When will shelves start going bare?

[BrieAndChilli]

I don’t have loads of spare cash but have managed to build up a decent size amount but it’s mainly stuff we currently use alsthohgh have stocked up on some bits we don’t.
I need to stock up on things like UHT milk and stuff we don’t normally have in
When do you think these sorts of things are going to disappear from the shelves? Can it wait until next month after payday or do I need to prioritise this weekend before Tuesday when things may become more publicised?
Also I’ve convinced DH to buy a small cheat freezer as we currently have a 3 drawer on its last legs small freezer. This won’t be until pay day so will I still be able to stock it then with meat/frozen veg/butter etc??

Anyone got any thoughts on wine boxes...? I can't work out if they're cheaper or just a bit depressing.

Anyone got thoughts on wine boxes

www.waterstones.com/book/the-mandibles-a-family-2029-2047/lionel-shriver/9780007560776

Read this. It’s excellent. US economic crisis. Currency has tanked. Food and other products are limited. Normal family trying to get by. Really good book. Wine features.

I have wine in bottles. Think boxes are cheaper though. Easier to store too.

@londonloves my mum drinks wine from a box, she says for the price it’s not much different to equivalently priced wine out of a bottle.

Theres no reason why it should be any different. Most wine arrives in this country in tanks and is then put into bottles. There’s no magic in the bottle.

I used to get a couple of wine boxes at Christmas . Inspired by the Wedding at Canaan - Irish Catholic roots showing here - if people enjoy the nice stuff to start and yet still fancy a drink, they are usually too "cheerful " to notice.
I am not totally against the idea and have been mulling it over myself. White rather than red, me thinks.

Sainsbury's do a box of Pinot Grigio for £12, might give it a road test.
M and S also have some decent stuff on offer for £5 and £6 a bottle at the moment. I know I would be shit at not breaking into a wine stockpile though. Somehow more tempting than tins of chickpeas!

I'm making my own wine at the moment. I used to do it as an impoverished student, thought I'd better get back into the habit.

@maryjoyce i am sure you are an energy market professional and highly intelligent rather than flippantly daft. Of course there is no energy coming in through europe, and there could never be any impact of serious political change on petrol prices, let one supply
biscuits for you, enjoy them!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-47028748

@cloudtree the mandibles is a great book, I think I will read it again soon.

There is also a one off programme on C4 called Blackout, worth a watch.

I’d consider myself to be an unconscious prepper as I just don’t like running out of things, so we would probably be ok for a couple of weeks under normal circumstances - although the food might not be that interesting after the first week! After lurking on here for a couple of weeks, I have however checked and restocked the first aid tin, bought some extra otc drugs, bought extra loo rolls, soap, toothpaste, tins, rice, frozen veg and some UHT milk. Also have torches and hiking gear, including a solar lamp, battery pack and radio as we do a fair bit of hiking.

As others have said, these are all things that we will use anyway. The extra medical supplies will be used at some point. In the best case scenario, all that will happen is that our food bill in April and May will be lower than normal as we will only have to buy fresh food as we make our way through our supplies of dried/tinned/frozen food.

I read it last year and loved it. Now I'm about to start living it I'm not so keen!

I might give that Mandibles a go then - it can’t be worse than the worst book I have ever read ever in the history of ever Powerless.

It a really good book. Very well written. But worryingly appropriate for what we are potentially facing.

Sorry you hated it @ElyElyOy . Worse than Jeffrey Archer? I have a bit of an ant hatred so I'm not sure I could stomach Mandibles.

@bellinisurge I have never read Archer, but also never felt the need to rate a book as 1* (until Powerless). I think it wasn’t so much a bad book (and wasn’t badly written), as lacking in what could have made it great (and I suppose the fact that it was a diary didn’t lend itself to very much character development). I read on average 1-2 books a week (and have done for several years) and it’s sadly the only one I have ever told people to avoid

Never mind @ElyElyOy , I totally agree it's not a great book in terms of literary merit but the scenario is interesting and it provokes some thought.
Most of this literature is American e.g. "One Second After" and while it makes an interesting curiosity, the eventual reversion to the 2nd Amendment- right to bear arms to form a militia - makes it ultimately alien.
Powerless is a British scenario and more familiar for that.
@umpteennamechanges suggested I try the new comedy series on BBC podcast download called Prepper. I found it on BBC Sounds last night - Sue Johnstone. I'll give that a try and hope for a laugh.

Is powerless the one that was just a blog? Where they all had lots of useful skills? I read it for what it was but I didn't realise it had actually been published. I thought the sudden finding of a box of maltesers was highly unlikely (at least in this house it would be) but then if I recall the writer came on and said that had happened in RL.

It was all a little too wartime spirit to ring true for me. Not sure there would be that much pulling together. It would be nice if I was wrong though.

The mandibles is very worth reading @bellinisurge

If anyone is watching Blackout, the U.K. -based one is more watchable (fewer guns!)

Also makes me never want to get in a lift again!

Blackout will make you want to hide your stockpile in secret locations. And have cash!!

@cloudtree yes that’s the one. She said all the things actually happened (except the year long powercut). I think it was the “I know everyone in the cities are dying, but I’m literally down to my last jar of capers - it’s dreadful for everyone”. It’s a great read if you live in a house in the countryside and have an inglenook, several acres, a small holding, a well, and plenty of able bodied people to run it all

I'm off to Costco at the weekend for a slab each of tinned tomatoes and kidney beans. Also going to make sure I have a couple of kilos of frozen broccoli, cauliflower and green beans in the freezer. At the time of year of Brexit UK suppliers are still months off being able to harvest that year's vegetables (including carrots, onions, potatoes, leeks, cabbages and all the other things we do actually grow here) I've also got my seeds for lettuces and salad veg ready to go. It's not that o think these things will be impossible to get but rather that prices may well spike whilst at the same time the value of the pound tanks.

Is anyone noticing any gaps on shelves yet or increased busyness in supermarkets?

not really. aldi was emptyish of people of people on Monday though the shelves seemed fuller than normal.

We're in a city, and we've noticed a very recent run on tinned food and uht milk.

It's good though - less pressure on the system if a lot of people already have supplies in.

actually, (now the coffee has hit my system and I am thinking better) aldi was short of some stuff today. they have been short of tinned beans (kidney, butter etc) and have been for a while. I have bought a load of shopping home today and it is all in the kitchen while I try to quietly ignore it.