(h/t No9 Coal) This is specifically the #1 precursor, for all the reasons previously mentioned.
Do not be alarmed; be prudent.
What are you seeing in your area?
Feel free to note in the comments section what is happening in your area. Hopefully, most of us are much better positioned than the average person who has not been following this as closely over the past several months.
Initial food instability signs in the supply chain. Things to look for:
(1) A shortage of processed potatoes (frozen specifically).
1.a And/Or a shortage of the ancillary products that are derivatives of, or normally include, potatoes.
(2) A larger than usual footprint of turkey/ham in the supermarket (last lines of protein).
(3) A noticeable increase in the price of citrus products.
(4) A sparse distribution of foodstuffs that rely on flavorings (sports drinks).
(5) The absence of non-seasonal products.
(6) Little to no price difference on the organic comparable (diff supply chain)
(7) Unusual country of origin for fresh product type.
(8) Absence of large container products
(9) Shortage of any ordinary but specific grain derivative item (ex. wheat crackers)
(10) Big brand shortage.
(11) Shortage of wet pet foods
(12) Shortage of complex blended products with multiple ingredients (soups etc)
(13) A consistent shortage of milk products and/or ancillaries.
These notes above are all precursors that show significant stress in the supply chain. Once these issues are consistently visible, we will likely continue toward food instability very quickly, sector by sector, category by category.
The reason I list the shortage of potatoes as the #1 precursor is because every food outlet sells a potato in some form. Every supermarket and every single restaurant (fancy, sit down or fast food) sells some form of potato. Potatoes are demanded by every single food outlet; therefore, a shortage of potatoes is the first noticeable issue.
Links to SHARE (be prudent with whom):
Off topic a bit but some Brillo products are still made in America. (Look first, I accidently purchased stain remover that’s Brillo “advanced”? From China)
SE Alaska here – we get a weekly barge from Seattle that stocks our stores. We didn’t get any groceries last week so the shelves were pretty bare. We got some produce this week but a lot of frozen food processed item shelves are bare. We were not getting eggs or dairy for several weeks but both came back this week.
I’d like to echo one of the above comments about determining whether these shortages are regional and intentional. Friends in leftist cities like Seattle say their stores are fully stocked.
I too have noticed fewer issues in blueMA in general than treepers in red areas have been reporting.
We do have “holes” on lots of shelves but not that many items completely gone. And when one item is hard to find, hitting a few more stores often turns it up somewhere.
But Maryland and Northern Virginia -the Washington DC area has been reportedly among the worse and that is the belly of the beast and deep blue.
I live in the MD suburbs and it depends on the grocery…. Giant and Food Lion and Harris Teeter are all having issues. Aldi and local independent grocers, not so much. I’m noticing the absence of frozen potato products, the canned goods are stocked sparsely (lots of open space and rearranging to make it look like more), produce is displayed “wide” — an entire section filled with cantaloupes the other day. Weird. And the produce doesn’t look good. Yes, the frozen turkeys and hams. Absence of ANY chicken. Very high priced beef and not much of it. Pork is more available. Packaged, processed meats are thin. Dairy is thin. Sometimes the yogurt case is wiped out. Soda aisle is picked clean. Empty toilet paper and paper towels. No conventional OTC cold/flu meds, but some of the holistic/natural ones are still available. Prices are up, all across the board. There are still weekly loss leaders on sale, and those get wiped out quickly.
And we are bracing for another big snow storm tomorrow.
Maybe that’s why Brandon is building cement barriers around the WH? DC will be first city to start having food insecurity in the population? Food shortages in grocery stores now, and they’re implementing vaccine passports starting today. So those who refuse vaccines or to keep getting Fauci’s booster shots won’t be able to get food in restaurants either, unless they can get take-out. How soon before those restaurants go belly-up? Tourism is going to come to a screeching halt just like it has in NYC, San Francisco & LA where vaccine passports are in place. Will DC restaurants even be able to get food supplies?
I listened to WTOP’s coverage of the first day of the vaccine passport in DC. They cut off both interviewees and only had a tiny, positive-sounding sound bite. First interviewee was from out of town visiting and said something like, “I don’t mind (showing my passport” and the second interviewee similarly was cut off after saying what sounded like “well it shows that COVID is still….” (who knows what the rest of that sentence was) and then the reporter cheerfully signed off. Makes you wonder.
As well on the same broadcast was the very sad situation of a local restaurant owner who died in the hospital after he and his wife contracted COVID. Both were hospitalized, and both had been triple jabbed. The wife survived and she pleaded with the public to “please, please put on your masks when your server comes to your table, so you don’t KILL SOMEONE’S LOVED ONE!!!!!” and man, I do feel sad/sorry that people are dying, but I am really fed up to here with the propaganda manipulation of people’s minds. There is so much wrong with the reporting by the media.
(I know this is off the topic of food shortages, but responding to the post about what’s going on in DC with the Brandon Barriers and food insecurity here…. just news from the local)
Today the border to Canada is closed to unvaxed truckers. Both Canadian and US drivers. Unvaxed need negative test AND 14 days quarantine. Alaska should just exit the USA.
Thoroughly intentional to starve us to death.
I live in Marysville – 25 N of Seattle – we have empty shelves in several of our local grocery stores – milk, eggs, frozen foods, soups and pasta seem to be hardest hit.
Absolutely no orange juice in our local grocery store for two weeks. Not one brand. Whole shelf empty. Many other items in short supply.
BRACE YOURSELF! The ‘Mother of All Supply Chain Shocks’ Is Coming as China Shuts Down Major Ports Due to Pandemic
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/brace-mother-supply-chain-shocks-coming-china-shuts-major-ports-due-pandemic/
Shocking (kinda) that Gateway Pundit accepts the China “Covid zero” policy on face value without note or analysis.
This is clearly part of the Chinese three warfares strategy they have been following for decades. The point is to actively damage the US economy and destabilize the US via economic means using “health regulations” (essentially lawfare via Covid) as the pretext. Same as preventing US bound ships from docking due to “Covid restrictions” on sailors.
None of this has a happy ending.
Live outside of the Sacramento area of CA and I haven’t seen shortage of anything I use including dairy but prices are going higher of course and some are very high. I basically cook my food the old fashioned farm way I grew up. Have all my basics well stocked and will cook from scratch if any convenience foods disappear. I’m an old fashioned sort and enjoy it.
Same here where I live in CA. A shortage here and there but no bare shelves. It was worse in early 2020. The prices are a lot higher though.
I cook almost entirely from scratch because of the requirement to avoid added sugar in package foods. It has paid off in better health over the last decade, not to mention many delicious meals (for better than convenience stuff can deliver).
But I definitely had more trouble sticking to this while I was still working, especially in the multiple-hour weeks of my 30’s and 40’s, so I understand how hard it is to maintain for many people. Retirement makes it possible.
Northern Minnesota.
While in Duluth yesterday for a meeting decided to stop at the Walmart there. Surprised to find the shelves were fairly well stocked, and I was able to buy everything I was looking for — except for yams. There were plenty of red and russet potatoes, but no yams. Didn’t look in the frozen food section to see how frozen potatoes were holding out, but did notice that the flake potatoes I’d looked for last week that were all gone were well stocked again.
I had no idea so many people ate frozen and prepared foods until SD started these posts. Frozen potatoes? How long does it take to cook a potato? Wow, people need to buy a cook book or something.
It reminds me of this photo I saw somewhere, it was a magazine I used to read, where it showed a photo of a family and what they eat. I remember the USA and Africa the clearest because it was unbelievable. The African family had these bowls of stuff in front of them..remember this was a days worth of food.. a small bowl of maybe raw beans, a small bowl of grains, a small bowl of some kind of vegetable, I don’t remember. It was a family of four and they were slender but healthy looking. Then there was the American family…every thing was in a package…cereal for breakfast in a package..just package after package and I do not remember seeing a single fresh vegetable or fruit. Its like it looked like Americans ate cardboard.
My sentiments, exactly! Make your own hash browns; it isn’t that difficult. Shred and fry, add some salt and pepper and maybe onions.
Another idea: Microwave some potatoes in the skin. Slice. Fry with onions until crispy. Mmmm.
If I am in a hurry thatbis what I do, nuke ‘em and then fry. It is yum.
I bake redskin potatoes in the microwave all the time. And since I am very careful with portions, I cut some of a large cooked potato off and store it in the frig overnight.
Something happens to potato that has been refrigerated.
It then becomes easy to cube and fry in a mess of scrambled eggs and lots of veggies and some canadian bacon and my favorite alternative to regular onions – shallots.
Shallots are a slight pain to peel (our Market Baskets have some that come pre-peeled) but so flavorful – I’ve been told they are sort of a hybrid between onions and garlic. They do pack that sort of flavor punch.
I do the same without the microwave……I call it Hippy Hash!
Add some bacon to that!
Microwave then brown them to a crisp in a hot waffle iron with a little gruyere cheese and bacon. To die for!
You people realize that the reason there are no processed potatos is because there is a shortage of REAL potatos… right? Just because those processed potato products vanish first does not mean you will be able to find real potatoes much longer.
Irishman here.
During the Great Hunger (Irelands biggest Famine) ships were lined up in Cork and Dublin EXPORTING corn meat butter and potatoes – before blight wiped out the spuds- whilst millions died of starvation.
This was the original Great Reset carried out by the Malthusian British.
Sounds like the present plans of the Elite. Who said history repeats?
Retired Family and Consumer Sciences teacher, RD, -aka “Home Ec,” affluent northeast school district. In the 1980’s I was absolutely shocked to learn my students did not know that mashed potatoes do NOT come from a box. (At least not in MY classroom ;-). Gets better- the first time they cooked dried pasta–they had never even seen pasta before it arrived on their plates-from cans or frozen packages. 7th grade. Television chefs had a positive cultural influence, hope I did too. Spent nearly 50 years there; we had-and still have a great program. Eventually started a garden, kids grew herbs and vegetables- even had a fig tree, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. If your schools are dropping the culinary arts programs- think again. so much too learn and do- food prep, food photography, food writing, math, science, resource management, self-reliance, teamwork, more. Every discipline can be experienced through food. Great way to learn.
Thank you:)
The only processed potato product we buy is potato chips, and those very rarely. I heard there was a shortage, but they had plenty at Costco a few days ago.
An interesting point, it has been said that there is more nutrition in a piece of cardboard than a bowl of carbohydrates ie: corn flakes.
Obesity rules!
I saw photos like that some years ago. What they showed was that in the USA we have like 14 times as much stuff as most other people in the world. In one photo people in Mexico were surrounded by bottles of soda.
Now that I am recollecting I think I saw this series of photos in an exhibition in Mexico City.
It was an eye-opener, for sure.
Coastal South Carolina (Charleston) – no issues here.
Visiting the California bay area, specifically Alamo/Danville/Walnut Creek, and I have not noticed anything different than normal.
Northern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Did a little early weekend shopping because the news is pushing an 8″ snow for Sunday… So basically I found the large grocery normally stocked. A little light on meats, like steaks and ground beef. A bit light on the frozen meals, which has been the norm for months. Why does Jimmy Dean even advertise? The last 6 months their section is always nearly empty… But found normal supply of milk, eggs, bread, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Potatoes? Bagged potatoes were plentiful in several brands and types- gold, russet, red. The frozen potatoes were still available as well, maybe slightly less than normal? But I don’t typically buy frozen french fries, etc…
Great, we can’t even have a Potato Famine.
As serious as it is I had to LOL that one!!!!
60,000+ city in Mid-Wisconsin with 5 major grocery store chains plus a food coop, and food sold at gas stations & building supply stores. Looked at 3 of the majors late afternoon today (Friday).
What this looks like to me (my speculation) is the problems here relate to production limitations at specific plants of specific companies where product production is (1) halted; (2) limited; and/or (3) shifted to produce other goods. I further speculate that this may be due to (1) state specific “mandates”affecting workers; (2) ingredients not being available (why have almond cookies disappeared?); decisions to shift scarce ingredients to higher profit products causing some product runs to be cancelled.
My son tells me that citric acid is in short supply and this ingredient is found in many foods.
Have yet to see anything like the empty shelves that occurred when the lockdowns initially began in 2020.
I have. We saw a devastated toilet paper shelf tonight.
Simultaneous “Uh-oh.”
40 miles south of Atlanta. All good here. Occasionally sporadic empty space but it’s there the next week. Only things missing with any regularity are sports drinks.
Gas hovering around $3/gal depending on where you fill up.
Local media still stirring up hysterics over omicold.
I call it the Omigod variant.
I’m from Michigan and last weekend I went to meijer for groceries. This is what I saw: fresh spinach aisle GONE, frozen prepared meals like Hungry Man (not that I buy that but still…)….an entire freezer section GONE, Tyson frozen foods (I don’t buy) but GONE! In addition, various bare portions of shelves were random throughout the store. Dairy section and eggs sparse! This weekend: I went to a meijer and ALDI 20 min south of me: not nearly as bad at this location but pasta and other items had signs that the limit was 4 as it was in high demand. My husband and I have been stocking up for quite a while to feed our 6 babies but made another Costco run and r butchering 2 deer for the freezer this weekend…..
My local HEB is low on paper products, some cleaning products, milk, produce, snacks. Potatoes seemed normal in all forms. Meat was normal.
I think we can all agree that if Treepers are reporting empty shelves on items that aren’t a weather effect; these shortages will eventually catch up with the rest of the country. Hopefully, we will be prepared before the clueless realize what is happening.
Most NoVa grocery stores have only South American fruits, if any. Chicken parts of any nature are in low supply, as is beef and pork to a lesser extent. Plenty of man-made plant-based beef knock offs at $12/lb though!
Cheap box processed items will probably continue to be short supply as families are now trying to stretch their food dollars.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50203511/grocery-bill-got-you-hurting-new-poll-shows-utahns-are-worried-inflation-pain-wont-go-away
And now car insurance will be going up as well:
https://www.10news.com/news/national/car-insurance-rates-will-likely-go-up-meaning-now-is-a-good-time-to-shop-around
“Experts say that now could be a good time to shop around for car insurance, as rates are expected to increase this year.
Several factors are driving that increase, including a rise in dangerous driving that the U.S. has seen since the start of the pandemic, which is causing the cost of claims to go up.
Another factor is the shortage of cars and car parts, which makes it more expensive to repair or replace cars.
Inflation is playing a role as well…”
I love the BS about dangerous driving. Normally, as your car depreciates in age, the rates go down….
I wouldn’t discount the fact that this regime has increased the illegal alien population significantly in a short period of time, both from the southern border and the Taliban the administration flew in under the guise of “translators.”
It’s real & I see it daily in the collision business. It’s especially true for those driving vehicles equipped with ADAS driver aid Technology (blind spot monitoring, radar cruise control, etc.)
20+ years in the collision business. As a consequence of diminished supply of new cars, Insurance Companies are repairing cars they’d write off as a total loss 4 months ago. If you have your car repaired following a collision, be aware that the Ins. Co. will try to repair your car using as few OE Parts as possible to reduce costs, substituting parts from wrecked cars/junkyard, aftermarket, and grey-market sources. This tendency will only increase in our current financial environment.
In my case, I hit a deer a couple of months ago. The car is still drivable since the damage is minimal, but it is taking a long time for parts to arrive from Korea.
Sorry about that. While all brands are experiencing extended wait time with some parts, anything passing through the West Coast ports have an added wait. Parts for Honda, Kia, & Hyundai seem to be taking the longest.
Rental cars are in short supply as well, so drive your car as long as you can and don’t drop it off until the shop has 100% of the parts needed to repair your car. I’ve seen cars sit for months waiting for an emblem or other cosmetic piece to arrive.
Yes, that is the plan. Once they get the parts, it will take 2 weeks to repair, so they say. I have second car, so no car rental.
Gotta pay for the surge in life insurance payouts. Socialize the costs.
Two more places to shop…..”Amish” bulk food store (usually ran and owned by Mennonites; and distressed grocery outlets. Such as bakery outlets, and grocery stores like Sharp Shopper. There is another retail channel for groceries, companies that sell groceries that are near expiration; or from stores that have or are closing. You can sometimes get good prices there, but buyer beware. Check dates. Especially on foods that can easily spoil or go rancid.
Detergents are an issue. Today the only clothes detergents available were Tide and several alternative detergents, such as Second Generation.
Wet cat food has almost disappeared, except for a couple of brands, and very little choice of flavors. For now, they still have the brand and flavor our cat eats.
Flour is an issue. I can’t find King Arthur. There is little whole wheat (either regular or white wheat). I buy it when I see it and am stocking up. If I can no longer get local sourdough bread, I’ll start making my own.
We use unsalted cultured butter from pastured cows, and that has nearly doubled in price. The store was out on Wednesday, but today I found a new stack and bought several pounds. The shelf on either side of the small stack was empty.
Do you mean “Seventh Generation”?
If so, those are the creeps who came out with some truly disgusting statements several months back.
I’ve used that detergent for years and refuse to buy another bottle of it. I’m sure they’ve lost a lot of long time customers.
Yep, Seventh Generation went full Woketard, I used to buy their detergent but boycott their products now.
I think I mentioned this on the last such article, but I am still seeing the odd disappearance of “lite” cheddar – actually low-fat block cheese of any variety, across the entire cheese sections – while whole cheese is still completely stocked.
I’ve hit 4 stores in the past week, 3 in one suburban town and one further out. Will continue with more this weekend probably.
Could this be that the medium-fat and skim milk used to make this type of cheese is getting scarce in the chain ahead of the cheeses?
It seems different because of being one particular item/brand, like Kraft cream cheese, I could swear I remember low-fat alternatives to quite a few of the cheeses in the display cases. Sort of seems equivalent to the potatoes issue in a way?
The only cheeses I now see left in low-fat are mozzarella sticks and some feta.
Could low-fat be a change in market demand? healthy eating these days is more Keto friendly and not low-fat.
Hmm, interesting. I do prefer full-fat dairy and eat it in butter, cream cheese, sour cream, all of which are easy to control when I’m cooking. To stave off diabetes I do emphasize protein and eat only small amounts of whole-grain carbs.
But I have a little problem – call it a “jones – with full-fat cheese which I use for snacks with apples. It’s way too easy for my evil brain to say “oh, cut just a couple more slices…” I can have a small amount of the low-fat without as much yearning. 🤣
It’s merely a tiny challenge I will definitely deal with if required by our continued national crisis. I’m sure the challenges to come will be far larger.
Empty shelves everywhere in Central TX. No frozen breakfast and Wife came home from H‑E‑B bragging she bought a ham on sale. 😂
I ran to Home depot today as I needed a replacement for a tool I broke
and on the door is a list of Items that have restricted quantities
so Home Depot is already rationing certain building supplies in N.J.
Potato famine? That’s a new concept. Where do Americans immigrate to when things go fubar?
Oh the irony ! America is becoming the new Soviet Union. We will be standing in line to buy rotten potatoes and rancid meat.
Venezuela was the most economically stable country in South America until the socialists Built Back Better.
Now people there dig through dumpsters and garbage trucks for food.
Leftists can NEVER govern. Everything they touch turns to sh**.
It is astonishing that not even one year into these communists having taken over America, the country is becoming an economic catastrophe.
Actually it’s not really astonishing that they did so much damage in one year, because damage is What They Do.
They are economic locusts.
Coming soon will be a major shortage of auto parts. I have inside knowledge of this. You could always run down to the local auto parts store to buy parts to fix your old car UNTIL SUDDENLY, YOU COULD NOT !
SW Florida Walmart had a few of their brand frozen potatoes but no brand names. No saltine crackers, pretzels or many other chips. For the past month the canned cat food has been sparse but today it was half full. I figured cat owners were hoarding them because cats can be picky eaters.
I bought a washer a few weeks ago. I had a hard time finding one in stock with the features I wanted. I had to pay a little more for a few more features for one they had in stock. I learned that you can’t get a matching washer/dryer or a complete kitchen. And Florida is having a building boom.
Had a hard time finding wood pellets for my grill today. Was not expecting that. Found a local Ace Hardware that has some & will head there early Sat.
Yesterday’s quick trip to Publix showed a marked worsening of the empty shelf problem: Almost no chicken, empty areas in the milk freezer, sparce bread department… Cary, NC
We are about to have a big weather event. Maybe that’s why all the.milk and bread are gone.
“Train tracks used for freight-transport in Los Angeles resembled a garbage dump
Thursday as thieves have been raiding cargo containers and
leaving shipping packaging in their wake”.
https://www.itemfix.com/v?t=mhxixb
Been down for a couple of weeks with what I would generally call a bad cold and cough but if I had been tested (refused to do that, don’t want to be in anyone’s stored data)they would have told me I had Omicron. Because of that and seeing reports of all the bare shelves everywhere I was getting nervous, even though I have been a prepper since about 2010. As soon as I could go out without having a coughing fit and being taken to one of Washington States gitmos for unvaccinated people, I headed to Costco and the local Kroger store (Fred Meyer), both in Shoreline, Wa, a small city that shares its southern border with Seattle. Costco was well st0cked with just about everything I would normally buy but prices on some items were gobsmacking. $15 for 2 lbs of strawberries (normally about $7). Three pack of honey used to be $9.99 now $13.99. Chicken jerky treat for my dog used to be $19.99, now a 25% increase to $25.99. Toilet paper and paper towels in good supply but purchase limited and up about $3 a bundle. I already have 6 bundles in storage but didn’t buy any this trip but will next week. No raspberries which was unusual. I don’t buy potatoes so didn’t notice supply or price. Occasionally I buy sweet potatoes (low glycemic) and there was a good supply at Krogers.
Krogers was fully stocked with all dairy products, butter, yogurt, eggs etc. Produce section was stocked as normal, salad mixes, etc. Women’s sanitary products totally gone, jugged water gone, most variety of apples gone, freezer section of processed frozen dinners almost empty. I didn’t notice significant increases in prices on this trip but most items are up by a small amount, (I know, it all adds up). We buy grass fed meat from a rancher in the northern part of the state at what amounts to about $5.50 a pound for a quarter beef (including rib steaks, tbones, roasts, stew meat and hamburger, whatever we can get from the quarter beef) and the freezer is full. Next buy is April and there may be an increase in price at that time.
I order wet dog food from Chewies on autoship and currently have 6 boxes (144 meals total, 1 tin per day) and hope the autoship gives me some surety of deliveries, but have enough on hand that my dog will be fed if there is a delay in delivery.
Also have 5 gallon sealed buckets of flour, rice, sugar, corn meal, beans, oatmeal and wheatberry for emergency backup and miscellaneous #10 cans of powdered cheese, milk, butter, dried fruit, and soup mixes. I think I have enough to survive for a year, but worry that I still may not have enough since I have extended family that have not been in a financial position to spend extra to back up and may have to spread some around.
I’ve also purchased a camp stove and have stocked a supply of propane tanks, and have a bug out bag ready to go. And a shotgun, just in case.
Couldnt find propane anywhere in or near Fredericksburg VA. Or butane.
Raspberries were totally gone in blueMA for a week but reappeared (very expensive) two days ago.
The brand is Driscoll – I don’t know where they get them, though I don’t think they are from a local grower. They are those ginormous ones with little taste (I warm them to add to oatmeal which brings out what taste they have).
Driscoll is a huge national supplier of fruit, they grow mostly California and Mexico. I have always thought they were of good quality.
Treasure Coast of FL here. Today I went to Fresh Market, an upper scale grocery store. I wanted to assess the price of beef. I found beef stew meat for $7 a pound, organic eggs for $4 and store brand butter for $3.50.
Not much yogurt, only a few low fat varieties with added sugar. No whipping cream.
Then I went to WalMart Neighborhood store and no yogurt I could buy, no whipping cream and hardly any half and half or milk for that matter. Lots of Coffemate products though, which I don’t buy because of chemical composition.
There were 4 2 lb packages of beef stew meat with no hormones added for $5 a pound so I bought 4.
Coconut oil, organic and regular, could be had for about the same price.
But almond flour which last week sold for $10 now sells for $12. Same with the coconut oil.
Not much of any baking products but spices were much more plentiful than at Fresh Market.
Other than that, hardly any pasta products left at all. But I found a 5 lb bag of pinto beans. Hardly any produce there at all. I saw 1 bag of onions, for example.
Did not look for potatoes or any frozen food.
I first noticed in December that fresh chicken was in short supply because it never had been before. We were getting ready to make meals for our church freezer to give to needy families, and I was going to BBQ ~60 chicken thighs, normally 5-6 packs. But chicken was already getting low at Smart and Final, and they only had three packs. Never happened before.
Then this topic shows up here at the CTH, and I started putting 2&2 together. This week I purchased 40lbs of beans and rice, 10lbs of instant mashed potatoes, at least 10 lbs of pasta, a ham, several 1lb packages of group beef, several packages of fully cooked sausages plus several other items. I feel like a prepper which in Santa Barbara is one of the lowest forms of existence, but up in Shasta it’s appreciated. Seeing the cat food situation, we are starting to double order from Chewy our cat’s special formulation because we figure in a couple months even Chewy will have delivery issues. The slow stock up will continue until we have that 6-8 month supply.
Unfortunately, you might want to pick up the pace. About two months ago Sundance told us this was coming, at this point you don’t have more than a week, or possibly two, to get prepared, according to Sundance. Good luck in your preps!
I couldn’t find the article from two months ago, but here’s the one from a week ago. I’m thinking you may have seen this already though.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/01/07/we-have-less-than-two-weeks-to-finalize-preparation/
AMK I will inventory my purchases today, determine the meal count, and figure out what it takes to fill the gap. We don’t eat much processed food, so that lack of those products doesn’t affect us. With the garage freezer stuffed full of proteins and the right mix of starches & flavorings we’ll be fine. I worry for other people who literally only have nine meals of food in their house.
The Dollar Tree had a banner over one of the product walls that said “grab it while you can”.
Weird.
In just a matter of days it has been mind blowing to see prices jumping, and sizes getting smaller. They always cut the size when prices go up, but this time around everything has just been cut in half. A can of Pringles looks like a Dwarf. It is strange seeing new sizes of everything. Some kid junk candy/toy at the checkout aisle was $5.00, normally it would be a $1.50. Stuff like that people will not purchase on principle and/or don’t have the extra cash.
Upstate SC here – there were bare shelves in the canned catfood section for awhile. Publix had some of the 24 packs of Fancy Feast but were limiting 2 per customer. This has been happening for a few weeks.
I don’t normally buy frozen potatoes, but we bought a few bags the other week because hubby fancied them. Heavy cream has been spotty. Just got a large tin of whole milk powder for desperate times.
I have a medium-size chest freezer and I’m wondering how best to use the space now. Chicken, ground beef, pork/sausage/bacon, I suppose. I usually buy fresh veggies. I hope they don’t disappear.
My elderly mother-in-law is fretting about running out of her special fancy ginger ale. SMH.
Wet cat food has been like everywhere else in the country here in blueMA for a couple of weeks – spotty to gone.
I had already purchased a good backup of boxes of the brand and type my cats will eat, but they eat it fast so I’m trying to keep up now.
The prices are very high but my local PetSmart has just slightly lower per can ones – also the better variety when I checked them yesterday. They were out of the boxes so I just bought an assortment that works for my cats and filled the previous box.
Northern Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, rural — This week, large supermarket chain Martins/Giant Food, had ZERO milk in any of the offerings (whole, 2%, etc). No gallons, half gallons, pints, etc. No more orange juice, either.
Been prepping for more than a dozen years and well supplied. Plenty of powdered milk for baking.
Time to finally switch over to that dreaded black coffee. 😉
I don’t think I can switch to black coffee… But I might have to also…My one addiction to processed foods is French vanilla coffee creamer…either brand of coffee mate or international delight will work…however, for the last 2 to 3 months, I can only find one or maybe two bottles at a time….
One thing I do have is a stock of ground coffee up until the end of the year, thanks to having a very good local coffee company a couple of towns away, New England Coffee.
Also during my bout with the delta my full-pot a day habit was breached, so I took the opportunity to drop down to half a pot. Now my stock will last even longer.
In Louisville, french fry aisle has been sparse for a few months as well as the frozen chicken aisle. Sports drinks have been almost non-existent since the summer. Have noticed alot of the Kroger brand items are not available so you have to go with the name brand. Only time milk has been short is when the Starbucks next door comes and raids.
I got a kick out of this one from Reuters. Here’s how they are describing the shortages of food (opening paragraph of their story).
High demand for groceries, that’s the problem. Apparently people are eating more and especially more processed foods and fresh produce.
So there you have it. This is the real problem behind the shortages.
Reuters: If only you useless eaters would just stop eating, then there wouldn’t be a problem with shortages!
😉
Got Bleach ?
Many uses from cleaning to water treatment – take note.
11 alarm fire at chemical plant in Passaic , NJ – makes chlorine among other things.
Will this affect MUNICIPAL water treatment supplies ?
Here in NW Free State Florida, situation normal, so far.
If this was booze or Ice Cream, in Washington DC things would change quickly!
If you live near the Canadian border ports, volunteer to unload ‘unattended’ freight trucks before they get towed.
Olive Garden last night was fully staffed, though of course with masked faces.
I am pretty sure plenty of workers in this blue area are refraining from mentioning their OmiColds at all, and working anyway, and managers understand and don’t care.
There’s always been an angry and larger than realized independent minority in blueMA. This is what caused the Scott Brown event. And this year we are newly aware our votes have been stolen probably our entire lives. We always suspected it but now we know.
Warren County, OH
Kroger
01/14/2022
It looked okay but for certain sections. I picked up a couple bags of potatoes, figured if nothing else as someone suggested I could let some go to seed.
Just noticed the dried potatos I buy are at significantly lower prices than usual.
These are the type that are typically used for mashed potatoes in restaurants. Low restaurant demand looks to be creating retail surplus.
The mountains of WNC. Expecting a big storm so some of what’s below may be due to people prepping for the bad weather. Big holes in the frozen food sections; primarily potatoes. Freezers are packed to the rafters with frozen pizza’s. Strange. I have noticed large refer/freezer space loaded with hams. Cold cuts, sausage, bacon available. Saltines have been missing for weeks and weeks and the deficit is spreading to other cracker products. Noticeable reduction of milk, and bagged shredded cheese, but still available. Orange juice was available but thin. Cereal isle was full of holes. Produce was OK but expensive. Off-season produce still available, (strawberries). The bakery and deli counters looked normal. Beer, wine, soft drinks are plentiful. I’m paying closer attention to the details in the store. I’ve noticed many of the products are pulled to the front edge of the shelf to give the appearance that the shelves are loaded. Not so much. I will be heading back after the storm blows through to see where we’re at.
I look at iceagefarmer.org when I can stand the bad news. A few years ago Christian showed a map of global crop losses. I thought I would look at again and mention it here.
I found one world map with many red dots all over it but no explanation. At the iceagefarmer site nothing came up.
Before I jump into a conspiracy theory that such a map is being suppressed I am wondering if any treepers have seen such a map. The idea is that it is too cold in northern hemispheres to grow certain crops and big business vegetable and fruit growers are abandoning these areas – think Canada – as places to grow because it is too cold.
I think this may include potatoes but am not sure. Are potatoes a cold climate crop?
I am as usual one of those who thinks the world is getting colder, not warmer, due to the reduced activity of the sun. I also do not want to see a reduction in CO2 here on earth. For one thing, we all exhale it and for another the trees absorb it and emit O2 (photosynthesis)
Agree. I watch Christian’s coverage and analysis as well as a few others. Although Sundance covers the immediate supply chain/policy related shortages, I see a larger and more widespread problem tailing together with the current issues.
This is only the beginning.
Be careful on your food sources. American sourced food is best. You’d be surprised how much of our food comes from China. I was looking at the sourcing of some food we were preparing at home, can’t remember what is was, and was shocked to see it came from China. Some produce does, too, I’ve seen.
This article talks about the unsanitary food coming from China and issues some harsh warnings. Labels such as ‘Distributed By’ are big warning signs to me to hide the origins as these companies know we are paying close attention. Drive those Chinese exporters out of business.
https://speedypaper.com/essays/101-american-food-processed-in-china
It’s also illegal not to show where the product was made. I noticed this creeping into products many years ago. Companies were not held accountable so they continued to do it.
lots of fruits and vegetables are coming from South America and Mexico. I shop at Publix and I’m noticing some shortages, nothing serious yet.
These days I look at sources for everything. I am especially careful of anything going inside my body that comes from chyna. As long as Americans continue to insist on cheap everything we will continue to have inferior, deadly products imported from chyna.