What's the difference between "building up my supplies" and stockpiling?

[BuckingFrolics]

The number of people who happily say "I started building up my supplies last month, last week" and who then go on to berate "panic buyers" and "stockpilers" is irritating me.

So your "supplies" stashed away were driven by anxiety and self protection. How is that different from today's panic buyers? It's just you were ahead of the pack. That's the only difference.

The "I was sensible and saw this coming and did the right thing" would be utterly meaningless if everyone had done that.

@stresshead agree no time to be smug as many live week to week with no money for extras.

I think it's time to stop focussing on panicking frightened individuals trying to protect themselves and their families in both rational and irrational ways, and to focus on the structures that can be imposed from above to control this.

People who are frightened make selfish choices. Human survival instinct can make a drowning man press on the head of his rescuer, submerging him in order to lever himself higher.

Instead of castigating people for having two weeks worth of food in anticipation of two weeks quarantine, I want to pressure the government to take stronger action, the supermarkets to ration, and to give the vulnerable protected shopping hours, to scale up their online delivery capacity.

I want to hear assurances that essentials will be distributed to all households, much the same way bottles of water are dropped off to houses during water supply interruptions.

Human behaviour in a crisis like this is predictable, and can be managed by the government through the decisions they make.
It's pointless sniping at a mum who got in an extra pack of toilet roll, or a man who bought extra beans.

They aren't able to control the bigger picture.

We're on a low income but have always bought a few cheap extras when we could with the weekly shop, not to seasoned prepper levels though.it mostly stems from growing up poor and not wanting to have to worry where your next meal is coming from. I'm totally out of pasta for example but we've got enough tins and sundries to do a week of emergency food if we eat some weird combinations and that's pretty comforting to me.
I think people who don't understand the difference between panic buying are being ignorant, wilfully in some cases.

I don't know. I have a few friends who aren't broke by any means who have had to go into self-isolation and they've been asking people on social media to send them groceries and basics. I know some people don't mind going out and buying them a few things and dropping them around, but for me, what spare cash I have I've spent on myself and my family. I've been bulk cooking and freezing extras, just making sure we have a few extra things in the cupboard. I really don't want to have to go out to the shops and buy other people food and drive it around to their house. It's not like we didn't know this was coming. I don't understand why they weren't more prepared. I would never in a million years ask for help unless desperate. It frustrates me a bit.

@CuriousaboutSamphire Picture taken yesterday in Suffolk...

No it wasn't - the bus is heading for an Italian destination and the poster displays prices in Euros!

@Aveino, see my subsequent comment at 08.02!

I've got into building supplies. It alleviates stress and saves me time. I appreciate not everyone can afford it. I could afford to 'panic buy' whole shelves either which is why I built up a sensible buffer only of things I would use and o can afford at the time. From a variety of retailers. I rarely waste anything. Learned from experience that these things happen. I'm glad I'm not out there competing for stuff.

I’ve always had a good supply of everything at home - basics like pasta and a couple of jars of pesto, porridge oats and breakfast cereals, several cans of beans and tomatoes, frozen peas, chips and veggie burgers in the freezer, extra snack foods etc. Also will always buy the next pack of loo roll or bin bags or shampoo before the current one runs out. It’s what my parents did as well and it’s always just been the normal way for me. It’s also not more expensive if you’ve always done it as it’s not one big shop all at once to fill your cupboards.

@barracker - excellent post as always.