Anxiety about running out of food

[WonderOnTheUp]

Hi everyone,

First post in this topic but have been reading the threads for a while. I’m relatively new to prepping, I stocked up reasonably well before the pandemic really took hold and have continued to grow my stash (even got an extra freezer!).

I wondered if anyone else feels any anxiety or panic around food or running out of it? I’ve tried to prep for various scenarios - need to isolate for 14 days (so still well enough to cook) my DS being unwell (so foods get may like to eat when ill) then if I’m ill I worry about what he’ll eat (so batch cooked some favourite meals which can just go straight in the oven). Then I worry about any combo of the scenarios running one into the other so not enough time to replenish stocks properly

The thing is, I’m now really reluctant to eat any of it and feel really worried if we do. I’ve kept lists of the food which helps me keep a bit of perspective as I can actually see we have plenty of food for several weeks). I will of course have to eat some of it eventually but I can’t seem to shake off the feeling!

Does anyone else feel like this? If so, do you have any coping tips you could share please?

This country does not produce 100% of its own food.
In January we rely more on imports for a lot of fresh things.
Every lorry load will take more paperwork compared to seamless imports as now.
The government computer software to run the imports/ customs may be ready by April.
Gove has said we will have enough food, just not what we are used to.
Supermarkets will have been stocking up for Christmas not end of transition
Supermarkets are often a bit bare straight after Christmas, going straight into end of transition will not be helpful.
People tend to buy a little bit extra to tide them over but lots of little bits build up to a whole big load.

Do you think we will run out of food? Or is it more that we won't be able to get hold of everything we are used to? We could run out of the cheaper foods like during lockdown, forcing people to buy branded products. Plus if food prices rise by 20% or more I'd rather be a month ahead at today's prices.

Kowari I would love to do a spreadsheet on my stocks, think it will be my next job.
Think there will be major delays though, so anything we can do to have a little store can surely only help, and free up the supermarkets for those who are not able to do so.

I also have to battle anxiety about that. Perhaps it’s quite a common thing, but I had a very low income for many years where I did have to miss meals, and funnily enough i just got on with it at the time, but now the fear of going back to that situation, especially with children, worries me enormously. And then I feel guilty because nowadays there are even more people in that situation right now.
But I think it’s normal to “learn” and if it’s in a traumatic way, it can affect your decisions later on.

I found that just opening cupboards and calculating how many meals I could make is really helpful. So knowing there are so many weeks where we could get by fine, even if there’s nothing in the shops, we have some vaguely nutritious calories.

That buffer is now there, and I feel grateful to be able to afford it and store it. It helps to remember that while things could go very badly with imports in January, the government will be worried about letting the shelves go completely bare, so will probably just wave anything through without papers at first, especially medicines. So it’ll be good to have some stocks in, but I don’t think they’d dare get to people dying or starving, as they won’t want to lose votes or have riots.