To wonder where all the food has gone..

[runningpram]

I know it sounds a daft question but just that really.
I've been to the shops and while they were admittedly busier than usual people seemed to be buying normal amounts - I haven't seen anyone buying excessive amounts and there are very few images of it on social media. Clearly demand is substantially higher than usual. But I still don't understand why the shop shelves are completely bare. I popped into Iceland twice in 24 hours - on neither occasion did I buy anything - but lots of the same items were out and the same gaps remained. It looked as though it hadn't been restocked.
My Mum went to Sainsbury's early opening for older/vulnerable people and there was still nothing on the shelves. Obviously this is just the anecdotal evidence of a couple of people
So my question to retail insiders is - what's really happening? Is it case that deliveries aren't coming in, the food can't be put out quick enough, there's issues in the supply chain or is it totally panic buyers?

@whatashower We do actually have a spare one that we don't use 🤫

And no, they can't bloody have it.

I think they're either freezing the milk or it will end up down the drain.

I know where I'd like to tell them to fit it, @BodiesMakeForGoodFertiliser

No shortage of fresh produce in NI

SnoozyLou

• @BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou have you got any polish shop or similar nearby? That was the only place I saw milk in few days ago*

Unfortunately our local polish shop was closed by lunchtime. Ill try again next weekend. I work during their opening hours (school so no option).

As a matter of interest are there any shortages of other items in NI @Aprilcherry04?

The road in my street turns into Tesco's car park. It's been nonstop. Busier than Christmas. It's usually quiet until after 9am, but now I hear cars honking at each other around 5am and the carpark looks like a Saturday afternoon by 7. But they must be bringing in a lot of deliveries at the store because the traffic is constant all day.

There are no shortages of food, I keep saying this. DH is an operations director. All trucks are on the road, trucks that don’t normally deliver food and essentials are being pulled in to refill the shelves. Trucks are still coming in from Europe with more essentials.

DHs company have over 1500 trucks plus sub contractors, they are turning away loads from major supermarkets because they are all to capacity.

You may not be a able to get your favourite brand of quinoa at the moment, before if people stop panic buying the shelves will be back to normal soon.

I think it will take a lockdown and a one in one out type of shop to stop this insanity.

TooTrue. Fair point about supply chain, but thought that would take a bit longer to kick in and shipped cargo freight was still arrived until recently. cwrtainly enough people are trying to buy one 🙄

There is food in the supply chain, but large food companies don't produce a lot extra that sits in warehouses and distribution centres for a while. Production is being increased, uplifts are being projected and stock that is waiting is being distributed. However, none of that is instant, and they are also dealing with increased staff absence that makes increasing production/distribution more challenging. But there absolutely is food, there is more coming, but the way the supply chain works means that if a majority of people only start buying one or two extra of something the impact of that is significant. It takes a bit of time to right that.

Tooting this morning, open cafes, lots of shoppers, local supermarkets cleared like a plague of locusts for the nth day running. The civil, sensible majority will be DEMANDING lockdown soon. Maybe that was the cunning plan.

All the big supermarkets near me are bare of a lot of stuff. I have been going to our local coop every day this week to get some bits, but I am not panic buying, I haven’t had a kitchen for months and now I do I need to stock it as I used up most of the basics and didn’t buy more before the kitchen was done so I need a fair bit of basic stuff. I finally managed to get milk yesterday and eggs today - have been trying to get them for days with no luck. I am not self isolating, I am a key worker and hoping it will be a good while before I am in a situation when I need to self-isolate or showing any symptoms. Chances are because of mine and DH work we will be coming into contact with people with it regularly.

@WhereverIMayRoam
Shortages of Pasta, rice, handwash and hand sanitiser. Some tinned produce are restricted and noticed today no flour on shelves. I cant bake anyway lol. Noticed also that a lot of cheaper jars of curry and tomato sauces are gone. I think most people here have stocked up and now are just topping up. Local butchers have their normal variety of meat and also other fresh produce

I can’t understand what the hell is going on in the UK

I think all this has brought out the worst in so many people. People arguing about whose medical condition is more serious like it's some sort of pissing competition. People squabbling over who qualifies as a key worker and why their role is more important. People admonishing others for talking about cv on social media because it's tactless and "no one knows what I'm going through". People taking things out of each other's baskets, standing too close in supermarkets, and just generally falling out.

Is that a search for freezers @whatashower. I can understand it with people who live in isolated locations, and a few don't have one, but I do think a lot of it is completely unnecessary and people just treating it like some kind of game.

I think we need a lockdown but someone from the state also needs to check over 70s and those isolating aren't vulnerable. There's about 40 in our street and only us under 70, we do what we can but got 2 kids I now have to home educate one with autism, 2 pets, health issues myself and a house needing lots of work including a thatched roof about to leak plus jobs.

It’s all in my MILs house, she normally buys enough food each week to feed a small army for a month but she’s been going out buying tons at any opportunity. As you may have guessed she’s of the “I’m alright, stuff everyone else” mentality.

It’s only toilet paper and kitchen paper that seems to be low here in the shops. I don’t see any panic buying. We went yesterday evening and we were able to get everything on the list except a pork roasting joint that they had advertised at less than half the usual price for loyalty club members.

My mum has been telling me how the shelves are almost empty there and sending me pictures. I’m completely shocked. Everything has been closed here for a few weeks already but we have had no panic buying.

It would be nice to see the odd policeman. Ours have completely vanished. They are either ill or on leave.

Has anyone noticed a dearth of police or are yours visible?

I hope the people hoarding frozen food have ordered a generator as well as the new freezers. Be smart about this. If you think things are going to get that bad, imagine if a lot of people at the power companies need to self isolate. The engineers... You could be left as the proud owner of an expensive container of rotting meat.

snoozyloo yes it is searches for 'buy freezers' in the UK and am sure some freezer purchasing is justifiable but the exponential demand means plenty of people are absolutely making room for more food and planning on digging in and far more storage . So a fair few people accepted this was coming some time ago. Yet we are asked to believe that so many do not understand.

@GatoradeMeBitch I agree

It kicked off in Morrisons. Someone took something out of someone's trolley.
Wtf is going on. What happened to be kind. That was short lived.

Gatorade......indeed. And if you are still determined to have another one.....not lets forget the very many commercial second hand freezers shortly available from a cafe/restaurant/sandwich shop near
you 🙄

I'm not convinced it is right to leave the supermarkets to police this. I had my regular delivery on Tuesday. Several items were missing including toilet paper, some canned pulses, a few frozen items. I have another order booked for 31st. I accessed the website last night to add an item I had forgotten to order. Toilet roll, soap and several other items were showing out of stock - and had been removed from my order. How can the supermarket in question know that these items will not be available in eleven days time? And why, in the case of my supermarket of choice, have they shut down their complaints department (ie not taking calls or emails)? I can't help feeling that there is a degree of cynicism and bad faith here - and not just from the twats who are stockpiling.

Justcly I think thats a little unfair. They are all in absolute meltdown and exposing themselves to risk to boot. If it wasnt for all the investment in logistics and tech to originally handle online shopping it would be far far worse in stores. An entire lorry load of toilet roll sold through in our local store within minutes. I am totally and utterly ashamed to be British.

I think - with a few exceptions - everyone's just buying "a few bits".

DH went to the shop earlier and there were plenty of tinned tomatoes which we've needed for days so he picked some up. As he got to the tills, he remembered something else we needed from that aisle so went back and the tinned tomatoes were completely gone. In that time he saw no-one with an unusual amount of tins (and anyway they are restricting items) so it can't have been bulk buying. Just lots of people whose usual stock has run down needing to replenish, or seeing them after they've been absent for a couple of weeks and thinking, "oh, I'd better get some while they're in stock". Both fairly rational responses.