Rural residents are calling on supermarkets to relax purchasing limits for people who live hundreds of kilometres from their nearest store.

Restrictions have been put in place by retailers because of coronavirus-inspired panic buying of items such as:

pasta

pasta flour

flour rice

rice toilet paper

toilet paper paper towels and tissues

paper towels and tissues hand sanitisers

hand sanitisers minced meat

minced meat eggs

eggs frozen vegetables and desserts

frozen vegetables and desserts sugar

sugar long-life milk

long-life milk canned tomatoes

There are concerns people who only travel to shop once or twice a month cannot buy the amounts they need.

Kylie Mackenzie lives at Walgett in north-western New South Wales which lost its only supermarket in a fire last year.

Although the town has a small temporary store for basic goods, Ms Mackenzie is one of many residents who rely on trips to major centres like Dubbo (three hours away) for groceries.

Toilet paper supplies are at record lows. ( Facebook: Greg Nolan )

"We're just trying to get the essentials, silly things like chickpeas — you can't get a chickpea," she said.

"It's really, really hard and it's just got to get better.

"If people from remote areas are coming into town once a fortnight to shop, let them get what they need. They're not panic buying, they're just doing their regular shop."

Ms Mackenzie's family is in isolation because her son, Xander, has special needs. They've been unable to get basic supplies including Xander's formula.

"We buy Xander's wipes in bulk when we go to places like Dubbo; now we can't, and you pay the same for a packet as we used to pay for a box," she said.

"They've got to start looking at more rural areas. City people can go from shop to shop. We can't. We need the deliveries.

"If people can be mindful of the remote areas, of the pensioners, and make sure that everybody can get everything they need ... just don't go panic buying."

Grazier Rebecca Lamont said it was a 520-kilometre round trip (six-hour drive) to her nearest town, Charters Towers in north-west Queensland, to do her grocery shop.

She said she normally shopped once a month, filling three trolleys, like most locations, the shelves there were empty.

"It's simple for those living in town as you can go there each day. We, on the other hand, are sensible shoppers, we do not hoard and only buy what is needed to feed our family, all while growing food to feed the nation.

"Everyone just needs to calm down and think of their country friends."

For the Lamont family, it's a six-hour round trip to the local supermarket. ( Supplied: Rebecca Lamont )

As the Member for Barwon, Roy Butler represents a large portion of western NSW and said he had taken his concerns to Coles and Woolworths, arguing the restrictions were a "metro-centric" idea that did not consider the needs of rural residents.

"I'm asking for the supermarkets to consider that their policy about limiting the number of items makes sense if you live 200 metres from a supermarket, but some of the people live 300 to 400 kilometres away from their nearest shop," he said.

"It's unrealistic to expect them to come back the next day to pick up more bread and milk.

"At the moment, they can't buy enough to feed their family or feed the people working on their property."

He said if people stopped panic buying, grocery restrictions would not be needed.

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Stores have set aside time each day for older shoppers. ( ABC News )

Baradine resident Vanessa Lennox normally shopped in Dubbo (two hours away) every three to four weeks; now, she said she was shopping several times a week due to limited supplies.

Ms Lennox said people in rural communities needed to stay locally and limit potential exposure to COVID-19.

"I've travelled to Gilgandra, Coonabarabran and Dubbo in the last few days to try and shop because I can't get the basics.

"Every time I go out I potentially expose myself, my grandchildren and my community to the virus. It's inconvenient, it's expensive, and you worry: "Oh my God, what if I bring the virus home?'"

Cauliflowers are selling for $7.99 each in some stores. ( ABC Riverland: Samantha Dawes )

More understanding and compassion for the plight of rural residents was needed from the wider public, Ms Lennox said.

"People from where I live have to travel because the local store is very limited and expensive.

"I've been to two supermarkets in the last three days and have been able to buy very little meat, no toilet paper, no potatoes.

"I have two small children, I had quite a bit in my trolley and I got sworn at.

"My daughter has four children and she had stuff taken off her and put away at the supermarket. She tried to explain where we lived but they didn't care."

Supermarket shelves have been stripped bare by shoppers. ( Supplied )

In a statement, Coles said remote delivery customers still had access to place orders on its website in conjunction with their third-party delivery provider.

"We're introducing some temporary measures across our online business during the coronavirus outbreak to ensure that all Australians have access to their share of grocery items," the statement said.

"These measures will help ensure people's safety and wellbeing, while also ensuring we can continue to provide food and groceries for all Australians."

Woolworths said it could not facilitate pick-up orders, even for rural shoppers.

"We appreciate the frustration this is causing customers in remote areas and we will look to resume our pick-up service as soon as we possibly can," a spokesperson said.

"We are doing the very best we can to get more stock in our stores and onto our shelves in the face of this unprecedented demand.

"We have a wide range of limits in place across a number of our products to ensure as many customers as possible have the best possible access to items when they shop with us."

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Genevieve McDonald, who lives at Brightlands Station, about 60 kilometres south of Cloncurry, said the restrictions were far from ideal.

The grazier said they normally had 22 people living on the property and that she was fortunate to have a good relationship with her local IGA store.

Restrictions imposed by the supermarket giants should not apply to remote properties, she said.

"I think our time is best spent doing what we do, which is working in food production.

"If someone has to be going back and forth from town to be getting dribs and drabs of supplies, that's not a good use of their time.

"There should be something in place on stations for people who have got large numbers of people that they have to feed and that live a long way from town."