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Original poster

Two food shopping trips a week?

337 replies

Coffee234 · 23/03/2020 21:33

Hi. I know this isn't a big issue.
Just wanted to see what people thought and what you will be doing.
I usually do one big click and collect shop and then a small (fruit and milk) shop a few days later. No chance of getting a click and collect slot and I'm thinking it should go to the more needy anyway.

So do you think one big shop and one little shop is ok with the current lockdown.
How are you going to plan you essential food shop now?
?

OP posts:
Hannah888 · 23/03/2020 23:07

For those stru going with weekly shop Boris said as infrequently as possible but short time later Nichola Sturgeon said "once daily". She has just confused with her unnecessary statement.

BubblyBarbara · 23/03/2020 23:08

Boris already said once a day max so daily is fine

Frozenfan2019 · 23/03/2020 23:08

stickerqueen try online for toilet roll. It's not cheap but it's not expensive. I got some from an eBay company and it was next day delivery. As for fruit and veg try a local farm shop. They might deliver too.

Littlepickle90 · 23/03/2020 23:11

Everytime you go out, you may spread the disease or be infected and the cycle continues. By limiting your movement, you could prevent one or more deaths. Act selflessly.

TurnOffTheTv · 23/03/2020 23:11

Just put milk in the freezer till you need it? Oranges/apples/bananas/pears/blueberries grapefruit/etc last a full week. You don’t need to go out for a top up shop

Lockheart · 23/03/2020 23:12

I'm trying to go as little as possible, but I don't have a car or a large supermarket in walking distance. I have a few smaller shops within easy reach and I'm only going to the closest one.

Trying to balance both a) not contributing to shortages by buying in bulk (especially since on Saturday the advice was to only buy what you need for the immediate moment) and b) being able to meal plan for a week with whatever does happen to be on the shelves is tricky.

If by some chance I can shop for a week then I will, if I need to go to the shop twice a week then I will.

OhMsBeliever · 23/03/2020 23:12

It's all very well saying if there's no meat eat veggie but the last time I went shopping there was no fresh or frozen veg, and no tins of anything except chickpeas. Tins of chickpeas for dinner then? There was no meat either. It's bonkers.

I didn't need much, was only going for lunch stuff as there's 6 of us so bread doesn't last long. But it was awful to see empty aisles.

TurnOffTheTv · 23/03/2020 23:13

Boris already said once a day max so daily is fine
To exercise alone or with family. Not to go shopping.

middleager · 23/03/2020 23:15

Dried fruit, tinned fruit, frozen fruit, juice in a carton. Keep fresh fruit in the fridge. I have satumas and apples from a few weeks ago.

Visit the Preppers board for ideas.

Milk - longlife, freeze milk, condensed milk, Coconut Milk.
Local farm - get creative.

It's hard if you have kids as you want them to have calcium, but look at alternatives (cheese, yogurt, nuts).

We need to adapt. I'm vegetarian. I drink Oatly but that's all gone now. I'll drink coffee black.

We will be OK. Fresh fruit is not an emergency!

SchadenfreudePersonified · 23/03/2020 23:15

TurnOffTheTv

I was talking to DH about freezing milk only yesterday, but we both thought it might expand as it froze and burst the plastic carton. Does that not happen?

Ledkr · 23/03/2020 23:15

Don't forget the milkman.

PerkingFaintly · 23/03/2020 23:16

OP, it takes a bit of getting used to, but you can plan meals so you eat fresh food in approximately the order it goes off.

I work on a two-week cycle, because being housebound I've bugger all choice.

So spinach and raspberries would get eaten in the first few days here. By the end of the fortnight I'm onto the stuff that keeps well or that I cooked and froze early on.

It's not how most people are used to eating in the 21st century UK, but it's perfectly doable and you can have quite a decent diet on it –just not the identical thing each day unless it stores well.

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 23/03/2020 23:23

In an ideal world, you would only go shopping once a month, twice maybe.

Not everybody has a car and can carry everything
not everybody had cupboards and freezer full and only need to top up.

With the current restrictions (much needed, but keeping it a fact), many people won't have anywhere near enough to last, and possibly not even enough for 1 week.

So TRY to shop as little as possible, and really a weekly shop should be enough and you should be able to carry everything.

IdblowJonSnow · 23/03/2020 23:26

I'd try to go as close to once a week as possible.
We've got a delivery slot booked at the end of the week but basically expecting it to be cancelled.

Hornets · 23/03/2020 23:28

Soft fruits such as raspberries and strawberries are really easy to freeze. Just put them on something flat (like a baking tray) spaced out. Pop this in the freezer and when they are frozen you can transfer them to a bag or container.

Freezing them this way first means they don't stick together.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 23/03/2020 23:31

I'm trying to get the mailman Ledkr.

I'm hoping that because milk and eggs are produced in this country, and cows and hens don't just suddenly stop lactating and laying, that he'll be taking on new customers.

And I can promise you now - if any small trader helps me now, I will be a loyal customer for the rest of my life!

NotEverythingIsBlackandwhite · 23/03/2020 23:32

It also depends on availability. If you go out and discover they have no eggs that day, you will want to go back again.
You may want to but you should not. We have been told to only go out for essential food and medicine and go as infrequently as possible. If they haven't got eggs you could go back every day and they may not have them. That defeats the object of the lockdown.

If they haven't got eggs, you go without.

Zombiemum1946 · 23/03/2020 23:35

We're (well my husband will) going to have to go out 2/3 a week. The cars broken down and deliveries are just non existent. We can't get the car repaired or even get a new one. I'm hoping the hoarders will have calmed down and stock will be normal again.

WaxOnFeckOff · 23/03/2020 23:42

If I can get enough for a week for 4 adults (including 3 large men one of whom is a NHS worker) without looking like a panic buying twat then that's what i'll do.

If I need to go out again sometimes and follow all the rules then I'll do that, i'm not shopping for pleasure, using the self scan and staying away from people. I'm 99% percent sure I've already had it and therefore should not be infectious and probably immune.

I'll only be doing more shopping than that if I have to help anyone in isolation, so in effect doing their one a week shopping trip as well as my own if i've already been and done mine when asked to help.

PickAChew · 23/03/2020 23:45

If there's no eggs, one of my autistic boys doesn't eat. At all.

fodderbeet · 23/03/2020 23:58

We currently shop about every 5 or 6 days for fresh stuff, but have a freezer full of meat, milk, fruit and veg, and a pretty full pantry. his is normal for us, we live rurally and always have a fully stocked approach. As long as the on-line shop delivers most of the stuff most of the time we'll be ok. We've been using the fresh stuff and topping up from stock. I'm hoping by the time we run low on stuff, everyone will have run out of money or space or both and shops will be fully stocked again.

happymummy12345 · 23/03/2020 23:58

We need a food shop, my husband was going to go first thing to get what we need as we currently have nothing in, we have a 4 year old and for financial reasons tomorrow is the first chance we have to get a shop in. He will be going to the co op and Tesco express that are near us, keeping away from other people of course. Then to the corner shop for essentials like milk and bread if we need to (it's literally at the end of our road).
Can he still just go? And just explain what he is doing if necessary? I'm worried and don't want him to get in any trouble, but we do need to eat, so he does need to go out tomorrow:

Angryrant55 · 23/03/2020 23:59

Not everyone has a freezer big enough to store days worth of milk in along with food to eat.

Angryrant55 · 24/03/2020 00:06

This is arguably the opposite of ww2 - those who can afford to hoard and store will but those who cant are being told it's tough.

Newspapers are still being printed in italy.

Considering the sizes of a village shop a ban on leaving your village like in Italy would mandate daily shopping only to prevent chaos.

Hereforthenamethreads · 24/03/2020 00:07

I think it is going to be hard to do one shop a week with the restrictions on what you can buy. You can only 2 tins of soup at a time. There are 5 of us. That is half a lunch. We're going to need to go at least twice if we can't buy enough to last a week the first time. We'll empty the cupboards first but if the supermarkets keep limiting to such small amounts families are going to need to go more than once a week soon enough.