Tuesday 6 October 2020

This and that as the day goes on.

 Phew!   If anybody says that shopping on line is easier than popping down the local shops don't believe them.   I live alone and I am careful to see that I eat sensibly and well.  I like to vary my meals, I am not all that keen on meat, I eat quite a lot of fish, I love vegetables and fruit.   Tuesday is usually the day when I order because it is not always easy to get a Tesco delivery slot.   I have a Tesco order once a fortnight - I book it on Tuesday morning for the next Tuesday morning and it works very well.  I booked it this morning for between nine and ten next Tuesday.   But bear in mind my hand is shaky and so I have to go through it carefully because I have always booked too many.   This morning it was tea bags - I thought I had bought 1 box of 160 tea bags but the price of my total order was suddenly £52 and I was nowhere near through - scrolling through carefully revealed I had ordered eight boxes of 160 tea bags rather than one!  So that was put right.   Now I have my secure slot and can add to it as the week goes on.   Next it was e mail the local lady who shops at our very good Deli for people on the estate - it is a very good service which she started when lockdown started.   It has grown into a nice little business which she intends to continue - she makes a small charge but that is fine and the order is always correct.  Then it was telephone our local meal delivery place - order by Tuesday and have meals for one delivered on Friday so that all I have to do is prepare veggies - today I ordered 2 chicken, bacon and mozzarella in tomato sauce, 2 sausage and bean cassoulet, 1 chilli  and rice, 1 beef lasagne - and by ordering 6 I got 1 free- chicken ham and leek bake.   £4.50 each and free delivery.   The whole thing has taken me an hour and a half.   I shall now go and make myself a cup of hot marmite and relax with The Times for half an hour (not that the news in The Times will cheer me up much)  If anything stupendous happens during the day I shall add to my post - at least it is fine - a bit chilly but Percy and I are hardy.   After the marmite we will go round the block.

And r ound the block we went.  On our return my cod and salmon fish pie was ready to eat, sweet corn took only two minutes to simmer and home made tomato soup was quickly heated in the microwave.   After the long walk (for me) I was ready for a rest and as I have been watching All Creatures Great and Small and am now also watching Life which is on at the same time I decided to watch tonight's episode of Life on iplayer.   I drew the blind to keep the sun off the screen and when I drew it back when the programme had finished it was to see that my gardener had been and mowed the lawn and his girl friend had weeded the back garden - it all looks neat and tidy.   I see he instructed his girl friend to remove the last of the poppy heads - we have a running battle over whether to allow the poppies to self seed everywhere (me) or weed the wretched things up as soon as they appear (him).   Now at tea time it is raining - not heavily but somebody has just gone past with an umbrella up.  Have a nice evening.   See you tomorrow.

18 comments:

Salty Pumpkin Studio said...

Wow, that's a lot of tea bags! Thank you for the tip. I will be extra careful when I begin grocery shopping online, that I expect to be doing regularly this winter. I tried it last spring, too busy to deliver even four hours late=canceled the order. The fun part is learning there are many folks out there that like the foods I do.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Yes, doing things online can often take longer than anticipated, but I take great delight in the fact that someone is willing to go round the shop and select everything for me then bring it right to my back door and all for £4.50. I can't even get to the supermarket for that. A friend of my mother's once contrived to order 1 Brussel sprout, which Tesco faithfully delivered in its own little bag!

Anonymous said...

Your post made me smile.

You said "I am not all that keen on meat" then told us what you'd ordered -

2 CHICKEN & BACON in sauce
2 SAUSAGE cassoulet
1 CHILLI
1 BEEF lasagne
also a free CHICKEN * HAM bake

Every meal is a meat meal!

That means you'll be eating hens, pigs and cows.

Then there's your deli order- ham, pie etc?

That's a substantial amount of livestock you're eating for someone who says they don't like meat!

Amanda said...

At least you caught your mistake! I ran into a story where an Australian woman thought she was ordering 48 rolls of toilet paper - and got 48 boxes. 2,304 rolls - about 12 years' worth, her family figures. I order my cat's food on line for store pick up - and learned the hard way to look closely at what I was ordering. He's gotten very picky in his old age - he's 21 years old - I ordered the right brand, right flavor, but not the right texture, he only eats the pate now. Luckily they let me exchange. Fussy old beast!

Sue in Suffolk said...

Thank goodness you noticed the T Bag order.
I'm still avoiding online shopping while I can.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I have a friend who on her first Tesco order for delivery ordered 1 carrot.

angryparsnip said...

Right now Son and Daughter shops for and wipes everything down, wash all the fruit and veggies. I am very lucky ! They also cook for me !
Love the one carrot, brussel sprout story along with your too many tea bags and T Paper orders.

The Feminine Energy said...

It sounds like you have your online ordering down to a science, even though it may take you awhile to do it & make sure it's accurate. I feel so lucky to be able to have fresh groceries but stay safe at the same time, by online ordering. One of only a few positives about technology, in my book. ~Andrea xoxo

Rambler said...

I have a Sainsbury's order due any time now so I keep checking out the front window. I have a battle with Benji (my Bichon Frise) to get out of the living room whilst keeping him in there. He barks like crazy when he hears the van pull up and races me to the door. The delivery prices vary - tonight's cost me just 50p because the late at night times aren't popular, but I don't mind. When it arrives, I shall microwave the 'Duck in Plum Sauce with Basmati Rice' and thoroughly enjoy it for my dinner - treat of the week! With a glass of Pinot Grigio. Mmmmmmmm!

Bonnie said...

You have had a busy and successful day. I love that you said you and Percy are hardy, and indeed you are hardy! Enjoy your evening and sleep well tonight!

Heather said...

I agree about shopping online. It can be a minefield and one has to pay attention at every step or deal with the consequences. I think eating wisely helps to keep us going.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Anonymous - yes I think what I really mean is that I don't like preparing meat - I am happy to eat it when it is in dishes someone else has prepared. But your reply has certainly made me realise I eat more meat than I realised.
Duck in plum sauce - rather a grand meal and not the sort that I can get on my meal order.
Thanks everyone - bed time now. I have just watched the last episode of All Creatures Great and Small - I read that it has been a huge success so hopefully they will do another series.

Joanne Noragon said...

I had an online job this morning that I allotted two hours for. It took fifteen minutes! Hooray. I scooted off to the loom.

Cro Magnon said...

What I miss is a good Chinese takeaway.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Agreed Cro - we have a good Chinese take away here and however hard I try nothing I make comes near to the real thing.

Librarian said...

I am fortunate in that my nearest groceries shop (Aldi have a good range of organic fruit, vegetables and many other foods) is less than 5 minutes away on foot, and of course for one single person there is never that much to carry that I could not do this on my own. But my Mum & Dad are wisely self-isolating as much as possible, and they certainly appreciate the possibility to order online. So far, it has almost always been very reliable and good service for them.
I armire that you still do so much that requires the use of your hands and fingers, in spite of the shaking. For instance, you blog every day!

Sue said...

Wow ... thank goodness you spotted the teabag over order, you would have had tea coming out of your ears for a long time to come :-)

It's so easy to do though, when I was a picker for a year for Sainsbury's online shopping when it first came out, my colleague had an order on her machine for ONE Brussel Sprout, we didn't know whether the customer wanted one or one kilo, so we went with the one. Needless to say the customer had her photo in the local paper holding her sprout order and having a pop at the Sainsbury's picking team. You get what you ask for ... the moral of the story is be careful what you ask for!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Smaller Life - a story with a moral for sure.
Librarian - If I dont use it I lose it.

Thanks everyone.