To ask for a roundup of all the 'non-essentials'?

[SuckingDownDarjeeling]

I've seen some beautiful examples of things some commenters think are 'non-essential' and therefore people shouldn't be leaving their houses for... trawling through each thread to find them is so tiresome, will some kind MNers please share what they've seen that made them laugh?

I'll start... Newspaper, Bread, Milk

Not looking to name and shame anybody, I just want some insight into the state of things right now.

I'm just waiting for somebody to start listing off 'essential' medications. Maybe that will stop selfish people flocking off to the pharmacies to buy Germoloids finally! (That was a joke please don't kill me )

I'm going to need some guidance on how to use cheese on my weetabix...

Was it not the other way around? Cheese can be made from milk? Not sure how you'd convert it back to milk!

If you have the internet a newspaper isn't an essential. I read all newspapers and magazines through Press Reader.

Not everyone has internet access to do this. You do know that?

And someone has already come on to the thread to tell us newspapers aren’t essential 😂 gotta love mumsnet. Didn’t even get a full page before they arrived

Milk ( ah hello, British we drink tea...what kind of weirdo drinks that black)
Wine ( yes let’s all be locked in with dc, partners and not have a drop of wine)
Washing powder ( can’t you hand wash in the bath with washing up liquid, fuck off Jackie that isn’t happening)
Hair dye ( I saw a poster tell the previous poster buying some when she was in a Tesco was KILLING GRANNIES- wtf?)
Bread ( so no toast, sandwiches, something to dip in your soup)
Shoes, when your child can’t fit in the ones they have. They can just play our bare foot right?

Basically the I saw Mary buying chocolate in Tesco, that’s not essential threads have taken over from the food thread when people say they eat a grain of rice, some dust and are full for 3 days

I don't think the supermarkets want to be disposing of tonnes and tonnes of 'non-essential' items, so of course we should carry on buying the extras when we're there getting the essentials. There'd be mountains of cake, hot cross buns, chocolate, crisps, fruit etc etc if we just left it there, and what would happen to those producing these items?

I'm buying wine when I go to Aldi on Thursday. Hope the Supermarket Stasi won't be watching 🕵️

I’m not sure this thread is entirely fair, I think what most people are saying is that there are very few items which are so essential they warrant a special trip out to buy them. Most items (including bread, milk etc) can easily be substituted or skipped for a day or two until you go out and buy a larger shop of more stuff, reducing the number of overall trips outside you make.

It’s non essential trips out for individual items that is increasing everyone’s risk. No one needs to walk out daily and buy a paper, or an Easter egg, or anything really.

fuck off Jackie that isnt happening

A new bra because I'm pregnant (10 weeks) my boobs feel the size of my head and I have one bra I find comfortable. Didn't stop someone tutting at me and saying 'is that really an essential item?' In sainsbury. Being the hormonal wreck that I am right now I almost burst into tears right there

Socks. The op the other day, who asked if the supermarket was selling socks for their dc. Then there was the one about baby vests. Apparently they’re superfluous this time of year. My dd lived in them in the summer as a newbie!

I cannot subsitute milk. No coffee, no workee (or, in my case, I become unable to chase after a toddler by myself for 13 hours).

I saw someone being criticised on FB for sharing a deal on chocolate in B&M. I’m sure that’s not the reason they went there.

We NEED to buy milk to support dairy farms. It’s not like they can stop making the stuff!! It’s there anyway, buy it and drink nice tea!
I hope the people who are criticising what others are buying are eating nothing but gruel made with water. Otherwise they can fuck off.

Minimise your shopping journeys, not what you buy when you are there.

What's essential for one person won't be essential to another. Meat for example - most of my family would consider meat an essential, as a veggie I don't but I understand why it's essential for them. Similarly they recognise why I consider having some meat substitutes in like soy mince for bolognese, cottage pies and enchiladas to be essential.

Paracetamol is essential to me as the one painkiller I can safely take, allergic to ibuprofen and banned from aspirin as an asthmatic. To someone with 3 boxes of aspirin paracetamol may not be essential.

It's not unreasonable for people to ensure they have food to eat, clothes to wear and products to keep themselves and their clothes clean.

Pet food is also essential - my cat would definitely eat DH and I if we ran out of cat food!

@ShirleyPhallus fair enough but none of the commenters on what is essential or not in the other threads have any context about what circumstances the person bought the item in. Buying an Easter egg as part of your main shop I would think is perfectly acceptable, it's not enough to value the items themselves as 'non-essential' without any context which is the point of this thread.

O dear I am off to B and M now as my autistic child with ARFID will not eat most food without bbq sauce and it is half the price so shoot me now.

Shoes...l had to order new shoes for work online.. apparently l should go to work barefoot to Dave the postman any stress.

Save not dave..my postman not called dave

@northernsoulgirl45 please can you wait a few minutes before you go? I'm still sharpening my pitchfork

Surely it’s all about context though?

As in, going on a trip to the shops for only one individual item at a time would generally be a bit unreasonable at the minute?

But going to the shop because you’re out of a particular item is fine, even if it’s not strictly essential, if you’re making it part of a bigger shop so that you don’t have to go back to the shops again for a few days or a week.

@SuckingDownDarjeeling I am not sure if there’s more than one thread on Easter eggs, but the one I was on said that someone had come in just to buy 2 Easter eggs. Not sure anyone could argue that justifies its own trip.

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone anywhere saying that items aren’t essential if they’re bought as part of a bigger shop, it’s all been people saying that there is no individual item that is essential enough that it justifies its own visit.

I bought paint today. Local shop open for business as usual. If its open and selling you have every right to buy what you want there.

Anyway what is important to some may not be for you and vice versa so...

@ShirleyPhallus ah that makes more sense. I would hope that people would limit their trips no matter what, so perhaps if they've been holed up in their house and decided 'sod it, I don't want my kids to miss easter' then they can use their trip to get that. My initial topic for the thread was focused on people jumping in on random threads barking at people for what they bought. I genuinely did see somebody say that bread and milk aren't essential. I thought they were joking but they weren't.

I’m not sure this thread is entirely fair, I think what most people are saying is that there are very few items which are so essential they warrant a special trip out to buy them. Most items (including bread, milk etc) can easily be substituted or skipped for a day or two until you go out and buy a larger shop of more stuff, reducing the number of overall trips outside you make.

It’s non essential trips out for individual items that is increasing everyone’s risk. No one needs to walk out daily and buy a paper, or an Easter egg, or anything really.

No, there have been threads where people were berated for buying stuff the Shopping Basket SS deemed non essential when they were already in the shop getting other things.

How the fuck can cheese in your cup of tea be a replacement for milk?

Nearly spit out my tea (doesn't have cheese in it, thank god) Now gagging at the thought of cheese in tea! (not envy)

Oh I see @SuckingDownDarjeeling, I personally haven’t seen any of those threads but have been avoiding some of the spicier CV threads!

@ShirleyPhallus hollyoaks has been reduced to two shows per week so I'm grabbing the drama where I can get it