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

Agreed Greyduster and the attitude seems to be that only the old and sick will die so that's all right then. That attitude might make younger folk complacent and think they will be okay.

I don’t think I’m panicking but I have been buying a few extra supplies of tinned and dry goods like rice and lentils. It’s not impossible that I'll be quarantined or unwell in the coming weeks, and I feel more comfortable knowing that I could survive for a while on what’s in my cupboards and that Matt Hancock won’t need to arrange deliveries!

I have to agree with those who are saying it's selfish. Just been to M and S and it's quite busy on a Friday morning but not that busy.
I have also noticed lots of metros left in the stands at the station's which is unusual! But this scaremongering is causing people to panic, overreact and not pick them up.

Confess to having selfishly bought a few (two or three, NOT twenty two or three!) extra packets of rice, oats and dried beans a couple of years back in case we had food shortages after Brexit! Stuck them in an underused cupboard 'just in case'.

Discovered them yesterday. Now need to use them up soonest before their'best before' dates.

Shan't be doing that again.

But I will be sowing my vegetable seeds again as usual. And also pulling up my leeks today to make soup like merlotgran. I should have enough to be able to freeze and keep some of it for when the supermarket shelves are empty. Assuming we continue to be supplied with electricity, of course.

I’m not stockpiling anything. TBH I think it’s selfish. The more panic buying the less for everyone else, and probably be left in larders when all this is over.

Our Morrison’s and corner shop are fully stocked.

As for loo paper running out, you can wash your bottom, and dry with your
own towel just for that purpose ?, I don’t expect shops will run out anyway. I can’t think of any specific thing I couldn’t do with out.

Maybe now is the time to make permanent changes to benefit the environment - washable cloths and small towels instead of loo roll, pop them in the washing machine and reuse. Less yucky than cloth nappies and most of us coped fine with those!!

Actually, everything in supermarketland is not normal right now. Whether it's a question of people being clairvoyant three weeks ago and over-buying, or of deliveries coming in slower because of the general impact on supplies, imports etc., the fact is that many things are in short supply, and as substitutes that were always left on the shelves are turned to instead the problem will continue. I went into Sainsbury's mid-week this week to avoid lots of shoppers, there were huge swathes of empty shelves - no pasta at all (was it coming from Italy and not allowed in?), hardly any tinned beans, hardly any toilet/kitchen rolls, tinned fish in short supply. Of course, there's been no hand sanitiser for over three weeks, nor antibacterial hand wipes. There was nobody filling shelves.
So let's be sensible, if we're faced with this situation now, when items do come onto the shelves what is the most natural thing to do? It's to protect yourself and your family and the idea that people will not overbuy seems a strange one to me. It's OK and very magnanimous to say you won't overbuy but when faced with the complete absence of some item, and then that comes back on the shelves, of course people will buy extra. It's human nature. Rationing was a good idea in the 40s and 50s - in an epidemic, I'm sure it will come back. Indeed, hand sanitiser is being rationed in those chemists where it has come back on the shelves - two per person. The Boots and Superdrug stores in London that have been without this for a few weeks are just getting it back in - 500 bottles gone in 8 minutes yesterday. I'm in London, so huge population.
As for supermarket home deliveries, these mask the situation in the actual supermarket when you are confronted with the vision of empty shelves.

No over buying I've not got the room to store extra items or the extra food budget the supermarkets are loving it and probably have a stockpile for when the prices rise

Selfish to pile food etc! We need to think of others.

My god it's such an over reaction by a small bunch, who are causing others to think, and do stupid too.

There is no need to go buying stupid amounts of anything.

I saw this with piggy flu, and all the other recent plagues!

I'm.part of the vulnerable group, twofold... Lung disorder, and older! lol oh and generally bad health, along with my fiancée still recovering from cancer treatment, and she has RA also.... She had it before the other.

We are buying the "essentials" as normal. We don't have a dry cold, and not do the vast majority of the idiots causing.oanic buys, and neither have they been in contact with anyone who may or may not be affected.

If.people did as they were told, this wouldnt spread, as they'd not leave their houses as advised. Of course like the ? flu, people think they might have it ... Nope it's winter, you have a normal.cold.

Just shop as normal, follow the proper advise out there from the proper bodies involved, and you'll be just fine.

I am puzzled by the panic buying of toilet rolls.

The Coronavirus doesn’t cause diarrhoea.

I think it’s selfish to stock up.

Selfish people who overbuy cause panic and food shortages!
PLEASE DONT DO IT!!!

I think the newspapers are creating a lot of this especially the Mirror as usual it does it with the weather as well. This panic buying thing I think is well to me worse than the virus itself. Yesterday we had a walk for milk as normally we run out and just looked at the aisles. No soup, no soap, no pasta at Morrison’s no paracetamol either, everyone had loo roll so hubbie said let’s join em and we got a four pack. I have a cold and a headache I checked the cupboard but my paracetamol is out of date as I must of last bought it a couple of years ago.

I did an online shop earlier at Asda and there were so many 'out of stock' things - I've never seen it like that. It's insane.

I recall 2009 flooding two weeks before we flooded. I went to the supermarket for a few things and noticed it very busy, I asked a lady what’s happening and she said everyone is panic buying so of course I panicked. I flooded so I had more pressing things than buying food to store in a kitchen going to be ripped out.

Why are people stockpiling loo paper?

I did a small normal shop in Tesco today, including a large pack of loo rolls that I'd forgotten earlier in the week. I got so many dirty looks!

Did my normal shop today, the only thing I couldn’t get in the 2 supermarkets near me was decaf tea, which is pretty much an essential here, so I will go out again to try and get some. Fortunately I didn’t need loo rolls.

I have bought a few [3 of each] tins of soup and rice pudding that I wouldn’t normally, purely because I live alone, and if I do become mildly
ill they’re the sort of thing I would eat. A mini stockpile I suppose, but neither thing looked to be in short supply anyway.

I want to be able to manage without asking for food deliveries if I am unlucky and succumb! It isn’t fair to expose family to it.

Well done Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, for saying the supermarkets wouldn't run out of stuff. Sure way of creating panic buying! In my local supermarket this morning, people were buying industrial supplies of loo paper, rice, pasta, tinned goods etc. Loads of empty shelves too. All this scaremongering really not helpful.

Only extra i bought was 240 teabags as if we ran out of those life would be awful, my DH is never without a cuppa in his hand. We go through 24pints of milk a week, just the two of us. If push came to shove and there was no milk it would have to be black tea.

Why are people stockpiling loo paper?

I was listening to Jeremy Vine earlier and chuckled when he said, 'It makes you wonder what they think the symptoms are!'

As we live two miles from anywhere, I freeze pints of milk. They don't take long to defrost and so as long as I keep adding to my stash in the freezer, which is no more than buying an extra couple of pints every shop in case of visitors, we should be fine.

I buy powdered milk for bread making so although not ideal, we could use that if needs must.

Its ridiculous how people panic buy.I have just come back from ASDA and there wasnt a hand sopa of any kind on the shelves neither were there many pakets of Paracetamol I feel sorry for people who really need this medicine they cant have it because thoughtless people have bought too much.We are supposed to wash our hands frequently with soap and water just water will have to do I suppose as for hand sanitiser well forget that too. I am in Cumbria which isnt huge so I wonder where these”hamsters” are!

If we run out of hand soap we will use washing up liquid.

So long as that doesn't disappear off the shelves as well.

Cid24 my husband is especially perplexed by this I tried to explain its an essential item so it may disappear when deliveries can’t get to the depot due to illness etc. I reckon mouthwash next, wash powder shower gel and kitchen roll next then fresh meat I’m not joining in other things to worry about too,