Anyone been to the supermarket this morning?

[MobLife]

Is it hell or is it ok??

Today was due to be the day for 'the big Christmas shop'

I'm going to look like a proper panic buying twat with my loaded Christmas trolley aren't I 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sainsbury’s Wasn’t toooo bad around 2pm. It was very busy but lots of checkouts in use, so no long waits and I didn’t have to queue outside. There was no major panic buying and it looked like they had stocked up massively for Christmas. I’m expecting a big yellow sticker event on turkeys now that everyone’s Christmas has downsized.

Tier 4 - this afternoon at a Tesco’s extra ( so one of their biggest stores) absolutely heaving. Restricting purchases of some items and completely out of Christmas puddings hubby now having to try and get one tomorrow. There appears to be a ‘theme’ here for some Tier 4 shops being manic....

We went yesterday before ten to Aldi and it was fine

Yes, I went this morning at about 9-10ish and everything was fine! Fully stocked shelves with people behaving/buying sensibly. Busy-ish but not horrendous and no queue to get in.
No panic, no problem!

I've been this evening to a large Sainsbury's in t3.
No queues and all very calm, there did seem to be a lot of gaps on the fresh fruit and veg but tbh, it's often like that there.

Aldi at 9am was fine. Got to Asda (for gluten free DH) and there's a queue of 10+ to get in! I dutifully line up fearing the worst, then realise it's only because people are wiping their trolleys down 🙌🏻 done both shops within an hour.

I went to Waitrose this afternoon. Short queue to go in, and fine in the shop. Was able to get everything I wanted.

T3 here. They've been fine today and yesterday. Nothing missing. No queues.

Went to Sainsbury's today. 10 X Nectar points and the store had all that I needed. A bit of dancing through the aisles to avoid other shoppers. I decent experience. Back there on Thursday for the fresh Xmas veg.

Wales tier 4 and Asda was quiet this afternoon and Tesco fine as well this evening everything fully stocked and being refilled.

Went to Waitrose this morning (T2), had to queue for about 10mins & were counted in/out but was ok. Crowded around the fruit/veg but once past that it was fine. Got all I needed.

T2. All fine with supermarkets here. I had to visit several to find a particular cheese DH wanted - no real issues. In fact I'd say quieter than a normal final Christmas shopping week. All shops visited were very well stocked. Surprisingly so.

Went into town centre mid-afternoon today expecting bedlam. It was pleasantly buzzing but not heaving as I'd normally expect at this time of year.

I think we can definitely expect shortages a few days after Christmas:

Rod McKenzie, the director of policy at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said the delays caused by the two Governments' wrangling over testing had been "disastrous".

"It's been a major disruption to the supply chain. Conditions at Manston Airport are terrible. Very few loos. Two thousand trucks parked and no food. It's just awful," he said.

"It's damaging because if I was an East European lorry driver I would not want to do this run again. So that damages us. I don't think the Government has gripped it at all.

"There's a backlog of 6,000 to 7,000 lorries which will take days to clear even with the rapid lateral flow tests. What is really worrying is that it is beginning to impact on the supply of food for the New Year. We will start to see problems with salads, green vegetables being in short supply in the run-up to New Year."

According to the British Retail Consortium, 40 per cent of supermarket food imports come via the Dover straits.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/22/uk-france-agree-deal-allow-mass-covid-testing-lorry-drivers/

Scotland, currently low tier before we all go into our version of T4 on Boxing Day.
M&S was absolutely fine this evening, no queue, shelves reasonably stocked, got all my main stuff. Only problem was all the cream was dated 24th so will pop to my local village shop for that and no doubt some more of her homemade tablet.

Waitrose last night was bare. Next to no meats. No veg but being restocked for the morning.
My mum is in Sainsbury’s this morning most things are plentiful.

It’s always mad at Xmas though

Yes, I remember DH getting stuck in a supermarket carpark one Christmas a few years ago! It has been better here this year, weirdly.

@Frenchdressing

It’s always mad at Xmas though

It is

I live a few miles from a large M&S and sainsburys that share the same carpark

They regularly shut the shops at 10ish on Christmas eve because they have reached peak capacity

No turkey delivery at Lidl this morning and none tomorrow. OH gone hunting

Tesco's fairly quiet at 8am. I only needed a few veggies (got Xmas meal ones on Monday), mulled wine and nibbles, plus bought three cans, pasta and rice - nothing in short supply - yet.

Waitrose fairly quiet at 9, having gone to the local market beforehand and done a lot yesterday, only bought beer!

I went to collect my Christmas orders from both Sains and Waitrose yesterday at my 1-3 time slots. All was fine, in fact Waitrose had just had a delivery of potatoes among other things as had run out before. Shops get deliveries through out the day. I think both Sainsbury and the BBC have behaved irresponsibly with their scaremongering.

predict Greenhouse sales going through the roof next year!! TBH we used to eat seasonal veg a couple of generations ago, we are spoilt now, so maybe we go back to that, home grown root veg etc. Greener, more sustainable, better for us all and our pockets! Less haulage costs, storage etc.

@justasking111

No turkey delivery at Lidl this morning and none tomorrow. OH gone hunting

same in my bit of North London, usually the place empties out for Christmas and we have the shops to ourselves so in the habit of buying on Christmas Eve morning but so many stuck here now cos of Tier 4, all the usual Xmas food sold out in the usual supermarkets near us. No shortages overall though for "normal" food. Looks like we'll be improvising this year.

My Sainsbury delivery comes today and there's an unusually long list of substitutions plus a couple of things that are completelymissing. I find Christmas deliveries are often like that, though.