No wonder we are starting to see a return of panic buying!
But what is panic buying, what is general preparedness buying, and what is normal levels of stocking up for winter (and/or Brexit, Covid, etc)?
One person's need to have a spare 4-pack of toilet rolls because they live 10 miles from a shop with no car, could be the same as another who has a large family and does a run to Costco or similar twice a year so might have 500 spare rolls in September but down to a couple before they go again in February. They are the normal needs of their family.
Most (sensible) people will have some extra supplies of food and other useful things in their house generally, and particularly over winter as that is the most difficult time of year in this country for most (both weather and time-wise when there is a lot going on generally with school, clubs, and expectations of social lives), and the greatest chance of seasonal illnesses (colds, flu etc) in a normal year. Whereas summer tends to have better weather and people tend to have more time to organise themselves (and seasonal illnesses are more hay-fever type sneezing etc than more serious ones).
And if you are living somewhere prone to things like flooding or other weather-events (big winter storms coming across the atlantic with lots of wind, snow on high ground, etc), then you might be in the habit of having good clothes to deal with that weather and things like backups for heating/lighting/cooking if your normal power goes out (so torches/candles/oil lamps for light, wood stove/open fire/calor gas heaters for heat, a gas stove or outdoor BBQ or camping stove for cooking and foods that need very little cooking and flasks for spare hot water to keep it hot) etc.
Whereas if you live in an apartment in a city centre with shops and work only a couple of minutes walk away, it's quite possible that all of these things are completely irrelevant to you normally.
But there is always the possibility that something could happen, no matter where you are or your general circumstances. So even just thinking about what you would do if X, Y or Z scenario happened, could be very useful in responding if something did, in fact, happen.
Like where would all your family meet if something happened while you were away from home (school, work etc and something like 9/11 or 7/7 happened again - or a gas main on your street blows up and you are not allowed home again) - just all knowing a designated meeting point could be good especially if DCs are teens and would be making their own way somewhere.
You don't need to have everything in designated bags and have a bunker prepared out in the woods to escape to.
You just need to have done some thinking about your own personal circumstances, the potential reasons you may need to leave home in a hurry or stay at home but with no power or because you have to isolate because someone is ill - and how would you personally and as a family manage in those circumstances.
And then, once you've done that thinking about the most likely issues and what you would need, think about and potentially buy or organise yourselves with anything that you would need in those circumstances but either they are hidden away somewhere, or you don't already have them so need to buy some things.
So you might add a torch and a battery powered radio to your list, and pick those up in end of season camping sales or as a Christmas present to yourself. I use our battery radio in the bathroom a lot and just make sure I have spare batteries in the right size. And I have a torch as part of my camping equipment - but keep that at home while the tents and tables etc are all in a storage unit until they are needed for actual camping. (I also keep my 1 ring gas stove at home in the shed as a backup in winter - we've had the power go out for many hours, which also knocks out the gas cooker, even though we live in a suburb of a main city - so even if I need to cook in the garden because of the kind of stove it is (can't be used indoors), it means I can heat water and cook a meal and then get warmed up by the fire indoors while eating it).