Tesco stopping letting customers have tray liners

I’m another who is fascinated at not having anything to put in a fridge. Even if you don’t eat meat/dairy you surely must need somewhere to keep salads and so on.

I have disposable gloves from Lakeland. There’s no powder on them and they seem to last, though I don’t use them often, mainly for heavy jobs such as cleaning out the fireplace. I find it easier to just wash my hands.

What do you with your clothes when you have changed elderlyperson?
Do they go straight on a wash in the machine? Would it not be easier for you just to pop on a wipeable or disposable pinny?
What temperature do you wash these clothes at?

Since people are asking.

Nothing for the fridge.

I eat a lot of rice, packs of microwave rice.

I have unsweetened soya drink, it is long life so does not need a fridge.

I don't like cold drinks so I use the multipacks of pure fruit juice, orange, apple, pineapple, apple & mango. These are of cartons of 200 millilitres each, so all used up and no need to put in a fridge.

Canned food is good, like ratatouille.

The clothes get quarantined for a week, then are washed.

I don't like lettuce so I don't buy any.

I don't eat cheese as it is high fat.

Just choice, like whether one does or not choose to watch football on television, or whether one chooses to have shopping delivered or go to the shops and whether we choose or not choose to have tray ... no not that one now!

Please tell me that this is a total wind up.
Putting clothes into quarantine for a week before washing them!
As to fresh food.....where does fresh vegetables fit into this? Where are the free radicals in this diet? How is this a healthy diet? What about fresh fruit and berries and vitamin C?
As far as I was aware once a carton of fruit juice is opened it should be stored in a fridge.
I keep opened jars of olives, jam, and pickles in the fridge.
Canned food is OK but as the main component of a diet I have serious concerns.
Where do you keep your wine?

We haven't had tray liners throughout the pandemic.

OH has put three plastic boxes and a wheelbarrow outside the front door an hour before the delivery is due, and asked the delivery person (from a distance) if they would mind putting the groceries into this.

So far, they have always been very obliging!

After they have gone, OH brings the boxes around to the back door to be sorted out at our own pace.

Now that the rules are more relaxed and the risks lower, I am starting to think that it might be seen as taking liberties to continue asking them to do this, but it has worked well for us, and to be honest, it is probably a lot quicker for them to do that than wait for the average elderly customer to slowly transfer everything out of the pallets themselves!

I thought long-life items had to be stored in a fridge once they’re opened.

Of course we’re all free to live as we wish but I have to say, as someone who is always juggling for fridge space, this is a fascinating topic!

elderlyperson you seem to have built up a very big anxiety problem with all the precautions quarantine clothes, wearing gloves, not touching anything these I m sure are totally unnecessary You have obviously got yourself into an OCD situation and may find you need help in the future
You are in a state of anxiety which is not good for you

Another one here who has never heard of tray liners.
Sainsburys deliver to me weekly; I put large shopping bags into the front porch, and the drivers are happy to put the shopping from the crates into the bags for me. I then collect when they have finished. No contact with the drivers, and so easy.

SueDonim

I thought long-life items had to be stored in a fridge once they’re opened.

Of course we’re all free to live as we wish but I have to say, as someone who is always juggling for fridge space, this is a fascinating topic!

Long-life items only need to be stored in the fridge once opened if they are not consumed fairly promptly.

So I do not buy litre boxes of fruit juice, I buy the packs of three 200 millilitres individual cartoons. 200 millilitres is a reasonable single serving, so I open a carton when I need it, pour the contents into a cup and drink it, either fairly promptly or over, say, half an hour. The empty carton goes to the green bin for recycling.

I think commenting on the OP’s diet is rather insensitive MissChateline, wine, champagne, ‘so many bags that clutter the floor’. Their budget may be considerably less than yours.

BlueBelle

elderlyperson you seem to have built up a very big anxiety problem with all the precautions quarantine clothes, wearing gloves, not touching anything these I m sure are totally unnecessary You have obviously got yourself into an OCD situation and may find you need help in the future
You are in a state of anxiety which is not good for you

Thank you for your concern.

Around early March 2020 I saw a television report from a hospital in northern Italy where a very harassed looking doctor in a hospital becoming overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases said something like People are calling this a new type of flu, but it isn't, this is far worse.

Naturally I was concerned.

The story was starting to build up in this country.

I genuinely thought that I would be unlikely to get through to July alive.

Tesco was already offering to the doorstep social distance delivery to people with COVID-19 or self-isolating because they might have COVID-19.

The idea of voluntary self-isolation for people 70 and over came up on the television.

I decided that doing that now would be a good precaution. So I asked Tesco for the doorstep self-isolation delivery as a precaution even though I had not got it or might have it, and Tesco did that.

The concepts of washing hands regularly, avoiding touching one's mouth, nose or eyes, and the possibility of getting infected by touching something with what I later learned are called fomites, and that these remained viable for upo to 72 hours.

It seemed to me logical to wear latex gloves, it was just a matter of getting aa pair from the pack, and also wash my hands too. It seemed logical that if my clothes touched something from which it might pick up a fomite viable for 72 hours to change my clothes and quarantine them for more than 72 hours. It seemed logical that if food packs could have fomites viable for 72 hours to quarantine them for more than 72 hours.

As I was having weekly Tesco deliveries, synchronising it all as quarantining for a week seemed a perfectly logical thing to do.

Also, this was at a time when I could order over £40 of groceries would come and the cost would be £22 because so much was unavailable.

I regard my approach to this as reasonable. I decided that if I was going to get infected I did not want to be in hospital thinking "If only I had used gloves when I had the chance." "If only I had quarantined food packs for a week".

Please bear in mind that the rules for clothes shops when lockdown was eased in 2020 was that if someone tries a garment on then the shop must quarantine it for 72 hours before someone else tries it on, my approach is consistent with that.

I remember back in 2020 the government and media were saying people were panic buying. Yet when a news crew interviewed a woman with lots of shopping outside a supermarket, she was entirely calm and simply explained that as the government had said that people could be asked to quarantine for a fortnight that it was prudent to make sure that she had got enough food for a fortnight in her house for her husband, her children and herself.

Likewise I make sure that I have enough food on a rolling basis in case Tesco cancels on the day. This has only happened twice in many years, once in a snowstorm where taking a vehicle on the road would be very dangerous, and once when flooding blocked the roads. Yet it has happened and it might happen again, so I need to make sure that I would not go hungry if it did. I don't sit worrying about it, it is just prudent stock control.

I am not anxious about it. By taking these precautions I feel that I am in a safe environment.

I don't think I have OCD about it, I just follow a protocol that I have devised when I need to mange a delivery.

ElderlyPerson, whereas your approach is very different from mine, you are not harming anyone by using it, and I think that comments that suggest you are out of line in any way are as rude as the ones about people getting deliveries.

Why can't some people just live and let live? A bird will never make a good fish, but it's a lot better at climbing trees.

MissChateline

Please tell me that this is a total wind up.
Putting clothes into quarantine for a week before washing them!
As to fresh food.....where does fresh vegetables fit into this? Where are the free radicals in this diet? How is this a healthy diet? What about fresh fruit and berries and vitamin C?
As far as I was aware once a carton of fruit juice is opened it should be stored in a fridge.
I keep opened jars of olives, jam, and pickles in the fridge.
Canned food is OK but as the main component of a diet I have serious concerns.
Where do you keep your wine?

I was under the impression that free radicals are something bad that one wants not to be there.

The fruit juice provides vitamin C.

I don't drink alcohol. I have no wish to drink alcohol, but if I did I don't think that I could afford it anyway.

Do you live alone elderlyperson ? I was concerned when you said you spoke to the delivery man through the upstairs window have you been in contact with any person over the last year + do you have family or neighbours to keep an eye on you? Do you go out for walks and get fresh air
Maybe it’s just the deliveries you are anxious about ?
It’s very easy to get drawn into an over anxious state

(To anyone worrying about fridges my Nan ran a very popular seaside guest house for years and never owned a fridge (however in those days there was a greengrocer, grocer, butcher, and fish shop all within a few hundred yards of our house so I guess she shopped every few days)

Do you have a game plan for when you envisage that you will ease up in your current routine elderlyperson?
What factors will it depend upon?

MissChateline

Callistemon

MissChateline some of us have been shielding right up until 1st April so home deliveries have been very useful.

Although I must say I have never seen one of these oft-mentioned tray liners from Tesco or Waitrose!

I’m not saying that home deliveries are not useful, we have had Ocado delivering for years. It saves having to do a big heavy shop and I just go to the co-op daily to get fresh veg etc.

My 90 year old dad who lives alone 200 miles away has refused to shield or let me arrange a delivery and loves his weekly shop to Tesco as he enjoys the outing and chatting to store staff. He also takes his elderly next door neighbour with him.

My point is this obsessive and unnecessary sanitising of everything. The delivery chap wears a mask, pops the bags at the front door and we have always taken them down to the kitchen ourselves. We don’t sanitise anything or quarantine the shopping or even the post and I have never bothered to sanitise my partner either. She would consider me to be bonkers if I did any of this. Additionally there is little or no evidence that the virus lives on surfaces as it is transmitted via aerosol.

Given that I’ve had 6 months of trades people in the house renovating my kitchen, knocking down walls, electrical work, plastering, decorating and rebuilding work all of whom I have worked closely with whilst they were here. At no point did any of us bother to wear masks etc. I think it would have been unreasonable to have expected them to work all day wearing one.

I so worry that as restrictions are relaxed the fear of mixing with others and doing normal things without worrying will stay and that many will remain imprisoned within their own fears

I spoke to someone on the beach the other day. They have shielded for a year but both caught covid. They said the only way they could have caught it was via their Tesco delivery. It’s all very well to say, well, I haven’t caught it but there is still a Russian roulette aspect of covid that some of us don’t choose to ignore.

I'm not obsessive but do clear a shelf in the fridge for fresh food and tend to leave packets, tins, cleaning products, wine etc for 72 hours.
Then I wash my hands thoroughly. It's just a routine.

ElderlyPerson your diet may not suit many people but, if you are true to your name, then it can't be that bad!

I know an extremely elderly person and I think his diet would astonish some people - lots of sugar and fats.

This is going to be a nightmare for us. We had a taste of this fromTesco just before the recent lockdown. We usually have at least six trays delivered as we combine our shop and our daughter’s. The previous time we had loads of hessian bags that we decanted the items into but during that time the door was open and the delivery man waiting. At least summer is coming up ( though recent temperatures belie that). With the tray liners we just drag them into the kitchen.
We try to find ways to reuse the plastic. The original carrier bags became waste paper bin liners and had quite a few other uses...e,g. DGC wet swimwear, muddy boots etc. Useful when packing too for wrapping shampoo etc in to avoid leaks. We never recycled any without at least one extra use.
Tray liners are not so easy to reuse though can put them under the cat litter tray!
Suffice to say, not too chuffed about Tesco’s decision. We have been online customers of theirs for years. ( In the early days we even had one or two surprise gifts from them , once we had scones, strawberries and cream, for being loyal customers!). If the other supermarkets keep bags we might have to think again.
Sorry for long, rambling post. Blame insomnia!

Sainsbury's are a nightmare for anyone who is Frail or Disabled, and unable to stand and get their shopping in alone. If I have to shop from them then I have to try and arrange a delivery slot for a day and time when my Daughter will be visiting to help with this task, buying her a few of her favourite food treats in return as a Thankyou. The problem still occurs though if they are late with their delivery, and she has to leave to attend to her own children's needs. Their is now the added financial penalty with Sainsbury's in that if you want a slot timed to the hour, and shop infrequently so that a paid up delivery pass is not financially viable, it costs around £7 a time. If you book a Saver slot, it's £1 but you have to take pot luck at what time it may arrive within a 4 your window, and spend a lot more also in order to get this privalage.
None of the other big supermarkets deliver to this area, the only other supermarket is Iceland, and I do buy from them most weeks. Their delivery is free of £2 at most depending on how much you spend, but they have a habit of items being out of stock or unavailable as they do not sell it, and this can be a nightmare when you simply want the ingredients for a salad or Bread and Milk and fined that they had so!d out that day.
They are however the most helpful drivers, the goods are often just inside my Hallway, they are bagged up, easy to take to the kitchen on my little trolley and never too heavy for me to lift. I also have priority customer registration with them, which offers me extra slots and flags me up as being a disabled person who may need a bit of extra help at the door, which is very much apprieciated.

I found this thread very interesting. I have had home deliveries for years because I dont drive. Environmentally the less plastic the better. Transferring into your own bags takes longer and I always feel sorry for drivers who are on a time schedules.
Isolating items whether groceries or post is an area people frequently disagree on.
Many years pre covid I saw a supermarket assistant loading a shelf whilst frequently blowing her nose due to an obvious heavy cold. It did make me wary of what might have happened to my food before I bought. During a food hygiene course I learnt about the possibility of rats urinating over warehouse goods especially cans/tins which made drinking straight from a can a bit yuk! None of this changed my behaviour.
Covid ,especially last year changed all of that. In some ways the advice is conflicting. Initially surface contamination was dismissed and then said to be low risk. However advice has consistently been for surfaces that people are in contact with to be wiped down whether seating at hairdressers,medical environments,cafes. No shared menus. When allowed people in garden shared cutlery etc forbidden. This advice as far as I know still stands. We know the virus is aerosol spread,maybe it depends on how long you are in a setting and droplets fall around you? Maybe they just havent updated the advice!
Last year was a difficult year for many of us,including me. I live alone. As a result I have control over my environment and it was my safe place. Up until very recently anything not perishable was isolated for 72 hours and fridge items wiped down /put into different containers. There were times ,especially when infections were low that I did question myself. I have now had my first vaccination. My daughter has also moved back home. Infections in my area are very low. Last week was the first week I havent isolated groceries.
Having another person in the house has forced me to relax and undoubtedly so has a dose of the vaccine.
It is still in the back of my mind. I dont know the person who has packed my groceries. I dont know who has handled/coughed over them in the store. Supermarkets and food production factories have high incidents of Covid.
I do however force myself to take a step back and look at the likelihood of items being contaminated and it is probably very low. I will continue to wash my hands after putting groceries away and before food prep and eating. The slightly uneasy feeling that items that have been in contact with other surfaces is being ignored other than usual hygiene and cleaning. I have a hospital appointment next week and immediately on my return clothes will be put in the washing machine.
I had a close relative with OCD based on fear of germs from when she had TB as a young woman. Seeing the affect on her and those close to her if anything made me lean in the opposite direction.
The past year has given me genuine insight into how easily it can happen to any of us.
I have constantly questioned myself and been aware of how rational or otherwise my actions have been. Someone else moving into my space was probably a deal breaker,I could either go full blown OCD or take a step back. I was maybe fortunate in that I could make the choice.
I have great empathy with OP. It may be that she takes precautions that others dont. All I would ask is that she remains aware of what she is doing and why ,especially if pre covid she didnt act in this way.
We have a long way to go in this new normal and much is yet to be learned.
Finally,last Autumn I got a cold ,despite not being closer than 2 metres to anyone and not leaving my own house/garden!

Everyone has different ways of coping. As we were unable to get delivery slots at the beginning of all this I have been going to supermarkets as normal. At one point I did sanitise the shopping, but then decided that I cba! Sanitise hands before going in and when coming out. Certainly don't wash clothes after being out!DH hasn't been out much, but is looking forward to going back to the gym.

Thankyou teacheranne. I have a click and collect this afternoon and am dreading it. I think my worry is that I will get flustered. So I will try not to, I will take my time and do the best I can.

Good post dorset. Interestingly Dr John said in his blog that although there has been hardly any cases of flu this year people are still catching colds. He couldn’t find an explanation for it. Not that I wish covid on anyone but many people I know have still, when allowed, met up with family and friends, something I haven’t done. And yet none of them have caught covid. I feel as though I’ve missed a year of my families lives. And yet the Russian roulette aspect of covid still haunts me.

It is strange how colds are still very common. My oh works for himself, I deal with the grocery deliveries, he goes to the garage every fortnight for fuel. It is quiet and he is careful not to touch anything, lots of hand gel afterwards but he still caught a bad cold.