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Covid

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Original poster

Easter eggs 'non essential'

51 replies

QuimJongUn · 30/03/2020 14:51

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52090441

How ridiculous. If you're in a convenience store buying your state sanctioned essentials, you can't pick up an Easter egg?
Who gets to decide what's essential and what's not, anyway? Will we soon be unable to chuck a bottle of wine or a magazine or whatever in our trolleys along with our gruel?!

I daresay for some, particularly DC, a bit of chocolate at Easter is a rare bright spot on the horizon given the current situation. Heavy handed, unnecessary stuff like this will wear very thin in terms of public goodwill and co-operation, imo.

OP posts:

1forsorrow · 30/03/2020 16:32

The way some police officers and forces are acting is ridiculous. They want to name and shame people out for a walk well let's name and shame the ones being this stupid. My husband is a retired police officer, if I tell him this he will be disgusted.

1forsorrow · 30/03/2020 16:35

All food is arguably essential. If you had nothing else to eat, you could survive for longer on Easter eggs than on nothing at all. Absolutely and what about if someone has been ill, with corona or something else, and they are off their food. A bit of chocolate might give them a boost.

BarbaraofSeville · 30/03/2020 16:35

Obviously we could argue all day about what 'essential' means.

Taken to the extreme, if you have any food at all in the house, you could eat that, hence going to the shop is not 'essential'.

Or if you find that you have a missing ingredient or have run out of bread or milk, you could always make something else, or do without, hence not 'essential'.

Obviously much of what is sold in the shops that are allowed to open is not 'essential' and some people are going as far as saying that people shouldn't be buying newspapers, easter eggs, chocolate, wine, non food items, etc etc.

But I don't believe that any of that is the Government's intention and there certainly is no 'one shop a week only, by one person in the household only' rule.

And even if there was, what would happen if that person got to the shop and they didn't have half the stuff they wanted? Would they be expected to do without for another week because they'd used up their weekly turn to go to the shops?

User18492725204065241 · 30/03/2020 16:35

There has been no chocolate at our local shop other than Easter eggs for a while, as a result we have eaten quite a few already. We're stuck in a 2 bed flat with no garden, we need some pleasures in life. I'm not going to stop buying 'non essentials' that make this a bit more bearable.

Original poster

QuimJongUn · 30/03/2020 16:35

The whole point of only leaving the house to buy essential foods is that one person from each household goes shopping once a week to buy their weekly shop

This isn't true.

I don't drive, neither does DH. He's currently wfh long hours so the food shopping is down to me. I'm disabled so can't carry a huge amount on each trip - a small shoulder tote and a bag for life. So I have to go out 2 or 3 times a week to get everything we need. And sometimes things we don't need but keep spirits up - wine for me, beer for DH and ice cream for us both!

I think small treats are more important now than ever.

OP posts:

Mysocalledlifexx · 30/03/2020 16:40

Id say its fine to buy easter eggs,kids should still get some fun some normal things still happening in life during this.

MrsFezziwig · 30/03/2020 16:42

I’ve read an article this morning that states if things get worse the police may not be able to respond to low level crime such as vandalism and burglaries (no change there then). So surely they won’t have the resources to police the Easter egg aisles.

All these situations just require the application of common sense, so:

buying Easter eggs as part of your normal shop - fine
spending 30 minutes in the Easter egg aisle deciding which one to buy your LO while others queue outside - not fine

- having to make a separate trip to buy Easter eggs because you ate the ones you were supposed to give your kids - also not fine

BigSandyBalls2015 · 30/03/2020 16:43

seems a bit strange to be so strict about easter eggs when they're in the stores already.

However, I was browsing the cushions and throws in Sainsburys at the weekend when I was doing my food shop and suddenly felt very guilty …. nobody else in those areas at all in the shop. We're were doing our house up before lockdown and I had bought a couple of cushions to show DH - thought I'd buy more before they disappeared and the line changed. But I didn't, it just felt wrong to be heading to the cashdesk with a trolley laden down with stuff like that.

MinorArcana · 30/03/2020 16:46

I think it’s stretching things a bit to make a trip to a shop just to buy Easter eggs.

But I can’t really see why anyone would object to Easter Eggs being added to a basket of other groceries.

Original poster

QuimJongUn · 30/03/2020 16:48

@BigSandyBalls2015 I wouldn't feel bad about buying homewares as part of your usual shop. Making our surroundings as comfortable as possible seems sensible given the amount of time we're going to be spending indoors. My only slight concern would be whether they'd be virus-free but things like throws are easily washable, so why not!

OP posts:

Emmacb82 · 30/03/2020 16:49

I didn’t state anywhere in my post that it was a rule to only send one person in your household!! Of course you can take it in turns or whatever. I just put it that way as I’m pregnant and staying indoors so my husband is going out to do the weekly shop to limit my contact. You can’t write anything on here without someone jumping on you!!

SnuggyBuggy · 30/03/2020 16:53

Anyone would think we can reduce the spread of covid 19 by being as miserable as possible.

longtompot · 30/03/2020 16:58

The thought of eating Chocolate at Easter is the only thing keeping me sane. I've not had any since Shrove Tuesday, along with crisps and biscuits (didn't give up alcohol though. I'm not a masochist )

I guess I shouldn't have bought tea lights with my shop yesterday

Deux · 30/03/2020 16:58

Snuggy, 😂

1forsorrow · 30/03/2020 17:00

Anyone would think we can reduce the spread of covid 19 by being as miserable as possible. The rate would be really low at the moment then, so many miserable people and if you added judgemental I think our figures would be negative.

FromEden · 30/03/2020 17:03

Its baffling to me why some people actually seem to be arguing for a police state. They want the police to have the power to detain someone buying chocolate or going for a walk in an isolated area. Be careful what you wish for, idiots.

TreeTopTim · 30/03/2020 17:19

I will not be buying an egg for Easter Sunday. I will be waiting until after Easter when they are all reduced so that I can buy twice as many eggs 😋

FizzyBug · 30/03/2020 17:23

For my 5yo, waking up on Easter Sunday to chocolate eggs is essential! Allergies also mean that we can't just grab any egg and more than one trip might be needed to get the right one.

I think people should just mind their own business. I'll decide what is essential for me and my family, thanks.

Also we're choosing to make several visits to our small, local shops. This makes more sense to us than queueing outside a large Tesco with loads of other people.

Angel2702 · 30/03/2020 17:30

It’s getting silly as long as you aren’t going out just to buy things like that they are fine we need to make things as special as possible for our kids. What would people prefer all the non essential food is just binned and wasted? It’s already in the shops make use of anything g that helps get families through this. We aren’t in prison being punished we can find joy where we can.

bellinisurge · 30/03/2020 17:32

As I've said on another thread about this, I'm a general prepper and things like chocolate and sweets are recognised as important morale boosters for kids during difficult times. So , for a general prepper, that sort of thing IS essential. I bought our Easter eggs as soon as they appeared in the shops a while ago for just that reason.

RishiSunakFanClub · 30/03/2020 17:33

I wouldn’t consider alcohol as essential

It's essential in my house!

esjee · 30/03/2020 17:36

If its sold in an open shop, its fine to buy it in my opinion. Just be considerate about being quick about it if there's a queue to get in.

Letsdoanamechangeagain · 30/03/2020 17:37

FFS, really? Yes, why not take away the meagre pleasures people have at the moment, like a fucking chocolate egg.

june2007 · 30/03/2020 17:40

No restrictions in my cornor shops. (I live between 2)

Original poster

QuimJongUn · 30/03/2020 18:49

@RishiSunakFanClub alcohol is at LEAST as essential as food in my house at the moment 😂

OP posts:

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