Over 70's Lockdown-Is it compulsory?

[MissyJane2]

Hi folks. I live in greater London and things are getting very bad because of this Coronavirus thing. I normally shop online for my grocerys,(home delivery) but for the past 2 weeks both Tescos and Sainsburys have no delivery slots for 4 weeks. The ealists ones are 8th April and of courseI can't wait that long.

So I have had to go out to the shops to get my foods and esentials. But all of the 3 supermarkers in my town,ASDA, Sainsbuyrs and Tesco have got nothing the shelves are almost bare. No pototoes, no toilet rolls or boxes of tiisues, hardly any frozen foods and no tinned foods not even any baked beans or a can of s every day just ardines which I love.

So I have been forced to go to corner shops as they are the only ones who have things though they never had any tiisues or toilet rolls.
And the corner shop is the only one who is not rationing food,but with the big supermarkets you can only buy 2 packs of tiolet rolls and other things like rice and pasta.
If you try to buy more the shop assistant tells you to put it back and that they can only sell you 2.

But it's got even worse, now both Tesco and Sainsbuys have rations all their stock meaning you can only buy 3 of the same item. I understand why they are doing it because of the panic buying but that means. If I run out of tins of beans and want to buy say 4 tins to last me for the week, I can't as Tesco only allow you 2 tins. Same with soups like Baxters Tinned.(If you are lucky enough to find them as they are always out of stock by the time I get down there.) So now I am forced to go there every day just to get some beans or soup for tomorrow and even then I am going home withou anythingt as they have not got any, the shelives are empty.
So I end up back at the corner shop where I am paying twice as much for what tesco sell the same stuff for.

I have read the government wants to impose lockdown for the over 70's where they would have to stay in their homes for 4 months! I am 56 so it won't effect me, but what about the ones who are 70? I mean you cannot stay at home and never leave the house for 4 months. You have to buy food/suplys and pay the bills. And many old people have got no family or friends to go out and get the food for them.So they have to do it themselves. Which is not a problem under normal circumstances as they can get out. Not all old people are unable to and many of them still work and live full lives. But that is going to change for them.
The government is saying they can use the online grocery services but we can't, because they got no delivery slots for over a months.
So what do they expect them to do?

People are saying social services will help but they are not going to be there all the times. So if they run out of food and the social carer cannot come to them if this lockdown is imposed they won't be able to go out to the shops to get the fod themselves. Because of the lockdown which could mean they could be stopped from doing so by police every time they leave the house. Or at least that's what all of the online news articles seem to be saying.

Not only that but now I have just read that the government might put the whole of London in Loockdown by this weekend for all of us not just the over 70's. So none of us will be able to go out. And now I don't know what I am going to do if that happens. It's hard enough when I go out I find every supermarket I go to there is no food or esentials like washing up liquid. Now we are going to loose out freedom completely and won't even be allowed to leave out homes.
So how are we going to get our food when it runs out? If we are lucky enough to find any if we can get to the shops?
We can't order online as there are no delivery slots and I have tried every website, ASDA, Iceland and others, NOTHING.

I am finding things very hard as I think Im worried I might die of starvation not Coronavirus as finding even the basic foods like potates and rice is a problem and it should not be. And now even the corner shop is runing out as he had less stuff when I went there today.
Now we could be face with lockdown which they say could go on for months and I don't think I could cope with it for that long.
I don't want to live in third world conditions for months or even a years as they say it could be 18 months before they find a vacine for this virus. I don't think I could stand it that long,stuck at home not allowed as we would be arrested if we do, no food or even toilet paper. Is there any resolution for this so we can get back to normal living ASP?
Sorry for the long rant but I can't put up with much more of this and I'm sure most other people feel the same way as I do.

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Hello op. Super markets are busy rethinking things and I think that things will get easier. In the meantime have a look at Milk and More and Hello Fresh who can deliver.

[Unshriven]

You can go out for food, medicine, work etc. even during 'lockdown'.

Stop reading reactionary rubbish.

[TW2013]

You will be able to go to supermarkets. Look on Facebook etc. Lots of small businesses (greengrocers, butchers etc.) offering delivery. You might just not be able to get the exact brand you want and you might need to eat slightly differently. It has 'only' been less than two months in China and there are no new cases there. We can be more like Wuhan or more like Italy which is still spiraling. Alternatively we could do nothing and maybe 1 in 40 of your friends could die, 1 in 7 be in hospital for weeks (if a space and a ventilator). Or maybe more depending on the demographic of your friendship group. I know what I am going to do.

[MissyJane2]

So what you are saying is that when it comes into force the over 70'swill still be able to go out to shop for themselves if they want to?

[pantsforhats]

Nobody knows what will happen in a lockdown.

However every time you go out you risk sharing/catching the virus. So we need to stop.

Our supermarkets round here have food, maybe not what you'd have traditionally chosen but there is food.

This is exceptional, no one knows what to do and it's finding our way.

But every time we mix we risk more deaths, the over 70s are most at risk. They should stay in. We should all only be out for essential needs and observe social distancing.

[MumInBrussels]

Most places in lockdown still let you go out to the supermarket and other food shops, and here some have reserved the first hour of opening for the elderly, so they can more easily get the things they need before the shelves empty. (There isn't a supply chain issue - food, loo roll etc are all available - supermarkets are just struggling to restock the shelves when people buy in bulk like this.) I think measures like that are likely to become more widespread, if people's panic buying doesn't calm down after the first days. There are lots of things to worry about at the moment, OP, but please don't worry about this particular thing - it's not as bad as you're imagining it will be.

[PotholeParadise]

The over 70s lockdown is not going to be compulsory. It is strongly advised.

If you want to go out for food, you will be able to. But at present we're trying to sort it so they won't have to.

[Peridot1]

I don’t think it will be recommended for over 70s to go out but there is talk of solutions to help. And there are FB groups for most areas set up with people offering to help. Also local churches - we had a card dropped in today with contact details of a local community church who are offering help for people.

Also IF lockdown happens it should actually mean that the supermarkets will be able to manage stock levels better because very man and his dog, cat and rabbit won’t be out shopping with two full trollies each.

On line delivery will hopefully get back to normal too. The systems were completely overwhelmed and it will take them time to catch up and put systems in place to keep going hopefully.

Nobody expected this level of panic buying so the supermarkets are struggling. I know Sainsbury’s are closing their deli and meat and fresh food counters - pizzas, sushi etc so they can repurpose for more stock of basics.

Most supermarkets have also introduced early dedicated shopping hours for elderly or vulnerable shoppers which should help.

[PotholeParadise]

Nobody expected this level of panic buying so the supermarkets are struggling. I know Sainsbury’s are closing their deli and meat and fresh food counters - pizzas, sushi etc so they can repurpose for more stock of basics.

See, this is what confuses me. Am I the only one who's even seen what happens in UK supermarkets when people have to buy enough food to last them from the 22nd December to the 27th? Or if it snows very, very slightly?

What did the people in charge of supply and procurement think was going to happen?

[Orangeblossom78]

In case this helps any of the older people in this position there are meal delivery services such as Parsleybox, which are meant to be good. might be worth a try if shops running low. Wiltshire farms foods also

[Lynda07]

It's barely started yet, MissyJane, so I don't know how you'll cope when you aren't sure you can put up with it now :-). You will though.

Grocery deliveries have only started to be difficult in the last week, up until then they were fine. I've had a lot of stuff delivered (& am actually expecting a delivery this evening but we'll see what happens), and think I can live off my stock of food for quite some time. The same applies to toiletries, I've bought online from Boots and Superdrug for a few years and always have a good stock (including household paper of various types) - I've been able to help a couple of others actually and will again.

I didn't go out shopping (hate it!), before the pandemic so not going to shops is nothing new to me. I can go in my back garden if I want fresh air. It's peaceful at home.

Not going out for a meal is a bit disappointing but hardly the end of the world.

What will be difficult for many people of my age will be not socialising, it's really important to some elderly to see friends, talk and have a laugh regularly. We're all different though. I like being at home alone and I suppose I'm fortunate to feel that way. It will seem strange emerging back into the world in a few months, how different we will all be! Something to look forward to.

I don't think lockdown means you can't go out at all for essentials and many shops are opening early for an hour for pensioners. However you are not a pensioner.

Buying two packets of toilet roll at a time is OK, surely? How many do you usually buy in one go? Panic buying has resulted in a shortage but if everyone just bought one or two packets each time they shopped there would be enough for everyone. It's far harder on families with children at home.

If you have a husband/partner, he can go shopping on his own and that would mean double what you have now.

Don't be downhearted, you won't starve. You may find you're eating things you wouldn't normally eat and 'making do' but you'ill get by. I've ordered some tinned Irish stew from Amazon which is something I would never have previously considered but I'm looking forward to it. Deliveroo and Just Eat are still in business too.

We are probably more fortunate living in the London area than if we were out in the sticks.

Take care of yourself and try to live each day as it comes.

[kirsty75005]

I'm in France, which is on lockdown since a couple of days. I have come on this thread to reassure you.

Nowhere in the world, not even in Wuhan, has there been a lockdown so extreme that people were banned from leaving their homes to get food. Lockdown does not mean that you absolutely cannot put a foot outside, it means there is a list of acceptable reasons for leaving your homes and you must be able to justify yourself if the police ask. Getting basic supplies is one of them.

Nowhere, not even in Wuhan, have people been unable to get food because of the virus. In France, there was panic buying the morning of the day that lockdown came in - Tuesday - and Tuesday midday the supermarkets were looking pretty bare. I went out to do a shop twenty four hours later: the shelfs were already back to normal and the shop was practically empty.

(Thank you, shoppers of France, for doing you duty and staying at home!)

I assume that people in supply and procurement have more notice of Christmas than of lockdown ? I understand Christmas planning in retail takes several months, not a a few days...

[MissyJane2]

Most places in lockdown still let you go out to the supermarket and other food shops, and here some have reserved the first hour of opening for the elderly, so they can more easily get the things they need before the shelves empty.
That's good to know MumInBrussles.

I am not over 70 I am a 56 year old single woman.
My parents are both dead (mum and Dad passed away so I have no family or friends who can go out and get food for me.
I have got what my GP said is mild Flue but I have been forced to go out for food because I have no one else who will do it for me.

I live in a block of flat's( housing association) and I don't think any of the neighbors here would go out and get food for me. They are not that friendly. Well you know what it is in London when it comes to the crunch people don't want to know. So I don't think they would.

And I can't get a delivery slot from any of the online groceries.
Normally if I was ill or not able to get out I could but not anymore since this crisis started. I looked online again today the nearest slot they have is the 10th of April
And those slots go very quickly as quick as they come.
trying to get a delivery slot is like trying to get an audience with the pope now.

I would have bought extra supply's to stock up on when I went out yesterday but the stores won't let you. They have now rationed almost everything to 2 or 3 items of each and there is hardly anything on the shelves anyway.

So you are lucky if you find a bag of potatoes or even any food at all.
That's why I have been going out every day even though I have the flue and should really be indoors but I can't because I still gotta eat but I simply cannot find what I need in any of the shops and if I do find it they only have it in very little quantities, I mean you can now only buy one packet of tissues(if you can find them) and that's not going to last me for the week is it? Neither is 2 tins of baked beans, per shop, which is all they let you buy now.

I don't agree with this panic buying.
My flat is small so I would not have the space to store it anyway.
And it is pointless. Even if we could buy say 10 bags of potatoes which we can't,. Potatoes only keep for a week then they go bad so they would be useless in 2 weeks time.

Now I read the government is thinking of putting us in lockdown from Friday which is tomorrow. I don't know how my food is going to last me for a month or even several months.

The frozen food will but not the fresh food or the food in the fridge.
It's things like the brad and potoates and fruit and cake which goes bad or goes past it's expiry date, so has to be replaced.

Ordinarily I would just buy new potatoes,cakes or fruit when that runs out or goes bad or paste it's expiry date. But now of course I can't because I cannot get any, there are none in the shops.
And now we might not even be able to go out.

It's bad enough not being able to get the foods we want and love but now the government is going to take our freedom away buy locking us up in our homes. They might as well put us in prison.

This whole situation is something like out of a horror film.
This is a nightmare that I want to wake up from.
But I am awake and this is real.
I don't know what to do and this morning I am going to the bank to transfer some more of my money from my main account into my Currant account that I pay my rent to my Housing Assosiation with (which is by Direct Debit) incase the bank decides to close. If lockdown does start they will do and it could go on for months but my rent still has to be payed.

[SquirmOfEels]

Contact your council - most are compiling lists of volunteers who couid assist you with shopping. There are also a number of other organisations with volunteers whomwill do things like shopping or dogwalking. Try google

[SilverySurfer]

I'm self isolating and as soon as this thing blew up and supermarket shelves started emptying, instead of booking my delivery slots for a couple of days ahead, I started booking a couple of weeks and now a month ahead. Order a delivery for when you can, even in April and keep an eye on how soon you need to book for the following week.

Good luck.

[MissyJane2]

Order a delivery for when you can, even in April and keep an eye on how soon you need to book for the following week.

But it's so far away, 4 weeks and even then there is no quarantine if I order a delivery from Tesco or who every that they will even turn up,let alone bring all of the food I ordered.

That's why I am going out, now almost every day to get things.

I used to do a big shp(either online or at the store) but now I can't because of the item limit. And as I said before, even then your lucky if you can find the goods in the fist place. I am going home empt handed with no potates, no toilet rolls, not even any soap,I can't even get bar soap now.

And what potoates I could get are not very good, they are started to go soft already.

I keep on saying potatoes because it is my main diet.
In my freezer I have things like fish fingers, frozen beefburgers, southern fried chicken breasts and quorn mince.

Frozen veg such as frozen brussles Sprouts and frozen peas and carrots.
I don't buy raw meet and cook from scratch the frozen things such as " fish fingers" are what one would call convenience foods.
But I don't buy frozen chips or frozen roast potates, I make my own myself from fresh ones.

I could make myself some chips and roast potates out of some of the potaotes I still have left then freeze them in my freezer. At least that way if I run out and cannot get outside as looks likely, at least I wil still have chips or roasties to eat.

But the problem is my freezer is now full up with the fish fingers and southern fried chicken breasts so there,s no room!
And I don't want to throw any of my frozen food away as it's like gold dust now!

[MissyJane2]

Phoned up my building society just now.
GOOD NEWS They are open today as normal.
So I am going up there today.
The woman I spoke to on the phone at my bank says she does not think it will come to a lockdown.

I hope she's right.
I wish I could share her optamisim but I can't.
What I am seeing on the TV right now( i am watching both Sky and BBC News) they are making it sound very bleak. Like it's gonna happen to us.
The lockdown and other closures of schools and public places I mean.

[SissySpacekAteMyHamster]

Book a slot, then you've got it coming.

I got a tesco delivery today, lots missing and lots of substitutions, but I've got food at least!

The idea of elderly isolating is to try and put less strain on the NHS, as they are the group most likely to need hospitalization. Having them out in droves for Golden hour seems somewhat counterproductive!

[MissyJane2]

Some one I spoke to yesterday who was wearing a face mask in a shop asked me "Are you scared of getting Coronavirus by going out."

No I'm am not.

Sure I am worried I might get it and I do have a flue but both my GP I saw and 111 NHS who I phoned up said it's unlikely I have it.
As I don't have any cough or any trouble breathing, I just feel a bit week.
So I they think it's just a heavy cold.
Well the GP said if it was flue I would be too weak to go out and I am out and up and doing things at home like housework.

The government are saying don't hug or kiss people but this is England.
Nobody hugs or kisses strangers in public places anyway.

I still go out but I don't go to London or on the Tube now.
just to my town center and back.

Well I did shake hands with a woman in the shop yesterday.
A lot of people might not but I am not afraid.

I am 56 so I am not a young woman.
I could have a heat attack or get killed by a car crossing the street.
one does not know the future.

Just as I don't know if I will get Coronavirus or not.
But I am not going to lock myself away in my home out of fear of it.

I have asked both my GP and NHS 111 to give me a bllod test to check for it as I have the flue.
But they said no.
They only do priorty testing whatever that means.

Maybe if they did test everybody it would put our minds at rest.

I would be willing to have a test if they gave me one but I asked them and they said no.

I think testing to find out who has or has not got it would be better than lockdown.

[MissyJane2]

And Oh, when I go out I did not dare tell anyone I have the Flue,even my neighbors don't know.
I am too scared to tel them incase they call someone and take me away to quarantine.

Well my GP knows because I told and I told 111NHS him but nobody else knows. But both my GP and NHS111 say I have not got Coronavirus as I don't have those symptoms of it.
So I think/hope I have not.

[SilverySurfer]

I appreciate it's four weeks away and you will have to go shopping in the meantime but then you keep booking each week a month ahead until things calm down. Yes there are restrictions on some items; I also rely on potatoes - I don't eat pasta or rice, and I'm worried I won't get any in my order on Saturday but we have to deal with it the best way we can until this crisis is over.

I'm over 70 with health issues so in self isolation and don't have the option of going to the shops so will have to get creative with what food I do have/get delivered. I think it's going to be the same for all of us.

[MissyJane2]

I appreciate it's four weeks away and you will have to go shopping in the meantime but then you keep booking each week a month ahead until things calm down.

But that's just it. There is NO FOOD in the supermarkets.
I can go shopping but the shelves are almost bare so I cannot get the foods I need.

I went out again today at about 2pm. I went to my bank to transfer £7000 from my savings account which is a passbook to my current account. In case there is a lockdown and the banks have to close.

I had to do this because I pay my rent myself which is £616 a month to my Housing Association. I don't get any housing benefit because when my mum died she left her house to me and my 2 sisters.

My sisters sold the house and we each got a third of the money so I can't get any benefits because my savings are over £16000 (although I used to before I got my money from mums house) but now I cannot because of my savings.

So I now have to pay my rent myself and I don't want to end up in arrears and be kicked so I have made sure to have enough money in the currant account so if we do get put on lockdown and the banks have to close my rent will still get paid.

We may be locked in or the banks will close but my HA are still going to take the rent which is paid to them by direct Debit. So I have to make sure enough money is in there if I am no longer going to be able to go to the bank if they close.

After I came out of the bank I went to Marks and Spencer(M&S) and they did have more food than Teso and Sainsbuys but they never had any potatoes or rice and no toilet paper or tissues either.

The only potatoes they had was the frozen oven chips but my freezer is full with the fish fingers and frozen green veg so I have no room for them. If I had bought the frozen chips I would have to throw out some of the fish fingers and frozen chicken breast to make room for the chips as they won't go in. But I don't want to do that because I know if I throw the fish fingers away I won't be able to get anymore because Sainsburys and Tesco have not got them.

M&S have them and they have got other frozen stuff like Frozen Chicken breasts and they do the jumbo Fish Fingers which are nice as you only need 2 to fill you up.

But the problem is M&S have now restricted everything same as Tesco and the other big supermarkets have. So you can only buy 2 of the same item.

I am very upset by this as they had plenty of can of sardines and makeral. And I wanted to buy 4 tins of each but I was told I could not as you can only buy 2 of the same things, so I had to put the rest back.

I bought some tinned ham and corned beef, I would not normally as I don't eat tinned ham or beef I like the fresh ones from the fridge.
But as you know fresh ham only has a short shelf life but tinned ham keeps for many months unopened.

So I bought the tinned so I would not get caught without any ham or corned beef. But again they would only allow me to buy 2 tins and it's the same with baked beans.

I normally would buy 5 tins of baked beans to last me for the week, but I can't now, I can only buy too. Which is no enough as 2 tins is not going to last me a whole week so now if I want more I have to go out again the next day just to get 2 more tins. It so stupid and I find it's humiliating that when I go into a shop I now have to ask the shop assistant" how many items am I allowed to have" where as I did not have to before this crisis.
Only last week I could just go into the supermarkets and just buy as many tins of beans and frozen food as I wanted and there were toilet rolls and everything and all the food I wanted. you were spoiled for choice no one told me I could not have this or not have that. I could just pick them up put in my basket and buy them.And if I ran out I could go and buy more.

Now there is no food at all in most of the shops and if there is }I cannot buy what I want or need as they are all restricted to 2 or 3 items. Most shops now have rules they won't let you buy more than 2 or 3 items of the same thing and I HATE it.

It is becoming a battle to find food and it's not just having to keep going out every day to the shop to try to find it, it if or not there will be any food on the shelves when you get there, which there isn't.

M&S had more stuff and I was able to get my tins of sardines, cling film freezser bags for storing food in the freezer, tins of soup and ham but I could only buy 2 of each , they have this on everything now. But they did not a few days ago so they must have just changed their rules. And more shops are doing this so it's not only the big supermarkets.

One happier note was that I did find a shop called Poundland that also does food, such as tinned stuff and everything for the food cupboard but they don't do chilled or frozen food.

They had quite a number of tinned meats tinned spaghetti,tinned mac and cheese, cereals and other things including essentials.
But again no toilet rolls or boxes of tissues, I can't get those anywhere.
But the good news is that Poundland do not rationed the food like many other stores are doing the only thing they rationed is toilet rolls and tissues to 3 of each, but everything else you can just buy as many as you want.

So I bought 10 packs of microwave in the bag rice 8 tins of sardines as I know it may be a long time before i see those again in the shops.
And some tinned hamburgers in gravy. I don't eat those either but I may need to if I can't get frozen meat and as I said tinned food keeps for a very long time but fresh meats don't.

There was no tinned potatoes they don't have those anyway either though you could get them before the crisis but not now.And no baked beans. But I managed to get what I wanted even if it was not everything I would have liked.

Then I went home by taxi then walked down to Tesco but they had next to nothing. No frozen food(glad I got the fish fingers before the crisis started) as they have none now.
No frozen veg, no potates ot fresh veg, no chilled ham or cold meats.
So all I was able to get was 2 tins of soup as they too only allow you 3 of the same items,not more.
But Tescos have got nothing and neither have Sainsburys of ASDA.
It's not even worth going in there as they have no food and of course no violet,rolls or boxes of tissue and no no kitcken rolls either.

Every day I do down there to the supermarkets it gets worse and worse they have less and less and now nothing.
How are we supposed to manage without food.
We cannot get pasta and rice now and potaotes are no none exitent.
Even the corner shops have not got them.
My potatoes at home are going a bit brown and soft now as they only keep for a week.Though I do keep them in the fridge as I always have done to make them last a bit longer.They don't last that long,under normal circumstances I would just buy more but now I can't because the shops have no potatoes.

But My corner shop did have big bags of dried rice that you boil up on the stove. I don't have a stove as I have a halogen oven but I do have a microwave and you can biol them in that in a boil of water the same as you can with potatoes and pasta it still cooks the same and less mess than on a stove.

The corner shop was the only shop to have the dried rice which I bought because a bag of rice lasts for months and you get many servings as with potatoes. Where as the Microwave rice in a bag only gives you one serving, so you have to buy many bags.

Both Tesco and M&S had the Microwave rice in a bag but you can only buy 2 so it would not have been enough to last me a long time should we have a lockdown or not be able to get any more rice.

But Poundland let you buy as many as you want which I did but I still need the bad of dried rice as I know my potatoes are going to run out soon and I cannot eat just fish finger or burgers on their own. It won't fill me up, you need something else with it such as chips,mash, pasta or rice. But at least if I cannot get potatoes I now have the rice so I am pleased about that.

Oh and I bought some golden syrup to sweeten my tea in case my sugar runs out as the shops don't have that either. I bought that in Poundland as I did the coffee they also have tea bags as many packs as you want. Which Tesco have not got.

[SilverySurfer]

I had to do this because I pay my rent myself

Of course, who else would pay it?

My sisters sold the house and we each got a third of the money so I can't get any benefits

Well you have a third a house in savings so of course you aren't eligible for benefits.

I understand what you are saying about the supermarkets being empty but it's not unique to you, everyone is experiencing exactly the same. Have you tried smaller stores or some of the ethnic stores?

If your potatoes are going a bit soft you could bake them or turn them into mash and freeze. Same with veg, if it's just past it's best you could either prep and freeze or make soup. If your freezer is full, eat items from it rather than the fresh stuff you buy.

I'm self isolating so will have to rely on what the supermarket delivers but they are not the only place that sells food as you've discovered and if your freezer is full, you are unlikely to starve.

I only buy free range meat and since meat is selling out in supermarkets anyway I have placed an order with a really good London butcher who is delivering enough of a variety next week to last me a few weeks.

The bottom line is this is not just affecting you; we are ALL experiencing problems but we must make the best of what we have and try to be positive instead of sinking into a quagmire of negativity.

[Nononoandno]

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-they-call-it-the-apocalypse-inside-italys-hardest-hit-hospital-11960597

[MissyJane2]

I had to do this because I pay my rent myself

Of course, who else would pay it?

My sisters sold the house and we each got a third of the money so I can't get any benefits Well you have a third a house in savings so of course you aren't eligible for benefits.

No I don't have my mums house because my sisters sold it and we each got a third of the capital. We each got 113k but that was 4 years ago in 2016.

I now only have about 60k left because it has all gone on rent, bills and the cost of living.
So in about 2 years time I will have to go back on Housing benefit when my money runs out(bellow 16k) but that could be sooner, as my HA keep on putting the rent up every year.

I have tried to use the money to try to move but I have found I cannot because the money is not enough to buy a place.

I cannot get a morgage because I am not working and cannot work.
And I cannot find any private rented becausemost landlords won't take people who are not working.
Even though I told them I can pay the rent they want me to pay 6 months or a year upfront then yearly or 6 monthly and not every month like my HA lets me pay.
And if I did that my money will run out sooner and when I have to go back on Housing Benefit the landlords would probably throw me out.
Because they don't like people who are on benefits, and they won't take me on anyway. So I have had to stay with the HA but I am thinking of getting a flat with Anckor the sheltered housing for over 55s, who have 1 bedroom flats.
They seem better than my HA and rents are a bit cheaper and some flat include bills in the rent so that would save me money.
And I might get a better area and neighbors. And I am not happy with my HA so I might be better off with Anckor.

But first we have to get out of this hell with the Coronavirus before we start thinking about that. If the government imposes this lockdown our lives are about to end as we will be virtual prisoners. They might as well put us in a prison and even there at least we will get food.

If your potatoes are going a bit soft you could bake them or turn them into mash and freeze. Same with veg, if it's just past it's best you could either prep and freeze or make soup. If your freezer is full, eat items from it rather than the fresh stuff you buy.

Oh yes the potatoes.
I want to make chips or roast potaoes with them and freeze them but there is no room in my freezer.
What do I do about that?
I don't want to throw any of the stuff in there,which is not potates products away. Because I know I won't get any more.There is none in the shops.

I have been to the corner shops and they are the only ones who have got the food I need and they don't ration anything which is good.

I have also bought lots of tinned stuff but I have no place to put them as my kitchen is only small with little cupboard space. So I have had to put my tins in the corner on my kitchen floor because I have nowhere else to put them.
Are they safe there?

I am worried that might attract ants in the summer but is it okay since the tins are sealed are tinned food are?