Can't get food, almost in tears

[mabelbagel]

There are two medium sized supermarkets in my town, and both are almost empty whenever I visit. No frozen stuff, no fresh, no eggs, no soya milk (I can't drink cows milk), no bread, no soup. The only thing widely available is snack /junk food and I can't live on that. I've checked the smaller shops in my town and they are also out of stuff. There are no online delivery slots either.

I am still going out to work, so all the people working at home are obviously getting there first. The shops my town are usually adequate but the next supermarket is about 15 miles away as we live in quite a rural area. I don't want to make the trip there if there's no food there either.

Just don't know what to do as it seems the panic buying won't end anytime soon and I'm fast running out of staple food

In our (small market town) area a lot of restaurants are offering delivery and also selling staples from their suppliers (eggs, flour, bread). Also farm shops are offering delivery/collection slots

Do you have a local Facebook ot next for group you can ask for help? Can we help?

We have found that smaller shops still have stock - traditional butchers and grocers, farm shops, even garden centres.

Some local cafes and restaurants are advertising locally that they can still get supplies, so are taking orders for local people.

Supermarkets tend to restock overnight so getting there as they open, before work, would be the best bet. You could ask a member of staff when the best time is.

You can still do online ordering even if it is for a couple of weeks away. You'll still need to shop now, but it will take the pressure off next week or the week after that.

I would also pop in and explain to the staff that you're still working, and see if they would put you some things by to pick up the next evening.

Our local cafe has shut but is making and delivering bread- might be something similar near you? Also our local petrol station shop had a lot of milk and soya milk randomly

I suppose it depends on how much money you have. If you're on a budget, buying in restaurant delivery and using farm shops is likely to be unaffordable.

Can you ask friends or family if they have anything spare they can give/lend/sell you OP? I've also seen people recommending Amazon and Milk & More, but they're also likely to be over-stretched, short of supplies and possibly more expensive if you usually shop at the cheaper supermarkets.

You need to try and go first thing. 7am.

Its not just in rural locations- I'm central London and our tesco metro was almost bare yesterday! The grocer across the road was very well stocked though- fresh fruit/veg, cheese, breads, paracetamol, yoghurts, tins/cans/herbs/spices, formula and nappies etc. My delivery was cancelled on wed Wednesday too!

• Check what time your local is open, as they have changed their opening hours lately and try going early, before work.
• Try the smaller shops in the neighbouring town, or even petrol stations
• Try smaller 'ethnic' and 'Asian' grocery stores
• OP- can someone else get you some supplies?

Near me a few initiatives have popped up. One of the food wholesalers/catering companies are selling smaller volumes of fresh food and groceries to collect, do you have any near you?

Our greengrocers is still open and has daily deliveries and good stock volumes.

A lot of cafes are doing takeaways, one is even offering essential worker discount - this is still obviously a more expensive option but might help for one or two meals.

Any farm shops/ food co operatives in your area? We have one that you order online from and then collect at pick up points. What about Asian grocers, they’ll have things like lentils as well as fresh stuff.

Good luck, it’s shit, maybe the government seriously need to look at rationing which would be an awful thought but some people have been so selfish we can’t be trusted!

When I looked a couple of days ago Milk and More (National milkman) still had stocks of other foods they could deliver at the same time. Veg boxes and the like.

Milk and more are not taking any new customers anymore

Milk and more aren't taking new customers at the moment. Same with Ocado.

OP, could you go to the bigger supermarket for opening? Even if it means going into work late it's probably your best option. They are getting deliveries in often, and many of them after closing.

I have seen farm shops have good stock and greengrocers although butchers around me seem to be struggling to keep stock.
Check your local fb groups and businesses, I've seen some veg box deliveries with eggs and other staples.

It is a struggle, I had to go to 5 different shops yesterday just to get cat food and toilet paper (because we genuinely needed them, not to panic buy!) and in the last shop the lady working there was so rude from the second I walked in- presumably because of the panic buyers- I walked out and cried. I can't believe we have come to this.

Where are you. Maybe someone can help.

In our town, our parish vicar is co-ordinating every road being in a "group" to help each other.

In our road, we have in fact done this independently by setting up a WhatsApp group where anyone can ask for help.

I'd managed to get a Sainsbury's delivery (before all their slots were gone) and I added some bits for others in my road who couldn't get it in the shops. And amazingly it arrived!

I know you're busy working but could you ask a neighbour to either help with your shopping or help set up a similar group to support each other. Then perhaps this time they could help you and in the future you might get the opportunity to pay it back by helping them.

I'm finding when the chips are down, most people are decent and will help.

Milk and More and not taking on any more new customers now but if you see a neighbour with milk bottles outside you could ask them to add something to their next delivery for you.

Do you have a friend who could shop for you?

The Facebook groups that have been set up are amazing at getting food to people.

It is really scary. I just can’t understand why the panic buying hasn’t calmed down yet. Surely they must have all stocked up by now?

This was me yesterday and I know exactly how you feel. I even work from home and could afford the time to drive to the bigger supermarkets but they are the same and I’d been trying since Monday everyday just to get a normal weekly shop.
Yesterday I was determined to drive round for as long as it took to get some food in the house and I found an M&S food in a smaller town was actually stocked quite well. Obviously more expensive than a normal shop but I didn’t care at that point. I also ordered some meat for the freezer from a meat wholesaler online who deliver by courier. It’s horrible but I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I feel to have some food in the house so the extra food budget has been worth it. Sadly I know this is not an option for everyone but I have seen masses of kind offers all over local Facebook to anyone looking for essential items.

I don’t think Milk and More are letting you change your delivery to add food at the moment. I wanted to add another milk (we are isolating so more milk being consumed) and you can’t do it at the moment.

Have you got the option of Amazon Fresh or Cook? Cook does next day to store and had slots available, awful lot of frozen food and veg to pick from (not the cheapest granted, but at least you can have a few good meals a week). As others have said, have you got any pubs/restaurants/cafes locally that may have diversified?

If there are any farm shops near you they might be worth checking out.

Also shops at service stations - this is what one near me looked like yesterday- fully stocked, albeit not cheap.

As PPs have mentioned, local restaurants are a good call. Perhaps local barter groups?

I’ve found in my area that the smaller corner shops and even some post offices or petrol stations seem to have more stocks of the basics. Yes they’re more expensive than the larger shops but if you can afford it, at least you’d have some food?

Gousto or hello fresh? As a new customer you’d get a discount and it would provide you with ingredients for four meals. Then you’d only have to source extras like the milk

@ChessIsASport, I will probably get shot down for an scaremongering but I actually believe there are supply issues, despite what we are being told. Local pubs and restaurants are trying to get hold of things for people and a few have said that their suppliers are not having certain things in stock anymore. That can't be because of people panic buying surely? I find it all extremely worrying :(

Yes, definitely farm shops if you’re rural - our local supermarkets are empty but I went up to the farm shop a couple days ago and they were fully stocked with everything (and everyone shopping there was being calm and kind and only taking one or two of everything even though 4 was allowed - it almost restored my faith in the human race!).

And second pp’s suggestion of asking your supermarket to set some staples aside for you to collect. They’re having to deal with a tsunami of arseholes at the moment, so they may well respond to someone approaching them respectfully and legitimately asking for help.

Where are you, OP? There’s been loads of local help and support for people who are struggling via MN. Hope you get sorted soon x

I can’t get anything either, we have lots of large supermarkets and I don’t work so am getting there for opening and the shelves are still empty. I have 4 kids to feed and I’m really scared!

I certainly can’t afford to be buying from restaurants or farm shops either 😞