2019 Brexit Preps

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I thought it would be useful to have a thread as we head into the new year where we can discuss our Brexit preps.

Today I picked up all gift wrap and cards I will need for next Christmas which I would normally do anyway but I added some neutral gift wrap which could be used for birthdays. I also stashed a few toys in the sale which can be used for birthdays. The thought of the DC going without birthday presents is too sad.

I’ve also just stashed some lightbulbs, candles, lights and matches.

Going into 2019 I’m focusing on:
Solar chargers
Camping gas
Protein
Medicines
Box hair dye
Skincare
Loo roll and tissues + hankies
Cleaning products
Home brew kits
Books on self reliance

Prepper activities of this weekend round here:

• New hooks up in the "pantry" for my smoked/dried garlic bag and my great aunt's crocheted onion bag, which DM is bringing over.
• DM has only just realised the whole Brexit thing might actually happen, so insists on bringing dried milk powder and OTC meds, too.
• I've been portioning out and freezing some meat and fish.
• Saturday's grocery shop was on the expensive side, just from some added extra basics.
• Small panic about the prediction of 3-6 months of disruptions to food deliveries. I'm not going to be prepped for six months! Afterwards - taken some breathes and will just do what I can.
• Have ordered some sprouting seeds.

@BadlyAgedMemes nobody can prep for everything; nobody can be self sufficient. Don't feel inadequate, feel proud of yourself.
We will all need to go to the shops at some point and stuff may well be scarce and/or more expensive. But you are in a better position to weather that if you have bits put to one side to help you make a meal with what you have to buy.

That's true @bellinisurge - I do suffer from anxiety at the best of times (yes I've stocked up on my meds), so it's quite common for my mind to be attracted to worst case scenarious. On the plus side, I am good at preparing, usually, as any kinds of preparations tend to relieve my anxiety and sense of being out of control.

I have been having some interesting conversations with my non-UK mum. For one thing, the whole onion bag thing. My large shop-bought bags of onions are always getting manky and rotten before I get to the end of the bag. Yet I remember in my childhood that we had these large, crocheted bags full of onions, and they never rotted away. I thought maybe it was just a question of them getting air - hence asking if DM had any old bags hanging around. She's educated me that it wasn't just that, but that in the olden days the onions were carefully air and heat dried (in a sauna), before storage. I am thinking of chopping and freezing some.

I've started turning my attention to treats and morale boosters. DH now has a stash of beef jerky, which he loves. I have nuts and cereal bars. I've also taken the brave step of stashing some chocolate now. (Been vary of that. I have a bulimia past, and have for decades avoided having any "binge food" in the house, so in a way this is me testing myself.) I've also on purpose not tried to stash alcohol. Neither DH or I has an alcohol problem per se, but if there's some in the house, it's all too easy to reach for it... But that's mainly with wine. I might actually get some gin and/or bourbon to hide away in the cupboards.

If like me @BadlyAgedMemes , you use onions as a basis for a lot of meal, you could buy a bag of dried onions from Amazon.
I actually grow some of my own and have a dehydrator (it's a prepper thing not a Brexit necessity) but I know not to dehydrate them because it stinks the house out. I'd rather buy a bag of dehydrated onions.

Thanks @cloud although I can't eat Beanfeast on account of the onions.

At least that's one thing I don't have to worry about!

Although, I'd eat it if I was desperate but I'd have to offset it by buying a heck of a lot more toilet rolls...

Holland and Barrett do TVP, chunks and mince. It did seem to vanish for a while last year but it is back. You need to re-hydrate it in a glass of Aldi's cheapest red.

Sorry I realise I am late to this thread, but just have a question. Doesn’t it make sense to only stock up on EU made stuff, not U.K. stuff? Ie is there any point stocking marmite, washing powder, loo roll, skimmed milk if they’re all made in the U.K. anyway?
I am thinking of stocking up on tinned tomatoes, pasta, oil, olives, anchovies and generally Southern European stuff.

It isn't about not being able to get European products. Its about the fact that products won't be able to get in. Which leaves everyone squabbling over what can still be supplied to the shops.

You don't want to be anywhere near a supermarket where people are fighting over loaves of bread.

It's as much about keeping away from supermarkets if it gets a bit bumpy as anything else. But if you eat a lot of those things I would consider getting extra.

The paper for loo rolls comes from Norway apparently...

Sorry this is a learning curve for me. Why won’t British products be able to get in @cloudtree?
I take the point about supermarkets potentially being grim places for a while.

Lots of British products could run into difficulties since the ingredients or packaging come from overseas (eg baked beans made in UK but the beans are not grown here and cannot be grown here and the tomatoes also come from overseas, whisky made in scotland, bottled using EU products), but the general problem is that if the overseas goods can't get in we will all be wanting the British made stuff (to the extent that their production isn't affected). Currently less than half of the country's food is made in the UK which means that half of us are not being fed...

While British products (assuming they have all British ingredients) may get to the shops in theory, we are assuming that there are no petrol problems and that it is cost effective for supermarkets to distribute them.

hence most of us are stockpiling food in general to see us through rather than stocking up on italian olive oil or french wine.

I think about it like this, very oversimplified but it helped my understanding (all numbers are made up, OK?):

Say everybody needs 3 vegetables per day to not be hungry, and each person eats 2 carrots (British grown) and 1 tomato (Spanish grown) per day.

In the UK, we grow enough carrots for everybody's daily consumption, ie. 2 x 60 million = 120 million carrots per day. Therefore, we are currently self-sufficient for carrots.

After No Deal, there are shortages of the Spanish tomatoes.

So now to get 3 vegetables per day, people are going to switch to more carrots. This means we need to grow 3 x 60 million = 180 million carrots per day. And suddenly, we're no longer self-sufficient for carrots.

Do people think it's worth buying a breadmaker and if so is there anything in particular I should be looking out for? I have two DC who take a packed lunch each day so I thought it would be useful to have. I work almost full time with a long commute so I can't realistically see me making fresh bread every couple of days by hand. Thanks

If you haven't got time to make your own then a bread maker would be an idea.

We had the Panasonic bread maker. It served us faithfully for 10 years, producing many delicious loaves, before the thermostat gave up the ghost and we got rid.

Since then I've just made bread by hand - obviously it takes time, so we don't have home-baked bread as often as we used to.

Don’t know if this technically counts as prepping, but bought food thermos yesterday. Might be quite useful for lunches at work if there’s a shortage of bread.

Sorted for toothpaste now as it’s on offer in the shop at work. I think this week’s job is to sort out what I’ve got.

Thanks everyone for your explanations. It clearly isn't as simple as UK made or not . I can't help thinking back to WW2 and the years of rationing in the 50s, we were healthiest as a nation then. Is it crazy to hope there might be a silver lining here if people get to rely on less abundantly and cheaply available food?

Slightly crazy. The government had been preparing for 4 years before rationing was introduced. They had huge warehouses where food was stockpiled and the rations were carefully thought through so that everyone could get the minimum of essential nutrients. Outside the U.K. it wasn’t quite so positive.

I don’t see much evidence that current government are capable of such planning.

Yes it's true the WW2 ministry of food was a lot better run than the present situation. Still I hope maybe throutthid, on an individual level some people might learn to manatwith less.

Sorry about the horrible spelling.

Bought a few tins of tomatoes today, I have some washing detergent stashed inthe garage, I managed to find a small space. I should clean that out of crap to store stuff that will store in there. (cheap and bulky probably as it is away from the flat and not the essential stuff.)

having sorted out my cupboard at the weekend, I have nearly repacked it and working out what I can store in there. there is all the bits and bobs left on the worksurface to sort.

I need to stock up at other supermarkets as ds will only drink certain things. I have to pull out my usual stack of cheap ramadan beans (on offer every year) and check what I have.

the landline phone has broken and I need to buy a new one so will be going to a larger supermarket to source that.

I have loads of some things and very little of others.

ex has taken on board the need to stock up now. I will not feel I have to supply him as well for the sake of the children so much now.

I was raised by 30s children, in the 70s so am used to making do and mending.

I stocked up on cottons today in various colours. (well that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.)

I have not yet made the three days supply yet. as some areas are completely lacking. (still wittering about dried chick peas)