A winter of very expensive heating and little food?

I think that it must be because you are going to that particular shop? as none you have visited have had problems so far which is astounding. Perhaps you can advise which one you intend to visit next and we can all visit a well stocked pre-Brexit shop.

Had home delivery today and asked the driver how low the stock is getting overall. He said it seems to be getting worse week by week.

But not apparently in Essex???

Only joking.

I have just come from a large M & S Foodhall on a major A road leading in to London with DD and GC, the shelves were full, veggie, meat, dairy and dry goods.

The one shelf/display which was low (Fred Sirieix recommended) was being restocked. The only item not available was packs of two chicken kievs, we had to buy single ones.

I am not posting this as in I’m alright Jack but purely as an illustration that there appears to be ^no rhyme or reason^as to why some stores even of the same group are suffering shortages and whilst others are not. Another poster pointed out that we are close to several ports (both lorry and container) and only 15 minutes (traffic permitting) outside the M25, whether or not that has any relevance to the situation I am unsure.

EP it’s available here (distribution depot is Southampton) I always order Tesco’s own.

I agree that prepping or having a decent larder is sensible and I always have done so, an extra packet or two of coffee with my shopping, buying loo rolls in big packs rather than small. Common sense really, although a couple of people on GN did accuse me of panic buying when I said I bought 3 packs of ground coffee rather than one.

Whitewave I don’t know if you go on Mumsnet, but the Prepping board on there is fascinating.
I love reading those threads.
I became a prepper due to them.
Prepping is a good and positive way of feeling that you can control your own situation in difficult circumstances.
There’s more to it than ‘panic buying’ - in fact preppers are the opposite of panic buyers.

Prepping can range from buying extra bits and pieces as you go along to sowing vegetables in case of shortage etc.

Common sense.

Prepping is common sense.

I have just purchase a small camping stove in case of fuel outages this winter. Hopefully won’t need it but having given our last one to GS (as you do) it will come in handy for future picnics.

ElderlyPerson

Whitewavemark2

I didn’t take a photo, but believe me the empty shelves were very real in M&S yesterday at 1pm.

Thank you.

Evidence from a much-respected lady on Gransnet has for me a credibility far higher than a media photograph.

I have always had a large stock of food in the pantry 'in case'. In case of what, I don't know, but it is the way I was brought up, and I've done it since I married at 21.

It's not panic buying, and I rather resent other people telling me that I am panicking - I'm not. I just prefer to know that we could eat if I can't get to the shops for any reason. It may be pasta with custard, but we won't starve.

The thing is - once the stock is built up, there is no need to over-buy. I probably buy the same as anyone else, but just do it differently from those who shop twice a week. Perishables are bought as we need them, as are things like tinted tomatoes (only less often, as I buy them six at a time) and rice, pasta etc are bought in bulk maybe annually. Loo rolls are bought from Costa in 48-roll packs, and always have been. As it happened, we had just bought one a few days before the first lockdown. I didn't buy any more until we were ready (ie down to three rolls or so) and I was able to give several packs of 4 to the foodbank when the shelves were empty.

If someone saw my trolley on the day I was stocking up, it may look as though I was stockpiling, and in the literal sense I suppose I am - but I am not getting more than my share, and am definitely not panicking.

I think that panic buying is rushing to the supermarket and clearing the shelves of toilet paper (though, that might be done with a view to selling them on at inflated prices if there is a shortage).

Building up an emergency stock of food by buying a few extra items one considers to be necessaries over a period of time is what EP calls 'prudence'. 'Preppers' do it all the time; it doesn't empty shop shelves like panic buying does.

Yet what is the so-called 'panic buying'.

I remember in around March 2020 when the 'pain-buying waah!' was being claimed, but I think it was Sky News interviewed a woman of about thirty or so coming out of a supermarket with a trolleyfull and she was perfectly calm and said that as the government was suggesting the possibility of being in isolation for fourteen days, she needed to make sure she had enough food in the house for her husband, their children and herself for fourteen days.

So prudence not panic.

Management must manage and she was managing her home situation.

I read somewhere that people who have lived through a famine very often keep a stockpile of food for the rest of their lives.

I wonder if the fear of food shortages in Spring 2020 and now has a similar lasting effect on people.

23:52ElderlyPerson

Have you ever tried Couscous, the Lemon and Parsley one is nice, you just add water and leave for a few minutes and hey presto it's ready.

MayBeMaw

ElderlyPerson

Thank you both for checking, I am relieved that it is not everywhere.

Why not order Tesco’s own brand for this week and get extra when the Tilda rice becomes available again? It keeps for ages and takes up very little cupboard space.

But then we get told off for panic buying. We can't win can we.

Callistemon

^There was alot of lovely fruit/veg/salad stuff in the pannier market.^ did they have plenty of turnips?

(aka swede elsewhere ?)

I saw Angela Rippon in there once.

Yes, they seemed to have a good variety of stuff. I had my Sainsbury's weekly delivery this morning. A few things missing, no Maris Piper potatoes the substitution was baking potatoes which I didn't want. If potatoes go short I will be panicking, I wish I bought them in the market yesterday but it is too far to go again. For the first time ever I didn't get the Sunday roast I ordered, no beef so I guess it is going to be chicken out of the freezer. Few other bit but nothing essential.

Whitewavemark2

I didn’t take a photo, but believe me the empty shelves were very real in M&S yesterday at 1pm.

Thank you.

Evidence from a much-respected lady on Gransnet has for me a credibility far higher than a media photograph.

Callistemon

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/259758829

It's cheaper but you have to use gas or electricity to boil it

I don't have a hob, I just have the microwave cooker.

I bought two slow cookers as a back up in around March 2020 in case microwave rice became unavailable and I needed to use uncooked rice and cook it. I got some boxes of rice at the time too. I have not actually used the slow cookers yet.

Some years ago when my then microwave cooker broke down I was able to make hot meals for a while using hot water from a kettle with the microwave rice as it is already cooked and sterile and is only heated in the microwave cooker, not actually cooked. Indeed I was reliably informed that the microwave rice can be eaten straight out of the pack if one so chooses.

MayBeMaw

ElderlyPerson

Thank you both for checking, I am relieved that it is not everywhere.

Why not order Tesco’s own brand for this week and get extra when the Tilda rice becomes available again? It keeps for ages and takes up very little cupboard space.

I ordered the Lemon and Herbs version instead. I use 21 packs of microwave rice each week, most are the Tilda plain Basmati and some the Lemon and Herb. They are the only two that I have. I have tried various of the plain ones but I prefer the Tilda basmati. I will try to monitor the situation and if the plain becomes available again before delivery I can change some of it.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/259758829

It's cheaper but you have to use gas or electricity to boil it

ElderlyPerson

Thank you both for checking, I am relieved that it is not everywhere.

Why not order Tesco’s own brand for this week and get extra when the Tilda rice becomes available again? It keeps for ages and takes up very little cupboard space.

I use the boil in the bag rice, it's easy and turns out better than when I used to have a glued up saucepan.

I didn’t take a photo, but believe me the empty shelves were very real in M&S yesterday at 1pm.

Thank you both for checking, I am relieved that it is not everywhere.

Callistemon

I can order it - is it regional?

Not that I want any, must remember to delete it!

I think that what is available varies from store to store at any particular time, if indeed that product is available from that store usually.

Some stores are bigger than others and have a bigger range in the store anyway, and then not everything is available for delivery.

It is not unusual for some of the things that I have to go unavailable for a few days, but for it to happen to something such as plain microwave rice raises concern, as it could be delivery problems or a run from shoppers as concern over shortages is prevalent again like in Spring 2020.

There are reports of shortages and pictures of empty shelves, but sometimes one cannot always know if the picture was taken of a shelf where plenty of something with a short shelf life was displayed earlier that day and it all got bought and the photograph taken at 11 pm for getting a story out of nothing unusual.

It's available at my Tesco too. Maybe some stores had some in store, but deliveries are erratic.

I can order it - is it regional?

Not that I want any, must remember to delete it!