Panic buying or common sense stocking up?

I think the baby milk thing was caused by people buying to send abroad where there was a genuine shortage.

The trouble with the 'fine balance' is that unless it is somehow enforced it won't work. It is human nature to fill the tank when petrol is available, if you know that everyone else is doing so. Buying containers of the stuff to hoard in the garage is panic buying, and more likely to cause problems. There is a huge difference.

Nobody should feel that they shouldn't shop as they prefer, unless there is a war or famine that needs government intervention, but as I see it a lot of 'panic' comes from people seeing others behaving differently from themselves and worrying that they won't be able to carry on in the way that suits them. That was thrown into sharp relief in lockdown, when people were getting really angsty about other people getting supermarket deliveries and buying items that they considered to be non-essential.

I do remember a while back one GNetter posted about shortages of formula milk, her daughter was having problems obtaining it for her baby, apparently some were buying in bulk, seriously in bulk, contributing to such shortages of what is a very vital product.

I never understand why supermarkets are somewhat late in prohibiting mass buy ups of a product when shortages are anticipated. Allowing consumers to fill their trolly to the brim with toilet rolls for example, massively adds to the problem. Usually shortages sort themselves out. Flour was unavailable for a while at the beginning of the pandemic when everyone went into overdrive baking like mad, but it came back on the shelves after a short while, but not before it was being sold on Amazon and the like at massively hiked up prices.

I will admit to buying a small Lidl frozen turkey last week - just in case. At least I won’t be starving Christmas Day. Oh and also a 3 fish frozen pie. The stock cupboard is quite full but I did run out of tinned tomatoes last week.

I am reasonably confident I don’t “panic buy” but also recognise that if everybody tops up their petrol tank instead of waiting until they run low, that means less at the pumps and more sitting in people’s tanks. It was only last Easter we had motorists queuing up at the petrol stations and topping up with relatively tiny amounts, thus contributing to the shortages.

It can be a fine balance!

Surely there's a very big difference between panic buying, where people buy trolley loads of one item at the slightest hint that it 'might' be in sort supply (or even for no perceivable rational reason at all). Remember the shelves swept clear of pasta and toilet rolls just before the first lockdown in 2020?

Having a replacement item in hand isn't panic buying, it's what a lot of people consider to be sensible.

Riverwalk I did that with bath bombs/oils/lotions and potions following a good clean out of my airing cupboard. As you say, it was very satisfying to use it all up and I didn’t need to buy anything myself for a year. I’ve still enough hand and foot creams to last my lifetime - people know not to buy me any more - ever.

Replacing items just before they run out is sensible. Unfortunately I sometimes forget I have already remembered to buy a replacement, and buy another! I don’t panic buy but I do ‘forget’ buy!

There are things that I will panic buy such as cat food which was in short supply sometimes during the pandemic.

But, otherwise try to just work on the basis of taking something out of the store cupboard means writing it down on a shopping list.

Talking of cleaning materials - a few months back I put a moratorium on buying any more until the under the sink supplies had been used.

So many different fluids for bathroom, floors, glass, tiles, etc.

I'm working my way through them. - very satisfying!

I think it’s sensible to keep cupboards stocked but not buy extras just in case.
My sister and I were discussing how long we thought the goods in our, full but not overly so, cupboards, fridge and freezers would last if we were unable to buy anything. We both are both lucky enough to have stocks we estimated to last at least 6 weeks. Let’s hope that situation never arises.

My first marriage was on a very tight budget, not for lack of money , for lack of caring husband! So now that husband#2 has been my uvva arf for 24years- and he's generous and caring, I have a huge storecupboard, probably a bit too much at times and I think fuelled by 18 years of scraping by with very little!! A store of essential items is being sensible, hoarding dozens of anything is plain daft! Specially if items are not actually in short supply, doubling up is ok I think , anything more is worth thought.

Panic buying seems to be a term we have adopted since the Covid lockdowns? Like others, I don’t see buying the odd extra pack or two of a particular item as panic buying or hoarding - just sensible buying. I’ve always bought cleaning materials - fairy liquid, dishwasher tablets, washing liquid etc. in bulk, when it is on offer – probably enough to last an entire year but I wouldn’t call it panic buying.

I was brought up with the saying "If you use one you buy one". I have to stop myself from panic buying, I like to have my cupboards well stocked. DH was brought up completely differently and even as a student went out after lectures and bought food for his supper when he cooked for himself.
He laughs at my cupboards, so I stopped doing it . The other week he decided he would cook and asked for the chives, they were all slimy in the garden where were the frozen ones? Sorry, no chives did it mean a change of recipe?
Over to you dear.....panic and in the end, he had to concede that my running record of what I have used in a notebook book was a good idea after 40+years.
Funny though the beer and wine never run out and the cave is always well stocked especially when it is the Rugby season.

I have full cupboards use one and replace,have stocked up fully as awaiting a hip replacement and no car means have to rely on a Tesco delivery,especially this time of year,have stocked right up so that I should only need fresh items until the christmas frenzy is over that I can manage with Delores my faithful shopping trolley.

Interesting to ponder Maw.
🤔
I suppose it’s a fine line between ‘a couple’ extra and causing a run on said items. If thousands (millions?) of households buy say, extra eggs within a short timescale, they might just create the scarcity they dread. Then others panic too etc.

I’m happy to go with the flow. If something isn’t available in the short term, okay I have to go without it for a while but here, in the western world we are fortunate in that there are always alternatives.

Apart from petrol maybe ....

There's a happy medium with this . It makes sense to buy an extra few things, but not to panic and buy too much.

Makes sense to stock up if it’s something you use a lot of. Trouble is, if everyone does the same…..

I like full cupboards, habit I picked up from my Mum.

When I saw the thread title my imagination went off at a tangent and I had visions of Maw putting her Christmas stocking up with a note to Father Christmas to fill it with cornflour, tinned tomatoes, mustard and anything else he thinks might disappear from our shelves. He should know shouldn’t he??

Santa will then settle down to his whisky and mince pie sighing, ‘Aaaah! Common Sense at last.’

Don’t mind me. Cabin Fever has set in and I need to work up some enthusiasm to brave the rain and check out what’s occurring in my local Aldi. 😀

Sensible housekeeping IMO. I see ‘panic buying’ as getting more of something than you are going to use, but stocking up on things is what I’ve always done, as a non-driver who hasn’t usually lived near a supermarket.

If I get below 4 tins of tomatoes or 3 bags of macaroni (amongst other things) I get more. I buy loo rolls at Costco and have 40 of them if we’ve just been. I’m not profligate with them though😂. It might be a year before I need more.

I think different people just have different shopping habits. Some buy as they need and others like me have cupboards full of non-perishables ‘just in case’. Neither is right or wrong, IMO. The frequent shopper is as likely to cause a shortage as they will need to buy when items are scarce, whereas those with a stocked cupboard can wait until they come back into stock.

Maw an extra packet or two is sensible , it’s just buying a few too many and shoving them into an overfilled cupboard that leads to panic buying
I’ll not mention the packets of stuff I forgot I already had and bought “ in case “ 😉