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....

DP went to the shop today to get some milk and bread rolls, he had the second pack of 4 removed from him (there’s 6 of us) bless him he felt so embarrassed.
@T0tallyFuckedUpFamily if you have any olive oil and garlic to cook the butter beans in and mash them it’s the food of the Gods!

In terms of treats/snacks I put a box of things together for my teenager and it’s hers to manage. She knows I’m not going shopping until Saturday so if she eats it all by Tuesday then that’s tough.

Oh dear Vladimir, does everything have to be so serious atm?
Because stupid dickheads are panic buying and the stores needed to take back control so its fair on everyone. They'll stop restricting when people stop clearing shelves.

if you have any olive oil and garlic to cook the butter beans in and mash them it’s the food of the Gods!

Oh, you wonderful woman. Thank you for that.

Yes, DH usually buys lunch at work and DS1 has school dinners. Then we usually have 2-3 lunches out per week, plus cakes in cafes etc, plus all the cups of tea that would usually be consumed at work, it all adds up to a lot of extra food on top of our normal weekly shop. Plus the times you pick up one or two bits whilst out doing something else that you no longer do so have to remember to allow for in your shop.

DS1 is a 16 yo 6ft rugby player. He has a big bag of protein power we ordered ages ago. He said he will just use that. I said I hope it tastes ok made with water as I am not going out to buy extra milk.

DS2 is nearly 13 and due a growth spurt

It was lentil stew last night. I am not sure they were impressed.

We are all being a bit more mindful of what we eat and I am sticking to something like a school timetable during the week so there will be set lunchtime and break time.

I made 8 mince pies last night about of the pastry trimmings from the chicken pie - would usually have chucked it in the bin. With the pie, everyone got slightly smaller portions than usual so I have enough left to make two “school lunches” on Monday. Am very consciously not wasting anything, just hope that others are doing the same.

Finally managed to book an online delivery slot, having been checking all supermarkets all week ... for 11th April!! They are like gold dust round here & I’m not sure how we’ll cope until then.

This is actually one of my arguments when I see all these posts about stupid selfish people panic buying. OK I’m all for not buying 10 packs of pasta or 100 toilet rolls then yes of course that’s being selfish and stupid. But people DO absolutely need more from the supermarkets than normal because suddenly ALL meals are in the house and more people are home all day as opposed to our at school and work meaning more toilet roll and soap etc. People are stuck indoors with children so baking ingredients not only provide food but also an activity. My children usually have school dinners. So I’m obviously buying more food for them all to eat lunch at home. My husband and I are usually out at work and not eating lunch home that’s another two people now eating lunch at home each day. We usually have lunch or dinner once a week with one set of grandparents alternating the weeks which is another meal now at home. It all adds up. Not only that but after the panic buying last week there are people this week that now genuinely need bigger shops than usual because they’ve already been surviving on the back of their cupboard and bottom of the freezer for a week. It’s not just people panic buying, it’s also people having different requirements than before. That said I’m nearly out of fruit and veg...And dreading battling the masses to get some more.

I’m just thankful we don’t pay per use on internet!!!

We have a local caterer offering wholesale food. The only bread flour he could get was 16kg so I bought it, I can always make bread for the neighbours too!! Also got 2.5kg of cheese which I've frozen in chunks. Again, I can share if I need to or just not bother fighting the shops. I'm not taking away from normal shoppers as this wouldn't be sold in shops anyway so it works out well. Not panic bought anything else but I have a well stocked pantry normally.

@TOtallyFuckedUpFamily I’m with you. Nothing being wasted here. We had a joint of pork in our freezer since before this started. It’s now done us a roast dinner Friday night, lunchtime sandwiches Saturday and today, a casserole on Saturday and, tonight a curry. Curry ingredients were already in the cupboard and we had plenty of frozen veg.

We bought potatoes from local corner shop and already had flour, eggs and milk to make Yorkshire puddings. Absolutely no waste at all.

If you’re stuck at home you’re not going to be doing as much exercise as usual anyway so need to eat a bit less - unless you want to come out of this weighing around 20 stones!

im a retail worker and you are being unreasonable and the 92 percent of people on here saying you should buy more are also being unreasonable you people are killing us and the reason why you cant get anything in shops if everyone stuck to what they usually buy we'd have heaves of stock !!!!! and now we dont were left to deal with constant abuse, fighting, double shifts, triple the hard work for you guys and were still getting abuse, if you visit the store regularly and you are desperate for items ask if you can order it or ask if the staff can save you one, weve been doing this with our elderly and most in need customers to ensure they dont go without whilst every one else doesnt give a shit, 1 woman came in for three days in a row to buy 3 loaves of bread and 3 6 pints of milk and we had to bar her from coming in because its not fair on others be mindful in what you buy and buy what you need

I've collected 2 DC's from University this weekend. That's an extra 42 meals a week. Plus another DC who normally ate lunch at 6th form 5 days per week will now be home. Obviously I bought more than I did last week.
I'm trying to be sensible. But there's 6 of us at home, and my mum is elderly and housebound, so I shop for her too. My sensible weekly shop looks like I'm panic buying for a month.
I'm still having to go to a local shop most days as I either can't find the things I need in the supermarket, or can't buy the quantity

YANBU. DH has started being at home during the day ( made redundant at 60, corona has probably just jinxed any hope he had of getting a new job) and I’ve definitely noticed that we need more milk, coffee, bread , cheese, jam etc as he used to eat Lunch in the company canteen

There's a good insight here. The people who supply restaurants and canteens have no business, while the demand has shifted to supermarkets.

There needs to be a way to get this balanced!

@eddiemairswife I agree that long-life milk is vile, but I've discovered that if you chill it well first, this numbs the taste enough to make it just about tolerable on cereal. But nothing can ever make it bearable in tea or coffee.

Put a lock on the fridge 😂

My DH does the shopping and we always have random cupboard stuff that never gets used. The next few we'll will look like a particularly bad episode of Ready, Steady, Cook

Usually I shop once a fortnight and I have to provide 12 main meals for tea/dinner for me, 6 light teas (sandwiches) for DD after school, 2 main meals for DD on my weekend and 27 breakfasts for us both (47 meals in total).

DDs not having contact and not having her meal at school plus I'm not going to my mums or dads who usually happily fill a plate up for me so I am having to provide 28 main meals, 28 breakfasts and 28 light teas (84 in total) so yes everything has increased in cost.

I don't have storage for more than a week, so I am rationing out and considering dropping myself to two meals a day to make the food we have last longer.

My husband and I have been buying an extra tin of beans or tomatoes every week since January time. We have been watching this unfold and felt it would be better to ensure we had a few extra basics in the house just incase. We haven’t bill bought a thing but if push comes to shove we have some tins to survive on that have a long shelf life.
Our shopping will go up slightly as I usually lunch 2-3 time’s a week and we’d have a takeaway too at the weekend. Obviously that’s not going to happen now so we need to buy for that. I’ve also started weaning my daughter and I’m concerned we won’t get the fresh fruits and veg we need. It’s a sorry affair.

Bulk*

DH has been WFH for the last week and at first I thought we’d need to buy more food. Then I realised we’re buying the same amount of food. It’s just the quantity he normally pops out to Boots/M&S/Tesco to buy himself every lunchtime is being switched over to the regular shop.

I guess because we are 2 adults and a toddler we haven't needed to buy more than usual. I did buy more tinned tomatoes than normal and two extra bags of crisps but no more than that.

Fresh fruit and veg are easy to come by so I do go to the shop more frequently to buy those.

I'm not buying tinned food because I don't like it. I suspect there will be a lot of wastage in some households- people buying stuff they don't need or like.

Unless you anticipate being locked down for 2 weeks there's no need to bulk buy.

Unless you anticipate being locked down for 2 weeks there's no need to bulk buy.

But we should ALL anticipate that! Between 60-80% of the population will get this virus at some point and will need to go into self isolation. And the more often you nip out for fresh food, the more likely you are to catch it.

Most of us eat far too much and if we are all staying at home then surely we need less calories and can manage on two meals a day? I know from personal experience (& my size ) that I frequently eat out of boredom. It is a very easy habit to just ‘assume’ that you need three meals, plus snacks, every day. My DH eats a lot, but he was in the gym every day, he genuinely doesn’t ‘need’ so much food now so could easily cut down. He’s an adult though, I am not going to tell him what to do.