To ask if you have prepped for the second wave

[Oldbagface]

Have you been buying a few extras with each shop in anticipation?

I notice many items are already out of stock online.

What sort of things have you been putting away.

We have bought the odd extras with each shop e.g. tinned tomatoes, pasta, loo roll and baking powder.

We have loads of flour anyway as buy in bulk for our bread maker.

Oh, and chocolates for Christmas.

I’ve been a prepper for decades, so no, I’m not buying extra right now.
I buy my usual weekly shop and just rotate my stores.
I’ve always been an ant rather than a grasshopper, store up in the good times so you and your family have enough to cope in the lean times. And enough to share with those that don’t want to plan ahead and find they run short.
You need to post in the Preppers section OP. All you’ll get here is hysterical accusations of panic buying and starving pensioners.

Don't want to go back to days of this.....

Does 3 cans of Nescafe Azera, 3 bog rolls and a pack of Percy Pigs count? If so, then yes. Yes I have.

Correction, 1/4 of a packet of Percy Pigs.

To me it’s like having some savings in the bank. It’s there for a rainy day. A well stocked larder/cupboards and freezer, is the same thing.

Would all those having a moan on this thread, do the same to those with savings in the bank?

I hate supermarkets, so tend to shop once a month, filling up my freezer and larder.

Do you never eat fresh fruit and vegetables? Grim.

I dont know why people are being snarky OP. I buy four bags of pasta a week. We are a family of six and eat four bags of pasta a week. I really dont care about people who think its outrageous to buy more than one mung bean a week.

I also have a disabled child and zero desire to be judged with my four packs of pasta if I need to go out to the shops. I couldn't get loo roll for two weeks last time. Luckily had bought some as per normal.in Costco in bulk.

I'm sticking to click and collect, not letting anything run out, not judging others and concentrating on my shit. I save my moral high grown for my volunteering.

Do what ever you need to do OP. I wasnt wiping more arse with my morals during the last shortages and I wont be this time either. If others feel happy buying food only when the cupboards are bare than great. It's not for everyone. With disabilities life isnt as easy to run down to the local organic deli. Problem is, people cant imagine any other lifestyle but their own.

Yeah that counts. Bits here and there as opposed to clearing the shelves but some just love a bun fight.

@NameChange657 lightweight. I could inhale a share bag of Percy's.

We have prepared but more financially than anything. We have been focusing on building up easy access savings.

I've always been in the habit of keeping a well stocked larder and freezer in case of illness, extreme weather, or whatever. Since living a stones throw from a coop, rather than the poorly served village we were previously living in, I'd become a bit lax until the threat of brexit shortages loomed.

I haven't changed my habits much but I do now have a permanent 3 month supply of yeast for my breadmaker, since that was the one thing I struggled with, in the spring.

@LizzieSiddal

To me it’s like having some savings in the bank. It’s there for a rainy day. A well stocked larder/cupboards and freezer, is the same thing.

Would all those having a moan on this thread, do the same to those with savings in the bank?

Ridiculous analogy. Having YOUR money in YOUR bank doesn’t adversely affect those who can’t get to the bank, or are shielding, or can’t afford to deposit large sums at a time. Or those who can’t drive to and from the bank and have to rely on public transport. You saving YOUR money doesn’t mean that other people won’t be able to save theirs 🙄 Clearing supermarket shelves on the other hand...

I would be more worried about Brexit than a second wave of Covid. Earlier this year we had a functioning supply chain. After January we won't, for at least some weeks until we arrive at some kind of new normal. Anyone that can afford to stock up a little bit here and there now is reducing the pressure on supply chains after January. We have stocked up slowly (over years) and now just rotate, so in any one week are now not shopping any more than anyone else would be, but if need be could last for weeks without a supermarket.

We always have 4/5 weeks worth of food in. Snow a couple of years ago and lockdown this year is the first time my food issues from childhood (we were neglected and often starved by my parents) actually helped me out. We were able to avoid the madness of the shops in the beginning.

The main thing I've done differently in the last couple of months is kept up the deliveries from local shops rather than reverting back to the supermarket. They were able to keep going during lockdown (milk, eggs, bread and butter from the milkman, meat from the butcher and a fruit and veg box from a local place) and have said that in subsequent lockdowns they will prioritise their existing customers and will give their usual orders before taking new customers on. As we are a big family that's important as Tesco didn't give a shit that my family of 9 normally gets through far more than 3 tins of tomatoes or 3 bags of veg a week.

Our youngest was on the shielding list so limiting trips to the shops was a necessity (and still is).

So my stocking up slowly actually means more available for those who haven't, or can't afford to - it wasn't us buying extra toilet roll earlier this year. We didn't need to.

@wherearemychickens

So my stocking up slowly actually means more available for those who haven't, or can't afford to - it wasn't us buying extra toilet roll earlier this year. We didn't need to.

Exactly.

@froggygoneacourting

The stockpiling/shortages thing is actually a myth.

An economist online did a deep dive into the numbers released by the supermarkets, and only something like 7% of people were bulk buying. The shortages were actually caused by large numbers of people buying only slightly more than they needed.

British supermarkets operate on a “just in time” system which is very fragile; the tiniest interruption to supply chains (like a snowstorm) or unanticipated increase in demand can lead to empty shelves very quickly.

According to ONS data 50% of meals in the UK (pre-COVID) were eaten outside of the house, that includes school lunches, restaurant means, takeaways, supermarket and coffee shop ready-to-eat foods, and of course most working people eat lunch out of the house. Lockdown meant the vast majority of people who’d normally eat at least a third of their meals at school/work/out where suddenly eating all their meals at home. That meant millions of people had no choice but to buy more - not because they were hoarding but because they had extra food requirements placed on their household. If you suddenly have to make lunch 5 times a week for 4 people, that’s 20 extra meals a week. So you have to buy extra food.

The media cynically exploited images of people bulk-buying and juxtaposed then with images of elderly people crying in front of empty shelves in order to manipulate the public into blaming each other and creating scapegoats among the general public. All through this pandemic the government and the media have tried to create scapegoats from amongst the public (disabled people, medically vulnerable people, people on beaches, shoppers) to avoid blame falling on them for their own failures. It’s classic media manipulation.

The reason we had empty shelves is because millions of people needed to but two packs of pasta when they’d normally buy one, not because of a tiny minority bulk buying. And if the government had been competent and not dragged their heels on announcing lockdown and employed such poor and last minute communication throughout, supermarkets could have altered their supply chains accordingly, in the same way they do before every Christmas or other any other occasion linked to an increase in demand.

THIS

Just putting a little request here for anyone reading this thread.
Please leave the gluten free food for those with Coeliac Disease. Last lockdown we had terrible problems trying to get anything for our Coeliac child as muggles were buying it up. It was distressing to hear they were then throwing it away as they didn't like the taste.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/coronavirus-stockpiling-uk-food-allergies-a9414601.html%3famp

I have a stock of vitamins for the DC (both have sensory issues/ASD and will only tolerate certain ones - one will take chewy only and the other only chalky).

I have pasta and green pesto and black olives and crackers (again the only things I can guarantee dd2 will eat - dd1 is more flexible with food). I also have a couple of extra boxes of cat food as she will only eat a certain one (she is fussy and any others she does eat lead to cat puke everywhere).

@SonjaMorgan they’re gone now. Who was I kidding to thing the little piggies would survive the night

We have picked up a few extra bits here and there but not much at all tbh, mostly just some pasta and rice, I think. May well get some more but not go too crazy. We're vulnerable due to health conditions so really don't want to be out shopping if I can help it and just know online orders will run out of stock.

That's awful @PinkLegoBrick. Hope people take note.

I've bought a few extra bags of pasta but mainly because they're 37p - left from the last lockdown I imagine. We asked a friend to pick up a bag of plain and self raising flour at the cash and carry during the last lockdown - we ended up with 16kg bags of each!! Well sorted for cakes and flatbread!!! We have 4 loos so always keep plenty of spare loo rolls.

As usual people are getting prepping confused with panic buying!

Panic buying is going out at the last minute when snow/lockdown/shortages are forecast and buying a huge amount of everything leaving nothing on the shelves.

Prepping is over the course of many months buying an extra tin here and an extra bottle there (leaving loads on the shelves for others) and doing this during times of plenty when supermarkets have the capability to replace stock straightaway.

Preparing yourself is not a bad thing! It means that should we go into a full lockdown again I don't need to go to the shops and can stay at home, leaving what is there for other people who do have to.
I keep my larder cupboard full of dried food, cereal, tinned fruit and veg, toms etc and my freezer well stocked. We could probably last a month or so on what we have.
It's not selfish nor thoughtless to behave in this way and doesn't cause the panic buying that was seen last time. I have just done another top up shop for my elderly parents who need to shield and I'm glad that they also have enough to see them through. They are totally reliant upon me so if I became ill at least I can be happy that they're not going hungry.

Yeah make sure you freeze that flour for a couple of days first to kill the beasties.