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How well stocked are your grocery stores?


Kirby

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I was just wondering how well stocked your local grocery stores are ?  Have shortages let up in the last few weeks or are new things out of stock?  I've gone to two local grocery stores within the last 10 days and they were both fairly well stocked except for some typical items  Paper products are still hit and miss. Most times you can get some toilet paper, but it's usually just single roll packages and there is a limit on how many you can purchase.  I haven't tried for lysol wipes, but I suspect they're out of stock.  Tissues and paper towels are hit or miss.

For most cleaning products there are at least a few items to select, but the selection may not be as broad as usual.

The breads and canned goods seem well stocked, and there is a wide variety of prepared foods (although the food bars are shut down).   There are some choices when it comes to the frozen foods, but many of the selections seem fairly depleted (like frozen pizza).  I haven't checked the meats, so I can't tell you about them.

So how are the stores near you?

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You must have been shopping at my LGS.    You description is almost identical to my store.

Yeah good luck trying to find a frozen pizza.  We don't buy them, but obviously a lot of people are eating pizza.   If we want pizza, we will order one and do curb side pickup.

 

 

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My LGS is awesome. They have done an amazing job during this crisis. Their store bread section doesn’t have all the choices it did before but you can get some brand of whatever you are looking for. When sandwich buns were in short supply they stepped up their bakery and put their sandwich buns on the shelves. I go during old people hours so it may be worse later in the day.

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I'm going shopping either tomorrow, Tuesday, or Wednesday for the first time since Apr. 6 and I'll stock up for a couple weeks. So I'm going by hearsay from people I talk to by phone.  There's plenty of food but you may have to substitute for things you prefer, like getting frozen mixed veggies instead of veggies for soup.

My brother said the Giant supermarket near him has a better meat selection than the Food Lion I like to shop at, but Food Lion is the least crowded big supermarket in my area.  I may do both: Giant has the Cooked Perfect brand meatballs I like plus the meat and Food Lion has other stuff.  But I'll stop in Food Lion first and try to get everything I need there.

The seafood guy at the Weis supermarket a few minutes from my house says that meat and seafood is delivered early in the morning on Tue., Thu. and Sat. and is out for sale between 10 am and noon.  I'm well stocked beef but want to grab some chicken leg quarters or thighs, boneless pork chops, and fish and will do a quick in-and-out there on Thurs. if I don't find what I want at the one or two other not-so-crowded supermarkets I plan to stop at for most stuff.

 

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Deli & meat seem a bit low. Hamburger is still in short supply, I asked the guy at the meat counter if they were having trouble buying meat to grind, he said no, they were grinding about the same as before, but people were still buying triple what they did before.

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53 minutes ago, Kirby said:

I was just wondering how well stocked your local grocery stores are ?  Have shortages let up in the last few weeks or are new things out of stock?  I've gone to two local grocery stores within the last 10 days and they were both fairly well stocked except for some typical items  Paper products are still hit and miss. Most times you can get some toilet paper, but it's usually just single roll packages and there is a limit on how many you can purchase.  I haven't tried for lysol wipes, but I suspect they're out of stock.  Tissues and paper towels are hit or miss.

For most cleaning products there are at least a few items to select, but the selection may not be as broad as usual.

The breads and canned goods seem well stocked, and there is a wide variety of prepared foods (although the food bars are shut down).   There are some choices when it comes to the frozen foods, but many of the selections seem fairly depleted (like frozen pizza).  I haven't checked the meats, so I can't tell you about them.

So how are the stores near you?

The same. The butcher counters are closed,  but plenty of beef, pork, poultry, fish. Raman seems to be recovering. Lotsa beer and wine. 
 

I snagged a coupla 6 packs and a 12 pack of TP on separate forays last week. 

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29 minutes ago, Dottles said:

I'd cut your ass off too. Fortunately I stay home now and don't go anywhere to spend it so I have managed to escape your date.

The problem is I’m the cook and it’s freaking hard to cook dinner when my wife shops.  Hmm I have chicken, pickles and oranges...  Oh maybe I can do something with this oatmeal...

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So far, fine except for paper products (toilet paper, Kleenex, paper towels) is not always reliable to be on the shelves each day.  So can't put yourself down to last roll before going to store.

Canned goods...might be a bit less choice but enough different choices to buy.  Flour is often very low or non-existent for awhile.

In prairie city, wonder if there will be much beef in stores for next few months,  since 300+ workers tested covid-15 positive from 1 major meat processing plant. It was reported in news just yesterday, This plant processes 33% of all of CAnada's beef  (which I didn't know before).   It doesn't bother me since already have the little I normally have frozen, last for next 2 months.

What might be a concern, is the pricing of fresh veggies and fruit as we move into summer because of serious challenges in labour for farms.

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Just now, ChrisL said:

The problem is I’m the cook and it’s freaking hard to cook dinner when my wife shops.  Hmm I have chicken, pickles and oranges...  Oh maybe I can do something with this oatmeal...

So you are the true cook in family in terms of breadth in range of dishes?  Or she's just buying on sale?

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8 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

The problem is I’m the cook and it’s freaking hard to cook dinner when my wife shops.  Hmm I have chicken, pickles and oranges...  Oh maybe I can do something with this oatmeal...

If you serve her a chicken/pickle/orange smoothie for dinner maybe she will let you shop?

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9 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

So you are the true cook in family in terms of breadth in range of dishes?  Or she's just buying on sale?

My wife doesn’t cook at all.  To her cooking is a chore, like scrubbing the toilet.... As she truly doesn’t like to do it she can’t really conceptualize what is needed to make a meal.  

She does save us a lot of money when she grocery shops but making dinner does get challenging.

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6 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

If you serve her a chicken/pickle/orange smoothie for dinner maybe she will let you shop?

To be fair this is a recent phenomenon since she’s not working.  After a couple of weeks of chicken orange pickle smoothies  she may change her mind.

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For the most part it’s pretty good. I had to get some groceries last night and it was about an hour before closing. (Can’t get used to all grocery stores closing by 8)!  Some areas were picked over but I was able to get most things.
. @ChrisL you and I are almost on opposite ends. WoW does most of our cooking, but I started doing the shopping when she was in quarantine longer than me. We make a list before I leave and for the most part I stick to it. I want to get in and get out. I do like to cook once in a while so I do know what I’m looking for. I did go off script last night when I saw some brats on sale. I then picked up a couple things we needed to go with them for grilling. 

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1 hour ago, bikeman564™ said:

My LGS seems as stocked as always, w/ a  little light on canned foods and yeast. Otherwise fine.

Is your paper section stocked to almost normal with tp, paper towels and tissues?

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12 hours ago, ChrisL said:

Dunno, haven’t been to a LGS since my wife got laid off... She put us on a budget so I’m not allowed to shop! 😁

I haven't been to an LGS in over a month.  Hit Target a few weeks ago for dog food, and Costco almost a month ago.  Neither had TP :(

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They appear a little light on flour and yeast, and have TP(now), everything else seems normal

But with a major meat packing plant in Alberta being shut down due to workers having covid, I am expecting a run on beef this week, and with a news paper story that something like 40 plants that normally make TP are now making medical masks and gowns, I expect another run on TP soon, although stores here are limiting shoppers to I pack per person

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1 hour ago, groupw said:

For the most part it’s pretty good. I had to get some groceries last night and it was about an hour before closing. (Can’t get used to all grocery stores closing by 8)!  Some areas were picked over but I was able to get most things.
. @ChrisL you and I are almost on opposite ends. WoW does most of our cooking, but I started doing the shopping when she was in quarantine longer than me. We make a list before I leave and for the most part I stick to it. I want to get in and get out. I do like to cook once in a while so I do know what I’m looking for. I did go off script last night when I saw some brats on sale. I then picked up a couple things we needed to go with them for grilling. 

I was thinking of making her a list and will if this continues.   What I realized is I don’t go shopping with a meal plan.  I see what’s on sale or what looks good & then get what I need for that meal.  I often am going back & forth to get things I already walked by as I’ll see something & think, ohh that looks good but shit I need something that’s 5 isles back....

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2 hours ago, ChrisL said:

I was thinking of making her a list and will if this continues.   What I realized is I don’t go shopping with a meal plan.  I see what’s on sale or what looks good & then get what I need for that meal.  I often am going back & forth to get things I already walked by as I’ll see something & think, ohh that looks good but shit I need something that’s 5 isles back....

That's usually how I operate, but have tried to be more focused to minimize time in the store. Unfortunately, brats meant charcoal for the grill, buns and you have to have potato salad! WoW can't make her potato salad in a small enough batch for just the 2 of us so had to do store bought. Suddenly my focused shopping looked like a stoned hippie with the munchies!

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I'm now very well stocked! I found almost everything I wanted or a close enough substitute at the uncrowded but full-size Food Lion supermarket a mile off the main highway.  To my delighted surprise, they had the frozen Cooked Perfect Meatballs I didn't think they had, though only the "Homestyle" meatballs, not the "Italian" - but that's close enough!  64 half-ounce meatballs will make-right 13 full plates of spaghetti or some can be used cut in half with spaghetti sauce and cheese to make hot (nuked) meatball sandwiches on regular sandwich bread.

There was one slightly dented 32 oz. package of thin spaghetti that looked ok enough to buy - no other in 1 lb or larger - I grabbed it.

A woman grabbed 2 of the last four dozen boxes of extra-large eggs.  I was going to grab the last two until I saw they had plenty of jumbo eggs.

They had one 16 oz. jar of Pace mild salsa - no other mild salsa. I took it.  They only had Bush's Baked Beans in 28 oz. cans - I got one.

They were very low on things like frozen pizza, canned food, etc. I was able to get 2 of the Red Baron supreme pizza's I like, but not the "Classic Crust Special Deluxe" one I like best. Here's a couple pics in one typical aisle. The "WRONG WAY" signs are because they've got one-way arrows for every aisle:

20200421_130017_900p.jpg.a3cf5ee980db321d32f6c09feed38df4.jpg 20200421_130020_900p.jpg.1af469cfcec69ceac2ee5657936d9437.jpg

When I got back to the apartment the sky to the north was threatening - the sky was black as night - at 1:30 pm - beyond the building on the left. I carried the last of 3 big loads in the door just before it began to pour!

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I spent $153 - five to ten times my normal-times spending per supermarket. I paid with my Chase Freedom Visa card which gives 5% cash-back for April-June, so I'll get $7.65 back!  Otherwise, nothing was on sale except the stuff they claim has a very high price and is always on sale for what is the regular price elsewhere, though almost everything was reasonable.

Some things had limits on how much you're allowed to buy, but I checked out at the cash register of Taryn, my sister-in-law's sister-in-law's sister.  I knew she'd let me slide if I violated the limit policy.

20200421_142358_900p.thumb.jpg.92d5599d12a7a266799dc4d8914f3eb1.jpg 

 

 

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Haven't been to one in months.  My wife does the shopping.

I do think we may be in for a surprise shortly.  About 50% of our food supply goes to restaurants and other food service, which means it get's packaged in ways that aren't fit for retail.  Curbside isn't coming close to using that much food.  So the farmers are forced to just dump a lot of it.  The aforementioned meat packing plant fiasco may be duplicated.  Shipping from many countries has been curtailed, or replaced by medical supplies.  While all of this is going on, people are making up for that 50% restaurant part by buying more retail food to cook at home.  And the retail packaged supply can't be easily ramped up.

So we have farmers dumping a lot of food, and a large reduction in imported food.  We're going to need to get creative about that restaurant vs retail packaging thing.

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1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

More agile restaurant suppliers will adapt and package/market direct to local consumers, but that takes a bit of skill to pivot fast enough.

It's not the suppliers, it's the farmers.  For example, milk goes to consumers in gallons, 1/2 gallons, etc.  Goes to food service in 20 (or whatever) under different FDA rules.  They don't have capacity to put it all in gallons.

 

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I made a grocery run this morning during old people hours. Three or four of us were there. They had everything that was on my list and large quantities. Their meat all looked good so I bought a large package of freshly ground chuck, a rump roast, five pounds of chicken tenders, and a whole pork loin sliced into chops. I spent $200 but got a lot of good stuff.

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Update:  I did another supermarket today, mainly because my sister's family's is self-quarantining while awaiting COVID-19 test results and I did her grocery shopping today. I went to the Weis supermarket that's right on the main highway 3 min from my house and less than 10 min. from my sister's but they built a Walmart and a BJ's Wholesale Club in the same shopping center so Weis isn't usually as packed as some other supermarkets, but its parking lot was full today.

I was surprised - I was able to get almost everything I forgot or couldn't find yesterday plus everything my sister wanted.  The shelves were full.

Weis today:

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Food Lion yesterday.  A smaller Food Lion near my sister's house closed last year.  Now I'm worried about this one - it's one of my favorites, especially now since it's a mile off the main highway and much less crowded:

20200421_130024_900p.jpg.ecd2730bada5c7245a6b4782a19eab8f.jpg

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I would have to think that with the closure of all these meatpacking plants, that it will put a crimp in the ability to get fresh meat. We don't have much of a freezer, so we'll probably just have to ride it out.

With diabetes, starch based meals aren't recommended, so going vegetarian probably won't work except as a last resort.

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38 minutes ago, BuffJim said:

I would have to think that with the closure of all these meatpacking plants, that it will put a crimp in the ability to get fresh meat. We don't have much of a freezer, so we'll probably just have to ride it out.

With diabetes, starch based meals aren't recommended, so going vegetarian probably won't work except as a last resort.

https://www.farmmatch.com

Take a look. It works well for me.

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