Alternatives for when the supermarkets sell out....

DUKE

thriftwizard said:

I popped into a large supermarket earlier to pick some tins up for my elderly mother, and was utterly baffled by the shoppers barging their trolleys down the almost-empty pasta aisle, yelling, "OMG! There isn't any pasta!" 
There was a full shelf of 55p macaroni... do people not see macaroni as pasta?

People appear to be ignoring the tagliatelle too, it's 59p in Tesco & Home Bargains.

DUKE

Wednesday2000 said:

You can use baking soda as toothpaste. I think you have to be more gentle if you use it. My dentist told me years ago that he doesn't even use toothpaste, just his electric toothbrush.

I realised I had run out of foil yesterday and I actually stood and thought what did people use before foil? I wrapped my husband's work lunch in an empty bread bag.

Speaking of bread, I am going to stock up on crackers for my store cupboard as they keep a lot longer than bread and I often want carbs for breakfast.

I noticed that the chemist was out of body scrub (it's weird as the makeup section looked very sparse too, strange thing for people to panic buy!) so I bought some ordinary salt from the shop and mixed it with body lotion.

Tesco have loads of the cheap 50p toothpaste.
I was thinking of crackers too.
Luckily I got a stash of toiletries in the boots sale. I felt a bit guilty about my stash at the time as I didn't need it, but now ....

DUKE

Don't forget noodles.  Although God knows what we'll do if the electricity goes down.
You can always trade with a neighbour.
Use hairspray to remove nail varnish, not that it's particularly important if we're all starving.
Add a bit of water to shower gel to make to go further, or go back to using soap as it lasts a lot longer. 

Wednesday2000

DUKE said:

I noticed that the chemist was out of body scrub (it's weird as the makeup section looked very sparse too, strange thing for people to panic buy!) so I bought some ordinary salt from the shop and mixed it with body lotion.

Tesco have loads of the cheap 50p toothpaste.
I was thinking of crackers too.
Luckily I got a stash of toiletries in the boots sale. I felt a bit guilty about my stash at the time as I didn't need it, but now ....

I looked and I have lots of some toiletries like moisturisers and only one bottle of face wash! I have some almond oil that I could use with some warm water to wash my face. I'm not going to be wearing a lot of makeup (probably not any mascara) while I'm mostly at home anyway.

I already did the thing of filling up half empty cleaning spray bottles, shower gel and hand wash containers with water to make them last longer as you said.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

greenbee said:

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

The cheeky wipes are a cotton washable wipe that you re use. Haven't bought baby wipes since my eldest was a month old. I thought I would try and do the same with tissues for blowing my nose so had a look in the supermarket for some old fashioned handkerchiefs but no luck. I'm glad they didn't have any to be honest as I remembered that I have a bag full of muslin cloths that I have saved from every time they include them with a cleanser. Perfect hanky size and they are just sitting in the cupboard anyway. 

I've just told my mum NOT to use hankies at the moment - you need to do the catch it/bin it/kill it rather than blowing your nose on something that hangs around. (I take a small bag with me when I travel to put used tissues in). Hankies are fine for wiping your eyes but NOT catching coughs and sneezes, or blowing noses. Believe me, I go for the sustainable option wherever possible, but tissues are one thing I DO buy. I don't buy travel packs though. I buy big packs and shove a whole lot in a bag to take with me.

At the risk of making myself look stupid.. How does throwing a tissue in the bin kill the germs better then washing a cotton cloth on a 60 or even 90 degree wash? If im only using them when at home and they go straight into the washing machine after use I don't see how this is a problem. Can someone explain where I am wrong?

tboo

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

The cheeky wipes are a cotton washable wipe that you re use. Haven't bought baby wipes since my eldest was a month old.

Thanks for the clarification, I have had a look and I'm pretty impressed,  I used terry nappies and reusable clicky nappies for my 3 and I would have loved to have had reusable wipes

I shall keep this in my mind and recommend them

tboo

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

greenbee said:

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

The cheeky wipes are a cotton washable wipe that you re use. Haven't bought baby wipes since my eldest was a month old. I thought I would try and do the same with tissues for blowing my nose so had a look in the supermarket for some old fashioned handkerchiefs but no luck. I'm glad they didn't have any to be honest as I remembered that I have a bag full of muslin cloths that I have saved from every time they include them with a cleanser. Perfect hanky size and they are just sitting in the cupboard anyway. 

I've just told my mum NOT to use hankies at the moment - you need to do the catch it/bin it/kill it rather than blowing your nose on something that hangs around. (I take a small bag with me when I travel to put used tissues in). Hankies are fine for wiping your eyes but NOT catching coughs and sneezes, or blowing noses. Believe me, I go for the sustainable option wherever possible, but tissues are one thing I DO buy. I don't buy travel packs though. I buy big packs and shove a whole lot in a bag to take with me.

At the risk of making myself look stupid.. How does throwing a tissue in the bin kill the germs better then washing a cotton cloth on a 60 or even 90 degree wash? If im only using them when at home and they go straight into the washing machine after use I don't see how this is a problem. Can someone explain where I am wrong?

Quite alot of sites state to use a paper tissue but don't go into the reason as to why

but this site states it up to you (is for the flu though)

https://www.health24.com/Medical/Flu/Spreading-the-flu/tissue-or-handkerchief-which-is-better-20170601

thriftwizard

Back in the Olden Days, we used to boil our hankies - and also facecloths, and even tea-towels - which I'm pretty sure did sterilise them quite effectively as well as cleaning them; same with terry-towelling nappies, which I did try to use mostly. I still have the old saucepan I used for hankies & facecloths out in the shed somewhere. It only takes a few minutes, then they can go into the main wash with everything else.

greenbee

I think hankies are probably fine if you're at home and can put them in the laundry basket and get a clean one. Not so good when you're out and about and it has to go back in your pocket/sleeve for the duration. My mum used to boil my dad's hankies.

Tigsteroonie

Too many people read the thread. There's now no evaporated milk in our supermarket either.