COVID-19 How to keep well stocked without panic buying

Love it.

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Perhaps a question for Scotty from Marketing? :wink:

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I have never looked back from buying a pressure cooker over a decade ago. The meals I have made in it and now our Tefal Cook4Me are fantastic.

Like you I preserve a lot, including stock and bolognese sauce because I have a pressure canner. Jam, quince paste, plum jam and paste, beetroot, rosehip syrup are just some of the things I make.

Trying to get sugar to make some jam is nigh on impossible right now which is problematic with the fruit in season right now. Flour is even harder but I have a semi-decent supply on hand. But when I bake all our biscuits, cakes, pizza, pasta and some of our bread, let alone crĂȘpes and pancakes.

I have resorted to freezing fruit purée and juice ready to cook into jam and jellies when I can get the sugar I need.

What’s the bet most of the hoarders will end up with weevil infested stock piles?

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Are you me? Same same re sleeping, getting to the supermarket and getting approved by woolies. I also had trouble getting a baskteload (and then find a $15 delivery fee as well. yikes) and also a time slot which wasnt 3 weeks in the future. However when I tried again today, I was able to get a lot of what I need and a delivery between 5am and 8am tomorrow. They take paypal too. Now we shall see exactly whether I get what I ordered because maybe they will sell out today.

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Yeah, I saw that. Wonder what happens if a senior turns up on Tuesday or Thursday :smiley:

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They actually sent me a survey asking what I thought of the service. Boy, did I tell them!
I don’t think I’ll bother giving online ordering another try. My neighbour just gave me a roll of “who gives a crap” TP. :rofl: I am not only grateful, but glad, as I always wanted to try them, but Choice didn’t think much of them. So, here is my chance!
I will go to the supermarket for milk etc tomorrow. If they don’t have any of that, then I’ll start panicking :grinning:

Supermarkets will be allowed to trade 24/7 from now on, which may or may not improve things.

Not unless they get some stock in!

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Choice mightn’t like Who Gives a Crap but we do. Use their standard “crap” roll, kitchen paper and tissues.

Our family of three uses about one box of 48 toilet rolls a year because we have bidets as well.

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If you let your pancake batter sit for at least 15 minutes it will end up nice and smooth for the fussy eaters. They will still rise (if they have baking powder in them).

@gordon Those blanket restrictions don’t work for large families either. I really believe that the Australia Card would have helped or even using our Medicare cards to prove members of family you are shopping for. At this rate, we need ration books.

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By the time they could be deployed the panic buying will be winding down. Was near our grocers yesterday around 2PM so decided to do our shop. My observation.

Woolies: produce normal; deli counter about 75%; variety of meats on the counters but limited stock for each; fish well stocked; TP available; canned goods about 90%; hand soaps zero stock; frozen foods some normal and some depleted.

Coles: produce normal; deli counter about 50%; meats and fish very sparse; no TP; canned good about 80%; hand soaps zero stock; frozen foods some normal and some depleted. While contrary to what many report, our Coles has a wider range of and generally better produce than Woolies, and that was evident.

Aldi: produce normal; meats sparse; no TP; canned goods about 30%; liquid hand soaps zero, 3 bar soaps; frozen foods some normal and some depleted.

Butcher across from the Coles entry: well stocked
Chicken Shop across from the Coles entry: 90% stocked
Multiple F&V Shops: normal


 starting to catch up. Of the grocers Woolies seems to have the best supply chain based on my observations of how they are recovering. The speciality shops are doing better, probably because of more bespoke supply and delivery arrangements as their norm.

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And then there are these type of grubs.

Man deliberately coughs on supermarket worker in ‘disgusting act’

By Freya Noble14:51

Police are searching for a man accused of deliberately coughing on a supermarket employee in the NSW Hunter region.

About 7.30pm on Tuesday a man and woman approached a worker who was helping customers adhere to social distancing rules.

The pair approached the register where the employee was standing, before a verbal altercation occurred between the man and the female employee and he deliberately coughed on her.

NSW Police have now released images of a man they wish to speak to who may be able to assist with their investigation.

The man is described as being of Caucasian appearance, between 170-180cm tall, with a shaved head, and goatee-style facial hair. At the time, he was shirtless, wearing cream shorts and black thongs.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services, David Elliott, urges anyone with information to come forward.

"This kind of dangerous behaviour needs to stop immediately. It’s potentially putting the lives of workers and their families at risk.

"This isn’t a time to practice poor hygiene habits.

“For a disgusting act like this, you could find yourself charged with common assault and jailed for up to two years,” Mr Elliott said.

Little wonder that businesses have had to employ security guards.

I went to our local shopping centre this morning to help a neighbour who has been unable to get a number of items.

I arrived at Coles at 6:30 AM and there were 5 individuals and couples ahead of me prior to some grubs walking up on either side.

There would have been around 100 persons waiting at 6:50 AM when a Coles staff member appeared to address the assembled multitude and state that there were no toilet rolls as none had arrived on the load last night.

Most of the crowd bolted to Woollies and I was then second in line but more persons arrived.

When the door was raised just after 7:00 AM, one grub tried to push past me and when he did not stop when I spoke to him, I simply cut him off with my trolley.

Once inside, the mob started to run to the back of the store looking for the non-existent toilet rolls.

There was also no paper towels, no pasta and no flour except for one outer of expensive Lighthouse Pizza flour.

When I went to the self service checkout, the attendant said that they were not allowing shopping trolleys through, only hand baskets, but allowed me to process my items.

I then went to Woollies who also had no toilet rolls, paper towels, pasta or flour, but had plenty of mince as Coles also had.

Woollies had no restrictions on shopping trolleys in the self service checkouts.

I returned to Coles to buy 2 packs of the Lighthouse flour and went to a manned checkout where there was a female who left her brain at home stuffing around with scanning her Flybuys card and her credit card and fumbling for ages in packing her items in her reused plastic bags.

I said to the attendant that I thought that the woman must have been going to stay for lunch to which she replied that is what is happening now they have to pack their own bags.

I then went to our local Supa IGA and to Coles at Edmonton who had no restrictions regarding shopping trolleys in the self service checkouts.

So after visiting 4 supermarkets, I managed to get our neighbour’s needs except for toilet rolls and paper towels.

This article shows a Coles warehouse stacked with toilet rolls.

https://9now.nine.com.au/today/coronavirus-panic-buying-inside-coles-distribution-centre/a1b3eba3-d19f-469a-a0f7-cfbfb744514d

You have to wonder why the load did not contain any.

All the TP is kept safe and secure in their Melbourne Distro Centre and not in FNQ where it could be subjected to extreme humidity :rofl:

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Our little dog looks forward to his afternoon threat of a chicken neck but our local Supa IGA has not had any for a while.

A staff member in the meat department said that they keep ordering them but they don’t receive any stocks or explanation.

I asked her if the chickens are now being sold with the necks still attached, and she replied that they were wondering the same thing.

They have ample stocks of the various chicken pieces, chicken frames and even turkey necks, (ideal for Great Danes).

Quite strange.

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Not really.
According to my insider in Cairns they (Chicken necks) are in the same shipment as the toilet paper, tissues, soap and deodorant?

Grumblings from the North!
We keep forgetting 60% of Australia lives in NSW and Victoria. FNQ is such a long way to send a truck. Why send it return to Cairns when it could do 4 or more return trips in the Deep South? There will be a point where the Deep South is overflowing with groceries on all the shelves. The sooner the better for all! To date it appears TP is not even making it to ‘The Brisbane Line’.

Just as well Parliament has been called off for 5 months. It also appears there is little the third partner in the Federal Coalition - The Qld LNP can bring to save their beloved northern strong hold.

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I suppose the threat of a whole chicken would be a bit much, less the exciting frisson more like run and hide, chickens were dinosaurs once you know.

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More strangeness from the Deep South. Apologies to all those Choice members living in Victoria and NSW. This is a shot across the bows of those running Woolies etc, and our leaders. Who has been at the end of the supply line for the longest! Anyone far from the SE of Australia. In the interim, we can all do our best knowing our systems are not yet capable of keeping up with demand across the whole of the nation. Just one word from our leaders acknowledging there are still significant issues and identifying where the failures are most urgent might help refocus where supplies are going?

The ‘Woolworths Basics Box’ is set to roll-out across NSW and Victoria this week, following the launch of the service in the ACT over the weekend. Other states would also receive the service in coming weeks.

Each grocery box would contain meals, snacks and essential items for those in genuine need at a cost of $80, inclusive of delivery


So many are still depending on the kindness of neighbours to get by up north, and elsewhere.

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Don’t feel too hard done by @mark_m, from the Colesworth web sites for online I conclude their marketing people do not talk to anyone but the executives and press. That way nothing is impossible. The execs get to look good. The press has good news for panic shoppers and those who have not had sanitiser or TP in 2 weeks and counting.

Today there was a notice to expect many out of stock items in online orders, and especially pantry and cleaning items.

As seniors we were about to try online to stay in as much as we could, but decided we will brave the shops later in the week rather than have ticked boxes not stock. Unfortunately a few of our staples are Woolies only, or Coles only so why play roulette online? A quick in and out it will be at each, then we will be shopping at the butchers and F&V shops with invisible marketing departments but high trust.

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While our corner of SE Qld is still missing TP etc, I’m actually empathising with members of the family spread across the north. Nearer to Mackay, Townsville and Cairns for guidance. All very informative when you have someone close to 70 looking after a 90 year old in a small regional community, and others nearer the start of their working careers.

We are getting on fine otherwise with the local butcher, F&V, etc.
Thanks for the thoughts.

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