Prepping for winter??

[Helenj1977]

Probably get a lot of negative comments on this but I'm a preparer. I started prepping in February for coronavirus. I'm glad I did. Everyone is different so please don't leave negative comments.

I'm thinking anti bac wipes, gel, soap and masks. I'll just add an extra one to my weekly shopping.

I'm not worried about shops this time so food etc isn't on my list.

Anyone else thinking about it?

@NK346f2849X127d8bca260

I am going to add in a couple of items each time i do a food shop, we struggled to get food when teen ds caught Covid at end of March. I also realise what a pain having no cash in house was, in our local area a group was set up to do shopping for those self isolating but you had to give the shopper cash. We had very little to eat those two weeks, fortunately did have a stockpile of toilet rolls though!

Better hope the Mumsnet cashless brigade don't get their way. See thread below if you haven't already seen it.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3966155-To-think-that-we-are-being-forced-into-a-cashless-society?msgid=98386175#98386175

Not sure why people need anti-bac wipes for a virus or indeed hand sanitiser unless you are always out and about and washing hands is difficult. I've got a bit of hand gel but I doubt it will get used.

I bought a box of 36 loo rolls from "Who gives a crap" this week. DH and DS laughed at me but they may be glad after Brexit mark 2.

In our shops it was difficult to get flour, pasta, tinned tomatoes and rice for a bit. I will also stock up on tinned fruit.

Before Brexit I was looking at luxuries like running shoes, toiletries I like etc. I still have an enormous stockpile of those so probably don't need them now.

@cologne4711

Not sure why people need anti-bac wipes for a virus or indeed hand sanitiser unless you are always out and about and washing hands is difficult. I've got a bit of hand gel but I doubt it will get used.

I bought a box of 36 loo rolls from "Who gives a crap" this week. DH and DS laughed at me but they may be glad after Brexit mark 2.

In our shops it was difficult to get flour, pasta, tinned tomatoes and rice for a bit. I will also stock up on tinned fruit.

Before Brexit I was looking at luxuries like running shoes, toiletries I like etc. I still have an enormous stockpile of those so probably don't need them now.

"Who gives a crap" - what a great name!

Dettol antibacterial wipes says for virus’ as well on it.
We go through a fair amount of alcohol
Gel as we are out most of the day and trying to avoid public loos!!

Join us over on the prepper topic!!

What I learned from last time is that people ransack the gluten free produce if they can’t get ‘normal’ wheat products. I started prepping back in September for brexit and end of January specifically for coronavirus, and luckily had enough GF pasta/bread/flour for DS4 for about 4 weeks, but it’s still a struggle to get hold of flour now.

What I also learned is the importance of supply chains. I don’t have masses of space for storage for things like bread and milk. After a few weeks I managed to get a local milk man and now we get it delivered. My PIL are buying me a bread maker for my birthday.

I think what I’m trying to say is that I’m going to use the run up to this winter to prep more intelligently for where my gaps were. Stock up on the things I felt I needed to last time and concentrate on decent winter clothes, games and resources for DS and more permanent peeps like a bread maker and sewing machine.

I also order from who gives a crap and will order sooner than I would normally each time, so I can build a supply of ‘leftovers.’

Couldn't get a shopping slot for well over a month, couldn't go out with vulnerable children, thus any preps were definitely needed.

@fabulous40s - I prepped for the first time ever in February. I was extremely grateful I did as yes, I did need it. I caught Covid and was very unwell with it and my supplies meant my DC had easy food to eat/cook and plenty of toiletries etc.

I’m a bit baffled about why posters come onto the thread to say they had no trouble getting everything they wanted, as though people who say they did must be mistaken.

Prepper here - I found tissues were the devil to get hold of and even though I had a fair few boxes I had almost run out when they reappeared, so am already stocking up on those. Also had problems getting kitchen towel (but I had a stock of it so was OK), and gluten free stuff. I agree with AlohaMolly above, people buy GF food if they can't get the regular products. I bet quite a few discovered that GF isn't very nice most of the time! Also had trouble getting tinned fruit and veg during lockdown, so am adding to that stock a little here and there.

Soaps - I seem to have enough to last the rest of my life, not bought prior to lockdown at all, but many months previously. Still have 3 bottles of hand gel, I never use it but DP likes it. I noticed some Dettol available the other day so bought that as it was hard to find.

I wouldn't be too sure about shops, OP, as don't forget, December 31 marks the UK's end of transition out of the EU and we are also due a recession as well. Also as someone else said, always have enough in case you need to do 2 weeks' isolation.

Because it's winter make sure you have enough warm clothing and indoor activities in case we have any power outages. And do join us over on the Prepper's section! Lots of very good info there.

I buy bulk of toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and tissues from Amazon when they have an offer on, also saves getting them in a shop as they are bulky.

Ditch tissues and use cotton handkerchiefs. Ditch kitchen rolls and use cloths. You will never run out, help the environment and save shed loads of cash.

I stopped using cotten hankies at the begining of the pandemic. Coughing or sneezing in to one and then carrying it around until you can put them in the washing machine isn't ideal at the moment.

Still use cloths to clean though and stay away from wipes as much as possible.

We accidentally stocked I on vitamin D because I saw some in boots and bought 2 packs and then husband did the same in aldi

There isnt much non-food that I'm stocking up on. I'm just replenishing our dry food stocks because they were somewhat run down at the beginning of lockdown. An extra few tins on each weekly shop to replace those we used.

Get hand cream.

We were very glad of our Brexit stash during lockdown, especially when we were both self isolating with symptoms for 2 weeks. We live in a village and although there is a shop it was pretty cleared out for most of lockdown. I can remember being really excited when I managed to buy bananas!

We have started to build up another stash with the usual stuff, pasta, rice, bread flour and plain flour, yeast, tinned tomatoes, tuna, coconut milk, sweetcorn, fruit, chickpeas, lentils, plus toilet roll, kitchen roll, soap, toothpaste.

For winter I will add light bulbs, candles, firelighters, matches and crafty stuff.

I feel much happier knowing we have it all and really don't care if anyone laughs at us about it!

Cleaning stuff
Bog roll
Moisuriser + hand cream
Medications
Other body stuff like shampoo etc

And then shit loads of other stuff due mostly to Brexit.

In terms of entertainment options - wellies and coats for child, wood for the fire, printer ink, decent glue for crafting, some quilting fabric for myself (things like fat quarters became almost impossible to get hold of), elastic for mask making, paper - lots of paper (drawing I mean).

really don't care if anyone laughs at us about it

Same! My partner used to call it my 'crazy pile' when I was stocking up for Brexit (for the three different dates). Yet in that last 2 weeks before lockdown in March when things were a bit mental in the shops, he was struggling a bit with anxiety and just kept saying 'I'm SO glad about your crazy pile'.

@ohthegoats

really don't care if anyone laughs at us about it

Same! My partner used to call it my 'crazy pile' when I was stocking up for Brexit (for the three different dates). Yet in that last 2 weeks before lockdown in March when things were a bit mental in the shops, he was struggling a bit with anxiety and just kept saying 'I'm SO glad about your crazy pile'.

Yeah, same here

I never had trouble finding anything i needed in March/April as I recall... there was maybe a bit less pasta, tomatoes and loo roll on the shelf but never a point where I couldn't buy what i needed. So no, no winter prep.

Definitely moisturiser!! I’m someone that buys a big tub and it lasts two years normally, but when I finally had to venture to the shops I was using hand gel a lot and then wiping down the shopping once I got home (hot soapy water) do my hands were wrecked. From what I’ve seen, moisturiser has gone up in price

Please don't get wipes it's so bad for the environment 😡😡

Prepping certainly works, I learned this myself. I shall certainly be stocking up again.

I'm only just running out of loo rolls, I think that's not bad! Will build up the stocks slowly.

I live in a country area, shops are a drive to the nearest market town. What if I'm ill in the winter? Or the roads bad? Or I need to self-isolate? Or the local area goes into lockdown? And that's before BREXIT kicks in.

Our shops did run out but I had stock. Dealt with the milk problem by having some frozen and plenty of tins of powdered.
My sister lives in a town but her shops were worse, by the time we could first go out and meet someone outdoors my sister could no longer get cleaning products, flour, pasta and so on...I gave her all these from my own stocks. There was also no hand soap for a while and no-one could get hand sanitiser, which I also handed over.

I'm definitely going to start building up all over again.

I bought bar soap as that was all I could get in March and they've lasted ages, they don't look much smaller than when I bought them. I will keep two nine rolls packs of loo roll under the stairs, plus another opened one. Then an unopened spare of all cleaning supplies and toiletries. I don't use any antibac products and there is alcohol hand sanitiser at work and shops and supermarkets anyway.

Keeping the cupboards full with rice, lentils, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, chickpeas and so on as they were difficult to get before. We go through a lot of things like that.

I try to keep the pantry full but OH freaks out at the sight of all the food and starts working his way through it, forsaking the fresh food that we are meant to be eating. It drives me crazy. My local shop had only this week lifted the restriction on numbers of items so that's a relief.