Buying in bulk / stockpiling ....is it really worth it?

OrkneyStar

mardatha wrote: »

OS, you should read some of the american forums !! LOL hysterical is not the word !! Its either a "pinko /terrorist/commie plot"....or a "visitation from god " because we are all steeped in evil !

Hmmm, tbh I am focusing on living my life for today and not getting wrapped up in hype.
If I am completely honest I realise that illness could have catastrophic effects on our communities, esp large cities/con(n)urbations but not sure that stockpliling flour would necessarily help me in such a situation iyswim!
Of course there will always be 'theories' of where illnesses come from and some are very odd indeed. Anyway I don't want to take this thread off topic as I realise it is largely for people who do want to stockpile (for whatever reason!).

mardatha

I want to have a stockpile of tins & dried goods . The flour is a hassle because of weevils and th freezer is a hassle because we get a lot of powercuts anyway. I think growing as much as poss is the way to go.

tiff

If you freeze the flour for a couple of days then put it in the cupboard you wont get weevils. I have thought about buying wheat which keeps forever (25+ years) but havent bought it yet. I have stockpiled rice, pasta, oats, tinned stuff and dried stuff.

OrkneyStar

We have decent amounts of pasta etc but not what you'd call a stockpile.
I agree that self-sufficiency is a way forward, although sadly not managed much so far (blame it on sore back mainly!).
We have always got lots of shower gel and shampoo....for some reason I am always buying that lol!

purpleivy

mumoftwo wrote: »

How about those little face masks I saw them handing out on the news to people in the streets in Mexico?

It is always a good idea to have food stocks no matter what the threat might be, illness, redundancy, strike, natural disaster, and ofcourse a wind up radio/torch etc etc etc.

I must admit, I don't fancy swine flu, I assume that my flu jab won't protect me from that!

Unfortunately those dinky little facemasks they're handing out in Mexico City aren't really use nor ornament (according to medical professonal Rosemary Leonard on the news this morning). They have to be dry (after breathing through them they become damp) and are only any good if changed frequently, she was citing a couple of hours max. So unless you have a multipak.....

I'm showing an interest in this as my daughter is at present in Mexico, not Mexico City, although she was there with my husband last week when he was visiting her. She said today that it hasn't reached her town yet.

At the end of it, lots of people catch 'flu' every year and most survive, so I'm not worrying about it until it happens. My real concern is that she is unable to fly home in a fortnight at the end of her period working there. She's not bothered, as she'd love to stay longer! Visa implications though.

As for stockpiling? I'm guilty of that any way, if we want fresh fruit I'd have to leave the building, otherwise no problem.

PI

mardatha

I would like to stock up loads of lentils and dried onion and stock cubes...but they aren't the kind of things that are sold in bulk very often. Then I figure you always have the makings of soup - and with HM bread you're all set .

maryb

There's a difference between stockpiling because you think there might be permanant (or at any rate longlasting) shortages and stockpiling because you might not be able to get to the shops. I don't think there's anything selfish about the latter, if it really does come to the stage where it's a pandemic, the less you expose yourself to infection the better for everybody else.

Because it's a shortterm thing rather than TEOTWAKI (the end of the world as we know it) it is worth making sure you have things like longlife milk, bread flour and yeast which you would use eventually anyway. If it was TEOTWAKI which is the sort of thing the American forums talk about, then what would be the point, it would just be deferring the day when you would have to become a New Peasant

buxtonrabbitgreen

sparky7 wrote: »

What about Lemsip?

I saw Lemsip reduced to £1.03 in Boots today if you want some. I should have bought some myself as I haven't stopped coughing today and I have a cold coming. Not swine flu I hope.

[Deleted User]

I started using my big big stockpile but I am going to leave it alone now. On city news, transportation stocks in the US have dropped today. Personally I think this will fizzle out as a passing scare whipped up by the media

elona

WHO have just declared Phase 4.