UK - Resources for help getting food during quarantine and other supermarket related problems

Hoo-blooming-ray.

Am I right in thinking that in the USA they've always tended to have paper grocery bags?

 

Oh no!

 

USA used to do paper, then a choice, on recent visits it’s almost all plastic. Often They have a carousel with the bags loaded on so very efficient (e.g. Walmart). But almost impossible to use own bags as I’d prefer. only at Aldi or Lidl do you get the option of pack your own. My hunch is upmarket whole foods places must offer paper still, or let you bring you own.

Just confirming that Tesco has gone back to bagging for efficiency and safety I think. But my local food bank always needs bags so I just pass them on. I usually include some long life milk for said food bank, and drop off bags and milk at a friend’s just up the road as she helps there.

 

I got my first Ocado order today and was pleased with it. I didn't buy much fresh produce as I have Riverford for this, but what I did order had satisfactory dates. I was impressed that they colour code the plastic bags for freezer, fridge and cupboard! That made it so much easier to pace the unpacking of it all.

I didn't receive any substitutions, things that were showing as out of stock after I had placed my order (so the amount couldn't be increased) were still delivered in the quantities I ordered them. So this is a major difference between Ocado and the other supermarkets I've used. In contrast I had a Tesco order I made specifically for the cat food (which is on offer) and only 2 out of the 6 boxes I ordered turned up!

Nothing was broken or dented, in contrast to my Waitrose orders where the cans have been badly dented (not good for long term storage) and some of the bags (such as lentils) split open.

So I may well be using Ocado much more often. The driver told me they are still trying to train up more drivers as fast as they can, so presumably are trying to expand to meet demand. If they open up Smart Passes to new customers again, I'd probably make them my regular delivery company. I had to spend over £75 to pay £2 for the delivery. A £40 order would have cost me £4. To get a delivery on the weekend is £7 and some days aren't available at all in my area. At the moment the cheaper deliveries are from 6pm onwards. Not great for the driver once the darker evenings draw in because there are no lights in the village and I don't have an outside one on my house!

 

Ocado priced matched my order and have given me a 1 pence credit towards my next order. Can't wait to treat myself....

 

Yep. I'm gradually trying to build up more organic items in my cupboard, then I will give all the multiple cans of tomatoes, Heinz soup, remaining cheap government issued pasta etc., to the local food bank.

I've also started to get a pint of milk 3 times a week from Milk and More (they only deliver Mon, Weds, and Friday in my area) as well as keeping items like eggs on my weekly Riverford order.

 

Wait why would there be supply chain issues?

 

Now I am a regular customer of Milk and More, I can order things like bread, juice, organic fruit and veg from them as one off orders. I'm trying to keep options open for the winter.

 

It is very expensive to build a stock of everything, to last a reasonable time.

Probably best to start with the stuff you simply couldn't get last time around, back in the dawn of time, 6 months ago.

e.g if you needed, and couldn't get flour, or radox, or bin bags - probably best to get an extra bag/packet/roll of whatever you couldn't last time

I would imagine a lot of people have already done this, to get ahead of the curve, before it turns into a cliff.

Remembering that it's not just food that was 'unobtainable' last time.

 

Think back to the difficulty getting hand gel and eggs....

 

Oh yeah. If there’s a second wave.

 

erm...some things are still harder to get than they were in February.

 

It’s been ok for us!

my partner comes round once a week to drop off food and is mostly able to get all the things we need in the shops. My mum sends him the list though so I don’t always know.

We have a weekly Abel and Cole order which now lets us add whatever we need - so we have eggs, milk, yoghurt and almond milk coming every week. This helped us so much during lockdown as well.
Also Ocado - which we only use like maybe once a month or once every 2 months - are pretty good with having hardly any substitutions At all (like 1 or 2), and even then, only substituting relevant stuff. That’s why we stick to Ocado now and not others.

 

This is our experience with Ocado too. Very few substitutions and even if they do, they’re mostly very similar to the actual product. Also the driver always brings it up to the door. We’ve never really had problems. It’s why we decided to stick with them for a while now.

 

Near the end of March I was placing £100 orders with sainsburys, getting £35-45 worth, half of which was subs, almost nothing in several orders was on my primary 'to buy' lists, but alternatives in the same categories, stuff that might do in a push, if I was 'hungry'.

Things then got worse.

Even catering supply 'cash and carries' couldn't supply almost everything I ordered, that they'd taken payment for - e.g. I got some kidney beans and that was it, out of a £70+ order.

 

We had similar experiences. My mum kept putting in Sainsburys orders because there’s one specific detergent that she wants that only Sainsburys does. And she used to do a big shop and surprise .. the order would arrive without any of the detergent lol. And any of the actual important food stuffs.
Value of order reduced by half.

The last time it happened A few months ago they missed off my favourite and most important foods that I was most looking forward to so, I said to my mum, we are not going through that again.