UK advised to stockpile food as Russian Attack fears grow

LtEve

I have loo rolls and wine so feel I’m well equipped. (Do have tins of beans etc too but not in industrial quantities)

If you have loads of wine and beans you will need industrial amounts of loo roll (or at least I would!!)

Oh I don't know. How much planning can an individual do? I have a few standby tins of soup and beans in the cupboard, some tea lights and matches, a few bottles of spring water.

In the event of something major going down, we are quite helpless really, and just need to hope it doesn't happen.

Fallingstar

Always have plenty of loo rolls and pasta - probs because they ran out during Covid - also I tend to stockpile tinned goods, beans, soups, sardines, tuna, and jars of pasta sauce. I also have candles matches and a lighter and torches, have just always had these things. Plus a well stocked first aid box.

Me too! It’s not alarmist, it’s simply sense.

There’s so many reason why mam of us might be “cut off” or need a weeks supply of food etc around.

Not just various forms of attacks, but also extreme weather, our own illness, strikes of all kinds (I mean workers strikes)

It’s certainly not daft to ensure we have enough, without panic buying.

Graphite

Important not to panic over this kind of thing.

Full Telegraph piece with paywall removed:

archive.ph/20260714175544/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/14/defence-russia-public-stockpile-food-russian-cyber-attacks/#selection-4125.0-4129.30

Extract:

Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, announced on Tuesday that the Government would also wargame a “hybrid” attack on the UK by a foreign adversary next year.

The “national home defence exercise” will see hundreds of civil servants plan their response to a crisis from inside Whitehall.

...

^Sir Keir Starmer revealed last month that Western intelligence agencies believed an attack by Russia on a Nato country could come within four years.^

Important not to panic over this kind of thing.

When this becomes general knowledge - a visit to your local supermarket might indicate that this advice will have been well and truly ignored.

I still remember the 'panic-buying' of stacks of toilet-paper during Covid - people swooshing numerous tins of food and bread into their trollies... watched by most other shoppers with a mix of disdain and amusement.

There's a section of the British public who - when told to act 'responsibly', take it as a signal to do the exact opposite.

watermeadow

Whatever rubbish have you been reading? Daily Mail? Get your news from a reputable source, BBC, broadsheet newspaper, and you won’t be worried by fake news and scams.

It’s actually from The Telegraph. I have Apple News app which delivers my daily news from all reputable sources.

I have loo rolls and wine so feel I’m well equipped. (Do have tins of beans etc too but not in industrial quantities)

Casdon

I know a lot of people prefer to stick their fingers in their ears and sing la la la to this sort of advice, but we live in dangerous times, and it would only take a major cyber attack to plunge the country into chaos. No Internet transactions means no food, no petrol, no water, no power.

Without going OTT! I’m prepared, the only thing I haven’t yet got is a solar battery set up, which I’d like as a back up for power cuts anyway.

👍👍👍

FriedGreenTomatoes2

As much as I’d love to face down the Russians with powdered milk and a tin of beans, I can’t help feeling there’s a better solution. 🤔

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Desdemona

FriedGreenTomatoes2

As much as I’d love to face down the Russians with powdered milk and a tin of beans, I can’t help feeling there’s a better solution. 🤔

This, exactly.

In the event of nuclear attack on the UK, a can of beans and a packet of porridge will not save you.

Yes, but a nuclear attack is not the most likely way that we would be attacked. You can’t save yourself from a nuclear attack, but you can protect yourself from the impact of other forms of attack, particularly cyber attacks, which are probably the most likely. I don’t really understand why people would be averse to taking sensible steps to protect themselves.

Always have plenty of loo rolls and pasta - probs because they ran out during Covid - also I tend to stockpile tinned goods, beans, soups, sardines, tuna, and jars of pasta sauce. I also have candles matches and a lighter and torches, have just always had these things. Plus a well stocked first aid box.

This is straight out of the Soviet political guidebook. "Keep your citizens in a state of alarm to keep them in a state of compliance".

Covid masks anyone?

petra

greyfur

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Oh, well. Cheaper than paying for national defence, I suppose.

We are a tiny little island, not a world player.
Where would you like the funding to come from?

We are a small island, not tiny.
I’m assuming you have no knowledge of the intelligence sharing group known as 5 eyes. That would be just 5 countries worldwide.
Note that not one European country is a member.
You are not small and insignificant to belong to this group.

policyexchange.org.uk/events/the-importance-of-the-five-eyes-in-an-era-of-global-insecurity/

Possibly best not to assume too much.

Government guidance watermeadow.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

As much as I’d love to face down the Russians with powdered milk and a tin of beans, I can’t help feeling there’s a better solution. 🤔

This, exactly.

In the event of nuclear attack on the UK, a can of beans and a packet of porridge will not save you.

Whatever rubbish have you been reading? Daily Mail? Get your news from a reputable source, BBC, broadsheet newspaper, and you won’t be worried by fake news and scams.

That’s why the advice is to keep a supply of bottled water to last a few days.

Without water we’d be stuffed anyway.

The only thing everyone should do is have cash in the house…

I know a lot of people prefer to stick their fingers in their ears and sing la la la to this sort of advice, but we live in dangerous times, and it would only take a major cyber attack to plunge the country into chaos. No Internet transactions means no food, no petrol, no water, no power.

Without going OTT! I’m prepared, the only thing I haven’t yet got is a solar battery set up, which I’d like as a back up for power cuts anyway.

As much as I’d love to face down the Russians with powdered milk and a tin of beans, I can’t help feeling there’s a better solution. 🤔

* gas hob! (Though dear husband might think gas gob a better description of me!)

I have no issue with having emergency packs, torches and radios which wind up, plentiful supply of batteries, charged up spare power banks for phones, matches, candles, dried food, canned food, water.

We have most of these anyway.

We have an electric oven and gas gob, but if we have power cuts we have no means of cooking!

I wouldn't be storing food in a freezer if there was a war, electricity will be one of the first targets, dry food, flour, canned, preserves are much more useful

This is linked to a civil defence exercise being planned, a cynical person might say it's a distraction from the parlous state of the UK defence capability. We know from other disasters and conflicts one of the first failures is likely to be the phone and communication network

greyfur

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Oh, well. Cheaper than paying for national defence, I suppose.

We are a tiny little island, not a world player.
Where would you like the funding to come from?

We are a small island, not tiny.
I’m assuming you have no knowledge of the intelligence sharing group known as 5 eyes. That would be just 5 countries worldwide.
Note that not one European country is a member.
You are not small and insignificant to belong to this group.

policyexchange.org.uk/events/the-importance-of-the-five-eyes-in-an-era-of-global-insecurity/

Graphite

Important not to panic over this kind of thing.

Full Telegraph piece with paywall removed:

archive.ph/20260714175544/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/14/defence-russia-public-stockpile-food-russian-cyber-attacks/#selection-4125.0-4129.30

Extract:

Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, announced on Tuesday that the Government would also wargame a “hybrid” attack on the UK by a foreign adversary next year.

The “national home defence exercise” will see hundreds of civil servants plan their response to a crisis from inside Whitehall.

...

^Sir Keir Starmer revealed last month that Western intelligence agencies believed an attack by Russia on a Nato country could come within four years.^

Let’s hope they organise it better than they did when COVID hit us.
I won’t hold my breath.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Oh, well. Cheaper than paying for national defence, I suppose.

We are a tiny little island, not a world player.
Where would you like the funding to come from?