A quarter of stockpiled food ends up in the bin, a study has found.
British shoppers spend almost £10 billion a year on stockpiling items that become food waste, the study by Topcashback revealed.
The cashback shopping site describes the phenomena as a "false economy", the MailOnline reported.
Almost a quarter of British shoppers say they have regretted stockpiling in the past, with nearly half of that number saying it left them worse off.
It comes as pictures of empty shelves started to emerge on social media amid speculation that coronavirus panic buying would restart.
However, the supermarkets and retail groups have been quick to stress they have not yet experienced shortages.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) urged customers to be considerate of others and “shop as you normally would”.
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis told Sky News the grocer has “very good supplies of food”.
He said: “We just don’t want to see a return to unnecessary panic buying because that creates a tension in the supply chain that’s not necessary. And therefore we would just encourage customers to continue to buy as normal.”
