What weird shortages are you seeing in your area?

Melissa Swartz
Melissa Swartz Posts: 270 ✭✭✭

The newest shortage for me has been dishwasher detergent. Dish soap (Joy, Dawn, etc.) is available, but not the dishwasher detergent. Yes, I know that there is an easy DIY substitute. But still, I didn't expect it to be completely gone. When I asked a store clerk about it, she said they weren't getting any delivered to them.

What has disappeared in your area?

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Comments

  • Melinda
    Melinda Posts: 123 ✭✭✭

    There was a shortage in medical alcohol, but there is also a shortage for my alcohol pad wipes to use when I take my insulin shots. sigh. Handsoap is also gone, liquid but not bar soap lol

  • maimover
    maimover Posts: 359 ✭✭✭

    I looked for tissues for weeks. Two weeks ago found them in two different stores though. Our big grocery store here is a Shoprite. Their store brand is Wholesome Pantry. I get their organic WP coconut milk in a can (use it for coffee n some baking). Myself or friends or family have looked at several different stores in two counties. Nothing! Last week my daughter looked in our local when she was there and she said the whole shelf, of all brands, was empty except for a couple of cans of some brand she’s not heard of and it was almost $4 for a little can. No!!!!

  • herbantherapy
    herbantherapy Posts: 453 ✭✭✭✭

    All cleaning products not just the Clorox/Lysol wipes but the toilet cleaners too! And for some reason the price of underwear has skyrocketed! Used to be typically 5/$20 now 3/$33.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    I can't find OXO beef base. It disappeared from the shelves close to the beginning of the run on stores and hasn't returned. I have looked in 3 of our big chain stores as well as smaller stores. Almost everything that was in short supply has come back, even if its just in small quantities or temporarily. But not OXO. Very strange.

  • VickiP
    VickiP Posts: 586 ✭✭✭✭

    Ammonia for cleaning and cleaning vinegar. Really weird.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    Oh, I just commented on this in my yeast post. https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/843844/yeast-that-is-almost-free-and-it-isnt-sourdough#latest

    "I'm sure there is some legitimate increase in demand. I'm sure more people are baking at home, probably as a hobby during this time. But, I'd be willing to bet that when all this started, some folks thought, "What would people need to survive if things got really bad or the supply chain was disrupted.... yeast and flour, rubbing alcohol, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, dry beans... etc, etc". Then, stockpiled such items for the intent of reselling them for a large profit. The alternative explanation is that a nation addicted to chicken nuggets and sodas is suddenly cooking from scratch... and using enormous amounts of toilet paper! Considering that the federal government has arrested and fined people for stockpiling face masks - whole warehouses full of facemasks - at the beginning of this epidemic. Maybe it sounds far fetched. But, about a month ago my mom asked a girl at a grocery store when they would get rubbing alcohol and toilet paper back in. She said, "Oh, we get some on the trucks each morning, around 7:30, but it is all gone by 7:35.... and I don't know when any alcohol will be on the shelves... people like my boyfriend buy it all to make hand sanitizer and sell that." So, she called in later and spoke with the manager. Magically, they found 1 package of toilet paper for her "in the back"."

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin
    edited May 2020

    Time to go back to making beef broth! lol

    I haven't used OXO for years due go its most content.

    I find this out of stock (still) phenomenon interesting. We have LOTS of toilet paper now, more consistently than before all of this began. Other things are lower in supply (yeast can still be difficult to find), but not much seems to be out at this point. However, we shop once/month and NEVER on the weekend or into the evenings.

  • Voodoo Flóra
    Voodoo Flóra Posts: 258 ✭✭✭

    Organic milled flour!!!

  • Hamburg and toilet paper are two things I can't' locate, well red hot dogs, cleaning supplies.. It is hit or miss you just have to get there at the right time on the right day I guess.

  • vickeym
    vickeym Posts: 2,134 ✭✭✭✭✭

    In our area, cleaning supplies except for toilet and bathroom cleaning. Yeast has been non existent since this all started. Every store in the three cities I go to has been out of or limiting fresh meat to 2-3 packages per person. Lots of processed meats, but limited fresh. I work at the local grocery and we are having a hard time getting supplies of meat or cleaning products to sell. Even the nearest Costco is limiting what the stores can get for resale. Even limiting things like cooking oil, especially the size restaurants use. They are limited to one of those big jugs per purchase. It's getting crazy. And in Alaska there are so many smaller stores, it is even harder for them to get supplies. The wholesalers are sending stuff to chain stores before they give it to the smaller mom and pop stores.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    @LaurieLovesLearning I usually do make my own broth but the supply of bones seems to have diminished. I tried to get some beef fat as well at the local butcher but no luck with that either. He has been making more than usual amounts of hamburger so has used up what he used to have as excess fat. (I like a bit of beef fat on the bison roasts as they tend to be very lean). I used up my last bison bones for bone broth and am saving that in the freezer in case of illness. It was more of a jelly than a broth when it was cooled so too precious of a commodity to use in everyday cooking.

    We have lots of toilet paper again as well. Yeast is still not available here.

    @judsoncarroll4 There is hoarding and reselling with price gouging going on here as well and it is easy to understand shortages when people are doing that but some of the shortages make no sense at all.

    Despite the closures of some poultry processing plants, there was a sale on boxes of chicken wings last week. I guess with all the bars closed, there is less demand for wings (no more "Wing Nites"). So there is a silver lining in some things.

  • Marjory Wildcraft
    Marjory Wildcraft Posts: 1,615 admin

    This thread has been really interesting.

    I strongly recommend you stock up on necessities - enough for at least a year. They've "printed" 3.8 trillion dollars so far and there is another $3 trillion bill in the senate. Fed Chair Powell said they will print as much as they need to.

    The consequences are inflation, and then hyper inflation. This is the end of the US dollar. It's that scenario we all sort of knew would happen, but didn't really want to live through.

    The food supply chain is breaking down. Developing nations will be hurt the most. The UN is saying that there will be famines of Biblical Proportions this year they are projecting deaths from starvation to at least double. . I don't like to be so... gosh, real? But it's what is going on and facing it is better than ignoring it.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    @torey We just got a half beef done. I have so many bones. I would give you a lot if I could.

    We just had a home poultry processing plant (local we don't run one) revive for a second year after initially closing 2 and 1 year ago. They will be super busy.

  • llvonn
    llvonn Posts: 18 ✭✭✭

    In NZ we are almost back to normal. When covid first hit we had issues getting sanitiser, alcohol and aloe vera. On lockdown started there was difficulty getting hold of yeast and flour in supermarkets. In the end, the biggest issue was not lack of flour, but lack of the small bags the four was packaged in. I was able to get wholesale supplies,ies, so not a problem for me. A local lolly factory started bagging flour for the supermarkets so that fixed the issue. Surprising products that we had trouble getting are spices - cinnamon, etc. Alot of people missed their coffee fix, but not me as I have an espresso machine at home.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I still haven't been able to find organic flour anywhere. Toilet paper and paper towels are hit and miss. Some stores still have completely bare shelves on the toilet paper and paper towel aisle and some have a small amount.

    There are no cleaning supplies to buy yet either not just the disinfecting sprays and wipes. I find that strange b/c I haven't bought any cleaning supplies in a long time since I make mine now. Sanitizer is still no existent. My husband loves the stuff. He ended up bringing the extra large one he bought for his classroom home.

    Now that the CDC came out yesterday and said they have changed their minds about their guidelines and now say the coronavirus does not spread easily on contaminated surfaces maybe they'll be able to restock the cleaning aisle with disinfecting supplies in all of the stores.

  • Gail H
    Gail H Posts: 359 ✭✭✭✭

    All of the local farms in South Jersey/Eastern PA are out of chicken. I told my kids chicken may become a special occasion dish once again. "A chicken in every pot" may be seen as a sign of prosperity as in days of old.

    We also can't get yeast. I'm loving my sourdough!

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    In my part of Australia it almost seems normal now. 6 weeks ago I did notice a severe shortage of toilet paper, paper towel, tissues, flour, bread, rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, disinfectant, Glen 20. I did hear that some people bought up big and then try and sell for a profit online, now they're stuck with it and supermarkets won't refund. Ah karma!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Through all of this, food grade buckets are still absent from the shelves of every Walmart I have checked. Also, unbleached flour and yeast, although I finally found 2 jars of yeast last week..

    Also eggs 5 dozen, have gone from 5ish to 17.00 at the local warmart and one of them just outside a large city in Ok has them for 4...I realize the big city has competition but the local one clost to where I live had a disgusting false note posted on the 5 doz boxes claiming the shortage...really??? When the feds are telling the farmers to pour out the milk, kill the cattle, the pigs, and the chickens....

    This whole mess stinks, and yes I am convinced that there is whole lot of buying to resell the next go round.....

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    I've not done much shopping, but my mom said that the stores have been short of freezer bags. That makes sense, with a lot of panic meat buying.

    A kind of good shortage- the farm I buy most of my meat and of some of my vegetables from has had a small selection lately, but that is because they are getting so much more business that they sell out quickly. I have a feeling the roadside vegetable stands will do very good business this year.

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    Honestly, I hate to agree with you on this one... but I do. My education is in economics, so we have somewhat similar backgrounds in this regard. I am not sure this is the "straw that breaks the camel's back"... but we are getting closer with every event... and each administration. If folks haven't done so by now, it is definitely time to be come resilient... storing and producing.

  • dottile46
    dottile46 Posts: 437 ✭✭✭

    I have a good supply of yeast on hand so haven't even looked at it. Our local grocery store, in our town of just over 1,000, has a fair stock of most things now, except meat and cleaning products. So far I haven't seen a limit on meat in that store but when they do get meat in it is gone in less than 24 hours.

    We live between 3 Wal-Marts but I've only been to 2 in the last month. Neither have fresh meat to speak of, maybe a package or two on the shelf but almost a full supply of processed meats. There are limits on meat of 1 package of fresh meat per shopper.

    Sam's Club last weekend was low on fresh meat of all kinds. Processed meats were only about half supply. They had a limit sign up but I wasn't looking for meat so didn't pay much attention to it. I did find dishwasher tabs which I hadn't been able to find for weeks. The cleaning supplies are pretty limited and the ones available are not on the list of approved disinfectants effective against the coronavirus. Laundry soap is coming back, but not the one I normally use. Canned goods, vegetables and fruits, are available in the commercial can at full supply but the regular size can is not. Toilet paper did not exist, paper towels were about half supply and there were three or four different kinds of tissue.

  • dianne.misspooz
    dianne.misspooz Posts: 105 ✭✭✭

    We were short on rice. The only thing left was boxed flavored rice and plenty of it soooo, I bought a good bit of them. They were pretty cheap. The interesting thing is, they were all DELICIOUS! I never would have thought to buy them if it hadn't been for this lockdown. I finally found a giant bag of rice but you know, I'm going to keep getting those flavored boxed rices. Yum!

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    Cool Whip! My mom loves Watergate Salad so I wanted to make some for her. The supermarket was all out of Cool Whip! That surprised me.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This weekend the Sprouts near me ran out of all the different kinds of Veganese and most of their Kombucha brands, a lot of different dairy and non-dairy products. Before that apparently some stores were running out of frozen pizzas and hair dye.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    I have been so surprised that pizzas were fully stocked earlier in the panic. I would have thought that ready to eat meals would fly off the shelf.

  • burekcrew86
    burekcrew86 Posts: 248 ✭✭✭

    We have had shortages of fresh beef, and there are no chicken wings anywhere. No rubbing alcohol. No yeast. Thank goodness for my sourdough starter! :)

  • gardneto76
    gardneto76 Posts: 528 ✭✭✭✭

    Of all the weird things, I had a hard time finding Parchment paper. Paper products are starting to trickle in and we even have found 1-2 packages in the evenings after work. Disinfectants are still missing. The newest one for here seems to be beef. One store is limiting every family to only 2 items from the butcher counter and 3lbs max per item. I cannot help but think that must make it really hard for larger families.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,390 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Today I couldn't find toilet paper again! Went to 2 stores and luckily found 2 four packs at the second store. Bought one and left one for someone else. Then, I saw on the news tonight that they're predicting a second wave soon even though the CDC today published very low numbers.

    Another strange thing is that my Aldi hasn't had any box cake mixes in weeks. I thought that was odd. Surely people aren't eating that many cakes!

  • Momma Mo
    Momma Mo Posts: 138 ✭✭✭

    Hydrogen peroxide is back, but not 70% isopropyl alcohol.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    You got that right! That amount of meat is what I cook for one meal (and skimpy leftovers). I am so glad that we know farmers & have our own meat too.