Early on in the C19 panic-buying days, which was only about 2ish weeks ago, people were doing some super-crazy things, like buying out entire stores supplies of toilet paper and meat. It was awful and greedy, and impacted a lot of limited-income people.
I’m an advocate of keeping a full pantry, fridge and freezer, but I want to differentiate between what is a ‘good’ stockpile and a ‘bad’ stockpile.
Here’s some helpful hints on how not to be a jackass at the grocery store.
Good: Buy extra so you don’t have to go out more than once every few weeks.
Bad: Strip the store of things you don’t even need and more than you can eat, or with the intention of reselling at crazy prices. Feeding off people’s fear isn’t good business, it’s icky.
Good: Buying things you like to eat so that you can eat them over the next couple weeks
Bad: Buying things that are WIC eligible when you can buy another brand (they literally cannot) and stockpile shopping in the first couple days of the month when SNAP benefit recipients, who likely never have enough food anyway, are in dire need of resupply. Sure, go to the store if you need a few things, but save your big shops for later.
Good: Thanking the people who are going to work every day so you can eat.
Bad: Voting against policies that would give them increased job security, benefits, and living wages.
Good: Buying what you need.
Bad: Grabbing the last thing on the shelf because it’s there, even if you don’t need it.
See? Not complicated.
Little House on the Fairy Hill 