Product shortages in your area ?

[Qs Laptop]

Wow, that looks a bit insane. The shelves look like a huge storm is about to hit the town!

At a local grocery chain at various occasions I've seen the cereal section look somewhat barren and inexplicably, the hamburger and hot dog bun section was empty. (Mpls. MN)

DW likes Arctic Frost Gatorade and there is a shortage of that (and other flavors) as well. I came home with a case of fifteen 32 oz. bottles and she asked if it was the last one. I said no, there was one other case available. "WHY DIDN'T YOU BUY IT, TOO?!!"

 

[Qs Laptop]

Likewise in our local grocery. I got the last 5 boxes of "bisketti".

Strange, as pasta is basically shaped forms of wheat powder and eggs. How is there a shortage of these ingredients?

 

[jcretire77]

At Albertsons in Boise I asked the checkout person about shortages. He responded that there were 2000 (not a typo) items that they could not get.

 

[Gumby]

The only prolonged shortages I have seen since Spring 2020 are diet root beer and ammunition, but I do recall the pasta aisle looking that way back then.

 

[W2R]

Likewise in our local grocery. I got the last 5 boxes of "bisketti".

Strange, as pasta is basically shaped forms of wheat powder and eggs. How is there a shortage of these ingredients?

I know absolutely nothing about this, but hey, this is the internet and nobody is fact checking me. So, I have three hypotheses:

1.) I have read that wheat shortages are beginning to occur, and are ramping up. So much for bread (or pasta). I hope that is incorrect information!

2.) Maybe there is enough wheat right now, but they can't get anybody to do the work of coming to the store and putting things on the shelves? From what I hear, it's not as easy to find anyone willing to work, as it was years ago. But then I have no personal knowledge of this.

3.) Maybe there aren't enough truckers and trucks available to get the bisketti from wherever it is made, to the store?

 

[John Galt III]

The econo brand of dry roasted peanuts have been missing from my food store for 5 days now. Plenty of the more expensive Planters peanuts (that no one buys?).

 

[disneysteve]

I had to pick up Miralax for a family member. None at all at the grocery store. All they had was the gigantic bottle of the generic in a 2-pack. Went to CVS. None there either but they did have a normal size bottle of generic so I got that.

 

[Winemaker]

Strange, as pasta is basically shaped forms of wheat powder and eggs. How is there a shortage of these ingredients?

I dunno. I observed it yesterday; and as a supervisor, fireboss and mine foreman in 3 states for 35 years, I was paid a lot of dough to observe.

 

[MichaelB]

I’ve seen irregular availability of pasta for over a year. In fact, I don’t recall seeing the pasta section fully stocked in the Covid era. Same with brown rice, quinoa, and lentils.

 

[braumeister]

We had a shortage of brown rice here for a while, but all that stuff is back in stock this year.

 

[MichaelB]

I’ve definitely seen more empty shelves in Whole Food Market and far fewer in Publix. My guess is the low density of WFM stores make restocking more difficult and costly. There are Publix practically every couple of blocks down here, so the restocking is continuous.

 

[ownyourfuture]

Grocery items I use that have been hit or miss (mostly miss) since the start of the pandemic.

Lawry's Chicken Fajita Seasoning.
Checkers / Rally's Famous Seasoned Fries.
Campbell's Chunky Soup (Old Fashioned Potato Ham Chowder)
Progresso Creamy Roasted Chicken Wild Rice

 

[MichaelB]

One more chronic shortage we’ve experienced is spices.

 

[Walt34]

I’ve seen irregular availability of pasta for over a year. In fact, I don’t recall seeing the pasta section fully stocked in the Covid era. Same with brown rice, quinoa, and lentils.

It's not only pasta, but the spaghetti harvest is severely affected by the weather too:

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I went to two grocery stores today -- I did not notice anything out of stock at all. Everything seemed normal.

 

[ERObjd]

i have noticed that most grocery stores here HyVee, Super Saver, Russ's and even dollor general seem to not have much canned cat food on the shelves. Plenty of dry bagged food though which is what we use. A 15lb bag of purina cat chow last about 6 months for our cat.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Pasta shelf at Wal Mart the last two times I've been at the store, which was last Friday, March 4, and Feb 25.

View attachment 41981

I went to Wal Mart yesterday and the pasta shelf looked the same--they had elbows but that was about it.

 

[Amethyst]

BJs was completely out of their own (very good) brand of Greek yogurt this morning. There was a small freezer of Perdue chicken, and I managed to get someone to bring out two packs of the house brand chicken breasts, which were in the back of the store. At $1.99 a pound, they're up a bit, but still a bargain.

Didn't need red meat, so didn't check those freezers closely, but it looked like far more pork than beef.

Meanwhile, the 56-ounce "warehouse size" bag of Toll House morsels is now 40 ounces. With its bright yellow color, the bag reminded me of the "short bus."

BJs gas was $4.099 a gallon. The lowest gas station price I observed, on the 30-mile drive to the store, was $4.299. So I saved the cost of 3/4 gallon of gas, on a trip that consumed more than 2 gallons. Certainly would not be worth driving there to buy gas, but as long as I was there already...

 

[Amethyst]

Don't currently have a cat, but I love them and always talk to people whom I see buying cat food. It seems that the better canned cat food is still on the scarce side. People grab what they can, when it appears.

i have noticed that most grocery stores here HyVee, Super Saver, Russ's and even dollor general seem to not have much canned cat food on the shelves. Plenty of dry bagged food though which is what we use. A 15lb bag of purina cat chow last about 6 months for our cat.

 

[disneysteve]

Aldi has been out of their brand of yogurt the past few times I was there.


One thing to keep in mind is that due to the pandemic and plant closures and staffing shortages, a lot of companies have at least temporarily trimmed their product lines to focus production on their best sellers. If you buy a less popular flavor or variety of something, you may find that the company is not currently making it.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

The walmart that services my area for delivery must not stock very deep. I have to order midweek to get meat and dairy. South texas. I also stalked crackers for months until I could have them shipped. Also my oatmeal they seem ti have only 4 in stock maximum

 

[JoeWras]

"At this time" I'm not seeing any shortages in my area. We were in Walmart yesterday and everything we normally buy seemed to be fully stocked. Looking around the store there may have been an empty shelf or two but not many. No gas lines, plenty of open pumps but high prices...


I did notice less traffic on the highway the past few days. (Except for big trucks) Maybe that was just an anomaly, but then again, maybe not.

Same. Walmart which had been short on many things was completely stocked.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Not a lot of shortages in Kroger here in SW Virginia yesterday, but there are some things that looked a bit skimpy. The frozen food section continues to have some bare shelves and the canned cat food was very low (our boy eats Rx canned food and we've [-]hoarded[/-] stocked up on his meals). One thing that's a bit odd is that some items are only available in limited sizes. For example, we usually buy buttermilk by the quart for our weekly pancakes but it's only been available in half-gallons for some time.

I'm worried about the price of barley malt for brewing. Although I use domestic or UK malts for the most part, I've read that a lot of barley is grown in Ukraine and I see it potentially affecting global prices.

 

[aja8888]

BJs was completely out of their own (very good) brand of Greek yogurt this morning. .

I've mentioned this before that Walmart is constantly out of their house brand yogurt which I really like.

 

[6miths]

TBH we haven't noticed shortages of anything for quite a long time. Prices now that is another matter. Still waiting for the late winter/early spring reduction in beef prices to stock up the freezer but this has not happened to any degree yet and looking at price trends it doesn't look like I should be holding my breath.