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

Hi op can you get up early tomorrow and be the first in the queue after the 'elderly and vulnerable' hour is up. Put ice packs in your bags and spend the day traveling round to the nearest Iceland,home bargains, farm shops, local small bakery's, they are the places that seem to have food in my area.

does your town have a local facebook? some pubs & private people are getting veg supplies & selling veg/fruit boxes with bread eggs & milk. otherwise get a collect & pickup from next town - we have an order from a supermarket 12 miles away -

I cannot fathom what people are still buying in bulk, I thought after the first few days it would die down but no, seems like some people are buying in that volume daily! Our problem is, we live in a small village mainly populated with elderly people. Our butchers and local shops are being ransacked by people driving to small villages and buying as much as possible. I am only buying what we need and I'm being very inventive with meals.

There's a lot of local town/village FB groups set up to help people. I've re-joined FB as a single mum with no car and very skint. Also loads of great groups with "occupying the kids" and learning ideas - I love these . Just hope they don't turn all competitive.

I still feel like I'm in a weird nightmare. Same as everyone probably!

I went into my local m&s yesterday - it was pretty well stocked.

Tesco cancelled our order today after the delivery slot had passed
We are a family of 7 with severe medical issues and 6/7 in the at risk category
It’s ridiculous
Why are the CEOs sending emails ‘there’s enough food for everyone’ when we can’t get our pre booked shops of our usual amounts and some items less due to a 2 product limit so we are actually ordering less than normal
We can’t go out to the shops as are meant to be self isolating

Ethnic markets. Caribbean, Polish, Chinese, and African stores are often well stocked up. Check your local Facebook for fresh eggs and honey. Do you have a local veg box delivery? I'm in Devon and the veg box lady is making a killing right now! Amazon also some items available for bulk buy, my Dad just stocked up on super noodles and big soup!

It seems to be very variable. My Waitrose yesterday had everything but eggs that I needed but was short of leafy veg and obviously loo rolls. It has a 3 items per person rule and I believe just started a first hour of the day is for old people rule which is actually pretty unfair as it is workers who commute who really should be the only one allowed in at 7.30am.

Anyone needing special milks remember no other human drinks milk and you will be perfectly okay if you just drink only tap water. However I agree that absence of any veg, eggs, meat, fish is a big issue for someone. Could you pay a neighbour to go to the shop for you one day - I bet we will have loads of board 14 year old children around next week very keen to earn £5 even for that - to go to the shop when it might have had a delivery?

If anyone's struggling for pasta this made me laugh!

www.google.com/search?q=lad+baby+pasta&oq=lad+baby+pasta+&aqs=chrome..69i57.4947j0j4&client=ms-android-huawei-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#

I also can't understand people still bulk buying. I really feel for the people who work long days and there is nothing left when they go after work. The supermarkets won't close. No one is being told to lock themselves away with no food. They will always be a way to buy food. I'm a LP did a big shop in Aldi when I got paid on Monday. I won't go for 2 weeks now. Then I'll have to hope for delivery slots as I'm a LP with young children and no car.

I do think online delivery slots should be reserved for people who most need them now. Like key workers working until the shelves are bare, and people who can't get outside with no family support. I don't know how that can be checked though.

Sorry I suck at links! 🤦‍♀️ It's the first one.

I think it’s bollox that there aren’t supply issues, our Tesco said the distribution centres aren’t actually sending out the required stock, there has been no pasta, rice etc in the local shops for a week now, like no delivery’s of pasta rice etc at all so not a case of people buying it all, it’s just not be restocked for a week as it’s not coming on the deliveries they’re getting.

I have been going out every day to buy what I can. Marks and Spencer were fully stocked but no loo roll. I was so relieved. I got toilet paper in a small Tesco express.There were only two packs in the shelves. It is truly frightening to feel you have no food in the house . We have enough now for a couple of weeks probably. Hardly any meat though.

Have a found a online London based business called La Tua Pasta who can deliver fresh pasta anywhere in the UK by post. They don't seem to have any shortages and their range is better than what is in the supermarket. www.latuapasta.com 020 8961 8024

Have you tried petrol stations and small family run places? They seem to be fairly well-stocked if expensive.

The other option is asking a neighbour or friend to shop for you, or see if a local business will deliver. There's lots of help available on our local Facebook pages - you just need to ask.

I would love to use my local farm shop or butcher and greengrocer but I leave for work at 7am and don't 'get back until 6pm. They just aren't open. So I'm getting up at 7 tomorrow morning and hoping to be there when their doors open and will have to buy for the week as well as buying for my parents - mum has just come out of hospital after a stroke and can't be left so dad is relying on my sisters and I to bring them food to cook.

We are a vulnerable household 6/7 of us need to stay in yet we had pre booked orders that haven’t turned up

I called Sainsbury’s after they said they woukd priority for the old and disabled I asked how do I register shall I email dla letters etc they said they haven’t set up the system yet so they do t know
But evenwith pre booked online orders they are being cancelled

The buying pattern has become a vicious circle at this stage. It started with the panic buyers who created the empty shelves and the photos we’ve all seen. Supermarkets assured us the problem would be sorted so sensible types (like me) believed them and held off. Then it became obvious that the shortages were actually getting worse, not better so those who were not previously panic buying started getting things while they could so they didn’t miss out.

While there are empty shelves this behaviour will continue. The only way to stop it is get stock levels back to normal and keep them there for a few days so customers know they won’t miss out. Seemingly impossible at the moment when some shelves are being emptied of new stick in minutes.

More drastic (temporary)measures are needed but I’m not what they should be.

OP can totally empathise with your situation. I was in the supermarkets 4 days in a row and could not find any fresh food.

Our small supermarket opens at 6am and I went this morning at 7am and managed to buy chicken, milk and veg.
The staff were even saying that there was less coming in this morning.

Found toilet paper in a local corner shop. And they had bleach etc.

Our orders are actually less!
We didn’t stockpile initially as felt it was selfish now with a big family I’m starting to wish I had as we were told do your normal shops
We can’t even do that for example we buy more of some items each week that we are now allowed as it’s a 2 / 3 item limit so we can’t even buy less
There must be supply and staffing issues
All those who stockpiled in the last week or so should be ashamed I could cry

I think the mistake here is the big supermarket. I don't bother now.
I don't drink cow's milk but my local M&S garage had lots of soya and oat milk.

Our local Asian supermarket was fine yesterday. DH came back with loads of staples (and free beer?). Waitrose was picked clean - I bought lots of staples online a couple of weeks ago & DH thought I was being crazy until he saw Waitrose yesterday himself.

Corner shops are fine.

Our local Sainsbury’s Local is fine early in the day.

M&S was fine too when I popped in yesterday. Only a few boxes of eggs left (around 2pm) but otherwise business as usual.

I know it’s a pain, but you need to go before work. Explain to your boss - it’s a extraordinary situation for everyone.

It beggars belief re the bulk buying, doesn't it?

I "panic bought" the other day-2 boxes of tissues instead of the one that was needed & a couple of extra bars of soap.

Felt a complete idiot after as someone might have needed them straight away.

There's not much frozen stuff about, although we only have a small freezer anyway.

There's fresh stuff about, but of course that doesn't help with shopping less!

Hope you find a solution, Op.

Panic buying was allowed to go on too long
They should have capped the number of items allowed way sooner