No more online shopping ***MNHQ tweaking title slightly to point out hyperbole***

[Greysparkles]

I'm in an online virtual queue to order with ocado. I'm currently 16339 of 17655

Fuck.

We have doorstep Milk and More deliveries - the website was so painfully slow yesterday, I gave up.
Went on again this morning to order a couple of extras - a banner said they are ‘experiencing unprecedented demand’ - no surprise there. I did manage to order some eggs and cheese, but they were out of the potatoes and onions that were still there yesterday.

I shall be shopping at late-night Asda, too. Used to do it anyway now and then - hardly anyone else there except the shelf stackers, so should be easy to keep a good distance.

I've been told by somebody in NHS that online delivery will soon be prioritised for households with somebody in the at risk category.

How?

I just managed to book a Tesco shop for 5 April. No waiting.

If you have milk that's about to go out of date, don't chuck it , freeze it [doesn't work with full fat] in ice cube trays for individual portions for coffee/tea etc. You need to use clingfilm to line the trays as milk is fatty and and sticks. Put in a bag in the freezer, they won't stick together.

Milk goes yellow when frozen but it's still okay , goes back to normal colour when thawed.

I have an Ocado reserved slot every week with the same order delivered unless I amend it. just waited 2 hours to get on the web site, amended order and now the payment thingy is on go slow. GRRRRR

StrongTea, you might have just changed my life by telling me about Parsley Box. I'm disabled and haven't been able to use frozen ready meal services because I don't have space in the flat for more than a tiny freezer.

These meals are packed sous vide, like Heston Blumenthal keeps banging on about, and can live in the cupboard for 6 months.

I went shopping for pasta after work yesterday - none in Aldi, none in Sainsbury’s. But the little Italian deli on the same street had more pasta than you can shake a stick at.

Hooray for independent shops on the high street.

Hmm I've just checked on morrisons and they have delivery slots for Sunday...

just been to our local butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers, they have clubbed together to do deliveries.

I use Ocado every week. They managed to get my whole shop to me with no subs. I’m really grateful. The online queuing system worked well for me when I was tweaking the order yesterday.

there is no next available here for Sainsbos - I have a slot on 20th was looking for one after that and nothing for 3 weeks. More self ISOs here although if work is busy I do normally use online.

How the feck is a retail grocer suppose to do that? As a a sector, grocers cannot even enforce disabled parking rules in their physical stores.

I work with system developers (in fact, our company is one). At our board meeting this morning, the tech director took us through the industries that are folding versus the industries that now have a growth spurt in buying and providing solutions to issues just like these.

All our local stores are clubbing together to provide delivery for people who are isolating and they've all put a limit on the number people can get per household per day as well.

Actually the community spirit here is absolutely fantastic and everyone is working really hard to make sure people have enough access to food and other necessities. We have a lot of elderly and vulnerable people here too.

BoJo just needs to get his act together to sort out the shopping after all social distancing can't happen with people in a queue now can it?.

Some one on p1 mentioned visiting Asda in the early hours.

Ours has just stopped the 24h opening. It now closes at 10 pm I think.

Worth checking.

They need to ration it for those of us who don’t stockpile and can’t go out
Eh? You think ‘they’ will come to inspect everyone’s cupboards and punish those who didn’t stockpile, the unorganised will get priority over us that do forward plan!

Won't home delivery of food stop to those who aren't in the at risk group anyway.
I think we'll be queing for just one or two supermarkets per town soon.
If we lock down all supermarket staff won't be needed as only a few allowed in each time.

I haven't userd Ocado since the poster thing.

Last Friday I booked 2 deliveries for this week because it seemed likely slots would get rare - my usual Sainsbury's and a Waitrose one I'd been sent a voucher for. Other than not having pasta (which I can always make, they did have flour) pretty much everything came as norma from Sainsbury'sl.

I'm so glad I did book ahead - for those of us who have shopped online for years, this mad rush is a bit of an eye-opener!

Supermarket staff are running on a skeleton service anyway due to sickness.

Booking two online slots is a bit like panic buying loo roll though - by you doing that, you've deprived someone else of a slot!

I got a sainos order in today for sunday

Our local independent and corner shops also have low stock. It is beginning to worry me how hard it is to get lots of things. No longer just pasta and toilet rolls, but most fresh fruit and veg, a lot of meat.

I've booked an extra slot.

Because I haven't panic bought. In RL, and have had a delivery cancelled. I want greater resilience, and need more supplies in the house (because more depleted than usual because of missing delivery). So. I didn't put all my eggs in one basket next week

I'm not intending to make a habit of it. And I very much hope that online groceries stabilise soon, so it can be never again rather than rarely