Panic Buying Again!

[Mike4]

We ventured out late to a local M&S food hall which closes at midnight.

That's interesting, all three of the M&S Food Halls within my orbit close at a stupidly early 8.00pm.

Where is your midnight closer? Anywhere near Wiltshire?

Edit to add:
On checking on the tinternet thing, it turns out mine actually close at 9pm normally rather than 8pm as I thought, but are open until midnight for three days in the run up to xmas!

[PinkDalek]

We ventured out late to a local M&S food hall which closes at midnight.

That's interesting, all three of the M&S Food Halls within my orbit close at a stupidly early 8.00pm.

Where is your midnight closer? Anywhere near Wiltshire?

No but there are 400 or so of them:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... christmas/

Maybe the M&S website will reveal your nearest.

Edit: Missed your edit until now!

[Mike4]

We ventured out late to a local M&S food hall which closes at midnight.

That's interesting, all three of the M&S Food Halls within my orbit close at a stupidly early 8.00pm.

Where is your midnight closer? Anywhere near Wiltshire?

No but there are 400 or so of them:

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/20 ... christmas/

Maybe the M&S website will reveal your nearest.

Edit: Missed your edit until now!

That's a shame. I was getting all excited at the thought of M&S Foodhalls that stay open until midnight!

Life in the bus lane, moi, to paraphrase Joe Walsh/The Eagles (I think it was).

It was! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsYhDSR ... eWalshVEVO

[UncleEbenezer]

That's all very well and good but you didn't mention the more pressing need for parsnips. Our nearest Waitrose failed to be open late last night but, finally, good old M&S have come up trumps and our three day quest for the delicacy is finally over.

Delicacy? ...

Yes, delicacy as in rare (as hen’s teeth) as against expensive or whatever.

As for the earlier mention of greengrocers, they’ve gone out of business around these parts. Quite possibly due to the Great Parsnip Famine.

What country is this you're in?

I've lived in many places, quite a few of them in England, and parsnips have been abundant everywhere I've been on this isle.

I always feel sorry for the Scots because root vegetables are pretty much all that grows up there.

I would suspect there's quite a lot more, though I'll grant you oats are not something I'd want on the menu too often.

Apart from that, the Scots are particularly well-equipped to enjoy root veg. I'll accompany most dishes with a beer, wine or fruit juice, but for parsnips there's nothing else comes close to a drop of single malt!

[kiloran]

but for parsnips there's nothing else comes close to a drop of single malt!

I think you'll find that "a drop" is below the legal minimum amount

--kiloran

[Dod101]

I always feel sorry for the Scots because root vegetables are pretty much all that grows up there.

I would suspect there's quite a lot more, though I'll grant you oats are not something I'd want on the menu too often.

Apart from that, the Scots are particularly well-equipped to enjoy root veg. I'll accompany most dishes with a beer, wine or fruit juice, but for parsnips there's nothing else comes close to a drop of single malt![/quote]


What about soft fruit? It grows in abundance in certain parts of Scotland and, in addition to oats, which I have as porridge each morning, there is plenty of wheat and barley, the one for flour and the other for whisky. And while we are at it, lots of fish in the sea, just that these b****y foreigners have been given the rights to so much of them.

Dod

[didds]

AIUI the best avocados come from Central America, which was not in the EU last time I looked.

but maybe there is a trade deal between the EU and The CA countreis involved?

Which will disappear on Jan 1st so WTO tarriffs etc apply?

Merely asking...

didds

[bungeejumper]

What country is this you're in?

I've lived in many places, quite a few of them in England, and parsnips have been abundant everywhere I've been on this isle.

I've got three rows of parsnips in my garden right now. Trouble is, I just can't get the Polish and Lithuanian workers to come over and dig them up.

BJ

[tjh290633]

Just got back from Tesco for a few items to cover our aborted Christmas weekend, other than the Day itself.

No queues to get in or at the check-outs. A bit slow inside as many seem to have taken Granny along, or their other half, against the recommended "do it on your own" advice. I'm not quite sure why they have to have a big consultation about which cheese to buy. Likewise about how much milk to get. I expect our milkman to leave a double order tomorrow.

Plenty of parking space, and one Zoe plugged into the charging points.

TJH

[PinkDalek]

Delicacy? ...

Yes, delicacy as in rare (as hen’s teeth) as against expensive or whatever.

As for the earlier mention of greengrocers, they’ve gone out of business around these parts. Quite possibly due to the Great Parsnip Famine.

What country is this you're in?

I've lived in many places, quite a few of them in England, and parsnips have been abundant everywhere I've been on this isle.

I think you are taking my frivolent comments far too seriously, this being the place for light hearted pub related banter. The search history was true but was for ready glazed Parsnips for a self-isolating neighbour.

There were plenty of free range parsnips available wherever we went.

[sunnyjoe]

AIUI the best avocados come from Central America, which was not in the EU last time I looked.

By great good fortune they survived the extinction of the megafauna.

Some avocado facts
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cul ... o-4976527/

[bungeejumper]

The search history was true but was for ready glazed Parsnips for a self-isolating neighbour.

We slap a layer of honey on, and then a layer of butter. Double-glazed parsnips are the coming thing, you know.

BJ

[johnstevens77]

[quote="Lootman"

I always feel sorry for the Scots because root vegetables are pretty much all that grows up there. Parsnips are disgusting. Swedes and turnips are just boring. Tatties and carrots are OK, and of course onions and garlic. But does anything else grow up there other than cabbage?

Waiting for the "gulf stream, we grow pineapples and bananas in Ayr" counter-argument . . .[/quote]

Raspberries, blueberries, redcurrants, and gooseberries from Blairgowrie, the berry capital of the UK.

john

[UncleEbenezer]

I was in the supermarket this evening.

Not particularly busy, but they'd run out of an awful lot of the things I intended to buy. Right down to such basics as mushrooms (of any kind - at least in the fresh produce).

[scotia]

I've lived in many places, quite a few of them in England, and parsnips have been abundant everywhere I've been on this isle.

I always feel sorry for the Scots because root vegetables are pretty much all that grows up there.

Interesting - in my experience Parsnips are not a Scottish vegetable. Neither my self nor my wife in our childhood (in widely separated Scottish regions) were ever served Parsnips - they were a strange English vegetable. Its usually claimed that a temperature of around 12 degrees Celsius is required for the reliable germination of Parsnips, which occurs rather late (or never) in Scotland. However with the wonders of long distance transport from warmer climes, they now appear in Scottish supermarkets.

Now turning to Lootman - one of the Scottish specialities which we transport in the opposite direction to fashionable restaurants in the south is Kale. We grow it in large amounts for cattle feed, but the cattle have so far not objected to some of their share being siphoned off.

[Stonge]

Many shortages in our local Lidl yesterday, presumably because of 'It that must not be named'.

[johnhemming]

Many shortages in our local Lidl yesterday, presumably because of 'It that must not be named'.

Admittedly we went to Lidl early before Xmas to do our Xmas shop because we thought things might get busy which they probably did, but Lidl did not run out.

However, we have not had to do any prepping for Covid because we did our prepping for Ebola.

[redsturgeon]

Many shortages in our local Lidl yesterday, presumably because of 'It that must not be named'.

Admittedly we went to Lidl early before Xmas to do our Xmas shop because we thought things might get busy which they probably did, but Lidl did not run out.

However, we have not had to do any prepping for Covid because we did our prepping for Ebola.

Ultra long life vegetables?

John

[johnhemming]

Ultra long life vegetables?

Cans. Not everything has lasted, however.

I think the Swedish government have a recommended quantity of food people should keep in their homes.

[gryffron]

one of the Scottish specialities which we transport in the opposite direction to fashionable restaurants in the south is Kale. We grow it in large amounts for cattle feed, but the cattle have so far not objected to some of their share being siphoned off.

A much more recent innovation - mangetout, was also only used by Kenyan farmers to feed their cattle until it suddenly became trendy with Western chefs.

I really like kale though. Possibly my favourite veg.

Gryff