6 ms·
Hoarders will buy the rest of it. During the 2-month lockdown a year ago, I would purchase 4 frozen pizzas at a time when I had a chance to buy them, because I
by woko 6y ago
Hoarders will buy the rest of it.
During the 2-month lockdown a year ago, I would purchase 4 frozen pizzas at a time when I had a chance to buy them, because I was so upset that I could not buy one when I wanted a single one during the 2 previous weeks, because of hoarders who had been faster than me.
People think of toilet papers, but it is not just that. Pasta, rice, flour, yeast, plenty of useful things went missing due to hoarders during lockdown. Thankfully, I don't eat meat, because there was no meat at the supermarkets. Fish was also hard to find in the frozen shelves of the supermarkets. I am not a big fish eater either, so it was fine for me as well, but you get the idea: if you don't hoard a tiny bit, you get increasingly frustrated because hoarders will hoard, and you will have to wait for weeks before you get the chance to have what you want.
- jakeva 6y agobut that's the point, by responding in that way you have become one of those hoarders.
- overboard2 6y agoYou could say it's a real tragedy
- smegger001 6y agoa common one at that
- cassepipe 6y agoThe common tragedy of the commons. Sorry anytime I see something inplicit, I feel like I need to say it out loud.
- akdor1154 6y agoThis is a really perfect illustration of both parts of the parent comment.
- bane 6y agoThe meat situation was kind of interesting actually. At the beginning of the lockdown I remember going shopping for lots of shelf-stable foods. Very perishable stuff like meat or fresh veggies were out or hard to find (and yes freezing meat works fine I know). However, lots of stores had tons of shelf stable boxed and canned goods and for meat jerky and other dried meats which are simple to boil and turn into simple soups in case of emergencies -- and yet nobody was really buying them at that time. I think I "prepped" for the worst by buying a 10 lb bag of flour, 40 lb of rice, 5 lbs of oatmeal, a sack of potatoes and a few bags of beef jerky and trail mix. Even if the worst didn't come to pass I figured we'd eventually eat it all anyways and it wouldn't really be hoarded, but in pinch we could ration it and it would last a few months and give us nutritious meals. It's basically what ships crews used to survive on during the age of sail as they spent months at sea. Not a ton of variety but it will keep you alive.
- plank_time 6y agoI bought a bunch of rice, and all that happened was little rice bugs started living in it, so I had to throw it all away. But if there were a rice shortage, I would probably have eaten it.
- icansearch 6y agoIf you freeze it for 24 hours it will kill them off. Can be a good idea to do that when it comes into the house anyway as they might be in there already. Easy enough to separate them out of the rice after freezing too.
- _carbyau_ 6y agoI noticed a weird thing here. All the regular pasta rapidly disappeared. Rice also was gone. But "Gluten Free"(I am a GFer) pasta - in this case, pasta made from rice - was fine! I amused myself with the idea that people:"would rather starve to death than eat that GF crap." :-)
- waheoo 6y agoPasta didn't sell out because people were afraid of starving. Pasta sold out because people didn't know how to cook anything else themselves.
- eurasiantiger 6y agoThey can cook, but they can’t be arsed to.
- jacobsenscott 6y agoI know how to cook, but when you suddenly have to cook 2x as often because you can't eat out anymore your are going to cook a lot more of everything, including pasta. Suddenly the supply chain was out of whack - it was built for people that eat out a lot.
- JustARandomGuy 6y agoOut of curiosity: did people really experience empty grocery shelves or are phrases such as "rapidly disappeared" meant more as hyperbole? I live in a Chicago suburb, and while variety did decrease (I still can't get Coke Zero Cherry) the basics were always in stock throughout the pandemic time.
- _carbyau_ 6y agoI am in Melbourne Australia. Yeah, the normal pasta and rice disappeared for about a week, the shelve were literally empty. But as mentioned, my GF pasta was fine. And I don't think anyone really starved as most of the shelves were full of something. Just reduced options thanks to hoarding.
- 6y ago
- frosted-flakes 6y agoIs fish not considered meat?
- martyvis 6y agoNot in some cultures. My youngest daughter isn't a big meat eater, and certainly hates seafood. She was on an organised tour to Spain with her youth orchestra so ticked the "vegetarian" box for meals. Inevitably her meal came with fish as the protein. Apparently in Spain, fish aren't considered as sentient like chicken or hoofed animals and hence are akin to vegetables.
- robbomacrae 6y agoI hear this derogatory term "hoarder" being thrown around a lot. When the pandemic first hit I bought a ton of food. I still ate and bought the same amount over time.. Nothing went to waste. I just wanted to make FEWER but BIGGER trips to the supermarket so I had reduced chance of getting infected. In the same sentence you complain about "hoarders" being faster than you whilst justifying (reasonably well imho) why you yourself bought more. People did what they thought they needed to and will always do so. The world was always still a bit of a jungle out there (any nation is three meals away from anarchy). I'm sure those with immune compromised or elderly family members were more excessive on "hoarding". We need to get out of this blame mentality and realize our system needs improving so it can respond to these challenges.