The Supermarket thread

Heynj said:

A friend had a woman in CVS (not the SO one) stand so close behind her yesterday she could feel the woman’s breath on her neck. Stepped forward and turned and said something, politely, and the woman nastily replied, “Please. It’s nothing to get upset about.” So there are still plenty of morons out there as stores like CVS deal with setting up social distancing systems. (I feel like those people are somehow getting a different Internet providing different news at their house than I am.) 

 Ugh


Someone posted up thread about not being able to get ShopRite delivery. This is available on InstaCart .. IF you manage to snag a delivery window. Mine was two weeks out from when I ordered. However, I can still add to or delete from the order up until the night before.


Social distancing: new study suggests two metres is not enough

The two-metre social distancing rule being used to keep people apart may need to be four times bigger to prevent coronavirus from spreading, a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests.


dave said:

 that's disheartening.

good thing I have a mask.


drummerboy said:

How have people changed their shopping schedules?  I used to go 3-4 times a week. Or maybe that was 2-3 times. Anyway, I'd go every couple of days, never buying more than my reusable shopping bag would hold. I got pretty good at buying just enough to fill it up.

I'm trying to switch to a once a week schedule, which I've kept to once so far. If I can can make it to Friday that will be two weeks in a row. But I'm getting itchy. I need a few things, but nothing that can't really wait a few days.

 That's how I shopped. Fresh produce makes up much of my diet but now I'm stretching it out to once a week or longer. Mushrooms don't do well for that long so end of week I don't have them Kind of follow the GBOMBS Nutritarian diet with vegan modifications. All kind of health benefits Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Seeds (or nuts)

Remember car pooling? Seems like a few of us who live in an area could at least double up with a friend or two, sharing the shopping, cutting exposure to half or a third.

Only problem would be on limited items.

You shop at Livingston Shoprite so maybe try for an occasional delivery. I haven't had luck getting a day. I'm also stretching meals. I didn't grow up with the 2 oz. pasta portions listed on the box. Now they are making sense. Maybe those brands were started during WW2 rationing.


I'm wary of home delivery. For some reason I just don't trust that I'll get what I actually want. I'm sure I'll survive fine with whatever they send me, but I think I'm a bit anal about it. I'm picky about produce too. 

Besides, right now food shopping is my only outside time. I'm actually looking forward to my next shopping date. I'd hate to give that up.


jimmurphy said:

drummerboy said:

First of all, those recommendations are not even accurate, as they don't make any distinction between types of masks. N95 masks most definitely block virus particles. That's the point of their existence. Surgical masks, not so much.

Also, if they only help those who are sick, why do doctors and nurses wear them while working? These recommendations make no sense because they are obviously confusing when you look at what's happening in the real world.

secondly, read this

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/coronavirus-face-masks.html


 News now is saying that they may update guidance to say wear a mask.

However, the mask is to prevent unknowing carriers from spreading the virus.

Not to protect the mask-wearer.

But if you want to wear one to “protect yourself”, knock yourself out.



I'll knock myself out. I'd be foolish not to.

Besides, how do you know you're not an unknowing carrier? 

What's not to understand about this, referring to plain surgical masks, not even N95's:

Live influenza virus was measurable from the air behind all surgical masks tested. The data indicate that a surgical mask will reduce exposure to aerosolised infectious influenza virus; reductions ranged from 1.1- to 55-fold (average 6-fold), depending on the design of the mask.

It all about viral load. Its your decision if an average 6-fold viral load increase entering your lungs is not a concern to you.


boy do I have too much time on my hands


Has anyone been to Trader Joe's lately? How is the stock? How long did it take to get in? Thanks.


et2811 said:

Has anyone been to Trader Joe's lately? How is the stock? How long did it take to get in? Thanks.

You're probably talking about the Millburn store, but I called the Florham Park store this morning and they said stock is pretty much back to normal. The last time I was there - 2 weeks ago? - store was half cleaned out. Frozen section was completely bare.


My wife drove past Trader Joe's this morning and the line went all the way thru Parking Lot and to the upper lot with people standing at a distance from each other. It appears they were allowing a limited number in to the store at one time.

She was the only customer in CVS. The credit card machines are now at a distance from the Pharmacy Counter and the employees were behind glass shields and were wearing masks and gloves and one w/o gloves put on hand sanitizer before and after passing medicine under the glass shield.


We did TJ, Millburn. Got there 6:25.  There were about 15 people in front of us. We got out of the check-out at  6:50.

Shelves seemed to be well stocked.

There were two "ushers" in the parking lot. One was kinda there to occupy the people in line. The other let people in as others left the store with their purchases.

I asked the outside guy what time the senior line was open. He told me 8:30 - 9:30. Then he asked if we needed to go to the front of the line or if we were ok waiting. We chose to wait but it was interesting that he asked.


I went to stop & shop around midday. No waiting to get in, moderately busy. Shelves reasonably stocked except for the usual stuff. There were only 2-3 registers open though, and lines were long. I think a lot of employees may not want to work these days, who can blame them. And not many shoppers want to use the self-scan registers because of the touch factor.


At Stop and Shop - I bring my own bags - wipe down the cart bar and the scan gun.

When checking out - they do wipe down every self checkout area before the next use.


You can use your iPhone to scan things with the Stop & Shop Scan It app and avoid the store’s scanners. If you get  flagged for an audit though, then you have to grab a store scanner for the clerk to use for the audit.


My neighbor said stop and shop was pretty busy today.  Any other reports?  More people wearing masks?


jamie said:

My neighbor said stop and shop was pretty busy today.  Any other reports?  More people wearing masks?

 Avoid the weekends. Try to go early in the morning when they’re open during the week. 


Nurse suggesting germ-spread awareness, such as not to touch phone while shopping. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/04/us/spreading-germs-nurse-trnd/index.html

My spouse taped the shopping list to his sleeve before going to the supermarket, so he wouldn't have to mess with the list itself, nor put his hands in his pockets.


sprout said:

My spouse taped the shopping list to his sleeve before going to the supermarket, so he wouldn't have to mess with the list itself, nor put his hands in his pockets.

Did he call any audibles? (That’s a nifty idea that makes me picture a quarterback with all the plays written down and wrapped around his forearm.) 


Yes... that was exactly the joke he was making as he left the house...  grin


...And I got to find out what the egg-and-swiss-cheese play meant at breakfast this morning. grin


I have never seen this before. Just trying to get on the website to look at delivery availability. 


I tried sooo many times to get pick up or delivery for the Livingston ShopRite stie, impossible, finally yesterday I went to Millburn and got pretty much everything, of course paper goods and cleaning products very little availability.


mrincredible said:

I have never seen this before. Just trying to get on the website to look at delivery availability. 

 I got that last night. Been trying for a couple of weeks and there is never an opening. 


mrincredible said:

I have never seen this before. Just trying to get on the website to look at delivery availability. 

 I logged in after an hour waiting time.  Pick up and delivery options were sold out through April 13.


Around here (Boston) there are no delivery windows available. Ever. I don’t know how people are able to lock down a delivery in advance because I’ve never even had the opportunity. That said, Instacart has availability late in the day. If I look after 7:00 there’s usually a “next available” delivery the same day. Last guy got here after 9 PM but whatever.  


Can anyone let me know when Stop & Shop's Kettle Corn is back in stock?  TIA


With people trying hard to avoid shopping, and people out of work, I wonder why West Orange Shoprite will not to either delivery or outside pick up. 

I have never found a slot for Livingston so I'm not shopping at a store that was my usual stop. Same with TJs.


Morganna said:

With people trying hard to avoid shopping, and people out of work, I wonder why West Orange Shoprite will not to either delivery or outside pick up. 

I have never found a slot for Livingston so I'm not shopping at a store that was my usual stop. Same with TJs.

 Agreed. I managed to snag a delivery slot through Instacart from Wegmans for next week.

I'm not crazy about the prices but I'm making a concerted effort to stay home as much as possible in the coming week.


mrincredible said:

 Agreed. I managed to snag a delivery slot through Instacart from Wegmans for next week.

I'm not crazy about the prices but I'm making a concerted effort to stay home as much as possible in the coming week.

 It seems to me it would boost business. I got very lucky and a close friend works at Costco and brought me some things albeit in crazy quantities. I always need cough drops, just because on occasion I get a tickle in my throat, I now have a box of 300, so if anyone is coughing, I'm your dealer.


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