London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Dec 02, 2025

This is where all the food has gone in the coronavirus panic buying

You’ve seen the photos of empty shelves in supermarkets as panic-buyers strip pasta and loo roll to pile up in their trolleys.
Now, photos could show where some of the food has actually gone.

People have been sharing their stockpiles at home, with rows and rows of cleaning products and pre-prepped meals.

Cupboards are crammed to the brim with everything people could need to get them through two weeks of isolation – and a few months more besides.

An Australian chef posted on Reddit: ‘Fully prepared for the coronas (90 plus meals).

‘I mainly just prepared so I don’t have to cook after work.

‘I am a chef, so erratic hours, not too keen on cooking after big days. Also if I do get quarantined I am set for the duration.’

He said he had removed a stack of the food for the photo to demonstrate there were two layers.

Some were impressed by the preparations, saying: ‘I have freezer envy. That is a beautiful sight.’

But another said: ‘I find this amount of meals way unnecessary, especially for coronavirus.

‘Besides, I am from northern Italy, and this kind of hoarding is exactly the reason why I went to the supermarket yesterday only to find the vegetable section completely empty.

‘I know you probably have bigger supermarkets in the US, but still…can you guarantee that nothing will go to waste?’

Meanwhile, others boasted about the hoards of food and cleaning supplies on Facebook.

One woman said she had pureed enough tomatoes to last for a year, according to MailOnline.

‘The tomatoes were just skinned in hot water, pureed in a food processor, and then cooked down for a while to remove the air from pureeing them,’ she wrote.

‘Then, they were put in jars and processed using the Fowlers Vacola method to vacuum seal them. I’ll use them for sauce and casserole bases during the year now.’

Another said she had been stockpiling long before coronavirus appeared, saying she had been buying discounted items in bulk for around five years after a period when she ‘couldn’t afford to feed the family’.

She added: ‘I wouldn’t stockpile perishables unless you are positive you will use them.’

Tesco’s chairman has insisted that people do not need to panic buy as the supermarket will be able to keep stocks up.

John Allan, was reacting after images on social media showed empty shelves across the UK supermarket sector.

He said that the panic buying has not threatened their supply chain and they were confident they could overcome the short-term shortages.

He said: ‘There’s plenty of product in the supply chain, there’s plenty of food at Tesco and other supermarkets, and I don’t think anybody needs to panic buy. We, and I’m sure our competitors, are re-filling our supply chains as rapidly as ever we can.’

Allan said it was unlikely Tesco, which has a 27.2 per cent UK grocery market share, would experience anything more than ‘very short term, temporary’ shortages of certain products.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Head of UK Budget Watchdog Resigns After Premature Leak of Reeves’ Budget Report
Car-sharing giant Zipcar to exit UK market by end of 2025
Reports of Widespread Drone Deployment Raise Privacy and Security Questions in the UK
UK Signals Security Concerns Over China While Pursuing Stronger Trade Links
Google warns of AI “irrationality” just as Gemini 3 launch rattles markets
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
Macron Says Washington Pressuring EU to Delay Enforcement of Digital-Regulation Probes Against Meta, TikTok and X
UK’s DragonFire Laser Downs High-Speed Drones as £316m Deal Speeds Naval Deployment
UK Chancellor Rejects Claims She Misled Public on Fiscal Outlook Ahead of Budget
Starmer Defends Autumn Budget as Finance Chief Faces Accusations of Misleading Public Finances
EU Firms Struggle with 3,000-Hour Paperwork Load — While Automakers Fear De Facto 2030 Petrol Car Ban
White House launches ‘Hall of Shame’ site to publicly condemn media outlets for alleged bias
UK Budget’s New EV Mileage Tax Undercuts Case for Plug-In Hybrids
UK Government Launches National Inquiry into ‘Grooming Gangs’ After US Warning and Rising Public Outcry
Taylor Swift Extends U.K. Chart Reign as ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Hits Six Weeks at No. 1
250 Still Missing in the Massive Fire, 94 Killed. One Day After the Disaster: Survivor Rescued on the 16th Floor
Trump: National Guard Soldier Who Was Shot in Washington Has Died; Second Soldier Fighting for His Life
UK Chancellor Reeves Defends Tax Rises as Essential to Reduce Child Poverty and Stabilise Public Finances
No Evidence Found for Claim That UK Schools Are Shifting to Teaching American English
European Powers Urge Israel to Halt West Bank Settler Violence Amid Surge in Attacks
"I Would Have Given Her a Kidney": She Lent Bezos’s Ex-Wife $1,000 — and Received Millions in Return
European States Approve First-ever Military-Grade Surveillance Network via ESA
UK to Slash Key Pension Tax Perk, Targeting High Earners Under New Budget
UK Government Announces £150 Annual Cut to Household Energy Bills Through Levy Reforms
UK Court Hears Challenge to Ban on Palestine Action as Critics Decry Heavy-Handed Measures
Investors Rush Into UK Gilts and Sterling After Budget Eases Fiscal Concerns
UK to Raise Online Betting Taxes by £1.1 Billion Under New Budget — Firms Warn of Fallout
Lamine Yamal? The ‘Heir to Messi’ Lost to Barcelona — and the Kingdom Is in a Frenzy
Warner Music Group Drops Suit Against Suno, Launches Licensed AI-Music Deal
HP to Cut up to 6,000 Jobs Globally as It Ramps Up AI Integration
MediaWorld Sold iPad Air for €15 — Then Asked Customers to Return Them or Pay More
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Promises ‘Full-Time’ Education for All Children as School Attendance Slips
UK Extends Sugar Tax to Sweetened Milkshakes and Lattes in 2028 Health Push
UK Government Backs £49 Billion Plan for Heathrow Third Runway and Expansion
UK Gambling Firms Report £1bn Surge in Annual Profits as Pressure Mounts for Higher Betting Taxes
UK Shares Advance Ahead of Budget as Financials and Consumer Staples Lead Gains
Domino’s UK CEO Andrew Rennie Steps Down Amid Strategic Reset
UK Economy Stalls as Reeves Faces First Budget Test
UK Economy’s Weak Start Adds Pressure on Prime Minister Starmer
UK Government Acknowledges Billionaire Exodus Amid Tax Rise Concerns
UK Budget 2025: Markets Brace as Chancellor Faces Fiscal Tightrope
UK Unveils Strategic Plan to Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains
UK Taskforce Calls for Radical Reset of Nuclear Regulation to Cut Costs and Accelerate Build
UK Government Launches Consultation on Major Overhaul of Settlement Rules
Google Struggles to Meet AI Demand as Infrastructure, Energy and Supply-Chain Gaps Deepen
Car Parts Leader Warns Europe Faces Heavy Job Losses in ‘Darwinian’ Auto Shake-Out
Arsenal Move Six Points Clear After Eze’s Historic Hat-Trick in Derby Rout
Wealthy New Yorkers Weigh Second Homes as the ‘Mamdani Effect’ Ripples Through Luxury Markets
Families Accuse OpenAI of Enabling ‘AI-Driven Delusions’ After Multiple Suicides
UK Unveils Critical-Minerals Strategy to Break China Supply-Chain Grip
×