A winter of very expensive heating and little food?

inews.co.uk/news/roll-out-of-covid-boosters-and-teenage-jabs-could-be-delayed-by-co2-shortage-1208563

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202109/medium-641492-ln-086430-bp-11.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202109/medium-57729-ln-086434-bp-11.jpg

The cheap Waitrose range is called "essential " and is good quality. I can't see the price of your lettuces growstuff because they are out of stock but for example the little gems are 90p in Waitrose and the iceberg 70p. Don't buy anything Duchy, it is expensive.
Delivery is free if you spend £40.

Just found the iceberg is 43p in Tesco, so Waitrose is certainly pricier.

Josianne

Just found the iceberg is 43p in Tesco, so Waitrose is certainly pricier.

That's the choice I have without going to another town.

I don't avoid shops as a result of Covid, but I genuinely hate shopping. I'm really annoyed that the system I had has been disrupted.

growstuff

inews.co.uk/news/roll-out-of-covid-boosters-and-teenage-jabs-could-be-delayed-by-co2-shortage-1208563

This is just a general rant, not aimed at you growstuff or anybody else in particular.

The press have a lot to answer as regards their behaviour in recent months, since this pandemic began actually. I read that article, and there are no attributable quotes.

"Officials" refuse to deny things; one senior scientist says xyz; a government spokesman said abc. Nobody named, no actual hard information about anything. Spelling errors and random use of very big numbers to make it seem really, really serious. And liberal use of the word "could". This is the i, but they're all just as bad.

So lots of fear, uncertainty and doubt that is based on nothing but speculation. We deserve a better press than this.

Josianne

The cheap Waitrose range is called "essential " and is good quality. I can't see the price of your lettuces growstuff because they are out of stock but for example the little gems are 90p in Waitrose and the iceberg 70p. Don't buy anything Duchy, it is expensive.
Delivery is free if you spend £40.

But I don't want to spend £40.

My budget for groceries (including cat food and cleaning materials) is £40 three times a month. I was managing quite well and I eat healthily. I have quite a restricted diet because I eat very low carb, which is the only way to control my blood glucose.

I'd probably end up spending an additional £40, which I can't afford.

I actually agree with Alegrias.

I know I seem to have concentrated on myself, which makes me seem self-centred, but I wanted to explain my personal experience, which is very real and not influenced by what I've read.

Unfortunately, I don't think the government is telling the truth. I've discovered that there were concerns about CO2 supplies last year, when it was realised that the Pfizer vaccine would need loads of dry ice. The government must have known about that (mustn't they?). It was predicted by energy bods that there would be a shortage for other purposes, unless production was increased. Everything should have been done to maintain supply.

I agree with you that the media don't help with their constant use of "could" etc, but the shortages and price increases are real. The government must have known about those too, when it removed the Universal Credit uplift and increased NICs for working age people.

Hope this doesn't sound like a mutual appreciation society but I agree completely growstuff. The issues are most definitely real. But the press seem to just love scaring us all to death.

I don't think the government tell the truth about anything; I don't think they think past the end of next week. Remember in the good old days in times of crisis you would expect the PM to appear on TV in a serious manner and tell you what was happening and what they were doing about it. No flags and no dissembling.

I don't think hearing about the issues you face is just concentrating on yourself at all, it just highlights what's going on.

Hope this doesn't sound like a mutual appreciation society but I agree completely growstuff. The issues are most definitely real. But the press seem to just love scaring us all to death.

You 2 are doing a good enough job scaring the rest of us on your ownsomes never mind the Press!

GN at its Leftist best.
?

Woooo....?????????

Lefty ghosts and aliens.

Scared yet? ?

It's the right wingers that scare the Bejesus out of me.

Hopefully we will all eat less meat, have to do more exercise to keep warm and eat more vegetables and fruit as they will not keep for long. So we should all get much healthier.

Exercise to keep warm. ?

I'll let my 86 year old dad know that he needs to take up jogging. He can jog down to Morrison's to get the daily beetroot.

It sounds to me like the only meat that isn’t in short supply is ostrich.

Casdon ?

Apparently our, well your, crumpets have been saved. Who knew?

You're all going to like this one:

news.sky.com/story/asda-and-sainsburys-chilled-foods-distributor-on-brink-of-collapse-12413829

Urmstongran

^Hope this doesn't sound like a mutual appreciation society but I agree completely growstuff. The issues are most definitely real. But the press seem to just love scaring us all to death.^

You 2 are doing a good enough job scaring the rest of us on your ownsomes never mind the Press!

GN at its Leftist best.
?

What a pathetic comment! Can't you come up with something a little more meaningful and adult?

lemongrove

Worth investigating other stores than Tesco ( They aren’t cheap at all) even if it means going into shops.Being double jabbed and going in at quiet times during the week.
Even my local Co-op is better value.

Some of us have medical problems which makes going to the shops difficult or impossible, I am one of those!

So am I Teacheranne. I don't always need it, but I sometimes find it easier to walk with a stick and I really don't enjoy traipsing around shops trying to juggle bags and a stick.

They said on the news tonight that the deal ( ie money they are giving ) with the company that produces CO2 in England is only for three weeks, after that it stops. As it will take them two weeks to get production started again, we might be back to aquarium one very soon!

On the topic of lettuce, I have always wondered why people eat it, it hardly fills you up! I saw a poster which had bowls containing various varieties of salad stuff and veg, the amount in each bowl was the amount you need to eat to get the same nutritional value eg six cherry tomatoes, one apple etc. The bowl of lettuce was huge, like a washing up bowl, no one could eat that much at one sitting. So as I’m not a fan of eating lettuce, I stopped buying it there and then!

I eat lettuce as part of a mixed salad, which I eat most days, especially in summer. I think some do have flavour - not the standard floppy sort, but there all sorts of different leaves (usually!). I use a light oil dressing, which sticks to lettuce leaves more than it does other salad ingredients. A bowl of salad, maybe with an egg or some grated cheese or mackerel/tuna and seeds, does fill me up and I find it tasty.

PS. I just checked Aldi's Click and Collect service and discovered it costs £4.99 regardless of the value of the shop. Considering that most of the stuff I buy from Tesco is Aldi price matched, I'd have to make an awful lot of savings or have an extra big shop to make that worthwhile, especially after adding fuel costs.

Growstuff I also love a salad as you described I sometimes grow my own mixed lettuce leaves only takes a small window ledge sized trough. You just gave me the idea I could do this through the winter on my windowsill.
Sometimes as it’s usually only me that eats them regularly a mixed bag can go a bit off if not used so clipping a few off each day fresh is much nicer

At least a few years ago the poorer members of our society had the freedom to move to anywhere in Europe that gave them a chance of a better life. That has been taken away from them.

The agreement to subsidise them only lasts three weeks. Have to see what happens after that:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/co2-crisis-shortage-cheshire-teeside-b1924099.html