Can’t get food ANYWHERE

[GaaaaarlicBread]

Husband and I don’t drive , my husband is however, currently having lessons and close to passing but that’ll be a couple of months away as his lessons have been cancelled .
Anyway besides the point, we have two supermarkets by us. An Aldi and a Tesco (Tesco is 40 min walk though and buses have been made less regular now). Neither store have any food, no exaggeration . I have been after work to aldi and husband has too (he finishes late so we thought they might have restocked but no).
We tried to order online last night- Ocado have suspended online shop as they have too many deliveries- Tesco, Asda, Morrison’s, Iceland and Co-op have zero slots until end of April. What do we do? Seriously? We have frozen bits from our last shop but nothing to last us more than a week.
I’m pregnant , so being extra cautious about going out other than work, my husband works shifts and we literally can’t get anything . We have loo roll , shampoo you know normal toiletries but food we have a bit of milk left , and a few tinned things and cous cous etc. A few people on here might say ‘why have you left it until you have nothing’ but we have been trying and trying and it’s getting worse because people are selfish and bulk buy unnecessarily. We both work for the nhs so work long days and this is just ridiculous .
We ended up buying nappies etc for baby even though I’m not quite half way through the pregnancy yet but every single shop is out of baby essentials too so we thought sod it we will get some in case it’s still like this in 4 or so months time.

Any ideas what we can do? Please be kind .

Tesco offering an hour before Sunday opening for NHS workers

And yes, THANK YOU, NHS workers

I agree try finding your local covid mutual aid group:

covidmutualaid.org/

I don't use FB very often these days but have now found it's been so useful for local info and support being offered in our village. All sorts of requests for things being posted and people coordinating teams of local volunteers to help people with whatever they need. I'd say it's worth creating a FB account just to join your local groups on there, particularly the closest covid mutual aid group, ours has been brilliant.

DH is an NHS worker but as we are all currently in quarantine, the slots are no use to us. I'm due out first so I'll just have to take my chances..

I was gobsmacked when I went into my nearest supermarket (sainsburys) as I have been unable to get my usual online slot from ASDA. There was literally nothing apart from clothing, homewares and sweets/chocolates on the shelves There were 2 lonely bottles of champagne and some various dog bisciuts.
Why would people be bulk buying wine?
I just wanted some milk, eggs and a bit of fruit!
So okay, we won't starve in this house, but I really can't understand the mentality that thinks this behaviour is okay!

Keeping hearing rumours of this hour before opening at Tesco for its own staff and NHS - however it's not been confirmed. DH works for Tesco and they haven't been told.

I hope all the "I need 50 cans of tomato" but no spices, go figure cunts see this... So embarrassing. I don't think I ever swore that much before...

Op, find any local facebook group. Even local bargain one here has info and people offering help. They will know or someone may have access to trade only cash and carry. Hope it gets better.

Suggest you go to local corner shops. You may need to go into Leicester or Nottingham or another city.

Corner shops and specialist shops (butchers, bakers etc. delis) seem to be well stocked round here, especially the ones that supply restaurants and pubs. I admit that we live in a high density old town (so no mega supermarkets for miles), but I would have thought there would be plenty of little shops in East Midlands.

A lot of independent puba and restaurants are offering delivery service or "order and collect" to keep going.

Definitely look on Facebook or Twitter for local help groups. We are just about to do a leaflet drop in our town to advertise a phoneline/buddy system for those self-isolating or generally struggling.

Dobbies have a food hall with a butchers etc if you have one near you?

This is terrible, I’m so sorry. Food bank? Or is there anywhere near your places of work? Diliveroo and Uber eats are doing contactless delivery

You’re complaining about not getting stuff you need because people are stockpiling yet you’ve bought nappies for a baby that hasn’t been born yet. This is the way everyone else is thinking.
I know you’re stressed out, Everybody is. Look on you’re local FB group. There’s loads of offers of help out there.

I agree with the nappy comments though. You just took nappies away from someone who needs them.

Where I live the local corner shops in the lower income levels are stocked normally. I was able to buy toilet roll (big supply there), kitchen towel and three pack tin of baked beans at 4pm. They were completely normally stocked. The supermarkets were all bare shelves.

I agree with the nappy comments though. You just took nappies away from someone who needs them

But that is what the early panic buyers have done. They have created scarcity - which has made all the other people who were shopping normally start hoarding too! There was no scarcity until the panic buyers created it?

Tesco from this weekend are opening their doors one hour early on a Sunday to NHS workers OP x

But that is what the early panic buyers have done. They have created scarcity - which has made all the other people who were shopping normally start hoarding too! There was no scarcity until the panic buyers created it?

You are right. I think the calmest people too considered buying extra after seeing empty shops. But we didn't. Not that it helped...

But that is what the early panic buyers have done. They have created scarcity - which has made all the other people who were shopping normally start hoarding too! There was no scarcity until the panic buyers created it?

If you are hoarding supplies that you do not need then you are panic buying. It doesn't matter whether you started early or late

If you are not even 20 weeks pregnant yet and you bought nappies then you are part of the problem....I had to go to 4 shops to get nappies the other day as I was actually almost out...if I didnt drive (like you) I'd have been screwed...

I am sorry that you are struggling to get food though. Do you have anyone else thay can go in the mornings for you?

@EmpressMcSchnozzle None in Harrogate?

Not RTFT but I found that supermarkets without a car park (Iceland) had stuff left last weekend. I would also try shops on the High Street/local shopping centre.

Oddbox is a fruit and veg delivery service that sends wonky stock that the supermarkets won't buy. You could try them for fresh produce.

Do you have a local milk man? They often deliver bread / eggs too.

I'm so sorry you're in this situation, OP. The world has gone mad and you and yur husband, being on the front line, do not need this on top of what must already be an incredible stressful time.

OP, not sure where abouts you are in the East Midlands but I’m around there if you need any help.

Almost everyone is hoarding supplies they “do not need”

If anyone in our family gets unwell, we all need to self quarantine for 14 days

We can’t go to the shops first.

Therefore, anyone would need 2 weeks food in the house, at any given time, right?

Therefore, people have bought more than they usually would.

Then opportunists trying to make a mint aggravated the issue by sticking up on things that were running out, selling them at a huge mark up on eBay and Amazon ....

I can’t be angry about people buying more than they normally would, as we all need to be ready for 2 weeks isolation that could happen at the drop of a hat

There is a site called Nextdoor.com that also includes some local neighborhood mutual support groups. Could it be worth trying that as well?