Are Grocery Shelves Empty By You?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

At Meijer last week they had a 4 can limit on tomato sauce, paste, and diced tomatoes. Also a limit of 2 on paper towel. Also no pork roasts.

Well now that's interesting for the tomato sauce, paste and diced tomatoes.

The limit on the paper towels seems normal although I've often seen a limit of 1 when limits are placed.

Not having meat was an issue last year but haven't seen much this year just high costs which at least for us has limited varieties of meats we've purchased.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

I haven't read all of the responses, but just came home from our grocery store.

We are in NH and shop at Market Basket.

There were quite a few things on my list that I couldnt get.
-ready made pie crust. In normal times you would have your choice of store brand or Pillsbury. There was none to be found.
-In the summer time, we buy big bags of chips. For the rest of the year, we buy the sacks of chips with individual bags inside. I was looking for 4 different kinds and there were none.
-Marsala cooking wine, none to be found.
-Cream style corn. Usually there would be store brand and Green Giant etc. There was none.
-Ghirardelli brownie mix. There were a couple of boxes, but none of the double chocolate that I normally buy.

What is REALLY noticeable is that a lot of shelves are sparse, although the store does a great job of hiding that. They pull everything to the front. so you dont even realize that the shelf is over half empty until you go to grab an item and see empty shelf behind it. This was the case for several things that was on my list that I was able to get. I grabbed the last two bottles of a certain type of hot sauce for my son. When I picked up the dressing I needed, there was only 4 bottles left on the shelve. Same with Lysol spray cleaner.

Like I said, the store does a great job of disguising the shelves to give the appearance of lots of stock. Like I described above, the stock is all pulled to the front so you don't even notice that over half the shelf is empty until you grab something and look behind. They also put lots of the same product on a shelf to fill up space.

Having said all of the above. No one is going to go hungry. There is PLENTY of food and supplies to be had. You just have to adapt that there is a fairly good chance that you may not get the item you want. But you can pivot and in my case, buy different chips, canned vegetables, cooking wine and make your own pie crust etc.

For folks that shop the perimeter of the store, stock looked great for dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables. The paper product aisle was also stocked.

The shortages are real and I don't believe for a minute that the news is making things up or exaggerating the situation. But, like I said, no one is going to go hungry!

 

[Lilsia]

At Meijer last week they had a 4 can limit on tomato sauce, paste, and diced tomatoes. Also a limit of 2 on paper towel. Also no pork roasts.

Our stores ran out of the canned tomatoes this week because a cold front came through and EVERYONE made chili. LOL

 

[DisneyMomx7]

NJ here - we really haven't seen empty shelves. Our Costco is limiting paper towels and toilet paper but the normal grocery stores aren't.

 

[Lilsia]

Having said all of the above. No one is going to go hungry. There is PLENTY of food and supplies to be had. You just have to adapt that there is a fairly good chance that you may not get the item you want. But you can pivot and in my case, buy different chips, canned vegetables, cooking wine and make your own pie crust etc.

This, right here is what I wished people would understand. There is still plenty of food, just not the exact product and brand that you might want. No one is going hungry and we should all be grateful for that. I know that it is frustrating to go into the store and have 5 or 6 of the items that you wanted out, but there is no reason to throw a stink about it and yell at the store employees as if they have any control over this situation.

 

[easyas123]

but there is no reason to throw a stink about it and yell at the store employees as if they have any control over this situation.

Having recently witnessed someone making a *** of themselves and throw a full on adult temper tantrum while speaking to a grocery store employee I think the above is a excellent point!

 

[Pink Partridge]

State Store shelves are very empty.

Diet Dr. Pepper in 24 packs? Do they even make it anymore? Can't find a cube for over a year now.

Tons of bacon, though It will rot before anyone pays those prices.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

It honestly depends. As others have said the big chain stores like target and Walmart are having issues h it not the stop n shops or acmes.
I will say this though. Since the pandemic, a lot of the fresher food known stores (Whole Foods, stew or Tom leonards depending where you are, my local deli) the fresh food that’s made or prepared on property needs to be eaten in a timely fashion.
So much freshly grated cheese and baked goods are going quicker than normal-and this was starting pre pandemic too (like January 2020). It just sucks because we love eating that food but don’t want a fresh corn muffin or shredded cheese on something every day. It wastes so much money. And when we do freeze stuff, it’s the same thing-if not eaten within 3-5 days it starts going moldy.

 

[Lilsia]

State Store shelves are very empty.

Diet Dr. Pepper in 24 packs? Do they even make it anymore? Can't find a cube for over a year now.

Tons of bacon, though It will rot before anyone pays those prices.

I don't think that they are producing the cube version of many drinks anymore. They are sticking to the 12 packs. I have not seen them in well over a year.

 

[barkley]

I don't think that they are producing the cube version of many drinks anymore. They are sticking to the 12 packs. I have not seen them in well over a year.

must be regional shortages-they are all over the place here, many of them being used to make the walls that form pictures.

 

[Sinder]

Ok now **** just got real

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shortage-glass-bottles-means-wine-155839990.html

 

[mamamary]

where is there a Shoprite in Maryland?

Bel Air. Harford County

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ok now **** just got real

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shortage-glass-bottles-means-wine-155839990.html

I don't drink wine all that much just from time to time, but that right there is a travesty I tell ya!

 

[DVC-Don]

Not really. Sort of thin here and there, then the next day everything is in.

 

[DeeBee3]

Updating my previous post to add that I went into Tops today and I couldn't find bread for less than $3.99 and it was not fancy bread. Normally it's 2.99 or 2.50. There was also less to choose from - I was shocked at the price. It was just Freihofer's.

 

[Mizzoufan]

Southwest Mo
Things are very hit and miss.

 

[Silver saucer]

Im working at a Kroger store in Oregon. It seems hit or miss. At times various stuff just doesn't come in. A couple weeks ago they had a sale for Kroger brand 2% milk but it never showed up. Customers were unhappy but there's nothing we could do. The load eventually showed up 4 or so days late. Week later dairy creamer was missing. ( I can't remember the brand).

Kitty litter is limited to 2 per order yet there seems to be plenty of it.
So... who knows..but there are empty spots in shelves.

 

[mrodgers]

The last similar thread I'd read I stated my local Walmart was empty shelves everywhere but that is normal. That store has been that way since I moved back to my home town 6 years ago. My one grocery store was always fully stocked, it's just that your grocery order is average 75-125% higher than shopping at Walmart. I had been to my old stomping grounds (I use to live smack in the middle of Walmarts all roughly 35 miles away to the north, south, east, and west with the south being where I am now.) and all those stores were fully stocked at the time.

It has since changed. There are empty shelves everywhere all over western PA in Walmarts and grocery stores. Most of it is not stuff that I buy. Even potato chip aisles have giant holes in the racks. There's lots of taco shells, but no full kits. A lot of emptiness on that shelf. Pasta aisles are fading again. I don't buy a lot of frozen foods but I see a lot of emptiness in the freezers as I walk past. Walmart's produce sections are very empty, not so much the grocery stores. Still doing well with produce at the actual grocers, which I don't buy produce or meat at Wallyworld.

Meat coolers are still full, but going up in price. Ground meat is still sitting at $5.99 which is what it's been here for many many years. Chuck roast however, which should be fairly cheap is up to $7.99. Pork chops and roasts are going up but not bacon. Bacon is around $6-8/package (most are 12 ounce now) which it has been for many many years.

 

[Sinder]

Im working at a Kroger store in Oregon. It seems hit or miss. At times various stuff just doesn't come in. A couple weeks ago they had a sale for Kroger brand 2% milk but it never showed up. Customers were unhappy but there's nothing we could do. The load eventually showed up 4 or so days late. Week later dairy creamer was missing. ( I can't remember the brand).

Kitty litter is limited to 2 per order yet there seems to be plenty of it.
So... who knows..but there are empty spots in shelves.

I went out today and 2 stores were out of the kitty litter I use and the grocery store my ds works out is out of it too. I'll check another couple stores tomorrow but I'm guessing everyone else is doing the same so I'll be SOL

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

ok all this talk about cat litter makes me think I should check the stores around us. We just opened our last one we had yesterday