Supermarket Shopping whilst Motorhoming

[GirlyVanGirly]

Online shopping is alright if you like stale bread. I had to freeze it and toast it.
I ended up buying that 50/50 stuff because it has about 6 days on it.
And don't mention the bacon

Supermarket bacon is foul! We used to buy a local butchers bacon, but even that is not what it used to be!

 

[Richard n Ann]

Supermarket bacon is foul! We used to buy a local butchers bacon, but even that is not what it used to be!

Yeah even the 'dry cured' is 2 quid a pack if you buy 2. The quality varies though.

 

[vzac]

And the extra thick is wafer thin

 

[Tonks]

We, as we have always done, prefer to use local farm shops, butchers, bakers etc, to support local businesses.
Stay safe out there everyone, however you chose to cope with this situation,
Joe

Absolutely agree with you there! I love farm shops, and try to use them when travelling in the van. I have favourites I revisit regularly when on the road. I'm lucky locally to have good butcher and baker shops, and a fabulous deli which is tiny but stocks wonderful stuff. The only thing with the deli is it's very expensive so I'm not a buyer of a lot from there, but I do buy periodically and they're my preferred option if I'm ever buying lunch!

 

[deleted79651]

Not knocking the op but It's coming to the time we have just got to get on with life, can't see it ever getting much better, covid is here to stay.

I've read about COVID being here to stay, so we're decorating the spare room so that it will be comfortable and feel welcome. Of course, we will take precautions and check that has had both of its jabs ...

Steve

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[deleted79651]

Supermarket bacon is foul! We used to buy a local butchers bacon, but even that is not what it used to be!

Must taste like chicken, then?

Steve

 

[chaser]

Supermarket bacon is foul! We used to buy a local butchers bacon, but even that is not what it used to be!

Don't know where any of you live but if you are anywhere near uttoxeter, or just passing by, go on to the main carpark in the town and go to the first shop out of it, edmonstons butcher, and ask for some of his home cured bacon, you have got to like fat as it is off full grown glouster spot pigs but it is the best bacon for miles around.
Must add he hasn't always got it as it sells out and he has to wait till the next one is ready and he isn't open on Monday.

 

[hja]

A shout out for markets. Get most of our fruit and veg from ours on a Saturday.

 

[Stewart J]

Presently on a site at Stiffkey on the North Norfolk coast, in conversation the site warden who said supermarket deliveries are allowed. So order put in at Tesco delivery tomorrow evening which saves us going well out of our way into Fakenham when we leave Sunday for Burnham Deepdale, winner

 

[Puddleduck]

Online shopping is alright if you like stale bread. I had to freeze it and toast it.
I ended up buying that 50/50 stuff because it has about 6 days on it.
And don't mention the bacon

Anything less than 3 days before "use by" date and I take photos and complain to customer services. All the major supermarkets except Asda immediately offered either refunds to my card or a gift voucher or (Morrisons) came out with replacement but didn't want the old stuff back.

Also Sainsbury charge for what you ordered or what you got (if cheaper) if they substitute.

Re 'click and collect' our Sainsburys had a container in the car park, shopping collected from there, no need to go in the shop. Tesco were better organised in my opinion, they trollied the shopping to your car, stood well back and its ready to bung in the boot! I preferred click and collect to having to empty containers on my doorstep and getting close to the delivery driver, who knows where he had been?!!

Our local Sainsbury has a delivery van for C&C in their car park. Vehicles pull into a dedicated lane for the C&C, not into the main part of the car park. I always hold up a card with my surname and order number in it and they leave the trays at the boot of the car (or if there is a motorhome at the hab door). After the customer has put the groceries in their vehicle the trays are left on the kerb beside the car and the staff come and wipe down the trays before taking them to a stacking area beside their van. When I was ill I popped the boot and they put the groceries in for me I rarely use Sainsbury because of the issues with gluten free early in the pandemic. Morrisons deliver, are cheaper and have a much bigger range.

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[Spriddler]

Supermarket bacon is foul! We used to buy a local butchers bacon, but even that is not what it used to be!

I miss bacon with rind on it as I liked to cut it off and eat it hot and crispy.
Also pork chops wi' a bit 'o kidney so I have to buy a separate kidney which doesn't quite seem as good.

 

[dna]

We often order deliveries or click&collect from our local supermarket. Most of time these work well, the main challenges we get are when items are "out of stock".

For example, we didnt get any instant coffee on one order - apparently they didnt have any in stock after all.
Last week it was brown bread. We ordered 4 brown loaves and 3 white. 7 white were delivered as they had no brown (really?)
Our resident Vegan gets quite stressed when vegan sausages / pies etc get replaced by meat ones

The supermarket seems to be trimming the availability of items to order on line as I have had to go into the store after a click&collect to pick up items said to be out of stock

 

[Simon Meadwell]

I miss bacon with rind on it as I liked to cut it off and eat it hot and crispy.
Also pork chops wi' a bit 'o kidney so I have to buy a separate kidney which doesn't quite seem as good.

You need a trip to Nixons farm shop in Heald Green near Manchester Airport their pork chops come witg the kidney attached. Yum!

 

[PaulC70]

What’s wrong with going into supermarkets now?

Lots of them are full of covid-iots :-(

 

[deleted79651]

We often order deliveries or click&collect from our local supermarket. Most of time these work well, the main challenges we get are when items are "out of stock".

For example, we didnt get any instant coffee on one order - apparently they didnt have any in stock after all.
Last week it was brown bread. We ordered 4 brown loaves and 3 white. 7 white were delivered as they had no brown (really?)
Our resident Vegan gets quite stressed when vegan sausages / pies etc get replaced by meat ones

The supermarket seems to be trimming the availability of items to order on line as I have had to go into the store after a click&collect to pick up items said to be out of stock

Not necessarily the case, quite possibly timing differences that the Supply Chain problems have brought into sharp focus. 'Click & Collect' Orders, especially those for early timeslots are picked by the evening/overnight restock team. The Evening Store Restock HGVs typically start arriving from around 8pm, so if your order is picked at, say, 7:30pm, you may well miss out on an item that will have been replenished in the store the following morning when you arrive to buy the missing items.

Supermarkets have put their staff under pressure for quite a few years in a drive to cut costs, and the COVID staff sicknesses and social distancing/extra hygiene mean, despite the employment of other occupation furloughed staff, there isn't the time to 'pop back to the fruit & veg to see if the spuds have been refilled yet'.

NHS staff, quite rightly, have been recognised for their work in the pandemic; it is easy to forget the work that supermarket staff, cleaners and other front line workers undertake to keep services operational

Steve

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[vzac]

I agree, my daughter work in the on line department and starts work at 4am and has done throught the pandemic, not had covid ( guess partly, as who in there right mind wants to be out at 4am, ) ( that does not sound good for my daughter) whatever. At her store most shelves have been restored, if stock is waiting to go onto the shelves on line orders get them 1st, all bread is fresh. She does have some stories about substitutes like when they had no bananas it was swapped for tampons. She gets all the complaints and has to deal with them, it can be stressful, and amusing at times.

 

[joe and sue]

Not necessarily the case, quite possibly timing differences that the Supply Chain problems have brought into sharp focus. 'Click & Collect' Orders, especially those for early timeslots are picked by the evening/overnight restock team. The Evening Store Restock HGVs typically start arriving from around 8pm, so if your order is picked at, say, 7:30pm, you may well miss out on an item that will have been replenished in the store the following morning when you arrive to buy the missing items.

Supermarkets have put their staff under pressure for quite a few years in a drive to cut costs, and the COVID staff sicknesses and social distancing/extra hygiene mean, despite the employment of other occupation furloughed staff, there isn't the time to 'pop back to the fruit & veg to see if the spuds have been refilled yet'.

NHS staff, quite rightly, have been recognised for their work in the pandemic; it is easy to forget the work that supermarket staff, cleaners and other front line workers undertake to keep services operational

Steve

Very true, there are a lot of "Unseen" workers who have worked all through this pandemic, wh have gone un notices.
All 3 of our sons were classified as "Essentiasl workers" and have had very little time off work since Feb 2020, One works in Pharmaceuticals ( drug delivery systems), one works for Highways street lighhting & maintenance, one works for a vehicle leasing company which supplies and maintains emergency vehicles for 4 counties,
All of these people should be thanked for what they have done

 

[Trev45]

Reading this thread I appear to be leading life on the edge . I drive into a supermarket car park get out and get a trolley that has been used by others [urgh] but I do wipe the handles .Walk into the supermarket with my mask on , pick up items from the shelf without knowing who else has touched them and put them in my trolley .I then make my way to the checkout and allow a till assistant to touch the items I have taken out of the trolley, I do not ask for proof that the till operator has been double vaccinated nor ask for sight of a negative PCR test. Having put my purchases in my reusable bag I wheel the trolley out of the store put my bag in the car/ PVC and return the trolley to the trolley park . I then drive home.

 

[Gellyneck]

I’m sure it was Blackpool CAMC that told us that they don’t allow deliveries to the site.
Not sure whether it was a temporary thing due to Covid recovery or whether it’s their policy.
You could always arrange delivery to outside and carry the shopping into the site yourself.

From memory, C&MC introduced a policy of "no shopping deliveries" pre-pandemic (a year or two before!) and wouldn't even allow you to collect from outside the gate \ barrier on the site. Guess they couldn't stop you collecting it from the road side but would the supplier \ driver accept that?

 

[Folkranger]

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve either had home deliveries or done click and collect. Currently we’re touring England because we didn’t fancy Europe.

I pondered on how to get our weekly groceries, without entering a store. Anyway, it turns out you can get a click and collect order from any Sainsbury’s store. It’s been brilliant and even without a pandemic it’s a godsend when you’re away.

I didn’t know about this, so thought I would share.

When needs must, this was our option but glad to go in store now. They packed the heavy goods on top of the softees, substituted toothpast for toilet paper and the made you pack everything from ground zero level in a wet carpark. Ain't it good to get that off my chest.

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[deleted79651]

Reading this thread I appear to be leading life on the edge . I drive into a supermarket car park get out and get a trolley that has been used by others [urgh] but I do wipe the handles .Walk into the supermarket with my mask on , pick up items from the shelf without knowing who else has touched them and put them in my trolley .I then make my way to the checkout and allow a till assistant to touch the items I have taken out of the trolley, I do not ask for proof that the till operator has been double vaccinated nor ask for sight of a negative PCR test. Having put my purchases in my reusable bag I wheel the trolley out of the store put my bag in the car/ PVC and return the trolley to the trolley park . I then drive home.

Since getting out and about in Brunhilde, we have resumed supermarket shopping in much the same fashion as you, BUT with the precautions of disinfecting the trolley handle/grips and the tops of the metal trolley framework; taking advantage of Morrisons Hand Sanitising Stations through the store in case the goods have been handled, but not bought by an infected person, a further hand sanitise after packing the purchases in our reusable bags; a squirt of our own sanitiser when we have put the shopping in the car to prevent any contamination passing onto steering wheel and other vehicle controls; and, lastly, a wipe down of the shopping items with disinfectant inside the flat and then into the store cupboard for a couple of days.

Before you or anyone else says this is OTT, Fife has gone from about 35 infection cases each day to 450/550 per day in about 2 months, which for an area with a population of just under 375,000 is bonkers. Fife is rarely out of the top 5 towns/cities in Scotland for infection rates and has appeared in the 'Bronze Medal' slot quite frequently. No mean achievement when we are 'competing' against Glasgow, Edinburgh, North & South Lanarkshire, Aberdeen, Dundee et al

Steve

 

[Conrad J]

What’s wrong with going into supermarkets now?

Hmm, choice - plan your meals and ingredients, order it all on line, let someone else hunt around the supermarket and go to pick it up.
- plan your meals and ingredients, go to supermarket, find you've forgotten your list, buy what you think you need, don't get it all, buy extra because you think it may come in sometime, queue at checkout........need I go on?!

 

[Spriddler]

Fife has gone from about 35 infection cases each day to 450/550 per day in about 2 months,

I've not given much credence to the daily infection figures or the comparisons with other towns/cities/regions because it all depends upon how many were tested each day.

 

[gus-lopez]

We're completely spoilt here. Supermarkets are a pleasure to be in whether Carrefour, mercadona, Aldietc,or even small local ones.
Carrefour still sanitise all trollies& baskets by hand & all have security labels on & you get given one as you enter & tag removed. Does't stop me still sanitising myself . Mercadona spray all there trollies with industrial sanitiser. It is like it has rained sometimes. Aldis you do it yourself. then again there are only 3 staff members running the whole show from stocking to tills
99,9% of people respect distances are wearing masks & using the sanitiser. The odd forgetful one or other gets spoken to or stopped by any member of staff.problems security throw them out the complete site if it is carrefour.
Everyone wears a mask. Staff would not serve you if you are't wearing one.All tills have perspex screens between you & cashier.

Question: irrespective if you click and collect or self shop, do you clean the the shopping with disinfectant wipes, when you take it into your home?

Yes most I know still do it here. We wash everything in washing uo liquid ,anything in boxes the bag inside is taken out & all boxes binned, multi packs the sameCans ,drinks bottles, tins, fruit & veg . some also remove all the clothing they are wearing before entering the house & then put it in washing machine & then shower themselves. i don't go that far.

Since getting out and about in Brunhilde, we have resumed supermarket shopping in much the same fashion as you, BUT with the precautions of disinfecting the trolley handle/grips and the tops of the metal trolley framework; taking advantage of Morrisons Hand Sanitising Stations through the store in case the goods have been handled, but not bought by an infected person, a further hand sanitise after packing the purchases in our reusable bags; a squirt of our own sanitiser when we have put the shopping in the car to prevent any contamination passing onto steering wheel and other vehicle controls; and, lastly, a wipe down of the shopping items with disinfectant inside the flat and then into the store cupboard for a couple of days.

Before you or anyone else says this is OTT, Fife has gone from about 35 infection cases each day to 450/550 per day in about 2 months, which for an area with a population of just under 375,000 is bonkers. Fife is rarely out of the top 5 towns/cities in Scotland for infection rates and has appeared in the 'Bronze Medal' slot quite frequently. No mean achievement when we are 'competing' against Glasgow, Edinburgh, North & South Lanarkshire, Aberdeen, Dundee et al

Steve

I use 96º alcohol all the time for sanitising & carry my own which I liberally use & once back at the van I wash door handle, steering wheel, gear stick ,handbrake etc: Even though I don't drink I doubt if I was breathalysed I would pass due to washing in the stuff

find you've forgotten your list,

My wife used to do that so I have it all on the phone now.
As above no shop would serve anyone not wearing a mask .No shop would allow anyone in without one as it is a legal requirement.They would be as liable for a fine as the person themselves.

 

[robnchris]

Each to their own but I wouldn't let anyone else do our grocery shopping and we certainly wouldn't buy meat, fish or veg from a supermarket.
We are lucky in having an excellent local butcher, fishmonger and green grocer, we also have a cheese shop which has an amazing selection.
We love our food and cooking and after seeing some of the on the shelves out of date and mouldy food for sale in a supermarket we wouldn't trust someone else to supply us, choosing your own ingredients ensures you at least have a chance of preparing yourselves a good meal.
As for not wearing a mask, surely that is why we had the double jab, just keep that social distance if you feel unsafe, and what is all this hand sanitising in aid of, all you are doing is removing any natural immunities, just use soap and water.

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[Barti Ddu]

My shopping was with Sainsburys,,They put IPA in not Speckled Hen,,Cognac instead of Spanish Brandy and a few other blunders.BUSBY.

Ruddy 'ell. How did you manage to survive?!

 

[deleted79651]

Each to their own but I wouldn't let anyone else do our grocery shopping and we certainly wouldn't buy meat, fish or veg from a supermarket.
We are lucky in having an excellent local butcher, fishmonger and green grocer, we also have a cheese shop which has an amazing selection.
We love our food and cooking and after seeing some of the on the shelves out of date and mouldy food for sale in a supermarket we wouldn't trust someone else to supply us, choosing your own ingredients ensures you at least have a chance of preparing yourselves a good meal.
As for not wearing a mask, surely that is why we had the double jab, just keep that social distance if you feel unsafe, and what is all this hand sanitising in aid of, all you are doing is removing any natural immunities, just use soap and water.

'Out of Date and mouldy food for sale in a supermarket' is a breach of Environmental Health Rules and something that supermarkets are almost paranoid about since it can result in a store closure, legal proceedings and consequent damage to the supermarket's reputation. At M&S it was hammered home under the Title of 'Trading Safekly and Legally' and all date expirING [not expired] food had to go straight into recyclable waste. Frozen food had to be transferred to the Store Retail Freezers OR Returned to the Warehouse Freezer within a maximum of 20 minutes [and the target was chased to get 15 minutes or under for extra safety].

Soap and water is accepted as being the most effective way of preventing COVID infection, but hand sanitiser is the recommended option when the tap is out of reach. Complacency in the face of Delta variant growth is mad, but, as you say, each to his own. Bizarre to be paranoid about mouldy food but relaxed about not sanitising whilst shopping for food that complies with the Environmental Health Regs, but hey ho.

Steve

 

[Shrimp]

I’ve been shopping twice every week since the start of Covid, (small fridge in van & no freezer) I’ve shopped for others too, never had a problem. I wear a mask.
I go as soon as shop is open, I don’t linger-I’m in, I shop & I'm out again usually in 30 mins or less.
Never had so much as a thought of getting Covid but I’m very careful.
Never bothered with extra washing of foods except normal washing of apples etc.
If I have to get past someone I turn my back to them and always breathe out, I never stand close to anyone and move away if someone comes too close.
I‘m not paranoid about it I just rely on common sense and keep clear!
I do spend a lot of time outside in the fresh air and don’t like crowds, towns or busy built up areas!
I’m a country girl at heart!

 

[mitzimad]

As are the Flu and the common cold, but we just get on with life
I wonder how this latest episode would have been handled back in the 60's / 70's without instant communications and the social media platforms ??

In London we got at least four newspapers a day in the sixties morning and three evening editions so I'm sure that and radio was the same as social media is now
The main difference would have been proper experts reporting rather than Bob down the pub

 

[gus-lopez]

cooking and after seeing some of the on the shelves out of date and mouldy food for sale in a supermarket

As said out of date was a 5k fine per item 20 +years ago.stuff of nightmares to shop owner/manager.

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