Begun, the panic-buying has ... again.

[Bianca and Bernard]

For 2 weeks, I've gone to 6 stores and haven't been able to find a can of French's fried onions. I'll blame it on holiday casseroles but I really wanted some for my leftover roast beef sandwich.

When those are out of stock, I get the crispy onion strings in the salad section. LOL

 

[jdb in AZ]

Yesterday our local Kroger's was out of celery. huh? They were also out of 5-lb and 10-lb russet potatoes. Haven't seen that before. There was one bag left of Yukon gold, and a few loose large russets.

At least they had toilet paper and Diet Dr. Pepper. We have our priorities.

 

[monsterkitty]

We've had supply issues in NE FL for the last 20 months. If it's not one thing, it's another. For awhile, it was TP and cleaners; then frozen veggies and meals, meats and canned goods; now it's dairy, fresh veggies/fruit, and the deli. Canned cat food (especially Friskies brand) has been in short supply; I've taken to buying multiple 24 (or bigger) packs when I come across them, on Chewy or at the grocery store.

My cat eats a prescription canned food that I usually order from Chewys. Lately I've only been receiving a portion of the order, about 12 days worth. An email from them stated there was a supply issue due to lack of aluminum can availability. They offered to send the dry version but if my cat eats dry food he leaves me presents around the house.

Right now I have enough for 2 days but I won't get the next shipment until Monday. Hopefully PetSmart will have some in stock.

 

[RangerPooh]

Yesterday our local Kroger's was out of celery. huh? They were also out of 5-lb and 10-lb russet potatoes. Haven't seen that before. There was one bag left of Yukon gold, and a few loose large russets.

I saw this in 2020 as potatoes are cheap.

Went to Kroger Sunday afternoon, and it looked like the day before a major holiday/day before school breaks resume, meaning shelves were empty. Barely any meat, but some chicken. Almost no lettuce, some can be attributed to the Dole recall, but not all. Sparse taco product section (sauces, shells). Almost no yogurt. I only went for a few items and left with most but not all. There are a few products that continue to be empty that I keep my eyes open for. I'm becoming tired of having to shop around to get everything that I need.

 

[barkley]

potatoes/potato products-

i live in/next to the largest u.s. producers of potatoes. here's part of the issue-

2020- reaction to the pandemic was hunker down/no restaurants so demand for potatoes declined. they were rotting in the fields, there couldn't give them away (seriously-they had give away events at the farms and were still stuck with tons that the charities wouldn't take).

2021/2022- between adjusted production due to 2020's lower demand, greatly reduced staff (field and processing) then throw in a drought and massive wild fires...........2021 potato production is much lower which we are feeling now as far as frozen products go but fresh u.s. grown potatoes would have been harvested in the fall so you're feeling the pinch of imported fresh potatoes which can't get here.

this has been your AG-MINUTE (or so they call it on the local news).

 

[elgerber]

Went shopping for strawberry cream cheese today, 3 stores - Von's, Stater Bros, and Sam's Club. At Stater's there was one tub of their house brand strawberry cream cheese. Otherwise, there was only plain cream cheese (a few tubs), same at Vons, although they did have that Buffalo Style (um, no thanks).

my dog needs plain whipped cream cheese, to take pills that are life saving to him. At new years, I had to go three stores to find some, and then I had to buy Philly brand, and they only had a few. Usually I just buy him cheap store brand.

 

[tvguy]

Went shopping for strawberry cream cheese today, 3 stores - Von's, Stater Bros, and Sam's Club. At Stater's there was one tub of their house brand strawberry cream cheese. Otherwise, there was only plain cream cheese (a few tubs), same at Vons, although they did have that Buffalo Style (um, no thanks).

I normally shop at the Walmart Neighborhood market, but today I was in the Super Walmart and peaked at the cream cheese.
No Kraft Philadelphia brand Strawberry Cream cheese. But they had Great Value Strawberry cream cheese AND Tillamook Strawberry Cream Cheese. Until today I didn't know Tillamook made cream cheese, but as a huge dairy operation I shouldn't be surprised.

 

[lucas]

For some strange reason, I cannot find Sun Chips - Original Flavor. I have checked several Publix stores in my area and the original flavor can't be found. Don't know if they have been discontinued or what?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I don't really buy it myself, but at work I am hearing about people saying cream cheese is not too easy to find. I have also noticed that bagged salad stuff is not abundant (could have something to do with recent recalls maybe?) I usually buy spinach to make salads with nowadays anyway because it seems to keep better. It seems like lettuce was looking gross still sitting on the shelves long before the expiration date (before the apparent shortage).

 

[kymom99]

They had a segment on the Nightly News tonight about this. There are several contributing factors, most of which have bern discussed here. It’s not one answer.

 

[cvjw]

Everyone needs to shop at Costco. Went to another Costco today. Totally stocked. Cream cheese. Frozen French fries. All meat. Multiple bagged salads. Potatoes. Huge bags of celery. Toilet paper and paper towels. Seriously, they had everything.

 

[JimMIA]

I went to one of our local Publix markets this afternoon and it was pretty well stocked everywhere except Gatorade. I just went for a few things, so I didn't go through the whole store, but everywhere I went was in good shape.

Went to Costco yesterday and had no problem finding everything we wanted. The critical items which sometimes vary in availability (Charmin, Bounty, bottled water) were abundant.

 

[adkkev]

Everyone needs to shop at Costco. Went to another Costco today. Totally stocked. Cream cheese. Frozen French fries. All meat. Multiple bagged salads. Potatoes. Huge bags of celery. Toilet paper and paper towels. Seriously, they had everything.

You’re assuming that everyone has a Costco near them. Nearest one to us is 100 miles away.

Our local Hannaford has been fairly well stocked for quite some time.

 

[RedAngie]

I didn’t need it, but yesterday I noticed that the cooking oil section was practically empty. They had plenty of high-priced imported olive oil, but there were only a few scattered bottles of standard soybean, canola (rapeseed), and corn oils. Same for Pam and other sprays.

 

[jo-jo]

my dog needs plain whipped cream cheese, to take pills that are life saving to him. At new years, I had to go three stores to find some, and then I had to buy Philly brand, and they only had a few. Usually I just buy him cheap store brand.

Could you add a few teaspoons of water and whipped up the cream cheese yourself? Don't know if it will taste the same. I used to mash a few strawberries and mix it into cream cheese for my kids cause I was too cheap to buy special cream cheese.

 

[cvjw]

You’re assuming that everyone has a Costco near them. Nearest one to us is 100 miles away.

Our local Hannaford has been fairly well stocked for quite some time.

That is so sad you don’t have a Costco. I have 3 different ones within 15 minutes of my house.

 

[Mariearistocat]

Whe I read this post yesterday, I meant to post I hadn't seen any issues in S FL. However, at Publix last night the pasta aisle was pretty barren.

 

[LuvOrlando]

When I was little my grandparents talked about rations from WW2 and they were so careful to only use what they needed throughout their lives. They were careful and frugal and most of the cookbooks from the time had a long list of substitutions to help shift demand too, I still have some. That whole generation took this all in stride because there was a sense of unity. Maybe things would go better if there was a way to communicate shortages instead of the free-for-all which is unsettling especially in parts of the country where food insecurity is a way of life.

 

[JoanneAZ]

The cream cheese shortage comes from a cyberattack back in October that shut down the major cream cheese producer resulting in a true shortage.
I have Covid so I can’t leave the house and I’ve had the worst time trying to find sugar free cough drops on any delivery service. There are regular cough drops but I’m diabetic so that’s not an option.

 

[Foxhound3857]

What do you folks think of those people with nothing but 100 cups of ramen in their shopping carts?