8 ms·

Maybe it’s just my area but I’m not seeing any rational panic buying anywhere. My stores have PLENTY of non-perishable items, but you know what’s missing for m

Maybe it’s just my area but I’m not seeing any rational panic buying anywhere. My stores have PLENTY of non-perishable items, but you know what’s missing for me? Russet potatoes, bottled water (which will last you like a week without a means to make more), frozen pizzas, bananas, bread, milk, eggs. I don’t get it.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
That sounds like pretty rational panic buying to me. We can be confident at this point that the pandemic isn't going to sever the food supply; the threat model is that you might get a fever, and have to stay at home for a week or two without being able to re-up on pizza and milk and eggs.
- SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
  I think my point is, if that’s your panic buying, you’re going to have to do that every two weeks (minus the pizzas).
- gruez 7y ago
  >the threat model is that you might get a fever, and have to stay at home for a week or two without being able to re-up on pizza and milk and eggs. Also, not wanting to make unnecessary trips to the supermarket where you can potentially come in contact with infected people.
matwood 7y ago
Plenty of milk, eggs, water here. Oddly enough, bananas, bread and chicken are what disappeared. I went this morning though and chicken, fruit, bread, etc.. is fully stocked again. Just missing paper and cleaning products. My goto 'cheap' meal is bacon, eggs, sautéed tomatoes/mushrooms. It's more than $1.50/day, but has good nutrition and tastes good. Potatoes have also not been an issue here. So another feed the family, reasonable meal is pot roast.
- SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
  You know the annoying thing about potatoes here? It’s ONLY russets. Yellow, red, and whatever the black ones are called, all day long. It’s like people know something about Yukon/russets that I don’t. I think sweet potatoes (more nutritious) are even on sale.
  - rolph 7y ago
    you know the cool thing about potatoes? the parts [eyes, sprouts] that we dont eat can be used to grow more potatoes
    - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
      If your emergency plan is; “ima let these sprout and grow more potatoes”... but you aren’t hoarding oils, yeast, flour, beans and rice, cans of meat... well, that’s an interesting plan :)
      - rolph 7y ago
        my plan also includes the not-potatoes. thing is where i am we do these things as a matter of course, at any time we could have supply failure ,major earthquake major fires or a really bad winter.
  - blondin 7y ago
    hahaha, you noticed? they are more expensive. that's all. same thing is happening where i live, all other potatoes are disappearing but them russets are just staying there. but our store restocks potatoes in the morning. pasta, noodles, tomato cans, and rice are not being restocked though.
    - rolph 7y ago
      you should try stocking potted garden veggies perhaps even growing them on in the produce section if they stay on shelf that long.
rolph 7y ago
you have glanced off a big point. Water takes space and needs maintenence to keep in large quantity its better to be able to generate clean water than try to keep large quanta of water clean
- SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
  Definitely. Propane to boil takes up a lot less space than water itself. Sawyer filters cost less than a couple days of water. Etc If I was in a city I might understand collection of a water is the issue, where I am and seeing bottled water disappear we have no shortage of non-potable water.
leetcrew 7y ago
keep in mind X being missing from the shelves doesn't necessarily imply that X is being disproportionately purchased by customers. it can also imply that X is relatively harder to restock. the supply chain can maintain much deeper buffers of canned goods without risking spoilage. the water is probably panic buying, but the other missing items in your list could just be the result of an above average number of shoppers buying a typical distribution of items. also, you don't consider frozen pizza a non-perishable? the store I go to seems to have recovered from the initial shock. everything seems to be stocked except sanitizer, which is short everywhere. the only other thing empty is the fresh meat display, which I assume is one of the harder things to restock.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

That sounds like pretty rational panic buying to me. We can be confident at this point that the pandemic isn't going to sever the food supply; the threat model is that you might get a fever, and have to stay at home for a week or two without being able to re-up on pizza and milk and eggs.

SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
I think my point is, if that’s your panic buying, you’re going to have to do that every two weeks (minus the pizzas).
gruez 7y ago
>the threat model is that you might get a fever, and have to stay at home for a week or two without being able to re-up on pizza and milk and eggs. Also, not wanting to make unnecessary trips to the supermarket where you can potentially come in contact with infected people.

matwood 7y ago

Plenty of milk, eggs, water here. Oddly enough, bananas, bread and chicken are what disappeared. I went this morning though and chicken, fruit, bread, etc.. is fully stocked again. Just missing paper and cleaning products. My goto 'cheap' meal is bacon, eggs, sautéed tomatoes/mushrooms. It's more than $1.50/day, but has good nutrition and tastes good. Potatoes have also not been an issue here. So another feed the family, reasonable meal is pot roast.

SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
You know the annoying thing about potatoes here? It’s ONLY russets. Yellow, red, and whatever the black ones are called, all day long. It’s like people know something about Yukon/russets that I don’t. I think sweet potatoes (more nutritious) are even on sale.
- rolph 7y ago
  you know the cool thing about potatoes? the parts [eyes, sprouts] that we dont eat can be used to grow more potatoes
  - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
    If your emergency plan is; “ima let these sprout and grow more potatoes”... but you aren’t hoarding oils, yeast, flour, beans and rice, cans of meat... well, that’s an interesting plan :)
    - rolph 7y ago
      my plan also includes the not-potatoes. thing is where i am we do these things as a matter of course, at any time we could have supply failure ,major earthquake major fires or a really bad winter.
- blondin 7y ago
  hahaha, you noticed? they are more expensive. that's all. same thing is happening where i live, all other potatoes are disappearing but them russets are just staying there. but our store restocks potatoes in the morning. pasta, noodles, tomato cans, and rice are not being restocked though.
  - rolph 7y ago
    you should try stocking potted garden veggies perhaps even growing them on in the produce section if they stay on shelf that long.

rolph 7y ago

you have glanced off a big point. Water takes space and needs maintenence to keep in large quantity its better to be able to generate clean water than try to keep large quanta of water clean

SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
Definitely. Propane to boil takes up a lot less space than water itself. Sawyer filters cost less than a couple days of water. Etc If I was in a city I might understand collection of a water is the issue, where I am and seeing bottled water disappear we have no shortage of non-potable water.

leetcrew 7y ago

keep in mind X being missing from the shelves doesn't necessarily imply that X is being disproportionately purchased by customers. it can also imply that X is relatively harder to restock. the supply chain can maintain much deeper buffers of canned goods without risking spoilage. the water is probably panic buying, but the other missing items in your list could just be the result of an above average number of shoppers buying a typical distribution of items. also, you don't consider frozen pizza a non-perishable? the store I go to seems to have recovered from the initial shock. everything seems to be stocked except sanitizer, which is short everywhere. the only other thing empty is the fresh meat display, which I assume is one of the harder things to restock.