The Supermarket Xmas shop

[Ray Scully]

Tell you what, let's go and do our main Christmas food shop without a shopping list. Oooh look! there's such and such a body. We haven't seen them since, now let me see, last week. Let's find a suitable place to stop and have a catch up. Here will do. We'll just park our trolleys in the middle of the aisle and gather round and stand in everyone else's way while we ask inane questions like "Are you all ready for Christmas?". I know, let's let our 7 year old take charge of the trolley, they're so skillful at guiding it around the supermarket.....I could go on; blithering idiots

Ray

[Admiral of the Humber]

Where you in my local branch of Morrisons at 7am this morning Ray? It sounds like you might have been.

ho ho ho

[david63]

No he was my local branch of Tesco's.

Bah Humbug

[oldbluefox]

Morrison's was like a war zone this morning, all the roads choked with traffic. Some seem to be stocking up for a siege. Bah humbug!!!

[Admiral of the Humber]

Morrison's was like a war zone this morning, all the roads choked with traffic. Some seem to be stocking up for a siege. Bah humbug!!!

To be fair OBF people are right to stock up as the supermarkets aren't open again until Boxing Day........

[oldbluefox]

Right AOTH, I forgot that.

[Frank Manning]

Sainsburys in Poole was much the same, the car park was grid locked as I drove by. We did ours on Sunday, and then did a practise run cooking brussel sprouts with bacon to see what it was like....nice on the tongue, but murder in the tum!

The supermarkets will be open again on Friday but you would think they were closed for a month, seeing the amount of stuff people had in their trolleys.

We went for a drink and mince pie with our TA this morning, and to pay the balance of our Oceana cruise. All the girls in our local TA are lovely and great fun.

[Stephen]

Tell you what, let's go and do our main Christmas food shop without a shopping list. Oooh look! there's such and such a body. We haven't seen them since, now let me see, last week. Let's find a suitable place to stop and have a catch up. Here will do. We'll just park our trolleys in the middle of the aisle and gather round and stand in everyone else's way while we ask inane questions like "Are you all ready for Christmas?". I know, let's let our 7 year old take charge of the trolley, they're so skillful at guiding it around the supermarket.....I could go on; blithering idiots

Ray

You sound just like me Ray, only I'm like it all year

I do wonder what planet some of these shoppers are on at times. The other thing that bugs me is when they walk down the middle of the supermarket car park, with or without a trolley, oblivious to vehicles (me) trying to eithr park or escape. IT'S A CAR PARK NOT A COUTRY PARK, SO GET YOUR F*23^5?.!G AR*E OUT THE WAY...........Oh that's better.

Happy Christmas All

[gfwgfw]

Catch up, get with it

Now all my shopping is conducted whilst enjoying my first espresso of the day comfortably seated in my cosy study

The only regret is I cannot yet get cash on line to generously "tip" my Posty, refuse technicians, my lady that does for me etc

Life is tranquil in rural Dorset

[Manoverboard]

We went yesterday, Sunday, and got there at 09:30 ...

Just us and a few others cos Sainsbugs had advertised that they would open at 10:00, this was true but it actually related to the time the tills would be open.

Easy peasy

[Boris+]

We got all done and dusted - and then a surprise announcement meant we had to go out and buy a suitable card, but thankfully without any parking hassle or long queues.

Then today we went to the butcher to collect our order and there was quite a queue even though we placed the order ages ago. Everyone had decided to arrive to collect their orders at the same time, BUT the staff in the butchers shop had decided to treat everyone, and they were busy handing out lovely hot bacon rolls to everyone in the queue!

Merry mince pies everyone.

Em

[Gill W]

Catch up, get with it

Now all my shopping is conducted whilst enjoying my first espresso of the day comfortably seated in my cosy study

The only regret is I cannot yet get cash on line to generously "tip" my Posty, refuse technicians, my lady that does for me etc

Life is tranquil in rural Dorset

Agreed - I do the vast majority of my supermarket shopping online. I had to nip out yesterday to pick up my M&S turkey - 8.30 pick up slot and back home at 8.45. Apart from that, my Christmas food has all been delivered

[GillD46]

I did most of ours on-line as well, even ordered my large M&S order on-line. Tony has just nipped out to get that now then we plan to remain in the village for several days!

Our local shop has an excellent stock range in the unlikely event we need something, and will be open on Boxing day, so shopping for us has been no problem whatsoever.

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy, Healthy 2014.

[CaroleF]

I too shop online - have done do every since breaking my ankle 3 years ago. I'd never thought of grocery shopping online till then and discovering how simple it is I carried on. So my final shop came yesterday morning - early amazingly - and what I haven't now got we go without! At the moment the ham is cooking in the oven, the turkey is in the fridge and my husband has decided today is the day to mend the broken dimmer switch in the dining room so the electricity is off! Not that it affects the oven so that's ok.

Tomorrow there will be six of us adults and two children for lunch - well it will probably be about 2.30 I expect - the 18th month old needs his morning sleep if he's to be at all amenable for the rest of the day. Oh, and the new dimmer switch is working.

I use Ocado for the shopping and have found them excellent with the occasional niggle of course. But it certainly beats being in that supermarket for the Christmas shop.

A Happy Christmas to everyone.

Carole

[jay-ell71]

Agreed - I do the vast majority of my supermarket shopping online. I had to nip out yesterday to pick up my M&S turkey - 8.30 pick up slot and back home at 8.45. Apart from that, my Christmas food has all been delivered

[/quote]

Gosh Gill, where is your M & S. I ordered from our Simply Food M & S and my daughter went to collect the order Monday. It was pouring down and the shop was only allowing limited numbers of shoppers in, as the place had got gridlocked. Eventually they made everyone start queueing in the M & S Home Store opposite, to keep everyone dry and then let them in in batches. The DD was queueing for over an hour, before she got to the store proper! Fortunately I had paid for my order up front, if I hadn't ,she would then have had to go to the check out and wait another hour, in the queue that wound round and round the shop. I am glad to hear that not all Marks are similarly disorganised. The DD said never again, she would go without the christmas tree shaped cakes which is what I ordered for her!!
BTW I went to Waitrose on Sunday to collect the turkey and shop. No problem, got there early, tills opened at 10.00 even had coffee.

[Frank Manning]

Carol,
Can I ask whether you are going to eat that ham cold on Christmas day, or warm it up to go with turkey? There is a big debate going on in Chez Manning about whether Ham served with turkey can be boiled the day before and finished off in the oven soon before serving? Anny polite suggestions welcome!

[GillD46]

Agreed - I do the vast majority of my supermarket shopping online. I had to nip out yesterday to pick up my M&S turkey - 8.30 pick up slot and back home at 8.45. Apart from that, my Christmas food has all been delivered

Gosh Gill, where is your M & S. I ordered from our Simply Food M & S and my daughter went to collect the order Monday. It was pouring down and the shop was only allowing limited numbers of shoppers in, as the place had got gridlocked. Eventually they made everyone start queueing in the M & S Home Store opposite, to keep everyone dry and then let them in in batches. The DD was queueing for over an hour, before she got to the store proper! Fortunately I had paid for my order up front, if I hadn't ,she would then have had to go to the check out and wait another hour, in the queue that wound round and round the shop. I am glad to hear that not all Marks are similarly disorganised. The DD said never again, she would go without the christmas tree shaped cakes which is what I ordered for her!!
BTW I went to Waitrose on Sunday to collect the turkey and shop. No problem, got there early, tills opened at 10.00 even had coffee.[/quote]






My husband was very quick too. He said the Simply Food had arranged a tent where orders were to be collected and he was in and out in less than 10minutes - this was at 10am this morning.

We got the Christmas Tree cakes too - and a whole load of other things - and they do look delicious.

[jay-ell71]

Gill…. we will compare notes on the Christmas Tree Cakes …. they had better be good. DD seems impressed with them.

I am sure the problem at our S. Food was that no one was keeping to their Time Slot!!! DD got there late due to terrible traffic, but in the queue were people whose Time Slot was more than an hour later than her's. Of course by the time they got their goods, they probably were, in fact ,on time.
All done and dusted now.

Happy Day tomorrow everyone!!!!!

[Manoverboard]

Carol,
Can I ask whether you are going to eat that ham cold on Christmas day, or warm it up to go with turkey? There is a big debate going on in Chez Manning about whether Ham served with turkey can be boiled the day before and finished off in the oven soon before serving? Anny polite suggestions welcome!

We soaked our ham overnight on the 22nd and slow cooked it for 8 hours with a few veges and a litre or so of Ginger Ale on the 23rd so it's already in the fridge along with the cooked cold turkey bazzooms awaiting ones' top up nosh on Boxing Day evening.

[Frank Manning]

Thanks MOB. I have just put ours in to soak and I plan to slow cook overnight, then glaze it with honey, butter, and cider tomorrow. Just done 60 sprouts and I plan to boil for 4 mins then toss in butter and streaky bacon chunks before serving. Going to glaze carrots and leave in the fridge overnight. Sue is in charge of turkey and roasties, we have only 7 for lunch tomorrow but it is being run like a military operation here.

[Ray Scully]

Thanks MOB. I have just put ours in to soak and I plan to slow cook overnight, then glaze it with honey, butter, and cider tomorrow. Just done 60 sprouts and I plan to boil for 4 mins then toss in butter and streaky bacon chunks before serving. Going to glaze carrots and leave in the fridge overnight. Sue is in charge of turkey and roasties, we have only 7 for lunch tomorrow but it is being run like a military operation here.

Frank

Are you booked for next Christmas?

Ray

[Manoverboard]

Thanks MOB. I have just put ours in to soak and I plan to slow cook overnight, then glaze it with honey, butter, and cider tomorrow. Just done 60 sprouts and I plan to boil for 4 mins then toss in butter and streaky bacon chunks before serving. Going to glaze carrots and leave in the fridge overnight. Sue is in charge of turkey and roasties, we have only 7 for lunch tomorrow but it is being run like a military operation here.

We also have seven and are not going to glaze it .... it just falls apart as it is

No sprouts and no turkey this year, Coq au Vin for us with French Beans and Carrots a l'orange plus Sainsbugs Goose fat Roasties ... albeit with parsnip soup and Mobietta's infamous Sherry Trifle else raspberry pavlova and Xmas pud with lashings of Brandy Cream.

: shlurp :

[Frank Manning]

Hi Ray,
The bl***y fridge has just broken down! I have just had to put loads of stuff outside in a storage bin in the garden while I try to fix it. All this while one of my favourite Christmas programmes 'Carols from Kings' is on TV.

The trouble in this house is 'too many chiefs and not enough indians', I feel a domestic coming on!!

Right where did I put my Avo?

MOB if you read my reply to Ray, spare a thought for a tortured husband, dodging the flak here in Dorset.

[Manoverboard]

Frank ... surely not ... this is simply not the time for the soddin fridge to pack up.

I cannot believe that

[Frank Manning]

Its OK I think I've fixed it....missed another good TV film The Titfield Thunderbolt, have got a nice burn on my hand, but 'er indoors is happy again.