Food delivery.

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
The latest delivery because we are shielding, was dropped off this morning and I loathe the delivery driver.
It must have taken him a quarter of a hour to put it on my doorstep.
My cupboards are full of products that I will not use, but my sons won't have it. Because of my family working on the front line, they are getting food delivery as well.
I ask you, three boxes of corn flakes, enough pasta to sink an Italian frigate.
You just wouldn't believe the amount of tomato soup and beans.
I have phoned the local authorities, and asked them to take most of it to the local food banks.
I have also phoned the distribution centre and asked for a more healthy reasonable delivery.
So they asked, do you mean pasta, rice, bread and tinned sea food?
I give up!

If you are getting deliverys due to covid what is the worst or odd foodstuffs have you received?

In mine I found a packet of pheasant curry!

Stay safe.
 

kaylz91

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,090
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Sorry but I don't see the issue, they supply cupboard staples generally so surely you should have expected pasta etc, lower carb alternatives are generally more expensive too so they supply cheaper things that are more affordable, I'm skint but buy my own things in no matter what due to also suffering an eating disorder but you can't really expect tailored packages
 

Mbaker

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,339
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Available fast foods in Supermarkets
Can't remember exactly what my Mum received, but I do recall it did at least have bacon; she has done too bad because we take local butcher meats, her favorite being brisket.

Why not console yourself in some British history. Just watched the brilliant Ruth Goodman in a re-make of living 500 years ago, with real bread and pottage: Tudor Monastery Farm https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pmlbm.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
If I was organising the distribution of food, I would certainly not have a box of just junk food. The majority of people who are getting these packages are elderly and isolating. I would imagine that there are many of them have certain conditions that requires a specific diet.
Basic dietary staples are one of the reasons for obesity in this country.
But that's ok because we have the jab now.
 

TashT1

Well-Known Member
Messages
308
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I’d love a pheasant curry sounds pretty good to me. I’d agree that a truck load of carbs is not great for a diabetic but to expect the government to provide dietary specific food parcels is not feasible. The majority of people receiving these parcels probably won’t mind the pasta & cornflakes.

Having said that I didn’t think they were doing parcels again. But I have no problems getting my shopping delivered week in week out. I’m not shielding but I barely need to leave the house.

I’ve been involved in redistributing food and things are not as simple as they seem.
 
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Andydragon

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
3,324
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
If I was organising the distribution of food, I would certainly not have a box of just junk food. The majority of people who are getting these packages are elderly and isolating. I would imagine that there are many of them have certain conditions that requires a specific diet.
Basic dietary staples are one of the reasons for obesity in this country.
But that's ok because we have the jab now.
I’m sorry but what you described isn’t a box of junk food. It’s a box of food that isn’t the best for type 2 diabetics but for many people it lasts in the cupboard and will sustain them whilst they are in lockdown

They are catering to a lot of people and it is easier to buy in bulk and distribute the same across multiple boxes
 
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Hopeful34

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Messages
1,694
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
Why don't you stop the deliveries that you don't want and order what you want to be delivered from a supermarket or local independent shop? Apart from the first couple of weeks in the first lockdown and a couple of weeks over Christmas (when supermarket slots weren't available and I used tinned goods etc), I've had no problems getting the food I want delivered when I want.
 

woollygal

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,485
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
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Coffee diabetes
In the first lockdown my local council organised free boxes of food up to £25. To be honest most of it was useles to me because of diabetes but I was just grateful I was getting something,
I used their offer to get meat and then spent my weekly shop on things they couldn’t provide.
They didn’t have to help and at the time I was extremely grateful given I didn’t have an income.
There are worse things that could happen and you could be stuck with nothing, if you don’t want it give it to neighbours, but please don’t complain.
These people are doing a rubbish job trying to help people out in a very difficult time.
They can’t cater for every single dietary need out there, it’s just not feasible.
You could be left without any food at all and then you would be complaining because they hadn’t tried to help.

put it this way, had that been all I received and I couldn’t get anything else or had no income for anything else I’d be eating it. And then doing what I could to counter the effects like a lot more exercise or whatever.
But we are ina very fortunate position that people are being helped. It’s not ideal, yes things could be different, but you are getting food.
Think of those people who have to sleep outside in these awful temperatures at the moment. They may also have dietary requirements.
 
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UK T1

Well-Known Member
Messages
334
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Having said that I didn’t think they were doing parcels again.

Same, I thought this had been stopped. I signed up and received one last summer as the council said I couldn't be registered for priority supermarket slots without accepting one box (she also said I'd been one of many callers that day who she'd had to advise to just give the non perishables to the foodbank after receiving the box!). That was the last week they did them I thought?

Have to say I was quite impressed, little bar of soap, body wash some tea and coffee, uht milk, tins of soup, rice, pasta, tin of tuna and tin of sweetcorn, tins of meat balls, a pasta sauce jar, some veg, apples and oranges, a toilet roll! Can't fully remember all the contents but it would have been enough for a week if you had really needed it, but then I'm also type 1 and no dietary requirements. I did get a follow up call from the council too to check I was able to use the contents and offering to send out a supplementary top up box if not eg if I was vegetarian. I ate the perishables and kept the rest for when a neighbour was able to take it to the food bank.

Quite worried when priority slots stop as we haven't been in a shop since last March and I guess I'll be back to the midnight frantic screen refresh!
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
FYI, it's not the giving or receiving, I am very glad to be thought of.
But if you had a food allergy and you received that food, you would be a bit miffed that the distributors only give you junk food that would definitely make you ill.
What I mean as junk food is that everything had been packaged and processed.
There was no fresh vegetables, no fresh meat, no fresh fruit, not even vegan alternatives. No salad.
There was boxed carbs, tinned carbs, carbs in packets, in plastic, in plastic bags, and the yoghurt pot was fat free and a lot of sugar. I even got pot noodles and porridge.

Because of my diet and lifestyle, this was rubbish I couldn't eat, not one thing!
And, my bank account is nearly empty because of my diet of fresh food, and living costs.
And don't patronise the post, especially if you have never lived in outright poverty.
I have and my parents struggled to bring up four boys in a two bedroom rented slum.
I have worked and made my family's poverty disappear, I brought up my four kids, working six or seven days a week on a production line, that just about covered our debts, I climbed the pay scale and by the time I left the job, I was in overall charge of a small sub assembly line and teaching lean manufacturing process to new team leader.
When I was little, we never celebrated Christmas because we couldn't afford it, we had a chicken for Christmas dinner only because the local butcher had saved for us.
We had no bread winner, my mother worked all day for little and my father was constantly ill, he was in Burma, and was hospitalized with malaria (twice).
He died young, but luckily (ha) we had all started working, so we could look after my mum.
I don't want sympathy or empathy, I still have trouble believing since 2010, food banks have become the norm, even two parents working struggle to put food on the table.
Do we want to return to normal? The politicians keep saying it, what happens to all the three million in outright poverty, what happens to the unemployed, what happens to the disabled, what happens to single parents, what happens to the old with no company pension. Having to live on £150 a week. what happens to all those who can't help themselves.
The normal is so bad. Do we cut back on the NHS when covid is done or before another wave. Do we cut back on social care again, do we cut back on helping all those that are struggling with normality. We are nearly a year into this pandemic and there is still children who don't have access to a computer lesson, and it has taken a phone company to offer schools up to a certain amount of free equipment.
I have one child working in a school, and it's in an area that has a lot of inner city poverty, and the school has been open ever since the first lockdown, totally under equipped, the reason is that the children in that area have been offered a place in the school if they don't have access to the internet. Even children from other schools are welcome for any reason.
If we returned to normal, they will have to pay for this government's total lack of understanding the situation and bumbling through to keep Britain in business.
With brexit causing 'teething problems' with exports down to 50% to the continent and then there is northern Ireland. What a shambles.
I have no doubt that the vaccine rollout is really good and it is important that we try and get all the people of the world has access, like we do, the forecast is that everyone can be vaccinated by the middle of 2024. So going back to normal would mean that everyone will be able to travel abroad on holidays or business, and actually meeting people in areas of the world where there has been no vaccinations done.
The borders should have had strict restrictions from day one. It's funny that those who repatriated from Wuhan and quarantined at Arrows Park, none had covid and now say that they should never have come back to Britain.

This country's social and health care provisions are Victorian in its way it deals with people, there is now a huge divide, not since pre world war two, has the divide been greater.
Denying children food in lockdown and in school holidays has caught the attention of the media because a professional footballer has caused such a ruckus within the power brokers that another u turn, was done and once again, the state of these food parcels were called disgraceful.
That is where I'm coming from.
Normal is not normal, it is not good for the middle to lower classes. Working class have no rights, unemployed, disabled and more, do not have access to justice.
The balance of law is not on the side of the impoverished.
There is nearly fifteen million people who are living on 70% of their minimum wage, it is not and never has been a living wage,
I once heard a chairman of a youth charity advise one of the volunteers say, that if there was any food over after the deliveries were done, just give them to the poor. Because that is what they eat!
I read the other day, that one of the worst foods for diabetics is rice crispies because of the amount of sugars and carbs and starch.
This tells you everything that is wrong with dietary recommendations.
I have a NHS sheet, describing the cereal as diabetic safe.
I was offered rice crispies when I was in hospital, more than once. Along with concentrated orange juice. And that was on a diabetic ward.
Normal isn't acceptable after what we have had to put up with and probably it is far from over. We need a Britain that looks after the whole population, we are citizens of a democracy, not subjects of the British empire, of a law making parliament, not kowtow to a privileged family who are, our rulers in a monarchy.

Living in a country where the normal is putting its population in poverty is unacceptable in the 21st century.
We have to change the way we live and prioritize living standards and feeding our children as a right.
Healthcare should be universal not on how much you can pay to get decent care.

Covid has changed the world, can we go back to normal or do we want to endorse what is called normal.
For my grandkids and my great grandkids, I am hoping for a major changes in our society, but I think it won't happen, and that is really sad.

Sorry about the rant, but I'm not in a very good place at the moment, and the continuous knocks on my family, is something that you you will understand.

Stay safe
If I have offended anyone, I apologise fully, free of charge and i bow to my betters and the aristocracy!
 
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NR

Member
Messages
7
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
GPs who don’t keep up to date!
FYI, it's not the giving or receiving, I am very glad to be thought of.
But if you had a food allergy and you received that food, you would be a bit miffed that the distributors only give you junk food that would definitely make you ill.
What I mean as junk food is that everything had been packaged and processed.
There was no fresh vegetables, no fresh meat, no fresh fruit, not even vegan alternatives. No salad.
There was boxed carbs, tinned carbs, carbs in packets, in plastic, in plastic bags, and the yoghurt pot was fat free and a lot of sugar. I even got pot noodles and porridge.

Because of my diet and lifestyle, this was rubbish I couldn't eat, not one thing!
And, my bank account is nearly empty because of my diet of fresh food, and living costs.
And don't patronise the post, especially if you have never lived in outright poverty.
I have and my parents struggled to bring up four boys in a two bedroom rented slum.
I have worked and made my family's poverty disappear, I brought up my four kids, working six or seven days a week on a production line, that just about covered our debts, I climbed the pay scale and by the time I left the job, I was in overall charge of a small sub assembly line and teaching lean manufacturing process to new team leader.
When I was little, we never celebrated Christmas because we couldn't afford it, we had a chicken for Christmas dinner only because the local butcher had saved for us.
We had no bread winner, my mother worked all day for little and my father was constantly ill, he was in Burma, and was hospitalized with malaria (twice).
He died young, but luckily (ha) we had all started working, so we could look after my mum.
I don't want sympathy or empathy, I still have trouble believing since 2010, food banks have become the norm, even two parents working struggle to put food on the table.
Do we want to return to normal? The politicians keep saying it, what happens to all the three million in outright poverty, what happens to the unemployed, what happens to the disabled, what happens to single parents, what happens to the old with no company pension. Having to live on £150 a week. what happens to all those who can't help themselves.
The normal is so bad. Do we cut back on the NHS when covid is done or before another wave. Do we cut back on social care again, do we cut back on helping all those that are struggling with normality. We are nearly a year into this pandemic and there is still children who don't have access to a computer lesson, and it has taken a phone company to offer schools up to a certain amount of free equipment.
I have one child working in a school, and it's in an area that has a lot of inner city poverty, and the school has been open ever since the first lockdown, totally under equipped, the reason is that the children in that area have been offered a place in the school if they don't have access to the internet. Even children from other schools are welcome for any reason.
If we returned to normal, they will have to pay for this government's total lack of understanding the situation and bumbling through to keep Britain in business.
With brexit causing 'teething problems' with exports down to 50% to the continent and then there is northern Ireland. What a shambles.
I have no doubt that the vaccine rollout is really good and it is important that we try and get all the people of the world has access, like we do, the forecast is that everyone can be vaccinated by the middle of 2024. So going back to normal would mean that everyone will be able to travel abroad on holidays or business, and actually meeting people in areas of the world where there has been no vaccinations done.
The borders should have had strict restrictions from day one. It's funny that those who repatriated from Wuhan and quarantined at Arrows Park, none had covid and now say that they should never have come back to Britain.

This country's social and health care provisions are Victorian in its way it deals with people, there is now a huge divide, not since pre world war two, has the divide been greater.
Denying children food in lockdown and in school holidays has caught the attention of the media because a professional footballer has caused such a ruckus within the power brokers that another u turn, was done and once again, the state of these food parcels were called disgraceful.
That is where I'm coming from.
Normal is not normal, it is not good for the middle to lower classes. Working class have no rights, unemployed, disabled and more, do not have access to justice.
The balance of law is not on the side of the impoverished.
There is nearly fifteen million people who are living on 70% of their minimum wage, it is not and never has been a living wage,
I once heard a chairman of a youth charity advise one of the volunteers say, that if there was any food over after the deliveries were done, just give them to the poor. Because that is what they eat!
I read the other day, that one of the worst foods for diabetics is rice crispies because of the amount of sugars and carbs and starch.
This tells you everything that is wrong with dietary recommendations.
I have a NHS sheet, describing the cereal as diabetic safe.
I was offered rice crispies when I was in hospital, more than once. Along with concentrated orange juice. And that was on a diabetic ward.
Normal isn't acceptable after what we have had to put up with and probably it is far from over. We need a Britain that looks after the whole population, we are citizens of a democracy, not subjects of the British empire, of a law making parliament, not kowtow to a privileged family who are, our rulers in a monarchy.

Living in a country where the normal is putting its population in poverty is unacceptable in the 21st century.
We have to change the way we live and prioritize living standards and feeding our children as a right.
Healthcare should be universal not on how much you can pay to get decent care.

Covid has changed the world, can we go back to normal or do we want to endorse what is called normal.
For my grandkids and my great grandkids, I am hoping for a major changes in our society, but I think it won't happen, and that is really sad.

Sorry about the rant, but I'm not in a very good place at the moment, and the continuous knocks on my family, is something that you you will understand.

Stay safe
If I have offended anyone, I apologise fully, free of charge and i bow to my betters and the aristocracy!


You wrote this 13 weeks ago and I’ve only just read it. How are you doing now?
I was looking for a Discussion Thread that would discuss what one can do with a bag of Food bank food if trying to follow a low/no carb diet and came across your contribution. I think you have hit several nails on the head there unfortunately. I’ve been trying to run CAP Life Skills (how to live well on a budget) and adapting the cooking part for Low carb.....it’s a bit of a challenge but Jack Munro’s book “Tin Can Cook” was good, up to a point. She writes from the perspective of being a single parent on benefits. My goto food list this last year has been packets of red lentils, tins of chopped tomatoes, corned beef, fresh garlic and a small selection of dried herbs and spices, slab of cheddar to last 2 weeks or more. I’ve done a Lidl shop early on a Tuesday morning (the quiet time) once in two weeks and last year I grew lettuce, tomatoes and kale. Don’t laugh....fresh kale is SO different from the dry, chopped packets in a supermarket! It tolerates you taking leaves off as and when required all through the autumn and winter and this spring it has thrown flowers that are like sprouting broccoli but don’t bolt as quickly. I grew it in an old plastic bucket with holes in the bottom in a north facing garden so not exactly ideal conditions but definitely urban friendly.
Anyway, hope you are in a better place now that we can all get out more...but please don’t think the vax is a silver bullet....good up to a point, but not THE solution unfortunately.
 
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Diane fluteplayer

Active Member
Messages
37
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Team sports, housework, being talked down to, big towns, slugs and cabbage white caterpillars
You wrote this 13 weeks ago and I’ve only just read it. How are you doing now?
I was looking for a Discussion Thread that would discuss what one can do with a bag of Food bank food if trying to follow a low/no carb diet and came across your contribution. I think you have hit several nails on the head there unfortunately. I’ve been trying to run CAP Life Skills (how to live well on a budget) and adapting the cooking part for Low carb.....it’s a bit of a challenge but Jack Munro’s book “Tin Can Cook” was good, up to a point. She writes from the perspective of being a single parent on benefits. My goto food list this last year has been packets of red lentils, tins of chopped tomatoes, corned beef, fresh garlic and a small selection of dried herbs and spices, slab of cheddar to last 2 weeks or more. I’ve done a Lidl shop early on a Tuesday morning (the quiet time) once in two weeks and last year I grew lettuce, tomatoes and kale. Don’t laugh....fresh kale is SO different from the dry, chopped packets in a supermarket! It tolerates you taking leaves off as and when required all through the autumn and winter and this spring it has thrown flowers that are like sprouting broccoli but don’t bolt as quickly. I grew it in an old plastic bucket with holes in the bottom in a north facing garden so not exactly ideal conditions but definitely urban friendly.
Anyway, hope you are in a better place now that we can all get out more...but please don’t think the vax is a silver bullet....good up to a point, but not THE solution unfortunately.

I’m ok financially now (retired) but had a couple of patches of very low income. Can I offer a tip? By fair means or foul, get hold of a pressure cooker. Try your local Freecycle or charity shops - some people don’t get them out of the cupboard for years, then get rid to save space. Watch the lids/seal are aren’t distorted and you may need a new gasket.(online). My charity shop one worked ok for about 20 years. It saves both time and fuel cost and dried lentils, beans etc are MUCH cheaper than tinned. Soak overnight first, except mung beans and lentils.

If you have a refill shop near you (where you take your own containers (aka jam jars etc)) you can get lots of different herbs and spices cheaply - they make otherwise boring food taste good. The fancy little jars of spices are hugely overpriced. Oh, and herbs make good houseplants on windowsills!
Good luck.
 

NicoleC1971

BANNED
Messages
3,451
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
If I was organising the distribution of food, I would certainly not have a box of just junk food. The majority of people who are getting these packages are elderly and isolating. I would imagine that there are many of them have certain conditions that requires a specific diet.
Basic dietary staples are one of the reasons for obesity in this country.
But that's ok because we have the jab now.
I think the shielding packages must vary immensely as a lady I volunteered with here had fresh stuff as well as the ubiquitous oats, pasta and soup. She continued to eat plenty of biscuits and sugar in her tea though in spite of what was in the box, and gave us the excess pasta. I am sure this diet contributed to her depression , M.E. , IBS and other ailments but it is very hard to get people to change the way they eat.
Its not okay to have a box of processed food but why are people still shielding? Surely it would be healthier to go out in the sunshine, when available, and choose some fresh stuff?
 
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PenguinMum

Expert
Messages
6,782
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Another thought is there a weekly market stall anywhere near you. They dont charge as much as the supermarkets and it would be a pretty safe little outing to look forward to every week. I dont know if you are in an urban or rural environment but many allotmenteers also sell their surplus if you ask around. If you want its quite easy to grow salad, lettuce, toms, cucumber, radishes, spring onion in pots, now that the frosts are over and hopefully some sun coming our way. I just start my seeds on a sunny windowsill and it only takes a couple of weeks on average to get little seedlings. I don’t know why salad items are so expensive at the supermarket. just some ideas and best wishes to you.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,796
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
You wrote this 13 weeks ago and I’ve only just read it. How are you doing now?
I was looking for a Discussion Thread that would discuss what one can do with a bag of Food bank food if trying to follow a low/no carb diet and came across your contribution. I think you have hit several nails on the head there unfortunately. I’ve been trying to run CAP Life Skills (how to live well on a budget) and adapting the cooking part for Low carb.....it’s a bit of a challenge but Jack Munro’s book “Tin Can Cook” was good, up to a point. She writes from the perspective of being a single parent on benefits. My goto food list this last year has been packets of red lentils, tins of chopped tomatoes, corned beef, fresh garlic and a small selection of dried herbs and spices, slab of cheddar to last 2 weeks or more. I’ve done a Lidl shop early on a Tuesday morning (the quiet time) once in two weeks and last year I grew lettuce, tomatoes and kale. Don’t laugh....fresh kale is SO different from the dry, chopped packets in a supermarket! It tolerates you taking leaves off as and when required all through the autumn and winter and this spring it has thrown flowers that are like sprouting broccoli but don’t bolt as quickly. I grew it in an old plastic bucket with holes in the bottom in a north facing garden so not exactly ideal conditions but definitely urban friendly.
Anyway, hope you are in a better place now that we can all get out more...but please don’t think the vax is a silver bullet....good up to a point, but not THE solution unfortunately.

Hi, I'm in a better place now, there was a lot of negative thoughts at the time, as you say 13 weeks ago, though there was a lot of concerns I had at the time.
It does depress me, anything to do with food poverty and people struggling to get food, and politicians denying the right to be fed.
I had a spell in hospital over Easter, and of course by the time the staff realised I hadn't eaten, there was no meat, no salad and all they had to offer was toast and cereal. Luckily, I was fed with a salad that had to delivered.
After all the tests and scans, my health is excellent.
What I'm trying to achieve is not to remember my past, living in the past, about the previous eighteen months, instead I'm l am learning to live in the present, take it a day at a time and try and plan my future, cos because of all my positive results, it does God willing, I think I'm gonna be around for a while yet.
Since the food parcel back then, we were able to shop more and not rely on the local youth club to deliver food, after a conversation with the leader of the club, our food was given to others, through local food banks. I more or less have to go to get fresh food every couple of days. So I'm getting out more.

Good luck with your trying to help with those who are unfortunate enough to be, through no fault of their own, in a terrible situation.
I have found my latest go to meal, fresh chicken breast, grilled, with chopped tomatoes, you can add to that, mushrooms and onions, side salad.

Thanks for the interest.

Stay safe
 

jane d

Member
Messages
19
Type of diabetes
Type 2
When I saw the content of the food parcel delivered to a neighbour, I rang and cancelled mine. I told them I was ok, didn't need it and was getting my shopping delivered from the supermarket. I suggested that it would leave more for people in real need. I can live without large white loaves of bread and already had pasta.