Shopping

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
Yes @jennifer1967 I heard about Iceland in Shirley opening for an hour for pensioners. It's not a store I normally use and I will mainly need fresh items though it's good to know they are there. I've heard this morning that all Sainsbury's stores will set aside the first hour for elderly and vulnerable on Thursday 19th March. It may be useful but probably means getting there for 7am. I'm thinking of trying to get to Tesco for their revised opening time of 6am in Friday or Saturday like @Vitesse if I can get my husband to stay in bed till I get back. I think the supermarkets are doing their best it really just needs everyone to be more sensible and understanding in what they're buying. Luckily I have a well stocked freezer with main meal items so for a couple of weeks at least I should only need to buy fresh and dairy products.
 

annielou

Registered User
Sep 27, 2019
1,917
0
Yorkshire
Our tesco is now open 6am to 10pm and heard asda is too. Our two local Iceland are opening an hour on a morning just for elderly customers, although I did notice that the time for one was before bus passes start at 9.30 so that will upset people. I'll have to keep an eye out for other shops doing the same so I don't inadvertently go at the wrong time. Mind you we called at coop yesterday while picking up a parcel and hoped to get a loaf but it was almost empty, no bread, barely any meat, freezers almost empty dried tinned goods, loo rolls, cleaning things all empty. I didn't stock up and so am running out of things like I normally do but now can't find them so going to be some interesting meals in a bit.
 

Louise7

Volunteer Host
Mar 25, 2016
4,683
0
I heard about Iceland in Shirley opening for an hour for pensioners. It's not a store I normally use and I will mainly need fresh items though it's good to know they are there.

I am also not someone who usually goes to Iceland but there's one local to me and I was surprised at the variety of things they sell other than frozen food. They had items such as bread, milk, dairy products, some meat products, salad items, tinned food, pasta, drinks, cat/dog food, household cleaners and loo rolls (when in stock!).

Our tesco is now open 6am to 10pm and heard asda is too. Our two local Iceland are opening an hour on a morning just for elderly customers, although I did notice that the time for one was before bus passes start at 9.30 so that will upset people.

The dedicated opening times allocated to the elderly/vulnerable are all quite early so not ideal but that will be when the shelves are better stocked. Sainsburys are also now having a dedicated time slot - I received this email last night:

A number of you suggested that we reserve an hour in stores for elderly and vulnerable customers. In response to this request, we will set aside the first hour in every supermarket this Thursday 19th March, for elderly and vulnerable customers. I hope that you can respect this decision and will work with us as we try our best to help those that need it the most. If you or an elderly family member, friend or neighbour would like to shop during this hour, please check online for your local supermarket opening hours.

We will also help elderly and vulnerable customers access food online. From Monday 23rd March, our online customers who are over 70 years of age or have a disability will have priority access to online delivery slots. We will contact these customers in the coming days with more details.
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
Folks, go to your local corner shops! They may be dearer but they have fresh fruit and veg, milk, tins, and even rice, pasta and tomato sauce! It might be from Bulgaria, but you don't have to talk to it. :)

IMG_20200318_122217.jpg
 

Batsue

Registered User
Nov 4, 2014
4,893
0
Scotland
Our corner shop is 16 miles away while Tesco delivers to our door even when the snow plough has not been.
 

jennifer1967

Registered User
Mar 15, 2020
23,131
0
Southampton
only problem is im too young to shop at that time my husband will be 72 on monday he has copd as well as vascular dementia so i want him to stay in problem is im 19 years younger than him im diabetic but i was told by tesco that i couldnt shop there unless i brought him with me. which defeats my objective to try and keep him safe. its the same with attendance and carers allowance i cant have them because of a change in the law that both now pension credit is only paid to couples which both have to be pensionable age. they will pay existing claims but if you make a new claim the pension credit and housing benefit would be reviewed and lost. i have been married 31 years and thought the prejudice would have got better from then. its unfair
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
Well so much for Tescos advertised special hour for elderly and vulnerable from 9-10am. I got there this morning for 9 as did many others. The shop was full of people who had been shopping. There was nobody on the door monitoring things and no evidence of this time being for elderly and vulnerable. I heard a lady remonstrating with a member of staff who just said we'll we've been open since 6! Exactly so how did they plan on making that hour restricted and how were they planning on making sure there was actually food to buy. Ok some shelves were ok but no potatoes at all, no eggs, no toilet rolls. There were very limited supplies of cheese, fresh meat, bread, coffee. The veg section in the freezer cabinets was virtually empty, just a few Yorkshire puddings, chips, sweet potato wedges. Even the cat food shelves had been raided, mostly the expensive stuff left. So it looks like it will be back to plan A on Monday, get there for 6am and be prepared to queue outside and camp out in the aisles if the shelves haven't been stocked with the things I want. The other thing was the self scan wasn't working so I had to go back to the old queueing at the checkout and unloading my shopping into the conveyor belt then into my bags. The one good thing was that at the checkout they had a line in the floor to stay behind so that people weren't too close together. Of course we had all been closer than that in the queue!
 

Duggies-girl

Registered User
Sep 6, 2017
3,620
0
I have just come back from Sainsbury's with a pack of cornflakes and a large bottle of vimto, shop was almost empty. There were 2 bottles of vimto left but I only took one.

I still have some toilet rolls at dad's that I can bring home and some soap so we will cope.

One worker said that they just go crazy in the morning and clear the shelves in no time. It seems that woman's plea on TV has fallen on deaf ears. They should be well and truly ashamed of themselves.

There were lots of flowers there in anticipation for mother's day on Sunday which I had forgotten about anyway.
 

Bunpoots

Volunteer Host
Apr 1, 2016
7,342
0
Nottinghamshire
I went shopping this morning. I normally shop in batches, apart from fresh stuff which I buy 2 or 3 times a week, so I’d buy a box of cans of beans, or UHT milk (which I prefer) or whatever once a month for example instead of buying every week on goods which can be stored. I don’t feel I can do that anymore as I don’t want to be seen as greedy.

I went to Morrison’s this morning (normally shop in Aldi) for Chai tea, which ALDI don’t sell, but didn’t dare buy 2 or 3 boxes as I would normally or the normal 4 boxes of high bran which I get on my quarterly visits to Morrison’s.

I usually shop early - about 8.30 - to avoid crowds as I’m (according to my children) the world’s worst queuer! That’s not working out either...

I really don’t understand this insanity and lack of consideration for others. That plea from the intensive care nurse was heartbreaking - how could it fall on deaf ears? I met an elderly couple in Lidl who told me that there’d been no chickens the day before when they’d visited. Normally I’d buy a small chicken but there was only one left and they wanted it. I was there first and could’ve snatched it...but I’ll use up the leftovers from a medium one. I have 3 to feed - they were only 2. We had a chat about all the vegetables people will have rotting in their fridges and said “serves them right!”...but it still means someone somewhere will have to do without.

I was also trying to keep a 2m distance but chatting to the elderly couple it felt rude. This is so hard!! It lacks the milk of human kindness..

But I did witness an act of kindness on the till next to me - an old couple were not allowed to buy the 4 packs of kitchen roll but only 1. . The guy behind them guessed they’d been unable to get loo paper and said he’d put one extra through on his groceries - then he wouldn’t let them pay.

I felt guilty buying 4 aubergines for my favourite aubergine bake.

I normally enjoy shopping for food but there’s something disturbing about what’s happening now. Hopefully it’ll all calm down soon.
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,748
0
Essex
Quiet in my local store - no pasta, rice, loo rolls etc but plenty of fresh fruit and veg, fish and meat, limited milk and bread. I hope you are indeed right @occupied99

I didn't even have fruit and veg and I visited Waitrose, Morrisons, two local shops and Tescos and I still need to go shopping tomorrow and I live on my own. Let's thank shop assistants as well for struggling to get food to us!

MaNaAk
 

jennifer1967

Registered User
Mar 15, 2020
23,131
0
Southampton
ive got to do tesco tomorrow but without a car its hard to get there early. i know it is not for everyone but have resorted to frozen mash.roasties and chips. i have depression and anxiety so struggling with all this.
 

Bikerbeth

Registered User
Feb 11, 2019
2,119
0
Bedford
I didn't even have fruit and veg and I visited Waitrose, Morrisons, two local shops and Tescos and I still need to go shopping tomorrow and I live on my own. Let's thank shop assistants as well for struggling to get food to us!

MaNaAk
The difference a few days make. Now all the frozen and tinned products have gone it seems that people are now taking all the fresh veg and fruit.
 

Lynmax

Registered User
Nov 1, 2016
1,045
0
I am just so fed up with this! Some greedy people must have supplies to last years! I don't know where they get the money from. And I wonder if some of the things bought will ever get used - lentils and chickpeas are an acquired taste! My friend needs gluten free food and now that has all disappeared as people are buying it just because it's there!

I shop for my mum as well, as do many of us here, and I like to cook fresh foods for her but I could not find any mince meat today to make her favourite lasagna. Not even at a local farm shop.

And why the queues for petrol if we are supposed to be cutting down on non essential journeys?
 

yorkie46

Registered User
Jan 28, 2014
413
0
Southampton
I agree with the sentiments all recent posts on this subject. I have emailed Tesco regarding their opening slots for the elderly and vulnerable. See that Sainsbury's now changing opening hours to 8am and first hour Mon, Wed, Fri for elderly and vulnerable and NHS staff and community care workers. Surely this will work much better than the Tesco 9-10. My daughter is a teacher and with the closure of schools I had expected her to be at home and available to help me more with shopping so I didn't need to go out. How wrong I was! With the huge list of key workers issued by the government many teachers are now continuing to work to look after the children affected by this. It may not be full time as they will hopefully share the load between all the staff and it will be more childcare than teaching. If course this is until they start going down with the virus. It also seems they will be expected to work through what would have been their Easter break. My daughter has a 7 year old who will now be at home with her husband who is currently unemployed, she should have been at home to teach him but this is now only looking like being part time and how much she will be in school is unknown until Monday when they discover how many children turn up. Whilst I appreciate that key workers need the schools to be available some are being unreasonable when there is another adult able to care for their children, teachers are on the list of key workers too! I know she feels bad that she isn't able to help me more than she does and not being able to see my grandson is difficult for me. We video call regularly but a kiss and a cuddle on a mobile phone isn't quite the same!! Just hope we all come through this unscathed!
 

MaNaAk

Registered User
Jun 19, 2016
11,748
0
Essex
I am going to try and finish yesterday's shopping but will keep my eye out for the elderly.

MaNaAk
 

occupied99

Registered User
Jan 3, 2020
177
0
I agree with the sentiments all recent posts on this subject. I have emailed Tesco regarding their opening slots for the elderly and vulnerable. See that Sainsbury's now changing opening hours to 8am and first hour Mon, Wed, Fri for elderly and vulnerable and NHS staff and community care workers. Surely this will work much better than the Tesco 9-10. My daughter is a teacher and with the closure of schools I had expected her to be at home and available to help me more with shopping so I didn't need to go out. How wrong I was! With the huge list of key workers issued by the government many teachers are now continuing to work to look after the children affected by this. It may not be full time as they will hopefully share the load between all the staff and it will be more childcare than teaching. If course this is until they start going down with the virus. It also seems they will be expected to work through what would have been their Easter break. My daughter has a 7 year old who will now be at home with her husband who is currently unemployed, she should have been at home to teach him but this is now only looking like being part time and how much she will be in school is unknown until Monday when they discover how many children turn up. Whilst I appreciate that key workers need the schools to be available some are being unreasonable when there is another adult able to care for their children, teachers are on the list of key workers too! I know she feels bad that she isn't able to help me more than she does and not being able to see my grandson is difficult for me. We video call regularly but a kiss and a cuddle on a mobile phone isn't quite the same!! Just hope we all come through this unscathed!
I hope there isn't a massive queue at Sainsburys as I hear that the shops seem to be letting anyone in when it's supposed to be for the vulnerable,the whole point for me is not to be surrounded by too many people as I'm a carer with T2 diabetes,the shops don't know who is genuine and who is just taking advantage
Even if I do an online shop I can't avoid people as mum has 8 carers in each day and they haven't got masks yet
 

Duggies-girl

Registered User
Sep 6, 2017
3,620
0
I got bread, milk and eggs today so we are okay. Egg on toast. I preempted the alcohol and we have a couple of bottles of wine in the cupboard ready for mother's day.