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

[Waxonwaxoff0]

Same situation here. I can't use farm shops because they're so expensive, I can't afford it. I only earn £8.75 an hour.

On the plus side I managed to get enough toilet paper!

I'm off work today so going to try and get there early but I bet everyone will have the same idea.

[k1233]

I've had success at fruit shops and butchers. It seems when people have to look like greedy piggies, asking for large volumes of produce, they're more likely to self regulate. I use both stores normally anyway as I prefer to support small business, but for convenience will buy meat, fruit and vege from big supermarket if it's just a little too up. Big supermarkets however are cleared out of meat and vegetables.

[LightAsTheBreeze]

DS managed to get some stuff from M&S this week whereas other places like Lidl had been empty.

[AndromedaPerseus]

They really need to introduce rationing to stop this ridiculous panic buying because this is causing the supply issues.

[SFCA]

If you have an ethnic shop near you that might be a good bet. I managed to get rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, fruit, meat etc from our halal butcher the other day and it wasn’t expensive either.

[littlebillie]

I think we about to see it all settle down here, the supply lines are being strengthened and the retailers are narrowing their overall choices of produce which is good as there will be more of it.

All around me the smaller pop shops are being topped up twice a day and the traffic coming off the roads means that the supply chain strengthens.

I hope it sorts out for you for this next week.

[alloutoffucks]

This is why old people are out shopping every day. The only way I can get enough food is by shopping every day.

OP you need to ask neighbours or friends to help. When I am out shopping daily I would happily buy stuff for someone else. I could not promise you that I would get specific things as what there is varies every day. But I could get you something proper every day.

Asking for help is the only way.

[alloutoffucks]

And of course the supply chain is being affected. If some people are still buying loads, then suppliers will not be able to meet all demands. A farmer will grow and gather a certain amount of vegetables. They can't just grow more in a few weeks. That does not mean there actually is a shortage of food. There is the same amount of food as before. Just some people have stockpiled a lot of it.

[BarbaraofSeville]

I think we about to see it all settle down here, the supply lines are being strengthened and the retailers are narrowing their overall choices of produce which is good as there will be more of it

Hopefully, surely the panic buyers have filled their houses with food, toilet rolls and cleaning products by now?

[CMMum88]

There was a good point made today that every truck that has to be filled with toilet paper due to panic buyers is a truck that can't be filled by food 😥

[KatherineJaneway]

• Call out to friends and family on Facebook for help
• Join your local Facebook group and ask for help
• Join //nextdoor.com and see if someone local will help
• Join covidmutualaid.org/ and see if someone local will help
• Call local shops and see if any will deliver
• Looks at Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat etc. Expensive but Deliveroo now do contactless deliveries.

[GemmaTellerMorrow]

Can we help? Tell us where you live

[Janicejaniceahmfallin]

Please don’t write off farm shops as expensive without checking. They can obviously be pricey for speciality or out of season stuff, but ours certainly has affordable staples (milk, eggs, bread, grains) and loads of well priced fruit and veg (e.g 4 avocados for a quid when they cost that much each in Tesco).

I guess it depends if it’s a working farm shop or one of those pretendy ‘lifestyle’ versions. The former might also have a load of expensive artisan chutney and all that schizzle, but if you look at the day-to-day stuff you might be surprised.

[LadyTiredWinterBottom2]

I agree with @QueenOfThePumpkins if there are deliveries then why are there empty shelves day after day? The panic buyers look like the smart ones now.

Ocado have taken their website down now.

[YeahRiiiiight]

I’m in a London suburb with large and smaller supermarkets from most of the major chains nearby, plus multiple small convenience and ethnic food shops.

Shelves are stripped of meat, fish, canned food, fresh veg, rice/pasta, cleaning products and loo roll and have been every day since the weekend.

I’ve gone at various times of day and been told in Sainsbury’s & Aldi that they put out new stock and it is gone within an hour.

I’m starting to really worry. We didn’t stockpile, we don’t have bulging cupboards or a full freezer.

Rationing needs to happen now. Properly enforced. This ‘I’m alright Jack, I’ve got 30 tins of beans in my cupboard’ attitude is disgusting.

[alloutoffucks]

Yes of we were all told we had to nominate 1 shop and we were only allowed a certain number of items per person per week, this would solve the issue.

[Unescorted]

We live rurally too & I understand the difficulty of going to several different supermarkets to find that the things you want aren't there. However as PP has said, you could contact friends, family neighbours and local volunteer groups to see if they can shop for you. In our area I have already had 3 notes through the door offering help ( I live in a bungalow.....).
Alternatively, have you explained to your employer what is happening. I doubt that they would say you can't, as an occasional thing, vary your working pattern to enable you to pick up food.

[Alltheprettyseahorses]

I'm not convinced there's plenty either. I live by a huge Tesco and they've done things like fill the loo roll aisle with easter eggs and various items, labels, everything, leaving a couple of feet of shelf space for the actual product. Which suggests to me that they're not even expecting a delivery unfortunately. There's some fruit and veg but the rest of the store has been constantly empty too - apart from the bloody easter eggs .

[alloutoffucks]

Of course there is not plenty, because people are stockpiling. That does not mean less food is being delivered. Stores will normally get x amount of deliveries a week. If people are now buying and stockpiling, then yes shelves will be empty till the next delivery.

[KatherineJaneway]

@QueenOfThePumpkins

Of most items I don't think there are. Where I live people are going out super early and clearing the shelves before others can get there. Apparently Farm Foods had a good supply of eggs and toilet paper yesterday morning however the shop had a long line of shoppers waiting for them to open. An hour after they opened, all the hard to come by goods like eggs and toilet rolls were gone.

[Piggywaspushed]

Try being in SI.... can't get out at any point anyway , anywhere and all the online shopping slots have gone for weeks...

[randomsabreuse]

Our farm shops have a mixture of incredibly pricy artisan things and very sensibly priced fresh meat and veg. Not looked into restaurant prices as have (and always have had) store cupboards for a couple of weeks and our local Aldi is fine for fresh things so far.

Italy has well stocked supermarkets for what it's worth - things should settle down!

[PlugholePencil]

I had a list for my neighbour to get food last night. I went to petrol stations (not the supermarket ones). It was slightly more expensive but they had stock. I got wraps instead of bread and frozen mince instead of fresh, but it was enough to keep her going for a little while. They had plenty of cereal and cereal bars, that sort of cupboard food.

[keepingbees]

Do you have a local weekly market? Mine has loads of fruit and veg

[Al1Langdownthecleghole]

I agree with the advice above. I’ve ordered a vegetable box and a sack of potatoes from a company that usually supplies restaurants & has switched to “essentials” boxes for customer collection.

Local Facebook might help - and if you feel able to tell us roughly where you are posters here may be able to help.