How do you food shop without a car?

[Deleted User]

I do a once a month online shop for bulky, hard to carry home items. I get things like cat food, soft drinks, loo roll, big bag of pasta and rice, washing powder and tins to last the month. I then get everything else I need from the lidl and tesco which are a 15 min walk away. I get a weekly bus ticket for getting to work so if my shopping is too much to carry, I hop on the bus for no extra cost.

preciousillusions

problem with rucksacks and the like is that sometimes you will get the supermarket security guard following you around the store to check you aren't shoplifting! Or is that just me?

Farway

preciousillusions wrote: »

problem with rucksacks and the like is that sometimes you will get the supermarket security guard following you around the store to check you aren't shoplifting! Or is that just me?

It's you:p

Farway

preciousillusions wrote: »

problem with rucksacks and the like is that sometimes you will get the supermarket security guard following you around the store to check you aren't shoplifting! Or is that just me?

It's you:p

But I am an old bald bloke, so maybe I look harmless, even young kids speak to me like their granddad

TJ666

...they're great. can fit a months worth of food shopping, hitched to the back of the bike, so very stable. trailer home-made, but you can buy them. We don't tax our car for months on end. also useful for avoiding the traffic when buying larger DIY items.
However, we live in Cambridge which is practically utopia for cycling. The utopia is hard won through campaigning and engaging with local councillors, but can be done with enough time and patience.

cat4772

over the years, I've lived without a car or freezer so had to use fresh or chilled food; lived 2 miles from a market / supermarket again without car; lived with a car and a mile from supermarkets.

in all cases, shopping was much easier with a plan and list. when we lived without a car or freezer, we'd take rucksacks and walk into town, shop at the market and walk home with fresh produce. Once a quarter we'd shop at a supermarket for bulky / big things and get a taxi home.

when we didn't have a plan or a list, we'd often spend a fortune on takeaways and eating out!

cat.x

WantToBeSE

If you have a bike, you could get a trailer and use that.

Lynplatinum

Hiya all

When I had my two boys at home and half their friends - it always seemed - I used to do a weekly shop @ T!scos - my bill was often hundreds a week :eek:

But then I was in full time employment on over the national average salary. then the Government changed its mind about what it would support and I was made redundant. I had, thanks to Martin's advice, 3 months salary in the bank - I made it last 6 months! Then my boys left home and I had just about got my own business off the ground!

However, last year I broke my leg and could not work for 6 months - insurance would not pay out for various reasons and so, again, I had to make 3 months wages do the duty of 6 months!!

When I was back home on my own but unable to go out the following were invaluable: the delivery of my organic veg box every fortnight; my delivery by my milkman; on line shopping (T!scos) and brilliant friends and neighbours who popped in as they were going past or phoned to check if I needed anything dropping off!

But now my normality is that once a week I walk the half hour to L!dil - still have milk and veg delivered and am currently on a budget challenge of £5 per week @ L!dil and £5 for my veg box plus £2 - 3 for my milkman. I carry it all home in a small rucksack (unsurprising).

When the kids were small I worked in the evening @ Sai!nsbury and shopped after my shift while OH was @ home with kids - v. closeby but arms often ached when laden with carrier bags.

So I have experienced all styles of shopping!! Different ones suiting different times of my life with different life styles!

A bit off topic!!
Small funny story re being followed round shops: My son worked every hour the gods sent when at college to afford a top of the range PC. We went to PC World and selected one, I went to the cash desk to pay for it on my credit card (thus a) increasing my credit rating as he gave me the cash to pay it all off) and b) get some money back security). As I stood there the security man was talking to the manager and they said something along the lines of 'Oh look at those two lads with dreadlocks - you cant trust that sort you know. I'll go and follow them' Now my son had told me he was always getting followed round shops because of the way he looked - he soon 'clocked' the security guy and did his usual game - walked around picking stuff up deliberately and then putting it down again - never putting it in his pockets! (He found winding them up funny!) He then sauntered up to me - and said 'thanks for putting it on your card mum - it 'll give us protection from these firms - here's the £2000 to cover it' and pulled the money out of his pocket - the look on the manager's and security guy's faces still stays with me :rotfl:

So you are not alone preciousillusions my son thinks they watch the wrong people and liked to teach them a lesson - the best theif I ever knew when working in CS was a very sweet looking little old lady with a shopping trolley............:)

[Deleted User]

I have six week off driving at the moment as I have just come out of hospital from having an operation.I made lots of prep. before going in so I won't have a gret deal to buy anyway.Yesterday I took my 'dolley-trolley' with me when I went to the library and the books went in there, then I walked down to the post office with my trolley to send some letters off, then back to the shopping precinct for a few oddss and ends then home trawling my little bag on wheels behind me. Bit of a nuisance and my shopping took me twice as long,but its only for a short while so I can manage. Anything thats too heavy for me to carry I probably won't bother buying.I live alone so don't need a sack of spuds or anything ,my shopping will be light this next few weeks as I'm not supposed to be lifting or carrying hardly anything at all anyway.I won't starve thats for sure and forward planning helped me no end.I forward plan at Christmas as well as if the weather is icy or snowy in January I'm afraid I don't venture far, as I have impaired mobility and use a stick. No point in falling over a breaking any bones at my age The hospitals are full enough with ill folk and don't need any extra

GreyQueen

preciousillusions wrote: »

problem with rucksacks and the like is that sometimes you will get the supermarket security guard following you around the store to check you aren't shoplifting! Or is that just me?

It's not just you. A friend of mine who had lost the use of her car had to resolve the issue of being able to walk to the supermarket and carry stuff home. She put groceries into her ruckie and offloaded it onto the conveyor at the till and yes, the security guy did follow her around. She was a forty-something woman at the time.

One of the nicest, most honest fellers of my acquaintance obviously had something about him (the long hair, perhaps?) which hit the suspicions of store security. He always got followed around shops, any kind of shop you can imagine. I used to joke about it, saying he ought to get together with real, pro shoplifters and take a cut for running interference for them.

I shop a bit at a time, a mixture of on foot or on bicycle, sometimes with the wally-trolley. I do find that I have to plan the shopping to avoid too many heavy items, or too much bulk, at one time. When I see people loading shopping bags at the supermarket, I can always tell which ones will be walking with them and which bags will go no further than being lifted from the trolley into the car and out the other end.

It's a leap to go from slinging everything into the boot of a car to having to use other methods for transport. I've walked, biked, bike-trollied and done various other things to bring home the bacon.