What Shortages are You Seeing?

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I went to the grocery store closest to work earlier this week for cilantro. I nearly stopped in my tracks. The isles and produce displays were at least 20' apart. That said the produce displays that were there had many holes to nearly entire sections empty. They had cilantro so I was good, but. . .
Otherwise, I've not been to many stores lately in order to notice.
 
Samsclub was out of water, milk, cat food, and whole freezer sections that usually contain some of their popular items. Tempura shrimp, shrimp scampi, and numerous other things.
Local walmart was out of the cat food for awhile but got some back in. Lots of empty space in the freezers there as well.
 
Thursday night in Lidl here, no bread, hardly any milk (I buy cartons, not plastic containers, as it tastes funny) and gaps in lots of other areas- condiments, tins etc. Plenty of fresh fruit and veg. I found it surprising, as Thursday morning is when orders are delivered here. What's worse is I had made a list, using prices from an Irish supermarket brand, considered much dearer in the past. The exact list, minus the bread came to ten euros dearer- in what is considered the cheapest place to shop!
So, Friday drop daughter to work and go to Supervalu- the only bread left was the expensive ones, at around 3.50 per loaf. With breakfast and lunches, so we go through a lot of bread, bagels and wraps. I try to buy a mid-range, good quality, because the really cheap ones at a euro each really taste of cardboard, and can't be good for you. I make my own soda bread etc on the weekend. Their shelves seemed well stocked. Mentioned it to a friend last night, the cost difference. Apparently, an online social media group did a shopping test, and Lidls and Aldi came out dearer, which is interesting because people think they are the cheapest. Bit by bit they've increased- though they do pay top wages.
Reading @Amish Heart post above, not sure what is going on with pet supplies here. Most of the time all supermarkets are out of everything pet related. I've resorted to subscribing and save on Amazon, to stock up on cat biscuits, I can get the expensive KitKat at half the price there, then in our shops, and I use less of it. Its been worth it since the pound crashed, I'm getting more for my euro and shipping is free because I use another address up north.
Candles have become very expensive- and nowhere sells shoe polish anymore!
 
Last edited:
Economic ninja reported that there is going to be a butter shortage. If you find it on sale, stock up and put it in the freezer. I always freeze butter and have never had it go bad. I typically have at least 10 pounds on the freezer door at all times. I might have to fortify my supply. All the butter in there now, I paid 1.99 for so I'm not sure what it is now. Also, with the increased demand over the holidays, I'm sure the price will go up, so it's a good idea to get it now.
 
Economic ninja reported that there is going to be a butter shortage. If you find it on sale, stock up and put it in the freezer. I always freeze butter and have never had it go bad. I typically have at least 10 pounds on the freezer door at all times. I might have to fortify my supply. All the butter in there now, I paid 1.99 for so I'm not sure what it is now. Also, with the increased demand over the holidays, I'm sure the price will go up, so it's a good idea to get it now.
I'm well stocked on butter, it does freeze well! Might stick a few more pounds away, one of our local grocery stores has their brand on sale this week!
 
Saw a strange one the other day. Went to two Walmart stores and both were almost out of the little flavor packets that you put in a bottle of water. Then at the grocery store, they had a ton of them,  except for the flavor I use. Go figure...🙄

Strangely, frozen potato products like tater tots and hash browns have been really thin lately. Walmart and the two local grocery stores didn't have any for almost 3 weeks. They're back now though...
 
Saw a strange one the other day. Went to two Walmart stores and both were almost out of the little flavor packets that you put in a bottle of water. Then at the grocery store, they had a ton of them,  except for the flavor I use. Go figure...🙄

Strangely, frozen potato products like tater tots and hash browns have been really thin lately. Walmart and the two local grocery stores didn't have any for almost 3 weeks. They're back now though...
Some of us HCL folks are eating too many tater tots and causing the shortage! Nah, you can't eat too many tater tots!!😁
 
Strangely, I'm seeing new things and brands I'm not used to. even chicken patties are back.

Powdered peanut butter... mix in some powdered chocolate milk mix and powdered milk and you get a powdered milk shake!

Now I'm thinking Thai food. finding sugar free PB is a pain and melting it for fried noodles is a pain X10! I think I'll try some next run.
Note to self, new vegetable grater and coconut oil....
 
When ordering windows on Friday I learned the vinyl windows were 4 week lead time.

Due to shortages aluminum clad wood were 8 MONTHS!

Ben
When I saw "ordering windows" I thought, "gee! I thought Neb was a Linux guy."
 
The only reason I still use windows is to game. that will end.
Totally agree. Most of my games have moved whether it uses Proton, wine, or some other option. Obviously prefer a "natural" option but I can make due. Windoze has gone away for most of my systems but it will take time.
 
When I finally outgrow games, I'll never use windows again. W 10 is nothing but a pain in the butt! I liked XP and 7. the rest, not so much.
 
Samsclub was still out of the shrimp stuff and milk. I'm hoping they will get it back in soon.

magus, I also liked XP and 7 better. I hate what 10 did with the games. Can't play solitaire anymore without having to watch ads. That pisses me off.
 
I had to replace my pc this summer. Saw models "out of stock" at bestby and newegg, I checked all the major brands, hp, dell, lenovo, et al. So I went shopping for parts to build one, same story. A lot of items out of stock.

I've shopped for a cameras several times this summer. Even company stores like cannon can't get many models.

Most recently I've been shopping for music electronics, tuners, pickups, mics etc. Many items out of stock in this area to.

The high price items and the cheap junk are about all anyone has left. Popular items are all gone, might be months or years before they are available again.

Has anyone else noticed issues getting electronic gear?
 
I had to replace my pc this summer. Saw models "out of stock" at bestby and newegg, I checked all the major brands, hp, dell, lenovo, et al. So I went shopping for parts to build one, same story. A lot of items out of stock.

I've shopped for a cameras several times this summer. Even company stores like cannon can't get many models.

Most recently I've been shopping for music electronics, tuners, pickups, mics etc. Many items out of stock in this area to.

The high price items and the cheap junk are about all anyone has left. Popular items are all gone, might be months or years before they are available again.

Has anyone else noticed issues getting electronic gear?
I know a gal who is into photography, she should do it professionally. She has been having a hard time the past year getting equipment!
 
I had to replace my pc this summer. Saw models "out of stock" at bestby and newegg, I checked all the major brands, hp, dell, lenovo, et al. So I went shopping for parts to build one, same story. A lot of items out of stock.

I've shopped for a cameras several times this summer. Even company stores like cannon can't get many models.

Most recently I've been shopping for music electronics, tuners, pickups, mics etc. Many items out of stock in this area to.

The high price items and the cheap junk are about all anyone has left. Popular items are all gone, might be months or years before they are available again.

Has anyone else noticed issues getting electronic gear?

Quite a bit of electronics I purchase at work is delayed, some for a couple years now. One module we use for freezer or water bug alarms has been out of stock all summer and we ran out. I finally found 2 companies that rework used ones and sell with a warranty. I got 5 in last week, tested them first thing. They all performed like new.
Batteries for Motorola radios are another unobtainable item
 
Yes, it is hard to find video cards these days and prices have doubled or even tripled. A card that was around $150 is now over $500. The production of the chips got slowed down. Things are about to get worse because new sanctions on China shut down factors making microchips overnight. All of the US personnel/management pulled out of factories in China & they had to close. Supposedly, stuff will start being made in the US now, but it won't happen overnight.

Samsclub still does not have the milk we get, does not have the tempura shrimp, was already out of water, & still has whole empty sections where stuff should be. I hope they didn't discontinue the milk we like best. It's the best milk we've ever had.
 
Was at W-mart today and noticed no frozen potato products, 10' of empty freezer space... There were some holes, but I am finding that they are putting the stuff they have in volume in any hole just to keep the shelves looking full....

The prices seem to be climbing again, name brand soda is >$6.50 a 12 pack, enough to make me start drinking water....
 
I went to a little independent supermarket around the corner and the amount of goods on the shelves has shrunk even more since I last visited.
A whole refrigerated produce display that took up a whole wall was shut down and warm.
More packs of meat looking grey in their trays in the meat section.
Vegges and fruit in the bins with obvious mould and bad spots.
Massive gaps between product types on the shelves and the prices made me wince.

I found the freshest loaf of bread I could find checking expiry date and for mould and when I got home and opened it
the bread was stale and starting to dry and stiffen up.
 
After five months I tracked down a tin of black shoe polish for my son's boots. It occurred to me today the Irish supermarket chain is always stocked, compared to Lidl, Tesco etc.

I was internet shopping for boot cleaners this afternoon, just seeing what they had. I saw 1.125oz tins of plain shoe polish for $20. Most were $8 which is still ridiculous.
 
I went to 2 different Wal-Marts yesterday and today. No sticks of butter, only tubs of butter mixes and margarine. Several other shortages I saw here and there.
There's lots and lots of butter here. The shelves look the same as any other time. But the price has definitely gone up.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top