What isn’t produced in Britain that we need to stockpile?

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

So, worst case scenario and we crash out with no deal as everyone seems keen to catastrophise, what would be useful to stock up on that isn’t produced here and would have to be imported. Any ideas?

Government seems to indicate 51% of food is imported.

31% is from the EU.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-statistics-pocketbook-2017/food-statistics-in-your-pocket-2017-global-and-uk-supply

However, if they cannot get through customs in time their will be a shortage on all imported foods, not just those coming from the EU.

We won't be going mad stockpiling but will make sure we have at least six weeks worth of food in and am building up a stash of tinned goods (and wine) just in case.

Will also be making sure my mum, who is quite vulnerable and also disabled, is fully stocked with meds as possible and her freezer is also full.

We can probably weather a temporary hike in food prices - I don't think she will on pip and esa.

Ffs. This is just like the 'millenium bug' hysteria. Itll be fine

The millennium bug was a known unknown.

We know we don't have the customs infrastructure in place to deal with crashing out in March. I think sensible (as in, don't go mad buying up all the bread in sainsburys) precautions are reasonable.

@User183737 not really getting the point of the Prepper topic

The millennium bug didn't have catastrophic effects because it was planned for and dealt with behind the scenes. I genuinely hope everything goes smoothly after March but just in case, I plan for interruption to the food supply etc.

Tea is a very good one. Morale booster if nothing else and... no like it won't get used.

I'm going for the powdered stuff atm. Milk, pasta meals etc as they're space savers. Im planning on getting another inverter in case of power disruptions (although that's probably unlikely) so I can power the freezer. Just needs a car battery to power it and inverters are pretty cheap to buy and they're handy for camping.

It's medications I'm mulling over. I'm already well stocked in generic stuff and you can't stockpile prescription meds but that's just my well rehearsed prepper brain slapping itself about a bit probably.

As for prescription meds, have a think about what you realistically need. Obviously antibiotics is the big one. Look at good practices and hygiene as well as first aid. I'm not really an alternative medicine kind of person but look at herbal remedies.
If there is a family member who needs specific medication, have a think about how you would deal with this - are there storage possibilities for meds, are there "alternative" meds or treatment however unsatisfactory.
Chances are, this will be, at most a hiccup. But worth spending a bit of time thinking what if.

God your life must be so stressful!

Nope. Not stressful. Opposite, really, because I know what I need to think about/ focus on if things get troublesome. And then I get on with my life.

I'm expecting a version of what we saw this winter up here in terms of supply chain shutting down in the bad snow and a shortage of perishables. I can bake pretty well so plan on getting a sack of bread flour from Costco and plenty instant yeast. When the lorries couldn't move around the country our local organic dairy with milk vending machines did a roaring trade as it was the only place you could get milk. I'm on daily prescription meds so am planning on telling my doctor that I'm going to be traveling for a year and ask for a years worth of tablets. (Private health insurance so I pay for them anyway, not overburdening the NhS)
In general, paying more for our food, eating a bit less and encouraging local production will (medium and long term) be a positive thing, although the short term disruption will be difficult if it happens.
More concerning than food for me is energy. A huge proportion of our homes and businesses are heated with natural gas and a large number of power plants use it to produce electricity. A LOT of our natural gas is imported.
We have sufficient domestic capacity (in Scotland) for electricity generation with hydro and wind but not an alternative for the gas and oil for heating. Shale gas would provide a suitable 'stop gap' for our renewable industry to develop and catch up with demand but as the general public are (completely irrationally in my opinion) terrified of fracking then that isn't currently going ahead. I wonder how long people would have to be without heating / hot water for before they change their minds on that one....

Perhaps if there’s less food available we’ll all be a bit healthier.

I stockpile anyway but will DEFENITLY get more wine and tea bags.

I'm slightly worried how we are going to afford food after brexit. Money is tight anyway and I really can't cut down any more food wise.

@MrsFezziwig - trouble is, if you aren't particularly healthy in the first place , you are less robust. Worth looking at personal fitness anyway, not just for this. By which I mean doing a bit more moving about rather than turn into a gym bunny. Everyone should know what might work for their circumstances.

Solar panels have limited usefulness and efficiency in the northern hemisphere (I have some) Ours are the 'heating' kind not the PV kind and at best they take the chill off the water in winter time and then the rest of the heating is done with a conventional boiler (in our case we have a biomass boiler, but even with that a lot of the timber to make the wood pellets it runs on is imported from Scandinavia / Eastern Europe) PV panels are a bit better but in general they are not sufficiently developed to replace conventional energy as the battery storage is not sufficient or good enough. We need energy sources we can turn on and off according to demand and very few renewables meet that criteria at present. Not to say it's not possible in the future - of course it is - but the technology and infrastructure need at least 15 - 20 years to develop to a point where we could replace natural gas and oil.

Perhaps if there’s less food available we’ll all be a bit healthier.

It will be the healthy food that'll be the first to suffer from the supply chain problems.

Does anyone remember that series that Sue Perkins and Giles Coren did where they travelled back in time and lived on the diet of that era. I'm envisioning the 1970s one (god, it was grim!).

@Bluelonerose - just have a think about what your family actually eats and what they need. If you are a meat eater, think about sticking an extra carton of whatever meat you all like in your shopping basket and shoving it in the freezer . And do that a few times as and when. There are other food preservation methods but it can be so overwhelming.
Look at introducing veggie/pulse recipes to the family. If they say "yuk" have them come up with ideas. Forget Brexit etc etc. Forget panic. Do some tweaks now.
And I have a fussy eater in my house so I know how tricky it can be.

remedies.
If there is a family member who needs specific medication, have a think about how you would deal with this - are there storage possibilities for meds, are there "alternative" meds or treatment however unsatisfactory

That's what I'm mulling over. Diabetes could be tricky if you can't get ahold of the meds and not allowed to stock up.

Still it's worth a bit of research and could be interesting.

@gamerchick I totally agree that diabetes is a tricky one.
I kind of hope that if most people take care of themselves, priority can be given to people who need extra help and supplies etc.
That's the best I can come up with.

Are you all for real? or is this a joke....it is not WW3

@Dragongirl10 - if you don't want to get into prepping, that's fine. Nobody is talking about WWIII, just interruptions to the supply chain. Most organisations, including supermarkets, operate a Just In Time system so they don't need to hold stuff in warehouses. That assumes an uninterrupted supply chain.

Maybe not old enough to remember empty shelves during the 2000 petrol crisis?