Quarantine Question: In Short Supply

I haven't found anything to be out of stock.
Here though the President has shut down all non-essentials.
No alcohol or cigarettes (which is fine as we don't smoke or drink), but you can't even buy clothing in a grocery store that usually sells it. Like socks and pantyhose. Recently he has stopped ready made eats, like pies and rotisserie chicken, ready made cappuccino etc. I know that folk who have had babies since lock down started can't get baby clothes, which makes no sense. If you break a dish, you can't replace it. We planned as far as we were able for three weeks and then he extended it by another 2. So many people here living from hand to mouth and desperate. Stores being looted, liquor especially but not limited to that. We are fine in our little cocoon, but it saddens me regardless.
No yeast, I am growing basil from basil leaves I bought, no plants available - although pineapple sage and thyme were still there. Mince (ground beef) was out for a while, but back again. Basically you have to get to the shops soon after they open and all the shelves have been stocked if you want maximum variety. No masks, hand sanitiser.

 

Dried beans, and rice are a problem here too.

I don't think we have any difficulties with other things we eat or use a lot at the moment fortunately.

Except 2nd hand clothing, due to all the charity shops being closed. Yet Joy has chosen this moment to out grow everything. She's nearly as tall as TJ, and TJ doesn't have any hand me downs for her other than school uniform which we don't need right now. Fortunately my husband insisted on keeping my pre-pregnancy gear insisting I'd get back in it one day. TJ raided it just over a year ago. It's odd seeing her in my old clothes, particularly as she looks a lot like me. This week Joy and I will go through the "rejects" and make alterations so she can wear those for the time being. She's into fashion design, so maybe Joy can suggest some alterations and customisation that will produce something she wants to keep long term.

 

Flour and yeast are the two big ones here and I believe there are limits still on rice and pasta

 

Our supermarkets are still selling everything they normally sell. Only stores that don't sell essentials are closed. But non-essentials in a store that sells essentials are not banned. So we can at least replace broken crockery or kettles etc - might not like the choice but we can get them.

 

I will let you know when we go to the grocery in about an hour... we have senior hours on Tuesday so we will be going when the store opens at 6am... 3 weeks ago when we last went they had everything we needed as I didn't need the TP/Paper towels/Napkins as we had enough of that... mainly for us right now is the fresher stuff is needed.. i need lettuce and yogurt and stuff like that so we will go and get other stuff so we will be good for another 3 weeks .. also concerned as June starts hurricane season and that will be the next issue as it appears it will be a rough hurricane season too... I need flour today so we shall see.

 

Flour is still scarce here in my part of Australia. Today when we went shopping the toilet paper section was full.. not with the brand I like but still it was full.

 

In the beginning I wanted soup. What soup was on the shelves were the "cream of" varieties. No vegetable at all which is the one I needed. Next week it was there. Never needed the TP/Kleenex/paper towels since I stock up twice a year at Sam's Club. Just did that in January. Will go back in July.

The item that I need and cannot find is my Country Crock calcium. Last time I was able to get it was the end of February. Was able to get a small tub on something else 2 weeks ago. Neither Wal-Mart nor the local grocery had anything in the butter section last week. The manager at the grocery was stocking milk when I looked and he said he is only getting about 60% of what he orders on a weekly basis. He has been told that there are not enough people working to fill the orders at the various distributors. A cousin's husband is the manager of a grocery in a town 7 miles from me. I had her ask him about Country Crock products. He isn't getting them either. I just looked at my Wal-Mart receipt history online and it says the Country Crock is "out of stock". Sigh...

I hope when I need to go to the grocery next week, it will be back in stock. I'm good on everything else so not going out this week.

 

We've got lots of things missing if you go to only one store. Many are trying to order direct from Suppliers - like produce and the like. Here is a glimpse into out local Costso. This is updated daily. Limited items will pry be out after a couple hours. You would pry only get those things if you go stand in line before it opens. We choose to use the regular grocery for the time being.


We actually use our local Stop & Shop, and all paper supplies are still scarce, as is flour, beans, yeast and long shelf items. When this first happened, even Ramen noodles were scarce. (I'm in the middle of everything in NJ, approx. 20 minutes from NYC.) Right now, I'm currently hoping my Stop and Shop will have Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding - they were out last time, lol!

 

The only things I've encountered around here that are in really short supply are disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, and paper products (toilet paper, paper towels). I just made my own disinfectant wipes. I can't say that I've really struggled to find anything. When I actually see a pack of toilet paper I pick one up and haven't run out, yet.
I am, however, super shocked at the price of eggs. They have been double and even close to triple what they usually are. We use A LOT of eggs and it's kind of driving me crazy lol.

 

The store I normally go to for grocery shopping (Meijer - like a Super Target with groceries and all the other stuff too) was out of TONS of stuff for the first few weeks. No ground turkey, no pasta, canned vegetables, no flour, no sugar, no yeast, no TP or paper towel, no cold medicine, no rubbing alcohol, no hand sanitizer, etc. After the 3rd trip there and it wasn't getting any better I kind of freaked out thinking we might starve to death... Then when I went home and told my hubby and showed him pictures of the shelves he suggested we go to our smaller local grocery store that's only a couple blocks from our house and they were basically fully stocked. I'm so glad he suggested that I go there because it calmed me greatly. The only thing they didn't have there was yeast, but then last week I was able to get even yeast. They even have toilet paper and paper towel, but only in limited amounts and only in a generic brand that I've never heard of. Thankfully we don't need any of that right now. So I've been avoiding the bigger store and going to my small local store and it's been really nice. I go first thing in the morning on Saturday or Sunday and there isn't anyone there so I feel like I'm less exposed and can get what I need and get outta there faster! The only thing that the little store doesn't have is the wine I like, which I can survive without that!

 

@Karen

I haven't even attempted to go to the Meijer in my area. I bet it is full of empty shelves, even now. It is in another larger city and I'm sticking to my small town these days. Like you though I am staying away from Wal-Mart in town which is where I normally grocery shop and sticking with the grocery store that is actually closer to my house. The prices are usually a little higher which is why I don't do a lot of shopping there. But in these circumstances I have been able to find things I want (except for butter) there. And, there are no crowds. I usually go during the week before 10 a.m. and it is mostly older individuals who like me want to avoid crowds.

 

Oh I went thru that a few weeks ago also. I was forcing myself not to freak, but no meat, no potatoes! ONE store was charging $5 for five pound bag. Very high, and gouging in my opinion.
Bleach is my go to clean on a normal day, so whenever one of us braves the store, we always look for it.
Toilet paper has been restocked, it goes fast, but I have seen it most times I go, although they put it right up front, and the dear clerks say, we have toilet paper, do you need a package?

Yeast, and baking soda/powder and flour and masa (ground corn) are like non existent. I live in the land of tortillas, and beans. People here make fresh tortillas and beans every day, so they panicked bought and continue to also.

My grown daughters are top raman addicts, so I pick up a box of those fried noodles each time and hold on to for them. I think my grand is gonna call me rama, in stead of gramma! lol

all and all, we are pretty stocked. Our hardware stores are filled with men/women doing their HONEY DO list! We have retiled our bathroom, taken out a wall, removed popcorn texture from one ceiling, painted bathroom, new room (without wall), replaced a fan, moved a light, and the electric along with it.

Next week, we take down paneling in our living room, and retexture walls, and paint.

I can't sit and do nothing!

 

The only thing I haven’t been able to get at all is yeast. Luckily I had a bit on hand but it’s stale dated and isn’t working all that well.
Toilet paper, Kleenex, sanitizer, cleaning products and pasta are the only things in short supply. Depending on the day, eggs and meat are rationed.
I have found groceries to be way more expensive lately.
Our liquor stores, hardware stores, auto repair places, Walmart are all still open. Many restaurants have come up with take-out family meals that even include wine. Some restaurants have created grocery packs that include fresh bread, charcuterie boards, salads, etc.

 

Let's see... now eggs are not a problem.
Beef and chicken are rationed in some stores, and smaller local stores have more.
Rice? I don't know cos we buy a 15lb bag of Basmati every 4-6 months, so we haven't shopped for rice.
We bought several live herbs and now have a fresh herb garden!
We've had a really hard time finding bikes- as posted in other thread. But finally we found them. Mine arrived yesterday!
Hubsters will come tomorrow.
Aldi has limits on beef products.
TP is still out.. glad we grabbed two mega packs weeks ago.
Bread flour, yeast - zippo! Much to hubster's demise- he is an excellent bread maker!
Regular pump hand soap is rare.
@AnneofAlamo I'm with you- I can't sit and do nothing either! I am learning more about natural vegetable dyes today!

 

We've stopped going to the stores except once a week for a few filler items, so I don't really know. We've started ordering our groceries from a local delivery company that works with small local farms, bakeries, etc. to provide goods. We get two big boxes of meats, produce and baked goods delivered each Thursday.

The one thing we had trouble finding prior to this was paper napkins. I ended up ordering a 24 pack of cheap washcloths from Amazon and we wash and reuse those as napkins. I also ordered some microfiber cloths to use instead of paper towels.

OH! One more thing... my beloved Lysol Laundry Sanitizer is nowhere to be found.

 

DH does our weekly shopping. So far, the past 2 weeks, he's been able to find everything on his list. I use Instacart during the week to replenish milk, fruit, etc. They have been very quick with delivery.

My family up north on the Navajo Nation are still dealing with shortage. My mom gets a few items at the local market (very small) and said prices are going up. She placed an Walmart order for pickup in the next town over (36 miles away). She got most but not all of her stuff. I'm going to mail her some disinfecting wipes because she can't find any. It's been restocked here and we even managed to grab one bottle of hand sanitizer last week.

 

The Albertsons on Blue Diamond and Buffalo has both of these! I just bought some fresh basil in a package that you can plant.

 

I hadn't been on a store for the first three weeks, so I can't tell. DH went once a week and said there were no empty selves. There is now a limit on two items per person on rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizers, wipes, and bleach (all these things except bleach were out of stock everywhere since late February, while the first measures in Greece were announced March 9th. I guess we like to stock up!)
The only stores that are still open are supermarkets, pharmacies and all e-shops (you can order online or by phone). The real problem is the courier services: they are expensive, unreliable (they don't even bring the package, they just leave a note "we couldn't find you, call us ASAP") and super slow (at least 3 weeks for an order in the same city!).
The only thing that we will need pretty soon is summer shoes for my daughter, and I've never shopped shoes on line, I like trying them first.

 

We are having trouble with the usual TP and Paper Towels, anything clorox. In the food section: dried beans, rice, flour, butter are the biggies we are having trouble finding. The stores are better stocked than at first but there are not as many choices as we had before. That is okay until they don't have my preferred choice and then, it's like, "Oh rats".

Honestly, I'm not going to go hungry. I may not get everything I want, but there is always LOTS of stuff at the grocery store and maybe I need to branch out more anyways.

janedee - you might make you a Amish Friendship Bread Starter while you still have yeast. It should keep multiplying and keep you going until yeast is more plentiful. There are several recipes on Pinterest.