So called "sssential items"

KY Jelly??? Failing that, wine, gin, tonic water oh and a few lemons and MORE wine! Happy Easter Everybody! xx

I don't think it's folk popping a bar of choccy or a copy of Gardeners Weekly into their trolly that is the issue.

Crates of beer, bottles of vodka and house parties more of a worry.

We're all different, what is essential to one, is maybe not essential to another

Next week or possibly the week after, as I am only going out once a week, on a Fridy to collect shopping and meds, I will need fuel. As I live approx 10 miles from the nearest fuel station I am going to have to travel regardless - my daughter lives in that town, I haven't seen her or my grandchildren for weeks so I will be popping there too to talk to them through the window, I will be there anyway and she is struggling with a newborn and a toddler never seeing anyone - her partner works in Social Care and is a keyworker at a Care Home - we are all very worried about that as one of the staff has ended up in ICU! I could never forgive myself if something happened to her or the babies and I hadn't seen them when I will be there anyway for an essential item!

That's exactly what I thought it was all about, Hithere - advising people not to pop out again to the shops if they forget a few items that they want but don't need.

I bought bedding plants yesterday as I had to be out to go to the surgery anyway, and they were for sale - my garden has been my saviour during this time and I am enjoying making it look even better!

If the items are on sale then you should be able to buy them - if 'someone' thinks they aren't essentials then the supermarkets should be told to take them off the shelves, end of!

I am disgusted with the heavy handedness of some police officers who seem to be taking the rules around this awful situation to a whole other level.

Stopping the children from playing in their own garden? A man arrested for delivering shopping to his elderly auntie and picking a plant up at the same time? Really ? This is a good use of police time ?

Why would you deny a child a chocolate egg? Or someone a few plants? God knows we have little to smile about these days.

Crikey. As long as shoppers are not panic buying, and stripping the shelves, who cares what's in their basket.
What is essential to one, may not be to another.
If you have queued up for half an hour, you should at least be able to get the bits you want.

The issue is surely how many times you go out rather than what you buy when you do?

polnan Your plant purchases can, as mine will save businesses and jobs not just now but after the emergency ends.

What so many people forget is that emergencies like this both kill more people than we know and save lives. There will be those who commit suicide or have their lives destroyed by the loss of a business built up over many years, or the loss of a job . On the other hand. How many lives have been saved by the emergency; a drop in road deaths, industrial injuries, other infectious diseases.

My plant purchases are help keeping nurseries going and our lovely Hermes lady in work.

Life is not how it should be and there's a difference between nipping out for a bottle of wine and some choccies (a no no) to picking up a few treats when you're doing your shopping! Something git to keep us sane!

Missfoodlove I d a 10 mile round trip to get to my local supermarket. You are clearly a city dweller.

If your in the supermarket then you can buy what is available. ( it says so on the Downing Street Instagram daily update) it’s common sense as it still helps the economy instead of rotting on the shelf

I think..

that if the shops have it for sale, then a person should be able to buy it

for me, what is essential at this time

is Garden Centres,,, however I can go out.. so I would love to buy plants online, but I fear for the delivery, and taking precious delivery journeys, for plants.. for me plants would help enormously with my depression, and I am sure there are others also

I too consider all gardening items essential. Now more than ever if you have a garden it is essential for well being and physcial health. It gives purpose if you grow your own veggies as you have to tend them, a sense of satisfaction if they grow well and you get a crop. All that digging, bending and lifting helps keep you fit. If the sun is out you are getting Vit D. If fruit and veg become scare further down the line at least many people will have a supply in their garden leaving those in the shops for people who dont have that option.

I saw that about the front garden report too Callistemon and apparently the police officer was reported as being "over zealous"!

If the supermarket you're shopping in stocks compost and plants esspee, you can put them in your shopping trolley. Some hardware sell compost and gardening equipment too so if you're out doing your weekly essential shop and pass a hardware shop, you can buy it. The post that I quoted from the police @ 20.44 yesterday covers this.

I should say she went back to the van and found them, not went back to the depot.

Our grocery delivery person was puzzled because we had no alcohol in our online shop, then went back and found my two bottles of wine. We had a joke about it. We ordered Easter eggs too but got a substitution.

Police somewhere (I missed where) were telling a family off because the children were playing in their front garden and told them that wasn't allowed. On last night's News at Ten.

I consider my bar or three of chocolate essential as was y potting compost and a pair of socks.

Most garden centres are taking phone orders for compost etc espee.

They were closed because they’re popular social places like restaurants.

I consider potting compost essential and plants but the garden centres have been closed down. Surely growing food is essential?

What was meant by the checking of trolleys for essential items applies to the idiots that will do a 10 mile round trip to buy beer, blue drinks and vodka
.
Not someone who has put a couple of bottles of Rioja in with the weekly shop.

Exactly Monica. I’ve ordered some duck legs in orange sauce which is hardly ‘essential’ but if it’s in stock then if no one bought them they would expire their ‘use by’ date and be binned.

And what are ‘essentials’? Bread, water, baked beans?

No 10 clarified yesterday (Friday) that, if shopping in a shop that is legally open, you can buy anything that shop is selling, so if your supermarket is selling Easter bonnets, you can buy as many as you like, although if you wore one when out exercising, the police would probably stop you and fine you for unsuitable frivolity.