MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Well time for reflection after breakfast as the last of giant Marmite tub has gone. Bought straight after the lockdown announcement with a gallon of pickled gherkins. The gherkins went within a week actually. Nobody else in the house touched them so I'll stock up with more of them in my post apocalypse planning.
As for the future perhaps we should get a bread maker to go with the flour and yeast the wife hoarded or a shooting stick/deck chair to use in the queue at the local artisan bakers on a Saturday morning.
My best buy was a front rack/basket to go on the commuting single speed road bike to carry artisan loaf/croissant/Eccles cakes back on Saturday mornings. A bit Miss Marples and the steering is "interesting" on what is essentially a track bike but an essential purchase of a dedicated shopping bike to fit the rack will sort that out.
Didn't miss out on anything really and easy access to chocolate hasn't been all that beneficial to me or Mrs Wingnuts.
I panic bought a bottle of calpol for the kids. Still got it. I wish I’d panic bought some yeast, still can’t get it!
You can buy yeast on eBay.. I paid about £12 for 500g
Not so much of a panic buy (rather sensible, bulk purchasing(tm), but my 25 kg sack of pale ale malt is almost half gone.
Lesson learned? A sack of malt is a good thing to have around if you are bored, like brewing and need bribes. I need to buy a sack of Pilsner malt next time.
TBH, the main thing in terms of grocery shopping is that we no longer go to supermarkets.
And now we can get deliveries booked reliably for the next day I’m hopeful that odious task will never return. The odd weird substitute of missing item is a small price to pay for not losing 60-90 minutes at the weekend.
Tacx flux s, hasnt been used for months.
lessons learned
Buying enough chocolate granola bars and trail mix to last a nuclear winter makes for astoundingly fast weight gain. I gained 10 pounds in three months, need to lose 15 pounds to get back to where I want to be.
Nothing.
We had squeaky bums when as a family of 5 we were down to three rolls of loo paper, but Waitrose came up trump's.
We chose to also buy a big sack of flour, mainly as the limit imposed of 80 items to home shop for us was a challenge.
Tacx flux s, hasnt been used for months.
Saris H3, likewise. Although I hope I'll be using it in the winter.
That shopping at Tesco is way more expensive than Lidl/Aldi!
Will they ever do home delivery?
Money saved on that and not buying take away coffee everyday makes a huge difference to the monthly spend.
I have been out working throughout the lockdown so my daily routine has not changed much other than the enforced measures.
Similar to above, odd visit to cafe and pub missed but savings noticed. More visits to Lidl than before and savings have been significant, still needs odd visit else where to get the specials, good cheese being one. Farm shop great but double the cost of Lidl! We never stocked up and rarely went scarce on anything, toilet roll was close but a visit to Mole Valley Farmers (when everybody else was out) had shelves full of the commercial packs of 48, providing cheapest rolls ever. Flour was another but farm shop had it and then bought a full sack, that we shared with friends. But living in rural Devon I’m sure was very different from the towns and cities.
Whenever I saw packs of Fruit Gums (a lifelong love of mine) at the reduced price of £1 I'd buy a few packs and throw them in a drawer.
On a stressy day at the computer I could eat a whole pack. Of late a pack seems to last me about 2 weeks. So thats a bout 6 month supply hoarded.
I never really panic bought as I do 95% of my shopping on the bike so I go 2 days out of 3. I do seem to have a dozen 'emergency' tins of Stagg Dynamite Chilli. Which is strange as I usually make fresh when I want it.
The joys of shopping after beer eh?
Yeast was our only real struggle.
We just went with sourdough for a couple weeks.
Wasn't a panic buy but the kickr was nearly on fire it was used so much.
As a club We were doing Monday night recovery Tuesday intervals , Wednesday crit races Saturday hills and Sunday centuries.
Really helped my sanity getting to a. Ride my bike and b. The what's app group along side for perspective on the world from outside the household.
Our kids do loads of baking, we bake our own bread and we do regular homemade pizza so I bought extra flour every time I could find any so we have a good stock of that (about 2 or 3 1kg bags of plain, self raising, strong white and OO) so nothing silly.
That was merely round one, we still have the oven ready Brexit at year end. I'm stock pilling a range of food stuff in the garage as we speak, I suspect the problem will be fresh fruit and veg though (pickers and delays getting fresh stuff across our 'controlled' borders).
As for the yeast shoppers, go to sourdough!
Things I bought in lockdown; Yamaha music cast speaker for the spare room, computer monitor, office chair, Jabra 510, wood fired pizza oven, 1500 piece jigsaw. Things I'm no longer using; well the jigsaw was finally finished on Saturday.
Nothing. Didn't panic buy anything, didn't run out of anything significant. There were a few things that weren't in the shops when we went, but nothing we couldn't live without
We didn’t really panic buy anything, but did get a few bulk packs of things from a couple of trips to the local wholesaler when they started selling to the public. We’ve still got about 3kg of chicken in the freezer and some sausages.
We also now appear to buy flour in 16kg bags, we’ve just started on the second bag and haven’t bought bread for months.
Haven’t been to a supermarket since the middle of March, it’s one of my least favourite things to do anyway, we’ll be carrying on getting deliveries & will visit the local shops more.
Also staying at home isn’t so bad after all 🙂
Yeast is here https://www.thomasridley.co.uk/dcl-instant-dried-yeast-60154u.html as long as they have a depot close by you're good.
We now have a good stock of flour for bread/cake making and I don't intend to let it drop until the Brexit nonsense settles down (probably sometime in 2023).
I've just got hold of 9 bags of caramac buttons. I thought they'd stopped making them but someone found a supply in home bargains and bought me a load. Don't know what I'll do next week once they've run out.
Nowt, because I didn't panic buy anything, and didn't run out either?
The only thing that came close was tins of soup "sorry sir, you can only have a max of three of the same item", as we have soup for lunch most days that's about 15-20 tins in a 'big shop' to last a couple of weeks. I pointed out they were different flavors and conflict avoided.
OH generally does the shopping despite being a useless planner. She buys a weeks worth of salad with each shop, despite the fact that it only seems to last 3 days in our fridge. I think it week 1 she panic bought peppers, which meant at the end of week 1 I had three meal choices and a freezer full of meals.
"............and roasted peppers"
"............with roasted peppers"
"roasted pepper ................"
Got through a 25kg bag of spuds just about, although the family didn't appreciate hearty stews, soups and roast potatoes throughout the hottest month of the year so far. 🙂
Still got a fair bit of flour left, and a lot of rice, but no urgency to get through those. The Brexit can stash is mostly untouched too, but we can save that for January!
That shopping at Tesco is way more expensive than Lidl/Aldi!
Will they ever do home delivery?
No they won't as it would massively compromise their business model and make them the same price as Tesco. One of the reasons Tesco etc is so much more expensive is because everyone who shops in store is massively subsidising the cost of the home shopping operation.
Didn't really have much impact. We chose not use delivieries, partly for practical, partly ethical reasons, and the shops did run a lttle low. Made for some random meal choices for a couple of weeks at the start. After the initial panic phase the shops were pretty well stocked and we have a few within walking distance for varierty. The freezer is still very full, which is rare for us.
Didn't panic buy anything as we were busy at work. Only thing I did get was small bottles of hand sanitiser - we had some in the office (freebies to students) so I took a handful home for us to take if we went out (food shop) as there was nothing in the shops. Still got a few of them about, but looks like they have migrated to our cars/bags etc - fortunately we've got more now.
PS my skin on my hands has got used to the extra washing and sanitising - my word they stung when we first started all the hand washing.
We've just started using the spare cat litter and cat food as that was another item that was low stock, and it's not good when you have FIVE hungry creatures to feed.
We had squeaky bums when as a family of 5 we were down to three rolls of loo paper,
Same here, then we found 3 rolls of bog roll and two bottles of hand sanitiser in the caravan, happy day that was!!
I threw two KMC X11 chains in my basket at PX last week with other bits, thinking £15 was a good price...
I've since discovered I have three other X11 BNIB in the spares pile, oops! 😆
Only things were a turbo trainer, a turbo trainer tyre and a speed/cadence sensor. All have probed invaluable in keeping my fitness up and my mind sane!
Didn't stockpile any food as my regular job meant I knew which shops weren't experiencing panic-buying and what they had in stock. The main Tesco's for example had massive queues, empty shelves and just best avoided. The smaller Express stores in certain places in the city, Salisbury Road for example, were dead, well stocked and no queues whatsoever. The trick was to go shopping in the student areas as they'd all gone home but the shops were still being stocked as if they were there. Polish shops were also a good source of food as they didn't have any madness going on in them at all!
Other lessons learned? Buy anything to do with your hobby! Was nuts the way anything bike, fitness, RC/train/Scalextric, home baking and gardening sold out seemingly overnight!
Panic buying? I got a Sonder carbon, which I've razzed round the moors most days. So that was pretty good, though I did feel the start of some panic when it took a few weeks to get together, with unnecessary 'a dog ate the mech hanger' type excuses. And a big screen so I'm not peering down into my laptop. Essential for larger meetings. I'll be honest, the pantry looks to have more in it than it would have a year ago. Early days as others have said.
Actually other than the end of a bottle of cassis we're out of alcohol. There's a few old half and quarter bottles of old malt and brandy I've had for years that sadly haven't made it...
None of my panic buys have turned up yet...
We were a bit shit at panic buying, so basically we have a small collection of tinned soups that nobody wants to eat.
I have amassed a decent number of bottles of chipotle Tasbasco, but I tend to stockpile them anyway in case Lidl stop selling them.
Nothing absolutely nothing but I didn’t stockpile. Even buying for ourselves, the MIL and my parents I’ve never not been able to get anything, I have had to wait but never failed. Yeast was tricky at the weekend but as usual the co-op had some.
If anything is still struggling look for Kerley on eBay they seem to have loads.
Paracetemol.
Always have a few packs in the cupboard but when four people are ill all at the same time , a sixteen pack lasts four hours and one minute.
Found myself getting nostalgic about the bottles of 500 you used to get.
I didn't panic-buy (because I'm not a selfish moron) but I did wind up with a 3kg bag of dried pasta as it was the only size available when it first returned to the shelves, I'm still working my way through that. When I picked it up the assistant looked at me like I'd lost my mind and went "you can buy up to two, you know!" What the actual am I going to do with six kilos of dried pasta?
I have a bag of white rice that might never get eaten as they didnt have my usual brown rice. Luckily brown spagetti was the only sort that didnt run out. Still dont seem to be able to get yellow split pea lentils, maybe they just stopped stocking them.
We had squeaky bums when as a family of 5 we were down to three rolls of loo paper, but Waitrose came up trump’s
That was lucky!
Notes to self;
Don’t run the freezer to empty so you can defrost it if there’s an impending pandemic.
Buy loads of Worcester Sauce.
Can we turn this into a stockpile swap-shop thread?
Didn’t “panic buy” but we tend to buy things like rice and flours (bread, pizza and roti) in bigger bags anyway. Breadmaker has had plenty of use.
Did an order with a local catering supplier in April, was some good stuff including 1kg of fresh yeast. Chopped it up and into bags in the freezer. We still have about 950g of it left!
I didn’t panic-buy (because I’m not a selfish moron)
...whereas the ibuprofen in the cupboard does suggest that I must have some tendencies in that direction.
Nothing relating to panic buying as we didn't, but lesson learned on our outgoings....
We have separate finances, have no kids and have (had) a fairly active social life to put it mildly! I'm saving about £600 a month on not eating out/going for drinks.... girlfriend is saving a similar amount 😳
I panicked and spent £400 on some adjustable dumbells as I was really worried about my gym closing.
They are still in the box.
More worried about smarties not having plastic caps on the end of the tube these days.
Condensed milk seems to be in short supply now.
Has everyone moved on from baking banana bread to cereal/muesli bars?
Didn't panic buy anything, despite thinking to myself since January I really should have got some essentials in knowing it was likely to hit us at some point. Bought what I can only describe as a huge amount of beer - mostly drunk, several bottles of whisky - mostly drunk by MrsSpud. Best buys have been gym kit (weights, plyo box) and SkiErg, all 4 of us have been using it and coupled with running the kids have been really active. Also taken up open water swimming, so wetsuit and bits for that. Can't see me going back to the gym once it opens again.
In the weeks before lockdown I bought one extra of all the tinned goods and dried pasta that I was buying anyway, so I always had a 1 week float of food.
I panic bought a new deck for my lawnmower as it had rusted through - does that count?
with a gallon of pickled gherkins. The gherkins went within a week actually.
A week? Amateur 😉
I’m saving about £600 a month on not eating out/going for drinks…. girlfriend is saving a similar amount
That's just having a life. My credit card bill has taken a dive in the lockdown months even with all the food shopping online beer shopping and bored purchases (who really needs a sub in the kitchen, me apparently).
I bought 25kg of a really specific flour (Campillou) back in October last year as I really like the bread the bakery makes with it, seemed mad to have so much flour at the time, it's come in very useful though.
Cider/Wine - bloody loads of it. I bought some which would've kept me in wine/cider for 6 months and then got bombarded with too good to refuse offers, I've now got a garage full of the stuff.
Got a bag of pasta, but that'll get eaten in due course, might be some rice left too.
Bar that, I've got a few cans left of the 24 slab I bought, but only as I've been drinking fresh draft beer from the local brewery instead.
Didn't panic buy but did bulk buy flour as it was the only way to get it. Baking sourdough nearly every day though with great flour mostly from small traditional millers.
I'm also saving a scary amount on eating out, but eating better than ever at home.
I was fortunate in that a week or two before the panic buying started I did my monthly Tesco run and ‘stocked’ up on a 16 packet of loo roll, 2 carex hand wash and a packet of the pasta I prefer. The loo roll and carex were on special offer at the time...
I subsequently panic bought a jar of uncle bens sweet & sour sauce (there wasn’t anything else) and a couple kilo of coffee beans (more due to max for postage... only got about 1/2 kg left).
Don’t think I’ve run out of anything essential.
I have had to make a couple of essential purchases due to lockdown; a 4g mains powered router, a jabra monoset, a docking station and wireless mouse/keyboard for my laptop, and a couple caps with mesh as lockdown hair means my normal cap is to hot in the sun.
Not so essential purchases; feedback sports bike workstand (old wheels were boostinatored so to change I needed one to sort the gears, honest!), a Patagonia jacket or two, a sleeping bag liner (hooded), a looper pedal, a guitar stand, several chunky wtb tyres, some northern Spanish guidebooks and language books, an iPad Pro & pencil, about a dozen cds and last but not least 21 bottles of wine... (hic)...
Worryingly I have a Sonder Camino Al sitting in my basket (all that’s stopping me pressing buy is waiting to hear availability of the ti one... 🤫 )
An Olympic bar and 100 kgs of weights bought straight after the gym at work closed, still being used and been a good buy. Still a couple of packs of long life gnocchis and a few tins of macaroni floating around in preppers cupboard. Never really had any problem buying stuff, the Waitrose near my office was usually stocked and empty. No flour or yeast but then there was never any shortage of bread or cakes so no need to bake anything
Panic bought some Gravel Huggers that I haven't put on yet.
An iMac. No regrets.
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Food wise we’ve grazed down the Brexit store cupboard and I’m going to have to restock. Although the carefully stockpiled European imports are going to be a bit trickier for the foreseeable. Hopefully there will be a window in the autumn when we can fit in a beer run to Belgium before the government commences part two of ruining the country. </span>
A road bike. It's ace.
As far as perishables go, I literally did one Panic Buy- was in the supermarket, being normal, then I saw a lady tear the last box of bags of rice apart like she was the Hulk, and basically run off with 4 bags. I got caught up in the moment and grabbed a bag. Still got it.
I have bought the following:
Pizza Oven
SUV it’s due in September
Raybans
and a few other things mainly from working extra hours but in part due to savings made.
Oh and also due to savings made and as there’s rarely a queue we’ve started shopping at M&S. 😳
came up trump’s
Came up Trump's what? No wonder he has that funny look on his face.
We didn’t panic stockpile anything although there was a bit of panic ordering on Ocado Zoom (refreshing the ‘buy’ button bang on 7am or whenever the daily slots opened up) when the Sainsbury’s delivery slots couldn’t be found for love nor money.
If there’d still been rollers or something like that in stock by the time I got round to thinking about it I’d probably have got some, but by the time they were available again riding outside was all good. I’ve definitely upped my spend on beer and coffee (buying it from independent breweries/Pact rather than the supermarket) but the savings made in not socialising and not travelling easily covers that. Not to mention the absence of nursery fees, but they’ll start up again next month I reckon.
Bought a breadmaker a couple of months ago, it has been used regularly. My brother works at the wholesalers, so got me a 16kg sack of flour. Think have used up most of that now.
I bought a skipping rope and a slackline, more options for exercise in the garden. Though need more practice with both.
I would like a rowing machine, as I'm missing doing that at the gym. But they are rather expensive, and not sure if I have any space for one.
40kg of '00' flour
25kg bread flour.
I already bought a panasonic bread machine and an ooni pizza oven several years ago.
I now make amazing pizza as the kids are guaranteed to eat it.
Ive also put on about 2kg this summer from stuffing my face with fresh pizza, fresh bread and beer.
lessons learned
1) When we're all at home Toilet Paper consumption doubles. No amount of pleading will make my family do a single thing to reduce use.
2) If you're facing a crisis that might involve not being able to leave your bed, let alone house for weeks means stockpiling 2 weeks worth of food and basic medicine is sensible, not greedy or stupid.
3) Really greedy and stupid people will, at the first sniff of something a bit non-standard on the horizon will buy everything in sight, which creates the panic, which makes point 2 harder. You can sit about complaining, or pointing fingers as the screaming 'Karens' of the world get into a punch up over loo rolls and beans, or get there first. I used to think my Grandparents were a bit nutty with their 10 year old tins of beans and weird old people food (Tinned Steak, WTF is that?) at the back of the cupboard "just in case" but they were in their late teens during rationing and the memories of that shaped them. I'm noting going to go 'full prepper' but there's a value I think in having a bit extra stashed about. Maybe when my kids are grown up and I'm an old Man they'll think I'm a bit nutty for it, but this has lifted the veil on how fragile our society is.
Nothing. Only thing I couldn't get for a few weeks was potato salad. I didn't cry.
I certainly didn't learn that the majority of the general public are panic buying, reactive ****ing morons, cos I knew that already.
I’m noting going to go ‘full prepper’ but there’s a value I think in having a bit extra stashed about.
Probably a fair point
No wonder he has that funny look on his face
🙂
I’m noting going to go ‘full prepper’ but there’s a value I think in having a bit extra stashed about.
I've got two bags of Huel for when the real disaster sets in 🙂
We often shop at Costco so often have 3-4 weeks supply of some items, less so of others as the supplies are run down.
When there was nothing on the shelves at Tesco, Costco still had a fair amount of stock (fresh foods too).
We've always kept a couple of weeks worth of food and stuff around. During the silly period we just ran it down, that's what it was there for.