AS I SEE IT: Supermarket panic buying over Christmas is obscene

If this is correct, it certainly didn’t seem like it last week!

The pre-Christmas food shop always has something of an air of panic about it. People seem to become convinced that unless they pile their shopping trolley high with goodies, their family will starve over a two-day period!

This year I felt the panic buying reached a new level, probably due to the snow and freezing temperatures. There were growing fears among many that the shelves were going to be empty when people hit the supermarkets.

I braved the Christmas food shopping frenzy on Thursday (December 23rd) and found people piling their trolleys high with all the festive treats, not to mention everyday food essentials.

I saw one man throwing food into his trolley like he was on Supermarket Sweep and another buying enough chocolate to last until Easter! Buying food for Christmas is fun, but what I find inappropriate is the greed.

At least a third of the fresh food items bought by people will be dumped in the wheelie bins come the end of the week as it will have gone off. Yes, you can freeze food, but with the New Year celebrations this weekend, I bet people will be rushing out again and repeating the food buying process (in fact, some shoppers would have hit the supermarkets on Boxing Day to stock up).

We seem to have become a society reliant on big supermarkets. As supermarkets close for two days over Christmas people fear that until they have stocked their fridge and cupboards with 10 pints of milk, five loaves of bread and fresh fruit and vegetables, they will starve.

For those who tend to go crazy in supermarkets, just remember, people did not die or starve without supermarkets