Shopping alone during lock down

[AnxiousSM]

This applies to the current lockdown not in general.
Why can’t people shop alone? The only exception to this would be a parent with a child they don’t have childcare for. Zero excuse for family outings to the supermarket. If you have to be driven then can’t partner stay in the car?
All this bollocks about being unable to shop alone, there’s no reasonable excuse.

[quote EcoCustard]@WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants yes perfectly capable thanks. Along with our other 3 children whom he parented today. It’s non of your business though along with the rest of the mumsnet shopping police.[/quote]
You're posting it on the thread, interacting is kind of how it works 🤦🏻‍♀️

I shop with DS4 because DP works long hours, 5/6 days a week atm. IME, weekends are still busier than weekdays even now, so I avoid going then. Despite being 4, he’s the height of an average 6 year old, and I’ve found myself getting very dirty looks from other shoppers now. I have to go to two supermarkets as DS is gluten intolerant, but Lidl don’t sell GF products anymore. I can’t afford to do a big weekly shop in Tesco, so I go there to pick up his GF food. He’s too big to sit in the trolley seat now, so I stand him on the trolley step thing in between me and the handles for the big shop, then hold his hand and take a basket round Tesco. He sneezed this week in Tesco and I felt like a massive Wanker.

Oh yawn..... this has been done to death. There are perfectly valid reasons why some people don't shop alone, but others really don't need to. You will probably not be able to tell them apart. Jog on.

@flaxensunshine

I haven’t read the whole thread but there seems to be a lot of people giving their personal reasons and then not long after someone comes along and shoots them down! So I thought I would give my reasons to see if I get shot down too as I seriously can’t see how I could be but I am awaiting to be corrected.

DD is 17 and has severe anxiety, depression and a whole lot of other issues right now. I currently do not feel that I can leave her home alone in case she does something stupid (has tried to previously). DH works out of the house so nobody to keep any eye on her and I only go shopping every 1-2 weeks, can’t get an online slot. I have worked from home since last March and I only go out to shop or exercise. We stay together and despite her anxiety she wears a mask. So I wonder what suggestions people are going to come up with?!?

Nobody is saying people shouldnt go if they dont have genuine reasons, it's not about trying to catch people out who are simply saying dont go to shops in groups unless you have to

@OwlinaTree

Some people might need help carrying stuff home. Some people are fussy eaters and need to choose for themselves. Some people get anxious on their own.

Single people in those categories find ways to manage, those who are in couples should too.

@NailsNeedDoing

Because sometimes people that live in the same house want to buy and pay for things separately.

Unless your getting birthday present for the other person, is there really no other way you could arrange this? Like one go shopping and the other transfer the cash?

I sometimes shop alone and sometimes take one of my teenage children because we have enough restrictions and this is one step too far for me.

I appreciate this is a pandemic and unprecedented times but I want my children to get out with some semblance of MH left

Me and my husband did shopping together this week with the baby. I'm sorry.

We have no car at the moment, managed to get an Iceland delivery but unable to get cupboard supplies for the month.
Had to go to Asda (10 min walk) with the spare pushchair to enable us to transport a months worth of shopping home.

Sorry if this is not ok but at least it means we won't have to go out again for a good few weeks!!

@flaxensunshine people have clearly said parents who have to take a child with them / people with caring needs are obv different. You clearly fall into that category.

However 2 adults and too mid/late teens in the supermarket to use the pharmacy at 8 o'clock at night then all going round the shop together whilst waiting for the prescription? Less convinced. Even if one parent had got prescription and one had done shopping and taken a teen each. But no, all 4 stood in the small recess of a pharmacy then all 4 trudged round the shop then all 4 stood at the tills then all 4 back into the car

@donewithitalltodayandxmas

People will always find excuses why they can't so its pointless. Yet someone else in exactly the same position will manage . Would rather people were honest and just said because I want to .

The position might be the same but the people aren't! What one person can cope with another may not, so it means nothing if some people can manage.

@Newmama29

I’m a FTM with a baby not big enough to sit in a trolley. I try to shop with my mum when I can as I can’t push a pram & a trolley & I don’t have a car seat that comes out the car (joie 360 spin). My partner works away so he can’t always go for us. I think people need to stop judging others all the time & focus on their own lives, you don’t know people’s circumstances

Lucky you being able to see your mum on a weekly or more basis. Lots of people inc me haven't seen the parents for nearly a year!

This is just an excuse in my book.

@Pinkfreesias

YABVU. Since becoming disabled I don't get out much so I like to browse the magazine racks while my husband gets the shopping in. Sometimes I look at the clothes, too. Why should I be even more housebound than usual?

Some people have no thought for the frail or disabled. I need my husband to take me as I don't feel safe to drive any more.

Stop being selfish, thoughtless and uncaring. Try putting yourself in someone else's shoes for a change.

Because everyone is housebound you absolute wally!! The longer you have to head sling for something absolutely non essential ‘because you like to’ is the longer all this goes on for!

I often go into a shop with my mum but we each have a basket and do our own shopping (we don't live together btw). We don't make any effort to stay together and usually meet outside afterwards.
I don't take notice or get worked up about other shoppers in groups or whether they are wearing masks or not. Just go in, do the shop and get out.

@dingledongle

I sometimes shop alone and sometimes take one of my teenage children because we have enough restrictions and this is one step too far for me.

I appreciate this is a pandemic and unprecedented times but I want my children to get out with some semblance of MH left

And I want my mum and her supermarket colleagues’s physical health to be ok at the end of this

The workers don’t have a choice where they walk (I.e. the shop floor). Your teenager can walk in a park

The selfishness of some people is remarkable

Sorry but I don't like the 'why don't you shop at a different time' comments, on why you might take your kids shopping when you don't have childcare.
My husband works long, awkward shifts, as an emergency service worker. For about 7days,he is either working, or sleeping. Yes sometimes I shop alone, other times I just take the kids as we're out of milk and everything and I'm not going to feed them what's at the bottom of the freezer just because the guidance is to shop alone where possible.
We don't have any kind of support bubble despite being entitled to both and I think it would be more risky and more likely to encourage the spread of the virus to join a bubble just so I can go shopping alone more easily. One of my kids is attached to me at all times, and the other sits in the trolley and helps me unload/load the bags. He isn't allowed out of the trolley and he understands that. I also sanitize their hands on the way in. Although many people shopping alone in front of me don't bother.

@playthegame

Me and my husband did shopping together this week with the baby. I'm sorry.

We have no car at the moment, managed to get an Iceland delivery but unable to get cupboard supplies for the month.
Had to go to Asda (10 min walk) with the spare pushchair to enable us to transport a months worth of shopping home.

Sorry if this is not ok but at least it means we won't have to go out again for a good few weeks!!

Wouldn’t it be easier for just one adult to go though? With the spare pushchair?

Honestly, it's just annoying. I have things I want to buy, DH has items he wants to buy. I could write a list and give it to him, but I don't necessarily know what I want until I get there.

Single people in those categories find ways to manage, those who are in couples should too.

I imagine if it's about having to carry stuff home they have to make more trips. So it's a choice between one person making two trips and two people making one trip.

[quote donewithitalltodayandxmas]@sandrasannoyingfriend or your 18 year old could sit in the car and when you walk with trolley to the car he can help with bags then, ?
So really you did it because you wanted not because you really needed like a disabled person might or a single parent with one child [/quote]
Did you read my post? I don't drive, I have no car for him to sit in or to load shopping into.

@dingledongle

I sometimes shop alone and sometimes take one of my teenage children because we have enough restrictions and this is one step too far for me.

I appreciate this is a pandemic and unprecedented times but I want my children to get out with some semblance of MH left

At what point in the history of the universe has a teenage child not being able to tag along for the weekly shop damaged their mental health? They can go to the park of they need to get out of the house. I will say it again, supermarkets are not a form of entertainment for bored teenagers, nor are they social clubs. You want to take them, you dont need to take them, its entirely different.

@AlohaMolly If I had a pound for everytime someone gave me a judgy look in the last 10 months for my children being in a supermarket /playground/wide open space/out of the house/breathing I would be so rich.

I also sanitize their hands on the way in. Although many people shopping alone in front of me don't bother.

Lots of us carry our own. I rarely use shop ones because they are either too watery, or I get a dose like for whole regiment and so on. So no, you wouldn't see me sanitise my hands by the door.

Meh. My husband and I go together, split up to get things, do it in half the time and then either he or I head out to the car while the other pays. Or if it’s quiet, we’ll use the self service together. I’d rather spend half the time in there and as we’re both from the same household and never go out apart from the supermarket once a fortnight, there being two of us doesn’t actually increase the perceived risk for anyone else.

Did you read my post? I don't drive, I have no car for him to sit in or to load shopping into.

You don't fling it in in the bin on the way out though do you? PP is suggesting you shop, he waits outside, you leave with trolley, once outside he assists with your chosen method of getting the food to your house.

@Winterwoollies

Meh. My husband and I go together, split up to get things, do it in half the time and then either he or I head out to the car while the other pays. Or if it’s quiet, we’ll use the self service together. I’d rather spend half the time in there and as we’re both from the same household and never go out apart from the supermarket once a fortnight, there being two of us doesn’t actually increase the perceived risk for anyone else.

Give me strength.