Toilet Rolls Again

[KGarrad]

Went to my local Tesco last night - only to find that the designated hour for elderly & vulnerable was yesterday morning!
Never mind, I got a few supplies and I can wait until Sunday (the next designated hour).
I already have sufficient toilet rolls

Lots of empty shelves, but local produce seemed plentiful.
I try to buy Manx milk and meat; local bread is OK, but prefer Tesco wholemeal.

Lockdown only started today (at 0:01 am).
Have to gey used to wearing a mask - something we haven't had to do before.

[John915]

Good afternoon,

During the first lockdown our 2 local sainsbury's were out of toilet paper for 2 weeks. So OH sourced them online, a pack of 72 rolls of andrex were duly delivered free by amazon. At 2/3rds the price of the same quantity at sainsbury's.

So she got another lot before later in the year so we are well stocked up. During the summer and autumn she would buy two of everything each week instead of one. Apart from perishables and built up a brexit store just in case we had shortages this month. Not bulk buying or panic buying by any means, just making sure.

John915

[Roobarb]

I buy the largest pack of toilet rolls as it works out much cheaper than the smaller packs.

Here's another one - when I was finalising my order I looked for chicken breast portions, all were out of stock. All produced in the UK. I eventually opted for some that were prepared with a marinade as they were on offer and actually worked out cheaper.

[*Sandra*]

Memories of the earliest shortages I can remember was 1973/1974 - the three day week.  Sugar and a national shortage of toilet rolls come to mind.

Sandra

[Caw1]

When I shopped today in Lidl’s they had plenty of toilet rolls... infact they were well stocked for everything no gaps in shelves at all... unlike my click & collect from Waitrose.... who had no frozen bread beans but did have edamame beans... who would have thought ... also no crinkle frozen chips.... when she girl informed of shortages she said herself she couldn’t understand why chips!
Only shop once a fortnight so couldn’t tell you week to week...

Caroline

[Maiden Stone]

I've noticed a few shortages, nothing vital - but I'm blaming Brexit!

Brexit can't answer back. At least it wasn't "No Deal".
 I'm only responsible for 2 bottles of French wine, bought for Christmas and New Year from 2 shops. Second bottle wasn't opened and is still in my "Brexit cupboard", the only Brexit items currently in it are 2 bottles of wine, as I used the 3 (or was it 4) previous Brexit emergency food stocks long ago. The cupboard was re-designated quarantine cupboard last year for items which had graduated from quarantine shelves.
I've been buying only European wine since 2016, my personal protest and because I thought the price would rise and it might be less available. I don't drink much. I haven't been in a shop this week and haven't checked new lockdown rules/guidelines re buying alcohol. I may save the wine for Easter or a special occasion. One wine is a half-sized bottle.


 

[gaffy]

I can only speak about the two local branches of Tesco that I frequent here in Northern Ireland, but neither has come close to restoring the range and quantity of goods available for sale pre covid-19. Yes, things are better now than they were last spring, when they let folk push trolley loads of toilet rolls through the tills for several weeks on end.  But every visit to Tesco right up to the here and now betrays an ongoing problem. 

Sometimes it's a shortage of tinned vegetables, other times it's jars of spices (for some reason dried sage has disappeared for ages). Supply of frozen vegetables and other frozen goods has been consistently ropey throughout this whole saga, with the freezers rarely more than 25% full and plenty of gaps where whole lines haven't been replenished. There's a brand/type of mayo in Tesco that I haven't seen since this time last year.  Likewise a brand/type of porridge oats. Likewise several other items for which I have to substitute something that I don't like as much and which is invariably dearer.

So as far as I'm concerned, any adverse consequence for my local Tescos from Brexit will simply compound an ongoing supply issue that arrived with the spread of covid-19.

[gaffy]

Memories of the earliest shortages I can remember was 1973/1974 - the three day week.  Sugar and a national shortage of toilet rolls come to mind.

Sandra

Yes indeed, the decade of strikes and shortages, the limit for sugar was a single 2lb bag per customer and folk were snapping up tins of molasses and honey and golden syrup. I remember my mother's home baked loaves during the bread shortages, they were like bricks.

My father had a habit of announcing a health scare on specific foodstuffs that 'coincidentally' had risen significantly in price, the health scare was always something vague that he had 'read somewhere' and invariably the item was immediately removed from the weekly supermarket shopping list until further notice.  So as sure as night follows day, my father announced a health scare on coffee, not long after it's price shot through the roof in the 1970s.  Then there was the big peanut butter health scare in the 1980s, after its price went into orbit. 

[majm]

News from Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland.   Greater Brisbane metropolitan area is about to go into 3 days of lockdown, masks , stay home ... etc. 

They were given about 8 or 9 hours notice.   

Several hours after the announcement was made,  TV news flashes breaking news re toilet rolls.

Supermarkets were forced to bring in emergency rationing of toilet paper as some customers were buying up entire shelves of it. 

My husband wants to know  why would anyone need 20 bundles of loo paper, each bundle has 36 rolls .... Three days of lockdown....

JM