Can we please stop all the bashing of “stockpilers”

[Notcontent]

Reading all the threads, it seems that anyone who has bought more than a week’s worth of food is being accused of being a selfish stockpiled responsible for all the food supply issues we have at the moment.

I think that’s slightly unfair. Yes, people who went out and bought 10 big packs of toilet paper in one go are probably responsible for the shortages. But many of us simply bought a few more things over a number of weeks.

I am one of those people. I have friends with families in Europe and I was closely following the progress of the situation since early January. Back in February, when lots of people I spoke to thought it was all an overblown drama, I started buying a few extra things every time I did a shop. Why? Because I don’t have any family nearby to help out and I usually rely on supermarket deliveries for most of my needs (no car). I would be really stuck now if I didn’t have some extra supplies as I am reliant on some small nearby shops.

even if I did have a stash I'd still be going to the shops regularly or trying to get some kind of delivery, you still want fresh things and perishable things wouldn't you. The stash is the food that you turn to in a total emergency when there's nothing... Is it not?
I suppose the important thing is to keep levels of demand and supply fairly even so that there arent shortages or over supply leading to wastage

Congratulated for looking after your family
exactly and not just your family... in looking after your family you are reducing the burden on all the other services and you are therefore by extension looking after the nation
🏅
So maybe we can all take a leaf out of the book of The Prepper🙏

We are advised to have two weeks worth of food in, so that isn't stock piling. A lot of people do buy food just to last the week so are having to try and build up their cupboards.

If someone needed something out of my cupboards I would give it to them.

I totally agree Christmas and those people are surely profiteering which is obviously completely despicable☝️😠

I reckon I've always got probably at least 2 weeks worth of food in in but an actual prepper would have more like... what 🤔 two three months?

Ha! All these people suddenly buying flour! I use flour in cooking a lot and I didn’t think to buy that!

I only bought the one hair dye, yes. But I did buy a load of shorts for my daughter from Next online because I was concerned they might close the shops and her summer clothes from last year definitely don’t fit!

Those of you just buying ‘just a few extra bits’ ARE the cause of the shortages.
You. Are. So. Selfish.

I have 3 kids in nappies, 2 on formula. I don't drive so it would be buses to a big supermarket. Can't get nappies or milk locally. The one in nappies but not formula has a limited diet, is now home from school every day and is medically vulnerable. So whilst we can't effect total lockdown (no delivery slots) I do need to not be going to the shops every day looking for milk (babies are 14 weeks so I can't substitute) and nappies. If one of us gets it that's total lockdown for 14 days. What am I meant to do when my permitted weekly supplies have run out?

And the babies have decided they need 6oz not 5oz so that's an extra 15 oz of milk a day which soon adds up and eats into what I thought was a 2 week safety net.and I don't actually know that what I put into any online order I might manage to get will come, so I've had to over ordering nappies with the one slot I got, with the plan of refusing them at the door if they all come

I went to the supermarket the other day and came out feeling like a stockpiler. I don't really do a big family shop normally as we live close to the high street, so we pop into the shops several times a week to grab what we need. DH goes to Costco every few months and buys huge packs of loo roll, tea bags, rice etc. Once our stocks are depleted, he heads over there again.
Because I was aware we should really gave two weeks worth of food in, this week I bought waaaaay more than normal. What I actually bought was probably what a family of four would usually get on a weekly or fortnightly "big shop". It just felt weird for me.

We always bulk-buy chopped toms, and use loads. We've got ten tins left. Which is a lot but I haven't seen any in the shops for weeks. So I'm already worried about what we'll do in four weeks when we've run out (and that's me using less than I usually would to eek them out that long). However I know that I'm in a way better position than others so I can't really complain.

You’re the reason my elderly neighbour had to ring around the estate to ask if anyone could give her supplies because she couldn’t get them when she went to the shops

Oh, she lives in Hull too does she? It's a small world!

Apparently the average shopper has spent just £26 (or similar) extra this month...the problem is that the supply chain is set up to be ‘just in time’ and therefore really vulnerable to sudden changes...will find the link!

Everything I have stocked up on this far there has been plenty of and still is. No shortages of what we normally eat, except a few times I couldn’t get meat.

We don’t eat rice or pasta or baked beans or anything else there has been a shortage of food wise.

I am aiming to go to the shop as little as possible, because if I get C19 I will probably die. There’s not way I’m going to do my regular, bi weekly shops right now.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/27/the-guardian-view-on-empty-supermarket-shelves-panic-is-not-the-problem ...£22 per month!

It’s not selfish to have bought a few extra bits in anticipation of having to go into isolation. Why so dramatic?

I’ve shared my stash with several family friends and donated to charities.

I’ve shopped for two vulnerable neighbours. Did an entire shop just for the food bank.

For me it’s just one less thing to worry about. I got a good deal for my online order for 200 toilet rolls. They still had plenty in stock afterwards and I just checked yesterday and they still have them in stock so no one has been deprived.

We're a family of 5. 4 of us have lunch provided at work/school usually and we eat out or have a take away as a family once a week. So my supermarket shopping has doubled overnight - or more, as snacks are usually bought at work/school too. I've also made sure we have enough for at least a week in case we need to self isolate - husband is a key worker so is probably more likely to be exposed. I haven't stockpiled any one item.

I think the people carrying on as normal and shopping everyday are the selfish ones.

This is a massive change in how we shop. We normally eat approximately 6 eggs a week, under the current situation we'd have about 16, if we ate them as we would normally and if there was such a thing as eggs. Also, whereas usually our breakfasts and lunches would be had out they're now in. More tp is required at home because we're not out for large chunks of the day. Loads more examples but this head all been covered. I didn't prep because I've only just realised this. I'm only just now developing some anxiety around food. Will my end days be spent living off of ff deliveries?!

I am defo a prepper. In jan/feb I had a bad feeling about what I was seeing in China. I just felt like I needed to have some control over what was happening. We have not been to the supermarket to buy loads of toilet roll. I just started adding things to our weekly shop and got all medication supplies sorted. We will still run out of things though as we eat as much fresh as possible.

No, you aren't selfish. Buying a few extra bits a few months back was sensible. I had some stuff for Brexit, toilet rolls, tins, pasta, full freezer etc. Usually I would buy the usual weekly and keep that, but obviously working my way through it at the moment, offering some to friends and neighbours who need it, and going shopping once a week. I don't feel bad about it, I haven't had to buy any of the 'shortage' items this year, so am not contributing to it. I get veg from the local greengrocer (who do veg boxes, you can pay a bit more to help subsidise a box for someone else, which I think is great and shows how valuable local shops are). The butcher is also delivering, and has lowered prices to make it more accessible (as selling more they are still making more profit overall I'm guessing). If people are told to go out as little as possible and be prepared to go into isolation for 2 weeks without warning; is it not surprising they are buying more? To me it's those who have bought excessively, or for profit that are the issue.

I'm a general prepper and have been subjected to some nasty shit on here over the last few months.
Last time I went to a supermarket about two weeks ago - to get some bananas and spring greens - I was struck by how I was actually buying less than anyone else.
Because I bought all my stuff slowly, starting well over a year ago. Bit by bit as I could afford it. New mascara or a couple of jars of pasta sauce and some bog roll? Last August.
While mascara is a handy morale booster, I could live without.

It's not selfish. Its mathematics.

Take a family family of 4, both parents work, both kids in school. All eat lunch out 5 days a week, they go out for lunch on the weekend and have takeaways or dinner out 1-2 times a week. Mum and Dad may have work trips each month which see them fed at hotels up to 1 week a month. Takeaway coffees now need to be supplied at home.

Just think for a second. That's approximately 100 extra lunches a month, approximately 30 extra dinners a month, plus snacks, coffee, etc.

And we may be lockdown for 12 weeks or more.

Of course people are fucking "stockpiling".
Peasants can do maths too.

All I want is some rice. That's all! Can't even fucking get any.

It’s difficult. We are supposed to go shopping as infrequently as possible, yet there are limits on what can be bought. Every week (a typical week, before the virus) we buy 7 cartons of oat milk for our dairy allergic twins, 4 packs of nappies as one has medical issues that mean he drinks excessively, 6 packs of breadsticks as it’s something they eat constantly, they can polish off a bag of rice cakes between them in 2 mins, etc.

A normal weekly shop probably looks like panic buying!

We haven’t been for 10 days now as we got a collection last Sunday but DH will have to go tomorrow.

People are just angry and irritable and it is easy to blame the people who stocked up in advance rather looking at their own lack of organisation and foresight.

People laughed at me for buying the quantities I have for years. They aren’t laughing now.

I was laughed at for having a Brexit stash, but we've been eating through it and have only needed a veg box and some milk (from a local farm) delivered for 6 of us in 2 weeks. This means I've been able to stay away from the shops and leave the delivery slots from big supermarkets to others. The farm shops I have used are keen to get new shoppers on board and have been advertising their contactless deliveries widely.

Prepping "stockpiling" while times are good is the opposite of selfish. There was a thread on here calling someone selfish for having 30 tins in stock. I had about 60 when all this started but they were all bought in late 2018 in anticipation of Brexit so definitely not impacting anyone's elderly neighbours now.