Supermarket shoppers are being warned over buying milk, bread and toilet roll this week after weather forecasters issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice.
The Met Office has issued three days of snow warnings across the UK, including a 15-hour warning in England which takes effect from Monday night.
But it’s well known that when the snow comes down, shoppers tend to panic buy, rushing to stock up on essential items.
In particular, consumer retail experts say shoppers often rush to buy bread, milk and toilet rolls when the snow arrives.
Consumer retail experts told CNN how these items are often panic bought in snow storms. CNN reported: “With every predicted blizzard, there’s a mad dash to load up on milk, bread, eggs and toilet paper.
“Sure, there are some variations, including booze, snack foods and even ice cream. Yet these items are the first to disappear from store shelves when the dreaded s-word is mentioned.”
In 2018, during the infamous Beast from the East snowstorms, we reported how shoppers had been clearing shelves of essentials like bread and milk.
The big freeze saw shoppers emptying supermarket shelves, while some even resorted to taking items straight from delivery vans in a mad panic.
One social media user reported chaotic scenes on Twitter (now X) at the time, writing: “Local Co-op out of milk and bread. Apparently there was a delivery this morning and people were literally taking it from the driver before he’d got it into the shop.”
Another user wrote: “It’s snowing here and I’ve just been out to watch the panic buying brigade 20 milk and 14 loaves battling it out in those trolleys like chariots and battering rams.
“I also noticed the price of the basics suddenly shot up 5p in some cases. Sheer profiteering as the snow has hardly settled.”
Currently, there are no confirmations of any shortages of bread or milk in supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s, but panic buyers could end up creating some. Therefore it’s worth grabbing a bottle if you’re nipping out, but don’t stockpile 20 loaves and 16 pints, or you’ll actually create the problem.
