To think the recent government advice has resulted in some serious stockpiling rather than for three days?

[Newmeagain]

I was just doing my online shop last night. So many items like bottled water and long life milk were out of stock.

Quite clearly many people are taking the advice seriously. But to be honest, three days’ worth of food is really very little - most people would have that at home, even if it may not be their preferred food. So I think people are responding to this by buying supplies for a lot more than three days.

Full disclosure - I have done this myself. Not buying silly amounts but just a few more cans than usual. I don’t even know why!

I don't bother with driving anymore. I walk cycle or catch the bus. So it doesn't directly affect me, though I would welcome fewer cars on the road.

This is what I've been doing over the last few months. Just filling old 2 litre bottles and emptying/refilling here and there to keep them rotated and fresh.

And the rain barrel in the garden is full, it could be used for basic hygiene (not for drinking). So I make sure that's regularly cleaned so the water will be good enough in a pinch.

No big panic, it's a bit like organising supplies to go away camping, without the tent and sleeping bags.

I am going to make cider. I have bought a kit on Amazon. 20 litres of cider. I would hate to have to go without my nightcap.

No one I know has taken the slightest bit of interest in the report

exactly this. Even if someone interprets the instructions pretty much exactly as the government intended - don't panic but just get a extra few tins, cans or bottles of water next time you go shopping, my supermarket has, what, maybe 5-7 packs of 6x2l water bottles in stock at any one time. Calculating for the people who normally buy them anyway, all it takes is for 2 or 3 people to pick up ONE pack each, and the shelves are suddenly empty. Doesn't mean anyone is panic buying.

Same with long life milk. Say tesco has 30 on the shelf at any one time, usually ten people buy it as part of their weekly shop - 20 people picking up ONE 70p carton isn't panicking or stockpiling, it's sensible and exactly what they have been advised to do, but will still result in empty shelves until the next delivery.

No stockpiling where I work but most of the people in my area wouldn’t have the money to go out and buy extra anyway. It’s like watching covid all over again, the people with money hoarded everything and created the problem for others who couldn’t afford to do it. It definitely brings out the selfish nature of people.

The advice was given at leads a week ago and the shelves aren't bare. If people have extra in great. We always have a lot in storage of tins, pasta, rice, soup etc etc because I grew up poor and it was family practice to over buy when flush.
Also I went through a stage when we were first married of running out of vital ingredients

Plus if I can't get to the shops for whatever reason, we ain't going to starve

We're self-employed and our work can be messed up by bad weather, so we over buy too when we can. At one time it was normal, people 'put by' to ward off hunger in difficult times.

I live alone and do a weekly shop so I almost always have three days food in the house. That's normal. There's always veg, meat, fish & fruit in the freezer. I buy bread flour by the sack which lasts four months. I have a log burner & fuel so I know I can keep warm. I have plenty of candles and I already own a battery radio and rechargeable batteries. I would also cater for ds if outside university term time.

The sum total of my stocking up has been:

• 25 litres drinking water
• 3 litres UHT milk
• An extra kg each of rice, pasta and lentils.
• An extra bag of coffee.
• A few tins of sardines.

which will enable me to feed two of us for a week. The drinking water was the only thing I really needed to stock up on.

We live rurally so the local farms can supply most of what we need in a real emergency. Plenty of local shoots too. We have a well and have tasted the water before. It's ok, would probably need boiling. I'm not worried at all.

I can see how city dwellers would find it harder though.

I have disabled children that eat specific foods that I buy lots of as it’s all they eat each day but I’ve always done this. With this new advice I reckon I will be highly judged or laughed at while doing my shop but it’s a needs must in my house. We also go through huge amounts of toilet paper and although I always buy lots, I now look like a crazy person stocking up.

During Covid when there was no toilet roll and no pasta, we struggled hugely. Not everyone is acting irrationally due to the advice and also as a PP said, people are also just following that advice 🤷🏼‍♀️

@TruJay anyone judging you is an idiot. One of the reasons why people should get a buffer in is to keep their family comfortable and to not be the issue when local authorities need to prioritise people who can’t support themselves as well. I recommend that if anyone says anything to you, ignore them or say “I have a big household”.

I’ve been keeping my Brexit stash topped up since 2016!

I have been slack in stockpiling anything, it sounds like the the COVID or fuel shortages paranoia all over again, but given that any situation serious enough to require drawing on stockpiles is going to last a lot longer than three days, what exactly is it ultimately going to achieve if the worst does happen?

@asrl78glad you never had to deal with any shopping issues during Covid. That was probably just you. The idea is to not be that entitled PITA for a few days while authorities focus on getting things sorted out and focus on people in genuine need.
This sort of thing is bog standard advice across the world and the UK is an outlier for not talking about it at least annually.
You are right that 3 days isn’t enough for a worst case scenario but it’s better than nothing.

Of course it will.
The general public are incredibly selfish and a bit dim.

Yes, British people getting triggered by the mere mention is quite weird, internationally speaking. And new. Our predecessors in the 70s certainly understood the importance of having candles in for power cuts!

I'm not sure most people actually want to survive the worst case scenario anyway. This is just about as many of us as possible having enough essentials at home to be able to stay out of the way for a few days.

My dad always said "it doesn't eat or drink if it's in the cupboard" meaning it's not going to cost any extra to put away for the future.

COVID really exposed the fact that people aren't prepared and should be.

I watch a lot of prepping videos on YouTube. Not the American zombie apocalypse ones but the flood or snow that stops the lorries getting to the local shops for a couple of days ones. We've had cases of polluted water in the last 12 months so a couple of litres so you can make a cup of tea before the water board gets to you is a good send

On moonraker0's point about cost, a lot of the useful prep is free. Save 105 in your phone (the power cut number, whoever your supplier is). If anyone at home is older, has a disability, young children or relies on medical equipment, sign up to the free Priority Services Register through your energy supplier and water company. Find your stopcock and fuse box before you need them, check your torch actually works, and keep phones charged when storms are forecast. None of that needs anything from the supermarket shelves.

I don’t have the space to store much water. Noticed in Lidl there was just the 12 and 6 packs of 500ml water. Plus hardly any squash. I found a bottle of squash which wasn’t just orange. As I find the taste of just orange squash tastes plasticky.

I have cappuccino sachets which don’t need milk plus fruit teabags.

I should probably pick up a little bit more water but I’m going to wait a bit til places are restocked. I think the problem is everyone is acting at the same time, but I can’t see any immediate urgency.

What happens if you have no power therefore can't heat up water? How will you cook your pasta? And your freezer will defrost, meat won't last long will it?
Do you have a gas stove? Assume that would work unless gas also cut off.

We have a camping stove we could use if that happened (need to get some cannisters for it) and a bbq.

I haven't done a lot, I got a bit of water (need more) and a few cans of beans/pulses etc, I have a lot in my larder already. Also a couple of pints of UHT milk.

My one good find was this coffee in Sainsbury's as it mixes hot or cold

Grind Instant Coffee | Smooth Barista Blend | Make Hot or Cold

We have an open fire with plenty of logs and a bio ethanol stove so won't be too cold I guess.

Thing is, the government says 3 days. That makes people think… what if it’s more than 3 days? So they get a few weeks worth in.

PSR won’t help when a massive cyber attack takes control of the network…

I wouldn’t know because I wouldn’t be browsing for bottled water or long life milk.

If there’s no electricity to boil the kettle, I’ll be drinking milk/wine/whatever and flushing the loo from my water butt. Beyond that, it will be a good opportunity to lose some weight .