Lucknow, Apr 20 (IANS): For those with a sweet tooth, the closure of all sweet shops has spelt trouble.

To satisfy their cravings for sweets, people are now reaching out for premixes of gulab jamuns, payasam, 'rabri', cake etc.

"We do not have a single packet of gulab jamun mix left in our stock. People have been buying in dozens. All premix sweets like payasam, rabri and cake mixes are out of stock," said R N Agarwal, a grocery shop owner in Narhi area.

The sweet premixes on online grocery sites are also showing the 'out of stock' sign.

Rameshwari Narain, a homemaker said, "My whole family is fond of sweets and we were frantically looking around for sweets but could not get any. Now I have purchased a huge stock of premix sweets and make them at home. We have dessert every night after dinner and I make gulab jamun, or kheer or rabri."

Sheila Bhatnagar, a senior citizen, said that she and her husband are diabetic and her husband is prone to hypoglycemia (low sugar).

'We always keep sweets in the house for my husband but now I use premix packets to make gulab jamun or kheer for him. I have also made cakes from premixes for him. Initially I was worried about his sugar levels but now we always have something sweet in the house," she said.

It was one of her neighbors, a senior citizen, who had to call the emergency helpline for rasgullas when his sugar level started dropping. The police rushed to his house with four rasgullas and the old man found some respite.

Ahsan Qureshi a software engineer in Prayagraj, told this correspondent that his family had started opting for jaggery which was now being used to make desserts.

"We tried kheer with jaggery, coated peanuts with jaggery and then even made rabri with jaggery. The test, though different, is good and also healthier. In fact, if the lockdown had not happened, we would not have discovered these tastes and recipes. Necessity is truly the mother of invention," he said.