Food stocks

annebo, I do the same sort of thing. My friend has a fridge constantly jam packed with food - and never cleans it! She has anxiety about food shortages (won't happen) but not germs!

I do have a spare freezer in the garage so there's usually supplies in there - until I run it down to clean it.

There's a cupboard for tins and dried goods just in case I'm ill or get snowed in (very unlikely, though).

Having lived through a time when babies were small and we had strikes and power failures and threats to travel,(NI troubles') I always have plenty of tins and dried food. When I cook a soup or stew I make enough for 2 or 3 meals and freeze it.I think after Brexit we will see price rises and loss of many continental foods.

I tend to shop almost daily and do not have a stock cupboard.

My cupboard contains 2 tins of beans,tin toms, and 1 tin of soup.

I have 6 different herbs and spices, marmalade, pkt biscuits, bran flakes and half loaf of bread.

Fridge has butter, milk and cheese.

Small freezer has chips, half loaf of bread, casserole veg and 1 burger.

You can probably tell I live alone and do not enjoy cooking.

I’m someone who always has enough in for an extra week or so, but since January I started slowly buying a little more each week, then when lockdown happened I had enough of everything, and was able to get by with fresh top ups without worrying if I couldn’t find something I’d normally buy.

We are all different though, so you do what’s best for your family

I actually had a good clear/sort out pre pandemic because I wanted to try harder to be zero waste so I really like having a well stocked larder and freezer. I like to keep my fridge quite full as I think it uses up less energy if it’s full.

annebo - I was also raised in a no-waste house, and continue that practice. For me that means eating things from freezer (I have a big chest one) that might be 2 years old which I discover when it gets its annual defrost and clean out! We keep all leftovers in fridge and usually eat up on a Saturday. I also have big stocks of tinned food, dried beans etc. However, it’s not because I’m worried about food security- it’s just how my mother shopped.

I suppose we all tend to continue with the practices we grew up with.

Please, please, count yourselves lucky.

I have just spoken to someone who says they now have to make up 'kettle kits' at the food bank where she volunteers.

These 'kettle kits' are for families who are living in one room in a hotel and have no cooking facilities other than a kettle.
So pot noodles, powdered mash, tinned cold foods are what they and their children are existing on.

We could probably survive for a couple of months if we couldn’t get out. I keep intending to work my way through the freezer stock but always end up fighting to get more in.
I have a larder groaning with dried and tinned food, herbs and spices and another cupboard with home made jams and pickles. We are also well stocked with wine and beer.
I have always been like this and wouldn’t be able to cope with stocks running low.

annebo keep freezer and cupboards pretty well stocked, don’t clear out and clean anywhere near once a month, fridge gets a quick wipe weekly.I get food delivered roughly weekly, top up milk, bread, veg from the village as needed and have been down to just enough milk for two cuppas plenty of times. We’re all different, there’s no right or wrong, it’s what suits the individual.

This domestic goddess loves the taste of chicken ‘supa noodles*! There. My guilty secret ...
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i try to always have stocks of tinned fish, and quick noodles. which make a tasty meal together, but are meant to be iron rations, for when if i don't have anything else. but i frequently eat them even when i do have something else. but i never get down to my very last tin, or pot noodle. can recommend lidl's, and very cheap. you domestic goddesses will look askance at the very mention of pot noodles, but i wish i had discovered them sooner. i often chop a pepper or tomato into them. usually add something. a good easy basic for the culinary-challenged.
i have never used up everything in stock. that would make me feel a bit anxious. packet soups with stale crackers are a stand-by.
Op, you do what suits you. vive la difference.

Annbo, the appropriate level of food stock in your house is the level that suits you and your husband. That's all that matters.

My fresh food stock is pretty low on a Sunday night because I shop on Monday morning. The freezer and cupboards are well stocked all the time but I'm careful to use the oldest items first.

These are unprecedented times with both the Covid crisis and the now Brexit bringing a growing probability of large scale disruption at the Channel ports in January. Therefore we have stocked up on tinned produce such as soups meats and vegetables along with frozen vegetables and meats.

Better safe than sorry we feel so to stock up gradually on canned and frozen would seem to be the best way forward.

My cupboards, fridge and freezer are always as full as they can be. Apart from fresh fruit and vegetables, bread and milk, we probably have enough in for at least a month.
Siege mentality? Yes. Too many experiences of redundancy over the years.

Worry not. I wait until the bitter end then I have a splurge with enough to keep me going for a month.
People in Asda must scratch their heads when they see this old bint pushing a trolley which is overflowing

I kid you not but there's an echo in my fridge until I replenish stocks then you won't get a pound note past anything-----and there's only myself !

Cupboards are stocked though, pastas, sauces, soups, fruits, evap etc. Fridge and freezer is emptied first.

It seems sensible to have something to fall back on. There maybe times when you can’t get out, on your shopping day. Or a delivery doesn’t turn up.
We always have a supply of tins, packets, jars, and meat and fish in the freezer.
After Brexit there may well be shortages of certain items if they get held up in transit.

You do what suits you! I usually have some things in the freezer ( mostly when I’ve overcooked), but whatever’s right for you is right.

We do the shop the same way as you @annebo

But we do have a tin cupboard, a big bag of rice and pasta for "emergencies". We donate to a food bank regularly, so always have things we can give - or it's there if we really need it.

Sounds perfectly normal to me. We're all different.