It’s been a while since I last posted (except for the minor rant a moment ago). I keep meaning to get this blog going again and put some effort into it.
Anyway, on everybody’s mind at the moment is Covid-19 and how it affects the weekly shop.
As it happens, I had a really bad cold a couple of weeks before this all kicked off in the UK. At least, I thought it was a cold, but as a precaution I cancelled the things I was doing and the people I was meeting and self-isolated before most people even knew what self-isolation was. Oh how some of my friends laughed at me. A couple of weeks later, not laughing.
So it seems it was just a cold, but I decided to limit my trips out to just walking the dog at quiet times. So far, in the last 2 months I have paid just two trips to my local Tesco, and one trip to a local corner shop.
While I was ill, I placed a Waitrose order for delivery, and I actually scheduled two more of these, which was great. Unfortunately, everyone else then decided to start ordering online, and Waitrose had to limit its deliveries to Vulnerable and Old people. Which I don’t disagree with at all – other people have a greater need. But I still wanted to avoid hitting the shops again.
So I revived a few box schemes that I’d used over the past couple of years; and because I already had accounts with the various companies, I didn’t have much problem ordering from them.
This is my current calendar of orders.
Every two weeks, on a Tuesday: A medium Riverford fruit and veg box. I used to take these regularly before, and know the produce is supplied so fresh, that a fortnightly delivery is no problem. I could do a small box every week, but taking the medium box gives me a greater choice of items in the box.
Every two weeks, in the weeks between Riverford: A Mindful Chef recipe box, containing everything needed to cook 3 x two person meals. Hence 6 evening meals, or perhaps 3 big evening meals and leftovers for lunch. I used to enjoy using the Mindful Chef boxes, which have great produce, a good choice of recipes, and nice clear recipe cards. I only gave it up because of a social life that interfered with cooking every night (or every other night). That is not a problem now.
Roughly every month, a meat box from Turner & George. Not one of their set packages, but just a selection I make myself. Some gets cooked fresh, some goes into the freezer. The quality of the meat is superb.
Roughly once a month, a delivery from Morrisons, who I have found have slots if you plan a few weeks ahead. I tend to use this for non-food items like cleaning stuff, bog rolls, and the like, although I then make up a basket with ready-meals and treats.
Then, of course, there is always Amazon!
I recently ordered a large box of wonderful stuff from www.lincolnshirepoachercheese.com, consisting of various cheeses and some slabs of wonderful hand made butter. They also do milk, which is worth remembering.
On top of all that, of course, is Katie’s monthly box of mixed dog meals.
The beauty of splitting the business between several companies is that should one of them have a problem, I still have food coming in. But I think all of these companies are managing ok, and because the Riverford and Mindful Chef orders are automatic, I’m fairly confident that they will be fine.
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