If you are receiving shopping via volunteers please can I request

[MatildaTheCat]

That you stick to essential items and keep them as non specific as possible. DH and I shopped for two vulnerable people this morning under an official scheme. Their requests included 1 litre gin (ok maybe essential), branded tonic, branded cleaning items, organic gala apples, rose and raspberry lemonade, non sweetened organic coconut milk and on and on.

I lost a lot of sleep last night worrying about the additional exposure to the public while searching for half this stuff. In fact we did get pretty much everything but had we been asked for ie large brown loaf, cheddar, packet of bacon, mince, frozen peas it would have been a lot less stressful. This is going to last some months for the most vulnerable, if you or your family are in that category please help by keeping it simple.

Thank you.

We can get Deliveroo deliveries from our local BP garage, which was handy when we were self-isolating and needed milk or bread.

Just had to do one for my DM for chocolate and biscuits - which to be fair to her are essentials, as she basically lives off them, washed down with coffee - but had great difficulty getting her to understand that she'd get what she got, and I couldn't guarantee particular brands of biscuits or luxury chocolates!

I think we've all just got so used to being able to get exactly what we fancy all the time. I consider myself very lucky that I've been able to still get the Greek yoghurt and frozen raspberries that constitute my usual "treat"!

This is the Eason I am still shopping even though the household should be shielding ( my daughter has cf).

We have so many individual diets in the home, we know most products we can and can't use...which brand has soya or dairy or gluten in. The brands a specific for a reason. OTOH they could just be pains in the arse!

Incontinencesucks, many of the supermarkets have now relaxed the restrictions as the panic buying has stopped for now. There are still restrictions on hand gel and the like because, selfish people, but other than that - generally good stock availability.

We are more rural based LyingWitchInTheWardrobe so our locals haven't relaxed anything. It would be nice if they would as things like milk bread eggs and meat etc are still only sold in certain amounts. The shops are well stocked though no sanitiser at all last time i checked.

People are going through local suppliers of farm foods but it's more expensive so multiple trips are needed when volunteering.

We have bog roll now thankfully as I'm due a period very soon as was starting to wonder...

If the people requesting help are picky about it, their volunteers rapidly will stop doing it.

Would you rather generic food delivered or no food? Because this is 12 weeks we're talking about. Those will be your choices eventually.

Apart from anything else who can afford to buy luxury products on a regular basis for other people? What if someone doesn't pay you back?

There is no way I would buy gin or alcohol of any kind for a stranger.

YANBU

It's ok if they ask for specific things, as long as they understand that they may very likely not be available and you can't go around multiple shops searching for them. I'd say something along the lines of "I'm going to Tesco, I'll try and get your specific brand if I can but if I can't, are you happy to have substitutions? I'm trying to stick to the rules of only shopping as necessary so I won't be able to go to multiple shops for you". If you wouldn't go to multiple shops for yourself, it's reasonable to say you can't for someone else.

I know it's different everywhere but some of our shops have been so empty that you can't get anything specific for many items. It's not that they don't have a certain type of apples, more that they don't have any fruit at all. I buy whatever there is, can't be picky at the moment if it's not in stock!

@WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles so who is getting those treasured slots? The three supermarkets I have an online account with won’t take an order from me as I’m not on their priority / vulnerable list. I rather naively assumed that meant for those who are, slots are reasonably available (perhaps the Ocado server has its fingers in its ears going LALALALA very loudly until September)

I think it varies a lot by location, both Tesco and Sainsbury's are showing good availability of delivery slots where I am and Morrison’s have click and collect within the next few days.

I think it really varies by area herman , there have been a lot of recent threads on MN about people not being able to get slots, both in the vulnerable group and people who don't technically fall into it themselves but have vulnerable DC etc.

Certainly here locally there are no online slots available, I know you can ring Sainsbury's to register as vulnerable if they don't have you down, but you can't get through! Although the stores aren't too busy but missing items like flour/eggs etc.

I've also just looked at PrimeNow which are in our area (I think they use Morrison's?) but they have no slots available here.

YgI gtgggtgg

Our local co-op is on deliveroo- lots of basics available.

@Gizmo79

YgI gtgggtgg

U OK hun

Goodness, I didn’t have any idea this had gone to so many pages.

As I last posted, I really took on board all of the helpful and constructive advice given. I tried to forget some of the more unpleasant comments from people who seem determined to be mean to anyone who voices a worry about anything.

We’ve done several more shops in the past week (yep, virtue signalling, no need to point it out), and I’ve been way more careful in taking the orders down and had more discussion about what is and is not ok by way of substitution. It turns out that we were a bit unlucky with our first two clients (who got everything they asked for but it was a bit stressful). Lists have been a mixture of items as you’d expect, some basics, some chocolate and wine. All good.

So if anyone is thinking about signing up for this, go ahead, it’s fine. I’ve chatted to new people which is always nice and used up some of our plentiful free time.

I’d advise you against posting about it on here though.