Difficulty in buying food on line

[francovendee]

My MIL has dementia and is waiting to go into care.
Carers call three times a day to feed her etc.
My wife arranges delivery of frozen food so the carers can microwave a meal for her.
Today my wife tried to order various frozen vegetables but all were out of stock.
I hear two versions of shortages on the shelves. Either no shortages or many items out of stock.
Is it a North, South thing? My MIL lives in London so is it worse there?

[Jdsk]

The recent fuel shortage was much worse in London and the SE.

There's a survey with regional comparisons for food published a few days ago:
https://insidecroydon.com/2021/10/15/lo ... shortages/



For online shopping there are many more substitutions taking place, but I think that what you are describing is unusual.

The industry is predicting greater problems in the near future.

Jonathan

[Ben@Forest]

I've seen no petrol queues where I live in the NE at all (not more than the usual waiting behind cars actually at the pumps) though at one point I drove past a Sainsbury's station with no lights on so guess it was shut completely. I've seen no essential food shortages either, though bread aisles have sometimes had less choice - but these are shops which if you go in after 6pm (when I normally shop) the bread choice is often less good.

We don't buy frozen vegetables (other than peas and those not often) so as to the specific I really can't say.

[Paulatic]

Looking at our last delivery
Missing: Gravy bones ( for dog )
Almond fingers for a second time!
Also , unbelievable, no mince pies?
Fuel was never a problem here and neither was it in York when there a couple of weeks ago.

[Syd]

Mrs Syd placed an order at around 8pm on Saturday for a Tesco delivery between 7 & 8pm Sunday.

Everything arrived, no substitutions.

Can’t get better than that.

Located in Edinburgh.

EDIT: Location added.

[francovendee]

It does seem as it's worse (fuel shortages) in London and the South.
We've friends in Southampton and some others In Nottingham and they have different levels of shortages.
My wife tracked down some oriental rice dishes that were in stock so these are on order. MIL really won't know much difference she's in a poor way.
The care home she is going to can only take a certain number of 'difficult' residents so until a vacancy is available she's rather stuck.
I just hope I don't end up like this, far better to just fall off the saddle when the time comes but we don't get a choice unfortunately.

[Jdsk]

i think that it might help if local experiences are accompanied by location.

: - )

Jonathan

[661-Pete]

Our son (who also lives in Southampton) had to buy online last week. He'd taken a routine lateral flow test which turned out positive (a false positive as it turned out) and had to quarantine for a couple of days until a PCR cleared him. Not knowing how long he'd be cooped up, he phoned around various suppliers and eventually got a slot with Ocado. But they have a minimum £40 order, it seems. He lives alone and fairly frugally, so he stocked up on a lot of non-perishables like rice, pasta, tinned food. He'll be all right for a while!

[Paulatic]

i think that it might help if local experiences are accompanied by location.

: - )

Jonathan

Not just for this thread
I’ve grumbled about empty location fields for years. It can often help to understand attitudes and the sense in which some words are used.
At the time of posting in this thread I am the only one with a location field.
Obviously, over time, I’ve got to know the approximate location of most posters. Knowing their location certainly helps me to be charitable to some of their postings.

[Jdsk]

Knowing their location certainly helps me to be charitable to some of their postings.

: - )

Jonathan

[661-Pete]

At the time of posting in this thread I am the only one with a location field.

Ahem???

"24 Hours from Lands End"? Which direction? And in what mode of transport (if by air, you could be in NZ)?

I think 'Sussex' is good enough in my case, though to be more explicit, I could have added 'not far from Brighton'...

[squeaker]

Our son (who also lives in Southampton) had to buy online last week. He'd taken a routine lateral flow test which turned out positive (a false positive as it turned out) and had to quarantine for a couple of days until a PCR cleared him.

Off topic, but he might be interested in this?

[Psamathe]

From personal experience (East Anglia/Norfolk/Suffolk - deliveries come from different stores, sometimes quite distant): I'm lazy and mostly have a microwave tray meal with fresh veg (I prepare and cook). In my area only one supermarket has adequate capacity for me to be able to reliably book a home delivery. More recently it has deteriorated to something of a waste of time as so much stuff is "unavailable" (sometimes so you can't order it, often you can order but they don't can't pick/deliver it). I'd end-up being delivered combinations I just can't use (a meal of red cabbage alone does not appeal) - so much of what they did manage to deliver had to be rejected because of other missing items.

I still have a home delivery order which I'm regularly rescheduling into the future and instead waiting for a "good day" and having to visit the bricks & mortar supermarket.

Disappointing but unsure where the blame/fault lies. But bottom line is that for me home delivery was fine for ages but now with the supply issues is no longer useful.

Ian

[Oldjohnw]

No real problems either online/home delivery or in store in S Warwickshire. Occasionally shortage of odd items and some incomprehensible substitutions with deliveries (Tesco).

[Paulatic]

"24 Hours from Lands End"? Which direction? And in what mode of transport (if by air, you could be in NZ)?

Hint to my location
It’s a cycling forum.
Think of cycling records associated with Lands End and I’m within a mile.

I think 'Sussex' is good enough in my case, though to be more explicit, I could have added 'not far from Brighton'...

Yes I agree a county is generally good enough but maybe not for somewhere as big as Yorkshire.