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Grocery store shortages are back

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Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#71

Post by LightRailTycoon »

reaperducer wrote: post #36
onecommentman wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would a Grocers Association or supermarket chain have any financial, political or legal reason to overemphasize that unusual or substantive shortages might be happening? Yes. (Though that doesn’t mean they are wrong or misleading in this case.) Which is why it is wise to look at actual objective nationwide data first. Anecdotes are useful in suggesting where to check real data (or gather real data if missing). Whoeve…

Would a Grocers Association or supermarket chain have any financial, political or legal reason to overemphasize that unusual or substantive shortages might be happening? Contrary to what Hollywood and the internet would have you believe, not everything is a conspiracy. Inventing conspiracies any time something doesn't meet your worldview is just plain lazy. As for providing the hard data, if that's what you're after,…

The USDA Agricultural marketing service has an incredible amount of frequently updated data and reports about the movement and price of agricultural commodities through the supply chain.

https://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news

Want to know about truck rates and availabilities?

https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/filerepo/sites/default/fil...

Want to know about fruit pricing at retail in the northeast?

https://marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-report-retail?repType=wiz...

Advertised consumer prices by commodity for the current week?

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/wa_lo100.txt

Where are bell peppers on the US market coming from, how are they getting there, and what do they cost?

https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-report?commAbr=PEP&ro...

How is this year's shipping volume compared to last years?

https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/dmr/DMR20220112FV.pdf

What's available at the Boston Produce Market?

https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-report-top-filters?st...

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#72

Post by mangamadaiyan »

prawn wrote: post #46
WalterBright wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon sells galvanized steel garbage cans of various sizes. They have a lid that naturally seals tightly. They're varmint proof for anything up to a bear. Perfect for mouse-proofing your food. My experience with mice is that they travel in 6 packs. If you catch one, there are probably 5 more.

One of my enduring memories was in my school years visiting a friend whose family had recently moved to Australia from Asia. At the end of their kitchen bench, they had a food-grade plastic bin larger than the stereotypical Oscar-the-grouch trash can, full of rice. We buy rice in 5-10kg bags but maybe I should be trying to find larger.

Should you proceed with your plan, be sure to check the bin for the presence of tiny insects every now and then. One of the problems with storing rice in quantity is the profusion of insects (bugs, moth larvae, et cetera) that like to make the rice bin their home.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#73

Post by hn_go_brrrrr »

reaperducer wrote: post #24
hprotagonist wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s advertised as a kibble container but we all know it holds 25 pounds of flour juuust fine. (and we use it quickly enough, which is kind of shocking but also, pie crust is easy!)

pie crust is easy So is pizza dough! I make it about once a week, and every time I'm reminded of my younger generation boss who didn't know that pizza dough is just flour, water, salt, and yeast. She though it was some kind of magic plastic or something and refused to eat pizza because of it. People really are getting too far away from their food sources.

> She though it was some kind of magic plastic

If all she's had is "dollar slice" pizza, I can see how she came to that conclusion.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#74

Post by sva_ »

prawn wrote: post #46
WalterBright wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon sells galvanized steel garbage cans of various sizes. They have a lid that naturally seals tightly. They're varmint proof for anything up to a bear. Perfect for mouse-proofing your food. My experience with mice is that they travel in 6 packs. If you catch one, there are probably 5 more.

One of my enduring memories was in my school years visiting a friend whose family had recently moved to Australia from Asia. At the end of their kitchen bench, they had a food-grade plastic bin larger than the stereotypical Oscar-the-grouch trash can, full of rice. We buy rice in 5-10kg bags but maybe I should be trying to find larger.

I would advice against it, unless you want to be visited by rice weevils

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_weevil

Small packs of rice are the way to go imo.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#75

Post by kragen »

cableshaft wrote: post #7
hprotagonist wrote: post #3

"There are some issues with out-of-stocks, but it tends to be a situation where if you go to a store on a Tuesday night, maybe something's out of stock, but by Wednesday sometime it's back in store," Rose told NPR. This describes about the “worst” i’ve seen, in new england. I had no trouble getting some fairly fussy ingredients for holiday cooking or my annual winter anti-depression baking spasms. Still, march 2020 d…

Yeah I did the pantry thing after March 2020 (in the basement, the kitchen doesn't have a proper pantry) and wasn't careful enough about protecting it. It was fine for a year, but this winter we got mice in the house and now we have to toss what wasn't in cans or plastic containers already. We set some live traps and I've caught and released (several miles away) four mice already. Still a good idea, we just can't hav…

Mice can get into a lot of plastic containers, can't they?

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#76

Post by kragen »

sva_ wrote: post #74
prawn wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my enduring memories was in my school years visiting a friend whose family had recently moved to Australia from Asia. At the end of their kitchen bench, they had a food-grade plastic bin larger than the stereotypical Oscar-the-grouch trash can, full of rice. We buy rice in 5-10kg bags but maybe I should be trying to find larger.

I would advice against it, unless you want to be visited by rice weevils https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_weevil Small packs of rice are the way to go imo.

Flour beetles can chew their way through plastic bags. I don't know if rice weevils can too, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#77

Post by monkeybutton »

kragen wrote: post #75
cableshaft wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I did the pantry thing after March 2020 (in the basement, the kitchen doesn't have a proper pantry) and wasn't careful enough about protecting it. It was fine for a year, but this winter we got mice in the house and now we have to toss what wasn't in cans or plastic containers already. We set some live traps and I've caught and released (several miles away) four mice already. Still a good idea, we just can't hav…

Mice can get into a lot of plastic containers, can't they?

They will chew through plastic.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#78

Post by ericbarrett »

SilasX wrote: post #54
pessimizer wrote: post #29

Aldi's distribution has been hit particularly badly. A couple of weeks ago, my local Aldi had run out of salt . I never would have imagined a grocery store could run out of salt.

Nor a post office to run out of stamps in their stamp vending machine, but it happened to the one near me.

My experience with the USPS stamp vending machines since long before the pandemic is that they are out of stock about half the time.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#79

Post by monkeybutton »

WalterBright wrote: post #33
cableshaft wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I did the pantry thing after March 2020 (in the basement, the kitchen doesn't have a proper pantry) and wasn't careful enough about protecting it. It was fine for a year, but this winter we got mice in the house and now we have to toss what wasn't in cans or plastic containers already. We set some live traps and I've caught and released (several miles away) four mice already. Still a good idea, we just can't hav…

Amazon sells galvanized steel garbage cans of various sizes. They have a lid that naturally seals tightly. They're varmint proof for anything up to a bear. Perfect for mouse-proofing your food. My experience with mice is that they travel in 6 packs. If you catch one, there are probably 5 more.

I have one and it's working perfectly. I use it to store bags of bird seed in my shed, where there are most definitely mice present. So far this winter there's been no sign of them getting in and having a feast.

Re: Grocery store shortages are back

#80

Post by WalterBright »

monkeybutton wrote: post #79
WalterBright wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon sells galvanized steel garbage cans of various sizes. They have a lid that naturally seals tightly. They're varmint proof for anything up to a bear. Perfect for mouse-proofing your food. My experience with mice is that they travel in 6 packs. If you catch one, there are probably 5 more.

I have one and it's working perfectly. I use it to store bags of bird seed in my shed, where there are most definitely mice present. So far this winter there's been no sign of them getting in and having a feast.

The mice aren't getting in unless they figure out how to use an angle grinder :-)

The city supplies me with a garbage toter (that fits their garbage truck mechanism). The squirrels bore a hole through it and raid it constantly. Replace the toter, and another hole in it a day or two later. I'd open the lid to throw in more trash and they'd hide inside, but I could usually see their twitching whiskers. I didn't really mind it so much, until the raccoons started in on the fun and would strew the garbage all over the driveway. I finally resorted to storing the garbage in a steel can, and dump it in the toter only on trash pickup day.

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