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Grocery Shopping


sam.fitzpatrick

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Have you every watched a little old lady with blue hair try to get produce items through the self check-out? I would have stepped up to help if we didn't have this social distancing thing going on.

 

Having worked at a grocery through high school and college, I have stepped up in other times. However, at my store yesterday, they had taped blue Xs on the floor six feet apart for the line and had a line monitor to ensure we weren't too close.

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Safeway and Lucky's in SF are mobbed until late at night, shelves are bare, people leaving with more food than they will eat in a year. I started to buy stuff at Andronico's, a locally-owned upscale chain, and it was much better, but still kind of crazy. My husband and i decided yesterday we're not going to go to the store anymore because we are in the high-risk group and we both have underlying health conditions.

 

I've gotten deliveries from Amazon Fresh and tried Instacart yesterday for the first time. The guy who filled and delivered our order did such a nice job that I gave him an additional tip on delivery. In the future I will add it when completing the order so that the Instacart guy doesn't have to handle cash.

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...live in the Monterey/Pacific Grove, CA area. ...went out last week only to find empty shelves that once had paper goods stacked onto them. ...purchased paper towels at Target on Thursday. ...ventured to Trader Joe's and was disappointed when I could NOT find my usual jars of pears and peaches, eggs, paper goods, and other items which I'd intended to buy. ...went to TJ's yesterday in Monterey and managed to obtain everything except for TP. Whole Foods disappointed me on Thursday as well. It no longer has its trays of hot or cold items. It had loads of fruits and veggies for which I was happy to buy and bring home.

 

...filled my auto with petro yesterday, and food -wise-- I think I'm all right, too. My heart is still heavy, for yesterday while I was on my way to my auto, my next -door neighbors opened the door of their condo and inquired about my welfare. I highly appreciated this and was moved short of tears.

 

...am following the guidelines and the "dictates" of the Governor of California and am adjusting.

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Online ordering is easy.....have ordered many dozens of times over the years.....(pizzas) always still frozen with dry ice when delivered.....for those that don’t know this deep dish rendition, Malnati’s one of the best / v v tasty.....in addition to the pizzas, some folks might have an interest in some of the other “tastes of chicago”......

 

https://www.tastesofchicago.com/

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I'm up in Edgewater so the one on Broadway and Berwyn. I too do not have a car and lugged four HEAVY bags nearly 4 blocks home and up three flights of stairs. Nearly killed me and I have done that twice before. I am stocking up so I don't have to go as often anymore.

 

I have been ordering for a few years now through Peapod here in Chicago. I believe it is stationed in many states. As I mentioned, I depended on it because I do not have a car and would have them deliver canned goods, paper goods, produce, eggs, dairy, etc. Everything was very professional and ordering was online. The delivery persons were really nice and you could only tip through the site so there was no cash handling. Then inexplicably (right before the whole virus thing) they pulled out of several Midwestern states. They only gave a few days notice. So everyone had to find an alternate service right away. Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods have a delivery service. I used to shop at Whole Foods while I was using Peapod before. I would only buy certain things at Whole Foods. At any rate, I do not really like Amazon/Whole Foods as much as Peapod. I might try other services in the future.

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One grocery store here that does about $50,000 in business in one day, sold over $150,000 in goods a few days ago.

 

I have a friend in the food chain industry. They’re having record sales now, can’t keep the inventory they could sell to stores. But they’re also planning for a downturn when everyone asks “why did I buy all this shit.”

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I went to my local Albertson's at noon today, and it was actually less crowded than usual on a Saturday. I found everything I was looking for--English muffins, bananas, low acid orange juice, Stouffer's frozen dinners, Dawn dishwashing detergent--and saw a lot of other regular items on my shopping list that I wasn't looking for today, like fruit, milk and eggs. No one at the checkout seemed to be buying large quantities of anything. Could the panic buying finally be subsiding?

 

I think people are going to be digging in for the long haul. Which means they are going to have to go to the grocery store "regularly", whatever that means. Nobody really knows what it means yet, and nobody can tell us. In some cases it may mean having people they know go for them. In California, Gov. Newsom is deploying the National Guard to help both at food shelters and, I think, bringing food to people's doors as necessary.

 

If California's planning is right, there's going to be an awful lot of sick people in April and May. The scientific model is that, absent mitigation, 25 million Californians would get sick over an 8 week period this Spring. The people most vulnerable include pretty much anyone working in grocery stores or pharmacies. I presume that when they get sick, they'll go home for a few weeks and hopefully have paid sick leave. I also assume some of them will be infected but healthy - "the walking well". They won't be a priority for testing, since they are basically young and healthy, so they will unknowingly work their way through this.

 

One of the things that makes sense to me about where California is going is that it's arguably a good thing if young people get sick now. For them, mostly, it's the same thing as the flu. In theory, if everybody under 30 or 40 got the virus in April or May, that would dramatically lower transmission rates, without putting a lot of those people in harm's way. It's what we're used to every flu season. And whether it's explicit policy or not, what California seems to be saying is just that this is reality. It is going to happen. I assume that is why Newsom is deploying the National Guard. If you are old and frail, it is better to just stay home as much as possible.

 

The same goes for every other vital industry. People need to be staffing government offices, post offices, unemployment offices. Construction workers are actually going to be getting a lot of work re-fitting structures into emergency care centers. They will get sick, too, and mostly be fine after.

 

I'm not trying to single out California. I'm using it as an example because, since I live here, I'm paying particularly close attention to what the state government is telling me to do. And it does seem like there is a pro-active and thoughtful plan to get through this.

 

My prediction is that grocery shopping will be pretty easy in April and May. One of my escort buddies, who is also a tenant of mine, is actually thinking about taking a job at Albertsons, since they need temporary workers. As their employees get sick and have to stay home, the need for temporary workers will increase. And they won't be hiring seniors with pre-existing conditions, who won't want the jobs, anyway.

 

I hope Albertson's has paid sick leave. If they don't, I hope the federal government makes these workers whole when they get sick. Those workers at Albertsons are basically now soldiers in the war against this virus.

Edited by stevenkesslar
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I think I’ll hold off going to the store. Instead of the usual two eggs, two pieces of toast, and a whole turkey sausage patty for breakfast, or two pieces of chicken at dinner, cut all the portions in half. May lose some pounds in the process, as I surely need to do it.

 

Agree- my pantry would normally get thru three weeks or a month, practicing some self-control could get the staples stretched for mebbe six or seven weeks, as long as fresh fruit and veg show up at the grocers, I can get by.

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I have a friend in the food chain industry. They’re having record sales now, can’t keep the inventory they could sell to stores. But they’re also planning for a downturn when everyone asks “why did I buy all this shit.”

 

Of course, stuff like toilet paper & canned goods will be consumed eventually even if it takes years. Some might never go through their garage full of hand sanitizer. But I have to think that people are over-buying perishable food as well, and much of it is just going to waste :(

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Of course, stuff like toilet paper & canned goods will be consumed eventually even if it takes years. Some might never go through their garage full of hand sanitizer. But I have to think that people are over-buying perishable food as well, and much of it is just going to waste :(

Eventually, canned goods go bad and hand sanitizer loses its potency. It, too will go to waste. :(

 

PS: The cans of asparagus that people have hoarded will NEVER be eaten.

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My local supermarket - family owned independent - basically has all its usual stuff and normal crowds. What I did notice was that all of the flour and baking supplies were almost sold out. That worried me a bit, about people's perspectives that this might be a long haul.

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Follow up to a comment I made in another thread yesterday, at the liquor store in my local shopping centre they now have crosses on the floor 1.5m apart as a guide for the queue at the cashier. And they are across the front of the shop rather than down one of the aisles where customers usually queue (so people can browse in the aisle and not come too close to people waiting to pay).

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My local supermarket - family owned independent - basically has all its usual stuff and normal crowds. What I did notice was that all of the flour and baking supplies were almost sold out. That worried me a bit, about people's perspectives that this might be a long haul.

 

Is there any doubt that it will be?

 

I find it comforting. Somebody will think of a great slogan. "Save a life. Stay home and bake a cookie!" :)

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My local supermarket - family owned independent - basically has all its usual stuff and normal crowds. What I did notice was that all of the flour and baking supplies were almost sold out. That worried me a bit, about people's perspectives that this might be a long haul.

There was no flour, brown sugar, white sugar, or sugar substitute when I went to the store this weekend. I went to 3 separate stores to find it. Nothing. I found that odd...

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Amen to that, canned asparagus is disgusting. I have, however, had some half-way decent bottled asparagus: it's more like a pickled vegetable. That said, I wouldn't have noticed if it were sold out in the shops.

I noticed only because the entire canned goods aisle was cleared out. Last month I bought canned green beans (guilty pleasure) and noticed canned asparagus. The supermarket (Safeway) also had two kinds of canned zucchini - Italian style and plain. Never had I seen canned zucchini. Sounds equally disgusting as canned asparagus.

 

Methinks the canned zucchini will be tossed at the same time as the canned asparagus.

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I noticed only because the entire canned goods aisle was cleared out. Last month I bought canned green beans (guilty pleasure) and noticed canned asparagus. The supermarket (Safeway) also had two kinds of canned zucchini - Italian style and plain. Never had I seen canned zucchini. Sounds equally disgusting as canned asparagus.

 

Methinks the canned zucchini will be tossed at the same time as the canned asparagus.

 

Please accept my thanks.....with folks like you, I should always find white asparagus in either cans or jars on the grocery shelves.....now please also stay away from the packaged hollandaise sauce mixes in the gravy section.....I can’t have 1 without the other......(working with / preparing fresh white asparagus way different & harder than with fresh green ones.....for white, cans or jars = the way to go)

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I think I’ll hold off going to the store. Instead of the usual two eggs, two pieces of toast, and a whole turkey sausage patty for breakfast, or two pieces of chicken at dinner, cut all the portions in half. May lose some pounds in the process, as I surely need to do it.

 

i am being much more careful with the amounts that i cook and i am forcing myself to eat any leftovers for my next meal. I also am eating less and not drinking anything except water

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I noticed only because the entire canned goods aisle was cleared out. Last month I bought canned green beans (guilty pleasure) and noticed canned asparagus. The supermarket (Safeway) also had two kinds of canned zucchini - Italian style and plain. Never had I seen canned zucchini. Sounds equally disgusting as canned asparagus.

 

Methinks the canned zucchini will be tossed at the same time as the canned asparagus.

 

in a pinch you can use the italian style canned zucchini in a pasta sauce.

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