7th November 2026
Are you a just in time food shopper? Do you wait until you have eaten the last wheatabix before buying a new pack? Or do you build in a buffer? Perhaps buying a new packet of cereal when your current lack is half consumed?
Probably a mix of the two.
When I was a child I loved playing ‘shop’ when I stayed with my granny. She had a large cupboard and each shelf was full of tins and jars of food. Not just one tin of beans, one can of sardines, one jar of jam but multiples of each one. With a table as a counter, this was much more like a shop. A customer (my sister) could ‘buy’ a tin of beans and it didn’t wipe out the entire stock. My granny wasn’t thinking about an emergency plan, she just knew it was sensible to have spare capacity in the kitchen in case bad weather, a power cut or a bus strike meant that for a few days she wouldn’t be able to get to the shops.
Recently the government has been urging us to keep a stock of food and water to last for three days in the event of an emergency. The campaign is called ‘Be Ready.’ (1) Whilst this may sound as if we need a big box in the back of a cupboard full of three day’s worth of food and water, I think it’s more practical to think of this as having a three day buffer in your kitchen. Don’t wait until you have run out of cereal before buying the next box – have one in hand. Don’t wait until you have run out of tinned tomatoes or jars of jam/peanut butter, before buying the next one.
Do include a stock of food that doesn’t need to be refrigerated or cooked (think of power cuts) and that you would enjoy eating! Maybe of a box of porridge oats – they can be soaked in milk or water and eaten raw and you could make it a savoury dish by adding tinned beans and herbs or sweet with fruit and honey.
Include non perishables such as biscuits and crispbreads – ones that you will eat anyway – crisps and chocolate.
UHT milk (oat or dairy) and fruit juice, dried fruits and dried tomatoes, nuts and cereal bars, would also be good.
Keep a buffer of fruit and vegetables that would last at least three days – carrots, apples, cabbage, cauliflower, bananas, lemons etc. Particularly things that can be eaten raw – which actually is most fruit and vegetables but not potatoes: they always need to be cooked.
A good supply of condiments will always boost the flavour of a meal – chutneys, mustard, sauces etc.
