An interesting new article from The Guardian re: stockpiling and why it isn’t as easy as the government suggest

[UglyCathKidstonBag]

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/stockpile-food-no-deal-brexit-dream-on?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Well worth a read and fairly sobering stuff.

Where exactly are companies supposed to put all this extra product? How do they pay for creating it and housing it for months on end?

Yes because no government ever says 'that thing you like about life today is because we are so closely entwined with the eu', they always claim it's all their own work. The reason the 27 are being so nice to us is that all their governments do the same. So the vote was based on years of lying about just how integrated we already are.

I had a conversation about this with DH earlier. It would be nice to think everything will run smoothly and there will be no shortages but judging by the cock-up the government has made with the entire Brexit process so far it wouldn’t surprise me if the shit hits the fan.

There are already empty shelves in the supermarkets due to the CO2 shortages, of this cannot be recovered in time it may run straight into Brexit related shortages.

We will start to keep extras of certain things, we have a disabled DC so there is an element of having to keep a good supply of certain medications and foods in case of shortages (we do this regardless as sometimes the pharmacy supply chain lets us down and we have to wait for lifesaving medications).

I feel like I don’t really know where to start with other things though?! Anyone have suggestions on basic items that would be useful?

@Everstrong , at the risk of horrifying some snowflakes on here for even suggesting it - focus on 3 days from waking up to going to bed. What do you eat and drink? What do you snack on or treat yourself with (if you do)?
Look at shelf stable options. Freezer is good but don't put everything in there. Not because I think power will go but because Sod's law applies and you might lose stuff if you e.g. trip a power point by mistake, fail to close the door properly (these actually happened to prepper me!).
Speaking of Sod's law, have toothpaste and soap on hand.

If you were 20 it probably wasn't a massive deal - I was a carer in my 30s

I was nearly 30, newly married and starting a family and don't remember it at all Maybe it was a regional thing?

Maybe it was @PickwickThePlockingDodo .

Well it obviously was a huge issue Simon was unable to find bread in a supermarket for 1 day.

I think part of the backlash against prepping is because when people hear about it, they think of totally apocalyptic situations.

I see a lot of posts saying that prepping is pointless unless you have a gun, which is ridiculous.

I don't think we are at risk of starvation. I think there may be some general civil unrest but I don't think we're heading towards a Mad Max type scenario.

I do think we are at risk of a significant disruption in supplies and will therefore be making sure I have enough food that I like (and drink!) to see me through the most disruptive phase should the need arise....in the same way I might do if I lived in an area that was frequently impacted by snow, for example.

Prepping, like the word "hack" seems to be a buzzword in this context.
People aren't becoming preppers like me, they are buying extra ina way they probably never bothered before.
Putting stuff away for a possible rainy day does not mean you are a prepper.
Nor does prepping mean guns and ammo. This is the UK, guns and ammo aren't our thing.

Thanks bellini that’s a good starting point.

Having grown up in rural Scotland we regularly had winters where it would be difficult to obtain supplies for varying amounts of time. The council used to send advice out to householders advising which supplies would be sensible to have in e.g UHT or milk powder in case of power outages, candles and a calor gas camping stove. Likewise when stormy weather started they’d advise boiling the kettle and filling hot water bottles, flasks etc to keep warm incase the heating went off.

I don’t think those things will happen anytime soon in the UK but I feel that I’d like to put off paying more for food for as long as I can do building up a small stockpile will help that.

I also like the idea of being a bit more self sufficient and sourcing food closer to home. When you consider that we import most of our food and there is a huge environmental burden associated with that, it would be a lot of good if we all tried to live more sustainably. I think now is a good time to change lifestyle for the better. I have a postage stamp for a garden but have researched various fruit and veg that I could grow in pots.

I don’t think there’ll be societal breakdown at the level some on MN are expecting.

However, I think there could be pockets of riots with opportunistic thugs taking any excuse to loot and cause violence. Having a plan to be able to avoid particular areas, and bunker down at home for a few days is a smart one.

After all, we are talking about a nation where a Build-a-Bear sale caused unrest

I didn’t say it was a huge issue, what I am saying is that it did happen.
I’ve got no idea how long it took to get stock back onto the shelves as I didn’t need to buy any for a couple of days.
I think it might have been a day or two, which is annoying but that is all.

a lot of posts saying that prepping is pointless unless you have a gun

On MN? That's only been 2 or 3 people who seem to be Americans anyway.

A few on MN, comments on newspaper articles, faceache etc....

I just think as soon as you mention prepping, people always think of doomsday type scenarios - which is troublesome, when actually in some instances, prepping is a sensible thing to do.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about building a fall out shelter under the stairs or indeed obtaining guns and ammo... Just things that will make life a bit easier should supply chains be disrupted.

Simon if you want anyone to believe yours was anything but an isolated incident, then can you find a news report from the time. If it was an issue, it would have been front-page news.

For heaven's sake Caroldecker, googling "fuel protests 2000" immediately brings up this BBC story that covers both fuel rationing and food shortages:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/924574.stm

caroldecker There were empty shelves in shops near where I lived in September 2000 too. The problem with getting news reports is that most newspapers have put articles of that age into archives, which require a paid or university subscription. This BBC article refers to 'shops bare of bread and milk' for the entry under 13 September: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/924574.stm

the article says 'some shops bare of bread and milk'. Stop trying to pretend a crisis existed when it didn't. It would have been front page news and easy to find articles, wiki pieces etc. There aren't because it was a damb squib.

We certainly had a sort of rationing up here during the trainer driver strike - only emergency services staff and vehicles getting fuel at some petrol stations and long long queues at others. DH work was rearranging what sites they were working on to save fuel, other staff asking if they wanted to take annual leave to save on the fuel use

Tanker driver strike

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/923405.stm

The point with all that was that it was sorted out in a few days.
Time lags on imports due to Brexit have the potential to drag on a lot longer. But in the end it depends what it done.

Luckily @caroldecker my dad had just died so my 3 times a week two hour car journeys there and back to help him were no longer necessary. Or my siblings for the other days. We just left our bereaved mum in her own for a few days. It was fine.

Thanks for advice over best before dates - I really should check my posts at a bleary-eyed 6am.

Point is, I'll stock up a bit from this week with long-life tins etc and it'll see me through the winter and spring.

Caroldecker

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_protests_in_the_United_Kingdom

Stop trying to pretend a crisis existed when it didn't.

I’m not claiming there was a crisis, what I am saying is that very quickly basics like bread and milk ran out, mainly through panic buying but also due to the supply chain. Had it gone on much longer there might have been a crisis.

I know it was getting to the stage where I wondered whether I would be able to get to work. Fortunately it was resolved before the fuel dried up completely.