UK Supply chain issues - Food and now fuel.

[boydeste]

1 hour ago, Butch said:

I work in supply chains, and our capacity where I work is always a good indication of how the supply chain is / is not working.

At the moment we are sacrificing part of our empty storage capacity for imported goods - good because the goods have arrived ex ship, bad because some of them have been on dwell for over 7 weeks. That's almost 2 months and unheard of within my industry unless something is on either Customs hold or Health quarantine. Last time we did this was in deepest covid in mid 2020 due to staff shortages and also partly Brexit.

Perishable goods get priority as always, but they are not getting distributed, instead, they are getting moved and "de vanned" outside , because the charge for the refrigerated containers (called reefers 🙂  ) being plugged in is somewhat extortionate, so the goods they have are being taken out and stored in consolidation areas, or sent over to Frigoscandia at Kings Lynn, essentially a huge frozen food storage facility and elsewhere where they sit until demand can be met.

So, in all truth the Govt can claim there is not a shortage of say, frozen chickens, there isn't, because there's 1500 containers full of the stuff stacked in and around various UK ports and distribution centres. There is a shortage in the supermarkets, because not enough staff to deliver them.

Most shortages will apply to perishable goods for the most part, the stuff we eat and drink every day. However, as holiday season approaches demand picks up, supply drys up and then the panic and rumours start. Then the non perishable foods begin to get hit and at that point all hell breaks loose.

I am hoping it will not get that bad again, but it would not help to just grab a bit extra, only a can of beans, bag of rice or whatever each time you shop. Lalia Rice is currently on offer, £16 for a 10kg bag I think, nationally in most Asian stores.

 

 

 

I will take your advice and make sure my freezer and pantry is brimming with food by the end of the month.

Frigoscandia, wow, that's a name I haven't seen in a while. We used to see that place on a big roundabout near KL on the way to Sunny Honey as kids.

[Butch]

23 minutes ago, boydeste said:

I will take your advice and make sure my freezer and pantry is brimming with food by the end of the month.

Frigoscandia, wow, that's a name I haven't seen in a while. We used to see that place on a big roundabout near KL on the way to Sunny Honey as kids.

Better to have too much than not enough. I think Frigoscandia have been taken over now, but we still refer to the place in KL as "frigo's".

Once this Cop26 is out of the way, the media will switch back to shortages of turkeys etc, or the shortage of toys for Xmas. Given the behaviour of a large proportion of the UK public in recent times, another spate of panic buying seems on the cards.

[boydeste]

26 minutes ago, Butch said:

Better to have too much than not enough. I think Frigoscandia have been taken over now, but we still refer to the place in KL as "frigo's".

Once this Cop26 is out of the way, the media will switch back to shortages of turkeys etc, or the shortage of toys for Xmas. Given the behaviour of a large proportion of the UK public in recent times, another spate of panic buying seems on the cards.

The media have a lot to answer for.

As for the stupid general public, the strangest thing I have ever brought home from Thailand was a large pack of toilet rolls last year. I was shocked when my mate told me to bring some home as the shelves had been stripped.

Also one of my freezers was running continuously due to a faulty thermostat. As it was very old I decided to buy a new one, good idea apart from the fact that there were none left to buy in the UK at all. The stupid public had bought extra feezers to put in their garages to fill up with panic buying.

Incredible but true.

God knows what will happen this xmas.

[Freee!!]

6 minutes ago, boydeste said:

God knows what will happen this xmas.

They will run out of Christmas trees 😉

[jcolorado]

35 minutes ago, Freee!! said:

They will run out of Christmas trees 😉

Already forecasted in many places in the States - artificial ones as well.

[Butch]

1 hour ago, boydeste said:

The media have a lot to answer for.

As for the stupid general public, the strangest thing I have ever brought home from Thailand was a large pack of toilet rolls last year. I was shocked when my mate told me to bring some home as the shelves had been stripped.

Also one of my freezers was running continuously due to a faulty thermostat. As it was very old I decided to buy a new one, good idea apart from the fact that there were none left to buy in the UK at all. The stupid public had bought extra feezers to put in their garages to fill up with panic buying.

Incredible but true.

God knows what will happen this xmas.

Call in a local sparky, a faulty thermostat is a piss easy job on most freezers. 50 quid tops.

[boydeste]

22 minutes ago, Butch said:

Call in a local sparky, a faulty thermostat is a piss easy job on most freezers. 50 quid tops.

555555555

I am quite capable of replacing a thermostat. lol

The freezer was over 20 years old and there were no parts available.

What I actually did was to buy a 240 volt switch timer so that it would run for a few hours every day to keep frozen. When stocks eventually became available I purchased a new big chest freezer which replaced my 2 smaller ones.

The new ratings meant that I am now saving a fortune on electricity charges too.

[bob lt]

14 hours ago, boydeste said:

The media have a lot to answer for.

As for the stupid general public, the strangest thing I have ever brought home from Thailand was a large pack of toilet rolls last year. I was shocked when my mate told me to bring some home as the shelves had been stripped.

Also one of my freezers was running continuously due to a faulty thermostat. As it was very old I decided to buy a new one, good idea apart from the fact that there were none left to buy in the UK at all. The stupid public had bought extra feezers to put in their garages to fill up with panic buying.

Incredible but true.

God knows what will happen this xmas.

If you keep the toilet rolls in the freezer, they're soothing if you have piles, my mate told me.    😁

[Butch]

14 hours ago, boydeste said:

The media have a lot to answer for.

As for the stupid general public, the strangest thing I have ever brought home from Thailand was a large pack of toilet rolls last year. I was shocked when my mate told me to bring some home as the shelves had been stripped.

Also one of my freezers was running continuously due to a faulty thermostat. As it was very old I decided to buy a new one, good idea apart from the fact that there were none left to buy in the UK at all. The stupid public had bought extra feezers to put in their garages to fill up with panic buying.

Incredible but true.

God knows what will happen this xmas.

The other difficulty is predicting what people will panic buy. I recall during the last event it was pasta, toilet rolls and tinned tomatoes.

Now, I am fairly sure people will get bored of a diet of pasta and tinned tomatoes very quickly. Oddly though, fresh milk was in supply whereas UHT had gone same applies to flour, shelves stripped but plenty of eggs and butter.

there's just no rhyme, reason, or logic to it!.

I tend to buy a slab of pork belly with ribs in for around £25 from Makro, plus they're doing buy one get one free on blossom soft bog rolls for £12 for 24, so 48 bog rolls for £12, and they are a pleasure to wipe your arse on. That's the best part of 5 weeks supply of pork right there and 6 months of loo roll.

Rice, any Asian store, tinned foods, Lidl and pick up fresh veggies at the same time. I usually only spend an extra fiver each trip to drip feed and increase current stock.

 

[boydeste]

51 minutes ago, Butch said:

The other difficulty is predicting what people will panic buy. I recall during the last event it was pasta, toilet rolls and tinned tomatoes.

Now, I am fairly sure people will get bored of a diet of pasta and tinned tomatoes very quickly. Oddly though, fresh milk was in supply whereas UHT had gone same applies to flour, shelves stripped but plenty of eggs and butter.

there's just no rhyme, reason, or logic to it!.

I tend to buy a slab of pork belly with ribs in for around £25 from Makro, plus they're doing buy one get one free on blossom soft bog rolls for £12 for 24, so 48 bog rolls for £12, and they are a pleasure to wipe your arse on. That's the best part of 5 weeks supply of pork right there and 6 months of loo roll.

Rice, any Asian store, tinned foods, Lidl and pick up fresh veggies at the same time. I usually only spend an extra fiver each trip to drip feed and increase current stock.

 

The thing with pasta is that it keeps, same with rice etc.

I do a fair bit of batch cooking so generally have quite a bit of cooked food in the freezer ready to go. Also, I bulk buy from a couple of local butchers so that I get a better discount, at any one time I may have 10 to 20 steaks, 5lb of sausages, 10 big burgers and 20 chicken breasts in the freezer. On occasion I have a leg of lamb and beef mince too.

The recent short supply of veg surprised me, so now I am building up my frozen veg stock too.

Obviously if the freezer packs up then I am in a world of hurt, but I do have a big chest freezer in the garage which is full of bait for fishing, as a last resort I can sacrifice the bait to save the meat.

I eat alot of tinned food whilst fishing, Tescos curry's and fruit are very nice, although full of salt, so I have many tins of those too!

Things like toilet roll and kitchen paper I get from the cash and carry in large quantities anyway, but last trip I had spent 5 months away in Asia and couldn't remember how many I had left, hence why I brought a large pack home. LOL

Edit, my mate just dropped this off from the cash and carry. How appropriate. Lol.

Edited November 7, 2021 by boydeste

[Stillearly]

Love that no one on here is panic buying, but stocking up before the panic buying starts.....  same , same but different 😉😉 555

[coxyhog]

If you eat lots of starchy food with very little fibre then you'll need less toilet roll....

I'm full of helpful tips....or was that full of shit?

[Glasseye]

 

[boydeste]

11 hours ago, Stillearly said:

Love that no one on here is panic buying, but stocking up before the panic buying starts.....  same , same but different 😉😉 555

5555555

Mine is what I keep in the freezer naturally,  but I do have more veg than usual right now. Lol.

Don't panic Captain Mainwaring.

Edited November 8, 2021 by boydeste

[Painter]

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I've kept a box of food in a cupboard, marked COVID, just incase I became ill and couldn't go out for however long. 

It's been so long I cant remember what's in it... tins of something, hopefully the labels are still on them... a bag of pasta, probably past it's use by date, coffee, sugar now in block form... with that and what's in the freezer I could last a month if needed.

The only thing I'd struggle for is the fresh stuff,  mainly salad and milk.  

I classed this as being sensible, not panic buying!!

Edited November 8, 2021 by Painter

[coxyhog]

If you looked into our freezers,fridges & cupboards you would think that we've been panic buying.

Not so,that's just my missus being my missus....

[Butch]

On 11/7/2021 at 10:13 PM, Stillearly said:

Love that no one on here is panic buying, but stocking up before the panic buying starts.....  same , same but different 😉😉 555

Little by little, but I noticed today that Princes corned beef is now £2.30 for a large can, it was less than £2 last month, tossers!

luckily it didn't matter, I managed to pick up 50 cans of tinned pork from the next aisle!.

[Nightcrawler]

5 minutes ago, Butch said:

Little by little, but I noticed today that Princes corned beef is now £2.30 for a large can, it was less than £2 last month, tossers!

luckily it didn't matter, I managed to pick up 50 cans of tinned pork from the next aisle!.

I had you down as a SPAM kind of guy 😁

[Stillearly]

7 minutes ago, Nightcrawler said:

I had you down as a SPAM kind of guy 😁

I went fishing in Krabi and apparently the English Spam is a far superior bait than any foreign versions, guys were arriving with suitcases of the stuff ..

[boydeste]

1 hour ago, Butch said:

Little by little, but I noticed today that Princes corned beef is now £2.30 for a large can, it was less than £2 last month, tossers!

luckily it didn't matter, I managed to pick up 50 cans of tinned pork from the next aisle!.

Large Princes corned beef has been £2.30 in Tescos for a long time now. There is another make in a red tin that is 2 quid, but it doesn't taste as good.

The tinned ham is cheaper and larger as you say, but I still bought 3 tins of Princes. I really like it with a strong cheedar cheese and Branston pickle.

[Butch]

14 minutes ago, boydeste said:

Large Princes corned beef has been £2.30 in Tescos for a long time now. There is another make in a red tin that is 2 quid, but it doesn't taste as good.

The tinned ham is cheaper and larger as you say, but I still bought 3 tins of Princes. I really like it with a strong cheedar cheese and Branston pickle.

That'll be ship brand. I avoided it. Tesco's pricing policy might be regional, as I'm sure it was £2 a while ago. I do hate the stuff , it's for the wife who mixes it with onion and fries it, thus making it even more disgusting than it ever was.

[boydeste]

1 minute ago, Butch said:

That'll be ship brand. I avoided it. Tesco's pricing policy might be regional, as I'm sure it was £2 a while ago. I do hate the stuff , it's for the wife who mixes it with onion and fries it, thus making it even more disgusting than it ever was.

Ah yes, Shit brand. LOL

[coxyhog]

I like a corned beef & Branston sandwich occasionally & sometimes I knock up a hash that is very nice.

[Butch]

21 hours ago, boydeste said:

Ah yes, Shit brand. LOL

Can you use corned beef for bait as well?, I'm sure (going back to when I used to fish, which is years ago!) that it was used either as part of a ground bait mix or something.

Horrid stuff though.

[boydeste]

Just now, Butch said:

Can you use corned beef for bait as well?, I'm sure (going back to when I used to fish, which is years ago!) that it was used either as part of a ground bait mix or something.

Horrid stuff though.

No, we used to use luncheon meat quite a bit,  but never CB.