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Last week, a bit of a furore happened in Wales during their firebreak lockdown. Someone shared on social media that supermarkets in Wales had covered over items they deemed “non-essential”. This was met (quite rightly) with a lot of indignation from the public. Especially as one of the sets of items covered over were SANITARY ITEMS. Now I think any girls reading this will agree that sanitary items are VERY MUCH ESSENTIAL. As it turns out, Tesco admitted they got this wrong.
Recently, a month-long UK lockdown has been announced from the 5th November to 2nd December. This is the same as Wale’s firebreak lockdown and the same as our first lockdown. The idea is that we use this lockdown to ensure Covid wards and beds are more manageable. It was only announced on Saturday, but when I ventured to the industrial estate to get some bits on Sunday, the place was already rammed. It made me wonder about “essential items”. Presumably, as the supermarkets are still all open, all of these people in the shops on Sunday were getting essential items they would not be able to find in the supermarkets.
“Essential items” is very ambiguous, isn’t it?
This train of thought is what led me to decide to create a post with my and other people’s essential items. So for anyone who is nosey, here are five things I would absolutely class as essential (enough to go and buy them during a pandemic).
Marks and Spencer cheese straws
Being a supermarket, M&S is still going to be open during the lockdown because it is classed as an “essential” shop. Luckily for me, one of my most important essential items comes from here. A few weeks ago I was in there and I happened across some cheese straws. They were on offer, buy one box for £2 and get one box free. Now my dear old Nan used to make cheese straws, so I wasn’t expecting any miracles from the mass-produced ones I now held onto tightly in my Marks and Spencer bag. But when I got home to try them, they were wonderful. They tasted every bit as good as my late Nan’s cheese straws (sorry Jean). Because they were on offer, I’ve been back several times to get more. That includes my trip yesterday to stock up before lockdown.
If you wish to buy them online, UK Boss Foods sell them here.
Cans of fat coke
This sounds very non-essential to most people, but, call me a spoiled brat, I absolutely cannot drink coke from a bottle. I just find that coke or Pepsi tend to go flat after the first time you open it. Having a can of full-fat coke every day is a small luxury for me because I am fully aware if I drank it all day I’d start to put on weight like crazy.
Steak
This is an expensive one, but I am just getting over a two year period where I have more or less consistently been severely anaemic and having to take the strongest and highest dose of iron each day. So for me, it’s not about extravagance, I do just need the iron. My favourite cut of steak is fillet because I have my steak well done. Yes, I am aware that is not how steak is supposed to be eaten. My favourite tool when it comes to the kitchen is my steak hammer. It tenderises the meat, for a soft, buttery middle.
Monster Munch
I’m not much of a chocolate person. I don’t mind sweets, especially Double Lollies and Lovehearts. But where my loyalty lies when it comes to snacks is CRISPS. You won’t find a crisp on this God-given earth I don’t like. My favourite at the moment is Monster Munch and Squares. There are not any flavour of Monster Munch I don’t like, and my order of favourite flavour is pickled onion, flaming hot and then beef.
Swizzels Double Lollies
No one ever knows what these are, and they are really hard to explain. So you know when you get a multipack of lollies? Swizzels Double Lollies are the sherbety, chalky ones. They are a similar material to Lovehearts but not tangy. I ADORE them. Not only are they my favourite sweet, but they are also my favourite food. Sometimes I manage to find big packs of just those and it’s like Christmas and my birthday all at once. Aside from that, I like most other lollies so I always have at least four of those multipacks kicking about. The other day I had a multipack with FIVE Double Lollies in! Heaven!
What are YOUR essential items?
I thought I’d ask a few of my fellow bloggers what their essential items are. If you want yours included in my article with a backlink just email funinyour30sblog@gmail.com
Grace from www.gracebee.co.uk says her essential items are “Quavers, sausage rolls and a few packs of AAA batteries”.
Annmarie from The Beauty & Lifestyle Blog said her essential item is BREAD. I think we can all agree.
What I loved about this one is that it was all beauty products. www.blackpistachio.co.uk is a lifestyle and travel blog. The blog owner told us her essential items were “African Pride Argan Oil Leave In Conditioner, Westlabs Dead Sea Salt, Miaroma Lavender Essential Oil and Oral B floss.” Now THAT is an essentials list.
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Love to know your thoughts guys?