Remember our shortages threads?

LaurieLovesLearning

Has anyone been seeing a shortage of cornstarch?

We have only found tiny containers of it and the prices are sky high. Many places have none at all, and this appears to be an ongoing thing.

Our milk pudding can be made with flour, and we have been doing that. However, I had the strange to me realization that it was just sweetened thick milk gravy. Well, that was not appealing in any way. My husband thought that was funny, but didn't disagree. He doesn't like milk pudding.

I think we will see more tapioca around our house in the next while or get creative with milk based soups, I guess.

kbmbillups1

I haven't seen any shortages on that down here. Now you make me want to buy some extra just in case!

The main shortage I've seen is dry cat food. Only the VERY EXPENSIVE kinds are ever on the shelves.

vickeym

Cat food has been scarce here as have eggs. And store bought eggs are selling for $8 and $9 a dozen.

Home grown is now going for $10 a dozen.

LaurieLovesLearning

@vickeym Oh my. That's a lot! We are high at $6.50/18.

Many people still need to raise their homegrown egg prices here. They just keep giving them away, basically, as they always have. Only a few have raised their prices to reflect sone of their true cost.

Torey

Cat litter has been missing for quite some time. At least the cheaper brands. There are some very expensive brands on the shelves but anything reasonable is very hard to find. My cat has a litter box that she rarely uses (mostly on the days that it is -40 and she refuses to go outside) so I'm not in need of much but the VFD uses cat litter for absorbent on minor highway spills. The cheap stuff is the best for that.

Monek Marie

We don't seem to have many shortages, just high prices

I am sure more shortages will be coming.

vickeym

@torey , I have not heard of issues here with cat litter. Though I do not have a cat, so just might not have heard about it. A lot of folks here use it for traction when it gets icy. Though most learn quickly not to use it in area where they walk. Sticks to your shoes pretty heavy and makes a mess if you track it inside.

LaurieLovesLearning

We find it hard to find our middle of the road PC brand cat food (no corn & soy) most times, but are doing okay. The cat litter we buy (not top of the line, cheaper) seems to be in stock when we look.

High prices are certainly the norm.

kbmbillups1

We have been having a shortage on the cheaper cat litter for MONTHS! Every time we go to the store that's the first isle we go down. 😁 If we can score a 35 lbs box for $9.99 it's a great day!

Finally, the last couple days the shelves have been full and now it's the dry cat food!

Today there were two 3.5 pound bags of dry cat food for $9.99 and two 13 pound of the same brand for $28.99. All of the cheap stuff was gone. Everything else was $15 to $20 for a 3 pound bag. Crazy!!

LaurieLovesLearning

We found cornstarch and the price was okay! I'm not sure how long we will be able to get it, but it sure beats the slime of arrowroot powder in apple crisp (we make a sauce for in ours)! I had to do quite an override to eat it. Slimy, snotty-like apples in dessert just isn't my thing.

My husband found a question from someone in BC directed toward a grocer. Their answer...we don't know when they would get any...so the question was quite legitimate and we weren't imagining things. Then he found out in a continued search that use of cornstarch in medications during the pandemic led to a shortage. I think dry growing conditions and the use of corn for cattle feed & other uses most likely added to it as well. The only confirmed and unusual factor though, would be the overuse by the medical system.

Hopefully there will still be more available after this find, but I won't hold my breath.

shllnzl

Predictions are that anything in aluminum cans, like some pet food and beer will become more scarce and expensive due to the shortage of aluminum.

It still seems strange to me to see empty sections on store shelves.

LaurieLovesLearning

@shllnzl It is crazy, isn't it?

kbmbillups1

@shllnzl I agree.

I took this to show my husband there was very little cat food to buy. It's been like this for months.

VermontCathy

I seldom use corn starch, so I haven't really noticed. But generally speaking, I am finding the shelves of our local grocery stores to be pretty full of most items.

There is less pasta than it would take to fill the shelf, but there is always some to buy every time I have been there.

The issue so far this year has been price, not supply.

However, I am seeing a number of projections of crop shortages and higher prices this year. There are several reasons for this.

• Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat. Because of the war, Ukraine is unlikely to be able to grow and export its normal amounts of wheat. So the US and Canada will be called on to export more wheat to make up for the shortfall, which is likely to raise prices at home.
• Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of the raw materials in commercial fertilizer. Most food worldwide is not grown organically, and depends on these supplies. This means many farms will not be able to obtain as much fertilizer as they normally use, which will depress yields.
• Because of projected shortages of corn due to less fertilizer usage, meat farmers are cutting back on the amount of stock. This means that beef prices are likely to fall in the short term, but later in 2023 there will be shortages and higher prices.

2023 is going to be another good year to grow as much as possible at home.

LaurieLovesLearning

@VermontCathy Pretty much everything else we'd buy is always available. This one just got frustrating because we eat a lot of pudding because we have a lot of milk. It does save us money. Flour pudding is an option, but we like to keep a variety going so as to not get too tired of it, and some substitutions, while they technically can work, aren't aways the best for texture.

Prices on everything are high. No matter what the cause, growing your own, weather an indoor/outdoor garden or animals, is certainly what a person should be focusing on this summer.

Let's hope that our growing conditions allow us an abundant harvest.

vickeym

Eggs have been hard to find still and prices are getting higher and higher. Local talk says over $10 a dozen soon. Still hard to find cat food. So far corn starch has been available pretty often and the yeast that was hard to get for so long is back in stock. Canning supplies were super hard to get during the pandemic but are back to a pretty regular supply again here.

But it is not unusual for paper products to have limited supply and choices as well as some other random items. Never completely gone, but limited choices and supplies of many items. Have notices store spreading items out more to fill in the shelves.

VermontCathy

@LaurieLovesLearning Have you tried potato starch as a substitute? I buy it at a small Asian grocery store and use it in Sichuan Chinese dishes, but I wouldn't be surprised if it also worked in corn starch recipes. It serves the same purpose as a thickening agent.

@vickeym Bird flu is an ongoing problem in commercial egg farms. Many birds have had to be culled, which is reducing the egg supply and raising prices.

I've seen shortages of specific brands of a number of items, but generally in 2023 there has been a substitute available. This was not true in 2020-1. Prices gaps between store brand/private label and branded products are also higher than they have been in the past, and sometimes this has meant a shortage of the less-expensive store brand.

LaurieLovesLearning

@VermontCathy We did read that it is a cornstarch substitute, but haven't seen it anywhere. We also considered making it ourselves...I'm not sure if I want one more thing to do, but I should see what it might be like to make it anyway. Does it give any potato flavor? How is the slime factor? I've never used it before, and never known anyone who used it, so that is why I'm asking.

I do like the thought that there are less gmo potatoes out there than gmo corn, so this could be a really good bonus.

We may have to check in some of the newer Asian stores in the city to see if they carry it.

VermontCathy

I haven't perceived any slime. It is very finely ground when dry, and makes a slurry similar to flour/water when mixed with water. The right ratio is about 1 tbsp potato starch to 2 1/2 tbsp water.

I don't detect any potato flavor, but then I haven't tried to taste the slurry directly without adding it to the meal I am cooking. I think you will find it a very neutral flavor.

I think there's a good chance that even small Asian grocery stores will carry it.

I've considered doing the opposite, using readily-available corn starch instead of potato starch in Sichuan Chinese recipes, but haven't actually tried it.

Michelle D

@vickeym I have also noticed eggs being hard to find in the grocery stores. We have chickens so I don't buy eggs but we have had a lot more people interested in purchasing eggs from us as they are having trouble finding them at their usual stores.

The main shortage we see here is anything potato related. Fresh potatoes are in small supply and way over priced. Shelves for processed foods with potatoes as an ingredient are almost always empty. That doesn't affect me as I don't really purchase those items but it is very noticeable.

VermontCathy

@Michelle D I am able to buy potatoes in stores here, but fewer varieties are available, and organic potatoes are often not available at all.

Supply of organic vegetables has been limited since the COVID shortages began. It's a good time to grow your own.

vickeym

I have chickens so the egg shortage has not affected us, but I work for our local food bank and there are lots of folks who get very excited when we bring them eggs because they have not been able to get them. It is getting better now though.

@LaurieLovesLearning if you don't need a lot of potato starch or just want to test th3ere is an easy way. If you make some hash browns (shredding the potatoes) Leave them in a bowl of water for a little while. The water will turn a little colored. Carefully scoop out or drain the potatoes saving the water. Let the water sit for a few minute or so to settle. carefully drain off the water leaving the starch in the bottom of the bowl. It can either be used right away or spread thin and dried.

It is not slimy. I have used it when my husband had some stomach issues and we were eliminating thing to find the cause.

annbeck62

@LaurieLovesLearning if you can find arrowroot that is a good substitute for cornstarch. I actually prefer it because here in the states if cornstarch isn't organic it's probably from gmo corn.

LaurieLovesLearning

@annbeck62 Nope, not in everything (but thanks for suggesting it)! We tried it in an apple crisp because we thought it might work. Slimy apples and sauce in our dessert was not popular.

It might be good in something else that could disguise the slime, and I would be willing to possibly try it in something else, but not in that dessert!

I'm not sure I'd want to use it in pudding after that experience. I suspect it wouldn't be a whole lot different.

annbeck62

@LaurieLovesLearning good to know. It's a huge bummer when recipes don't turn out. I did a quick search and found highly rated recipes for apple crisp using arrowroot powder. So it seems at least in theory it should have worked. So I was curious and did a little more digging. I did find that if you combine arrowroot with dairy it will create a slimy result so definitely not a good idea to use when making pudding ;)