It's Time to issue ration books for food.

Not sure what parallel universe you live in Jane10 and you do seem to inhabit a different one than the rest of us. The shelves in two of the towns near me are empty!!

I agree with OP. The government should introduce rationing of essential items so that everyone can have some of what they need. I’m really not too bothered if people want to fill up their trolleys with junk but everyone needs the basics of life.

DD lives in Bristol. She was surprised to find almost everything she needed excluding toilet paper, soap and disinfectant. The family is gluten, egg and dairy free!

I wish the government would get a grip of the food situation before it deteriorates further. I don’t think much of their planning for public emergencies like pandemics! It’s a damn good job it’s not something far more dangerous like the bubonic plague!

Chestnut a lot of stuff normally available online is out of stock. I discovered I cannot get any Sweetex!

My car needed petrol so I filled up yesterday and I also bought a loaf of bread when paying my petrol bill. Somebody asked me why I had bothered to come out for only a loaf of bread- I said it was all I needed. There was a look of total bewilderment on his face.

no need for rationing a definite need for security staff to make sure people aren't clearing shelves in the hope of making cash when they sell it on next week or next month .I got my online order and strangelythe only thing missing was marzipan thats needed for a birthday cake.The party has been cancelled so its not a problem .My butcher is still fully stocked and the box deliveries of fruit and veg are still being made ,Common sense is sadly lacking in many people

Lucky you!

Riverwalk I fear you may be wasting your time talking about Syria. Charity begins at home is the mindset here.

Lavenderzen- I don't live in a parallel universe just one where credulous types see inflammatory photos and posts and flock like lemmings. Keep calm.

I don’t understand this ‘well I’m ok here’ attitude. Do you think that helps those of us who cannot get basics? We really don’t need those who haven’t (yet) experienced shortages and cancelled orders to tell us we are imagining it.

I was at Waitrose at 10.30 this morning - many of the shelves were stripped bare, particularly the meat section. I asked an assistant if a meat delivery was imminent, the answer was the delivery had been and gone.

I was pleased to see that they are rationing customers to a maximum of three of any one item - the woman in front of me was a bit miffed when she had to give up one of her bundles of asparagus.

I imagine today will be a particularly busy one - many second-home owners round here and it being the last day of school so I expect people are stocking-up for the weekend, and before heading off to the Country.

So it's OK for people to scrap over bunches of asparagus and stock up before driving to a second home?

I don't understand any of this really. Aren't we all supposed to be keeping a very low profile.

We don’t need rationing, there is plenty of food . What we need is to get rid of the idiots who are stock piling. Any ideas ?

Army deployed to stand at supermarket entrances, those with piled high trolleys asked to explain themselves and led away for interview. Just scare tactics but might make some people reconsider.

I think give it a week and shops will have more stock. Supplies are being delivered to our big stores which now close at 10pm till 6 am to allow for stock to be put out. The good thing is everything is limited to two items a person. This will help others who can't afford to stockpile. The people who have stockpiled will have to start eating and drinking some of the hoard as it doesn't keep.

Our local market at 11 am today. No queues lots of lovely fresh produce meat, bread, cakes and lots of fruit veg and eggs!.
However people were queueing at 7 am this morning to get into Asda car park

For three or four days I have ventured to my supermarket. I cannot get any flour, yeast or baking items. I was able to buy a packet of mince for about the first time in four days. We are trying to eat fresh each day, while we are able to get it. There was one delivery of toilet roll and I saw it was gone. Staff were telling me as soon as they put it out its gone. I can also confirm couples are taking a trolley each and going around the shop and then out the checkout as two separate customers. I saw this coming way back, why didn't the government or the supermarkets?

Chestnut Don’t assume it is easy to shop for groceries on line. As others have said, the online grocers are running out of things too.

Also, it is not that easy to book a slot. I had, luckily, already booked a slot before the panic so got a delivery yesterday but, when I tried to book another, I had to wait nearly three weeks for one. A lot of fresh fruit and veg don’t last that long. Ocado was so overprescribed they have had to shut the site down until tomorrow to rebuild it and try and get some more slots organised.

One of my sons had an online delivery last night.
Because I had asked him to get a couple of things for me, if possible, I rang him to see if they had come. He laughed, and started to reel off a long list of things that had been out of stock (including the bread and eggs I had hoped to get) - it was nearly as long as the list of things that were available. By the time he had finished reading out the list, we were all hysterical with laughter, as every time we thought he had finished, he then carried on.
At least we were able to laugh about it this time, but I know there are many people who rely on being able to buy their few staples as and when they need them, and for them, this situation must be absolutely awful.

Of course rationing should be brought in immediately. If people are shopping for others, there would be no problems, they would have their ration stamps. But so many are not - just stockpiling and stockpiling.
My daughter, like that nurse, is working something like a 12-14 hour day in NHS Mental Health and is unable to do any shopping, when she can pop into supermarket the shelves are virtually empty. So wrong, if people bought what they needed there would be plenty for everyone.
It is not true that the small shops have plenty, they are also out of loo roles and flour and pasta.
They issued ration coupons back in the early 1970's for fuel, surely with IT it would not be difficult to issue coupons for basic items,.

I'm not sure that rationing should be a priority for the government, after all there is no actual shortage of supplies but rather something wrong with distribution among customers. Some stringent enforcement in the supermarkets for a while would sort things out till sense prevails. My heart went out to that poor nurse in York.

I am hoping it will calm down soon as it did in Italy. They stopped panic buying when it became clear that there was plenty of food for everyone

My on line shop is due this evening from Sainsbury. I’ve just had an e-mail updating me on what will not be delivered that I have ordered
Milk
Bread (gluten free)
Eggs
Butter
Lemon
Fresh trout
Cheese
Plums
White wine!!
Water
Green beans
Tinned fruit - apricots, pears, peaches we have with our porridge
Coffee
Dettol wipes (not surprised there)

I’m not sure what is left tbh

If they can stop us from buying more than 2 packs of Paracetomol ( the computer says NO) why don’t they do that with all items?

The thing is, even if they only let you check out, say, two packs of toilet rolls, there's nothing to stop someone from going around the shop again straight away and buying more if there are still some on the shelves - then again ... .

Only rationing can stop that. But you would think that this crazy panic buying would end before rationing could be set up.

We should be grateful to those who stocked up their larders well ahead of the panic buying. They took a lot of flack from some for doing that, but their planning ahead, when everything was in plentiful supply, means that they can sit tight at home now, leaving more in the shops for everyone else.

The butcher I use and the fruit and veg stall have offered to deliver if we are ill.
I have been loyal to them for 10 years.
Sometimes it does pay to use local shops where you can.

Try farm shops if there are any in your area. We have a few and they are well stocked. Plus they are not letting anyone over order!