Prior to cases of COVID-19 being confirmed in our area, I found that if I made a quick trip to the grocery store at 7:00 a.m. nearly every day, almost all products were on offer at some point during the week. The trick was to shop very early in the day, because if pasta was available in the morning on, say, Monday, it would be gone by Monday afternoon or early evening.
Now that the demon virus has infiltrated our little town, I, with chronic lung issues, no longer want to risk even a weekly trip to the store, much less a daily one.
The manager of our town's lone grocery store said it has become increasingly difficult to predict what will be included in any given shipment. One used to know that fresh produce arrived on the Tuesday truck; bread products on the Wednesday truck, etc. Now it's a crap shoot.
Fortunately, my pulmonologist told me to start stockpiling back in early February. He accurately predicted that stores would, without warning, be short of everything we now find difficult to procure. I didn't buy six packages of toilet paper at once, but instead picked up one pack 2-3 times a week. Ditto Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, napkins, Kleenex, toiletries, meat, cheese, flour and other baking-related products, pasta, and canned goods. Applying that strategy means I have a buffer in the pantry. When I finish a package of toilet paper, I replace it, knowing that I still have a couple of packages in the pantry as back-up. That means I'm not exacerbating the problems brought on by purchasing 5-6 items of a particular product in one go, but am still able to maintain an inventory.