It's easy to panic buy...........

I could get flour today, what wasnt on the shelves was bread, but there were Thins, rolls or bagels. Toilet roll was available , long life milk was gone. Im not panic buying. I really don't see how toilet roll and bread is going to help me with Coronavirus. This is just crazy. Regarding all the purchase of soap and wipes, did folks never wash their hands before all this?

I have not bought extra food but have bought extra cat food. If I can’t get out as some point I don’t care if I run short but I wouldn’t let my cat go hungry

I bought loo roll,soap and hand wash yesterday.None were on my shopping list but the shelves were practically empty and there were people with trolleys filled with them.Only bought one pack of each though!
We have quite a good stock of tinned goods.Since we were so ill at Christmas and totally unprepared we have kept a stock just in case we should be housebound again.

My DD in Australia has messaged saying they (family) are nearly out of loo rolls, and hopes there will be some when she does the weekly shop.
Loo rolls are something I always have in, not because of any virus, but I buy a pack if I see they are on offer. Unfortunately not the best thing to post to help her out!

Shelves are empty in my local shops for certain products - hand sanitizers, dettol spray, that sort of thing, even soap is in short supply.
First time in my life I’m starting to panic and will be bulk buying from today.

When my DH, usually the coolest person about buying extra just in case, has started to mention a shop of non perishable food. So must be time to act!

Just think how much worse it would be this week if the 'planners' hadn't bough their extra supplies gradually over the past few weeks!

Their foreward planning didn't empty the shelves - the supermarkets were able to restock their shelves as normal, so it had little, if any, effect on others.

It's the last-minute panickers who do that, suddenly running around like headless chickens, grabbing whatever they can from the shelves.

Meanwhile, I imagine that most planners are now, very sensibly, avoiding this frenzied supermarket sweep, meaning that their actions have actually reduced their impact on the current situation, not added to it!

I’m a very level headed person and don’t generally spend my life preparing for disasters.
I’m not sure what these ‘planners’ are constantly planning for anyway?
I’m 57 and I can’t ever remember not being able to buy food & basic supplies.

But this coronavirus is something else, and whilst I’m not overly worried about it, I’ll be bulk buyer because everyone else is.

I received my regular weekly order online from Asda yesterday, which I mainly do as we get through a lot of catfood and I find it easier.

This time I'd also ordered my usual large size loo rolls as we were getting low. When it came there were no loo rolls at all, not even a substitution which they normally do. I find it amazing they have totally run out. How much are people buying, and where do they keep it all? Madness.

I always have a well stocked pantry of dry foods plus tins and the freezer, so we won't starve. I have no hand gel, but plenty of soap and Dettol disinfectant. Loo rolls, enough for a week or so. I do have kitchen roll if things get desperate!!!

I hadn’t even thought about this until I called into Sainsbury’s on Friday to pick up GS’s medication from the pharmacy. An elderly lady was asking for antibac handwash as there didn’t appear to be any on the shelves and was told by the pharmacy assistant that someone had been into the store and filled a trolley with it! I have a small stock because DH is always buying it even when there isn’t a health scare, and I always keep hand gel in my fishing bag, so what I have will have to do. If the worst comes to the worst, I will give it to DD. As for other stuff, I will try and buy as normally as I can. We could survive a siege with all the weird looking pastas I have bought from time to time and not used! I called into Lidl to get some coffee (one jar) on Wednesday and no-one seemed to be panic buying. There was plenty of fresh meat and veg and none of the shelves seemed to be particularly low. I have to do my Aldi shop today so we will see.

Do people really believe that stocking up will protect them in some way? There's an avalanche effect when they see shortages so feel compelled to buy more. Retailers must be rubbing their hands with glee (as well as gel) and hiking up their prices.

Why oh why stock up on loo roll in particular? Most of us have houses stacked with paper anyway!

Hetty I remember when I was a child using squares of newspaper hung from a nail in the outside loo in the garden of my nan's house in the country! So if I have to I'll do it again!
People are panic buying because other people are panic buying.

I will go to local shops this afternoon to get my usal fresh fruit and veg. Hopefully that is not affected.

If I see my cats favourite food, I will get that too, as the are more fussy than me. They can always go and catch their own fast food if things get that bad.

The thing about stocking up now is that you won't have to fight the crowds when the going gets tough. When this peaks with a bit of luck you should have enough to get by. We have the luxury of a prediction of what is about to happen. Ok I hope they are wrong and it all goes away, but ignoring it would seem short sighted.

Hetty I was telling GS that that was what we used ‘back in the day’! He thought it was a joke. Then he was disgusted?! To be honest, I don’t think that modern toilets would take the strain!

We definitely shouldn't be putting newspaper down the toilet! There will be a lot of water companies struggling with blockages if that ever happens. If desperate I would use those lightweight blue cleaning cloths which can easily be washed out and re-used.

Stocked up my supply of Nespresso capsules on Wednesday: crisis averted.

Panic buying is causing the empty shelf problem. Tesco had so soap whatsoever yesterday. A member of staff said it's still coming in but immediately being sold. I actually felt guilty buying a multi pack of toilet rolls but it's the same pack I always buy.

I was unable to buy soap in any of the four shops I visited this week. I did manage to buy some online last week but they were just for me as I only use L'Occitane.
I always keep a well stocked larder of tinned goods. When I was first married shops weren't open on a Sunday or any evening, in fact the first supermarket had only just opened. I always kept enough to provide a couple of meals.

Bought a multipack of toilet rolls-but I always do. Panic bought a bottle of vodka to fill up my Travel mini sprays and 2 tubes of handcream. Vodka will kill any germs on my hands and handcream will stop them drying out.
Must remember NOT to drink the vodka by mistake.???

I was in Waitrose yesterday doing a very small shop - pasta and a jar of sauce and overheard a heated discussion between a husband and wife. The husband couldn’t understand why the wife was putting 3 packs of 9 toilet rolls and said they didn’t need them. The wife replied that they had to have them because everyone was doing it ?

I think panic-buying is unnecessary and selfish. Also many of those buying up huge amounts are then selling them on eBay. I hope they get stuck with them all.

I guess it might be a good idea to take care when buying unwrapped food like bread if people are coughing, maybe wait for the virus to have an opportunity to become inactive before eating - difficult with cakes in the coffee shops though, bother!

People over-buy at certain times anyway. Brexit, Christmas, this is no different. It'll all work out. I'll admit to always being rather a hoarder of loo rolls because I remember the old days of that hideous Izal loo paper and we'd often run out at home so it was all down to squares of the Daily Telegraph. I'm not going there again and tend to keep a stock of about 50 at any given time. I haven't gone mad and bought more than usual now though. I also think we are better educated now about what can and can't go down a loo. Definitely not newspaper!

Tesco this morning. Pasta shelves nearly empty.