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Supermarket shoppers buying essentials including milk, bread, eggs and toilet rolls have been issued a warning as snow is forecast in the UK this week. The Met Office has issued two yellow weather warnings for snow in parts of Scotland, where rain in eastern and western areas is forecast to increasingly fall as sleet and snow throughout Tuesday nd into Wednesday.

By Wednesday, up to 3cm of snow is expected in areas above 100m, while up to 20cm could accumulate over higher ground. At lower levels, the national forecaster says households should expect a mixture of rain, sleet and snow, along with strong winds at times, which could lead to blizzard conditions. Elsewhere in the UK, Met Office weather maps show wintry weather is forecast over other parts of the UK this week, with possible snowfall over parts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, East Midlands, North East and West Midlands on Wednesday and Thursday.

Households are being warned to brace for cancelled or delayed bus and train services due to the weather, and potentially hazardous conditions on the roads, with drivers advised to allow extra time for journeys and to ensure essential items like torches, ice scrapers, blankets and an in-car phone charger are kept in cars.

The Met Office said: "Rain feeding into eastern and northern Scotland will increasingly fall as sleet and then snow through Tuesday and into Wednesday. By Wednesday accumulations of 1-3 cm are expected above 100 metres, with perhaps up to 5 cm in some places. For ground above 200 metres, accumulations of 10 cm are expected with some places locally seeing up to 20 cm.

"At low levels precipitation will be a mix of rain, sleet and snow which could lead to some small snow accumulations in places. Strong winds at times will lead to blizzard conditions and drifting of lying snow, especially in the north of the warning area."

With cold and snowy conditions forecast this week, shoppers have a tendency to rush out to supermarkets to panic buy essentials, with consumer retail experts saying the most commonly bought items in such weather are always bread, milk, eggs and toilet rolls.

Experts told CNN: "With every predicted blizzard, there's a mad dash to load up on milk, bread, eggs and toilet paper. Sure, there are some variations, including booze, snack foods and even ice cream. Yet these items are the first to disappear from store shelves when the dreaded s-word is mentioned."

In 2018, when the infamous Beast from the East snow storm hit the UK, The Express reported how shoppers stripped shelves of bread and milk, with the big freeze even seeing some take items straight from delivery vans in a mad panic.

One social media user reported chaotic scenes on Twitter (now X) at the time, writing: "Local Co-op out of milk and bread. Apparently, there was a delivery this morning, and people were literally taking it from the driver before he'd got it into the shop."

Another user wrote: "It's snowing here and I've just been out to watch the panic buying brigade 20 milk and 14 loaves battling it out in those trolleys like chariots and battering rams. I also noticed the price of the basics suddenly shot up 5p in some cases. Sheer profiteering as the snow has hardly settled."

But why does panic buying these items happen? Author and anthropologist Sharon Wolfgang explains: "Now, why do people buy milk and bread when they expect snow? (And they actually do; I've often seen supermarket bread sections completely empty the day before a predicted storm.)

"Two reasons, I think. First, those are two basic foods that most people want to have on hand all the time, especially if they have children. Heavy snow makes it hard to go to the store, so people make sure they get a supply of the basics while they can."

At the moment, there are no confirmations of any shortages of bread, milk or eggs in major supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons, or Sainsbury's, but shoppers could end up creating some if they panic buy due to the snowy and icy weather. So if you're popping to the shop this week, stick to buying just one item and don't stockpile 20 loaves and 16 pints, or you risk actually creating the problem.