Last weekend I was looking for something in the cupboard under the stairs when I came across half a dozen tins of chickpeas and a big bag of brown rice. They had been there since mid-March. While some people were busy stockpiling loo rolls, I went for the chickpeas.

It seems crazy now that in those first few weeks of the pandemic crisis panic buying was a real thing, leading to empty supermarket shelves and a temporary shortage of some basic goods. I clearly felt that a diet of mainly chickpeas and brown rice was a distinct possibility.

Stockpiling is nothing new. It is a common response to wider uncertainty, such as political or financial crises or when preparing for a natural disaster. There is a psychological reason behind it. When we can’t predict what is going to happen next, and we are receiving mixed messages from those who are supposed to know, we lose some of our ability for rational thought. We also focus on the things we can control, such as our lockdown diet.

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