t need the stock - I certainly don’t think disaster is inevitable. I take the view 3 or 4 days of food doesn’t cost much, doesn’t take up a lot of space and makes for useful insurance.

I don’t think there’s much point in 6 months worth though. If things get that bad (which I’m absolutely not anticipating), I’m pretty sure rural dwellers with the ability to grow their own food (so sustainable living) will be the only survivors.

If you'd read any of my other posts I'm not preparing for being nuked. That would be an inevitable you can't prepare for. I haven't cleared any shelves, have a perfectly functioning brain and plenty of common sense; but thanks for your input.

Where would you suggest they store it?

This is building resilience though for emergency situations.

Nobody is suggesting you go out and buy lots of things that you will never eat. However in an emergency most people will be flexible

Without knowing what you eat it is difficult to know what suggest but we have things like

Cous cous
quinoa
packet cooked rice (we don't generally eat this type of rice but it wouldn't go to waste since we could eat it)
tinned beans
tinned peas
tinned sweetcorn
tinned tomatoes
tinned ratatouille
tinned water chestnuts
tinned chick peas
tinned soup
tinned tuna
tinned sardines
tinned mackerel
tinned grapefruit
tinned pineapple
tinned apple pie filling (which the kids will happily eat with custard)
tinned peaches (again the kids happily eat these wit custard)
tinned custard
ghee
jarred olives
jarred carrots
jarred peppers
jarred sun-dried tomatoes
vacuum packed beetroot
vacuum packed corn on the cob
nuts (various varieties)
pasta
noodles (we would use in stir fries)
dried stuffed tortellini
powdered egg
powdered milk
shelf stable parmesan
packets of nut loaf
bags of soya mince
jarred pasta sauces and pesto
honey
marmite
relish
rice cakes
crackers
biscuits
cereal bars
chocolate
crisps
flour
oats
sugar
yeast
sunflower and coconut oil
cereal
long life milk
oat milk
tea
coffee
hot chocolate
squash
long life juice

extra dog food
extra cat food

Obviously you then have anything else that is already in your cupboards/freezer/fridge. I have a well stocked pantry with spices and seasonings.

If you don't want to buy water then buy a food grade jerry can and fill it from the tap. If you leave a small gap at the top then you can reoxygenate it before use (or use it up to water plants and then refill)

I don’t think that anyone on any of these threads have said they are prepping for being nuked. Because that would be pointless, and it goes without saying. Most people have been very sensible in their answers.

Thats why I was pretty irritated when I quoted that post. I know full well that nuclear war can't be prepared for, like the majority of posters who have prepared they're not, as you say, preparing for that so it seemed a bit much to talk about clearing shelves/common sense etc in that context when most of us already get it.