What are you panic buying?

[brogdale]

I'm not being a food snob,

You are a bit.

 

[Mogden]

You are a bit.

If I am it's because it's one of my special interests. I'd like to be offering help from a distance for that but that would then make me patronising even though it's far from what I want to do. Could I offer lessons via Skype or Zoom to help those less familiar with these things?

 

[Badgers]

If I am it's because it's one of my special interests. I'd like to be offering help from a distance for that but that would then make me patronising even though it's far from what I want to do. Could I offer lessons via Skype or Zoom to help those less familiar with these things?

Is your kitchen clean enough?

 

[Mogden]

Is your kitchen clean enough?

Is it bollocks! I'm a scutty sod. Cos I'm quality control those at work think my house is anally clean. They couldn't be more wrong

 

[Badgers]

Is it bollocks! I'm a scutty sod. Cos I'm quality control those at work think my house is anally clean. They couldn't be more wrong

Get that camera on
Don't shower
Wear as little as possible
Have a few drinks
Start cooking and broadcasting

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I've thought about that myself. It's great that people want to cook but those who have previously relied on ding meals and takeaway are now at serious risk of food poisoning with alien and potentially fatal ingredients like red kidney beans or chicken and just flummoxed by flour and whole potatoes, foods that need preparation. I'm not being a food snob, I'm genuinely curious about how they're getting on.

I know, yeah, and this is really not a great time to be getting serious food poisoning. I remember a thread on Twitter by someone in the US who worked in a kitchen which started off "ok so a bunch of you are going to be cooking for the first time ever now, here is what you need to know so you don't kill yourselves" and went on to talk about reheating, storage, cross contamination and so on - very useful.

 

[Epona]

I am sceptical about how flour is utterly sold out. I mean, sure, it is actually a good emergency product - compact, keeps for ages, many different uses - I have a few kilos myself - but I'm sceptical that people buying it actually know wtf they are going to do with it. (Probably nothing of course, like most of this stuff, just leave it in the cupboard and buy something else.) Also it goes a long way and there really isn't a need to buy huge sacks of it for the average household I'd have said.

I'm surprised how much booze there is in all the shops. A woman in front of me in Sainsburys did have two bags of sparkling rosé mind.

At the start of this I had 6kg of strong white flour (I try to keep that much on hand generally, that is not me stopckpiling due to the current crisis), basically at this point I am not running out yet, but if I see any strong flour I will probably buy another bag or two of it - because I do bake my own bread regularly and know how much I am likely to need if this goes on for a few weeks - and let me stress, both of us are now at home all day.

Nate's usual work is in kitchens and bars where he will often eat a really good meal for free at work and some days does not need to eat at home at all because he has eaten all his meals at various places of work. He now needs 3 meals a day at home and baking bread is cheap and filling, so we are getting through more of it than usual.

EDIT: And yes I do wonder whether people who do not normally bake are overestimating what they might need. Really glad that for me baking an ordinary white loaf is something I can do on autopilot without having to worry about whether it will be edible

 

[Proper Tidy]

Any really mate, mushy, marrowfat, garden, frozen.

Most of the above usually used in other dishes but since I was a young lad I preferred e.g. peas on toast to beans on toast, so with Mr Roots RR sauce the last few years in an isolation situation I’m an evangelist of this combination.

Peas on toast

 

[QueenOfGoths]

It's the work of a middle class mind, is all I can think. No one in their right minds would think it a good combination.

Tbf when I was a kid every pie and pea supper (and I'm talking pork pie and mushy peas!) had mint sauce on the table.

Though I'm not sure whether that was for the pie or peas.

I really want a pie and pea supper now!

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Also some photos of left over food in Sainsbury:

* In best Peter Kate voice * : 'Black?!? Rice?!?'
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Don't need none of your hippy shit round here thanks:

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A solitary potato at the back of a freezer cabinet:

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Swede and carrot mash? Fuck off!

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Not stupid enough to buy posh porridge. We just want oats:

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That is exactly like the Sainsburys I work in!! All those things are still on the shelf except the Oat So Simple. That's all gone.

The rice amuses me. Absolutely no rice in the shelf except t that type.

 

[Epona]

That is exactly like the Sainsburys I work in!! All those things are still on the shelf except the Oat So Simple. That's all gone.

The rice amuses me. Absolutely no rice in the shelf except t that type.

I'd happily eat the black rice, but is it expensive? We're on a really tight budget at the moment and I bet I'd walk past that too on the basis of value.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

I'd happily eat the black rice, but is it expensive? We're on a really tight budget at the moment and I bet I'd walk past that too on the basis of value.

£2.65 per packet so yes

 

[Epona]

£2.65 per packet so yes

That's why it's still on the shelves then - I'm after the cheap shit

 

[danny la rouge]

* In best Peter Kate voice * : 'Black?!? Rice?!?'

It’s the future.

 

[Sue]

no wonder there's no eggs anywhere[big topic on my local forums]. I never knew people ate so many

Me too/ It's quite astounding,

 

[Numbers]

Peas on toast

Yes. Vinegar and Tarragon preferred, Mint acceptable.

 

[Boudicca]

I am sceptical about how flour is utterly sold out. I mean, sure, it is actually a good emergency product - compact, keeps for ages, many different uses - I have a few kilos myself - but I'm sceptical that people buying it actually know wtf they are going to do with it. (Probably nothing of course, like most of this stuff, just leave it in the cupboard and buy something else.) Also it goes a long way and there really isn't a need to buy huge sacks of it for the average household I'd have said.

I did think that now would be a good time to perfect baking sour dough bread and had the foresight to buy a couple of bags of strong white flour in preparation, but alas I have no sour dough starter.

I managed to get a loaf at my local bakers so no need to start just yet.

 

[Miss-Shelf]

no red lentils in all of thornton heath. Now I know the world is really upended

 

[Epona]

no red lentils in all of thornton heath. Now I know the world is really upended

See I just know that people are buying up stuff they wouldn't normally get or keep in stock. The bare shelves around here are not accounted for by distribution problems, nor can they be fully accounted for by people being at home more and not being fed at school/work.

In order for every bloody supermarket in my area to be completely empty of tinned and dried goods before lunchtime means either a) the population has increased tenfold this week and there are that many more mouths to feed and bums to wipe, or b) people are greedy fuckers and just bulk buying stuff

 

[wayward bob]

mr b has a desperate urge to go buy a sack of rice. even though we have rice. even though i'm still doing the cooking. even though he would need to buy other ingredients to go with the rice, in which case he could prolly pick up some rice at the same time

i think it's some kind of lizard-brain reaction to uncertainty

 

[QueenOfGoths]

See I just know that people are buying up stuff they wouldn't normally get or keep in stock. The bare shelves around here are not accounted for by distribution problems, nor can they be fully accounted for by people being at home more and not being fed at school/work.

In order for every bloody supermarket in my area to be completely empty of tinned and dried goods before lunchtime means either a) the population has increased tenfold this week and there are that many more mouths to feed and bums to wipe, or b) people are greedy fuckers and just bulk buying stuff

Absolutely! They're are certain things that rarely go out of stock at work because they are so popular that stock is constantly been driven in ie eggs, pasta.

And others that rarely go out of stock because they don't sell a lot ie luncheon meat, tinned curry, certain dried pulses

At the moment they are all out of stick!

 

[bimble]

A small request. Can people please try to not refer to other people even the panic buyers who have taken all our flour as locusts ? It’s really grim.

 

[Epona]

A small request. Can people please try to not refer to other people even the panic buyers who have taken all our flour as locusts ? It’s really grim.

I don't think there is anything more to it than it being a reference to a piece from a well respected nature series back in the day that showed a swarm of locusts going across a field of crops and leaving it bare (very few of us have seen that happen in person, but it has entered public consciousness due to nature documentary). That is why it sticks in the memory. No-one is actually calling people insects or likening this to starvation in areas with locust problems. It is a metaphor that people instantly recognise, nothing more.

 

[bimble]

I know why people are saying it but it just seems wrong. Each to their own obvs.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

mr b has a desperate urge to go buy a sack of rice. even though we have rice. even though i'm still doing the cooking. even though he would need to buy other ingredients to go with the rice, in which case he could prolly pick up some rice at the same time

i think it's some kind of lizard-brain reaction to uncertainty

So many of our "rational" decisions are actually based on what other people are doing - and, really, is it that irrational to have an instinct that if lots of other people are grabbing stuff, maybe it's valuable and/or likely to vanish and we should make sure we have some? Like inductive reasoning, we don't always have the time to think everything through. Even if it would be the best idea if we did.

 

[wayward bob]

i've given him my opinion on the matter and the chance to think things through. if he still wants to buy a sack of rice tomoz we can have the conversation again

(he doesn't cook, i do. i get in all the shopping, according to what will get used. WE HAVE RICE )

 

[Epona]

So many of our "rational" decisions are actually based on what other people are doing - and, really, is it that irrational to have an instinct that if lots of other people are grabbing stuff, maybe it's valuable and/or likely to vanish and we should make sure we have some? Like inductive reasoning, we don't always have the time to think everything through. Even if it would be the best idea if we did.

It has a snowball effect too. I haven't been able to buy rice or tinned tomatoes for a week. If I see some tomorrow, am I just going to get 1 bag of rice or 1 tin of tomatoes and then try again next time I need those items and maybe not be able to get them?

It's going to take some effort to just buy what I need tbh, because what if I can't find any next week?

One thing I am taking away from this is that when things get back to normal, it wouldn't be unreasonable to keep a higher stock of tinned and dried goods in the kitchen, and keeping a base level of supplies to hand. Not for things like this, and not on the level of some sort of zombie apocalypse prepper, but more like - what if I broke my leg and couldn't get out it might be useful to have more food in than half a bag of frozen sweetcorn and some squid. I love both sweetcorn and squid, but ykwim.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Wife snagged some of the last crisps in the local Tesco express.

Ready salted though so really death can't come soon enough.

 

[Epona]

Wife snagged some of the last crisps in the local Tesco express.

Ready salted though so really death can't come soon enough.

My local Iceland had Salt n Shake left, now they are my preference but crisps seem like an extravagance so we didn't get any

 

[Numbers]

See I just know that people are buying up stuff they wouldn't normally get or keep in stock. The bare shelves around here are not accounted for by distribution problems, nor can they be fully accounted for by people being at home more and not being fed at school/work.

In order for every bloody supermarket in my area to be completely empty of tinned and dried goods before lunchtime means either a) the population has increased tenfold this week and there are that many more mouths to feed and bums to wipe, or b) people are greedy fuckers and just bulk buying stuff

b) for sure.

Even the local stores near us both are emptying.