FOOD Report food & grocery shortages / price increases here: 2022 Edition

[psychgirl]

Kroger run, little north of Indy;

Beef prices are sky high.

A lady next to me commented on it, then just away from the case.

Tyson chicken on sale though, picked over pretty good.

Holes in the personal hygiene area. I walked the aisle and saw almost empty rows of feminine pads.

Absolutely no large jugs of Dial antibacterial hand soap we use to fill the dispensers at all of our sinks. DH is kind of particular to that brand but told him I might have to settle for Kroger brand as that’s all they had, and not much of that.

Gatorade/ Hydration drinks; sparse.
Cereal, picked over.
I really didn’t see anything else that jumped out at me but wow..those meat prices!

I want to make veg beef soup this weekend so may need to dip into my freezer stash for the meat. Or use chicken, we’ll see.

 

[CapeCMom]

They had left over frozen turkeys from the holidays at Stop and Shop today. Bought one at a decent price and am defrosting it now in the fridge for next week. Also found a few whole chickens that were decent. I froze those. Keep trying to find things that will feed us for several days at a whack plus be able to make soup afterwards.oh and I found cream cheese! I bought two blocks plus a tub of the whipped for my youngest. Very few left though so whatever they got in went back out very quickly. People seemed very glum and I found a few women in the pasta aisle staring at the few boxes that were left priced 2.59…

 

[RememberGoliad]

I guess I don't get out enough the first thing that came to my mind is: RAM EM!!!!! When i do go out I have to use one of those motor cart things and I'm afraid I would have just shot right into their cart acting like a ditz saying "Excuse me" and grabbed what the heck I wanted... LOL (That's why hubby don't let me out much)

Not so much a report on availability but a funny story.

Walmart, today, critter food aisle. Snowbirds in store scooters, loaded up with ready-made package snacks, soup cans, etc.--the kind of stuff you can nuke in a motorhome--she-snowbird had her little yapmonster in the scooter's basket. Some sort of spoiled ass Lhasa Apso or Bichon Frise or something. She was going on and on in a real whiny voice (think Edith Bunker in no-filter complain mode) just verbally abusing everything about Texas and how 'these idiots can't even keep their shelves stocked; why, there's only one sack of Snaps for crying out loud!" She was talking about Alpo brand dog treats, the little square ones. That's what I was going for, so I made a comment just being friendly, something like well, you beat me to it, then, and smiled at her. She looked at me like a bug and creaked her whole 4'11" self up and got the bag that was there, did a double take and reached back into the hole and crowed "HA! There's TWO!" and put them both in with her pooch and smirked at me. No biggie. We keep 2-3 unopened at home because they do sell out pretty quick and our pups like 'em. Her husband looked embarrassed as he could be. (This plays in later.)

Later, I was traversing over to the meat section, going down the chips and crackers aisle, and I hear that same annoying squawking. She was in high dudgeon that the Triscuits were up too high for her to reach. (She was looking at the top stock, since their hole was bare at 'normal' level.) As I passed by, before she even opened her mouth, I reached up and grabbed a couple of boxes of them and handed 'em to her. She looked shocked. Told her, "ma'am, not everyone's an asshole," smiled, and left. Husband nodded at my buggy and looked back up in my eye and winked. I looked down and he had put one of the bags of Snaps in my buggy while she wasn't looking. I looked back up at him and nodded, mouthed 'thank you', and carried on.

Oh, what I came to this thread to report was, someone bought all that beef (from post 153) before it hit yellow-tag status. Oh well, it was worth the trip into the store just for the humor aspect of the Snaps story!

 

[momma_soapmaker]

Find a local candy maker and buy from them, I think you'll be happier in the long run.

Hercules Candy is family owned in NY, and they have fantastic chocolate.

 

[anna43]

Oh, I forgot to mention that on my 1/11 shopping trip that Walmart had a few boxes of Ball lids and quite a few boxes of new jars. I need more jars like I need another hole in my head but did pick up one box of wide mouth lids. I already have more than a year's supply of regular lids but not so many wide mouth.

 

[packyderms_wife]

Hercules Candy is family owned in NY, and they have fantastic chocolate.

We have Stam Chocolataire here in central Iowa, and yum doesn't even begin to cover how good their chocolates taste!

 

[rafter]

In our are the wheat is harvested in June then corn is planted.

Yes or they can put the wheat in after corn or soybeans. Wheat is planted in the fall from September to November.

 

[Martinhouse]

RememberGoliad, I just shared your story of the nasty lady and the Snaps doggy treats. My sis gets depressed a lot lately and she loved the story as much as I did! How satisfying to get even with a nasty person by being nice to them! And how nice that her hubby was able to do something fine, too, to make up for her misbehavior. I'm sure it made him feel lots better about the whole situation.

Thanks so much for posting your story!

 

[thompson]

Keep trying to find things that will feed us for several days at a whack plus be able to make soup afterwards.

Yes'm, same here. Pretty quick-like people are going to understand the deeper meaning of certain nursery rhymes..

Peas porridge hot
Peas porridge cold
Peas porridge in the pot
Nine days old

I consider myself blessed beyond measure that neither my husband nor the young'un are picky, whiny eaters and never have been. Families who have those kind of members are bound to have a lot more stress on top of every other thing when it gets really tough.

 

[Amethyst]

In southern Illinois Saltine Soda Crackers are hard to find. Gatorade is sparse.

 

[Jaybird]

Where can I find an "adult" coloring book?

Gross. But if you are into that sort of stuff....

 

[Martinhouse]

North Central Arkansas, a little above I-40. Early this morning, my small town grocery store had no saltine crackers of any brand. Huge gaping shelf area there. Lots of fronting of other products, but I got everything on my list except disposable aluminum pie tins. baby food strained peaches and the quart sized bottles of Bragg's apple cider vinegar..

 

[psychgirl]

Where can I find an "adult" coloring book?

So...I’m....did the thread title change or something?
I thought we were talking about chuck roasts and toilet paper.
And stuff.

 

[RememberGoliad]

So...I’m....did the thread title change or something?
I thought we were talking about chuck roasts and toilet paper.
And stuff.

Thread drifted from roasts to loins, huh?

 

[onmyown30]

Oh, I forgot to mention that on my 1/11 shopping trip that Walmart had a few boxes of Ball lids and quite a few boxes of new jars. I need more jars like I need another hole in my head but did pick up one box of wide mouth lids. I already have more than a year's supply of regular lids but not so many wide mouth.

I ordered jars and lids on Walmart online and they came 2 days after ordering. Very happy I got 5 packs of wide mouth lids and extra jars!!

 

[h_oder]

so, quick trip to the Meijer yesterday (Thursday). Just north of Indy. Took one of the "small" carts - 2 tiered, meant for small shopping trips - and I really hadn't intended to buy as much as I did, but things I noticed...

• The only thing I couldn't find (which was the main item on the list)... was frozen hamburger patties... at Meijer. Wasn't about to pay $12+ for one of the few boxes of 6 "premium grade" burgers.
• Ramen noodle cups are still almost non-existent (bought most of what they had that DD favors). Ramen noodle packs were also extremely thin. I'm happy that I bought online. I'll buy what I can when in the store, but know that I have a reserve.
• Instant mashed potatoes - almost gone; multi-serving boxes and the single meal packets - I have not seen that before. Found a couple that the family likes and added them to my cart.
• Pasta- some holes on the shelves; but I wasn't buying.
• Produce fairly good, but again - I wasn't buying, so didn't look at quality or quantity closely.
• Cream cheese products - better than its been, but not great.
• Wine - still holding steady at the usual prices. Picked up a couple of bottles.

Prices, of course, rising. What (I think) would normally cost $70-80 was almost 100.

 

[SackLunch]

Anyone notice shortages of cheap paper plates in their area? You know, the uber cheap ones used more for target practice than holding food? I've checked four stores and only the fancy colored coated ones are available.


Oh, wait...I bet they were canceled because the cheap ones were all white.

 

[ainitfunny]

went to COSTCO today spent $400 on food (and batteries) got only one pkg of $20 meat (pork)besides the obligatory $5 roast chicken.

no rye bread, fewer kinds of bread, no poise pads

Last time i spent $400, I filled up 2 carts
overflowing!
This time i filled ONE DISABLED ELECTRIC CART BASKET!

 

[psychgirl]

so, quick trip to the Meijer yesterday (Thursday). Just north of Indy. Took one of the "small" carts - 2 tiered, meant for small shopping trips - and I really hadn't intended to buy as much as I did, but things I noticed...

• The only thing I couldn't find (which was the main item on the list)... was frozen hamburger patties... at Meijer. Wasn't about to pay $12+ for one of the few boxes of 6 "premium grade" burgers.
• Ramen noodle cups are still almost non-existent (bought most of what they had that DD favors). Ramen noodle packs were also extremely thin. I'm happy that I bought online. I'll buy what I can when in the store, but know that I have a reserve.
• Instant mashed potatoes - almost gone; multi-serving boxes and the single meal packets - I have not seen that before. Found a couple that the family likes and added them to my cart.
• Pasta- some holes on the shelves; but I wasn't buying.
• Produce fairly good, but again - I wasn't buying, so didn't look at quality or quantity closely.
• Cream cheese products - better than its been, but not great.
• Wine - still holding steady at the usual prices. Picked up a couple of bottles.

Prices, of course, rising. What (I think) would normally cost $70-80 was almost 100.

We ran over to “our Meijer” last night, too...!
It was spotty for the guest tone in ages but as I told DH, (who was the one who noticed immediately that the produce area looked weird the way they’ve taken out entire untrue displays in the middle of the produce section)
I “think” it looks empty because they’ve removed all of the extra holiday displays ....either that, or they’re trying to cover up lack of product!
Lots and lots of empty spaces in the refrigerated cases for salad items, apples, and in the vegetable bins.

The 40 pk cases of water-only three left so we grabbed those.
(We did that very slowly, however, paid the price later by “winding” DH pretty good....he got a little upset over that when we got home.
He is in denial how much he still needs to recover, in my opinion)

We didn’t even look at their meat cases. I’m not a fan of Meijer meat. I think it smells bad just walking by.

Of all things, the ice creams and frozen goodie items were very picked over! Every brand , even the most $$$ was very spotty.

Haagen Daz (sp) had no vanilla??

 

[ainitfunny]

Where can I find an "adult" coloring book?

The dollar store!
they usually have them by theme ANIMALS, BIRDS, FLOWERS, GARDENS, SCENIC

 

[kenny1659]

We live in SW MO and do a lot of driving around. We have noticed almost no fields of wheat coming up. Are farmers not planting wheat this year? The only wheat fields we've seen are in the state and national parks for wildlife. Does this mean a bread shortage for us and the world next summer?

What are the rest of you noticing???

The price of fertilizer doubled from last year.

 

[Shooter]

cant blame this on the store I dont think, wen to 3 different stores, bought a little at each one, but was looking for a couple loaves of my favorite Rye bread, seeded, didnt find any,

but also we got a good snow storm starting now,supposed to be 4 to 6 inches of snow, so way back during good times, stores around here are stripped every time the TV says snow.

 

[Virtualco]

Another pasta section low on some brands, out of others. This is the Target in Estero, FL on the 13th January. Generally low all over but pasta section was the most noticeable.

PANIC EARLY - PANIC OFTEN

 

[ShadowMan]

Hmmmm haven't noticed anything unusual here on the mountain, beside the normal weekend plundering when the flatlanders come up on the mountain for vacation. Never understood why they bitch at the higher prices here, yet fail to stock up down below before visiting for the weekend.

Of course these are the same people that stop in the middle of the road to try and put on tire chains in a snow storm wearing only flip-flops, a tee shirt and shorts? Go figure.

 

[9idrr]

The dollar store!
they usually have them by theme ANIMALS, BIRDS, FLOWERS, GARDENS, SCENIC

Good. With the flower ones I have better luck at colorin' between the lines. Maybe there'll be some with pictures of meat, that way I might actually be able to afford to buy some beef.
See how easily I got us back on track for this thread?

 

[PalmettoGirl]

Harris Teeter sent out an email on Monday saying they’d be closing at 9pm for restocking, cleaning the store etc. And this morning they sent another email out saying they weren’t able to have their regular evic weekend specials due to supply issues.

 

[joannita]

RememberGoliad, I just shared your story of the nasty lady and the Snaps doggy treats. My sis gets depressed a lot lately and she loved the story as much as I did! How satisfying to get even with a nasty person by being nice to them! And how nice that her hubby was able to do something fine, too, to make up for her misbehavior. I'm sure it made him feel lots better about the whole situation.

Thanks so much for posting your story!

I wonder what happened when she realized she only had one bag>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Milk-maid]

SW Virginia (Kroger)

Organic chicken breasts. I remarked to hubby that these were the biggest I've ever seen.
Bought them, took them home and cooked them in the pot with water.
After cooking them for an hour, they were the smallest I've ever seen.
It actually looked like the water level was higher than what I filled the pot originally.

I think they filled the breasts with water solution or something. That was the strangest thing.

 

[Milk-maid]

went to COSTCO today spent $400 on food (and batteries) got only one pkg of $20 meat (pork)besides the obligatory $5 roast chicken.

no rye bread, fewer kinds of bread, no poise pads

Last time i spent $400, I filled up 2 carts
overflowing!
This time i filled ONE DISABLED ELECTRIC CART BASKET!

did you buy a set of tires you're not telling us about?

 

[packyderms_wife]

So Thor is pickier than all get out in his old age, he's pushing 16 or so, which makes finding his cat food a real challenge right now. Yesterday I ordered 3 18 pound bags of Purina Cat Chow Naturals from Chewy, today they're out of stock! I was pleased that the food had been delivered this morning. His favorite Fancy Feast wet food is pretty much out of stock everywhere or the price is so high as to not be doable. I'm waiting on four cases of the one type of FF he likes to arrive still, I have five cases left and I'm worried that once those are gone that's it. I need to find something that the kittens will eat, FF isn't bad for them but I need to save that for Thor.

Btw I'm no longer able to find any of his foods he eats locally, have been ordering them online.

 

[maric]

Weds. the 12th I did a Wally World run. This is the western suburbs of Syracuse.

NO pasta to be had.
Coffee was real low.
Pork was non existent.
They had ONE lone bottle of WM brand coffee creamer. (which I snagged)
Eggs were low and what they did have looked like they'd been sat on by Oprah.
NO margarine of any kind.
No paper plates.
And the bacon was over $8! I left it there.

Now today we're expecting a snowstorm and a neighbor who works at Wegman's said the place is packed and people are going wild to prepare.
This is snow country folks! Lord have mercy!

 

[ainitfunny]

did you buy a set of tires you're not telling us about?

no. And that was AA and AAA BATTERIES not car batteries

 

[Anti-Liberal]

Went to Publix today in east orlando and there was zero chicken of any kind to be had, even the pricey stuff was non-existent. I asked the butcher what was going on and he said there was none at the warehouse and won't get any anytime soon. Said there is a chicken shortage everywhere. I went back to BJs to see if they were still out and they had a few whole chickens and some scraps to sell. That's it. I will be checking walmart in a couple days.

 

[annieosage]

SW Virginia (Kroger)

Organic chicken breasts. I remarked to hubby that these were the biggest I've ever seen.
Bought them, took them home and cooked them in the pot with water.
After cooking them for an hour, they were the smallest I've ever seen.
It actually looked like the water level was higher than what I filled the pot originally.

I think they filled the breasts with water solution or something. That was the strangest thing.

I don't buy organic chicken but have noticed in the last year just how huge the chicken breasts are. One is enough for 2 sometimes 3 meals!

 

[parsonswife]

Local Safeway had TONS of chicken thighs
with skin/bone for 99 cents lb. No chicken
shortage her in So Oregon

 

[Carlyblue]

We stopped at Sam's today. They actually had boneless, skinless chicken breasts and they didn't have a limit on them!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Our local Walmart had tons of Tyson's frozen chicken of all kinds, yesterday. The freezer was almost overflowing with the bags. I picked up 2 bags of the thin sliced, skinless, boneless chicken breasts for the freezer. I haven't seen a shortage of chicken here, locally, at all.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I have a very picky eater who only likes Kraft shaky shaky or the real blocks of Parmesan ground fine. We mostly eat the real stuff ourselves but it gets expensive. He is a teenage boy, 6’4”…so you get the idea of his appetite. I

I kinda look at it this way: just like my dogs, when he gets hungry enough, he'll eat. No way will he starve himself to death. You're kind-of enabling him.

JMHO

 

[CapeCMom]

I kinda look at it this way: just like my dogs, when he gets hungry enough, he'll eat. No way will he starve himself to death. You're kind-of enabling him.

JMHO

Guilty as charged

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

I have no shortage of chickens in my back yard: the kind that squawk, scratch, sometimes fly a bit, and lay eggs.

I keep them well fed. In return, they serve us breakfast every morning, and fertilizer for the garden in the spring and fall.

But keeping those cantankerous bags of feathers fed is getting more and more expensive.

I go about an hour out of town, into farm country, to buy large quantities of feed twice a year. I have a trailer - which hauls about 1 and 1/2 times what my pickup truck hauls, and I fill it with 50 pound sacks, which I store in a shed until needed.

So the last time I bought feed was late summer.

I paid $9.99 per sack for Purina Nutrina 16% protein layer feed back then.

I went back to the same rural feed store this afternoon.

That same sack of feed is now $13.99 each, for 50 pound sacks.

And that is the CHEAPEST place I can find good quality feed.

Tractor Supply’s cheaper brands are a bit cheaper than what I buy my girls, but that stuff is awful! My girls won’t eat the stuff. Personally, I think Dumor brand stinks. I don’t blame my girls for turning their beeks up at Dumor feed.

The rural West Tennessee feed store manager where I bought my girls feed this afternoon told me that, back about a month or so ago, they had some trouble getting chicken feed, but not right now. She has plenty on hand, as does the local Farmer’s Co-op.

Right now, all she is having trouble getting is some varieties of horse feed.