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As someone who does bake bread every week, this has been super annoying. It is true that more people are taking up baking, but a lot of this is panic buying. My

As someone who does bake bread every week, this has been super annoying. It is true that more people are taking up baking, but a lot of this is panic buying. My 30-40 year old friends have all admitted that they immediately purchased 2 bags of flour that remain unopened. Bakeries remain open and supermarket bread aisles are full. Most people with young kids have not suddenly started baking bread everyday.

Theodores 6y ago
I am like you - under normal circumstances flour is a staple, although I cheat by using a bread making machine. I don't have a car and flour plus a machine means I can have fresh bread, not stale bought stuff. Normally I buy 3kg at most in a week with a stockpile of less than that. So the current situation is annoying. However, think of the OCD crew that are normally the only ones buying hand sanitizer. Us flour buyers can improvise with store bread but the OCD people must have had it hard when their essentials of hand sanitizer and toilet paper vanished from the aisles.
- LyndsySimon 6y ago
  I’m not “one of the OCD crew”, but I have been making hand sanitizer for distribution locally. I bought a bunch of aloe gel online in late January, and picked up several gallons of Everclear (190 proof grain alcohol) locally.
ghaff 6y ago
Yeah. At my local grocery stores, there's never been any material shortage of bread. There hasn't even really been a lack of choice from mass market stuff to what at least passes for artisanal by supermarket standards. I have been baking (more than usual) at home but there's no shortage of breadstuffs in the supermarket if you'd rather buy. (TBH, bread has been more consistently in-stock than a lot of product categories.)
Mirioron 6y ago
The preparations are unnecessary until they suddenly aren't. If you wait until bakeries close and supermarket bread aisles are empty, then it's too late. This is like having backups and disaster recovery in IT. You spend resources on it, but get nothing in return. That one time things do go wrong though it can literally save your business and you'll be happy to have had backups and recovery in place. I think that people's fears of a lack of food in first world countries are overblown, but people are still afraid.
- TallGuyShort 6y ago
  While I agree with you about the necessity, I don't think people are really doing much to actually solve a potential problem either. If we really get to the point that bakeries and supermarkets are out of bread and other reasonably convenient staples, you having bought flour in a moment of panic is of little comfort. There's more to the equation, and generally I feel that if people weren't comfortably ready for this 2 years ago, they won't be remotely ready in 2 days. So let's say things have collapsed to the point that all the bakeries or supply chains leading to you are now out of commission. It's time to bake bread and you have flour. Do you have yeast and other ingredients already? They're already in shortages too. Is your water service and electricity / gas still working? Do you have experience baking bread, or access to a recipe book, or is your Internet service provider still operating? Okay - let's say the bread supply has collapsed completely and all of these things are still working out for you - great - you can bake some bread! But honestly, even that's pretty lucky. You might be eating cold gruel with water from the creek, if you even know that's a thing. But wait! There's more! All the supply chains near you have just collapsed. Everyone's going hungry once they've gone through their 2 (or 0) bags of flour. Is your house about to be looted? Can you secure it? Are the phones and police dispatch still working? Do you have anything else to eat with your week's supply of bread? Are you even emotionally prepared for what life is like now if things are getting this bad and you just now decided to have some extra flour on hand? Wait - is that a fever and non-productive cough you're starting to feel? What are you wiping your ass with!? If all you have in mind is last-minute hoarding of a few staples, you're contributing to a wider short-term problem and your staples won't keep you sane and healthy very long. If you're bored in quarantine, now's a good time to start planning to be more prepared and self-sufficient for the next event.
exolymph 6y ago
Do you not grasp that having flour around provides optionality that your friends didn't previously have?
- ipsum2 6y ago
  Yes, but there's a tragedy of the commons effect here.
devmunchies 6y ago
yeah i feel you. we bake thousand of cookies a week and its been a head ache working with suppliers. same for eggs. basically anything a bakery need.

Theodores 6y ago

I am like you - under normal circumstances flour is a staple, although I cheat by using a bread making machine. I don't have a car and flour plus a machine means I can have fresh bread, not stale bought stuff. Normally I buy 3kg at most in a week with a stockpile of less than that. So the current situation is annoying. However, think of the OCD crew that are normally the only ones buying hand sanitizer. Us flour buyers can improvise with store bread but the OCD people must have had it hard when their essentials of hand sanitizer and toilet paper vanished from the aisles.

LyndsySimon 6y ago
I’m not “one of the OCD crew”, but I have been making hand sanitizer for distribution locally. I bought a bunch of aloe gel online in late January, and picked up several gallons of Everclear (190 proof grain alcohol) locally.

ghaff 6y ago

Yeah. At my local grocery stores, there's never been any material shortage of bread. There hasn't even really been a lack of choice from mass market stuff to what at least passes for artisanal by supermarket standards. I have been baking (more than usual) at home but there's no shortage of breadstuffs in the supermarket if you'd rather buy. (TBH, bread has been more consistently in-stock than a lot of product categories.)

Mirioron 6y ago

The preparations are unnecessary until they suddenly aren't. If you wait until bakeries close and supermarket bread aisles are empty, then it's too late. This is like having backups and disaster recovery in IT. You spend resources on it, but get nothing in return. That one time things do go wrong though it can literally save your business and you'll be happy to have had backups and recovery in place. I think that people's fears of a lack of food in first world countries are overblown, but people are still afraid.

TallGuyShort 6y ago
While I agree with you about the necessity, I don't think people are really doing much to actually solve a potential problem either. If we really get to the point that bakeries and supermarkets are out of bread and other reasonably convenient staples, you having bought flour in a moment of panic is of little comfort. There's more to the equation, and generally I feel that if people weren't comfortably ready for this 2 years ago, they won't be remotely ready in 2 days. So let's say things have collapsed to the point that all the bakeries or supply chains leading to you are now out of commission. It's time to bake bread and you have flour. Do you have yeast and other ingredients already? They're already in shortages too. Is your water service and electricity / gas still working? Do you have experience baking bread, or access to a recipe book, or is your Internet service provider still operating? Okay - let's say the bread supply has collapsed completely and all of these things are still working out for you - great - you can bake some bread! But honestly, even that's pretty lucky. You might be eating cold gruel with water from the creek, if you even know that's a thing. But wait! There's more! All the supply chains near you have just collapsed. Everyone's going hungry once they've gone through their 2 (or 0) bags of flour. Is your house about to be looted? Can you secure it? Are the phones and police dispatch still working? Do you have anything else to eat with your week's supply of bread? Are you even emotionally prepared for what life is like now if things are getting this bad and you just now decided to have some extra flour on hand? Wait - is that a fever and non-productive cough you're starting to feel? What are you wiping your ass with!? If all you have in mind is last-minute hoarding of a few staples, you're contributing to a wider short-term problem and your staples won't keep you sane and healthy very long. If you're bored in quarantine, now's a good time to start planning to be more prepared and self-sufficient for the next event.

exolymph 6y ago

Do you not grasp that having flour around provides optionality that your friends didn't previously have?

ipsum2 6y ago
Yes, but there's a tragedy of the commons effect here.

devmunchies 6y ago

yeah i feel you. we bake thousand of cookies a week and its been a head ache working with suppliers. same for eggs. basically anything a bakery need.