Government announcement today that we should stock up on food etc

I couldn't eat anything in food boxes either, it never occures to them that things like lactose intolerance don't go away because of a national emergency, so I will stock up what I need.

I wonder how much of the panic buying was fuelled by social media?

I think it was worse here the ferries were still running and even if it were just lorry drivers buying from local shops it still added pressure on food supplies. We are literally at the end of the line here and we only get one delivery a day to supermarkets, unlike many other areas of the country that get several.

Snowman said:

A lot of the Covid problems were probably driven by people panic buying anyway.

Heh, and there no toilet rolls in the food boxes. 

Yes, I was just thinking this from the perspective of those most impacted by such disruptions also, probably, have least resources to use to stock up on things and actually effectively manage such stocks too. So we'd have the most vulnerable people at the mercy of those who had a better ability to manage resources. I'm just thinking from a social safety net pov, that some kind of government minimum supply distribution thing would be useful here. I mean, what do I know, maybe this is happening in the background anyway? Who knows. Just seems to be a better idea to have both bases covered. A lot of the Covid problems were probably driven by people panic buying anyway. Something the government / media could have managed a lot better, initially. 

Snowman said:

maybe it would be better for the government to actually set up their own contingency plans for food and resource distribution from local centres and do the job properly?

I agree with much of what you say, but this makes me shudder. In the chaos at the beginning of the first Covid lockdown, before the supermarkets set up priority lists for those of us who were their vulnerable customers, councils offered us food boxes. I turned down the offer as I would eat nothing included in them: baked beans, sweetened fruit squash, a bag of sugar, teabags, confectionery, Angel Delight dessert mix, creamed rice, sweetened custard, and long-life “one meal” portions of ready meals such as sausages and mash. The assumption seemed to be that all older people lived off unhealthy food and drank tea.

Always a good idea to be self reliant to some extent, but i've taken to completely unplugging from all news media - only just returned to this forum after a good year or more - so this kind of thing normally passes me by. I saw some older chap down the local Sainsbury's today meticulously filling a trolley with tinned goods and stuff - assumed he was doing some kind of prep thing, maybe it was related.

From a government perspective, or a social organisation perspective it would probably be better for them to make some kind of local council level contingency planning and run local stores of food and supplies or people would be better off organising this stuff with their face to face communities. If bad things happen and it's known that you have supplies you'd soon have the unprepared locals at your door expecting support.

Individuals stockpiling goods in this day and age is probably counter productive, people don't coordinate with neighbours so will duplicates lots of stuff and not have resources that would be useful but more sensible to share then own individually.

I think the WW2 generation were better conditioned to prepare as they lived in small, face to face, high trust communities anyway - most of the time. Their lifestyles were driven by simple tech, systems and people they could understand. It's so much more complex now and the technology works as an invisible, magic box level for most people who don't really have a clue about how anything they rely on actually works. They also were not driven by the feedback loops of panic fuelled by announcements like this getting into grifters on youtube and social media, over  reacting for clicks and spawning more panic.

I think as a part of my ASD, I am prone to catastrophism and went on a massive slow and steady stockpile of tins and rice, water, pasta, etc. just out of my whirlpool of anxiety about all the things that could fold into that complex time and cause problems. The result is I'm still binning off out of date things I never wanted to eat in the first place and completely forgot about (I have ADHD too), and it was a big waste of money. If you're going to keep reserves you need to be doing it in a way that's managed, first in first out stock of things you WILL use on a day to day basis.

But yeah, I think the way forward with preparation is actually to build the support networks too. It makes more sense for people to share their skills and spaces and abilities to be able to actually work as a team rather than a bunch of atomised units.

Saying that. Some of the things people don't seem to think about is communications. How many people have a CB radio, still? Or know about meshtastic / meshcore and setting up local area, decentralised communications? We don't do this because we have this atomised lifestyle where we expect that some authority has the job of providing this stuff for us, but it's all achievable with some amount of coordination at the local level. There was no internet when I was growing up - I think we were better for it (the irony being I have worked all my adult life in IT and the Internet sector). A thought experiment: if we had a national internet black out drill, what would happen!? Can you imagine :) 

Problem being that coordination is a lost art. The WW2 gen are gone. I look around at some of the childish, ignorant, uncooperative and even adversarial living I see today and wonder if it would actually be possible for decentralised communities to work together any more?

I think today, we absolutely would see an population of people who fail to employ any personal agency and just stand back and let themselves be bullied and push around by the government. Having see the lockdowns, I can't really go back to my more optimistic view of society that I held before. So, given this expectation, maybe it would be better for the government to actually set up their own contingency plans for food and resource distribution from local centres and do the job properly?

Either way. I don't think just telling people they need to stock up is a good idea. Preparation for emergencies is an ongoing management and coordination task, not just people stacking their cupboards with baked bean tins.

yep, true - some people keep diaries instead - I think that there us a strong need to "get it out there" one way or another, otherwise it all seems a bit pointless maybe?  the need for communication is really deep in us i reckon.

We're on the pooter, but we're not in any sort of emergency as far as I'm aware, we might be preparing for lack of all sorts of services, but people will still panic if they can't go on faceache and insta and share it with their friends and followers.

hehe - what are we doing now TheCatWoman !

If the interenet and phones go down people will be running about in panic, there are so many people who literally don't know how to live without being constantly plugged into a phone

BTW airtime wa say to correct I typed airfix lol 

I will post. Pics in small categorised catches of a small amount  of my models they're all very much work in progress some just need details put in some. Need major base or wash/highlight touch ups ect shy I'll start with my wild West ones

Hi all

Remember Covid?  When we first went into lock down I confidently predicted that it would all be over in ten days.  Instead the nonsense just went on and on. 

personally I am a bit "meh.." about all this TheCatWoman  but then i'm 1. probably already reasonably sorted for such events and 2. I really haven't got the energy to get stressed about it all TheCatWoman If something happens there'll probably be some sort of way that it gets sorted out or muddled thro' by digging and piling and burning and stuff.  Seems to me that whilst planning for the worst is important putting more effort into stopping the worst happening is the best investment (notwithstanding this is what the government want people to do because they are admitting there's no choice.  ie being in charge when things go wrong)

Don't worry, Orangegnome . The Government only meant for everyone to have some supplies for a few days, in case of delivery problems. Read profdanger 's post below - he's talking sense!!

B said:

Could we not lose the gas supply?

Camping gaz stove with a few extra cylinders. They last a long time and are great for a quick cup of tea. I also use my whilst gardening, so I don't have to traipse through the house in muddy shoes.

Specialanddifferent said:

I personally give the US preppers and bunker people a very very wide birth. Slightly unhinged and are in a perpetual state of “what ifs” and potential crisis creating fear. Not great for anxiety or keeping things in perspective.

I agree - people are getting far too wound up about this.

TheCatWoman said:

you ccan then leave them to go about thier tasks whilst you sit in a chair and "supervise" them.

You sound very organised! Were you a Girl Scouts leader?

Phased said:

I personally would recommend focus on steady, calm planning as many have commented rather than letting the news cycle spike anxiety.

I think this is so true - I'm sure the Government mean us to provide ourselves for about a week, in case the supply chain is interrupted or the weather is unsound. Not a vast stockpile of food and drink. To do otherwise leaves empty shelves for those who cannot afford extra supplies or rely on deliveries. Remember empty shelves in the pandemic? So unfair to everyone. My objective is to buy extras over a few weeks, plus simple sources of light, cooking and entertainment - that's enough. I have enough blankets and clothing to keep warm.

Don't forget water proof clothes and balaclavas,  never know when it might become useful.

Roy said:

tin of corned beef

Love corned beef sandwiches with pickle, but your ideas sounds delish. I'm also a fan of jarred hot dogs. Excellent standbys and they even appear on recommended pantry lists.