What will you do to prepare for any future lockdown?

[AwkwardAsAllGetout]

I’m assuming that even when this one is eased, we’ll be locked down again at some point in the next year. I’m wondering what I can do to make that easier and avoid the inevitable second round of panic buying. I was well prepared for this one as I’ve been a long time reader of the prepper threads and could see what was coming, so I had plenty of nappies, toiletries, loo roll and groceries long before we needed them. What I hadn’t anticipated was how much I’d long for some decent outside play equipment for the dc, which seems sold out everywhere. I’d thought ahead to my 2 dcs birthdays in April, and had all presents bought and wrapped, and made sure I had enough for their birthday cakes and party teas. Can’t say the same for the two I’ve got coming up in summer! Will you be preparing early for Christmas? What things are you likely to keep in stock now? I totally underestimated how much my dc would eat with us all being at home all day, so while I have plenty of staples like pasta and flour, my teen could eat super noodles for every meal and the amount of biscuits they’ve eaten is unreal. I think I’m going to keep up our local veg delivery as I’ve been really impressed by that. I think the thing I’m struggling with is how to plan to keep them all occupied over a possible winter lockdown, the weather is gorgeous at the minute which has made the whole thing a lot easier.

We had "plenty" of stuff in / cupboards were full. However that was a far as I went.
I underestimated how much we'd get through with all of us being here all the time. Trying to keep on top of it, but not totally succeeding. Cupboards have looked a bit bare at times. So that will be in my head coming out of this. Just need to figure out where to put it.
Also hadn't planned for birthdays and shoes being outgrown a week into lockdown. (Had to take a punt on the size.) Uniform will also be bought at the first opportunity. (Two new schools.)

I will get more gin & vodka as it is on offer so that I can be ready for making fruit spirits as the appropriate seasons come round.

Make sure I always have a spare wine kit in for home brew

Make sure I have a stock of home brew sanitiser in - I had plenty so was able to help out a neighbour (isolating with severe food poisoning) but now need to restock.

I seem to have a theme going!

I haven't been at all since shutdown but I'll be going to all the cheaper toiletry and household shops like B&M, Pound shops, Savers, Home Bargains etc. I miss these, even though some are still open I can't face them i case of lack of social distancing.

Surely they'll be even busier when the lockdown is lifted? That means even less chance of social distancing, even longer queues etc. Even with a temporary lifting, they're still not going to let shops etc become a free for all - the 2 metre distance, restrictions in customer numbers, etc will still be in place.

Plan is for DS to be off to Uni in September, so as soon as shops start to open again, we'll be out buying stuff for him, clothes, kitchen stuff, study materials, cleaning stuff, first aid box, bedding, etc etc., so that we have everything ready in case the shops are closed again later in Summer. We've already made the shopping list together, so ready to go! Just making sure that we buy nothing that won't last until Sept 21 in case Uni's aren't open!

I've been so grateful for my Brexit stockpile, especially when all of the unprepared people ran out to the shops and cleared the shelves of the basics (which was what I thought would happen, albeit with No Deal).

I've been surprised at how fast dd has grown. Not sure if it's the extra sleep in the mornings but she's gone up a shoe size (we have a foot measurer which is handy) and her legs have grown about 2cm in a month it seems! So maybe clothes a size up would be good.

Knuckle bones for the dog, although I've not tried to get these yet so no idea if hard to come by.

Paint/wood for DIY - was lucky as I just moved so had a lot of things ready for "some point in the future" renovations.

Wish I had got a new bed beforehand though - things to clear if we lift lockdown would be those where you need people in your house for a bit (electricians/gas pipes etc).

Murder DH for throwing out barely out of date yeast just before lockdown

But actually I think the stuff we prepped at the start of the year has actually been fairly spot on. We've still got plenty of pasta and tinned tomatoes/passata, which is good as those are still hard to come by here. I would probably freeze some grated cheese next time I think as we are still having the odd supply issue here with that in our deliveries. I agree about the play stuff for garden - luckily we managed to get an Argos delivery just before lockdown with play stuff for DD, but I wish I'd been a bit more prepared with that as we've been using the garden a lot!!

I suspect the total uselessness of insurance - certainly travel insurance - will lead to some interesting decisions.

Well I am keeping a couple of packs of loo rolls in my car boot! Also some tins ,bics ,pasta and rice in the cupboard .TBH we havent been too bad here apart from some loo roll/egg/flour shortages .Hadnt even thought about Christmas!

Nobody needs to be prepping or panic buying!

🙄 Tell that to the people who haven’t been able to leave the house because of compromised immune systems and have nobody to shop for them. Don’t agree with panic buying, but I have prepped and I’m glad I did. With my stock I don’t have to rely on other people to do the shopping for me and don’t have to risk my health by going to the supermarket either. What a clueless comment🙄

Stop smoking and get to dentist when big lockdown ends- I've got a painless but crumbling back tooth. I will also get a pedicure as I usually have one 2 weekly, I've been locked down since mid February and crave smooth feet. My eyebrows need some attention too. My hair is getting much whiter, but not rooty, so I'll leave that as it's nice and healthy and I don't want to spend £££ if we're going to lockdown again!

I've not been able to not get hold of anything except yeast, so I'll buy dozens of packets when I see them in preparation for the the next, God willing, smaller wave and lockdown.

I'm also going to botox my 11s as so much more screen time than usual and running out of frownies has exacerbated them, but I'll wait a long time to do that in case I react badly.

As a household I think we'll be keeping a better-stocked store cupboard; normally we'd decide on the day what to eat and it was easy to just pop out if we didn't have anything. We're a bit more organised now - this is the first time I've ordered a case of wine rather than just getting a bottle when I wanted one, and it's been great! The week before lockdown I bought some extra art supplies and books for DD, and they've come in very useful. I'm getting much more use out of my yoga mat and weights, so I'll probably look for an extra set of weights for the autumn and a resistance band.

DD's due to start reception in the autumn, so if there's another lockdown it'll be different (harder) - at the moment we don't really have a routine, and we're just doing our best to get through the day. If she's got home schooling to keep up with, I think we might have to consider talking to our employers about reducing our hours, as it's not really practical to homeschool with two parents WFH FT.

Not let my usual levels of provisions (1 in use and at least 1, but generally more depending on the item, in stock) run down due to a combination of a full kitchen refit followed by an extremely busy work period then a holiday. Duh!

maybe, just maybe, people will get real about tatmas and realise that we don't actually need all the planet wrecking stuff that gets bought. That will be a pandemic bonus.

no new decorations (if you have a set), no gift packs of stinking toiletries, no excessive wrapping - simple no-pain stuff like that.

Yawn at all the idiots who think preppers are panic buyers. We always have a few extra bit of food as we live rurally and I refuse to drive to the local town in bad weather (lots of fallen trees etc).

I bought a skipping rope to use which will last. I am hoping to learn how to make sourdough bread as I still can't get hold of any yeast. I also wish I had more compost and some seed potatoes.

OP you've misunderstood what prepper means. You wouldn't have seen a prepper in the shops at all apart from for bread and fresh stuff for the whole of March and April. What you refer to is the panic buyers, the opposite of preppers.

Preppers made sure we had stocks of what we consider essential items way, way in advance. My pantry has been full since late 2018 and the whole of 2019 with plenty of everything which meant when this all kicked off I really could stay at home and not worry for a while.

The thing is, if everyone became a prepper, it would actually have the same effect as a few people panic buying, given that it was demonstrated that most people were not actually panic buying at all when the shelves were empty, but an awful lot of people just started buying a little bit more than usual so as not to risk running out altogether (ie prepping...).

We are working towards being more self sufficient we grow our own veg but will grow more from now on. We have an orchard too so we are looking at planting another couple of trees and bushes.
I am going to start jam making (night see if I can find a course first?)
We have chickens for our own eggs.

But mainly we live in a house with no mortgage (we are very lucky) we have older paid for cars.
So our monthly outgoings are very low and we intend on keeping it that way.
We only pay:
Health insurance 250
life insurance x2 60
Phone bills x2 60
(And pre Coronavirus we paid
Childcare 200)

Other bills are
Electricity (120 every 3 months)
House and contents insurance (500 annual)
Car insurance and car tax- I put aside a sinking fund of 2.5k to cover this and services etc.

Then we have our expenditures;
Food
Petrol
House repairs and replacements (sinking fund of 1k
Waste disposal costs (15 every 6ish weeks)

I'm now working on trying to improve my methods of being more frugal.

So, if we all start prepping now for Christmas...

@BriefDisaster try getting a secondhand bureau - they can be surprisingly cheap and are certainly space saving.

There is nothing wrong with buying an extra tin every shop walkaround. It leaves plenty for everyone else. It stops you having to buy when shops have run down in 6 months when everyone is panic buying again. Leaving more for everyone else who hasn’t done this, and more to go around.. I don’t know why this is so hard to understand.

ThroughThickandThin - do you ever listen to More or Less on radio 4? They looked into the “panic buying” that went on immediately pre-lockdown and showed that most people were not doing that at all, but lots were stocking up on a bit more of the staples than usual. Any change of behaviour causes issues with supply chains, so more people prepping than usual does cause problems.

Thankfully, I have always kept a 'shop' in my garage with many different tins and packets, plus cleaning materials and toiletries. I will make sure I get a bit more in over the summer (if possible). I think Christmas is going to be very low-key this year, but I will get in some mincemeat and flour for mince pies, and sausagemeat, etc. I have found a great little supplier for good quality meat, cheese and eggs and they will have a choice of beef or turkey so will order well beforehand. I have about 6 boxes of crackers in my store cupboard as I can't resist them!

When I eventually get back to the hairdresser, I am going to beg her to provide me with the correct mix and instructions for doing my roots so I can do them myself in case of another lockdown! She has begged clients not to DIY because of the difficulty of removing DIY colour before putting on the correct stuff. I look like a badger at the moment so can't wait to go back although I will be pretty nervous - how are they going to social distance? It's not like you can wear a mask when having your hair done!!

Yes to more compost and veg seeds, cards and stamps!

The thing is, if everyone became a prepper, it would actually have the same effect as a few people panic buying

No it really wouldn't.

But yes, everyone start prepping now for christmas. Since nobody can actually panic buy because of restrictions, it might actually hammer home the difference for the eternally dim.

@happydays00. Prepping is buying one extra here and there over a long time period so you have plenty in. So I buy two discounted washing powders at half price, making full price which I would buy anyway, thus slowly build up a stock. Panic buying is clearing the shelves of everything at the same time, ie 10 people go to the shop and buy 100 loo rolls at the same time, as opposed to buying 2x9 if on offer, etc. I have no doubt shops are prepared for people buying two when on offer as that’s the whole point. Then all you need to do is a normal shop to keep it topped up, once you have used say half.

Preppers are not panic buyers, we are sensible people who have been doing this for years

gamerxhick - are you calling the mathematicians on More or Less eternally dim?