IIRC, Safeway has a similar program. For a monthly fee, you can get as many deliveries as you want--with no other delivery fee.
I use Safeway delivery, but not that program. But, there are usually ways to get free delivery, if the order meets certain criteria (i.e., total cost and purchase of certain items).
In a normal year (anyone remember that?) stores would be very busy this week. Put in social distancing requirements and I can see that many stores would reintroduce the one-in one-out system of limiting numbers causing queues even without any shortages or hording.
There was a long but very well-regulated queue at our local Waitrose yesterday. They have put up a large marquee, with barriers inside and a good flow of air, to act as a queueing station - much needed as it was tipping down with rain. This morning Asda wasn't too busy and there was no queue, they have put up extra barriers though for the anticipated crowds. What I want to know is this: if large family groups can't mingle (much) over Ye Festive Season, why are people buying so much Stuff?
I did my Tesco shopping this morning, earlier than usual (5.15am; I happened to be awake) and while it was quiet when I went in it very quickly filled up. I've never seen it so busy so early, to the degree that I was uncomfortable with that number of people around me in the aisles. The one way system disappeared long ago and I think they should reinstate it.
There were also gaps: quite significant gaps. In fact, I met someone I know who had gone up there at 4am , seen the gaps, been told a delivery was due, and returned again at 5.30 to be told the delivery hadn't arrived. He wasn't happy.
The only citrus missing was grapefruits. "Oh that's ok," thought I. "I'll just grab a couple of tins when I go by." No tins of grapefruit. No chocolate logs either. Very little in the way of ready-prepared joints of meat (yes, I'm a lazy cook) and virtually no small frozen turkey crowns. Lots of large fresh ones. Packs of toilet roll and kitchen roll limited to one per customer. The bread situation was fine.
What I want to know is this: if large family groups can't mingle (much) over Ye Festive Season, why are people buying so much Stuff?
I was discussing this very thing with Mr Nen on my return from said shopping. We think it must be that a lot of households are now having to get food in for the Christmas period where before they would have been away. They are wanting smaller joints as there are fewer mouths to feed. They may even have a freezer load of large packs of meat and joints and now need smaller ones. And I'm sure there is and will be quite a bit of "S*d it, it's been a sh*t year and it's going to be a sh*t Christmas, I'm going to treat myself to extra wine" or chocolate, cake, sweets, grapefruit, take your pick.
There was a long but very well-regulated queue at our local Waitrose yesterday. They have put up a large marquee, with barriers inside and a good flow of air, to act as a queueing station - much needed as it was tipping down with rain. This morning Asda wasn't too busy and there was no queue, they have put up extra barriers though for the anticipated crowds. What I want to know is this: if large family groups can't mingle (much) over Ye Festive Season, why are people buying so much Stuff?
I envisage piles of rotting Brussels sprouts by Monday. The fact that shops 'may' run out of stuff is I'm sure making people panic buy stuff they probably don't need.
@Golden Key Currently the grocery issue is Covid related, as the UK has a new strain and Europe has closed borders so that lorry-drivers don't bring it in. It is also affecting exports from the UK. Come January it may well be that we have the same issue but then it will be Br*x*t-related.
@Golden Key Currently the grocery issue is Covid related, as the UK has a new strain and Europe has closed borders so that lorry-drivers don't bring it in.
I am wondering if France would/could have closed its borders to us if we had not left the EU? If so, this mess is both Covid and Brexit related.
I'd hazard a guess that the EU (it's not just France that's taken action) would have closed its borders anyway, given the exponential spread of the new Kentish Kovid...
Just hoping they haven't been after cabbages, spinach and unwaxed lemons.
Well, I got the cabbages, spinach and unwaxed lemons, but neither mini nor baby potatoes. Nor chestnut mushrooms, nor the more unusual green vegetables that I can't get from anywhere round here. Will have to brave the crowded shops tomorrow and try to fill the gaps on our plates with broccoli and more brussels sprouts.
You're more committed than I am. Having battled my way round Tesco's this morning I had a wander round our high street shops (after takeaway coffee with a friend) and observed the Aldi was three trollies deep at every till and the little Open All Hours shop had a queue of 10 people outside. The Spirit of Christmas Eve then came early upon me, namely "What we don't have now we'll do without", and I came home. I don't plan to go near any grocery shops now until at least next week. Apparently The Kentish Kovid is everywhere, it's just that only the People of Kent and the Kentish People (Kentish reference ) know it.
I had to visit the bank to drop off the collection from Sunday (which was interesting as it was closed due to a flood ... but, another story), so popped into the Sainsbury's which wasn't crowded mid morning. But, still lacking a few bit and pieces. Got the sprouts though, so that's the best bit of Christmas dinner in.
The jury is still out as regards your last sentence...
A quick visit to the Co-Op for essentials (loo rolls, WINE, and mince pies) was successful, but I may have to go out again on Christmas Eve to buy more bread (or CAKE, if no bread is to be had).
I did briefly contemplate a visit to Tesco's, but thought better of it - I can get pretty well all my modest requirements in one or other of the two local Co-Ops, and they (so far) haven't been too busy.
Kentish Kovid is, alas, rife, but I'm not sure it's merely we People of Kent etc. who know it. The People Across The Sleeve know it...hence the concentration of lorries on our fair motorways and in our delightful new Farage-Garages. If I had a char-a-banc, I'd organise Expotitions to look at the Lovely Lorries!!
Because you get what you want if you're in store, get a choice about alternatives if not available and there's a lot less plastic packaging and smaller carbon footprint. And, I don't think we could put in an order at this point anyway. If there were lots of people getting too close and without masks, I'd think twice, but given the general sensible behaviour of people here it doesn't seem too much of a risk.
I'd hazard a guess that the EU (it's not just France that's taken action) would have closed its borders anyway, given the exponential spread of the new Kentish Kovid...
Emmanuel Macron is currently holed up in Versailles with the Plague and has sent his Transport Minister to explain the French policy, but it strikes me as unlikely in the extreme that he wasn't involved in the decision. AFAICT Macron is thoroughly sick and tired of Brexit, and yes, I think the closed border is a warning shot.
Serious question - why are ya’all going to the supermarkets rather than ordering online or via Deliveroo ?
O- I missed that, so my post referred to Alan's remark about sprouts.
Good point re deliveries, though, but for myself a visit to the Co-Op (which normally means just 10 minutes or so in the shop - about as much time as I can bear wearing a mask) is as Alan says - the possibility of choice (or not), less packaging, not a great distance to travel, and the chance of some actual interaction with another Humming Bean (the person on the checkout!).
There's also a logistical issue - the boatyard in which the Ark is situated has a security gate, closed out of office hours, and activated by a security key-card which we residents have. A delivery at an odd hour would possibly involve me traipsing slowly to the gate to let the van in, and traipsing back again to let it out. Being now rather disabled, walking-wise, I simply can't do it!
Serious question - why are ya’all going to the supermarkets rather than ordering online or via Deliveroo ?
What Alan says about "you get what you want" - for fruit and veg, I want to pick, if they haven't got something, I want to be able to consider alternatives, and there's always the serendipity of coming across something interesting on special offer / reduced for clearance.
And I've got errands that need running anyway - more gift wrap to buy, and a couple of things to drop off for friends, so I'm driving past the store.
I go at less popular times, so the stores aren't crowded.
Serious question - why are ya’all going to the supermarkets rather than ordering online
Because ordering online doesn't always get you what you want.
Today's delivery was lacking 15% of what I had ordered, so tomorrow I have to go to a small local supermarket to find acceptable replacements for the missing items.
As above. I did a lot of online orders particularly in the first lockdown when Mr F was shielding and we couldn't drive to a supermarket. Fresh produce is frequently the stuff closest to a use-by date, and as for substitutes, I've never quite forgiven Aldi for supplying an Italian Pinot Grigio instead of a New Zealand.
Lucky to have two small supermarkets, two corner shops and a butcher within walking distance, but there is a limit to what an unfit septuagenarian can carry, even with a rucksack (couple of cartons of juice, a bag of spuds and a few bits and pieces was pushing it).
It's rather a case of *needs must* with me, but I much prefer the small local shop, for the reasons others have given.
I do, of course, appreciate that for those with families, or more than one person in the household for whom to cater, online deliveries and/or visits to much bigger shops are necessary.
I like to shop in person as well. Before lockdown I walked to the supermarket several times a week, with my shopping trolley, alongside having the veg delivery and milkman. Then when I became unwell we added a small box of organic meat and some pies to the veg delivery, which was a Godsend as I wasn’t well enough to go to the supermarket alone for a couple of months. And the corner shop for any extras.
We are now doing a big shop by car every 3 weeks in the evening at 8pm when Waitrose is quiet, with odd visits to the corner shop for bread and cheese.
I agree with BF re: interactions with Humming Beans: before I started working, sometimes the only people I would see for days on end would be the checkout staff at Tesco's (and very nice they are too).
Now, I'm out from 7 in the morning to 6 at night, so having groceries delivered wouldn't really work.
Serious question - why are ya’all going to the supermarkets rather than ordering online or via Deliveroo ?
I've never had to think seriously about it before now. I have a good supermarket less than 10 minutes' drive away and when I was working it was only ever part time so I got into the routine of going on a work-free morning. Also, until my work moved location (around 18 months before I was made redundant) I was on the local high street and could easily do a top-up shop in person.
When lockdown#1 happened I had just been made redundant so time wasn't really an issue. I'm a naturally early riser and could do my weekly shop first thing with a handful of people in the shop and the barriers and one way system making it all seem very safe. Also, such was the demand for online deliveries, with people having to shield but being unable to get a delivery slot for weeks, it seemed unfair for a relatively young and able-bodied person like me to take a much-needed slot.
Things feel different to me now. Kentish Kovid is rampaging. Shops and people are less diligent about the social distancing. Everywhere is very crowded, even at usually quiet times - though I realise that's due to the season.
I hadn't realised all this about the problems with not getting what you want, though, and the use-by dates being close. I thought you could request long-dated produce. No?
When the new lockdown was announced, I went online to book a supermarket delivery slot for my mother. I got one for 3 Jan. (There were a few earlier, but they were for deliveries between 9 and 10 pm, which is too late for my parents.)
Because you get what you want if you're in store, get a choice about alternatives if not available and there's a lot less plastic packaging and smaller carbon footprint. And, I don't think we could put in an order at this point anyway. If there were lots of people getting too close and without masks, I'd think twice, but given the general sensible behaviour of people here it doesn't seem too much of a risk.
I couldn’t have put it better myself! Plus, you can easily check use/sell by dates (a friend had a weekly online delivery with all the fresh foods having dates running out the next day!).
I've only ever tried online grocery shopping once, years ago, didn't enjoy it ... so I prefer to take my chances. Planning to visit Lidl tomorrow as I have a £2 coupon that expires in 3 days. Wish me luck
As above. Fresh produce is frequently the stuff closest to a use-by date, and as for substitutes, I've never quite forgiven Aldi for supplying an Italian Pinot Grigio instead of a New Zealand.
Outrageous! Everyone knows the NZ one is the best in the world!
I got put off on-line grocery shopping when I'd ordered a lot of baking ingredients and couldn't do any of the planned baking because bicarbonate of soda was the substituted item for baking powder.
But, that little incident aside, I just do prefer to choose my own shopping and make my own adjustments based on what is available, not what someone else thinks I should have/want/need. I shop 2/3 times a week at quiet times, make the list short, which mean I'm rarely in the shop for more than 15 minutes. That feels safer to me than one big shop a week. Plus, it gives me exercise walking there and carrying stuff home which I would not get if it were all delivered.
We order groceries online with Tesco, but tend to buy fresh fruit and veg locally. Neither Co-op home deliveries nor Deliveroo operate in this part of the UK.
Although we are a community of 10,000 or so, and only ten miles away from a community of 35-40,000, we’re fairly rural, and I guess the economics doesn’t work.
I love getting staples on line - tins of things for example. And I'm a "no substitute" person. But fruit and veg - I really like to choose. I'm also a bit of a walker and so walking back from the store with a rucksack full of veg makes me feel virtuous and is doable, if there are tins in the rucksack then I tend to get a bit weary.
My shopping habits haven't changed much since Covid.
As above. Fresh produce is frequently the stuff closest to a use-by date, and as for substitutes, I've never quite forgiven Aldi for supplying an Italian Pinot Grigio instead of a New Zealand.
Outrageous! Everyone knows the NZ one is the best in the world!
Quite. Italy has some very good wines, but Pinot Grigio from the Veneto isn't one of them.
No deliveries here with the only (small) supermarket on skeleton staff due to Covid, and only the basics available (flour, vegetable oil, bulk packs of sugar, tubs of margarine, unwanted jars of fig preserve etc). We have a church rota and take it in turns to shop for others ill with Covid or quarantining, so I buy for three or four people at a time.
My neighbour MarieB, recovering from Covid at 87, gave me her shopping list -- she was taught to write the most exquisite cursive 75 years ago but not to spell. I had a frustrating 10 minutes figuring out that what looked like 'tomatillos' was in fact 'tamaletjies', a sweet she wants to make with pine nuts and almonds. The manager had a small packet of dried almonds at the back, so success.
We've gone back to shopping online as being safer - also, Sainsbury's will deliver here from the closest decent-sized store, which is in Newport, and there is no way on God's earth I would drive to Newport to do a weekly shop. I've always planned a week's meals in advance and can do it a fortnight at a time if forced, and even when we could only get a fortnightly delivery the fresh stuff stayed fresh - often the BBE dates are a joke.
I agree about the substitutions but so far we've only had to send one back (red wine gravy instead of cranberry sauce). However there is no additional plastic packaging involved, and given that Mr Sainsbury will be making lots of deliveries on the same round it's probably better on fuel too. Lidl, our usual store, can't always provide what I want anyway! AND I'll pass up on the bargain hunting for the benefits of not having to shop in close proximity to a load of people claiming to be mask-exempt...
My ordered-online grocery shopping has just arrived. A good week - only one, sensible substitution. (I'd struggle to do a physical shop on my own and as the aim right now is to stay as far away from others as possible one masked delivery driver outside my porch is definitely the best bet. I can usually choose a 'greener' slot when the system shows a van will already be in the area.)
I have been getting an organic box of mixed fruit and vegetables each week for a number of years delivered. The surprise was when I found out it was less expensive than shopping in person. I also have door delivery local meat, the canned goods I ordered from Amazon but now that they are busy often they end up in town at the post office and are too heavy for me to lift so I had to stop that. The senior center brings me bread, milk, and eggs free each week, but that will stop when we move.
I've realised that I have a problem with dazzle from oncoming lights while driving at night. I hope it's just that the anti-dazzle coating has worn off my glasses which are (counts on fingers) three or four years old.
I don't want to go into town and to the optician. I have to stay Covid free because of my parents.
But I have to be able to drive at night because of my parents.
I'm sorry for your dilemma NEQ. One of the many horrible things about this time. It's likely small comfort but I had my eyes tested a few months ago and felt as safe as was probably possible given I had to be in an enclosed room with the optician while he did his stuff (which involved being near me a lot of the time, but we were both masked and he moved away from me as often as he could). The person who actually sorted out my frames was also masked, wiped down each set every time they changed hands between her and me and left the room for a bit so that I could consider each frame and take my mask off to see myself in each one. The waiting room was very good for social distancing too - only two seats provided, and boxes marked out for the queue. I hope the experience is reassuring for you.
@Nenya, sounds as though you went to the same Optician as me! I felt as safe as could be there.
But no way do I go to the hairdressers, even if they are open. At the one I usually frequented, one young girl went out with boyfriend, came back with covid, passed it to nearly all the staff and an unknown number of clients.
Clippers, ladies! A #4 is not too...errr...military, but if you go for it with #1 you'll be well vaccinated before you have to think about it again, and you'll save £££ in fancy shampoo (and - whisper - hair dye)
Comments
IIRC, Safeway has a similar program. For a monthly fee, you can get as many deliveries as you want--with no other delivery fee.
I use Safeway delivery, but not that program. But, there are usually ways to get free delivery, if the order meets certain criteria (i.e., total cost and purchase of certain items).
FYI, FWIW, YMMV.
There were also gaps: quite significant gaps. In fact, I met someone I know who had gone up there at 4am
The only citrus missing was grapefruits. "Oh that's ok," thought I. "I'll just grab a couple of tins when I go by." No tins of grapefruit. No chocolate logs either. Very little in the way of ready-prepared joints of meat (yes, I'm a lazy cook) and virtually no small frozen turkey crowns. Lots of large fresh ones. Packs of toilet roll and kitchen roll limited to one per customer. The bread situation was fine.
I was discussing this very thing with Mr Nen on my return from said shopping. We think it must be that a lot of households are now having to get food in for the Christmas period where before they would have been away. They are wanting smaller joints as there are fewer mouths to feed. They may even have a freezer load of large packs of meat and joints and now need smaller ones. And I'm sure there is and will be quite a bit of "S*d it, it's been a sh*t year and it's going to be a sh*t Christmas, I'm going to treat myself to extra wine" or chocolate, cake, sweets, grapefruit, take your pick.
I envisage piles of rotting Brussels sprouts by Monday. The fact that shops 'may' run out of stuff is I'm sure making people panic buy stuff they probably don't need.
Thanks for the info. I'd heard about the closed borders. Sorry you're going through that. Best of luck to everyone for both covid and Br*x*t.
Well, I got the cabbages, spinach and unwaxed lemons, but neither mini nor baby potatoes. Nor chestnut mushrooms, nor the more unusual green vegetables that I can't get from anywhere round here. Will have to brave the crowded shops tomorrow and try to fill the gaps on our plates with broccoli and more brussels sprouts.
A quick visit to the Co-Op for essentials (loo rolls, WINE, and mince pies) was successful, but I may have to go out again on Christmas Eve to buy more bread (or CAKE, if no bread is to be had).
I did briefly contemplate a visit to Tesco's, but thought better of it - I can get pretty well all my modest requirements in one or other of the two local Co-Ops, and they (so far) haven't been too busy.
Kentish Kovid is, alas, rife, but I'm not sure it's merely we People of Kent etc. who know it. The People Across The Sleeve know it...hence the concentration of lorries on our fair motorways and in our delightful new Farage-Garages. If I had a char-a-banc, I'd organise Expotitions to look at the Lovely Lorries!!
Emmanuel Macron is currently holed up in Versailles with the Plague and has sent his Transport Minister to explain the French policy, but it strikes me as unlikely in the extreme that he wasn't involved in the decision. AFAICT Macron is thoroughly sick and tired of Brexit, and yes, I think the closed border is a warning shot.
O- I missed that, so my post referred to Alan's remark about sprouts.
Good point re deliveries, though, but for myself a visit to the Co-Op (which normally means just 10 minutes or so in the shop - about as much time as I can bear wearing a mask) is as Alan says - the possibility of choice (or not), less packaging, not a great distance to travel, and the chance of some actual interaction with another Humming Bean (the person on the checkout!).
There's also a logistical issue - the boatyard in which the Ark is situated has a security gate, closed out of office hours, and activated by a security key-card which we residents have. A delivery at an odd hour would possibly involve me traipsing slowly to the gate to let the van in, and traipsing back again to let it out. Being now rather disabled, walking-wise, I simply can't do it!
What Alan says about "you get what you want" - for fruit and veg, I want to pick, if they haven't got something, I want to be able to consider alternatives, and there's always the serendipity of coming across something interesting on special offer / reduced for clearance.
And I've got errands that need running anyway - more gift wrap to buy, and a couple of things to drop off for friends, so I'm driving past the store.
I go at less popular times, so the stores aren't crowded.
Today's delivery was lacking 15% of what I had ordered, so tomorrow I have to go to a small local supermarket to find acceptable replacements for the missing items.
Lucky to have two small supermarkets, two corner shops and a butcher within walking distance, but there is a limit to what an unfit septuagenarian can carry, even with a rucksack (couple of cartons of juice, a bag of spuds and a few bits and pieces was pushing it).
I do, of course, appreciate that for those with families, or more than one person in the household for whom to cater, online deliveries and/or visits to much bigger shops are necessary.
I suppose I just dont think it's worth the risks for the exact choice of veg.
(Quite a lot of our delivery folk turn up on bikes.)
We are now doing a big shop by car every 3 weeks in the evening at 8pm when Waitrose is quiet, with odd visits to the corner shop for bread and cheese.
Now, I'm out from 7 in the morning to 6 at night, so having groceries delivered wouldn't really work.
When lockdown#1 happened I had just been made redundant so time wasn't really an issue. I'm a naturally early riser and could do my weekly shop first thing with a handful of people in the shop and the barriers and one way system making it all seem very safe. Also, such was the demand for online deliveries, with people having to shield but being unable to get a delivery slot for weeks, it seemed unfair for a relatively young and able-bodied person like me to take a much-needed slot.
Things feel different to me now. Kentish Kovid is rampaging. Shops and people are less diligent about the social distancing. Everywhere is very crowded, even at usually quiet times - though I realise that's due to the season.
I hadn't realised all this about the problems with not getting what you want, though, and the use-by dates being close. I thought you could request long-dated produce. No?
I couldn’t have put it better myself! Plus, you can easily check use/sell by dates (a friend had a weekly online delivery with all the fresh foods having dates running out the next day!).
Outrageous! Everyone knows the NZ one is the best in the world!
I know KiwiLand has its problems, but it does NOT have Johnson, Trump, Brexshit, Kentish Kovid (well, I hope it hasn't got that far...)...
I shall (if possible) console myself when I next visit the Co-op by seeing if they have an NZ Pinot Grigio.
But, that little incident aside, I just do prefer to choose my own shopping and make my own adjustments based on what is available, not what someone else thinks I should have/want/need. I shop 2/3 times a week at quiet times, make the list short, which mean I'm rarely in the shop for more than 15 minutes. That feels safer to me than one big shop a week. Plus, it gives me exercise walking there and carrying stuff home which I would not get if it were all delivered.
Although we are a community of 10,000 or so, and only ten miles away from a community of 35-40,000, we’re fairly rural, and I guess the economics doesn’t work.
Depending which supermarket you use, some guarantee a minimum shelf life.
My shopping habits haven't changed much since Covid.
Quite. Italy has some very good wines, but Pinot Grigio from the Veneto isn't one of them.
My neighbour MarieB, recovering from Covid at 87, gave me her shopping list -- she was taught to write the most exquisite cursive 75 years ago but not to spell. I had a frustrating 10 minutes figuring out that what looked like 'tomatillos' was in fact 'tamaletjies', a sweet she wants to make with pine nuts and almonds. The manager had a small packet of dried almonds at the back, so success.
I agree about the substitutions but so far we've only had to send one back (red wine gravy instead of cranberry sauce). However there is no additional plastic packaging involved, and given that Mr Sainsbury will be making lots of deliveries on the same round it's probably better on fuel too. Lidl, our usual store, can't always provide what I want anyway! AND I'll pass up on the bargain hunting for the benefits of not having to shop in close proximity to a load of people claiming to be mask-exempt...
YMMV etc...
I've realised that I have a problem with dazzle from oncoming lights while driving at night. I hope it's just that the anti-dazzle coating has worn off my glasses which are (counts on fingers) three or four years old.
I don't want to go into town and to the optician. I have to stay Covid free because of my parents.
But I have to be able to drive at night because of my parents.
Aaaaarghhhhh.
But no way do I go to the hairdressers, even if they are open. At the one I usually frequented, one young girl went out with boyfriend, came back with covid, passed it to nearly all the staff and an unknown number of clients.
There are, alas, Zoom calls...