Getting hold of food during lockdown

At the start of the lockdown, I promised myself I would get back into the habit of posting more recipes again to help those of us who are trying to use up odds and ends from the fridge, freezer and store cupboard. Then I ran into a problem - getting hold of fresh food has become practically impossible for us! Although we are not in the shielding group, Mark and I both have health conditions that mean if we caught coronavirus it could lead to complications, so we are trying to avoid the shops. The trouble with that is the alternative is shopping online. Or attempting to!

First I tried Ocado, where we are  fairly regular customers, but not regular enough, apparently, to even get access to the site! Next, Morrisons, which is our nearest supermarket and a pick-and-pack store for their delivery service. But our postcode means we are not in the delivery area, and they don't do click and collect. Waitrose and Sainsburys aren't accepting new customers right now and neither Asda nor Tesco have any delivery or click and collect slots available in our area for as long ahead as they can be booked.

Then somebody told us about the Morrisons basic food box scheme. I went to the special website https://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/  where I could order a box for two people for £30 plus £5 delivery charge. It comes by carrier, so you don't have to be in a Morrisons delivery area, and in a meat eaters or vegetarian version. Our first box was delivered yesterday and here is what it contained:

Toilet roll (!)
Kitchen roll
sliced white bread
1 litre semi skimmed milk
bag of pasta
bag of microwave rice
tins: baked beans, tomato soup, vegetable soup
Potatoes
onions
carrots
small white cabbage
a cucumber
pasta sauce
cheddar cheese
butter
bacon
sausages
minced beef
chicken breasts
cooked ham

I was sad to find that there was no fruit in the box at all,  and I would have liked more veg, some salad and a small bottle of sunflower oil,  but since the box was only £30 I can't really complain. I'd have loved some eggs too but I suppose the fragility makes them impossible to send by carrier.

Today we are going to have bacon butties for lunch and chilli con carne (I have plenty tins of tomatoes and kidney beans at the moment) with rice plus salad from the garden for dinner. Tomorrow we will probably mix together the two tins of soup for lunch and have chicken satay using some of the chicken, with gado-gado using the cabbage, carrots and cucumber plus a handful of green beans that were left in the fridge. I've not planned the rest of the week yet but there will be a sausage casserole and a pasta bake in there somewhere!

Although the boxes are supposed to be random, I'm sure the  weekly contents will be very similar so next week I'm planning to get a box from elsewhere - it's twice the price but promises to contain lots of fruit, veg and salad as well as some higher-welfare meat. I'll report back on the contents of that too.

I hope this, and the progress reports I plan to post over the coming days and weeks are helpful to others who are struggling to get hold of food.

Now I'm off to see if wine delivery companies are still operating!

Stay safe, friends.