Shoppers at the UK's major supermarkets, including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's, are being urged not to buy more than they need as new lockdown rules loom.
When the UK first went into lockdown back in March of this year, some people bought far more than they needed as panic grew - leaving many without the essentials.
Now supermarkets are urging shoppers to be considerate with what they buy, in a bid to avoid a repeat performance.
Store bosses insist they now have more than enough stock and delivery slots for everyone as tighter lockdown measures creep across the country, reports the Mirror.
However, over the weekend many people noticed that Tesco, which has more than doubled its weekly online orders capacity from 600,000 to 1.5million, was fully booked until Wednesday.
Sainsbury’s also spoke of “high demand” while Ocado warned of a three-day waiting list for home deliveries.
It's also been reported that people have already started shopping for Xmas turkeys.
Sainsbury’s has said searches for Christmas puddings had quadrupled compared to this time last year.
The news comes as new, tighter lockdown restrictions come into place in several places across England, with London also at risk.
Andrew Opie, head of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said: "We urge consumers to be considerate and shop for food as they would usually during this difficult time."
One supermarket worker, who does not want to be named, said: "Some people are definitely panic buying again. We have 4,000 more items this weekend than we usually would.
"We have seen an increase in people over the last few weeks.
"When the panic buying started months ago, we hadn’t experienced it. We are prepared now.”
Morrisons has already tightened social distancing rules at almost 500 stores.
The thought of a second lockdown may be scary, but let's all be considerate to one another, and let's not repeat the scenes we saw in March where shelves were stripped bare - and loads of food went to waste. Plan ahead and buy only what you need. It really is that simple.
