Are We Having A Food Shortage Now ?

[KitsuneFox]

I was doing my weekly shopping today, and I noticed that all 3 grocery stores I visited had very low stock on many items ( Wegmans Food Markets, Giant Food Stores, Weis Markets ). I was able to get most of the items on my list, but I am concerned that there may be some serious problems in the future.

Have any of you been shopping recently, and if so, how was the food stock?

[[ One of the many nearly empty shelves in Wegmans on January 11 2022 ]]

 

[BlueHama]

In a fb group that has a bunch of people showing food shortages in their area with a lot of pictures of empty shelves.

 

[MaxxH]

Haven't noticed anything in trips to the store the last couple days.

What I have noticed over the last couple years is intermittent empty shelves of random items, like one supplier or one truck had an issue.

 

[jamiejamie]

Yup. Yesterday, there were no frozen potatoes (hash brown, fries, etc)

 

[LittleBoyInTheRedHoodie]

There’s shortages of many things in my area - Western Lower Michigan.

 

[diddles]

The Australian news is very much focusing on the supply chain issues that are happening here because of so many businesses being short staffed due to Omicron. Our daily infection rates have soared from very low to, for us, very high, and they claim that half of the countries truck drivers are either sick or in isolation. The one supermarket in the small town I live in still has everything in stock and has had no issues, but the larger supermarkets 30 mins away in ‘town’ have rows of empty shelves mostly of fruit and vegetables. Apparently meat is going to get in short supply soon because for some reason COVID spreads quickly at abattoirs (cold environment I guess). The government is even calling for sick meat workers and nurses to go back to work so I’m guessing that we are in for a roller coaster ride of climbing infection numbers and food shortages.
We have been warned by the press that it is going to get worse so I’m just waiting for the panic buying to start which will just exacerbate the problem. Omicron might be less serious from a health perspective, but it might be a real threat to the economy. As is now the norm nowdays, only time will tell.

 

[Seasonedcitizen]

I’m in the east coast , USA. Just spot shortages of certain brands. it might be a supply issue or a transportation issue. Or both. I’m making sure I have a six month supply of the things I need on a daily basis.

 

[redsan]

I’m reading it’s more of a supply chain issue rather than a shortage issue.

 

[hodori779]

There's an everything shortage right now, tbh.

 

[Jbo]

I was in my local grocery store called jewel last weekend and asked the store manager “ why are so many things I like are not stocked”? And he said it’s gonna get worse in his 30 years of being in the business he has never seen anything like it. So I made a joke about me stocking up on some of those doomsday prep meals and he said that it would be very smart of me to do.

 

[dogboy]

I went grocery shopping today and they had almost no chicken, just legs and wings. They also didn't have any Charmin toilet paper so we're seeing that again.

 

[diddles]

I’m in the east coast , USA. Just spot shortages of certain brands. it might be a supply issue or a transportation issue. Or both. I’m making sure I have a six month supply of the things I need on a daily basis.

Clever girl SeasonedCitizen. When the Pandemic first hit and the toilet paper shelves were empty for weeks, I stockpiled a good years worth of non perishable essentials , , No kidding, I began feeling like a Prepper (all of whom are now at least somewhat vindicated). And now that the more contagious Omicron strain is here I don’t have to go to the store for anything other than perishables, fuel, and the like, so I can stay safe and spend more time at home lounging around in a fat, squishy diaper. Diapers! Stock up on diapers everyone. Don’t worry about toilet paper you won’t need that if you get sick at home with Omicron and you have plenty of diapers on hand.

 

[PinkAndLittle]

The store that I work at on the West coast of the US I know is running into major issues of people needing to stay home due to the omicron varient. We're still getting our regularly scheduled supplies. However with the market team is so limited from having to quarantine managers have actually had to turn away frozen deliveres because the freezers are already full of food that they couldn't get to... It feels like it the issue heavily increases over the holidays when people are visiting family/traveling.

 

[NinjaPizza]

I can't speak for every corner of the industry, but I do work at a sausage factory. People are out sick with Covid, so our numbers are down.

 

[HomeAlone]

Everybody is sick from the folks who pick produce and raise chickens to the factory workers who box cereal to the guys who load/drive/unload trucks to the grocery store workers who stock the shelves.

Plus at this point people have started hoarding so that doesn't help.

 

[Saltedcaramel64]

Its a really good time to learn to grow food and learn to hunt and fish.

 

[Sapphyre]

In some ways, I feel like the supply chain disruptions caused by this pandemic are a kind of heads-up; a just-in-time economy really means living on the edge, perhaps to a greater extent than was commonly perceived. There are countless scenarios that would be far more disruptive than this. It might make sense to think about how to alter the global economy so that it is less fragile.

 

[dogboy]

I remember when I was taking some business courses at the turn of the century that one of the terms we had to learn was JIT, just in time. Industries and businesses moved to a model where their inventory would be just what was necessary for the moment rather than the old model where companies stockpiled and had back inventory. JIT was adopted because with new technology, things could be moved quickly around the world but now we're seeing that isn't always the case.

 

[Jbo]

I just had dinner at a local Greek hamburger/hotdog place and I got a Italian beef, small fry and a medium drink and the total was $16.99. Talk about ouch in the wallet but I was Hungary like a wolf.
I know it doesn’t have much to do with this topic on shortages but the prices are almost criminal.