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-   -   What's making you happy today? (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=14055)

Urbane Guerrilla 04-24-2020 08:57 PM

Black beetles that are cutting their capers all over your Morris wallpapers . . . and crawly things never at rest . . .

xoxoxoBruce 04-25-2020 12:08 AM

Wuhan is slowly cautiously opening businesses, most are still pretty empty except the barbers and hair salons are mobbed.

DanaC 04-25-2020 05:44 PM

Well, it's taken a month but I finally managed to get a groceries delivery slot *hurrah*

... sort of.

There were no delivery slots available for regular grocery shopping (where you put together your own list) from Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsburys - but there were available slots for Morrisons 'Food Boxes'.

I have been wanting to try one of these - just because I think its a genius idea.

https://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/boxes

I went for the meat eaters food box. Contents variable, but should contain something along the lines of:

Quote:

Canned baked beans, soup and pasta sauce

Milk

Dairy products such as butter and cheese

Bread

Rice and pasta

Meat products, such as sausage, bacon and cooked meat

Vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots and onions

Fresh meat such as chicken or beef

Essential household items
£35 including delivery - supposedly enough basics (not including coffee, tea sugar or breakfast cereal) for 1 week for 2 people - so definitely enough for me for over a week

I will keep trying for a slot for a full groceries list but if this works out then it should at least allow me to cut down my trips to the village shop down to once or twice a week instead of every 2nd or 3rd day.

Pet food I can mainly order separately online and my neighbour gave me a phone number for a local dairy that are doing 3x a week deliveries of fresh milk, butter, eggs and I think yoghurt


The idea of a preset shopping list of basics really appeals to me. I think even without the current crisis, it's a genius idea. And then supplement it with stuff from the local shop - means not having to go to the supermarket at all.


Right now cutting down the number of times I have to go into the shop at all, and also cutting down the amount of time I spend in the shop when I do go in, by reducing the number o items I have to buy in there is a very good thing.

xoxoxoBruce 04-25-2020 05:58 PM

Probably a can of Soylent Green in there for Carrot. ;)

DanaC 04-25-2020 06:12 PM

Ha! He wouldnt eat anything green

glatt 04-25-2020 06:46 PM

The grocery store curb side pickup slots for my elderly parents open up at midnight two days before the slots are available. The slots all get snatched up before 1:00 am. My parents go to bed at around 9:00pm. So they miss it.

So we have developed a system where they fill a virtual cart as they realize they need stuff, and then when it’s getting to be time to place the order, my brother in Arizona places the order for them at midnight Eastern time. It’s only 9pm for him, so he just needs to set a reminder, and he places the order.

If you don’t have your cart already full, in the time it takes you to shop virtually, the slots are all full, and you are out of luck.

Our strategy is being tested for the first time this week, so we’ll see how it goes. I expect it to work though, because he will place the order at a few seconds after midnight.

xoxoxoBruce 04-25-2020 08:41 PM

This is going to become the norm and only the connected will get served.
Then they'll expand their capability until everyone can get it and be grateful.
From then on they will choose the availability and quality you get.
Everyone pays with a card so the 2 or 3% being skimmed by the card will drive up prices.
Welcome to 1984.

monster 04-25-2020 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC (Post 1051548)
cut down my trips to the village shop down to once or twice a week instead of every 2nd or 3rd day.

If it's not too nosy, why on earth do you need to go to the shop this often? is it the volume you have to carry? Or do they rarely have the products you need?

DanaC 04-26-2020 04:15 AM

Bit of both - I have also been shopping for mum because she also couldn't get a food delivery and is staying completely out of shops.

I don't drive, so whatever I buy has to be carried home - its not a long walk, but there's still a limit to what i can carry - if I am buying milk for both of us, for 3 days, that's about 10 liters of milk. Also, despite the guideline dates, after about 4 days the milk starts to go on the turn, so just based on milk alone, it's 2 trips a week.

I have also been buying tins of other dog food to help eke out the Chappie that they are used to because there were some delays on stock for home delivery - so that's 6-8 tins of dog food in a typical trip. Add in a couple of tins of beans each, a loaf of bread each, a few bananas each and some yoghurts for Ma, 4 rolls of toilet paper each and say, a jar of coffee or a box of tea and it's mounted up already to a sizeable load to carry and only accounts for some of the stuff we need.

It's also only a village store, so it's quite small, and one section of it is the post office. there are only 5 people allowed in at once, it's difficult to go back around to get something you've forgotten as you went past and its difficult to manoeuvre with two shopping baskets (no carts, shop is too cramped). Add in that sometimes you go and they don't have some of the things you need, or they only have a very limited stock of it, so you can't really buy a bunch to stock up - don't get me wrong they do brilliantly, and thanks to them I have managed without a supermarket shop for about 6 weeks and didn't have much in my cupboards at the start of that period. But it' a bit more complicated than doing one big supermarket trip where you can buy everything in one go.

It just ends up with shop visits about every 2nd or 3rd day. They're not all full trips, laden down with bags some of them are top up trips.

I don't like being in there for long - because it is so enclosed. I'm not sure going in only 1-2 times a week would be a safer option if it doubles the length of time i am in there.

monster 04-26-2020 10:45 PM

Sounds tough, I'm sorry. I hear you re the milk. I was trying to go only once a week but it's just not possible. Here milk does last forever, but I now have two young men in the house who only drink milk or water and whose diet seems to be 75% cereal with milk. I bought 3 gallons on Friday. We might make it til Tuesday. Maybe :/

Did you now it freezes OK though? Just freeze it in small enough amounts that you are able to defrost the whole portion you froze at the same time as IME it separates out as it's freezing, so if you break off a bit of it to defrost, you don't get the proper composition.

xoxoxoBruce 04-27-2020 12:21 AM

Melted ice cream works with Cheerios. :D

monster 04-27-2020 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce (Post 1051605)
Melted ice cream works with Cheerios. :D

I think that is how the "second supper" cereal works round here.

Griff 04-27-2020 06:21 AM

Wegman's wouldn't take my milk bottle returns last week. They paid me for them but now I'm stuck with them. Since this is the happy thread I'm happy my chickens are being productive despite the bumpy weather.

xoxoxoBruce 04-27-2020 07:50 AM

Returns? The sell returnable bottles?

DanaC 04-27-2020 10:43 AM

Yeah,I think Griff may be posting from the 20th century.


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