Essential Shopping

[jelly79]

At what point are you deciding you need to do an essential shop...?

When you need a pint of milk? So little and often?

Or when you have run low / out of most things so you can do a bigger shop in one?

@crustycrab we aren't going to go into lockdown because Julie from Doncaster went out for an extra jug of milk three days after her Tesco big shop. We might well end up in lockdown, but it will be because of people flouting other things like having gatherings. Nobody is sitting there counting your shopping trips.

Actually people are counting your trips. Retailers are reporting issues to their head offices who are then communicating with the Police and other agencies.

This information is all then collated and used to assess whether the steps taken are working or not.

I work currently for a large shopping centre. I've been gathering this data and passing it on myself. That is my first and last wfh task each week. And it is acted on.

What problems have the retailers faced, how are the stocks, are people complying with social distancing measures. Are they coming only when it is essential?

We have had a PCSO stood in two of the shopping centres constantly as the same people are walking in and out of the shops, browsing, chatting, complaining. The same faces are popping in several times per day. They are standing closely. Hugging friends they see. Visiting the shops as whole families, with people they don't live with. It's embarrassing and the staff are terrified.

For everyone who has some excuse as to why this doesn't apply to them, tell Spain that. They didn't take it seriously either.

My tangent about the people I know personally is not going to be reported or of interest to many but the fact is the same people are doing it over and over again daily. And that is what will lead to lockdown along with social gatherings etc.

I am torn between 3 deliveries of food from different independent suppliers versus going to Tesco once a week with my toddlers. I worry as a single parent that if I get unwell, they won't have anyone to take care of them.

Perhaps the 'rural' way of living it will become a bit more of a normal way of life for others after this?

Well I very much doubt it as I live in a first floor flat and barely have space for an under the counter fridge, let alone a chest freezer

The point I was trying to make wasn't that everyone should get a chest freezer but that everyone should plan ahead a little bit more appropriate to their circumstances.

My circumstances are that we are aren't able to 'pop' to the shops as it's a 10 mile round trip on a good day to the nearest corner shop and in bad weather we can't get there at all. So we plan accordingly. I don't let things run out and I'm always one or two shops ahead of the stuff we need. It's taken a few years to build it up to that point.

Everyone no matter what space should be trying to move away from always relying on a just in time system of buying.

Food systems are very fragile and people need to learn that from this if nothing else. We've been taking it for granted for too long.

I disagree. When the kids left home we moved away from big weekly shops, to smaller more frequently purchases from local shops (butcher, fishmonger, baker etc). Our food waste went down and we ate better.

Obviously things are different at the moment. Our student DD is back home and we are not eating out. However we dont seem to have a problem buying once a week, freezing milk and bread to allow it to last. We did buy in staples (pasta, tinned tomatoes etc) at the start but these are things we will use up quite quickly in the normal course of events. I would hate to over buy and then waste.

The point is that each trip out involves risk. Either catching infection from someone, or passing it to someone. So shoukd be kept to a minimum.

The corner shop & farm shop & Waitrose & Lidl & Tesco & Sainsb all collaborating & someone in govt has time to X-reference it all, really?

Damn, maybe that means Sainsburys will finally let me use husband's nectar coupons & visa versa. There is a silver lining, after all.

Ragged there are plenty of admin staff going in or working from home and collecting information and looking for themes. They are reporting their information and yes, it's being collated into a general overview of what is going on. What do you think is happening?

The main concern at the moment for everyone is safety and social distancing and every day our retailers are being asked these questions. Yes, information is fed back and acted upon. The staff are scared witless and also being forced to isolate in many cases causing further issues. The fact that customers won't observe social distancing means more retailers are having to add stricter measures.

Do you assume that the feedback they keep speaking of in the daily briefings came from Boris and Dr Harries having a good old scroll through Facebook?

And no, every farm shop and corner shop aren't involved in that, but larger retailers and shopping centres are. And they face the same issues as every retailer now, just on a larger scale. Their data is representative of what is happening across the retail sector and therefore is able to be used to get a bigger picture.

Ridicule and mock it all you like but it is being done (and is always done, data collection, analysis and sharing wasn't invented for coronavirus). If you think it isn't then you're living under a rock so hopefully should be safe.

Have a lovely day.

I go as little as possible. Maybe every 10 days. Fresh fruit and veg are a problem but I’ve got frozen and tinned. I’ve got milk powder for when the fresh runs out. I’d prefer fresh fruit and veg and fresh milk but can manage with what I have.

I've now worked out that I can get till Friday (which will be 2 weeks since supermarket) without any shopping as I have a fruit and veg box coming! Then I'll go another 7-10 days before I will probably need to do a 'big shop' for toiletries, washing powders, proteins etc... I'm happy with that and the change of norm is an interesting challenge.

(I will need to get milk from the garage at the end of the street twice in that time - milk hungry toddler)