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

I have a friend who is a clean freak and I had to laugh when she said she'd been out and bought a year's supply of cleaning products and bleach because of the threat of shortages! I have to admit that cleaning products would never appear on my panic list if I had one!

I can't believe this panic buying, having been to Sainsburys this morning and seen that they have absolutely no toilet paper.
I'm going away soon for a couple of days and have been trying without success to buy some antibacterial hand gel or wipes.

I just dont get it, on the off chance that you have to stay in for 2 weeks why does that mean you will need dozens of toilet rolls and bottled water.

We started buying ahead a year or so ago, mainly on BOGOFFs and other offers, when the talk was all about shortages following crashing out of Europe. We never thought there would be a problem - we just didn't want to have to go to the shops if the tabloids declared a shortage! We've sort of carried on, half heartedly as we have the space. We also started getting our loo paper delivered in bulk from a wonderful company called Who Gives a Crap - who don't use plastic wrapping and put a proportion of their profits into building loos in parts of the world that dont have them. Because I miscalculated we now have enough to last until the summer!! Why are people buying loo paper? Its surely because the advice is to cough/sneeze into a tissue and throw it away - loo paper is cheaper per square than a tissue!

It can then be sold as recycled toilet roll.

I'm sure they will use the toilet paper after taking the photo. It should be folded nicely and placed ready for use ?

merlotgran is that toilet paper those people are wrapped in? How dare they - don't they know there's a shortage in some panicky parts of the UK?

The medicine shelves in Morrisons were empty. No ibuprofen or paracetamol except a few packets of expensive brands. I bought one of those because I need to have ibuprofen at home but it will go as soon as they refill. It seems to be the same everywhere.
I have never seen it so busy but apparently it was partly because their bank card machines went down for a while.
It is easy to catch the 'buy it when you see it bug'.

We live 20 minutes from the nearest shop and there is no internet shopping in rural France. We always keep a good stock of food and and have bought a bit extra as we would presumably not be able to go shopping if we get it. Our village is very co-operative and someone would doubtless collect prescriptions. The Mairie and the local council will make sure everyone is ok. There would be no shortage of milk, cider and calvados as that is all around us.
I don't think there are any rules here; you have to do what is sensible given your circumstances.

No I am not panic buying but I do think the shops have got to limit people over buying.

Merlotgran ?? ? some people are so clever at these things.

There will always be panic buying of one commodity or another whenever there is a situation like the Coronavirus! But NOT for me! Why on earth people think food is going to be in short supply beggars belief, for goodness sake, GET A GRIP!
Someone mentioned a symptom of Coronavirus is diarrhoea so people then think "ooh! Best stock up on loo roll" !
It's panic buying that leads to shortages and empty shelves not national emergency.
Do a normal shop for goodness sake!

I bought a 12 pack of toilet rolls last week, normal for me as they are cheaper than buying 4 rolls every time. No panic buying just my normal shop. Plenty of fresh veg delivered as normal. I only have a small freezer but it has chicken & home cooked meals in there.

I was in ALDI on Wednesday & shelves were well stocked, my local Co-op has mostly well stocked shelves although I did notice toilet roll stocks were somewhat depleted.

I have my milk delivered from a local farm & we have a good bakers, greengrocers & butcher in Town plus a Deli so I doubt I will stave, I have enough to survive if necessary.

Why are people buying soap in such huge quantities? didn't they wash their hands? I always have a reasonable stock of soap. Hand sanitiser I use when I'm out as I have sensitive skin & find some soaps in public toilets bring me out in an itchy rash.

I have just got back from my weekly shop in Sainsbury, I have never seen so little stock on shelves. This is getting stupid and the companies are making mega bucks. Every year we put up with the flu and no body panic buys for that and yes it kills many many people. Wash your hands and be sensible.

Went to the supermarket this morning and the only thing I couldn't get were bananas!

OK there was no hand wash, but there was soap. Loo roll shelves were not completely empty. As I live in a rural area, I do have a well stocked freezer of homemade meals, but that is normal for me. Like others I am puzzled at the panic buying of toilet rolls!

An old school friend who now lives in Australia has just sent me this.

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,

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.

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!

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.

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!'

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.

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.

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.

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!