Maybe I should start holding my breath!

We are fine here as had catered on the basis of first batch of family arriving today, thus, like lemongrove we have something of a glut of veg! Had put in order to local greengrocer on basis of 6 of us for 3 days, including 3 vegetarians, now down to 4 on Christmas day and just us two ( 1 veggie) for the holiday period. So, lots of soups, multiple veg with every meal, and will have to have two slices of lemon in my G&T. Sigh

We did a fairly small order with the Co-op yesterday, our first ever online order, and it was missing about a third, ie the chicken, lettuce, lemons, cat litter and loo rolls. No substitutions, no apology. We went out later in the day, and bought what we needed locally.

Cat quite pleased that he doesn’t need to go out into the cold and the wet! ??

Chantenay carrots off menu here too - I’m putting my wonky ones through a candle sharpener to shape them ???❤️???☘️

I would of thought you would be fine . As a lot of people have reduced there orders after going into tier 4 and no longer being able to have guests . I hope you didn't order a turkey though , lots of complaints about turkeys not turning up with the orders . Good luck ?

Sainsburys order arrived this morning with everything I ordered. Just need to collect the turkey crown and then we should have enough leftovers to keep us going until the New Year.

We are lucky enough to have a lovely farm shop near where we live. We popped in yesterday for some bits and have ordered exactly what we need for over Christmas. They're not afraid of rejecting substandard stock from their local suppliers so I'm confident all will be well. You can't ask Tesco to put back half a dozen (ripe but not too ripe) bananas, can you.

On another note, more and more farm shops have a self dispensing organic milk machine. This is my new fave.

Happy Christmas to you all. X

Order just arrived, substitutes salmon fillets instead of smoked salmon, elm lea instead of fresh cream and lorry engine lubricant instead of screen wash. That last one will be sent back but fancy Asda stocking such a thing. Everything else was available.

Re potential shortages of fresh veg, there's a post on Facebook from farmers in Lincolnshire telling us all they're fully stocked and well prepared to serve the whole country. All home grown. No need to worry about lorries being blockaded in Kent.

Lexisgranny:
You ask... What unusual substituted items have you found in your order?
I ordered a six pack of Becks Blue and they sent me a 15-pack, same cost ?.

We had click and collect from Asda yesterday .
What was amazing was that it was the very first one with absolutely no subs for the last 6 months!

If there are any shortages right now, it’s more likely to be from panic buying than anything else. It was only apparently potentially an issue if the lorries weren’t cleared very soon...and they are being. I expect there could be disruption in some deliveries for the new year...but you can live without soft fruit and citrus from Spain for a few weeks I’m sure. No need to panic buy. I had an online shop yesterday and received everything I’d ordered.

Depends where you live....but surely delivery orders .... are picked early on?....don’t you think it might be the press exacerbating the situation? Where I shopped empty shelves were being restocked immediately.....they had the goods a plenty out the back.....

All depends where you live. South London Waitrose was very low on fruit and veg yesterday. Multiple empty crates and it was only 7.30am.

We’re lucky enough to have a farm shop in our village, so I was able to buy the veg, flour and fruit we needed. It could be difficult for some people who are relying on shopping at their local supermarkets.

We had an Ocado delivery today, all the masses of fresh veg we ordered arrived, much to my dismay as at least two main meals have had to be cancelled for this week due to new Covid laws.Will give some to neighbours tomorrow.

If it’s any comfort I went to our very large Sainsbury’s mid morning today.

It was fine. There was plenty of fresh produce including fruit and vegetables. There had been a bit of a run on dried pasta although there was some left.

The cashier said there hadn’t been any panic buying or any stockpiling which was reassuring.
Supermarkets have said that they have plenty of supplies in their distribution warehouses

I have a click and collect order to pick up tomorrow, I’ll be interested to see what I get! I’m going to my sister ( my support bubble) for Christmas lunch so I only need regular food for the following week. But as I cannot easily get round the shops, due to mobility problems, I might have some interesting meals next week!

I have never had any interesting substitutions, it’s usually a case of something not being delivered which is an essential item for a recipe, leaving me with other stuff which I struggle to use. Last week I ordered mince pies and even though I agreed to have a substitution, I did not receive any - I doubt very much that there were none in the store!

worth, not work. Will we ever get an edit button, do you think?

Mine arrived today. The only subs were red wine subbed for white, and Jacobs crackers replaced with Sainsbury's ones. Oh, and I ordered emergency stuffing (my husband is vegetarian and as the children can't come now it's not work making it with pork and chestnuts just for me) and the flavour I ordered has been replaced with a different one. I don't mind, as I plan to add chestnuts and onions etc anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a free-range chicken and some pigs in blankets, both of which have sell-by dates after Christmas - I had visions of having to share my husband's nutroast, and I have planned a 2-3 servings one so that he has leftovers on Boxing Day.

I’m awaiting an order arriving in the next hour. The main substitutions are for groceries like cheese crackers (the size they’re sending will last until August Bank Holiday, I think!)

Chipolatas have been subbed with ready made pigs in blankets and I’m getting light squirty cream instead of normal.

All fruit and veg should arrive as ordered.

Hope yours comes too!

All present and correct for our Asda click and collect today. Fortunately we noticed the ‘posh’ bottle of wine bought as a gift for our son still had the security tag on it as did Mr C’s bottle of brandy. .

Fingers crossed for you, Lexisgranny. I remember my lot mocking me mercilessly for being a Margot Leadbetter when I told them my chanterelle carrots had been replaced by wonky ones (I wasn’t really upset, honest!).

Unusual substitutions? Sainsburys sent me two rolls of greaseproof paper last week instead of two Christmas cards. And DD1 once got hair remover instead of hair dye.

I shopped in Aldi at 7.45 this morning. The shelves were full.

My son, who works in the food business, says the Dover problems need to be resolved very soon or there will be a lot of empty shelves after Christmas, if not before, notably salads, citrus fruit, some veg eg broccoli. Worse still after Brexit unless Boris gets his act together and does a last minute deal.
Lots of food items will increase in price. We need to grow and pick more in UK.

Our Morrison's this morning had huge piles of cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, swede..... Didn't look at sprouts as I had them on Christmas order. I expect there will be plenty of veg.

There was no queue, either, although it was much busier than usual.

DH made a point of buying British apples and not French ones

Lots of fresh fruit and veg in my local Tesco Extra at 7am this morning.?When I came out at 8am the queue of people to get in stretched a couple of hundred yards. ?
So shelves may be a bit empty by tonight.