What's making you happy today?

[DanaC]

Ha! He wouldnt eat anything green

[glatt]

The grocery store curb side pickup slots for my elderly parents open up at midnight two days before the slots are available. The slots all get snatched up before 1:00 am. My parents go to bed at around 9:00pm. So they miss it.

So we have developed a system where they fill a virtual cart as they realize they need stuff, and then when it’s getting to be time to place the order, my brother in Arizona places the order for them at midnight Eastern time. It’s only 9pm for him, so he just needs to set a reminder, and he places the order.

If you don’t have your cart already full, in the time it takes you to shop virtually, the slots are all full, and you are out of luck.

Our strategy is being tested for the first time this week, so we’ll see how it goes. I expect it to work though, because he will place the order at a few seconds after midnight.

[xoxoxoBruce]

This is going to become the norm and only the connected will get served.
Then they'll expand their capability until everyone can get it and be grateful.
From then on they will choose the availability and quality you get.
Everyone pays with a card so the 2 or 3% being skimmed by the card will drive up prices.
Welcome to 1984.

[monster]

Originally Posted by DanaC

cut down my trips to the village shop down to once or twice a week instead of every 2nd or 3rd day.

If it's not too nosy, why on earth do you need to go to the shop this often? is it the volume you have to carry? Or do they rarely have the products you need?

[DanaC]

Bit of both - I have also been shopping for mum because she also couldn't get a food delivery and is staying completely out of shops.

I don't drive, so whatever I buy has to be carried home - its not a long walk, but there's still a limit to what i can carry - if I am buying milk for both of us, for 3 days, that's about 10 liters of milk. Also, despite the guideline dates, after about 4 days the milk starts to go on the turn, so just based on milk alone, it's 2 trips a week.

I have also been buying tins of other dog food to help eke out the Chappie that they are used to because there were some delays on stock for home delivery - so that's 6-8 tins of dog food in a typical trip. Add in a couple of tins of beans each, a loaf of bread each, a few bananas each and some yoghurts for Ma, 4 rolls of toilet paper each and say, a jar of coffee or a box of tea and it's mounted up already to a sizeable load to carry and only accounts for some of the stuff we need.

It's also only a village store, so it's quite small, and one section of it is the post office. there are only 5 people allowed in at once, it's difficult to go back around to get something you've forgotten as you went past and its difficult to manoeuvre with two shopping baskets (no carts, shop is too cramped). Add in that sometimes you go and they don't have some of the things you need, or they only have a very limited stock of it, so you can't really buy a bunch to stock up - don't get me wrong they do brilliantly, and thanks to them I have managed without a supermarket shop for about 6 weeks and didn't have much in my cupboards at the start of that period. But it' a bit more complicated than doing one big supermarket trip where you can buy everything in one go.

It just ends up with shop visits about every 2nd or 3rd day. They're not all full trips, laden down with bags some of them are top up trips.

I don't like being in there for long - because it is so enclosed. I'm not sure going in only 1-2 times a week would be a safer option if it doubles the length of time i am in there.

[monster]

Sounds tough, I'm sorry. I hear you re the milk. I was trying to go only once a week but it's just not possible. Here milk does last forever, but I now have two young men in the house who only drink milk or water and whose diet seems to be 75% cereal with milk. I bought 3 gallons on Friday. We might make it til Tuesday. Maybe :/

Did you now it freezes OK though? Just freeze it in small enough amounts that you are able to defrost the whole portion you froze at the same time as IME it separates out as it's freezing, so if you break off a bit of it to defrost, you don't get the proper composition.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Melted ice cream works with Cheerios.

[monster]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Melted ice cream works with Cheerios.

I think that is how the "second supper" cereal works round here.

[Griff]

Wegman's wouldn't take my milk bottle returns last week. They paid me for them but now I'm stuck with them. Since this is the happy thread I'm happy my chickens are being productive despite the bumpy weather.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Returns? The sell returnable bottles?

[DanaC]

Yeah,I think Griff may be posting from the 20th century.

[Griff]

The past is prologue.

[BigV]

I've got five or six of them here, too. Half gallons and pints.

[monster]

There are deposits on those here too. We have a 10¢ deposit on all cans and bottles (except those used for products containing real fruit juice) and the big glass bottles from local dairies have bigger deposits in the $1-$2 region.

[monster]

Right now Michigan is still charging deposits but not accepting returns My garage is overflowing