Today I went grocery shopping for the first time since the panic started

[Stephen]

I thought that a week to ten days would be long enough for things to calm fown and for restocking.
I was largely mistaken. BTW:- It was an Aldi.
The widely reported lavatory paper and dried pasta were certainly missing, as was plain & SRF (which surprised me as there were enough eggs in stock), very little breakfast cereal, only extra-virgin olive oil (no standard stuff).
But fresh goods were in stock (not that I need much veg) and I got some tomatoes and oranges.

The store was doing some rationing, the people in front of me at the tills had two dozen litres of longlife milk (curious choice) but were limited to four.

I was consciously cheery with the young woman behind the till because I imagine it must have been pretty tough over the past week.

[oldherbaceous]

We have got to know a few of the check out girls quite well now, and they said the level of some peoples rudeness has been unbelievable.
Went to a small farm shop this morning to pick up some horse food, and what a mistake...normally about 6 to 10 cars, today nearly 100 cars, and parked in the most ridiculous places. It looked like a never ending stream of ants, with a sack of potatoes on their backs. Had a word with the owners Son and he said people are just grabbing anything....He was really concerned that there would be nothing left for the regular's.

[robo]

Can’t help thinking we have a large population of insane people ,I was at Aldi yesterday total madness ,I think it’s time to put a padlock on the chicken coup door

[sally wright]

I think I will live off the larder for another week; the combinations may start to get a little curious but I won't starve. I have some pea shoots and lettuce in the greenhouse and there is chickweed and nettles sprouting in the garden so I won't get scurvy.

I am going to plant a few more veg seeds so I can give the resulting plants away. Anything that can reduce the need to go to the shops can only be a good thing at the moment I think.
Regards Sally Wright

[Monika]

We have had a weekly Tesco delivery since giving up the car a year ago and it has worked very well until last week when the nearest delivery slot we could get was almost a fortnight later, i.e. next week. So we managed ok but went to the store today (by bus and walking) to get a few things. The shelves were certainly not empty but most of the stuff we wanted was missing, so had to make do with others. Hopefully, this panic buying curve will flatten out soon and things will become more normal. After all, there must be a limit to people's storage capacity! Luckily, our village store, pubs and cafe are offering to order extra for resale or deliver take away meals.

[Westi]

I'm so glad I gave up one drawer in the freezer for using up the crops - the soup drawer is full & I even ate the ice cream (hardship indeed), to make room in the bottom drawer for the late frozen fresh runners & corn! I will be OK, but haven't quite mastered the supermarket for the eggs, flour & non-edibles & there are so many greedy, selfish folk out there that have enough loo roll to last a bloody life time, let alone simple pain killers! Decided to pop in tomorrow to the cheap shop as need cat food! Yep! That was also an almost bare shelf on my last visit to the orange supermarket & what left was not their favourite & I'm caving to the stare of surprise/disgust!

[Stephen]

You lot are so nice.

[robo]

Any one need pain killers p.m.me your address

[tigerburnie]

We went into our local Teso yesterday, calm but busy with a lot of gaps on the shelves, but we managed get what we needed.

[Stephen]

I should add that everyone was perfectly calm, no squabbles, no grabbing, no pushing or shoving.

[Colin2016]

I hear the sales of freezers are on the up as people run out of storage space. Crazy times.

[retropants]

People who don't normally buy speciality diet foods are buying them in desperation. I couldn't get any gluten free bread or pasta yesterday. I'm not completely out, but it would be nice to have one of each in the cupboard. This was from a tesco local. I'm not going near a big shop at the moment!

[Shallot Man]

Left home at 0715 for the plot. Then decided to drop into my local supermarket for my bread, they only bake three cheese boule a day.] arrived at 0730. Like a mad house inside. Everyone rushing around like lemmings. The world has gone mad.

[alan refail]

Copied from social media.

Dear People of the UK

You will of course be aware that Italy has taken extreme measures in the hope of slowing the spread of the Corona Virus. These are measures the UK may be forced to implement, later down the line.

As a Brit living in Italy, here are some things you need to know:

Our supermarkets HAVE STAYED OPEN. They are on slightly reduced hours and you have to queue to get in (yes, it’s a ball-ache) but they are OPEN. EVERY DAY. Deliveries continue to arrive so for f***s sake, shop like NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS!

Enforced social isolation does not mean you cannot leave your house. It means you can still leave your house for ESSENTIAL activity, like shopping. So put down the f*****g pasta and toilet rolls and breathe. Now you don’t have to share a bed with your four kids because you’ve had to turn their rooms into store cupboards for the all the pointless and selfish hoarding you are doing.

Pharmacies are still open so you DO NOT NEED 236 bottles of Calpol, 429 packets of paracetamol and 987 Tubigrips. Colds, flu, headaches, muscle pain, period pain, teething babies. They are still out there, Corona Virus or not. So, again, step away from the goods, buy what you NEED, put back what you don’t. We still have access to all basic medical needs. Again, we have to queue and observe the recommended 1M distance from others but within our community, this has been well-organised and adhered to. Suck it up. For info, the Italians do not queue or respect personal space in the way that we Brits do. If they can do it, then you f*****g can too! It’s practically a national pastime!

Bakeries and butchers - still open. See points above.

Pet shops - still open. Calm it, Fido. Your nightly Dentastix is safe.

DIY shops - still open for ESSENTIAL maintenance items. I only know this because I tried to buy a cactus when I went for a new shower head, only to find non-essential aisles closed to the public. Fair enough, right?

Do me a favour. Share this around. The measures are extreme but they are not SO extreme that you need to be utter fu**ers to each other.

Shop responsibly. Then go home, pour yourself a gin and celebrate the fact that your food shop is not going to take you 6 hours to put away.

And let’s be honest, on the off chance that you do contract the virus, the last f*****g thing you are going to want is a big bowl of pasta, 2ltrs of Fanta and a bumper pack of f*****g Morrison’s sausage rolls.

[oldherbaceous]

I heard from a good friend of mine this morning and she had spoken to Her Son, that's lives in London. He went shopping early this morning and things were in short supply, carrying on getting a few bits he met a women with her trolley loaded with multiple items of the same thing. So he told her she should have a bit more thought and respect for others, to which, she rammed him with the trolley and told him to f---- off....some charming people about.
This is the same fellow that was on a packed train a few years ago and there was a massive bloke sitting on one seat, with his feet up on the one opposite, while a heavily pregnant woman was standing. So he went up to him and told him to get his feet off, so the woman could sit down...he said the whole carriage fell silent but, the bloke to his feet off and appologised...fair play to him.