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!

I can’t see if you have said how many children you have OP so apologies if you have 10 or something as my post will be totally irrelevant!

We have in our house 2 adults, 2 teenagers and 4 children - so 8 in total.

So far through this craziness we haven’t hit the limits at all for any items - but I think it does depend on what sort of food you were going to buy and how often. For example I went to the shop today to buy ingredients for tonight’s meal was 1 bag of potatoes, 1 can of hot dogs, 1 onion and a bag of frozen peas.

So doing a day at a time we are fine. If we had to go our once a week and stick to the limits we would probably my hit them more often and tbh we would have to get quite creative buying lots of different items rather than the same ones over and over!

I have no idea why people are stockpiling food to this level. YES get food in in case you get ill but at the shops today the shelves were stripped bare! Where the fuck are people storing all this food. I swear peip must by now have enough food each to last the next 6 months

There was NO fresh fruit and veg in the first shop I went to today - nothing. Why on earth would you stockpile fresh fruit and veg surely it will rot before you have eaten it!

The biggest problem that DH and I have at the moment is that both of us for medical reasons are not allowed to drive and so we have managed just fine the last decade or so using home delivery - the next slot we can get is the second week of April and so until then we are having to go out every few days and lug food back (thank god I have many sturdy children to carry my wares) - even though DH is an at risk group and supposedly self isolating now! He is working from home and eating even more of the food

Family of 6. Having to shop more regularly and buy whats available. So kids wanted sausages & mash last night. There were no potatoes at all yesterday morning but there were chips & breaded fish so that's what we had. Bought sausages in case they were missing next time and we'll eat them when I spot some sausages. Dh likes 3 sausages, he'll have to have 2 like the rest of us.

It does mean that larger packs will sell out but they have to protect smaller sizes too.

My 85 year old mother in law would only want one or two yogurts, but if there wasn't a limit people would just buy 12 of the individual ones once the large packs sold out and she wouldn't have any.

I don't think what you've described is real hardship.

If you really are desperate, and have a farm locally, it would be worth asking them, even if they don't have a farm shop - a friend has a dairy farm and since orders from the hotels, pubs and restaurants that she usually supplies have dried up, she has stock of milk and cheese she can't get rid of!

I think you are going to have to be creative with what you cook/eat, which can be a pain if you have autistic/allergic/other children with additional needs. nor is it much help if you can not get some of the things you need in the first place.

life is going to get difficult for a lot of people, which is not much comfort for you, I know. You will adjust, you will find your new normal though.

we shan't mention the meltdown on Monday night as I adjusted to not being able to go out for 14 days, oh no, there may have been tears and shouting

Yes us too. I have 4 children, all vegetarian, 2 are vegan ( one through allergies), we have never owned a freezer and I don't drive. Alpro has completely vanished, even own brand vegan milks are limited to 3 per order. Local shops are empty, I'm taking the calorie hit at the moment so my children don't, but very anxious for the upcoming weeks and months.

Pp mentioned the Radfords. I was only thinking about them yesterday amid all of this!

And low and behold a story
www.dailystar.co.uk/real-life/mum-21-sue-radford-wont-21702151

I expect a TV show looming...
And lots of pies (Noel's shop) for dinner.

I'm shopping daily atm I suspect that most families can't get away with a weekly shop rn.
I see a lot of families taking 2 people to the supermarket so they can do 2 lots of shopping. If I wasn't single, I'd probably do that too. I'm not panic buying but because of shortages I'm forced to buy 2 singles rather than 1 multipack.

@adaline I tried to get some shopping on my way home earlier - nothing to be had. Luckily my boys are fairly happy to eat pizza and burgers which was all I managed to get along with some milk, a loaf, half price hot cross buns and some chips. I'll be ok with jacket spuds for a few days and we have some beans and a few bits in the freezer, some pasta but it is total madness. I think people are being absolute selfish and greedy

@johnwayneisbigleggy yep - agreed. DH went yesterday and there was nothing nutritious to be had! Ended up getting digestive biscuits, cuppa soups, crisps, the last bag of frozen nuggets, butter, cheese and some tins of sweetcorn.

No fresh fruit and veg, no frozen veg...it's daft.

What bullshit from Paula Radford. If she actually had wanted to think of others (in this case the elderly), she and her husband wouldn’t have had a 20 billion kids. How dare she preach about scant resources.

Buy frozen peppers?

Buy frozen peppers?

The freezer section was empty in Tesco yesterday.

Rationing during WWII was necessary, but sadly, it really wasn't enough to sustain people and so there was often a large deal of corruption.

I don't know if you were alive during rationing but I was - I was born in the mid 40s and rationing finally stopped in 1954. Yes, certain foods were unavailable or severely curtailed but we still ate enough to sustain us, albeit snacks were non existent and we kept chickens in our small back garden, grew vegetables etc.

These are rare times and I think you have to be a bit more flexible in how you are going to survive it.

This rationing has made me reluctant to ask for help from neighbours. DS has a cough. We are at home for 2 weeks.
I'd really like to ask next door to pick up some bread, milk, veg, potatoes, meat, and fruit next time they are in a supermarket, but with the restrictions, I would basically be asking them to go out just for me.
Anyone got a self raising flour bread recipie?

Amazon have plenty of options for bulk buying including tinned tomatoes etc

In the case of the Radfords , there's enough older kids to send them to different shops or do multiple transactions. Think about it - even Jesus would struggle to make Spaghetti Bolognese with 2 packs of spaghetti, 2 tins of tomato etc

Kittenvsbox try jack Monroe and thriftylesley sites. They do very basic recipes out of store cupboard ingredients.

I'm struggling with this too. We're meant to be going out as little as possible, yet I now have to go to the supermarket daily? And what am I supposed to do if we have to self isolate? I'd be forced to continue going into the stores daily because I can't get any extra in to prepare and wouldn't be able to get a delivery slot.

Wow. Yes because you're so much more important than anyone else.

Hopefully those trying the suggestions of splitting up to put multiple transactions get called out. Our tesco was calling them out last time they restricted formula it was amazing watching them have to walk past all the tills exposing them as greedy fuckers.

If we get limited as to what we can buy, given we are a family of 6 and will also be ensuring my self isolating elderly in-laws can get what they need as well, we will be putting two adults through the checkout as separate transactions. However, we are not planning on doing this to 'stock pile' weeks ahead worth. For starters I don't have the storage space to be stock piling things. That would be completely unfair on everyone else who is yet to get their shopping done. Secondly, I will be prioritising my children's needs above mine and DH's. If it means we have to be more creative with our meals, dh and I will take the hit rather than our 2 sen selective eaters, the other two pretty much eat what you put in front of them.

There are ways around it, but we are all going to have to be a little kinder and more flexible about our approach.

There's 6 of us, I have 5 teenage boys. There was no fresh or frozen veg or meat at Tesco earlier. Hardly any bread or cereal.

They did have loads of chopped tomatoes, I bought 6 tins like normal and felt bad, but that's 3 meals. (Not on their own obviously)

I then sent my eldest to Sainsbury's and he managed to get some minced beef. They were bigger packs than I normally use so will split them and freeze them. I need to buy freezer bags!

Still no toilet roll anywhere. I have 8, which normally lasts just under a week.

The people in the war survived, so im sure we can to.

Yes it is the lack of fresh fruit and veg and meat that amazes me. Fresh fruit and veg does not last that long. Or are people making lots of bulk meals and freezing them?
For some reason mushrooms are very difficult to get. The only place I have found them was in an expensive health food shop place.