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.

Keep up with the housework so the one space we could reasonably put a desk hasn't been filled with junk we now have no time to clear out (and with the recycle centres closed, no where to take said junk).

@Madein1995

Lush has started delivering again. I placed an order the other day. I NEED Dream Cream for my eczema and was running low so I'm really relieved!
That's another thing to stock up on...

I wouldn't have considered myself a prepper but it turns out my slight hoarding tendancies have been very useful. There's not that many things we either couldn't get, didn't have or could manage without.
I think it has changed some of my shopping habits for good. We're getting veg boxes and milk delivered and will continue with that. Have used more eco and reusable products- like period pants, so no worry about running out.
I thought we were pretty good on waste, but have got much better. Hardly any plastic waste compared to pre lockdown for one.

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

Hypothetically, if everyone started on a given day to add one extra item to their weekly shop, then yes, for a couple weeks there would be shortages. Under normal, non-pandemic circumstances, the shops would adjust their supply systems within a couple of weeks, they do this every year for Christmas. Some time later, everyone would have created their six-week reserve and would stop adding the extra item, at which point there would be a surplus in the shops.

In reality, that's not how everyone taking up prepping would happen. Some people already prep, others would not choose to start straight away, and still others are unfortunate enough to lack the money or space to buy and store a reserve of food and would only start once their circumstances had improved. So everyone prepping wouldn't cause a mass step change in buying habits, which is what causes shortages and surpluses within a "just in time" logistics system.

In any case, you are blaming the wrong people for the shortages. The supermarket shortages right now are because the supermarkets could reasonably have predicted that covid-19 was going to be a problem when we had the first case in the UK and yet they failed to act back then. Shoppers, in buying extra supplies, are acting to ensure that they can feed their families through a two week self-isolation that will start without notice. Someone who shops weekly for a family needs to have two weeks food in the house before they go shopping for another weeks worth because they could start coronavirus symptoms on shopping day and not be able to make the trip.

People should make a will.

We don’t have enough adult jigsaws or family (not kids only) board games.
Wish we’d bought propane for our bbq before.
And kept a spare bag of each type of flour.

Going to rundown the freezer to defrost it then I’ll restock with an order to a local farm.

As well as just freezing meat/poultry I’ll batch cook some meals and freeze as individual portions in case one/both of us get sick. This is just to replace the existing ones we’ll have to eat to defrost the freezer.

Another Brexit prepper who was set up and ready to go well before Christmas. And thank goodness, because with two vulnerable members of the family plus the difficulty in getting supermarket deliveries we'd have been in trouble otherwise and having to brave the supermarket at least once a week. Particularly as some of us are dairy intolerant and things like soya milk aren't easy to find outside of a supermarket. Fruit, veg and meat we've been very lucky to find local small businesses delivering.

I thought of and bought seeds last autumn and have been glad of that, we're growing a lot more purposefully this year and focusing on producing a lot of the fruit and veg that we know does well in our garden that we can freeze/bottle and store a decent amount of. I compost and have done for years, but have discovered I still should have planned to have some growbags to hand. I picked up a couple of bread mixes at every shop for a couple of months last autumn and have been v grateful for those as DM and DF rely on bread and that's also not easy to get: however once those are eaten it's going to be hard to replace those, so I'm thinking it's more likely to be a case of people learning to buy flour etc in bulk which we're not used to doing.

Get a chicken for eggs!

and yes ^^ Starrynight*

Also plan to clear the freezer and go with a local butcher's deal on bulk buys.

Learn to drive and stockpile food and loo roll.

I've been having massive issues getting supermarket shops in. Finally managed to arrange a taxi last night but only got half of what I needed because lildl was bare and Iceland would not let me in during their NHS and emergency worker hours because I am "only a carer" . Ended up wasting £6 on a taxi only to have to go and spend fortune at the corner shop again.

Definitely go to the dentist and get new glasses, both overdue.

A decent desk and chair so I can comfortably WFH

A small freezer

A skipping rope

I already had this desk (or an earlier version without the drawer) which fits in a corner of our modest landing. It's been a godsend. It's back in stock on 5th May. And I did order an office/typing chair from Amazon in a rare fit of foresight.

www.futoncompany.co.uk/storage/collection/home-office/oak-leaning-ladder-desk.html

www.amazon.co.uk/EUCO-Adjustable-Computer-Leather-Furniture/dp/B07SPJVF46?pf_rd_p=331ceefd-8d20-59ee-8bdf-1848f192b924&pf_rd_r=DCP9DB2JYK6N7095GCP4&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-10&pf_rd_t=BROWSE&ref_=s9_apbd_omwf_hd_bw_bDbFU7&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&pf_rd_i=200970031

I think it will be in winter so make the garage into a man cave. Darts, table football etc then I can get to watch something on TV that isn't FIFA or match of the day.

@GnomeDePlume - thank you for the book recommendation have just bought a copy on eBay

Not food; surprisingly food has been the least of my worries: I always have a rotating stock of tins, packets and frozen food (hangover from the days we were really poor, the fear of having nothing to feed the dc is always with me). I think I should stock up on things that we really don't want to go without but which are hard to cast as essentials that it's ok to go shopping for, I guess- beauty products, spare phone chargers, things for the dc to do, etc.

Marmite27.
How old are your kids ? Girls or boys?
Dunno if you would like any but I have loads of craft stuff (ex childminder) so if no-one wants it I will be throwing it away asap

I don't think of myself as a prepper but have always tried to have plenty of non-perishable food in just in case of problems of one kind or another. As we open a new packet/jar of something I put on the list to get another one, if it's something I always want in. I buy extra when special offers are on, and so on. So we've managed pretty well since lockdown. I'll continue to buy paracetamol as often as I can so that we never run out, because when somebody does need it stocks go down fast. Good job we had antihistamines in too, given that all three of us have had hayfever in the last 2-3 weeks.

We've got through far more food than normal now that we're all here all the time. Normally lunches are bought out of the home for at least half the week and my son is not often here in the evenings. So it makes sense to have stuff in just in case of normal illness, never mind unprecedented stuff like the present situation.

Buy some paint for decorating, get some gardening stuff. I could probably get these things now, but they’re not essential so I won’t.

I'm not a prepper but I had a Brexit stockpile which has been quite helpful for things like loo roll and like a pp, anti-histamines. Also couldn't get apples for a few days (I only like one variety because I am fussy) so was glad to have tins of peaches I could eat instead.

Otherwise, I will make sure I get my hair cut regularly - actually I do anyway but my last cut was in February, the timing was just unfortunate this time. I've not had a dental check-up since last year but we all saw the hygienist at the beginning of March so at least we've had our gums looked at.

I was surprised that Robert Dyas closed despite being allowed to open as a hardware store so I might buy a spare kettle.

Stock up on make up as I've ran out!!

Once this has all calmed down and things become available again I will be resurrecting my SARs box that I used to keep before I moved back here. I will have a box of latex gloves, masks, hand gel, hand wash and disinfectant. I will also be making sure that I have a good stock of paramcetemaol, ibuprofen (may need it next time or next virus) and other medical stuff e.g. rehydration.

The worst part of this virus for me was seeing people on the internet begging for Calpol or paracetamol as they had ran out. It wasn't even for CV. It was for other unanticipated things that they had not accounted for and they were shielding or couldn't get to a pharmacy.

In addition to this I will be buying a small chest freezer as we did make meals that we could freeze extras and made bread but had no space to freeze. I'll also make sure I've got a stash of good books to read.

I keep a reasonable stock in of various things, but reckon that a family of five would need 21 bags of pasta if that's what they ate for lunch and dinner for two weeks if they couldn't go out, so wasn't surprised that shelves were emptied of that.

I had prepped for no deal brexit. Next time I will check that the packets of rice on the top self really ARE rice and not beans . I have signed up to Milk and More and will get my first delivery this week, I plan to use them a lot more in future. I won't waste freezer space on random leftovers that are not labelled ! I will make sure I have enough boring stuff like toilet cleaner.