Page 10 | aibu to think Xmas food shopping is panic buying?

DragonMama3 · 2023-12-22T19:33:37+00:00

In Asda. people buying food like the world was ending! WHy? Shops reopen in 12 hours?

LaSpuddle · 23/12/2023 22:18

SapphireSeptember · 23/12/2023 10:58

I was walking to work yesterday, just before lunchtime. The traffic queues for getting into the Sainsbury's, Aldi and Lidl carparks were insane! My manager got stuck in Aldi when she went to pick up some milk for the staffroom in the morning. 🤦🏻‍♀️She said it was chaos in there. Evening shopping is the way to go.

I bet she was really browsing the middle aisle 🤣

LaSpuddle · 23/12/2023 22:36

Ginandjuice57884 · 23/12/2023 09:26

I am coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't go grocery shopping every day and I mostly cook from scratch. I loosely meal plan for up to two weeks so I don't have to go shopping (hate it). It's not a case of "well the shops will be open anyway" for me. My cupboards are already full of staples and beyond a nice big roast and a couple of nice cheeses I don't really understand all the excess consumption. It just seems daft and wasteful to me.

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But it’s not just more food for Christmas Day. People staying means more bread, milk, cereal, fruit… I normally buy apple juice but I know mil likes orange and bil likes pineapple so I bought one each of those too. Larger quantities required for all meals. A few snacks and nibbles for if people want something between meals. It’s not excessive consumption and nothing will be wasted, what’s daft about it?

Wintersgirl · 23/12/2023 22:40

But it’s not just more food for Christmas Day. People staying means more bread, milk, cereal, fruit… I normally buy apple juice but I know mil like

Exaxtly! You need more of the everyday stuff such as loo rolls, bread, cereal etc and I get mine when I'm doing the big shop, I'm not sure why the OP doesn't get this?

SecondHandFurniture · 23/12/2023 22:53

You do also want to be able to offer people options. I try to have croissants and various jams for guests as well as toast and cereal. They probably could survive on one of my sachets of Oat So Simple but it's not very... hosty. Same with being able to offer biscuits with a hot drink or fun Christmassy snacks for visiting kids.

BrieAndChilli · 23/12/2023 23:24

Pickingmyselfup · 23/12/2023 08:30

In my instance it's for sauce.

So yesterday I used a litre making fish pie as well as some in the mashed potato.

For Christmas I'm making dauphinoise potatoes, broccoli cheese and will need extra for mashed potato as well as what we already get through for 4 people. I never know how much I'll need because I don't measure my ingredients, I just whack it in so I buy a bit more so I'm not running out when the shops are actually shut.

Now times that by 10 people and that's even more milk especially if some is needed for baking/desserts.

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There’s 9 of us this year.
we will need milk for lasagne sauce (x2 as need to do a veggie one too) cheese sauce for cauliflower cheese, lots of hot chocolates for the kids, custard for the trifle, numerous teas and coffees, cereal, etc.
last year we had a small toddler coke for Xmas so needed lots of milk for them.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 24/12/2023 09:30

User1789 · 23/12/2023 14:18

As for people asking why it doesn't all even out? And why aren't some places/people less busy as they are going away?

It sort of does. I am in SE London and it has been noticably emptier since Friday morning, as people leave the capital to visit family elsewhere. This is fairly standard at Christmas and always has been (lifelong Londoner).

I did a shop at Morrisons on Friday morning and there were more parking spaces there than a normal Friday and queues at the tills were a sensible length. I had to park in the local Sainsbury's car park at 11am this morning, which is normally a fate worse than death on a Saturday morning and it takes about 10 minutes minimum to leave again, and it was... fine. Bit busy, but nowhere near normal Saturday morning levels.

So there are some parts of the country not seeing a massive boom in shoppers.

Edited

We drove back to SW London from seeing Dsis and BiL in the Yorkshire Dales on the 21st and there was way more traffic - more than one ‘standstill’ queue - coming out of London than going in. We had expected traffic to be a lot worse.

AhBiscuits · 24/12/2023 09:33

I went into Lidl last night at about 8. It was empty and shelves still pretty stocked.

Original poster

DragonMama3 · 26/12/2023 23:32

I wonder if with everything having an eye watering price people just aren't or can't afford to spend?

OP posts:

Chilicabbage · 27/12/2023 05:32

Considering how many people are now starting to talk about waste and leftovers etc, you were not really wrong OP 🤷
(also, again, the disproportionate % of food waste throughout December compared to other months)

Creational · 27/12/2023 09:16

Chilicabbage · 27/12/2023 05:32

Considering how many people are now starting to talk about waste and leftovers etc, you were not really wrong OP 🤷
(also, again, the disproportionate % of food waste throughout December compared to other months)

Waste yes, but leftovers are completely different. We have leftovers throughout the year and never bin them. We cook specifically hoping to have leftovers!

Chilicabbage · 27/12/2023 09:18

Creational · 27/12/2023 09:16

Waste yes, but leftovers are completely different. We have leftovers throughout the year and never bin them. We cook specifically hoping to have leftovers!

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Yes leftovers are fine, not if they are in "we can't eat that possibly" levels though

milveycrohn · 28/12/2023 15:28

I definitely did some panic buying, especially as the shops around here were shut for 2 days, meaning lots of bargains on Christmas Eve. This would be fine, except my DH does the shopping and buys extra, which we cannot possibly use, and there is no room in fridge or freezer.
I ended up by giving lots away to adult DSs, who do not live with us, which has seemed to work.
Better if we did not overbuy in the first place.