Food Stockpiling

It's almost a perfect storm. We have worldwide shortages created by production lost to COVID. We have the potential for problems at ports because of both COVID and Brexit. Felixstowe is apparently 30% busier than normal. Whilst all this might not be about food it does have a knock on effect in that there is competition for space. As we have seen with Honda many operate of a just in time supply basis so even the slightest hiccup can start to cause problems which would be magnified  if there was serious disruption. I suppose as consumers we don't always know what part of our food comes from where. Even something as quintessential English as Cheddar Cheese could come from Ireland!!!

David

The Chief Honcho at Tesco did say that they are taking steps to try to have stocks come into different ports to avoid relying on southern ports like Felixstowe etc.

He also said they have been hoarding food themselves in anticipation of  difficult times so that their supply is evenly spread. However I have noticed their shelves to be lacking in quite a few areas, especially foreign food stuffs but we haven't starved yet.

About time to resurrect the Fishmonger as we're going to have a greater supply of fish, unless we use them to barter with.

Having grown up in the country I've always kept a decent stock cupboard and these days full freezer. That won't change. However the fresh stuff is harder and we'll  all be using home grown seasonal vegetables 😀

It could help get over all the Christmas indulgences and I baulk at all the food journeys being shown on the news. Changes ahead for sure.

I also looked up where my porridge oats come from, Canada! That's one heck of a food journey.

We use Flavahan’s Porridge Oats brue, usually get them at Aldi, but I think some of other supermarkets do them. Organic Irish.

If we were twenty years younger, and no one to care for, I think we would have emigrated. If Scotland gets Independence, Dumfries and Galloway looks mighty tempting.....

We've thought the same but Scottish born MiL doesn't want to return home!

One of the problems will be fresh produce.  In the early part of the year we rely heavily on imported fresh food.  There have already been reports of some fresh food exporters not sending food to UK because of existing port delays.  Any disruption at the ports -- wrong paperwork etc will cause issues for fresh stuff with very limited scope for delay before it cant be delivered.

This could then cause knock on effects - e.g. more canned & frozen veg being bought, leading to shortages.  If overseas cheese cant get in - pressure on UK produced cheese.

Most of our frozen potato products are made from EU potatoes!  It depends on what stocks manufacturers have as to wether there will be shortages.

The man at my fruit & veg stall in the mrket told me he didnt expect his wholesaler to have much overseas produce come January!

As the man from Tescos said a few weeks ago - there will be gaps on the shelves, no one will starve, but people might not be able to buy what they usually do.

And food we import from non-EU countries could get caught up in port delays as well.

Overall, over the year, we import about 50% of our food - not just for supermarkets & markets, but for manufacturing other food products.

It may be that first week or two of January will have limited effects, but later there will be other shortages, as stockpiles, reserves etc are used up.

It seems to me that supply chains in supermarkets have not yet fully recovered from the first lockdown, so I am working on the basis that there will still be disruption for several months, to some degree.

Ah well our £4,  25 kg, locally grown sack of potatoes should see us through. It's interesting what people buy in locally and what they buy from other countries. 

We have an organic farm shop near us but they buy wholesale from the EU as well as growing their own products. It's out of season fruit and veg that might be affected. 

I'm glad to hear that Tesco and others are making contingency plans. Maybe Covid has alerted them  to what happens when they don't. 

I would miss tea and coffee if these were in short supply. 

Cheese (cheddar from Somerset) I'm happy to buy locally, others are just a treat.

We'll always have our own meat in the freezer, and fresh milk every day. I try to keep a stock of frozen vegetables, and we still have our own apples, damsons and gooseberries somewhere deep down in the freezer. Plus a good supply of flour for the daily bread making, so we will cope.

We try to buy British, and as local as possible, but somethings Britain can’t grow. We would miss bananas and grapes. 

Never mind, look on the bright side....all this logistics mayhem may slow up chlorinated chickens and meat pumped full of stuff long since banned in the sensible world. The tourist shops in Cheddar could be selling cheese from Wisconsin by this time next year!