“I’ve received the letter from the government saying I need to stay at home for twelve weeks. I need to get a food delivery, but all the slots are booked. I’ve got no food in. What can I do?”
Getting food delivered has been tricky since the lockdown was announced. All of the big supermarkets were swamped and food delivery slots were booked out weeks in advance. But if we’ve received a letter saying we’re in the group of people that need to be ‘shielded’, it’s crucial we can get our food delivered.
So, how do we go about it?
Firstly, the list of people on the government list has been shared with the supermarkets and local councils. The list is made up of people with an underlying health condition that means they are vulnerable to coronavirus. The supermarkets and councils are supposed to contact us if we are on the list and arrange for food to be delivered to our homes.
In practice, people have said this hasn’t worked as it should. So, if getting food delivered is still proving tricky, the advice is to register your details on the government website here.
The government will get in touch to ask what your needs are, and hopefully this should speed up the process of getting food delivered. You’ll need your NHS number to register.
I’ve registered on the government website, but still haven’t been contacted. What now?
The good news is that there is now an online tool to find supermarket delivery slots. Shopping Slot trawls the delivery slots across four supermarkets, Asda, Tesco, Iceland and Waitrose, to find free slots available to be booked.
It’s a new website and so is still not well known, meaning we have a relatively good chance of finding a slot.
I’ve tried the delivery slot website and still can’t get a delivery?
Lots of independent food shops, like grocers, butchers and delis have set up local delivery services. Do a google search for ‘food delivery near me’ and pop in your postcode. This should bring up a list of local businesses offering food delivery. The same thing can be done on social media, with a search of Facebook.
There are other informal groups set up to help get food out to the community. Mutual Aid is a network of volunteers set up into hubs all over the UK. Delivering food to vulnerable people during the lockdown is one of the services they try to offer. You can find your local Mutual Aid group by searching for your local area, on their website.
For more info on getting food delivered during the coronavirus lockdown, Which? magazine has put together a great info page on their site here.
For more info about food, money and more during the coronavirus crisis, have a look at the list of questions and answers on Corona-Finance section of the Quids in! magazine website here.
If you have a question that you can’t find the answer to on our site, you can ask us yourself by using the Corona-Finance Enquiry Form online.