As various systems collapse or teeter on the edge of collapse (the civilian transport system, money circulation, civilian food distribution, insurance, the legal system, the “education” system, the distribution of fuel to petrol stations – “non-urgent hospital operations” already having gone for a Burton), the ARMED FORCES become – never mind their own corruption and inefficiencies – the most reliable state structure around. I’m guessing that Tesco etc. have already been working closely with the army in “planning for the winter” for some time.
People shouldn’t complain when it happens that they didn’t know. Half of Britain’s food is imported, mostly from the EU. The media are reporting as a premise that the ports are likely to shut down. Food doesn’t leave fields in the Netherlands or wherever and drop onto the shelves in the shops – it comes in through ports. That’s what it means to be “imported”. When the ports shut, it doesn’t come in at all.