Why are people posting about stockpiling with no specifics?

[MsAmerica]

I've seen it mentioned, but without a single direct quote or link. Yet the OPs seem to want others to explain it....?

The government have an enormous campaign going on. You’d have to try hard to miss it.

Here you go

https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/

I can't understand this stock piling campaign tbh.
Despite trying to be rational about it I'm finding myself getting really stressed up. I just feel there is some reason for this campaign that the government are hiding from the General Public. Why on earth otherwise are they deliberately trying to create a feeling of panic by pushing the idea of imminent disaster?
And I feel very angry that again the poorest in society, who don't have any resources to buy extra are being left behind in the supposd preparations for survival.

I don't think anyone's hiding it. It's in the news every day.

We are experiencing increasing shocks to the supply chain, in the climate creating problems with crops, in the energy supply due to the wars, and in the shipping and international trade system which is mainly maritime so blockades really affect this.

Highly efficient just in time delivery systems rely on a "pull production" supply of goods, and large increases in the pull or interruptions can lead to empty shelves and then panic buying really quickly, which exacerbates the problem. It's a problem that can be managed by a bit of capacity in the system, but it's more efficient to place the capacity at the end of the supply chain. Capacity in this case meaning some shoppers eating their stores instead of shopping on one particular day. It actually doesn't need to be everyone to be effective.

This is actually happening. At the moment we're ok, but we can't expect that everything will be completely fine in the future and a few bottles of water and a tin of beans could actually make a large difference. We can not grow enough food in this country to feed everyone and we have not done since before WW1. We are exposed to global supply chain shocks. Any time there are interruptions to free trade and shipping, this country is at some risk. It's a manageable risk, but we do have to actually manage it.

It’s absolutely not been in the news every day, nor is the ‘massive’ campaign‘ hard to miss.

It’s not on the BBC news landing page and hasn’t been for quite some time. Whenever anyone links it from a news site, it’s either an obscure site or something like Sky News.

If I hadn’t read about it on forums I wouldn’t have heard about it at all, and I read the news every day.

I mean, ok if you say so. Be well! Buy or do not buy a tin of beans. It's a free country mate.

This.

We are just starting to think about prepping (wind up radio, gas stove, torches etc) and stockpiling (water, tinned food, etc). Not sure if we're overreacting or being sensible.

November 2025 document issued in Germany: https://www.bbk.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Mediathek/Publikationen/ratgeber-englisch_download.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=12

European countries have been providing guidance to citizens for the past year.
UK had the preparedness website (now rebranded BeReady) but was not making much effort to make citizens aware.

AI can be used to hack systems. Supermarket Fridges in France and other countries were hacked. PHP vulnerabilities were found.
Storms, power network and water network are old and falling apart (24” water pipe from the 1960s burst in Chessington area for example). We import power from other countries… if we had to only uae our own could we cope or would there need to be areas disconnected?

There has been a lot in the news. From memory:

The recently-discovered flaw in PHP which gave cybercriminals the potential to take control of major online systems…. Just the mere possibility caused many of them to be taken down for days.

Russian ‘fishing’ boats “coincidentally” hanging around the undersea cables between us and North America.

Political instability in the USA and Russia.

There have been many threats from Russia in the last few years which have caused some to say we are already at war war with Russia eg many cyberattacks, intimidation from Russian navy ships, sabotage on our infrastructure has been linked to Russian terrorism eg the fires in Starmer’s former homes and the fire in a warehouse in East London that was storing stuff to be sent to Ukraine.

Wars in Iran and Ukraine and the economic shocks they have caused.

AI could take control.

Some European countries have been providing guidance for many years

You don’t have to try hard to miss it. I heard someone mention it so had to go look for the information for myself

You're spiralling about a normal piece of government advice

Plus the whole point of getting 75% of people a bit more ready is the 25% who can't afford it can be prioritised.

Who will be prioritising them? In what way?

Highly efficient just in time delivery systems rely on a "pull production" supply of goods, and large increases in the pull or interruptions can lead to empty shelves and then panic buying really quickly, which exacerbates the problem. It's a problem that can be managed by a bit of capacity in the system, but it's more efficient to place the capacity at the end of the supply chain.
In the good old days, companies held stock as a buffer. Then we adopted the Japanese Just In Time system and the Big Boys decided not to carry stock any more, and made it their suppliers' problem instead. It used to be "I want XXX next month"; now it's "I demand that you deliver next Wednesday at Loading Bay C at 11:52 precisely". Great for the Big Boy but costly for their supplier.
The Government has realised that shortages are a potential problem and, instead of insisting that companies carry sufficient stock, have decided to push the problem in another direction - onto the customer.
It's like Banks etc used to employ staff but now they don't and you - the customer - have to do the work instead (unpaid).

Weird question. Read your local council contingency plan.

One example: if there is a water issue and bottled water is provided at your local church hall, people without their own at home will join a shorter queue.

Do you not remember food parcels in COVID?

Have you never seen the news reports after floods or wildfires?

None of these are obscure:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/oct/23/realistic-and-reassuring-uk-public-responding-calmly-to-be-ready-campaign

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwd094x57p32o

https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-23/what-items-are-on-the-be-ready-checklist-and-how-can-households-get-prepared

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5rmy84np001o

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-emergency-preparedness-wes-streeting-stock-up-food-b3074590.html

It was on the BBC news last night, still there on iPlayer and I’ve heard it discussed a lot on the radio too.

What’s gone a bit awry is that the media (and social media/ forums etc) are going with the more clickbaity description of ‘stockpiling’ when that’s not actually what’s being recommended.

To me keeping a certain amount of food in the store cupboard is the norm. Having candles and matches is the norm. Having a small amount of bottled water in the house is the norm. Having a small supply of spare toilet rolls is the norm. etc etc.i thought that most people with commonsense and enough disposable income did this as a matter of course. And only people living on the bread line only had enough in their homes for their immediate needs. I e the very people who advice to stock pile is useless because they do not have the money to do this.

I'M older generation and I've lived through quite a few crisis in my life - shortages and power cuts, ,strikes, disruption to normal life as we know it - including COVID. And I certainly have never heard a government in this country advise people to panic buy. In fact the message has always been the opposite. So I find this current government advice extremely concerning. I'm not spiralling. I just don't trust the reasoning behind the messaging and i'm very concerned about what is around the corner. And given the current totally selfish nature of our society I dont trust the ability of the general public to react well.

The Irish government issued a 'Be Emergency Ready' pamphlet to every household in the country during the summer.https://www.gov.ie/en/office-of-emergency-planning/campaigns/be-emergency-ready/
It's not just the UK government advising citizens to be aware.

Would you have found it less concerning if Rishi Sunak had issued similar advice ?

What has Rishi Sunak got to do with it for heaven's sake? The man whose life style was as much divorced from the reality of life as lived by the vast majority of UK citizens as someone parachuted in from.Mars.

The EU seem desperate to start a war with Russia. It would certainly help to cover up their gross political failings and mismanagement of the last 20 years or so, and because it is likely that no elections would be held during a wartime (or similar crisis), it would put paid to the continued rise of the far right populists and keep the incumbents in their positions of power (for a while anyway).

I wouldn't have known about it had I not seen it on Mumsnet. It all seems so alarmist.

Can't help but wonder what they are burying, I'd be more concerned about that than the risk of fire or flood or nuclear attack.

The Guardian's news in focus podcast is on this topic today. It isn't just people on mumsnet talking about it.

They aren’t burying anything. They’re finally, finally telling the uk population that it has to have a bit of resilience and engaging in planning for its own welfare. Because the problems that have been developing in plain sight for - literally - years are now so significant that we can’t sweep them under the rug anymore and pretend that ‘someone else’ will sort them.

We don’t make enough food to feed ourselves, or medication, or fuel, or have enough doctors. The climate is screwing things ip further. Our navy has hardly any functional boats. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our population is divided, and our enemies have reverted to open antagonism.

These are not secrets. I’ve been watching it unfold for 30 years. There have been warning, reports, white papers. But the majority in this country, plus our politicians, refuse to accept a crisis until it’s literally on fire in front of them.

The UK population is truly not used to reality, so a significant chunk of them are refusing to engage and reverting back to mocking those who are prepared. Plus ca change…