Larger families.... shopping limits

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

Anyone else having issues in getting enough food to make a meal for their family? I can't afford (nor have time) to make seperate meals for everyone. But I can't get enough of the foods we eat as a family in some lines.

We use 4 packs of mushrooms and 5 packs of peppers per week. We are only allowed 3. Same for yogurts etc.

I am working, not from home. I don't have time for daily shopping as I finish at, rush back before after school club finishes and get the kids home for dinner which is already later than I'd like.

I have a delivery pass, but that appears to be totally useless at the minute. We are potentially to be isolating from today as one of the kids may possibly have a cough. Even if I could get a slot, I'd need several slots in the week and you can't even get half the stuff you need anyway.

We don't have anyone to bring us food either. 🤷

Is it worth approaching the supermarket manager to discuss individual requirements?

I saw a woman have 1 of her 4 muller bloody lights removed from her today. I mean I understand restrictions in some areas. But most people would not consider 4 yogurts excessive/panic buying.

Help!

@GirlYouHaveNoFaithInMedicine haha, no sorry, not that big!! Meant over the age of 70! Oops!

I think something to bear in mind is that some shoppers who look like they're probably young and single or elderly people whose children have left home, might also need to buy extra for relatives.

I felt the same when I saw photos of people with trolleys piled high. Yes some were being idiots but some might have been care workers stocking up for care homes etc

To be fair I think not being able to feed your family is a pretty big worry.

I get what you’re saying OP; we will have 5 adults and one permanently ravenous 13 year old in our house. We eat a lot of food. Not sure how shops could police that though.

Ultimately we might need rationing. Naive but I never realised that the rationing in the war was to prevent the kind of scenario we have now.

Do you have a Costco

What makes you think they're not having the same issues?

Book multiple slots for the coming weeks? I've got a slot a week booked for the next 4 weeks, I don't see why you couldn't have 2 or 3? Or buy a mix of frozen & fresh peppers for instance?

We had 7 at one time (5 children) and we shopped once a week on line - that was a lot of stuff for a lot of people. Mind you more people are over weight than not in the UK so moving to 2 meals a day might be a good start and much smaller portions.

Have you got a fruit and veg stall near you? Ours delivers a box a week of both and you can ask what they put in so more tomatoes if you want to make tomato sauces

Do you have a Costco nearby? They are perfect for a large family. I suppose it's about adapting a bit. We are a family of 5 so not that big and I am changing the way I cook slightly. Using less veg in pasta sauces, halving tins of toms used and replacing with tomato puree and some water.

@Tootletum Umm go foraging for more adapt and overcome like everyone else or eat 1/4 less tomatoes

It is difficult.

I am a sahm to 3 dc with food issues (ASD), so while not a massive family, I am limited in what I can vary meal wise (I have 5 main meals that are acceptable to everybody), but there are changes that can be made (and I know not everyone’s food sensitivities are easily changed, but some are, and, as the current situation shows, needs must)

I’d be adding in lentils, chickpeas and pearl barley. Lots of bulking out with nutritious extras. Other beans and pulses. (And, yes, I know everything is in short supply currently)

Look at milk alternatives - either oat milk, or goat milk, or even powdered milk. Oatly section has been reasonably full on my last few shopping trips.

Peppers aren’t essential, they may be preferred, but there are plenty of other veg. Although I’m annoyed as I can get butternut squash at the moment (goes in 3 of my main meals to bulk out).

And the last obvious one (not ideal, but there you go) is to go more often. Many people can’t get enough supplies for a full week at the moment, for a variety of reasons. Everyone is having to change habits, both culinary and time-wise.

@isittheholidaysyet those were examples and I also said in another comment that we all need to work with what's in stock. Your supermarket sounds horrendous though, mines hasn't been that bad, just no tins of anything and no pasta here

You've got to do what the rest of us do and do your best or change your meals or cut down how much of individual ingredients go into a meal.

Eg we had risotto. Normally we'd use half a pack of mushrooms in, but we did 1/3 because it's a small change to make things go further.

Exactly this tbh OP.

It's not ideal but at least you can still get a portion of the ingredients you need. Either use less per recipe or make portions smaller? Stuff like peppers and mushrooms surely you can just use less of each time you use them.

I heard that Covent garden fruit and veg market had surplus goods as the restaurants weren't coming. I wonder if there is a way of getting hold of their surplus stock?

If we end up with actual rationing, as in ration books and coupons like we had in WWII, at least then you won’t be penalised for having a larger family.

I'm a bit surprised limits aren't per family member.

It makes no sense that an individual living alone can stockpile by buying 3 times what they need while a couple with housebound grandma and 3 children too small to shop unsupervised are also only allowed 3 items...

Obviously people could lie and lack of an ID card system makes it difficult to prove who lives in your household, but if you have the children with you they clearly exist... Individual requirements was a badly chosen phrase but household size is relevant.

Punishing children with hunger for the sins of their parents in having a large family shows very Old Testament world views from most posters on the thread.

What makes you think they're not having the same issues?

In theory, there will be a lot more bulk items / bigger items so from what I've seen it might lend itself better to larger families. So even if you can only get 1 of something, that 1 thing might be the size of 4/5 from a standard supermarket.

Plus our local cash and carry is keeping pretty reasonable stock levels at the moment.

Not everyone has access to Costco though, I was under the impression only certain people are allowed to have a Costco card. Don’t have a husband or partner to go shopping with as a lone parent so no one else to go to a different till so we can buy double which I’m sure most people will be doing! Kids aren’t old enough to go to the till on their own. They are policing it as I’ve seen people having to put things back.

jesus christ

Well you’ve got the greedy panic buyers to thanks for this. If people hadn’t been so greedy then the shops had more than enough to go around. Even if people have got 1 extra item of some things shops would of coped it’s Sarah and John that went our and got 50 packs of the items that have caused this.

What gets me round here is the bread shelves are completely cleared EVERY DAY by 10am, now where are the greedy fuckers storing all this bread? Bread takes up a lot of room for what it is and does anyone have a freezer that big? So it is good supermarkets are implementing a limit of things, they should of done this weeks ago

You and DH will have to each take a trolley through the checkout separately.
Your have to shop every few days, not ideal but what else can you do

Ultimately though you are going to have to change the type of meals you have because some of your normal ingredients aren’t going to be available- a bit of imagination with food is going to be needed.

There are no tinned vegetables (including tomatoes) here at all (South Coast).No eggs and no loo rolls .Went to Tesco ,they have frozen mushrooms ,maybe they would be better? As PP said may have to be a bit less choosy and look for meals you can cook .I think the staff/managers are stressed enough anyway, without people asking for special treatment! There was a sign in our Tesco asking people to be considerate to the checkout staff.

Not everyone has access to Costco

That's just an example of a cash and carry. Lots of those types of places accept the general public and there are a lot around.

@nanslayer yes obviously that is what I'm doing. just agreeing with the OP that the limits seem a bit arbitrary. I'm feeding three adults and 3 kids so it's pretty much shopping every day, which is a bit difficult. And yes everyone finds it difficult, I know. But I you want to take the opportunity to call me selfish (you're probably itching to), fill your boots.

We dont have any kind of rationing locally except for toilet paper (1 pack per shop) but someone made a comment to his companion about my fairly full trolley yesterday. I told him with my "teacher look" that it's my normal weekly shop - household of 5, two adults, two teens, one pre teen. I wasn't buying a trolley full of dry pasta and toilet rolls, just a normal shop adapted for things out of stock. He quickly switched to being all jolly instead of snarky.

"Your five packs per week mean that others have no packs per week."

Yes to needing to make adaptations, but that rather sounds like you're saying larger families need to make do with less food per person! If you have 5 people in the house then you'll need more food, which is not the same thing as taking more than your fair share! Ok so mushrooms can be replaced with something else, but staples like pasta, milk eggs and bread are rather harder. Fine if you are shopping just for yourself to make do with a pint of milk, but a pint would barely be enough for 6 of us to eat a small bowl of cereal each.

Agree with @sewingsinger who said this: This is not just a ‘muddle through for a few weeks’ change. This might now be the new normal.

The thing is life is all about choices. Some choices have a big impact, like the choice to have a big family, and you have to adapt to this yourself as these choices are your responsbility. For example you could go shopping with your DH and buy double, going through checkouts as 2 individuals. If one of your children is older, send them through the checkout.