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.

@inthedarkx , anyone on a very tight budget starting now couldn't do it. Anyone on a very tight budget thinking about No Deal Brexit perhaps causing supply problems could have done something. A basics tin here. A bag of basics rice there. As the budget allowed.

I'm bashing nobody. The people who have panic bought and stripped the shelves have had the resources to be able to afford it before it got to that point. BUT THEY DIDN'T, despite being warned, they laughed and pointed and took the piss. Those are the people you need to be cross with.

What about all the people who take the delivery slots week in advance for themselves ? I think supper markers should issue one only at at time so it leaves some for others like me who actually needs one and not 'just in case I need it'

I'm boggled that the preppers like belli are still getting grief after patiently and at depth tried to help long before this shit happened. Personally I would have given up and let you learn your own lessons. The hard way

Exactly what gamerchick said. I prep as a lifestyle choice, based on empty cupboards as a child. So my stores were ready for Brexit in October, and I’ve been doing one in, one out for the last few months.

I haven’t bought anything that wasn’t fresh since this whole stupidity kicked off a few weeks ago, so how on Earth are we responsible for shortages if we haven’t fucking bought any of the stuff in short supply for months?

People are flailing around and looking for others to blame indiscriminately, and many of them were actively on the Prepper boards to take the piss. I’m irritated by the stupidity and ignorance about the lack of supplies and panic buying, rather than smug at my family’s security.
And the accusations will continue, but why?

merrygoround51
The response where I suggested those that could afford to put a buffer in place and didn’t caused other people hardship? It’s true.

That poster above us worrying her kids were going to starve and can’t access food whilst people with good salaries and decided not to take personal responsibility and have a buffer so they could remove themselves from the scrum in a crisis.

If that poster who is in need is in the NW and can get to my house where I am shielding, I will gladly help.

Bankittenheels inthedark has 6 children to feed, so she’d be better off contacting local support networks set up to feed and provide for vulnerable families. I know that SW friends are involved in food drops to their clients, and that our local network prioritise cases like hers.

Explain to me why a few jars of pasta sauce and a couple of bags of basics white rice which I bought last year ( or similar) have created this problem

I would love to know the answer to this?!
How is the tin of tuna I will use tomorrow that I bought in checks spread sheet 2017 causing anyone an issue?

inthedark I have a similar number of children to you, it’s really fucking hard. I’m not a single parent so hats off to you. My husband currently in self isolation in a hotel having worked front line and we have been long preppers after being caught up in a natural disaster in America.

Some people can’t prep and some people struggle but those who can should prepare for events that mean they can’t leave the house for 2/3 weeks meaning those who can’t prep can have access to food.

What about all the people who take the delivery slots week in advance for themselves ? but you can only book slots weeks in advance, and how do you know the people booking them don't need them more than you? Or at least 2nd as much to you

bellinisurge I would agree that what you’ve been doing in terms of general prepping isn’t what has caused this and I’m able to admit that the way I’ve been living in terms of week to week shopping and assuming that both the food and money for it will always be there will change a bit in the future so that I always have some level of supplies as the anxiety this situation has caused me will stay with me

I thought gov advice in feb was already to have two weeks in so that you could quarantine if needed?

@hoorayforharoldlloyd , that was part of the problem. It was bloody obvious that people needed enough for a brief quarantine period at least but they were mocked for getting it - assuming they weren't general Preppers anyway - because, you know, there would obviously be supermarket deliveries.

Oh yeah and "people will get your shopping for you".
All because they couldn't possibly encourage most people who could to take a bit of responsibility for themselves.

So, when the schools were going to close I got what I would normally get in for 2 week school holidays - which is lots as two teens eat piles of food all day long. I buy a pile of snacks and food the week before any school holiday. Does that make me selfish?

I usually do an internet shop once a month and go to our local shops EVERY DAY to buy the huge piles of food, toiletries, loo roll etc that my family consume. Now I can't get an internet shop and don't want to shop every day, I have to go and get a pile of food in one go ever week. Does that make me selfish?

Obviously people buying 6 months worth of something or buying things they won't use, or buying to sell, are arseholes, but where do you draw the line between getting enough in to cover a 14 day quarantine/a few weeks of children and adults home that would normally be eating at school and work and stockpiling?

Also I am glad we have the food in, as now I have a cough and we have a 14 day quarantine as a household. I wouldn't have wanted to ask a neighbour to go shopping for me. Asking them to pick me up some milk and bread and a bag of apples is ok, but how would I ask a neighbour to buy me the enormous quantities of food we get through in a week?

Well i was spooked in late jan, early feb and when that info came out i did buy 2 weeks worth - which was lucky as we had to isolate before lockdown. I will be going to the shops again on weds.

I did feel bad about this when the shelves were empty but decided to stop feeling bad when we had to isolate - plus we didn't need any extra pasta or toilet roll anyway!

I really don't know why the 'preppers' are getting so aggressive on this thread It is incredibly obvious that posters complaining are not giving a shit about people who stockpiled years ago, are you not reading the actual posts?

It is quite clear that prepping is a hobby, in fact a lifestyle choice as described above, it is a completely different way of stockpiling. Obviously that is not even relevant here.

There is absolutely no need to come on this thread with your smugness, telling a vulnerable single mum who literally cannot get access to food that she was irresponsible for not stockpiling before now.

This is not the thread for you. Someone may have used the wrong word, it is so clear when they said 'prepping' they didn't mean it in the sense that you guys like to use it to describe yourselves.

But trying to soften it by calling stock piling prepping is silly. Because what you’re preparing for isn’t real.

LOL! This comment made me laugh. Last time I checked the situation has become all too real. I was expecting Brexit chaos and I got another form of chaos instead. I am so, so, so glad I have been prepping. I don't care what you call it. Call it stockpiling. I am very glad of that stockpile now, when I cannot buy gluten free goods because other people have bought them already, and I suspect a lot of GF food was bought by people who don't need it.

inthedark, I am sorry for the way you have been treated on this thread. Are you absolutely sure you have exhausted all avenues for support? FB has lots of local support groups for covid 19, no smugness in sight, I promise you will get actual help and support!

Crunchy, I have saw that too, I bet they don't even eat the bloody stuff in the end! Disgraceful!

I’m deeply thankful for the prepping threads. I started reading them in January, thinking that the preppers were being madly overcautious, then by early February, I’d started to think they might have a point, so I added just a little bit more to my weekly shop every week. I’d have been either panic buying or stuck without basic staples now if not for them.

@inthedarkx my local community are delivering food to those in need, have you not got something like that in your area?
Also Morrison's do a box of essentials which update with slots regularly.
Finally as they have said in many press conferences if you are struggling that much contact your council to get some help. They are delivering food and supplies

I hope @inthedarkx gets community support and that people who, unlike @inthedarkx , have had a clear opportunity to sort themselves out did so.
As for "coming on here being smug", having had to tolerate some pretty nasty abuse - including some dickhead DM-ing me with vile shit - it's pleasing to hear posters being positive towards preppers for a change.
And as people have been bandying the word prepper around when they mean panicker on an almost daily basis, it's still important to reinforce the difference.
Why do I bother? Good fucking question.

If those who are struggling go to their local council website there will be a pointer to help if you can't get food. Our council have had some funding to cope and I'm assuming all councils have had the same.

Sorry though, it is important to repeatedly point out the difference. Preppers aren't there just to take your rage out on because you feel helpless or take the piss out of because you think what they're doing is stupid. Direct that energy somewhere else

I wasn’t smug toward her, I said other people have caused an issue for her because they could and should have had a back up when she couldn’t because that would have left supplies for her.

Thanks to the prepping threads I prepped for Brexit last March and then topped up for October. I'd let it slide a bit but then thanks to the Pandemic Prepper threads I started again in late Jan/early Feb. My DM grew up in poverty and is always fully stocked for fear of ever being without. I can't thank bellini and the other preppers enough for having saved us from having to tackle the supermarkets for food and also that we've had enough while we've been in isolation.

Unsure why preppers/stockpilers are still getting grief, they've helped the current situation by taking themselves out of the supply line when times are hard. It's the panic buyers that are the problem, they are the opposite of preppers/stockpilers!

Once all this is over and supplies hopefully return to some sort of order I will continue to be a prepper because you just never know. I hope this changes the national psyche and that it will become the norm to have stocks and consider food and household management a bit more, as they seem to in Germany. Also our food security as a nation needs completely rethinking.

You're welcome @DilysMoon