People who panic buy because snow

[Plonv]

It’s usually bread, tinned soups and tinned veg that I see being bought.

Don’t people not have a small store cupboard? Plus people can surely live without bread?

I live alone and got enough food in my cupboards for 3 weeks, four at a push

What a daft question. Here have a 🥇

People can live without many things but why should we? If you can live without bread, then there is no need to begrudge others buying several loaves. After all, you can live without bread.
There are 4 people in my house. Our cupboards are stocked but we probably wouldn't manage to come up with much in a way of a full meal for more than a day or two. I suppose, in an emergency, we can survive on plain rice and beans for a couple of weeks but, again, why should we?

It's not panic buying. It's just buying

Some people literally live hand to mouth, and don’t have a store cupboard. Others will have small children and feel anxious about trying to drive with them in snow. Others may have caring responsibilities and not have time to shop and deal with snow. It’s not hard to understand that people live differently to you and have different needs and resources.

We mostly only eat fresh food, don't eat much caned stuff at all, have some bits in the freezer, not something I worry about.

I bought a bag of bread flour, does that count?

Probably got 3 weeks worth of food anyway

It's definitely panic buying. We've had it here this morning already and we don't even have snow 🤣 a few customers have said it's forecast for Thursday so we'll sell a ridiculous amount of bread & milk over the next few days.

Uh oh... I bought soup and bread, and baked beans, black beans and lentils at the weekend. As I do every weekend. Not panic buying. Buying food to eat.
It is snowing here this morning, and I shall be having soup with crusty bread for my lunch.

If the extra milk and bread gets chucked, more fool them

Panic buying can cause disruption to the supply chain and therefore what’s on the shelves

The trouble is that its absolute antithesis - prepping (ie buying ahead over months/years so that you do indeed have a store cupboard) - also gets routinely decried on here. Even though it doesn’t stress supply chains, and isn’t done in a panic when something is expected to happen.

The ‘just in time’ model isn’t particularly shockproof. It might be necessary for fresh fruit/flowers and some veg. But it’s very easily disrupted. Something I expect we’ll see more of because of severe weather events (not just here, but across the supply chain, which is now international)

We don’t have adequate food security in UK, nor good levels of storage.

Extra bread and milk go in the freezer. To keep as a "store cupboard". Or with "extra" eggs to make bread and butter pudding.

Why would it get chucked? They're buying it in case they can't get to the shops over the next few days. So they'll eat it over the next few days.

Why would it get chucked? We slice and freeze extra bread or make croutons for soups, salads or dog treats. We make pancakes with the milk that's gone off. We almost never throw food away. Again, 4 people in the house. A loaf of bread barely lasts a day.

Of course people can live without bread but you could say that about anything. It's cheap ,filling and adaptable. If you've got 3 weeks worth of food ,good for you but many don't. People don't have storage space, or the money to keep a surplus in, or they manage usually day to day. They feel a bit worried about the weather,and making plans to manage.

3 people in my house. Got extra bread and milk yesterday because everyone will be home and need feeding..... not panic buying just making sure I can feed them!!

Some families go through staples like milk or bread quite quickly. I remember being shocked when my OH told me to buy 10 litres of milk, but the parents-in-law get through it rapidly. There was no storm on the way that day, but if there had been I'm sure it would have looked like panic buying.

Also, if the weather makes it unlikely people will get to the supermarket for a few days, then the food waste might be likely to happen if people don't "panic buy", because the food will be sat on the supermarket shelves going out of date there. It's not that ridiculous to bring forward a few purchases by a few days.

What about people who can’t afford a stockpile of anything or are a large family with teenagers with huge appetites?

You're observing the world around you, but unfortunately, you're using yourself as the standard to judge what's nomal. Everyone's different, with their own needs, and nobody's stealing or taking anything unfairly.

I appreciate the forecast hasn’t been quite the same but this has made me chuckle. I remember people laughing in the supermarket queue one Monday in 2018 (I think it was 2018!) when I said I was stocking up because of forecast. Snowed in for over a fortnight and had the military drop by by chinook to check on us. The Beast from the East was our first winter in this house. We have a dedicated “snow” cupboard now filled with all the things (eg radio that runs on batteries) that we wished we had had but didn’t.

Probably the same reason people panic bought toilet rolls in case they caught a respiratory virus.

I have a stocked cupboard, but things like bread, milk and fruit and veg need topping up every few days with teenagers in the house. I bought one extra bread and 4 extra pints of milk yesterday plus extra fruit just in case we carnt get out or we lose power. Being single and feeding teenagers is not the same thing. Plus nothing will go to wast with teenage boys in the house.

It’s a lot easier to keep food stocks when you live alone, rather than a family who can clear food stores like locusts!

I do 2 food shops a week, 4 growing boys I can just about keep up with how much they eat. So likely I will buy bread on both shops and they eat it and if it’s a slow bread week it can be frozen. Milk is always used. I split my shop so things are fresh and don’t go off, I don’t hoard but I do buy a lot. Much more than 1 person would need.