Is it actually selfish to stock pile?

[Orange89]

Now I haven’t gone crazy with the whole loo roll situation (I currently only have 2 rolls left) and have been doing my usual shops (average of 3 small shops a week) but it’s safe to say I’m focusing my food on long life semi-healthy foods I can store in the cupboard space we have. It’s a little more than usual but nothing crazy. All I’m hearing is stockpiling is a stupid move but surely and obviously more people are doing this than letting on as the shops are emptying. But surely this is purely practical move? I know this could face backlash from people saying some people can’t afford to stockpile (I can’t really either) but I’m talking high calorie, cheap alternatives instead of the fresh foods they’d normally buy. Or that demand can’t be met but I bet there’s another baked beans / rice / powdered custard etc to last a couple months... Just in case

I live in a small place with no major supermarkets though we have a tiny Tesco express and coop which we sue as top ups in between online deliveries. I'm housebound anyway. All our local shops like the newsagents that's a little londis and the greengrocers have let people know that they will do home deliveries during this time for anyone who is socially isolating or anxious about going to the shops. We now have a Facebook page for local people who need help picking up things and the chemist has said they can deliver if people want to phone in and get out on a list. The poncy deli has also said it can deliver free in a 3 mile radius and it does do frozen meals. All have said please don't over order. This kind of response makes me happy

I haven't stock piled so go out weekly but also shop for two sets of parents and elderly neighbours,so four households,the sly comments about taking too much is unpleasant.I get one item per house .

@KarmaStar I absolutely understand how hard it must be with people looking at you when you are buying multiple items. You shouldn't have to justify it. My DH had to go to nearest big town to take dog to vet and looked in on Waitrose, he said the shelves were empty and there were elderly people wandering around trying to buy things. No eggs, no pasta , no flour, no vegetables, loo paper, soap and oddly no champagne.

What's also ramped it up is over 70s being told they may have to self isolate for many months. Not all will have laptops, smart phones or FB or even email. Some families may have been buying for them?

Well I couldn't even get a normal shop. My local tesco asda and lidl all had NO fruit, veg, frozen food etc.
My dsis friend shared this, this is our local asda. So I didn't bother going there

Tesco had no veg other than butternut squash and some swede.
No tins or jars whatsoever. No cleaning products not even much shower gel.
Thought I'd try frozen veg. Freezers empty! Just a few random bits.

The panic buying seemed to kick off on Friday 6th, and I really thought it would have settled down by now, if reassurances were given that the supply chains are safe. It just keeps getting worse, if fresh foods are selling out now. Time to buy some multivitamins and bran!

If delivery drivers only went to isolating people, would that mean going from a covid+ to a vulnerable person? Although, of course that could be the case anyway.

i went to asdas and sainsburys today. no veg in either. drove past a green grocers full of it. time to shop local.

If delivery drivers only went to isolating people, would that mean going from a covid+ to a vulnerable person? Although, of course that could be the case anyway

I suppose you could split the drivers into "isolating due to suspected Coronavirus" and "isolating due to vulnerability" and draw straws to see who goes in what group. Bloody hell, how did we get here so quickly?

I will admit to picking up 3 or 4 tins each of different types over the last week which I never would usually buy. Many times they have been the last few things on the shelf (I never completely emptied the shelf). I now have around 40 tins whereas I would normally only keep no more than 4 in the cupboards at any one time as I generally shop daily and eat fresh foods(family of 6, 5 of them adults).

If there was an assurance that the supply chain would continue (can’t be guaranteed obviously) and if people weren’t stripping the shelves, I probably wouldn’t have been driven to stockpile either I suppose.

The only other extra stuff we have is a 16 pack of loo roll which DH was overjoyed 😁 to find in Sainsbury’s the other day, extra sugar as DH didn’t realise I’d bought some and a few bags of lentils/split peas and frozen meat which at a push I will make stews from if there are issues with food supply. There are plenty of fresh foods in stock where I am so I hope that continues.

I agree that people ultimately look after their families when it comes down to it, especially those of us with children. I cant afford to stockpile much anyway but as long as the shops don't descend into chaos I will be trying to buy a few tins and packs of long life stuff extra so that we build a bit of a surplus.

The thing is though, panic buying helps no one because focusing on a few random items that are perceived to be essential or be perceived to be highly desirable to others, doesn't actually prepare you and just means other people suffer.

I don't know what the answer is because I know that there are still problems with large amounts of people buying a bit more than usual. But people are bound to do that in times like these, it seems irresponsible not to really.

I went in home bargains today - blame MN and the zoflora thread - thought if I’m stuck at home more than usual could at least start my spring cleaning
I was shocked that even things like shampoo were totally out of stock, no bin bags or cleaning products and no food other than sweets and chocolate
I called into Sainsbury’s to get some cat food as home bargains had none of the 2-3 brands my 2 will eat
There was no fresh meat or fish or poultry and very little frozen of same ! I ended up with some prawns and vegan burgers

I've done an extra shop of (my) essentials - meat and veg manily. I'm diabetic so the right food and access to it is pretty important to me, or I'll be another strain on the NHS before even taking into account corona. Last week I was happy to just carry on even though there was limited toilet roll and pasta but this week the empty shelves got the better of my anxiety. I could probably squeeze to 3 weeks without shopping again, but it would be bare at that point. I am dying to get my hands on some hand sanitizer though but none to be found anywhere i've been yet. The joys of being outwardly looking the peak of healthy adult but internally in the more vulnerable.

I had some silly mare behind me being all loud in her posh voice talking about people being ‘panicked’ and how it wasn’t a war etc etc. Whilst she stood with her 3 items and I had about 100. Bare in mind it was a Tesco Extra, the kind of place where people do ‘big’ shops.

I was very tempted to tell her I was buying for 3 households including my family, my elderly mother and a disabled man down the road who I’m looking out for. The vast majority of my items were single items, e.g. a pack of tuna, jar of olives. The only multiples I had were 2 boxes of washing powder as they only had small sizes left, and about 5 packs of those cheapo noodles. I bought no bog roll, kitchen towel of pasta. I normally do a small weekly shop via delivery so cupboards are never full but for 2 weeks half my items have been missing and now I can’t get a slot for ages.

There are a lot of people in shops judging without knowing why people have full trolleys. The guy in front of me was telling the cashier he had to do a big shop today as he works for the NHS and is unsure if he’ll gave another chance to get what he needs in for a while.

As an aside, I managed to get some hand sanitizer from a local independent pharmacy (with big signs saying they had stock) but they were selling 100ml for £7.50 so profiteering. I won’t forget that and I hope others don’t when normal service resumes.

Cherrysoup,
No, it’s not fine. If everyone or a majority do this, it’s exactly the same as panic buying, same effect ie empty shelves because ‘Ooh, I’ll just buy a little bit extra’. Obviously, the idiots strolling out of the supermarket with 20 bottles of hand sanitiser and 100 loo rolls shouldn’t have been allowed, but everyone buying a little bit extra results in exactly the same result.

You really don't understand how the order and supply system works do you?

@CloudyVanilla

@GymMummyBunny

Same , agree with both your points

@lampygirl

I feel for you! It must be extra hard for people in your situation. My anxiety is through the roof atm but really trying to stay positive! I’m sure I have OCD too as freaking out about not having any more handgel. You can make your own with alcohol above 60% apparently so that’s what I’m doing tomorrow!

I’ve always stock piled , once I start a bag of rice or pasta or flour I buy a back up one , over the last year I’ve increased this slightly nothing major just a bit , I don’t have room for masses if stuff .
So this weekend Dh got worried about Tne lack of stock and prepared to go out and buy buy buy , I showed him that we were covered , so panic buying wasn’t needed , we are now in lock down for 14 days as I’m sick , and although we don’t eat as well as usual nobody will starve .
So stock piling prevented panic buying and prevents us needing to break our curfew .

I have also been adding to the hygiene bank and food bank when shopping .

Due to my DH's serious health conditions we will apparently be expected to self-isolate from Monday, although we are awaiting more specific advice from the NHS.

I can't help but think it's sensible for us to stock up now whilst we have a delivery slot available and minimise how much we have to go out in the weeks to come. But I know that makes me part of the problem and that not everyone can afford do the same.

I dont think it's the amount of supplies people buy, it's more WHAT people buy. One or two random items seem to become flavour of the month in situations like this, e.g. milk and bread on snow days. I could understand if it was windscreen scrapers or something actually related to the situation but it never is. And therefore a few selfish people fill their trollies with toilet roll and pasta leaving everyone else to go without.

I hate to break it to people but toilet roll and pasta are nonsensical buys. You dont NEED toilet roll (pleasant as it is) its not a d&v virus, equally pasta requires preparation and isnt nutritious so I wouldn't bother with that either.

Paracetamol, hand gel and baby formula I can understand but still think its greedy to empty the shelf or take more than an extra item or two.

My husband was in waitrose yesterday. The shelves were literally empty. It was like a scene from 1980's Russia. The manager told him that there was nothing in the back store or back feeezers and that only a skeleton delivery was being made today. He said if we needed anything to get there early. He was clearly very worried about the situation. A friends husband runs a franchise coop and they apparently have a big telephone call tomorrow to confirm whether they will be getting any more stock but at the moment he is having to go to the cash and carry to get supplies - and there is not much there either. So it's not all panic buying - the supermarkets can't get the food in to restock the shelves.

I'm on the fence. Doing a big shop, sensible. Clearing the shelves of individual items hugely selfish. We have a lot of food in now but there are 6 of us in my house and from today we will be self isolating.

how anyone is still defending panic buying, stock piling whatever the hell you wanna call it is beyond me. how many more times do people need to be told if you just buy what you actually need we will be okay.

2 things fools - firstly, other people need to be able to wash their hands etc. to stop it spreading not just you and secondly, as already stated, if people do start starving trust me they will not just sit back. potentially could cause riots and all sorts. you think you'll just be sitting on all the food and people just gonna let their kids starve? dont think so.

use your brains

Feeling quite lucky that I live in a large city. There’s dozens of different grocery shops that I can visit so I have lots of options - and thankfully I haven’t come across many empty aisles or any barren stores.

Yes, some shelves are empty across stores (predominantly loo roll, hand soap, cold/flu medicine and annoyingly, oat milk) but there’s more than enough food.

Yes. Of course it is.

Yes it is. Just been to the local supermarket and a man in his 50s had 3 huge packs of loo rolls and went through self checkout to avoid being stopped as they’re operating a 2 pack per customer limit. Gave me abuse when I challenged him. This really has brought out the worst in people.