Life right now is not normal for many families. Shopping habits are also not normal. We’ve seen bare shelves on supermarkets up and down the country in recent days and retailers are struggling to meet demand.
People are panic buying, and we’ve seen families buying more pasta than Mario and Luigi could manage between them.
But how much pasta does a family really need?
Using our quarantine calculator, we’ve determined that your average UK family of four can get by on two average 500g packets of pasta a week – that’s more than enough for two meals, with some left over!
We’ve put together a series of coronavirus quarantine calculators, designed to give families a helping hand when it comes to quantities of a number of essential items.
The UK government has urged the public not to panic buy, and hopefully our calculators will help to encourage sensible shopping in the days and weeks ahead!
When it comes to pasta, we’ve calculated that a family of four needs 400g of pasta for a meal – 100g is a healthy portion per person – meaning one 500g bag of bows, twists, penne or spaghetti is more than enough, with a portion left over for another day.
If you’re struggling to obtain a packet of pasta (and if the idea of making your own pasta sounds like too much work for a quick midweek meal!), then you can replace spaghetti with noodles without affecting the flavour of your dish too much!
We hope that our quarantine calculators will help you or someone you know avoid making an unnecessary purchase next time you’re out shopping. Please share with your friends and family to help keep the UK’s supermarkets running smoothly!