Panic buying

[JohnfromUK]

I have to say it is pretty irritating (to put it mildly) to see the photos in the papers of food bought in the panic buying last week being dumped in the bins now the date has expired.

[Mice!]

41 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

I have to say it is pretty irritating (to put it mildly) to see the photos in the papers of food bought in the panic buying last week being dumped in the bins now the date has expired.

Might have been Mel saying it was like the week after xmas on the bins with all the food that was thrown out, Muppets everywhere.

[mel b3]

28 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Might have been Mel saying it was like the week after xmas on the bins with all the food that was thrown out, Muppets everywhere.

yep , the lads at work are working like dogs to clear the extra waste thats being generated.

[Mice!]

3 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

yep , the lads at work are working like dogs to clear the extra waste thats being generated.

Stupidity at its greatest,  you think the foods going to run out so go and buy perishable food, not tins? 

[JohnfromUK]

One of the things that irritated me was that of the food available a couple of weeks ago, much of the usual 'loose' produce was out of stock, but there was packaged produce of the same type.  The downside of this was (a real example) that I had to but a pack of 3 red peppers when I only really wanted one - and would normally have bought a loose one.  I ended up buying the pack of three.  The knock on from this is that things do tend to 'go off' before used.  I am not bothered by the use by dates, but the last pepper had to be carefully 'trimmed' as time had taken it's toll!

Similarly with baked beans - they had shrink wrapped packs of 6 - but no individual cans.  Milk was there in 4 pint bottles, but no 1 pint bottles (I only use about a pint a week).

[mel b3]

2 minutes ago, Mice! said:

Stupidity at its greatest,  you think the foods going to run out so go and buy perishable food, not tins? 

i can only assume that people just bought whatever was on the supermarket shelves , as thats all they could get  . admittedly im a greedy fat pig that will eat anything(id eat things that would make bear grylls puke)  , but i certainly wouldnt have bought things only to end up throwing them away . its the food in your belly thatll keep you alive , not the food that youve put in your bin.

[oldypigeonpopper]

3 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

One of the things that irritated me was that of the food available a couple of weeks ago, much of the usual 'loose' produce was out of stock, but there was packaged produce of the same type.  The downside of this was (a real example) that I had to but a pack of 3 red peppers when I only really wanted one - and would normally have bought a loose one.  I ended up buying the pack of three.  The knock on from this is that things do tend to 'go off' before used.  I am not bothered by the use by dates, but the last pepper had to be carefully 'trimmed' as time had taken it's toll!

Similarly with baked beans - they had shrink wrapped packs of 6 - but no individual cans.  Milk was there in 4 pint bottles, but no 1 pint bottles (I only use about a pint a week).

hello, i found this with pre packed mushrooms, go limpy after a few days,  still went in the slow cooker 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Stupid is still not illegal!

[Mice!]

38 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

Similarly with baked beans - they had shrink wrapped packs of 6 - but no individual cans

Wife went shopping this morning and said there weren't any multi pack beans or soup at tesco, obviously making more selling individual cans.

But we haven't bought anything different at all, might have got lucky but as yet there hasn't been anything we have gone without,  hardest thing being keeping us all fed when were normally all out at work or school.

43 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

but i certainly wouldnt have bought things only to end up throwing them away

Common sense isn't common unfortunately 

[AVB]

We normally shop daily so the biggest difference is having to think ahead and buy for a week. 

[loriusgarrulus]

If you have space in your freezer, most fruit and veg can be prepared and frozen including peppers and mushrooms. It just means they need to be used in cooking mainly and not salads. 

Don't  try freezing lettuce, it doesn't work. Potatoes can be cut in small,pieces and blanched for freezing or made into chips and first fried, then chilled and frozen. Freeze bread and drag out a slice at a time.

Divide milk into containers and freeze too.

[Jim Neal]

It's worth bearing in mind that the photos doing the rounds on social media might not be 100% reliable, in terms of when they were taken.  This sort of wastage is often and typically seen at times such as Easter and Christmas.  They might be photos from 2003, who knows?  Take everything on social media with a pinch of salt (if you can buy any).

With my parents in strict isolation I've done two supermarket trips within the last week, shopping for both households.  Asda early in the week and Tesco today.

Asda have some black tape on the floor trying to enforce a strict one-way system around the shop which was, to be generous, limited in its effect.  I broke the rules a number of times because I realised I'd missed something on the list or thought it might be further along but then realised I had to go back for it.  Not a realistic system in my opinion.  They had no sanitisation stations for trolleys available.  The wait to get in was only 5 minutes.

Tesco had no one-way system, some spray and blue towel for wiping your trolley handle down.  At around 12pm today I only waited a few minutes in line, the store was reasonably "busy" but you didn't feel overcrowded.

Both were operating a one out/one in policy.  Both had reasonable stocks of essentials, although there is no dried pasta, rice or cous-cous in either.  Fresh fruit & veg is plentiful, as is breakfast cereal and wine.  Tesco had much more bread, tea/coffee, sugar, tinned products, fresh meat and frozen goods.

The atmosphere is really weird though.  Very stressful.  You get paranoid and a bit flustered, but I found Asda worse earlier in the week, maybe because today Tesco was the second time I'd done it with the new protocols in place.

What a screwed up situation.

Got some decent single malt though, every cloud..🥃

Edited March 29, 2020 by Jim Neal

[Farmboy91]

My missus went out earlier to pick up next week's shopping, I stayed at home.

She went out with mask and gloves and hand sanitiser which I won't argue are sensible precautions. On her way back she went into poundland to try and get the bits that weren't in Tesco when two young lads walked past her the general jist of what one said to the other was ' I'm not worried about this coronavirus, she (turning to the missus) is way over the top'. 

Her reply wasn't swear filter friendly but as you can imagine said lad got a flea in he's ear. To top it off she said next thing the shop manager came to the end of the isle and shouted to this lad to move away from her or he would be calling the police. 

The sheer ignorance and stupidity of some leaves me baffled. 

I've spent the last 10 months not being able to go out and do the things I've wanted to do because of 1) not being physically able to and 2) not having the cash to do it.

I'm almost glad of it now as I've plenty of practice at this self isolation 😂