toilet paper apocalypse

[deird1]

Aussies really suck at prepping.

Apparently every supermarket in the entire country is now sold out of toilet paper. My local supermarket certainly is. They're also sold out of flour, spaghetti, rice, bread, and long-life milk.

They're not sold out of dried lentils/chickpeas/beans, or dried soup mix, or dried fruit, or canned vegetables/fruit.

Apparently everyone in Australia thinks that one should spend food shortages having nothing but plain white carbohydrates – in which case they'll all be so constipated that I'm not sure why they'll need so much toilet paper.

Comments

[howsmyenglish]

lol :D

I mean, I feel with you and dread toilet paper shortage myself, but still lol))

[deird1]

It is rather silly, yes. :)

[megpie71]

I've been busy getting my "prepper" list ready for the whole COVID-19 thing... consists mainly of buying an extra two foodsicles a week to get a bit of a backlog accumulated, and stocking up on tinned soup. Or in other words, I'm mainly concentrating on things which can be put in the microwave and zapped when I'm feeling like death warmed over in order to keep myself fed. Plus where I'm buying the usual replacement quantities of shelf-stable stuff, I'm buying a bit extra, for Justin.

(Justin Case, disaster management specialist)

I have long-life or powdered milk on the list for next week, on the grounds my partner (or rather "the milk gnomes") goes through about 1.25 3 litre bottles of milk per week and I suspect if he doesn't get his milk for a two week period, he's going to get cranky and either a) break quarantine to go fetch some; or b) sulk.

I'm a bit of a hoarder anyway - I blame the peasant ancestors, who viewed well-stocked food cupboards as a sign of stability and wealth.

[deird1]

See, that sounds like a good way to go.

I don't think these panic buyers have really been thinking about what they're buying, at all. (Which I suppose is the definition of panic.)

[shadowkat]

Yeah there's a run on toilet paper here as well. Apparently it's made in China? Or something?

The other things that are disappearing are "hand sanitizers" and I can't find chili at all. Oh, and disinfectants and disinfectant wipes. NYC has gone into a cleaning and disinfectant frenzy. The subway smelled of bleach today.

Regarding milk? The nutmilk's last longer. And you can make your own with a blender, a handful of almonds, water, and whatever you want to add to it - coconut oil makes it creamy, vanilla gives it taste. The other thing you need is a filter bag. But other than that ridiculously easy -- just a touch time consuming.

Weird that they went for the flour, spaghetti, rice, bread and milk as opposed to lentils, chickpeas, beans, soup, dried fruit - etc.

I feel like I'm in a badly written 1990s horror film. I want better writers.

[deird1]

Our toilet paper isn't even made overseas! The toilet paper factory people in South Australia have been tweeting out pictures of their paper supply going "No, really, guys, we have plenty" - but once people are panic buying, everyone else keeps it going...

[bruttimabuoni]

Aww, I hadn't seen the toilet paper tweeting. I *have* seen the US vodka manufacturer's social media person having to tweet "no, you can't use our stuff to make a viable hand sanitiser, here are Facts" at hundreds of idiots. This must be such a weird time to work in brand media.

[shadowkat]

That's hilarious.

Yep, people are panic buying toilet paper in South Carolina and Texas, apparently. Not so much in NY. I found it in NY. Also hand sanitizers. I can't find any. (Not that they were readily available to begin with.) We do have them everywhere at work though.

I think it's this desire to control something or do something. There's this threat hanging over all our heads and we just don't know how to protect ourselves from it or be prepared.

[out_there]

Hilariously, this has been a topic of conversation at the office today. That there's a shortage, that apparently there was a truck transporting toilet paper that somehow ended up on fire, and that the basic priorities of Aussie disaster preppers are "toilet paper and we'll figure out the rest as we go". (Although discussions at work were "wine/alcohol of choice first, toilet paper, and wait for the rest".)

...personally, I'm curious if this is a bit of a repeat of the powdered milk shortage, where we find out that certain enterprising citizens have been buying up in bulk and reselling for a profit. I will not be surprised if that turns out to be the case.

[deird1]

It's curious, because when I think of running out of essential supplies, toilet paper is the one where I can instantly think of several backup options. (Tissues, newspaper, old rags in water, a hose...) Whereas I can't come up with backups if we, for instance, ran out of foods with protein. If I was seriously concerned about supply shortages, I'd go for tinned/dried food, and worry about everything else later.

[hnpcc]

From a Facebook post I've seen this may or may not be the case. It's Facebook, and racist doctored images are a thing... so I'm dubious.

I just want to know (a) why everyone suddenly needs huge amounts of toilet paper and (b) who is actually buying it - everyone I know hasn't been able to find any, and is running low!!

[out_there]

I have my doubts about FB as a news source, but the sudden lack of stock on shelves while no-one I know has worried about stocking up makes me think it's either a supply issue or being resold for a profit. Either way, its far from the end of the world.

[brin_bellway]

I heard that in Wuhan people were specifically regretting not buying more toilet paper, so maybe it's just that a lot of other people have heard that too and are factoring it in.

Canned fruit is not impossible here but is apparently starting to get tricky. We were a little slow on the uptake there, only got a couple cans. (But we already had a fair bit of applesauce, several fresh apples, and a couple bags of frozen fruit (plus the usual perishable stuff like bananas), so there's that.)

We like to keep well-stocked even at the best of times, but we've been extra careful the last week or so. There aren't any known cases around here yet, but Toronto isn't *that* far away.


P.S. Mom told me recently that the toilet paper at Costco hadn't run out yet, but it was flying off the shelves fast enough that the cashier was remarking on it. (She wasn't actually buying any toilet paper there herself: we already had over one and a half of the huge Costco packages.)

[deird1]

No-one's even touched our supermarket's canned food suppies. There's still just as much as normal.

[shadowkat]

Maybe we should all go to Australia to get the canned food. Or have Australia ship the canned food.

[hnpcc]

... I may have bought 6 cans of baked beans last Sunday. My child would live on baked beans if given the option, and if we're all going to be quarantined I'd prefer not to run out.

Apparently canned goods (tomatoes and beans in particular) have run out in the People's Republic of Moreland which surprises me as I thought most people had canned their own up there.

I also bought red lentils and canned tomatoes but that's basically part of my normal supplies. I had to get my parents to wait for the toilet paper delivery at IGA and grab a pack as we were down to less than three rolls.

The stupidest thing so far is that someone stole all the toilet paper rolls from the gym and now we have to get one roll at a time from a locked cupboard. For real. *SIGH*

[tielan]

The focus on toilet paper is ridiculous. There are so many possible replacements for toilet paper, but very few for nutritious food. And, uh, processed carbs are not nutritious food. Filling, yes; nutritious, no.

[deird1]

Indeed. I'd be buying tinned fish, dried beans, and as much rice as I could find.

(And if there was a worry about running short on toilet paper, I'd go and get a bidet spray attachment for my toilet.)

[immer_am_lesen]

It's rather hilarious- and embarrassing! What must the world think of Australia, after some people are doing this...nobody I've spoken to has done this- or at least admitted to it. How crazy.
I won't bother hoarding/ stockpiling anything, but then I tend to think ahead and always have more than I need of some things, like UHT milk, pasta, rice, sultanas, and honey- the things we and the children go through a lot.
If it comes down to us running out of toilet paper, I'm practical- we wipe the babies' bums with cut-up old tshirts dipped in water, so I reckon if it came down to it we could use that for everyone. Thank goodness we have hand sanitiser etc...

[deird1]

I won't bother hoarding/ stockpiling anything, but then I tend to think ahead and always have more than I need of some things, like UHT milk, pasta, rice, sultanas, and honey- the things we and the children go through a lot.

Ditto. I tend to have a backup packet of everything.

If it comes down to us running out of toilet paper, I'm practical- we wipe the babies' bums with cut-up old tshirts dipped in water, so I reckon if it came down to it we could use that for everyone.

Exactly! There are so many backup options!

[lizbee]

We were feeling extremely good about our prepper shopping list (rice, pasta, lentils, coconut milk, tinned tomatoes, I'm gonna test out a mung been dhal recipe to see if we like it enough to add to our regular rotation, frozen veggies, cask wine, tonic water, cat food) ... and then we realised we're almost out of toilet paper. And the shelves were bare.

(And my BFF, who lives in Osaka and hasn't been following Australian news or social media, texted to ask if we could send a package of bog roll, because it cannot be had in shops for love or money and Amazon is price gouging. I thought it was a joke! It was not.)

[deird1]

... and then we realised we're almost out of toilet paper. And the shelves were bare.

Oh dear!

I feel very sorry for all those people who don't stockpile and just happened to run out of toilet paper this week. (We had just bought more, so we're fine.)

[zeborah]

Meanwhile I'm almost out of bleach which I use for semi-regular(*) cleaning and also for stockpiling water(**), and of course all I can find in supermarkets at the moment is some lemon-scented stuff which I don't know what it'll do in my stock-piled water. Who makes lemon-scented bleach? I just want bleach!

Anyway though I figure if I wait another week supplies will come back in.

(*) Okay, hemi-demi-semi-regular.

(**) For earthquake preparedness, since I don't expect a respiratory pandemic to cause problems for the water supply system. Five drops bleach to a litre water, but since you're meant to refresh the supply every year and the bottles I prepared last time are all marked 2015 I am feeling a bit overdue.

[sevilemar]

Apparently, we Germans are no better in our hording tendencies, just a bit further along in the process: toilet paper, noodles and long lasting milk were the first to go, potatoes, rice, tobacco, flour and toast have since followed. Butter was in short supply when I was shopping on Monday, as were frozen berries and the like, frozen pizza and frozen baked goods, as well as dried fruits and nuts. The rest of the dairy aisle was fine, though.

Canned food was interesting: Everything that had an italian, spanish or greek name or logo was still there, which meant a lot of canned tomatoes, olives, and other antipasti. Whereas the same products with a german name or logo were out, despite it also clearly giving Italy or Spain as the land of origin. Everything else was more or less in normal supply.

There still was a lot of fresh and frozen meet and veggies still available, as well as fresh fruits. And I also had no problems with baking soda, but a friend since reported that there was no more yeast to find anywhere for love or money. It seems we are learning to make our own bread again^^

On the whole, it's really bizarre. We are expecting Ausgangssperre any moment, which means the same restrictions as in Wuhan, Italy and France. I think people are trying to grasp at anything they think they can control, however foolish. And we have a lot of time, since schools and a lot of businesses are already closed. Fear, idle hands, and close quarters. Not exactly the best combination. But whatever happens, we will always have shiny arses. At least half of us ;)

[deird1]

Everything that had an italian, spanish or greek name or logo was still there, which meant a lot of canned tomatoes, olives, and other antipasti. Whereas the same products with a german name or logo were out, despite it also clearly giving Italy or Spain as the land of origin.

How bizarre!

And we have a lot of time, since schools and a lot of businesses are already closed.

Ours aren't, but I think they probably should be. A lot of kids have been pulled out of school, but the schools are still running. (I think the government is trying to delay until the end of term.)

[sevilemar]

How bizarre!
I know! People are so weird sometimes. Anyway, I am due for another grocery run today, not because I really need to, more because I need to be doing something. Which is also irrational and stupid, I know. But I know myself, and I know that I will not be able to relax again until I go. Stupid, irrational, annoying panic, I am so sick of it.

Ours aren't, but I think they probably should be.
It's the right thing to do, even though it creates a lot of other problems. They also need to close play parks and other things like that at the same time, but still allow people to go outside alone or as a family, so that children can still move around and get fresh air, but are not clustered together and touching plastic and metal constantly. Adults, too^^