Getting worried about food....

[User1775564212]

DH has bad asthma as do two of our DC. He’s had to stop work. I’m going out as little as possible.

We have five DC all together so a family of seven. We now have limits on the amount of food we can order and lots has been missing from recent deliveries. I’ve been trawling shops but very little on shelves and getting scared. We’re supposed to be self isolating but can’t!

Is it the same everywhere now?

What we have found is that you have to go with the expectation that you won't get your normal food and look for alternatives.

So no tinned tomatoes anywhere but they had stock cubes and tomato paste so you could make up a jug of vegetable or chicken stock, add some tomato paste and use that to make the base for pasta sauce or casserole or whatever.

Lidl seems to be doing well here at keeping meat and dairy stocked so I have frozen what meat I could get and we will use it more sparingly so instead of a chicken breast each I will cook 1, shred it into a soup and use veg/grains to bulk it out.

In terms of quantity of food, we were able to easily get enough food to keep us full, but very little of it is our normal choices.

No. It’s not the same here but we have a fantastic community that’s come together.

We have plenty of meat, veg, milk etc although tins and toilet rolls etc are low

We also have a local food bank set up this week

Not the same here. I did a "big" shop yesterday as I couldn't get a delivery. Plenty of everything.

Also, if you’re supposed to be self isolating then you MUST.
There is help out there. Do you not have neighbours or local friends or family?

Can you try making different meals with what you have in?

Pretty well stocked here but I’ve gone to a lot of independent delis, butchers, health shops which are still full.

We have two local supermarkets and they’ve been fine, however the larger ouf or town ones have been empty for weeks!

Not really as elderly parents also self isolating. I don’t really like asking people for help as on the surface we look absolutely fine, not elderly, disabled or NHS worker and I’m sure there are people in much worse situations.

People keep taking everything and jumping on anything that comes into the local shops and these are people who aren’t self isolating on the most part.

Yes making lots of different meals, I’m just worried what will happen if this carries on...

Sorry moaning on when we’re all in the same bloody boat for the most part!

Ours are empty. DH went to three in walking distance at opening yesterday and they were stripped bare. My student children are returning home and I have no idea what to do. I didn’t eat yesterday at all and am recovering from major surgery. We never do online delivery and I’ve signed up but there are no slots. We don’t have a car.

Our supermarket shelves are pretty empty but local butcher, grocer and dairy are all doing free local deliveries so we've been using them.

Have you tried little local shops?

Local Co op was empty yesterday but on the local veg shop I got tinned tomatoes, tinned chickpeas, tinned kidneybeans, flour, rice

All the things the big stores don't have

Have you tried little local shops?
There are no little local shops. There is no greengrocer, baker, farm shop, etc. My local shops are just mini versions of the big supermarkets.

Shops are mostly bare where we are in zone 2 London. Aldi and local halal butchers seem to be the best at re stocking although Aldi you need to arrive before 8am otherwise they are bare.

Sainsbury, Morrison's and Tesco have all been bare for a week now - not sure why they are not doing as good a job as Aldi?

Same situation here. I don't normally eat fish fingers and beans for tea but we have something, and for that l am grateful. The delivery l thought l was clever by arranging 10 days ago to come tomorrow is completely out of stock. Not one thing available.

Whilst panic buying is silly, l wish l had started stocking up a little earlier.

I don’t even think it’s people going crazy with panic buying (on the most part), just people getting a bit extra as they don’t know when they’ll next get anything!

Amazon prime now releases new slots each day at midnight. They seem fairly well stocked.

There was a retail analyst on sky news yesterdat explaining the strategies which will kick in now which should improve the situation.

The number of different stock items will be reduced so that more of what people want is available.

The restrictions on number of items being bought should smooth it out.

Deliveries will be streamlined between different chains so that efficiency improves.

Call on your friends and neighbours to help with doorstep drop offs. That's what we have had to do. You can make a scone like bread with very few ingredients.

Please do ask for help, I am part of a neighbourhood covid help group and we are all happy to bring food etc to anyone who is vulnerable whether it’s visible or not. Check Facebook for local groups.

Near me there are some food wholesale companies who usually supply restaurants but have swapped to delivering to homes, any chance there is something like that near you? Or try farm drop type companies?

Lots of the local wholesalers near me have set up home delivery services, as they can't supply their usual trade customers eg schools, restaurants etc. Mainly seeing them being shared on Facebook.

Check Facebook, lots of communities, charities, independent shops you might not have heard of are reaching out to local areas.
People are coming together, local councils etc.