How to start

[Salene]

So please don't flame me I'm just being honest, I honestly thought preppers were tin foil hat brigade. Suddenly with whats happened with Covid etc it's dawned on me actually it's probably quite smart to be prepared for situations and to have a stock of stuff , I think I watched too many crazy USA preppier programs and got the wrong idea

We have cleared a large shelving rack in our garage and over this year what to create a pantry/stock of stuff and keep rotating them into kitchen as I use them.

So where do I start, what stuff should I stock up on, I've a idea of basics but what do most people keep a decent supply of.

While buying "stuff " is part of it, it's just as much about skills and looking at things differently. You probably already have important skills you don't realise are handy. Think about it more like homesteading than camo wearing trump supporting shit kicking.
It's both harder and easier to do it at the moment. Harder because this situation is emotionally hard; easier because you can see some of the necessary skills in practice: creative with store cupboard food ingredients; learning how to bake bread; planning to be shut in the house for longer than normal; keeping spirits up (kids and yours); veg gardening so that you don't rely on shops for fresh food.
Taking the last one first: keep it simple and think about what useable space you have. You will not be self sufficient but you can help build domestic resilience. What do you eat? Tomatoes? Yes, you can buy seeds but you can also slice up a tomato from your fridge and stick it in compost. I'm doing both right now and have little plants from both.
Peas - for pea shoots in salad or actual peas. If you've never tasted home grown before it's miles better than shop bought.
My window sill favourite: perpetual spinach for salad leaves.
Take it slow - look at Tin Can Cook/Jack Monroe for cheap shelf stable recipes. Corned beef chilli is delicious.

What we are doing at the moment is what preppers would call "shelter in place" or "bugging in" . In prepper terms it's actually quite cushy - still got full utilities, access to shops , nice weather etc. Most general preppers are actually set up (to some degree) for a much tougher "shelter in place". Where the power is out, where you can't go to shops; where the weather is shite.
The emotional toll is still tough right now . Which is why treats and things to entertain you are important too.
For Brexit prepping I suggested a three days from morning to night buffer of food, hygiene supplies, pet food (if applicable) and treats in the house.
That's a good starting point. You then think of what your budget and space allows.
Taking it broader, think about other realistic blows to your home. At the moment, on my radar is: A second wave of this shit; crash out Brexit; too hot summer; too cold winter; unemployment; ill health generally (I have MS which is an unpredictable condition).
I have a general "shelter in place " approach because I am too old for all that bugging out to the hills nonsense that male American preppers seem to go for in the main. Female prepper channels on YouTube, for example, seem much more sensible.
My approach has extra features that apply to those scenarios but, on the whole, it's about having shelter, food, water, entertainment, first aid.

Oh yeah, and I have bad moments when I say "Fuck it" too. It's allowed

@Salene I would suggest to make a plan first based on your family’s needs/preferences and how much you are going to prep ahead. I personally have prepped for 3 months of good food and 3 months of lean food but a year’s worth of non perishables and cleaning supplies that includes laundry, dishwasher tablets as I can buy them at costco and store them
In the garage. Planning things like What will be the basics you might need? What will be nice to have? How much can you afford now? Where are you planning to store them? How much you might actually need? Prepping is not always about spending much but for the few things we need to spend, we should spend it wisely. Invest in a veg garden, try to aim for “zero waste” in your food, when you can afford to buy a little more, buy and do stock rotation, pickle and preserve, buy cleaning supplies in bulk or wholesale, organize and sort the house etc. I know the list can sound endless but if I can go back and sort the things, the thing I regretted the most is not writing down a will, and a proper plan of organising. Having a proper inventory app with dates of stuff will help too.

(Yet) Another thing . And this is one of the (many) points where preppers get a bad name : Don't tell anyone in real life you have stuff. At the moment, it's fine and most people are sorting themselves out - ups and downs but generally ok. And going to people's homes is not recommended/most are abiding by that.
However, do not announce on FB or to your wider family and friends that you have stuff. Because they will use your stores as part of their non-preps " oh, I'll just go around to @Salene , because I know they have stuff".
I gave my pensioner in-laws stuff because of Brexit. And they are pleased I did as a starter for them in the initial "WTF do I do I now" phase of all this. But my neighbours have no idea. Nor do any of my friends or wider family.
I would help anyone who can be useful to my family, including just creating a positive neighbourhood spirit . But at a time of my choosing and under my control if possible .

People know I like veg gardening and sewing/knitting/crochet. Lots of people do that. My neighbours know I have a tool kit because I lent them a Phillips screwdriver. Lots of people have toolkits.

I think I watched too many crazy USA preppier programs and got the wrong idea

I think a lot of people thought this or confused us with panic buyers.
It’s good that you’ve come round to sensibly providing for you and your family. No one wants to go through the shock of March again.

What do you have at home right now? How long could you and family survive on that if you couldn’t leave the house at all?

Even if you do nothing, just considering what you might do makes you more resilient than someone who doesn't think about it at all.

When I started, I made a rough list of things that were useful and had a long shelf life. Then whenever there was a deal (BOGOF or mad price drop) I bought a couple extra and put it aside (even if I was a bit skint, I could put the free one aside). After a while I was able to occasionally "shop" from my stash and use the money I would have spent to buy something that doesn't often go on sale, or a bulk purchase from a wholesaler/local producer, or put it towards a bigger ticket item (like a breadmaker or kelly kettle or chest freezer). Over the past few years my stash has created a buffer for leaner financial periods several times, as well as helping us through two periods of illness and the current situation. It has also cut my costs, as I can hold off buying things until there is another deal, or I have enough of a float to buy in bulk from a wholesaler or local producer.

To be honest I think maybe I was kinda a preppier anyway without actually realising

I go to Costco 6 monthly and buy huge bulls of toilet roll and cleaning item , my cupboards are always full with many bottles of of the same items . But I do wait till I run out almost of toilet roll before going again

Money isn't a issue and I can really stock as much a I want to

I always have lots of medical stuff, and toiletries often multiple item

Maybe I need to keep doing what I'm doing but on a slightly larger level

It's summer now so winter, thermal things are most probably cheaper, try to think ahead for bits you would need, things you eat often and all like remember things like nuts and seeds peanutbutters last ages, couscus packets have great shelf life, use leftovers think can it be made into soup, pies all can be frozen I try to have a week or 2s worth of freezer meals in case I'm sick/or just lazy, think about medical needs all the usual ones then the ones that might not be used so ofter like clove oils for toothache, honey for sore throats, arnica cream for bruises keep at least 1or more torches for each person in the house, I try to think of having at least 2 of everyday things in like extra light bulbs, matches, candles, battery's, but all these things are easy to get just buy 1 or 2 extras each time you shop and if you have them near all ways check the middle Isle of lidl, aldi you find lots of interesting tinned, survival bits

Planning and “stock control” is really important.

Helps to keep an inventory with the expiry dates marked.

Make sure you shop from your supplies first - so you need more pasta? Don’t go to the shop, go to your storage and take the packet with the nearest expiry date. Then when next shopping buy a new pack for your storage as it will have a longer date.

Think about an extra freezer for meat, veg, milk and bread.

If you're thinking about milk check the use by dates on UHT compared to dried milk. I find powdered milk has longer use by dates.

Everyone will have different priorities and you have to think what is important to you. For example, I haven't stored bottles of water because I think our local water supply is secure. Other people however think that their water supply isn't secure and there may be a water shortage where they are this summer and have bought water to prepare for it. Both approaches are OK. It isn't a one size fits all situation.

Try to buy stuff you would eat or drink normally. There's no point in buying loads of stuff you wouldn't normally eat because you'll end up throwing it out if you don't need to access your stores.

Think about non food items too. I found in April that we used more paper and printer ink than I expected. I'd also bought spare washing up liquid, but not quite enough.

Do you have kids? If so always buy next sizes of clothes, birthday presents etc in advance so you’re covered if the non-essential shops close down.

Plant some veg and fruit, learn to make bread, and learn basic DIY and mending skills.

Also sensible to learn some first aid and how to treat common illnesses/injuries. We had an injury in the second week of lockdown that ordinarily I’d have gone to the urgent care centre with, but actually we were able to treat it fine at home because we had supplies and had done a bit of training in advance.

Get power banks, torches and battery powered lanterns, and keep them charged up.

Think what is safe to store in the garage. Some things will go off in the cold/ damp

Check out non food preps thread and a medicine box thread for things other than food.

You can't really go wrong.
I only started after reading the Brexit threads on here. Glad I did as still have a stock of loo rolls.
The first things were things that didn't go off, like Rice, Pasta, noodles, jars and tins, packets etc.

What I have found i missed were things like those caddy bin liners, tin foil, cling film, baking cutters.
It's the things you rarely use that you need to check.

I have a couple of full freezers but although it’s wonderful to have them, I don’t assume the food will never be spoiled, by say, an electrical fault or power outage.

I’m also extremely lazy, so buy lots of dried goods, such as pasta, rice, peas, lentils, etc. but when thinking if canned goods, I work out three cans per person a day and multiply that by how many weeks, days supply of food I’m aiming for. But that’s in case of the SHTF and having to ration, plus eat what I need to remain healthy, rather than just what I want. That doesn’t mean buying food you don’t like, btw.

I’m kicking myself about how much money I wasted going out, buying nonsense, etc, while always meaning to get around to buying a canner and dehydration machine. ☹️

If you like peanut butter, you can get it in powered form and you just have to add water. It’s not bad, actually.

Can I ask what people dehydrate and how you the store it? I’m thinking about things like courgettes and spinach from this years harvest (hopefully!)
Would it just become a novelty in a cupboard that I never really use

I came to add a thought about something I've been thinking about recently but can see the wise owl that is @Bellinisurge has already flagged it up above - dont broadcast your preps outside of close family or friends you really trust.

As well as the potential for wider family and friends -and whoever they might tell- to see you as their back up stores, I felt at times early in lock down we had a glimpse of how life could easily spiral into something like you see in disaster films where you see looters or ordinary people having to defend their stocks. There were news stories about folk fighting over the last of items in shops and even a guy being mugged for his loo roll. I might be overthinking it but do now see how there is a potential for civilised behaviour to break down quite quickly - and not all my neighbours are decent types who I'd be comfortable knowing I have stocks in.

Also I noticed nastiness aimed at preppers (makes a change from the previous mockery I guess) from those that could not see the difference between having prepped and the panic buyers. I didn't broadcast it before and now think definitley best to stay under the radar. Outside of this fab board of course!

Nice to be called a "wise owl". Particularly if I'm having a few dingbat moments 
@gassylady , I store mine in kilner type jars that I have sterilised. Or just ordinary shop jars - pasta sauce or whatever- that I have sterilised. I shove in an oxygen absorber.
Often, with the old shop jars, my biggest problem is reopening them again because they have sealed too well.
On a whim, ages ago, I bought one of those little packs of cubed watermelon, sliced them up, soaked for 10 mins in asorbic solution and dehydrated them. Omfg! Delicious.

Agree on the not sharing too widely front, I don’t think we will get to the riots in the street scenario. I’m happy to give people a few tins “because I have spare” but I have spent time thinking about what we might need, what will be useful and how to keep things. I don’t want to be constantly bailing others out.

Thanks for the info @Bellinisurge have been doing a bit of research sounds a bit more fiddly than I thought with solutions and absorbers etc. Then I fell into the rabbit hole of pressure canning! That is definitely little house on the prairie territory fascinating. I think I will stick mainly with goods tinned by someone else and the freezer. Rather than buying ingredients perhaps I should do more cooking and freezing to save space.

The library system of freezing meals is a good idea, gassy.

So how does that work? Thanks for the advice by the way. I think it was also you on a homesteading thread that mentioned Liz on you tube. Been watching a video on working out how much veg we’d need to grow to be self sufficient - turns out to be a lot. More than we can manage this year I’m sure but every little helps eh.

Forgot to say my husband might not have a job soon so stocking up now and planning to grow at least some may help.

@gassylady , don't set yourself unrealistic self sufficiency targets. It'll do your head in. Anything that isn't shop bought veg, even if it's a tiny bit that doesn't last long, is a success.
Library system is, as I understand it - I don't really do it and should- is large freezer bags each filled with a meal but lay flat on top of each other. Squeeze the air out. Use all of the bag

Ok that makes sense much easier to stack in tight that way.