Panic buying

[boxbrownie]

10 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Off-licences? Don't know about the independants, but Majestics certainly deliver.

Falmouth is too far unfortunately for us........

[Joseph_Pestell]

12 minutes ago, Nick C said:

Off-licences? Don't know about the independants, but Majestics certainly deliver.

 

As do the vast majority of independent wine merchants.

[Nick C]

7 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Falmouth is too far unfortunately for us........

I think they deliver anywhere in the country, you don't need to be near a store. Or as Joseph says, maybe a local independent does?

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

The secret is to leave ordering until the last day before delivery.

 

I quickly learned that items go in and out of stock so frequently that you end up having few of the items you want if you start too early.

 

Keep a paper wishlist, but place the actual order at the last possible minute - that way you get to see the actual stock availability and receive far more of the items that you ordered.

 

Our last Asda order had one Substitution and two 'Not Availables'.

 

John Isherwood.

Today is the last day before delivery, I will finalise just before the 10pm deadline as I did last time but I'm not holding my breath about OOS and subs.

I still had quite a few subs and OOS last time.

Some of the items which were on the list 6 plus weeks ago have vanished entirely from what's showing as available or OOS, It seems the total items stocked are being "trimmed"

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

Surely, in a rural area such as Norfolk, you have a local butcher?

 

Here in Cornwall we patronise a local farm butcher - his main business in normal times is wholesale to the hospitality trade, but he has a small retail shop on the farm.

 

The meat is superb - the provenance is posted on a chalk-board and, being wholesale, his prices are way lower than the supermarkets.

 

We never buy meat from supermarkets - it's too expensive and the quality is too variable.

 

John Isherwood.

 

Depends what your picture of a “rural area” is. There ARE butchers in the pockets of prosperity - Holt comes to mind - but most of Norfolk, S Lincs and NE Cambs are a vast expanse of largely depopulated, mostly mechanised agri-business, root crops and soft fruit in the North, wheat in the East, apples around Cambridge. There are very few animals of any description, few walkers or other recreational visitors and NOBODY buys a cottage so they can look at windswept fen...

 

 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

The secret is to leave ordering until the last day before delivery.

 

I quickly learned that items go in and out of stock so frequently that you end up having few of the items you want if you start too early.

 

Keep a paper wishlist, but place the actual order at the last possible minute - that way you get to see the actual stock availability and receive far more of the items that you ordered.

 

Our last Asda order had one Substitution and two 'Not Availables'.

 

John Isherwood.

 

Thats what my wife explained, in that patronising tone reserved for recalcitrant toddlers and disinterested husbands... 

[cctransuk]

1 minute ago, rockershovel said:

 

Depends what your picture of a “rural area” is. There ARE butchers in the pockets of prosperity - Holt comes to mind - but most of Norfolk, S Lincs and NE Cambs are a vast expanse of largely depopulated, mostly mechanised agri-business, root crops and soft fruit in the North, wheat in the East, apples around Cambridge. There are very few animals of any description, few walkers or other recreational visitors and NOBODY buys a cottage so they can look at windswept fen...

 

 

 

Having lived in Cambridge for forty years, and visited Norfolk and its coast several times each year, I know Norfolk well. I also know that it has a thriving tourist trade that needs servicing via the food sector.

 

Indeed, we frequently took the opportunity to buy fish and meat during our excursions away from Cambridge, as we found the quality and prices in the Norfolk market towns were better than at home.

 

Good butchers need seeking out - but when found, their produce will be vastly superior, and far more economical than at a supermarket.

 

...... and I seem to recall an awful lot of barn conversions being undertaken in the Norfolk villages that we passed through - and plenty of evidence of tourist activity.

 

John Isherwood.

 

PS. The days of orchards around Cambridge, especially near to Chivers factory at Histon, passed many years ago.

[rockershovel]

Interesting comment above, about stock levels and patterns. I had noticed something of the sort, I suspect that stock patterns are changing. 

 

I rather think that panic buying is over now, but there is a definite tendency to buy “for the pantry” or “for the freezer” as things become available. I suspect that the real reason rice and pasta have largely vanished from the shelves, is that it goes straight to the delivery lists. 

 

[rockershovel]

3 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

Having lived in Cambridge for forty years, and visited Norfolk and its coast several times each year, I know Norfolk well. I also know that it has a thriving tourist trade that needs servicing via the food sector.

 

Indeed, we frequently took the opportunity to buy fish and meat during our excursions away from Cambridge, as we found the quality and prices in the Norfolk market towns were better than at home.

 

Good butchers need seeking out - but when found, their produce will be vastly superior, and far more economical than at a supermarket.

 

...... and I seem to recall an awful lot of barn conversions being undertaken in the Norfolk villages that we passed through - and plenty of evidence of tourist activity.

 

John Isherwood.

 

PS. The days of orchards around Cambridge, especially near to Chivers factory at Histon, passed many years ago.

 

That’s an interesting counter-view. I mostly know the bleak, wide-open wastes between Peterborough, Wisbech and Kings Lynn, an area which doesn’t tend to lend enchantment to the view. I did learn last year, driving between Peterborough and Skegness and up to Grimsby, that there is a “tourist” Lincolnshire (mostly within 2 miles of the sea, excluding Grimsby and 200 yards of the A16) and a “working” Lincolnshire, and they are as though on different planets. 

 

I haven’t lived in Cambridge for many years. Thinking about it, the orchards I worked in as a sixth-former must have vanished beneath the A1M, A14 and townships like Bar Hill

 

[boxbrownie]

1 hour ago, Nick C said:

I think they deliver anywhere in the country, you don't need to be near a store. Or as Joseph says, maybe a local independent does?

I sent an enquiry, awaiting reply.

[boxbrownie]

27 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

Depends what your picture of a “rural area” is. There ARE butchers in the pockets of prosperity - Holt comes to mind - but most of Norfolk, S Lincs and NE Cambs are a vast expanse of largely depopulated, mostly mechanised agri-business, root crops and soft fruit in the North, wheat in the East, apples around Cambridge. There are very few animals of any description, few walkers or other recreational visitors and NOBODY buys a cottage so they can look at windswept fen...

 

 

Butcher in Methwold.....where are you?

Edited May 12, 2020 by boxbrownie

[boxbrownie]

32 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

There are very few animals of any description, 

 

 

There is 800 acres of piggeries near Thetford........plenty of bacon for you  

[Paul.Uni]

Just been to the nearest Iceland. No queue outside. Most items in stock. The only spaces on the shelves that I noticed was for the 3 Litre bottles of Diet Pepsi and Pepsi Max.

[rockershovel]

Who on Earth would buy 3 litres of Pepsi Max? No, I’d rather not know...

 

Perhaps with being now, in effect semi-retired (because there’ll be no worthwhile work this year, while the present lunacy rages) I ought to re-acquaint myself with the area within driving distance of Peterborough. 

[TheQ]

3 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Surely, in a rural area such as Norfolk, you have a local butcher?

 

Here in Cornwall we patronise a local farm butcher - his main business in normal times is wholesale to the hospitality trade, but he has a small retail shop on the farm.

 

The meat is superb - the provenance is posted on a chalk-board and, being wholesale, his prices are way lower than the supermarkets.

 

We never buy meat from supermarkets - it's too expensive and the quality is too variable.

 

John Isherwood.

There is a butcher  who has only survived by having half the shop being a hog roast / beef/ turkey / lamb filled rolls / baguettes.  We are in a tourist area,  how his business will survive now I don't know.  His meats are expensive much more than a supermarket,  though good quality.. 

The nearest meat wholesaler would be in Norwich 20+ miles away. 

There was a wholesaler / retailer in Horstead about 15 miles away but that closed. 

 

When we lived in MK we used to go to  Wholesaler there,  that was vastly cheaper. 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by TheQ

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

Here in Cornwall we patronise a local farm butcher

Being within Greater London we have been fortunate to find a couple of hospitality-industry wholesalers who have swiftly refocussed to delivering directly to the public.  One is a Covent Garden fruit and veg merchant and the other largely a butcher but with "food cupboard" staples too.  Both offer eggs (including goose, duck and quail should they suit your taste) and a small range of dairy items and the former also does bread.  

 

While not everyone will be in that position it took me a week or so to find reliable alternatives to the usual deliveries.  I was directed to one by the Ian Visits website and located the other following an internet search after seizing the idea.  

 

Ocado had a wobbly couple of weeks when the demand hit like the proverbial bricks but are back on track now.  Still not taking new accounts and still limiting deliveries to one a week though it was one every two weeks until the weekend.  For every delivery we have had almost everything has been in stock or subbed with an acceptable replacement.  That would be a benefit of supplying from their own warehouse rather than picking from supermarket shelves.  Veg and fresh meat can be a bit less than ideal and our new-found fresh-food suppliers are much better in that regard, although more expensive.  They also now have deliveries available within 2 - 3 working days as demand has eased back along with them adjusting their operations to meet that demand.  

 

For a few items a swift internet search has located someone willing to sell and deliver including Cornish pasties, hogs pudding and a selection of fresh meat all up from St .Austell.

 

If this is the "new normal" some speak of then I am not unhappy with it.  I prefer to see what I am about to purchase in person - especially fresh items - but if it means I can get a reliable supply without having to queue first and without the possibility of someone ahead of me poking the bread or handling the veg before deciding they didn't want that one and putting it back then I am probably doing a better job of looking after the both of us. 

[boxbrownie]

40 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

For a few items a swift internet search has located someone willing to sell and deliver including Cornish pasties, hogs pudding and a selection of fresh meat all up from St .Austell.

 

Forget Kittow’s pasties....Mary’s are far superior 

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

Who on Earth would buy 3 litres of Pepsi Max? No, I’d rather not know...

 

Yes you would........

You see them in the supermarkets, trolley piled up with such things.

Women with scraped back hair, blokes in sports leggings, string of gobby ill mannered kids in tow.

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by melmerby

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, melmerby said:

Yes you would........

You see them in the supermarkets, trolley piled up with such things.

Women with scraped back hair, blokes in sports leggings, string of gobby ill mannered kids in tow.

 

I think your mistaken, they buy the Smart Price Cola 

[melmerby]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

I think your mistaken, they buy the Smart Price Cola 

That's the pensioners......

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, melmerby said:

That's the pensioners......

Obviously a different area then, around here the pensioners buy Fever Tree Cola, and usually only in Waitrose 

[ejstubbs]

3 hours ago, Nick C said:

Off-licences? Don't know about the independants, but Majestics certainly deliver.

 

And they keep sending me e-mails practically begging me to placer an order!  Quickest and most reliable is if you order from the local shop - if you have one close enough.   You can e-mail your order directly to the local shop, they call you to discuss any OOS and subs, and take card payment over the phone.  They then turn up in their van within a couple of days and deliver it in the approved socially-distanced manner.

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

Who on Earth would buy 3 litres of Pepsi Max? No, I’d rather not know...

 

Perhaps there are a lot of local railway modellers cleaning up their etched brass kits they have liberated from their hiding place in the roundtuit pile?

 

Mike.

[Enterprisingwestern]

11 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Yes you would........

You see them in the supermarkets, trolley piled up with such things.

Women with scraped back hair, blokes in sports leggings, string of gobby ill mannered kids in tow.

 

 

Being currently domiciled in Essex, that made me smile.

 

Mike.

[Gwiwer]

23 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Forget Kittow’s pasties....Mary’s are far superior 

We would rather have Philps from Hayle but they are closed for the ongoing duration.  Kittows were ok though not the very best ever.