Let’s Share Notts Food Delivery Advice 3

MinorOakers are here, there, and everywhere, sheltering in place during the coronavirus crisis. Brits have been told ‘no non-essential trips’.

What does that mean? Right now, it boils down to, “How often do we need to go food shopping?” and, “Is food shopping an essential trip if we have the option of paying for delivery?”

Why get food ingredients delivered?

Plenty of people have been asked not to leave their homes at all: people over 70; people who are ill and everyone in their households; people who are immunocompromised. If you’ve been asked not to leave your home for any reason and you don’t have an adequate supply of food, delivery is the only option. But there are other reasons to opt for delivery.

The UK has entered the peak phase of new coronavirus cases and related deaths: we are at around 750 deaths a day. (CLICK HERE for the latest stats, kindly graphed and provided for free by the Financial Times). Staying home cuts our risk of infection, helps flatten the curve, and keeps us out of the overburdened hospitals.

Right now, being around other people and things other people have recently touched, breathed on, or possibly even coughed or sneezed on is risky. Shops are risky. So to minimise risk, it’s best to avoid the shops.

But have you tried to order food delivery from a supermarket lately? Yeah, not easy to do. People are running into long delivery delays. Most of the major supermarkets are booking deliveries a month or more in advance, or do not have any slots available at all.

Who is Delivering Food (and Drink) in Nottingham?

Bryan and I have recently booked deliveries of meat, cheese, produce, dairy, beer, and wine with less than a week’s lead time. We did it mostly by calling local shops, small independent businesses like MinorOak. I’ll emphasise ‘calling’, because although they have websites, they have all preferred to take orders or at least confirm orders by phone. We’re getting deliveries from:

• Thompson Brothers Greengrocers. They’re not taking online orders, but call and see if you can order by phone. You can see what they offer on their website and if they can accommodate you, you’ll get the delivery in less than a week.
• The Snobby Butcher, Johnny Pusztai, is offering a subset of his vast array of locally sourced meat and poultry for delivery. Call and ask what’s available. We were able to arrange delivery with just a few days’ lead time.
• Brigitte Bordeaux are presently delivering wine daily. ’nuff said.
• Liquid Light Brewery was delivering as of a week ago, and are probably still doing so. You can order cans and growlers from their website. They deliver on Fridays. Their beer is fantastic.

We’ve also booked deliveries by:

• The Cheese Society. They stock UK cheeses and butter purchased directly from the producers. The UK’s artisan cheese industry is having a hard time right now, so it’s good to support them. Also, yum, cheese.
• Cairn O’ Mohr is delivering flower, leaf and fruit wines and ciders, if you’re in the mood for something fun and different. They’re also a small independent business, and they are being kept afloat by mail order right now. I really like their autumn oak leaf wine.
• We also ordered a few food items and a bunch of toiletries from Amazon Pantry. Yeah, I know.

Please share your Notts local shops – and other places you can get deliveries from – in the comments!

A list of sources shared by people on social media posts:

• The V-Spot for vegan food, including great bread. https://v-spot.co.uk/
• Another veg box source: https://www.kerrysfresh.co.uk/
• Potatoes: https://www.facebook.com/allenspotatoes/
• More booze: https://www.weaverswines.com/