Stockpiling - post lock down

I used to cook for 8 but now its only 3 of us, so force of habit, I've always replaced whatever I've used so was never short when all the panic buying was going on. Even with milk and bread we made do with evaporated or condensed milk and crackers instead of bread. Obviously I don't buy for 8 now but cupboards/freezer never seem to go down ?

NO - not at all. I am shopping at several supermarkets as I am doing it for elderly neighbours too.
I shop about 4 times a week at the moment- the shops are not very busy so it is no problem.
I would never stockpile. It only stops everyone getting a fair share.

My DH enjoys finding Tesco slots. He booked one for 1/6 about ten days ago then found a slot for yesterday so thought he’d transferred the list and was surprised nothing arrived yesterday. We should have checked that it had updated. So, until the delivery next Monday, he is going to visit the store for the first time since lockdown and I’ll make the most of using up stored tins and emptying the freezer to defrost it. Quite opportune really!!

lemongrove "Good point Doodledog ( and somebody needed to say it)" Yes - and I said it yesterday!

Stocking up " is growing/buying enough to supply you until you can grow or buy again. It is something that prudent housewives have always done. At least, they used to, before there was a supermarket on every corner and preserving crops was the only way to survive a bad winter.

Stockpiling is buying up vast amounts, more than you are likely to use, because it is there, with the result that others have empty storecupboards. It is done by those who are NOT prudent, but are panicking at the realisation that they are unprepared for even a short siege.

I have always got a freezer full of frozen food and enough tins to last us a month. I always keep a few cartons of long life milk in as I use it to make custard.

I did not stockpile for Brexit or before lockdown. I just got a few extra jars of coffee and teabags.

I too could not get delivery slot as I had not bought groceries online before.

I was able to post my sister some yeast. I gave a neighbour a jar of coffee and some kitchen roll when they could not get slot.

As I use things I replenish them. I have always done that. My Mum taught me to replenish and rotate stock.

I have recently stocked up on vitamins, liquid soap, and paracetamol in case of second spike.

Good point Doodledog ( and somebody needed to say it)
Two completely different things.
I usually keep a small stock of non perishables, especially toiletries , but did need a better stock of tins/packets etc.
Apart from flour ( which is still hard to come by) the supermarkets seem to have everything else in good supply.

I always keep our stocks up because of where we live. I miss going to Aldi though as Sainsbury's and Tesco are more expensive and I'm buying more each week as I daren't risk running out of anything.

DH said the other day that we must be 'saving a fortune' as we're not spending on anything.

Daft bugger doesn't bother looking at the Sainsbury's receipts!! He'd get a shock if he did.

Yes, you're right.
I'm a stocker upper, never a piler.

I think that people are talking at cross purposes on this thread.

There is a difference between 'stocking up' and 'stockpiling' as the word has started to be used. Stocking up is having a few extra non-perishables in case you run out, or because they are cheaper to buy by the dozen, whereas stockpiling (as it is used nowadays) is more like 'panic buying', where people buy 100 loo rolls because they have heard that there is, or is going to be a shortage.

The former does not cause shortages, or impact on anyone. It's no different from having 8 jars of jam in the cupboard because you found a large box of strawberries going cheap, or making a massive Christmas cake that you are still eating at Easter - it's good housekeeping.

The latter (particularly when done to excess, such as we saw with hand sanitiser and loo rolls a few weeks ago) will cause blips in the supply chain until shops adjust their orders.

Unless there is an actual shortage of ingredients, or import issues, even that sort of buying doesn't cause long-term shortages, although having to do without essentials such as loo roll for even a day is going to be uncomfortable, and nobody needs 100 packs of the stuff.

What does happen, though, is that the shops buy far more of the basics than usual, as they know they will sell, and as they are the things that get panic bought (pasta, anyone?) so they have to make room on the shelves, and there might be a shortage of quinoa, as the space where it used to be is now taken up by pasta spirals that move faster. It looks like there is a shortage, but it is a stock control issue.

There could well be shortages after Brexit if the traffic queues at customs materialise and fruit and veg rot in the lorries. Similarly, if the Eastern European workers who used to pick soft fruit here aren't doing so, it will rot in the fields and there will be shortages in the shops.

There is little point in individuals buying large quantities though, as obviously they don't keep, so again, the shortages won't be because of stockpiling.

arosebyanyothername I haven’t been able to get flour since the beginning of March from a supermarket though I did get plain and SR flour some weeks ago at greatly inflated prices from A****n. 2 days ago I registered with Shipton’s Mills who sell dozens of different types of well priced flours in 1kg bags. I was informed there may be along wait until I got a delivery slot. I managed to get one at 5am this morning.

This store cupboard examination has been good for me in that I found many items I had forgotten about and have been using them up on a daily basis. Same applies to the freezer where I've had a blitz. All good and larder is almost as tidy as the garden.

I have never stockpiled and feel it is so wrong, it creates shortages for those on a tight budget.

I have never stockpiled, and always shopped weekly. Since the lockdown, we have regularly run out of various things, particularly fresh vegetables. We live in a small village, with no shops, Pub Church or even a bus service.
As my hubby is "extremely Vulnerable" and also has food allergies and IBS, we had to stop the Government "food parcels" as much of the contents were things we can't eat (we both have Diabetes), but were allocated a Volunteer. She tries to help, but obviously can't select alternatives when something we have listed is unavailable (or she can't find it). Currently, we only have potatoes and carrots in terms of fresh produce. Some weeks, we haven't had bread (once we didn't have potatoes). I don't bake, since neither of us can safely have sugar. I wish I could say that we've lost weight, but sadly we haven't (despite regular "dicky tummies", due to foods we are unused to). Still, we don't have Covid 19! This week, Hubby has been asked to go to the Doctor's (on Thursday) for his regular blood tests, despite being told in his Government letter not to leave the house until Mid June). I'm just going to have him drop me off at the Supermarket, so I can do a Supermarket Shop (my poor eyesight might result in more "not quite what we wanted" items being likely to end up in the trolley!)
We have no large Supermarkets here, just small ones for Aldi, Morrison's and the Co-op). Wish me luck, please!

I agree with elegran and others. There is a difference between a store cupboard and stockpiling.

I generally don't stockpile which is what prompted this thread.

I always have a store cupboard. I would hate to get to the end of the mayonnaise and not have another one in the cupboard..

grannie7's is my kind of chap.

I can never understand any one running out of bread or milk which are freezeable.I also buy butter when its on offer as this too can be frozen. Frozen veg who needs to panic over buying fresh when virtually most veg other than salad items can be frozen.Freezer veg we buy from a SM are frozen within hours of picking far healthier for us than eating fresh! stuff from a SM that may have been gathered days before, not hours.

Please do not stockpile, it is so frustrating finding shelves devoid of items, our local supermarket asks people to go there if they physically can as there aren't enough delivery slots and bad enough queuing outside for half an hour, following a one way system and forgetting something on your list then going back to find the shelf empty ( do not want eggs or aubergine here and sometimes no plain yogurt) , queue for another half hour to be served.... come home and wash your hands red raw again...
We got back a few days before the major lockdown having left Australia 2 weeks early to guarantee a flight home to find a nearly empty supermarket on March 19th.... shocking....not as bad since but please please do not stockpile
Have a few long life milks and freezer bread but then manage

I have a small stockpile of random goods bought before the lockdown. My husband can't resist a bargain and would therefore buy, for instance, 24 cans of tinned tomatoes if he saw them on offer.

Can't get a delivery slot but have managed click and collect, which our SiL collects. Now DH won't let me buy much of anything, because they are not bargains. He was a store manager for years and has a photographic memory for prices. He insists on doing the online order with me. It is torture.

I think it’s actually getting worse ..... on my ‘favourites’ list which I go to first when , and if I get a precious ‘slot’...there are 24 items not available . The first rush being over ,BUT... I think with everybody not back at work , supermarket stores are Beginning to dwindle...and maybe packaging is a problem!!

I grew up during the war and learned to stockpile from my Mother who had a 'Just in Case' shelf stocked with tins. We didn't have a fridge or a freezer. I am full of admiration for how she coped with the meagre rations as I don't ever remember being hungry although I do remember the meals were very 'samey' and dull.
So I still have my just in case cupboard and I get a supermarker delivery once a month, with top ups from the local garage (milk mostly) as needed.
You can manage if you look at a weekly shopping list and triple up (if you want 4 of anything choose 2 different brands.)
If we all shopped less frequently there'd be more slots available.

I always make sure I have 'spares' packed away but not in huge quantities as I haven't the space. I have about ten tins of soup in the kitchen cupboard, 2 '4-pints' of milk in the freezer, at least six toilet rolls, etc. I don't go mad but my intention is not to run out in case I can't get to the shops.
Unforeseen circumstances happen to the best of us and I've had my fair share over the years.

I already was Brexit stock piling not on everything but curtails items as my DH has ulcerated colitis and can only eat 30 items and 5 of those are crisps. He also has allergies so we try to stick to the same cleaning and washing products too. The only fruit and veg he can eat is Melon so I normally order 13 a week over 3 kinds and with that and at the start was hard to get a delivery was hard but we got these in the end all my stuff is fine these is always something around if I haven't got it I will eat something else

Never managed to get a delivery slot, even though there are enough big supermarkets near us. I’ve used Sainsbury's since the start and Asda once. Lidl is never too crowded.
We have a good small supermarket near us, but the prices make Sainsbury's look cheap!

Not stockpiling, but I will be making sure I always have enough to last a couple of weeks. Once “test, track, isolate” starts we could be asked to stay indoors for 2 weeks at any time.

Good post Doodledog. My thoughts too.

I had not heard of stockpiling until I read about it on Gransnet.
Ihave always kept a back up of dry goods and certain food items because I live in a village and had to rely on the Dial a bus to the town twenty four miles away once a week where I could get a scooter.
Three years ago whilst having treatment for cancer I started to do on line shopping so now rely on that.

At my age and state of health food and drink are the pleasures left to me.