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Food

Are you experiencing big gap in the shelves in your area?

(291 Posts)
Kali2 Mon 09-Aug-21 22:03:41

What are your stories and anecdotes about the current shortage on some shelves?

rosie1959 Thu 12-Aug-21 07:33:18

Growstuff I hate food shopping getting my fruit and veg takes 15 mins early on a Friday morning
Yes I live in the fens so not many places without a market once a week

Ro60 Thu 12-Aug-21 11:32:33

On the news last night vegetables lying unharvested in fields. ?

harold Thu 12-Aug-21 12:25:50

Shopped during the evening for daughter in Tesco in East Anglia and there were some spaces blank, but we managed to get almost everything on her list. Husband did our shopping Saturday morning, quite early, and could not get everything for us e.g. frozen fruit.

Happilyretired123 Thu 12-Aug-21 12:43:58

Empty shelves in south Bedfordshire especially in Sainsbury’s. Eg dog food, toilet cleaner, tinned tomatoes on different occasions. It’s pot luck whether you can find what is on your shopping list.

GrannyGravy13 Thu 12-Aug-21 12:53:15

Just back from a large Sainsbury’s, (S E Essex) only thing they were out of were small tins of baked beans.

Fruit/veg/salad all available.

Milk and dairy aisle full

Jaxie Thu 12-Aug-21 14:46:39

Tesco in Axminster short of fruit & vegetables. Other gaps to be seen. Certainly no Norwegian cheese for ages.

effalump Thu 12-Aug-21 16:37:36

Maybe a month ago but everything seems hunky-dory now. i always thought it was down to the staff filling on-line orders.

Chewbacca Thu 12-Aug-21 17:47:06

Cheshire area: just come in from Aldi and Tesco and both had fully stocked shelves, plenty of fresh meat, vegetables and bread. The only thing I couldn't get in Aldi was their cholesterol drink bottles and that's because they've discontinued them apparently, not because of delivery problems.

JaneJudge Fri 13-Aug-21 19:41:59

bloody hell, now my milkman has shortages!

Newatthis Sat 14-Aug-21 18:40:14

I lived in Eastern Europe during the Cold War where there was nothing on the shelves most of the time - literally nothing. Very little food and virtually no none food items. Families literally had to queue up for hours to get a loaf of bread. They all became very resourceful and not many people starved to death although none of us had weight problems. I know this is not a response to the question but it always amuses me when food shortages are mentioned.

Mamardoit Sat 14-Aug-21 18:49:53

I went to our nearest Asda this morning and didn't notice any gaps in the shelves. Last week we did an online shop from Morrisons. They had everything we wanted apart from milk. This forced me to go down the road to the Tesco's Express. They had plenty of milk.

Lincslass Sat 14-Aug-21 21:27:19

Alegrias1

I wonder what the Venn diagram of Leave Voters and people who don't care about others' problems looks like?

Circle?

Not so heavily populated up here. Plenty of fruit, donut peaches from Spain, veg,lots of local stuff, bread, brought sour dough today, milk cheese cream, loo rolls. In fact saw loaded trolleys as per usual.

love0c Sun 15-Aug-21 09:03:36

No shortages near me at all. Maybe the shortages are due to silly people panic buying?

Alegrias1 Sun 15-Aug-21 09:13:30

love0c

No shortages near me at all. Maybe the shortages are due to silly people panic buying?

Or maybe they're due to the fact we're 100,000 HGV drivers short? About 1/6 of the total required?

JaneJudge Sun 22-Aug-21 14:34:29

Following on from all the closures of Nandos. I took my dd* to KFC (her choice) for lunch and they had a very restricted menu, infact I think they'll have to close this afternoon. There was only boneless chicken on the menu and chips! no cheese, no cups confused

What is going on with chicken?

*she is having issues with retaining weight atm and is already quite skinny

FannyCornforth Sun 22-Aug-21 14:57:08

I’ve heard that turkeys will be hard to come by at Christmas! ?
Workers in the meat industry have been hit hard by Covid as they work in very close contact.
(It must be a vile job)
I don’t know if many Eastern European people previously worked in the meat industry, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

grannyactivist Tue 24-Aug-21 01:17:12

Fanny the meat industry is asking the government to allow them to use prisoners to meet labour shortages in abattoirs and packing plants etc.

www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/23/uk-food-firms-beg-ministers-to-let-them-use-prisoners-to-ease-labour-shortages

BlueBelle Tue 24-Aug-21 06:09:30

I haven’t noticed any shortages I went to Asda yesterday everything seemed as normal no empty shelves
I ve been out to eat locally a few times and menus the same have a grandchild works in MacDs whilst at school and they re normal
So I can only presume it’s some in particular areas of U.K.

FannyCornforth Tue 24-Aug-21 07:58:00

grannyactivist I heard about that on LBC, it was the middle of the night, and I’d forgotten about it.
What an outrageous and stupid idea. To be honest, it was that outrageous and stupid that I was under the impression that it was the government’s suggestion.

Maggiemaybe Tue 24-Aug-21 08:52:52

JaneJudge

bloody hell, now my milkman has shortages!

How does that happen, JaneJudge? Our milk comes from a local farm and is delivered locally. Is the float in the garage or are the cows on strike? grin

Funnily enough, there were notices up in our Tesco when I went in a couple of weeks ago apologising for shortages, but the only empty shelf I saw was in the milk aisle. I hope it might persuade a few more people to ditch the plastic and consider supporting their local milkmen and women.

Maggiemaybe Tue 24-Aug-21 08:58:11

And before anyone starts about me not caring about people who can’t afford to have their milk delivered, they only had to walk to the market round the corner or 5 minutes to Sainsburys.

Froglady Tue 24-Aug-21 08:58:34

No, I haven't seen any empty shelves in Morrisons in Blackburn.

Alegrias1 Tue 24-Aug-21 09:05:07

Maggiemaybe

And before anyone starts about me not caring about people who can’t afford to have their milk delivered, they only had to walk to the market round the corner or 5 minutes to Sainsburys.

My nearest Sainsbury's is 15 miles away. What do you suggest?

Maybe Waitrose have some. Or I'm sure they'll have some in Harrods.

Sadly, the multi-storey dwellers in the town nearest me don't have ready access to a lovely local market or a nice milkman who gets their milk straight from Daisy.

Maggiemaybe Tue 24-Aug-21 09:14:57

Oh dear. I’m not about to disclose my personal circumstances to you, suffice to say you assume too much. I prioritise. And using glass instead of plastic is one of my priorities.

Stop being so passive aggressive, *Alegrias^, it’s not all about you.

Alegrias1 Tue 24-Aug-21 09:23:08

Yes, correct, its not all about me.

But a big part of it is about people who don't have the resources to pop round to Sainsburys to pick up their bottle of milk.

The Co-op at the bottom of my road is a shopping destination for people who can't afford the prices in the Tesco in our town, or haven't got the transport to get themselves out there. Generally older or disadvantaged people. Two weeks ago they had no milk at all for a couple of days, in plastic or in glass. So what does the person who relies on that Co-op do for their morning cuppa? There's no milk deliveries in our area, I checked.

The attitude that they can just get it from their local milkman demonstrates a severe misunderstanding of how many people in this country have to live. I was in that Co-op yesterday, they have milk now but they still have signs up apologising for the reduced choice they can offer in all products right now.