We looked inside Aldi, ASDA, Tesco, Lidl, Morrisons and Sainsbury's to see which still has cooking oil

Over the past few weeks, an increasing number of supermarkets have been forced to ration cooking oil. Stores across the UK have placed limits on how much cooking oil customers can buy due to supply-chain problems caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Tesco is allowed three items per customer while Waitrose and Morrisons have placed limits of just two items each, according to the BBC. Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland supermarkets, said his shops were having to ration sunflower oil sales to one bottle per customer.

The possibility of shortages have led to some people to unnecessarily panic buy. In an attempt to stop the panic buying frenzy, the Manchester Evening News sent reporters to supermarkets across Manchester to see if there is actually a cooking oil shortage.

READ MORE: Woman slashes her entire monthly Tesco shop to £52 thanks to Martin Lewis tip

A couple of days ago we struggled to find any bare shelves in supermarkets. But following days of panic buying, shelves are, unfortunately, looking a little more bare.

One supermarket did, however, have a fully stocked shelf of oil. Aside from Lidl, it was the only supermarket without rationing signs up. I think that speaks volumes.

Here's what we found:

Aldi (Salford)

Aldi had a fully stocked shelf of cooking oil when we checked. There were no signs rationing bottles.

Aldi had a fully stocked shelf of cooking oil when we checked (MEN)

ASDA (Hulme)

ASDA's cooking oil shelves were bare in Hulme. Luckily for health fans, there was an abundance of coconut oil and branded olive oil. Signs stated two bottles of cooking oil per customer.

Luckily for health fans, there was an abundance of coconut oil and branded olive oil (MEN)

Rationing signs in ASDA (MEN)

Lidl (Salford)

Lidl only had a few bottles of olive oil and rapeseed oil remaining.

Lidl's sad cooking oil section (MEN)

Sainsbury's (Bolton)

The shelves were almost bare - despite signs instructing a product limit of four bottles per shopper.

Empty cooking oil shelves at Sainsbury's in Bolton (MEN)

We looked inside Aldi, ASDA, Tesco, Lidl, Morrisons and Sainsbury's to see which still has cooking oil (men)

Empty cooking oil shelves at Sainsbury's in Bolton (MEN)

Tesco (Stretford)

All of the cheap bottles of basic cooking oil had sold out. But there were plenty of bottles left for more expensive brands and flavoured oils. Tesco has signs up limiting cooking oil to three bottles per shopper.

All the cheap cooking oil had sold out in Tesco Stretford (MEN)

There were plenty of branded and flavoured cooking oils left in Tesco Stretford (MEN)

Tesco has signs up limiting cooking oil to three bottles per shopper. (MEN)

Morrisons (Chorlton)

The cooking oil shelves in Morrisons in Chorlton have been raided and are now empty. Signs say there is a limit of two bottles per customer.

Oil shelves were empty in Morrisons (MEN)

Morrisons has placed a limit of two bottles of cooking oil per person (MEN)