A safe space to confess whether you panic bought toilet roll

Were we the only people who got cash out just in case, only for it to sit unused for months as no where took cash?

I'm not sneering at all. What I mean is that everyone seems to think other people were the issue, oh there are shortages because of those crazy panic buyers, but the reality is, it was mainly everyone just thinking ahead that caused the issue.

Of course, a few might have gone completely OTT (panicking or hoping to sell on for profit?). So, in terms of confession, nearly 6 years on, I don't think there are many people who would say "yes I was a panic buyer".

No. I'd stocked up in the January as part of the potential brexit and early covid prepping threads. For once my anxiety was useful.

I did order a big box of I don’t give a crap loo rolls off Amazon as there were no loo rolls in my Tesco order and the local Co-op didn’t have any. I think the thing is supermarkets were really good at just in time ordering to minimise warehouse storage so that actually it doesn’t take a massive deviation from the norm (I’m sure I read 10% somewhere) to cause shortages. I do think supply chains have become more resilient which has contributed to inflation as building in spare capacity costs.

Two of my housemates who I mentioned in my previous post had grown up in the 80s in Poland.

I remember coming back from the supermarket and they'd had fresh salad in, so I bought some (enough for me for 2-3 meals) as they'd been totally out of stock for a while. When I got home I was really excited and telling them to go and they laughed, they said it brought back memories of growing up with shortages and how rumours would go around that one shop had bread / eggs / flour and everyone would go and queue there.

I did. but....

By the time I went to Asda for my normal shop there was hardly anything left, so I panic bought the things they had left, like literally the last 6 packs of pasta they had, and they didn't have any toilet roll.
Then I went into the local town & one shop there had loo roll so I bought 2 large packs of the Nicky stuff - It has to be pointed out my husband can use a whole toilet roll in a day. I'm not even sure how, so I was worried.

My husband then decided the way to cope with the pandemic was to start the Atkins diet, so I then spent my days off work venturing to different shops looking for effing sausages to buy.

No that is not "panic buying". It's sensible stocking up. Unfortunately sensible stocking up can also cause shortages, if many people do it at the same time.

But it's easier to sneer at people "panic buying" that than to do anything about the fact that we don't have a very resilient supply chain.

We didn't, but at the time I was living in a house share with 6 other people, so we used to use Groupon to regularly buy loo roll and other household stuff like cleaning products in bulk. We'd had a new delivery just a couple of weeks before lockdown so we didn't need any for a while.

We used to joke about selling it for £5 a roll!

Haven't read through so apologies if it has been said already but everyone saying "no I didn't panic buy, but I just bought one extra than I needed" this is panic buying! It isn't necessarily a trolley full to the brim, it is buying more than you need before you need it. The supply chain isn't prepared for this and the shortfall happens.

Reminds me of the fuel shortage and my husband coming home to say he had seen a petrol station with no queue so he got some. I said about him panic buying fuel as the tank was 3/4 full and he said no, it wasn't panic buying, I was very calm 😂

Edited to add: I doubt many people will confess, because most don't view their behaviour in that way. It is the same as being 'stuck in traffic', really you ARE the traffic, part of the problem. But we don't view ourselves in that way. I find it very interesting

Not specifically the things that were "hard to get" during Covid, and not large stocks of anything, but I do keep more supplies generally now. I live very near to good shops and I used to run on empty cupboards and "just in time" shopping. Now I like to keep a couple of weeks' worth of dry/frozen/tinned food in stock and restock before I run low, and "one open plus one extra" and buy another as soon as I open the "extra".

The shortages weren't caused by people panic bulk buying, but by most people buying one or two extra.

I didn’t panic about anything, but around Christmas when the Covid news broke in other countries, I started adding a little extra to the weekly shop. Yes, loo rolls, but also two bags of frozen peas instead of one, extra tins of pulses, the big bag of pasta instead of the normal smaller one. That sort of thing. By the time the panic buying had got going here, we had a cupboard in the utility room repurposed as an extra pantry. Between that and the freezer, we would have been fine for a few weeks. I kept those stocks going, using them in rotation, and still have a decent buffer of supplies. Now I know that if we both got ill, for instance, we would manage fine on our own.

I do think this was the biggest driver - I found empty shelves terrifying, even for things I didn’t need. So yes, later when they had stock I bought (reasonable amounts!) earlier than I otherwise would.

Does anyone else still now keep larger stock levels of anything that was hard to get?

I didn’t panic buy but did have 60+ rolls of loo roll at the time. At the end of Jan / early Feb I’d done my usual Costco shop and bulk bought loo roll, cleaning products, tins etc so didn’t have to worry about any of that.

I grew up in a developing country and lived in others so I've always kept a full pantry because I've dealt with shortages. When I saw the panic buying on TV in Hong Kong in Feb/March 2020, I went out and got all the staples, inc plenty of toilet paper, meds etc.

So when the pandemic hit, I had plenty of everything. Now though, I get 6 months of toilet paper at a time! COVID scars...

We did! Went to tesco the Saturday before lockdown, early so I could parkrun after. There was no toilet roll on the shelves. We didn't need toilet roll at that time as had just opened a big pack.

I admit to losing my mind a bit and sent DH to get some from Farmfoods while I ran.

We opened that pack in August 2020. I am very sorry and will take any punishment I deserve.

Didn't panic buy toilet roll but was a bit pissed off that people who don't need to eat gluten free were buying all the pasta and flour. Frozen gluten free food sat empty for weeks because people would rather buy that than nothing
And people with genuine allergies couldn't get the food they actually needed

Five years on,I'll happily put my hand up and say I did fo some panic buying in March 2020. I was honestly terrified of not being able to feed my children. DH wasin France with the Army and they were seriously saying everything was fine (only to get a panicked phone call as they had just been told to pack up everything as they were leaving for the coast in an hour and they would get further instructions where exactly on the coast as the border was closing!) So I was worried about him, DD wouldn't stop coughing and the government kept changing its mind about everything. My panic buying was enough food to last us two weeks by the way, I'm talking piles of tins under the bed. I'm lasted us the time we then had to isolate when DH got back. Toilet paper was just one nine pack.

No… I panic bought wine.

Not toilet roll, but I did buy a 5kg bag of farfalle (my least favourite pasta shape) on impulse the week before lockdown began.

Finally finished it at some point in early 2023.

This!

So many posters who didn’t panic buy, but critically assessed the situation and concluded there might be supply chain issues (there wasn’t in Europe for loo roll, our loo roll doesn’t come from China), so sensibly and calmly stocked up. Stocking up is not stock piling.

I do think it was regional though, round here I never saw empty loo roll shelves. Lower stock than normal, but it was always available, perhaps not your preferred brand or colour, but there was loo roll.

Sanitary towels though - those shelves were empty. I think that was just the dictate that you needed to shop once a week only, and if someone in your house wakes up with a temperature, you all had to lock down for 14 days and no one should go out. Lots of mums of teen girls were buying enough to get through all household females having a period during a 2 week shut in.

I had a panic on here that I was due on and there was nothing available in the shops, a more sensible MNer told me to check every bag I own, including evening clutch bags and wash bags etc. raided them all and realised I always put one or two in each bag “just in case” and collected up enough for every woman in our street to have a visit from aunty flo at the same time. (Down side is I didn’t replace them all and now I don’t have emergency tampons/towels in my bags)

I did.

I got a Cosco membership for the first time at the start of March that year, and what else is it for, if not to buy a giant pack of toilet roll, and 5kg of rice?

It was part "I'm at Costco, what can I buy" and part "better get a few essentials, just to be safe". We are rural and quite far from the supermarket, so I always like to have enough supplies to survive a good few weeks anyway.

It wasn't very good though, so still got some in the garage.

No we didn’t (my mum bought a big box online though so that was my insurance ha) interestingly though we moved to a bigger house and ever since I have bought toilet roll and other items in bulk monthly on Amazon (about 45 rolls) and we are always 1 month ahead so we have 45 rolls stored most of the time and it does give me a sense of reassurance 😂 I’m sure I wouldn’t be doing that if the memories of that time weren’t in my subconscious!

We had family in china, saw what was happening, and filled the pantry before the panic buying started.

Does it count if I "panic bought" by accident? I had a weekly supermarket order and every couple of months I order a 12-pack. I bought one week and then didn't notice it was still on the order the following week, which was the week before the Covid panic buying ramped up.

Blame me for starting the panic if you like!