To think actually I do need more food than usual?

[DoubleAction]

And loo roll!

I've stuck to my usual shopping routine and it's becoming clear I shouldn't have.

All of a sudden I have 4 adults in the house 24/7. 3 of them eat out at lunch 5 days per week and 2 of them are rarely here for dinner, in the usual course of events.

Two are 6ft young men! The bread and cheese already....

Now is surely the time for the Mumsnet chicken...

We have two extra people in the house ATM and likely to stay like that for a while. DH would eat at work normally, I sometimes eat at work... So yes, extra food is needed.

Is the pp referring to squash or actual juice? It's really confusing calling squash 'juice' if that's what was meant. They really are two different things.

mostly buy lunch out near my office, and we eat out probably twice a week. That's at least a 50% increase in my normal weekly food shop, even without stockpiling.

What you save on lunch out as well as eating out twice a week will instead go on your normal weekly shop. If we don't stockpile there's plenty for everyone.

Yes. It’s not just that we have two adults and a child having lunch at home who normally wouldn’t, DS also went to breakfast club some days and had dinner at after school club two days a week. And you also have to make sure you have enough on hand for 2-3 weeks of total self-isolation if you get ill.

peterpangoeswring takeaways are expensive, they are a treat for a lot of people

Yes - I have two 6ft teens too. Had serious chats with them about boredom snacking and eating 4 eggs for breakfast.

I have segregated the fridge into things that are off-limits for main meals and taught them how to use the bread maker.
Normally when they're home we have big containers of cold pasta in the fridge which they mix with tuna/ pesto/ tomatoes etc, but we have now run out of pasta!
I sent DS out shopping yesterday so he could see first hand what the issue is - he came back rather shocked.

DS2 announced that now he has finished school he is going to ramp up his (home) gym routine and start 'bulking up'. DS1 and I looked at each other and laughed -- erm, no.

What you save on lunch out as well as eating out twice a week will instead go on your normal weekly shop. If we don't stockpile there's plenty for everyone

But you’re talking about two different things there. Yes, the money she’ll save on not eating out can be used to buy food from the supermarket for consumption at home. But that still means she has to get 50% extra food per week from the supermarket. I agree that they shouldn’t be long term shortages but this is obviously going to have an impact on the supply chain when a lot of families are in the same boat.

Not only are takeaways expensive but they are an excellent way of spreading the virus. There is no point in distancing yourself from others then eating food prepared by who knows who.

We are actually eating less.
Well, main meals are at the same rate, but snacking has dropped to pretty much 0.
We are quarantined, so much less active than normal, and its showing (bonus is I'm loosing weight, as not snacking).

I worked out that based on childcare, after school commitments, eating lunch at work/school etc, I only previously needed 56 home meals a week between us.

Now that all six of us are at home 24/7, I now need 126 meals plus snacks so my household food requirement alone has now more than doubled.

Add into that the two sets of isolating parents we now have to buy for and our food requirement is extortionate.

And that’s without us trying to stockpile for two weeks isolation. We’ve got no chance!

DS2 announced that now he has finished school he is going to ramp up his (home) gym routine and start 'bulking up'. DS1 and I looked at each other and laughed -- erm, no.

I’m sorry, but that did make me laugh. 😂

I usually have about a day or two of food in. Now the state says - no - bad you for only having that - you must have 14 days in in case you get the virus - so the state staying thou must stockpile and then tells us off for following its orders. No wonder people get confused.

One of my sons is at university until next week and one is home so now at home we need double. In a week we will need triple.

Go for it, times are different now with more people at home. Good luck!

Yanbu. My dd usually has school dinners so I've had to buy more to keep us ticking over until around Thursday. Really trying to minimise trips to the supermarket.

Xenia I agree the massage is confusing, but I think had people increased their shopping by about twenty percent over a few weeks the stores could cope.

The problem seems to have been people buying in significant bulk - and limits coming in too late. The limits are now crazy - I would only buy three bananas. Are people seriously bulk buying bananas

I usually have about a day or two of food in
Most people don't though. It's pretty normal nowadays to do a weekly shop, and to have some extra food in the cupboard and freezer.
Obviously the poorer people of society might find that difficult, especially those who don't have a car. But we all know you don't fall into that category, don't we?

Bananas are the only thing not in shortage I think! Even when the whole of the supermarket was empty they had bananas.

Yes OP I’m in a similar boat. Two DC who would usually eat lunch at school plus DH who has hollow legs and normally eats half of Pret for lunch, all at home. Sure there are many families in the same position.

The empty shelves aren’t all down to stockpiling.

What needs to happen is an organised diversion of the wholesale food suppliers who usually supply schools, restaurants, offices etc to domestic customers instead. Whether by direct supply or via the supermarkets.

Tesco have told me (online shop which I fully expect to be missing most of) that I could only have three bananas. Will be interested to see what turns up. I don't have high expectations.

Box of broken biscuits from the milkman is doing wonders here but even they are rationed. It won't do any of us any harm to cut down on snacking for a while.

@Itwasntme1 you’re being petty. If there are two people in the house and they each eat a banana a day, to get enough for a week, you’d need 14. Even if they split a banana per day, that’s still a bunch of 7 bananas. If you’re a family of four instead of two people, then yes you would likely buy two bunches of bananas to get you through the week. I’m not going to begrudge and chastise people buying a regular amount of food. Jeez.

@feelingverylazytoday I don't fall into the category of the poorer of society and I don't do a weekly shop either. I buy 3 days worth. We have 4 children including 2 teenage sons with extremely large appetites.

We menu plan for 3 days depending on what everyone is doing and also to not end up with too much food wastage.

I presume/hope that the panic buying will come to an end over the next week. If not, I guess we're going to be losing weight in our house. Mind you, our energy expenditure will be going down with all the social distancing and isolating so it'll probably all balance out.

I am pleased to hear about the lack of banana shortage as we eat a lot of bananas.

There are some whole sale providers who normally supply restaurants are now supplying to the public. However, you do have to place largish orders and have the means to store the food (thinking of fresh). And it's not cheap.

Of course people need more food without extra people in the house.

I have my 7yo at home all day every day asking for snacks and needing dinner. I am very poor. He gets free school meals usually. I think he might qualify for vouchers, but I haven't heard about that yet.

I'm trying to give them more filling meals - homemade soup, porridge, baked potatoes and pasta hoping they'll ask for less snacks.

^with extra people. I'm tired already!!