What is a substantial meal ?

yuk, that's my idea of hell - on so many levels

 

what did being 18 have anything to do with it?

I did night shifts (which were 12 hours on a weekend) for more than 12 years lol

 

Ok I’ll give you that although beans then for me the only veg to complement a pie.

 

nice one - I'm the same, but a few on here lambasted me the other day (only in good fun) for even suggesting such a thing lol

 

They obviously lack a good upbringing

 

exactly mate

 

Only think i cook bananas in is a curry sauce that goes with a marlin dish i cook once in a blue moon (and yes it sounds weird, and i was really unsure about it, but it's so so good). Definitely won't be doing it any time soon til I can get to Borough Market again.

 

I was just mentioning to someone the other day that I can't remember the last time I cooked something new or "special" due to just shopping for the basics and essentials for the last few months.

 

We've gone the other way (i guess being stuck in shielding, its something that adds change and variety to the same old same old routine) and have had loads of new recipes that have been sitting in our folders for years in some cases. And lunches.... my carb intake must have collapsed as I seem to eat so little bread compared to what I did and eat loads of beans and pulses now.

Beef kofta curry was last weekend which we'd not done before. Due to sort the weekly shop later for delivery tomorrow, so will be doing the weekly menu planning in a few hours!

 

Gave up on the online ordering months ago, couldn't get what I wanted all from the same place So I just do a quick weekly shop at the supermarket, can't wait to get out of the place as soon as I'm there though, so just rush round and pick a load of stuff up that I'm going to use/need

 

The last time I went in a supermarket was about 10 days before lockdown in March when my missus chose to start shielding with the govt delaying decisions. It was absolute carnage and it didnt feel safe at all. Thankfully the supermarkets have been really really good, for general availability of slots and produce and in how they've stood back on the doorstep. So we have a rotation of 3, just to keep loyalty in case slots start to get rationed more. Theres also a Tesco metro and an M&S simply food very close if we were absolutely desperate, but we've avoided those largely, though at 5:30am, Tesco Metro is usually completely empty if we need milk.

 

Have you seen our negotiators?

 

I still feel anxious in supermarkets. Laura thinks it's pathetic but people don't wait for you to finish looking at items before they are pushing in front of you. One way systems counter it slightly but people shop at different pace.

 

My mum has someone shop for her once a month and she's heard stories of the same. I heard queuing systems were in operation right at the start with a maximum number of people allowed in store. Has that been phased out now?

 

No it's still being used but staff on doors are pretty lax.

 

Because if they find that it's not worth there while to open as close down the government don't have to pay furlough

 

There will be some pubs that say we aren't serving food we'll close. I think the majority in villages and backwaters will claim they serve "substantial meals".

 

If it works for you that's great, but with only the 2 of us at home, we spend roughly £40 - £50 a week on food. That's the minimum amount to spend on the online stores, and like I say I couldn't get all I wanted from one of them. Also Morrison's didn't deliver to my address in Barnsley (I've just had a quick look and they still don't). So I'd have to spend 3 times as much as I normally do, just to get what I wanted delivered, just not worth it. So all in all still very unimpressed with the online delivery service from the supermarkets

 

My mum said similar to be honest, that getting slots was really hard and the swapping out or unavailability was a problem. She does Asda click and collect now in between her friend doing a big shop.

Theres just 2 of us and we do eat well and have a lot of variations, so we've always been over the £40 minimum. We did have a little while building up things in the freezer and cupboards, mainly as before this we'd literally use the local Sainsburys as our larder rather than having it in the house, so little by little we've got a buffer in case things don't arrive (last week eggs were forgotten off the delivery as an example) and we can always swap something out if something is out of stock. We've had a couple of Ocado deliveries and been really impressed with them. What you see online is in stock so we've always had a complete delivery from what we've ordered.

There are some frustrations now and then, but its working for us thankfully and it definitely alleviates stress and worry.