The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

pollyanna_26

I've just had an email from a manager friend in our medium size SBs. Fruit and Veg supplies haven't turned up also many other expected deliveries from outside the UK. Reason being held .back at source. Looks as though the S is hitting the fan as Vanoonoo predicted all those years ago on the SHTF original preppers thread.

pollyx

boultdj

So glad my normal shopping day is Sunday, so my veg is in for the next week/10 days, I feel sorry for the staff in any shop with what is going off at the ports/ channel tunnel, and what a horrible situation for all the drivers stuck in queues.

And blessings to all for the solstice/ yule.

Serendipitious

pollyanna_26 said:

I've found our little local coop very useful. I've barely been to the usual food shops. I did stock up on basics months ago in SBs and M&S food hall. I tend to visit the coop around midday or early afternoon when it's been not too busy. Staff are also restocking shelves then and will bring out something they've not yet started putting on the shelves. It's the least stressfull of the shops. We often did small shops there over the years as it's on the same site as our Drs surgery and would then pick up the rest in town.

The only bugbear is ours has an odd system where you have to to walk back and forth across the ends of four aisles to follow the arrows which does mean doubling back a number of times.

Coop have been very good. They sent members a £5 gift card recently for staying loyal.

pollyx

Yes I like the Co-op too, not the best prices though! I tend to go to Lidl for a big shop, Home Bargains for all household stuff, and then Co-op for bread and milk in between. I like Sainsbury for meat, but haven't been for ages and this year I didn't even bother with their double-up event which i usually do in November. And where I lived before, the Tesco Metro was handy too.

This Co-op's really handy, only half a mile and potentially walkable in better weather. I didn't get the Co-op voucher, so if they sent one, that's probably gone to my old address. I haven't done a redirect on mail, as that's gone up to nearly £40 to do now, and I didn't think it was worth it. Last time I moved it was only about £12. 

pollyanna_26

I've had a coop loyalty card for a number of years. It offers both myself and local charities money in a similar way to Boots and SBs.

I let mine mount up and have bought housewares and elecric items such as an electric can opener, toaster and kettle over the years.

Very handy when a kettle packed up and I can't manage without a brew.

That's a shocking price for redirecting mail. I used to buy the large books of 1st Class stamps. It's a long time since I needed to buy as I had little need of actual stamps over the last few years. I used the last one last week - the one with the Queens head lavender coloured , no idea how old that was but they remain valid for ever. I nipped to the village post office last Friday to send some last minute cards. 78p for each Ist class stamp,thats about double the ones from a few years ago. I had asked in the coop if they had books of 6 and the girl on the till said they only had the larger books. I asked how much they were and she said you really don't want to know, now I know why.

pollyx

CRANKY40

I went to our local @sda this morning. This will be my last shopping trip as I go right off supermarkets close to Christmas. I'm on Merseyside. There was plenty of most things including salad stuff and a huge pile of the 20p veg - parsnips, sprouts.....I was there at 8:30am and it was ok. There were a few people with overflowing trolleys but I use self scan and was straight through, paid and out in minutes. 

Karmacat

Thriftygifty said:

I have been at the same place of work for last 15 yrs on and off, its comfortable, incredible flexibility with home life and paid well, but when Covid happened it shook me up that if said company were to go then I would have nothing. I was thinking possibly teaching but would I actually be able to get a job after training if that were an option, all of the teachers I have met have been trained straight after leaving school.

Thriftygifty, retraining in your 30s is incredibly common for teachers, and most of them do it a few years after your situation - when their youngest goes to school at age 5 or whatever.
When me, my brother and sister were in our 30s (a loooong time ago!) we all retrained: my sister had been an insurance admin worker then a SAHM, she retrained as a teacher: I'd been an export finance exec in London, and retrained as a psychotherapist (really, I did  ) and my brother had been working in motorway construction and then managing a DIY shop, and he retrained as a drugs counsellor - they bit his hand off, because he was older, with life experience, but hadn't been an actual addict, kind of rare in those days.
Honestly, the world is your oyster, have a look around, take it all in and let it settle, then go for it.  Good luck.

pollyanna_26

Coop is pricier for some things but do have some decent offers. Living a few minutes away I've shopped there more than in the past. There were some things I always bought there after a visit to the Drs but it's more about safety now. It doesn't get busy if you don't go too early or in the evening.

We miss Home Bargains and Aldi as they had such a wide range of goods.They are out of town though so I haven't been to them since dd was ordered to shield by her GP at the beginning of March in a call from her Dr. Her situation hasn't changed so I've scaled back the normal way I shopped..

I should point out I manged to  keep the 1st class stamps going because I kept finding books still with a number of stamps in various bags, purses and random drawers etc. The joy of Fibro brain. It's amazing how many forgotten things come as a pleasant surprise.

pollyx

daz378

Just had a phone call from my manager     from now  on....or as long funding lasts    we are to get taxis to and from work

pineapple

I can't help feeling Macron has been making a bit of a point but they are going to have to sort something as their own drivers/deliveries have been caught up in this too. Meanwhile we have been told not to panic buy - which almost guarantees that the Great British Public will be stripping the shelves like locusts.   Thankfully I have two freezers fully stocked.
Have had a series of hospital appointments and just hope I haven't caught anything. Today I had to wait for hospital transport back home and rather than sit in the waiting area, I hung around outside in the cold and damp. But hospital transport is a risk in itself. My friendly driver told me she had had Covid in March. I know OF quite a few people but this was the first time I have actually met someone who had it. Getting closer now.....

pollyanna_26

That's good news Daz. Long may the funding continue.

While it's good to have necessary hospital appts pineapple it is a double edged sword. Every appt for dd has thankfully been remote. It has had some impact not seeing consultants etc but has kept her safe. I can understand you standing outside waiting for your patient transport,over the years especially in Flu season we've been hidden down a corridor away from the waiting room on Drs orders as she's immunosuppressed. However standing in the cold and damp is bound to add to your discomfort.

Best wishes to both you and Daz.

pollyx.