
The Groceries That No One Wants to Panic-Buy - Kaibeezy
https://slate.com/business/2020/03/coronavirus-groceries-supermarket.html
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ValentineC
There was a thread on Reddit earlier explaining why there's still so much
Dasani water on the shelves:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/fji87t/what_i...](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/fji87t/what_is_going_on_with_the_hatred_for_dasani_water/)

Spoiler: it's because Coca-Cola (which owns the Dasani brand) restocks the
shelves themselves.

~~~
stackexchange
A little anecdote here. I remember when I was suffering from malnutrition
issues (due to certain health problems) back in the day, I used to prefer
Dasani to any other water as nothing felt as satisfying. Other water felt like
tasteless distilled substance. At the time, someone told me Dasani's somewhat
harsh taste/texture is due to trace amount of minerals added to it. If true,
it does make some sense (at least to me) why some prefer it and others find it
repulsive (plenty of anecdotes).

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arijun
That last photo is from hurricane Harvey, it seems slate didn’t even bother
doing the basic fact checking of reading the top tweet responses (where I
found this: [https://avocadbro.com/fact-check/vegan-food-photo-
misleading...](https://avocadbro.com/fact-check/vegan-food-photo-misleading/)
)

~~~
guitarbill
i'm sure that argument is very reliable, from a pro-vegan blog.

easy counterpoints: assuming it is shelf-stable, it would seem like an
excellent option to buy it if you had no power? and if they are shelf-stable,
why not store them - you know - on a shelf, and not in the perishable rack?
seems cheaper, i don't quite follow. you don't store spam in a refrigerator.
also, if the power did go off, and caused the refrigeration to fail, and
supply chains were down, how did some ostensibly perishable items remain in
the rack? (i guess it's possible staff checked them, or something else.)

but fair enough, neither of us are journalists. and they definitely should be
doing some kind of fact checking.

~~~
arijun
I wasn't linking that blog because of anything it has to say about veganism
and that picture, but rather because it's proof the picture is from hurricane
Harvey.

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Symbiote
From a sample size of two (my local supermarket, and a friend's local
supermarket) people in Denmark have followed the government's appeal and
stopped panic buying. I'm very impressed.

The only sold-out item in both shops is alcohol gel.

Toilet paper was _on offer_ at the larger supermarket yesterday.

(I was also pleased to learn the Danish word for hoard: "hamstrer".)

~~~
kevsim
Same here in Norway. Grocery stores are feeling pretty normal these days
(didn't check for alcohol gel but toilet paper is bountiful).

~~~
mnky9800n
Who wants to drink 4% hansa anyways.

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spaceprison
To me stocking up means less trips out. What's the point of quarantine if
you're still doing a weekly shopping trip?

~~~
blaser-waffle
Reducing how often you're around people you're in close, on-going contact with
(e.g. office mates). You can't reasonably expect people to just stay put and
never leave unless you start bringing them supplies.

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wahern
This panic buying is so ridiculous. If there's one thing the U.S. still does
better than any country in the world, it's produce mass quantities of food.
There'd need to be an apocalypse before we had trouble stocking grocery
shelves over any sustained period of time. Plus, the buying patterns are
totally illogical. All I see are people snapping up perishables; nobody's
baskets are full of canned foods. How are people going to eat more perishables
than they normally do? Are they all using this opportunity to improve their
diet?

 _sigh_

I told my wife three weeks ago that if she was worried she should start
stocking up at the grocery store. But, alas, she didn't start caring until
everybody else did, and then fought it out with people at Costco.

 _double_ _sigh_

~~~
dean177
It’s the opposite in the UK, with the exception of oranges fresh produce is
fine and things like pasta, rice, baked beans and frozen fish fingers are long
gone

~~~
wahern
Interesting.

I should qualify: I'm in San Francisco and have been to two different grocery
and several convenience stories over the past few days.

I was in one convenience store today and I noticed the owner had stocked some
shelves normally filled with cookies and snacks with different kinds of canned
beans. My first thought was, "smart". My second thought was, " _sigh_ but
they're the only completely full shelves in the store".

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stackexchange
My local grocery store was unusually busy yesterday. People were stacking up
their baskets and running around worried. Amazingly, the only shelves that
were cleaned out were those that carried sliced bread, toilet paper and
something else I didn't stop to check. Amazing because I don't like slice
bread and prefer bidet to toilet paper. There was plenty of what I actually
wanted. A lady who was checking out right behind me had only two cases of
soda. I was thoroughly impressed with her bravery :)

In times like this being a weirdo who likes shit nobody wants actually pays
because you can afford to come to the store the next day when everything (but
the "repulsive shit") is swept off the shelves. You get to pick up what you
need in peace. Of cousrse, then, you're called a bottom feeder who likes
leftovers, but that's a hole another story.

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uk_programmer
The vegan food being left at the end is an old photo from a previous disaster.

~~~
ornornor
It's also not like "vegan food" is some magic compound beyond the capabilities
of us mere mortals... You don't need to buy overpriced ready-to-eat/processed
dishes to keep eating vegan. Everything can be made with the same basic
ingredients than any other food: canned beans, pasta, tomato sauce,
vegetables, soy sauce, spices... All stuff that everyone buys, including
vegetarians/vegans.

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MeteorMarc
Please upvote
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22654623](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22654623)
to give IT a useful task in this crisis (yes, this a blog of mine)

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vrc
Canned salmon and pickles seem to be unpopular too. Sure, pickles aren't a
necessity, but if people are buying up canned tuna, sardines, mackerel, clams,
and mussels, what gives with canned salmon? More for me, I guess.

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gentleman11
At my local grocery store, every frozen vegetable package is sold out except
for a tall, untouched stack of mashed cauliflower packages. My wife and I
laughed so hard about the poor person who is in charge of getting those sold

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forkexec
First thought: "more chickpea pasta for me! Yum."

~~~
perl4ever
I don't remember when I've bought it by choice, but I certainly would be fine
with it if it was the last thing left and I wanted spaghetti. On the other
hand, I tend to avoid linguini of any kind.

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tssva
Yesterday I bought the next to last loaf of any type of sliced bread at my
local Lidl with the exception of the low carb bread which was fully stocked.

