To have just stocked up on loo roll and canned foods

I think panic buying is beyond selfish. OK... buy an extra packet of pasta, or a 4 pack of baked beans but people somewhere are sat on a huge hoard of anti bac gel and hand wipes. I've been to 6 shops... nowt on the shelves, and the only reason I'm buying any is because I'm going on a long haul flight.
I only want one bottle!
I hope those that cleared the shelves get stuck with it, and have wasted their money. Serves them right

I can only conclude that British people buy into media hysteria more readily than Koreans.

I think that might depend which side of the DMZ they're on?

OP, you have to do what feels right for you or your family. As long as you can afford it, haven't taken the last packet off the shelf and it's stuff you'll use, it makes sense. No one knows where this is going, but if it spread massively, then I'd rather be prepared and not going without or asking friends/family to spend extra time shopping for me at the peak.

I’m not a prepper but like to keep the fridge and cupboards full, likely due to a poor childhood with a permanently empty fridge. Looking at a full fridge makes me feel content knowing I can feed my family well.
I can’t believe that nobody has realised why people prep yet.
It’s not selfish, greedy or panic buying, neither do they have mental health problems.
People prep to take what little control they can over a situation that they cannot control. If they stock up on bog roll, medicine and beans they have done their bit to hopefully keep their family fed and healthy in an uncertain situation and I see nothing wrong with that.
The cynics will be the ones clearing the shelves and fighting over the last packets of pasta.

I'm a cynic and I'm not fighting over the last packets of pasta. I have more consideration for everyone else .... if there's 10 packets left, it is only fair than ten people can have one each. Not one person clearing off with the 10.

If you have the coronavirus, you are not going to feel like eating all that pasta and canned food so it's all a bit of a waste of time.

I have IBS, I do not want to run out of loo roll! So I'll admit I have been stocking up. I generally have about 2 weeks food in the house at any one time anyway. Could stretch it to last a month if I had to. So haven't really bothered with much else.

I always keep a supply of cleaning materials, medicines, soap, shaving foam, deodorant, firelighters, and some tinned food in my 'shop' in the garage and have done for at least 5 years. I always buy these items when they are on offer and keep them until needed. I was in Waitrose yesterday and there was hardly any bread flour or dried yeast left and the loo paper shelves were also very sparse.

To the PP who dislikes tinned food, have you tried M&S Chicken in White Sauce, Beef Casserole and Curry dishes? They are very good in an emergency and you can always make a pie with the casserole.

Whole shelves of medication have been stripped bare here. When you have a sick child as I currently do it's the last thing you want to see. Before anyone says if I'd stocked up beforehand I wouldn't be in this situation, have you seen how much paracetamol a 5 year olds dose is? Luckily for us I got the second to last bottle.

@Roussette that makes you an unselfish and fair cynic then doesn’t it. Not all will think like you when they are facing a lockdown. Look at the fights in shops over wide screen tv’s on past Black Fridays, now think about some people’s possible behaviour if they can’t buy food.

Overstocking your cupboards and fridge so much that you have to store extra in boxes in your garage at Christmas is sheer greed, buying supplies to make sure that you and yours are fed in uncertain times is sensible.

Rousette - this isn’t panic buying, people who are preparing now, are not the ones who’ll be panic buying! As more people become ill it’s going to be more important that people don’t make extra shopping trips. Why is it selfish? Buying now makes sense, and it helps the shops - I’m sure they’d rather not have everyone doing one massive last minute shop!

I really doubt that Coronavirus would cause enough of an issue to cause a complete supply chain breakdown. The government would have to really overreact (given that it doesn’t seem to be a deadly as first feared) in order for that to happen.

I agree with stocking up on loo rolls , I get the fear of running out when I get down to my last 12 pack but its nothing to do with anything going on in Britain

I'm the same with loo rolls.

I like to have lots in with my cooking skills just in case - also handy for snotty noses and we get a lot of non-corona-related colds in this house at this time of year.

@JellyfishandShells

Literally no loo rolls in the supermarket?!!

Why no loo rolls? Diarrhoea isn't a symptom of the coronavirus.

@Reginabambina let’s hope it doesn’t but it pays to be prepared for the worst. I think the government are worried to be honest.

I maybe wrong, but my assumption hasnt done a big shop which would mean things like rolls and tinned food that could last for over two weeks or so but rather has gone overboard with the idea that the shops will be shut and not available for some time.
If this is the case than off course your are over reacting, as well as the over spending in one month and logisitcs of where everything is going to be kept, it does create panic and the results are that people will panic buy, emptying shelves and pushing prices up

Growing up, we often had squares of the Daily Mirror as substitute toilet paper, although, it was probably better than the Izal brand toilet roll we usually had, which was like sandpaper.

I don't think the government are worried. I think that they are preparing for the worst because that is sensible. But I don't think they thin it will happen.

Regarding loo rolls, I read that a lot of the fibre that is used in loo roll, tampons, nappies and wet wipes are produced in China, the factories have been closed so somewhere down the line there may be a shortage.
Also diarrhoea and vomiting has been experienced by a small percentage of corononavirus patients.

Sitinonthefloor
I've said there's nothing wrong with buying an extra few tins of beans (a few... not the whole shelf!) or an extra packet of pasta or two. Buying the odd bit here and there extra now is fine... clearing the shelves with trolley fulls is not.
AFAIC

I live a long way from a big supermarket so I tend to keep pretty stocked up but my buying habits have not changed, and I don't intend to change them.
(When I say 'pretty stocked up' that means two packets of pasta, not one about to run out, and 4 tins of tomatoes not one).
If it all goes tits up, I'll eat rice instead of pasta and beans instead of tinned tomatoes!

@SchadenfreudePersonified I think they are worried about the economy and the ability of the NHS coping. I don’t think they are worried about our health.

Also diarrhoea and vomiting has been experienced by a small percentage of corononavirus patients

Bearing in mind there have only been 36 cases in England, if a small percentage have D&V, that is probably 3 cases and I doubt that will affect the toilet roll shortage!

YABU for not having a stock of loo roll as a norm. Who wants to run out of loo roll?

Most normal people have at least a couple of weeks worth of food at home, not sure what's new.

Supermarkets are normally quiet and fully stock around here (South East), apart from hand gel.

@Roussette it’s known from the facts that have come out of China not from cases here.