Show me your stockpiles

[SpunBodgeSquarepants]

Not because I'm keeping a list of who has food for when the shit hits the fan... Just because I'm a nosy bitch.

Here's mine - I started adding to it a few weeks ago. It's only me and almost 5yo DS I really have to worry about so I feel its almost there.

You get 3 days, you think hmm this is a good idea, and build your supply from there as it becomes habit. It's like losing 3lbs to start off a diet but then you keep going until you lose the 2 stone or whatever.

It is about personal choice and, more significantly, personal circumstances. I am very concerned that people on very limited budgets are not being alienated.
I don't want to give these feckers a narrative of out of touch metropolitan elitists telling each other to stock up on quinoa and avocados. There have been plenty of attempts to do that on here and elsewhere already.
This is likely to hit the poorest most heavily. It is utterly impossible to build a buffer against everything bad. But feeding your household for three days is better than nothing.

That's a good analogy @sparklysneakers

I think the best is to recommend stockpiling for the most likely scenario (if no deal) and then, depending on their circumstances people will do their best they can, of course, nobody is saying people on a tight budget shouldn't do anything. If it is ideal to have enough for say 3 weeks, I don't see the point in recommending 3 days for people on limited budgets not being alienated. People on limited budgets would do the best they can having in mind what the most realistic scenario is.

I do not have a lot of spare cash by the way, that's why I started stockpiling in October, to spread the cost of buying extra food.

I take your point but people are under a lot of pressure not to do anything. How they voted in the referendum; what their other half says; what the media has been saying about yummy mummies and avocados... all that shit.
A 3 day buffer is a good place to start.
There is enough pressure, particularly on women, to do the best for their families/children and to call them failures for not meeting some unrealistic ideal.
I absolutely do not want to do anything like that.
I must say that having been on threads like this for months, I've gone from being called scaremongering and unrealistic for suggesting as much as three days to being , more recently, unrealistic for suggesting only three days.

With the greatest of respect though, these threads are not about you bellini. I'm really not trying to be mean or to make you feel unappreciated for the amount you contribute, but whilst something is of course better than nothing, it's also possible that by repeating the 3 days mantra over and over, people think thats the right amount to aim for and once they've done that they're fine. The reality is that it looks now like more would be a safer bet if you can afford it.

Again, I'm not trying to upset you. I've been on most of these threads and I know the stick you've had at times.

Fair enough.

FWIW, I'm no longer bothering to suggest 3 days because it is too late to do it slowly and incrementally.
But I have suggested it and I genuinely think it's better than nothing.

Its definitely better than nothing

I think it would be useful to have a thread about how to build up say a weeks worth of food for a family of four on a very tight budget.

Well how about, start with three days' worth this week, three days in a couple of weeks and then another three days in mid March?

Those three days could be pretty basic - pasta, tinned tomatoes, value cheese, any really cheap offers like a tin of hotdog sausages for 49p. It'll all get eaten at some point, so not a waste of money.

I just don't see any other information apart from MN getting out there about this, so thanks to all here esp bellini, the OP, everyone really.

@redhat . I have been trying. There's plenty of good budget friendly advice on MN fromlots of posters. But it is getting very close to the point when steady adds to your basket here and there is not realistic.

We are worryingly close now. I started in August and already had a good level of stuff in the cupboards before that anyway. It is expensive to try to do it all in one go.

The three days thing really helped to get my head round what needs doing. You can get an extra three days of stuff in a couple of weeks, carry it up to the flat and put it away in one go. When one has mobility issues, and a condition that makes one knackered all the sodding time it makes it achievable, too much and it is not even worth starting because 3 weeks on top of a weekly shop is so far out of achievable that it can't even be begun to be thought about as there is just starting not enough head space when dealing with the daily shit of disabilities and appointments.

Three days helps to think about all you need for three days, ie, spares of all washing, cleaning, hygeine stuff etc. All three meals and snacks and drinks. OTC meds and first aid.

Three days of stuff will fit in a small kitchen that is jam packed anyway. Eg ex has 3 narrow cupboards and a wall cupboard for all his crockery, pans, sandwich toaster and food.

Three days is doable when you are on a tight budget because with a bit of jiggling of the budget you can spend 20p here and there on tinned carrots or peas or 35p on sweetcorn, 30p on a tin of kidney beans, etc. Buying a spare bag of pasta or rice earlier than normal etc.

It is worryingly close and I can't quite believe we're at this point.

I know I'm end up bailing people out if it hits the fan. I think that's why I've over-prepared.

We haven't got the money too stockpile what we buy is exactly for the week and that's it. If things get really desperate the cats may start looking tasty.

nobody ever died of being over prepared..

I'm sorry to hear that hamster. In that case I'd buy a 45p 1kg bag of value rice and/or a 30p 500g bag of pasta every time you shop. You've then got the foundation for a few meals put aside for minimal cost.

I got some tinned tomatoes today for 28p. I bought two of those, plus a pack of value spaghetti (23p) = 74p. To that I can add one chopped up onion (?8p) =82p, and a tin of hotdog sausages (49p) = £1.31.

A little grated cheese on top of it, if available. Salt and pepper, mixed herbs, stock cube in sauce if available.

That would make a big family meal or two smaller meals. It's not amazing, but it's ok.

I have also bought tins of cheap beans as I like Things On Toast. The cheapest I've seen have been 23p.

I've been buying for a while. I know my extended family haven't and I'm worried they'll leave it too late to get stuff in ahead of price hikes.

I've got most of our stuff from Aldi.
I joked with DH recently about getting a couple of tins from M&S because I'd heard good things. Prohibitively expensive.
I grew up in the 70s so tinned veg holds no fear for me. I have stuck to what we actually eat.
There are some nice cheap pasta and curry sauces in Aldi. And cheap white rice (which stores better than brown) or pasta. If necessary, I would put whatever in a nice Aldi pasta sauce or curry sauce and serve with pasta or rice. Warm meal. Lots of flavour.
Porridge oats are cheap and can be made in the hob with water - stir while cooking and it's very creamy. Add some tinned fruit or a dollop of chocolate spread or peanut butter (also from Aldi) and that's a delicious breakfast.
Turkey thigh mince is cheap and the brown meat is better for you.
Make a cheap lentil soup and cook it with cheap chicken thighs in it. When it's ready the chicken slips off the bone. Remove the bone and serve - the bones really flavour the soup.
If you have a hand whizzer, whizz it up before serving if, like mine, anyone isn't keen on big bits.

This is what I do. You can do what suits you. I do other stuff because I am a general prepper but if I wasn't, I'd make a beeline for Aldi and Lidl. Jack Monroe, who I don't particularly like as a person, has plenty of tinned food based recipes on her blog. Take a look at that.

Oh ffs just days after considering my Brexit stash to be complete I have had to raid it for coffee filters, pain killers, cheese ( a small frozen block), and about to raid it for baked beans ! I now have a massive ‘home day to day’ shopping list ‘cos I’ve spent last few weeks doing Brexit shopping and hadn’t noticed I was running it ofnother things. This is complex !! Running three different shopping lists. Ended up with 5 bottles of cif. I am by nature a natural prepper but my organisational skills are seriously lacking at the moment.

Good tip about the rice @bellinisurge - had no idea that white kept better than wholemeal. Why is that?

This came today. Weighs a ton, we all passed it round going "ooooooooo".

I have it on good authority that the pancakes are delicious and we just add water. Brexit Breakfasts are on me.

@SpunBodgeSquarepants , something about fewer degradable elements. I think.