Government announcement today that we should stock up on food etc

That sounds reasonable (except the toilet paper, you mad man lol). It’s good that you have kept an eye on expirations.

Don't forget bottled water.

I find the thought of what people of hate might do frightening. I wish the world would calm down and stop prioritising insane desire for power, control and money.

From news reports, I get the impression that stocking up is more to relieve the pressure on emergency services who would prioritise people without any water and food. Being prepared could save the country a lot of money if say, there was a cyber attack. One politician likened it to ‘doing our bit for the war effort during the second world war’.

I’m aiming for 5 - 7 days worth of food and water.

No, but it probably should since I have a wife and kids. I am an agnostic atheist and I recently realized I’m coming out of a long period of deep nihilism, so I think that has made me rather apathetic regarding self-preservation.

On the other hand, we must be cautious of mass hysteria. Remember that people went absolutely nuts and bought an obscene amount of toilet paper around the advent of COVID-19. Try not to panic.

I’ve already been stocking up with tinned beans, lentils, tomatoes, salmon, sardines, anchovies, baked beans and pasta. 

I might get some dried pulses and rice. They mightn’t be of use if the electricity and gas is off. I’m not going to get a camping stove. 

Water.

Euros, as I may be able to access supplies down south (Ireland).

I don’t claim to be an expert by any stretch, but my thought is at least a week’s worth of necessities would be a good idea. My thought is that would at least give you enough of a buffer that you could potentially use that amount of time to find more goods. Also, if need be a week’s worth of supplies could be stretched longer depending on circumstances.

So maybe set aside a couple packs of bottled water (but do keep in mind that even bottled water has expiration dates, so keep your eye on that) and maybe enough imperishable meals to last at least a week.

I’m not a prepper myself, but my dad is. He’s got weird stuff (most of which I forget about because I try to ignore that he is one) like some kind of makeshift heating system that uses a bucket, sand, and I think coals to generate low heat over a long time. Yeah, it’s pretty common over here, and I think it’s popular both with left and right leaning individuals that mistrust the government.

I get the appeal. For my dad, he obviously wants to be the hero of the family if things ever go south for whatever reason. My major concern - and the only reason I would entertain prepping or stocking up - is how fragile our infrastructure is becoming over here. We recently had a major cyberattack in the Midwest on our water suppliers by Iran (hilariously it was wrongfully blamed on the Democrat Minnesota governor by Daddy Trump), which only serves to prove how vulnerable we are.

I should be stocking up on AT LEAST bottled water if not also imperishables, but I guess apathy has prevented me from doing so thus far. My dad is also convinced that we need to set aside a huge chunk of physical cash in case banking systems fail, though my opinion on that is that paper money would probably be worthless in that situation anyways. In a situation where all power/data/internet systems go down (ex. solar flare or EMP), goods and services would be worth far more than money itself, in my opinion.

TLDR: I get it, but either due to apathy or lack of self-preservation I have no interest in prepping/stocking up.

I've been stocking up for years.  Not much, just enough food for a month.  I also stockup medicines of all types.  I stock batteries. And I also keep cash hidden in the flat.  I don't trust cards and the Internet.

I periodically check the dates on everything.  Today replaced my antiseptic and painkilling ointments.  I always try to eat the oldest food.

I've also gone mad and have a years supply of toilet paper.

Do others find this as anxiety inducing as I do?

One question: how long are we meant to stock up for eg. days, weeks, months?

Does anyone know?

I do feel concerned at the moment that people will rush to the shops to stock up (as we are told to) and then we will run out of goods.

I wonder how resilient the stock in supermarkets etc is for this announcement.

A couple of quotes:

'UK households are less prepared for emergencies than those in several other countries such as Finland, Sweden and European Union nations, the NAO added'.

'Phil Pluck, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, the body which represents firms transporting temperature-controlled foods, said Britain was "pretty close to crisis".'