Are we actually stockpiling food following govt announcement??

[Mumoftwo8519]

DH and I have a 4 year old, 2 year old and a 9 month old baby. I feel like this govt announcement to stockpile food is just media scaremongering and I’ve ignored it up until now, but tonight after I put our children to bed and turned out their lights out and the house was pitch black I did think to myself, god what if this was actually it and we were put into a blackout.

Im worried about having food to feed my children, and the thought of them going hungry is starting to worry me, but I also cannot bring myself to believe something will actually happen??

is anyone else stockpiling? What kind of things are you getting? Are we actually going to eat cold beans from a tin?

my husband and I were talking about it tonight, and wondering what the govt are hiding?

Power cuts, extreme weather, disruption to food supply chains.

🤣🤣. I thought you were going to say you eat them.! 🤣🤣

I look plump and complacent and slow moving, but you get anywhere near my Costa latte powder supply & you'll soon see the other side of me 🤣🤣

If the internet and phone networks go down you'll still be able to get government announcements.

The message isn’t clear. What are we worried about? Grid failing? Natural catastrophe? Foreign invasion?

It’s all a bit vague.

Any and all.

Lots of people, especially young people, don't. Lots of them don't even do a weekly shop just buy what they want for dinner that day.

Not intentionally no, was a good price on protein drinks at costco so stocked up on 3 months worth so I dont have to do multiple trips 😆 I have thought about water but I don't drink water from plastic bottles so I am not going to buy any for just in case cos the government told me to.

I have camping lights already maybe I need batteries probably don't have enough but oh well.

It would have to be something pretty big to bring down the entire electricity grid or no water in the entire country. I just keep the car full of fuel cos more likley it'll be areas e.g. all of London that have no electricity or water and ill go to my sisters or mums if they are fine or a friends place.

I think most people talking about water, butts, etc. are planning on using that water for flushing the toilet and washing rather than drinking it

What event are we expecting that shuts down food deliveries?

I have prepped a little and do plan to get more. I have about 20 litres of bottled water, loads of logs for the log burner (which I can cook on), torch, solar/wind up radio, i have 7 days of food (although itll be very boring by the end of the 7 days..) in the larder. I plan to get a sack on bread flour, we already make our own bread so its more economical to have a sack rather that buying packs.

It’s sensible to have some food in just in case of storms, illness etc. if you have young kids, baby formula and/or long life milk is smart. Some bottled water is sensible too

I’m not stock piling but have enough water for at least 3 days, food for more like 7. I have logs in stock for the wood burner and know where the candles, torches and matches are. I have a gas camping stove with spare gas as my hob and oven are electric. I have warm sleeping bags and hot water bottles. Power banks are kept charged. I feel this is pretty basic given that a power cut during storm Arwen cut power here for 7 days. I at least know me and DD will be warm, fed and watered for a brief power cut situation.

I think the point is that a lot of people couldn’t feed themselves from their cupboards for 10 days, or even 3 days, because they simply don’t keep that much food in the house. The messaging isn’t directed at people like you who have a sensible amount of food in anyway - it’s directed at people who wouldn’t have much more than a loaf of bread because they just buy food as they need it.

To OP, I think it’s wise to have a few days’ food in the house, particularly this winter, which looks like it could be fairly stormy and unsettled due to El Niño being stronger than usual. But I think it’s basic common sense, which is being blown out of proportion by people who are always convinced that They are hiding something.

I haven't bought anything yet (beyond a 6 pack of bottled water) but I am worrying about it. I've been out of work for a long time and am already using savings for my food shop. As soon as I get a job I'm going to stock up (to a sensible extent - I have a big plastic storage crate ready. I'll fill that with essentials and then that will do).

In a sustained power cut most people wouldn"t be able to cook what they had stockpiled, and unless you had generators freezer stuff is gone or has to be consumed quickly? Strange they are coming out with this now, there was a Danger to Life level storm over the weekend and something severe coming to parts of the UK around 3am tomorrow but shops are all still open as far as I can see?

It's only a few days. Make sure you have some water, some long life milk for drinks, a couple of torches etc. I'm assuming you have enough tins of tuna/chickpeas/beans plus other snack items to keep you going.

We have only bought a few extra GF groceries because grandchild is Coeliac.

😂 I live in NE Scotland we don't call it stock piling it's just are you winter ready!
We have had a winter store for the last 12 years since moving to a more rural spot. It's pretty much common sense.

We camp anyway so have camping stoves but also have a gas hob which hasn't gone off so far in prolonged power cuts. We have never eaten cold beans!
We also have a wood burner (I know a mn personal hate) which keeps us going in power cuts and can be cooked on. Power banks for charging and good torches.

Food wise we have uht milk, tinned soups and tinned meals. Packets of quick cook rice, tinned veg and fruit. Pasta, pesto and other stir in sauces. Bread flour and yeast (we get supermarket delivery disruption from snow at least a few days in winter) and pet food along with bottled water incase of pipe freezes etc.

I think it very much depends on where you live and how quick they are to get things back up - longest in our area was 8 days with snow on the ground!

Isn't that why we're stockpiling tinned and ready to eat? And water?
No one is going to stockpile freezer food.

I’m hoping they’ll bring back the town crier.

They are predicting bad storms. This year some households have been without power for several days - some without running water for weeks. It makes sense to have some food in store.

We have a few tins of beans, fish, tomatoes. Enough food for about a week, I think. But I want to get some water, a few more jars of food we enjoy rather than emergency rations - like roast peppers, and lots of cat food in.

Something as routine as heavy snow can cut off food deliveries. Early this year a village in Scotland was cut off for over a week. The high winds during storm Eowyn last year saw some Scottish supermarkets close their doors and cancel home deliveries.

If you don't open the freezer then mostly it stays fine up to about 2days with the power off - then you start a massive cook on the bbq or anything else working and invite the neighbours for a garden meal around a fire pit.....and yes we have actually done this!

A Reform government?

Yes, but this has been happening since supermarkets were invented and before that, why the sudden "emergency"? Is this all they are going to do, cut bus fares and tell people to "stockpile" in case things happen that have always happened?