Posted on 03/19/2020 8:03:21 PM PDT by EinNYC
I just got back from trying to get some common items I need in my refrigerator: carrots, Lactaid milk, and Stok unsweetened coffee. Now I feel very depressed and apprehensive for what's gonna be coming up in the next few weeks.
Went to BJs, as they have great prices on all of the above. I walked into a near-empty store--and immediately the theme music from "The Twilight Zone" started playing. Vegetables--pretty wiped out, and NO carrots. Milk--NO milk of any kind, except goat milk. Guys, you can have my portion of the goat milk! I bought some Silk Almond Milk just to have something. I felt like I'd been slapped, like I had stepped into a nightmare. Here I was in America, and I was being forced to live like someone in a turd world country, with extensive food shortages.
I continued on to Wegmans, and was treated to pretty much the same experience. There was a sign over the carrots -- "Limit: 2 bags of carrots"--but they needn't have bothered, as there WERE no carrots to buy. I needed some for a recipe, so I bought baby food carrots. And a goo-goo to you, too! When I reached the dairy section, I was reminded of Texas--lots of WIDE OPEN SPACES. No milk in sight, and only a few cartons of eggs. I grabbed some eggs, as I needed to buy them before Passover.
As if I didn't hate China, murderous land of selling political prisoners' body parts and the most heinous methods of torturing and killing numerous animal species I ever heard of before, now they are firmly in my sights. I realize that not being able to buy carrots, milk, or refrigerated coffee does not begin to approach the horrible ramifications of the coronavirus plague on many families, putting wage-earners out of work itself, bringing death to loved ones, preventing freedom of movement, and all the other negative changes to our lives, but it's what happened to me now, so far. The food shortage was sufficient to bring it home to me, realtime.
How are the rest of you suffering and how are you coping? I feel for all Americans' suffering induced by the unspeakable lowlife Chinese and their selfishness.
It’s a Mockmill Pro 200 - works great.
Interesting.
Are you located in Europe by chance?
Just asking.
We got a grainmill from a place in Montana but haven’t received it yet. Hoping we do so before any shutdowns that are planned. Or not planned.
Really need to find an antiviral program to get rid of this thing, I had plans this summer /selfish agnes
Stores in Atlanta are pretty well stocked except for toilet paper and paper towels. We have had no problems. We prepped for the grid going down ten years ago. Our chickens are at peak production. We get about four eggs per day. It really adds up.
LOL!! And that will definitely happen. I used to ask God to let me live long enough so I could read all the books in my bookcases...and then I'd cheat, and buy more books.
I’ve had a grain mill for years. A Magic Mill.
I don’t know if they still make them.
I also have quite a few pounds of wheat berries that are several years old but don’t go bad.
Hard white wheat makes a far better loaf of whole wheat bread than hard red wheat. It’s lighter both in texture and color. Very pretty.
I used to get Prairie Gold, or Golden Grain 86.
It’s a strategy.....
Yeah, I guess it is basically a root cellar. One step down off the main floor, stays cool, and has lots of shelf space which I seem to always more than fill.
BTW, you got weather coming. It’s moving fast and heading your way. It’s very windy here south of Syracuse.
Just a heads up.
I’m in the northeast US - my wife is from Berlin, Germany. Did a lot of review reading on the mills before deciding on this one and we’re very happy with it.
We’re quite isolated at least - if we didn’t leave our property from late Nov to mid May, we’d never see a soul.
Try smaller regional chains. They don’t run near as JIT (Just In Time). They warehouse stuff and stuff is getting to them. Many have excess capacity up and down the process.
The big boys warehouses basically ship stuff to stores as it comes in so had not much buffer. Empty shelves + long lead times for huge resupply orders = meager picking for a while at the big boys. Their systemic efficiencies and economies of scale are working against them right now. Logistics are optimized to minimize inventory being held at points other than point of sale so when that is gone they dont have “overstock.” Orders are huge and it takes time for the manufacturer to fill a big boy order. Their trucking fleets are optimized to run full time so not much extra capacity over normal resupply. Continued heavy purchasing is emptying shelves as stuff comes in.
That said both Kroger and Walmart here locally are 40 to 50% stocked with glaring things missing like TP and hand sanitizer and low stock overall on canned goods, pasta, etc. Good news is the beer aisles were fully stocked.... overstocked even. ;-) Of course in my state that aisle is handled by a distributor that acts like a small regional chain with excess capacity.
ROFL!! Great graphic!!
I thought that's what he meant. We used to have one in the old house I grew up in. My parents used to can tomatoes every year, and put all the jars down there. It was a spooky place, and I hated it when they told me to go down there and bring up a jar or two.
Some old places used to have ice houses too, where they'd stored all their perishables.
And the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. No food, no clothes, no footwear.
I mostly bought what I needed in January an early February, as I am always waiting for catastrophe ;) My local grocer got hit hard last week. No eggs or milk then, no bread, no IP. Now we have eggs and meat but no frozen veggies.
"Friday afternoon: Windy and warm with scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 70 Friday evening: Windy. Scattered showers. Upper 50s."
I love the idea that wheat berries store for years.
Do you have to mix varieties to get good bread flour?
Sounds scenic.
We’re remote, but not quite that remote.
We bought the model grain mill we did because it has a grain huller attachment for things like rice and IIRC sunflower seeds.
Find a Grocery Outlet (bargain grocery store) they had everything but toilet paper , milk, eggs, etc
We stock up continually whenever there are sales. For example, several years ago, there was a sale on Maxwell house coffee for half price-the large cans.
So I bought 4 cases-6 cans per case-we use about one of those per month. So when we open something, we write it on a list that hangs on the frig. Next time there’s a sale on that item, we restock what we’ve used(maybe more if it’s a great deal).
So all we really had to do was restock our normal monthly supplies-which we did a few weeks early. I did have hubby pick up 4 weeks worth of hamburger buns-he eats one or two per day, and I am no good at making those. When the bread runs out, I’ll simply make a loaf—plenty of yeast in the freezer and plenty of flour stashed in the pantry.
He also got some shelf stable milk to drink when the fresh milk runs out. We do not plan to go to the store for at least 3 weeks. By then, we should have arugula, green onions, and lettuce in the garden at least.
I sure do miss having a milkman. Now THAT would be great if all this brought back home dairy delivery-a silver lining.
Our local Walmart was out of T.P. but had most every thing else when he went shopping last Friday. I really don’t go out during Jan. and Feb. anyway, so staying home is no big deal for me.
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