The first post of this series covered food, this takes the next step and covers shopping. At the start of lockdown there was a focus on buying only essential items, which some took to extremes, with reports that Easter eggs weren’t deemed essentials. They were in this house, and we were fortunate enough to have thought a little ahead and were able to buy and leave eggs with my parents on our visit to see them before lockdown started in March. They were equally as forward thinking and we were able to swap eggs way in advance of the day. We were good, and managed not to eat them until Easter Day, I’m amazed, you’re amazed, but it’s also true that they were demolished in a just a day or so.

But back to shopping, and how it’s changed and how we’ve all quickly adapted.

1. Queuing to get in

Shopping during lockdown has become very different, even as more shops have started to open, and probably especially so. We are excelling at queuing, this time to get into shops, who’d have thought? The queues for the shops near us are orderly, everyone does it, keeps their distance and is polite - in some ways it’s quite the revolution. We’ve learnt that the best time to visit our local small-ish supermarket is around 6pm, which is fine, unless we want to go to the butchers too. He’s now closed on Mondays and Wednesdays so it needs some planning in advance, and knowing which day it is, which is another of lockdown’s challenges.

We’ve seen more and more people wearing masks while out shopping, and I think that’s what will continue to happen, with the government extending advice - or maybe stronger - to wear them while in shops as well as on public transport. The fact that Boris has now been pictured in a mask seems to indicate this, and is quite a departure from the early stance of wearing them not being backed by science.

What we noticed in the early days of people wearing masks in shops was a sense of invincibility. Theirs, they seemed to think wearing a cloth or more substantial face covering gave ultimate protection and they would swarm around people taking care to socially distance in aisles. Looming in and reaching over you as they picked something off the shelf. It’s true that face coverings protect others, but so does socially distancing and I think respecting both is a better approach all round.

2. Baskets vs bags

Queueing to get into shops isn’t the only thing that’s changed. We’re still not using those metal shopping baskets, or trolleys, instead we’re using our own bags, and no one bats an eyelid. It feels odd, it feels wrong, and I feel guilty, but we’re still doing it, no one’s objecting, and we’re not the only ones either. We are of course honest and do that very British thing about making a big show that our shopping bags are empty once we get to the till. I’m sure no one notices, but we feel better for it.

TALKING OF BEING BRITISH: TEA AND A TEAPOT HAS BECOME OUR AFTERNOON TRADITION

3. Tactics, and a waiting game

In the earlier days of lockdown getting an online shopping slot was hard, to say the least. It required skilled tactical moves, late nights and often quite a bit of luck. I was happily tasked with securing online slots for my parents too, and once we’d sussed out when their supermarket released their slots, it was easier and more of a waiting game. Waiting to see what slots they had, which would be available and how long the virtual queue would be to get into the online shop. Another queue.

I had more luck with Tescos than Ocado, which having been an Ocado customer for many years was pretty frustrating. And that’s when I realised that…

4. Loyalty is different for everyone

And while I might have been loyal to Ocado over many years, they weren’t as loyal to me. So much so that at one point I wasn’t even able to get onto their site. I was all for taking my online shopping elsewhere, and I did. Tescos online shop booked and delivered. The only thing is, I wasn’t so keen on their products, partly because I wasn’t so familiar with them.

With Ocado splitting from Waitrose later in the year, my split from Ocado was always likely. Our local supermarket is an M&S store, and while it’s good for top up shops, it’s not somewhere I want to do my monthly shop. Tescos was being tested as a replacement too, and let’s just say they’re no longer in the frame, well not for everything.

What’s changed is that I’ve realised I can shop around, even with online deliveries. Tescos didn’t sell the Quince Jelly I was after, or in their online shop at least, and so I went direct. I bought a little more than I would have in one go, but the only jar that I’d not bought before was the salted caramel spread (which we’ve yet to try), but otherwise these are all things we buy.

I can see that this will be a way for me to shop in the future, going direct to buy the products I want. We already use a local butcher, greengrocer and veg delivery company, and so it’s just a further extension of this. I do wonder if the bigger supermarkets will start to see a downturn from a way we’ve shopped for the past twenty or thirty years.

5. Growing numbers of carrier bags and cardboard boxes

During lockdown we’ve amassed more of these than we usually would. Normally we’d hand these back to the driver, but lockdown rules are different. While I know they can go into our recycle bin, I still can’t quite bring myself to do that, yet. We’re reusing some, especially cardboard boxes, but I’ve genuinely less use for carrier bags.

We’re recycling the packing from parcels as we usually would, but the boxes that our veg come in especially, are useful. I’m loathed to chuck these out (in the recycling bin) as the company could reuse these and reduce their costs. I know there’s different rules in this lockdown, but I am reluctant to see the increase of plastic and unnecessary waste, but also I’m close to the point where my carrier bag of carrier bags is overflowing. And besides that, just think of all those 5ps!