Grocery shopping has been different for me this month. I started out participating in the January eat from the pantry/freezer challenge but slightly modified because I was out of some staples so I knew I would have some minimal spending at the start of the month. My goal was to keep it as low as possible and really refocus on using up what I had on hand after the holidays.
When I went to the store at the beginning of the month I encountered (for the first time) that my usual store was completely out of some of my preferred brands, such as butter, iced tea, ice cream bars and coffee creamer. I have tried many other brands of these over time but really prefer certain brands now and like to stick to them. I went to a different store, and they were also wiped out of these brands, or they just don’t carry them. I had to have butter so that was the only item I bought a different brand. I went back to the store a few times over the past few weeks checking to see if my preferred brands were in stock and they were still out until this weekend, so it took 3 weeks to get them in. So, I stocked up not knowing if they would run out again, which threw off my attempt to keep my spending lower.
I also noticed that bottled water was almost completely wiped out, the frozen cooked chicken patties and tenders (which I haven’t been buying but looked to see what they had) were also very limited. I needed an onion, and the quality was terrible. They all seemed very soft, but I did manage to find one that was ok. The apples also seemed limited and somewhat bruised. I passed on those.
So far this month I have spent $78.54, and don’t intend to spend any more. Of that amount I calculated that $16.62 of that was due to stocking up on the things they had been out of.
The shortages may have been due in part to some winter weather up and down the east coast, and maybe some supply chain issues. This is really the first time I have encountered noticeable shortages on products I regularly use. I realize that I didn’t HAVE to have ice cream bars, or iced tea, and changing brands of butter and coffee creamer isn’t a hardship. But it contributed to me stocking up on these products when they did come in. Instead of buying one of each item, I bought two.
Is anyone else noticing shortages? Do you stock up a bit when you see your usual items back in stock? I feel like I’m grocery shopping a bit differently now.
January 22nd, 2022 at 04:47 pm 1642870041
I've experienced the same thing. I work in HR and though it would have been a pain in you know what to implement, I wished the vaccine mandate would have held up. The reason being is, hiring has become more of a challenge, COVID runs rampant, and therefore more people are out sick, sliding down production of many items.
It sucks but here we are
January 22nd, 2022 at 07:21 pm 1642879311
January 22nd, 2022 at 08:28 pm 1642883316
I approve of vaccine mandates, but I don’t think it would prevent what is happening with Omicron. I use the NBA as my bell weather. Before Christmas, they had a big outbreak even though most players are vaccinated. They cancelled a few games but also allowed teams to sign a lot of replacement players to keep games going. It was kind of fun to see former and future players, and I think a few actually ended up with ‘permanent’ gigs. Now they seem to have worked there way through it, and are back to ‘normal.’ I joked that maybe some of the replacement players could now be substitute teachers.
Yes, some schools are closing, and I am not saying covid is the flu but I think in the past schools often closed for a few days when illness swept through. In Massachusetts, we have a school vacation in February and that would often break up the illness cycle. I think this will be true in stores too - once we get past a few weeks, staffing will get back to normal.
That being said, if you aren’t up to date on your shots, you are at higher risk of hospitalization and death. The mental strain on the healthcare workers of seeing people die from preventable death is breaking them, and if they can come back from that, it won’t be in a couple weeks…it is an act of community support to be vaccinated.
January 22nd, 2022 at 10:20 pm 1642890056
When I shopped at Aldi last week I picked up a 12-pack of toilet paper, even though I had 12-pack at home. That's something I don't want to run out of.
January 23rd, 2022 at 06:03 am 1642917787
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January 25th, 2022 at 07:48 am 1643096920
January 27th, 2022 at 05:19 pm 1643303998
I noticed how much smaller bunches are. How things just look smaller buying in grocery or eating out. It's not a good thing. I've done target and walmart looking for canned peas and stuff.
January 30th, 2022 at 07:07 pm 1643569663
Wink, glad you could find stuff, even if it wasn't exactly what you wanted.