While bars and restaurants are closed in Minnesota, liquor stores remain open. Sales starting last week were at holiday levels. Customers were stocking up particularly on beer. Sale of boxed wine was up as moms prepared to be stuck home with their kids.
I went shopping yesterday.
Produce was so so. Plenty of bananas, tomatoes. Potatoes were available in 5# bags only.
Meat was hit hard. Limited stock of most cuts. Hamburger was low, I got the last 2 pkgs. Lunch meats wiped out. Bacon and sausage were limited.
Dairy was pretty good. Plenty of milk, eggs, cheese.
All canned biscuits were sold out.
Frozen food was wiped out. Completely except for ice cream. Pizza, fish, chicken, tv dinners anything heat and serve was gone.
Paper aisle was wiped out. No paper towels, tp, wet wipes all gone. Bare shelves.
Canned goods were a disaster. Corn, beans, canned meats, tuna even hot dog chili was sold out.
Hamburger helper, tuna helper, all meat extenders were sold out.
Wal-Mart was even worse.
Think Berlin after WW2.
The stores here in Ohio are mostly well-stocked the veggies, fruit, bread and meat. But, the ketchup was completely gone and most of the pizza. And, of course, there is no toilet paper anywhere.
I’m in San Jose. Grocery stores were very bad on Monday. Today, I went to our local store again and they we’re stocking back up.
I didn’t check eggs or meat or dairy. I got potatoes and bananas and mayo and mustard.
It was almost back to normal.
Thermometers are sold out all over the city. Milk is usually available, but you take the kind they have, don’t count on any specific type. I have no idea what the egg situation is in the stores, my chickens have been keeping us supplied. Pasta and canned chicken are getting hit pretty hard.
I haven’t been to a store for several days now. I’m really glad we were stocked up on canned soup and frozen meats.
This is the longest I’ve gone without hearing dad complain that “We’ve got too much food in this house!” He’s usually anti-prepping and tends to ridicule my chickens and my gardening. Now, maybe, he might be starting to understand.
Dear, the time to have shopped was WEEKS ago.
I am in Nashville and we just had a devastating Tornado a couple of weeks ago. That robbed stores of desperately needed cleaning supplies, etc. The stores have restocked for the most part.
I was at my local Publix today and they were pretty well stocked. Lots of fresh produce, seafood, meat section not bad. I got Tilapia, Filet Mignon, a fantastic looking Porterhouse, 2 separate pkgs of Burger and a Kielbasa. Got some Nathan’s hotdogs.
I got some (on sale!) White Mtn bread from their Bakery. It was VERY fresh and they sliced it to my specs.
Everything else was stocked very well until I got to Dairy section. Lots of milk but cheese was 80% out, had some of what I wanted anyway just not the brand I usually buy. Bread was 75% out BUT there was bread, again, maybe just not the cheapest options as they were all gone.
Frozen very well stocked and they had a lot of staff all over store in every aisle stocking.
Bookmark.
I went to a large grocery store on Wednesday. It was strange to see empty places, the entire potato area for instance. Meat section was third world sparse. Paper product isle empty. Still plenty of other stuff though, canned goods, etc.
Then today we went to another town, had other errands there, and went to 2 grocery stores , Aldi and Walmart. Aldi was good (potatoes were good to find) but no paper products. Walmart had anything I looked for and had one pack limit on TP and Kleenex, which is why they still had some at 2pm.
We were a few weeks from running out the paper products. Luckily I went to Sam’s in February before things went sideways.
Still pretty good. Only things are TP and PT that are hit and miss, mostly miss.
I've never seen Publix run out of milk... for dairy in an emergency - that's the place to shop.
Did my shopping 3 weeks ago and can last another 1-2 months.
I have also decided to fast for the next few days to detox my body because it will save food, and I am praying and my gym is closed anyway. :)
Because we live in a hurricane-prone region, we maintain a pretty good stock of non-perishables, but we saw this coming a few weeks ago and increased our supplies. We have enough for several weeks. We’ll be putting the garden in as soon as the pecan trees start budding, and IF it gets real bad, there will be several deer, squirrels, rabbits etc. that will be going “missing” around here. Any emergency water is from a nasty old well, but it’s good enough to survive on. Boiling and adding just a taint of bleach cleans it up pretty good. We have enough fuel & generator capacity to go for quite awhile if need be. We went almost six weeks without commercial power after Hurricane Rita and still had some reserve left...and we’re way better prepared now from that experience than we were back then.
FWIW, we went by a local rural supermarket three days ago because we forgot to buy additional butter. First problem: finding a parking spot! Once inside, it was packed and what I’d call “calm chaos”. I could see the fear in peoples’ eyes. People were nervous, and it probably wouldn’t have taken much to start a “stampede”. No TP, no paper towels, no bleach, no household cleaning products, no meat, no milk, no eggs, a few can goods, some frozen foods, snacks, chips, soft drinks were plentiful. There were a couple of employees trying to restock shelves as fast as customers were picking them clean. I talked to the manager for just a minute, and he told me that they were putting out the third truckload of product for the day and they were all dead tired!! He came right out and offered me a job stocking shelves which I didn’t take...and that kinda surprised me. We found two packs of real butter stuck way up in the back in the cooler out of sight. We grabbed those, some additional snacks, a frozen pizza and some can goods then got ta heck outta there. I can’t imagine what large urban areas are like.
Never wait till the last minute to stock your shelves or frig. Milk can be bought in bulk and froze for months at a time. Eggs, well get used to pickling those hard boiled puppies. Freezer should be stocked at all times with packages marked by date. Dry goods such as beans and rice van be vacuum sealed in mason jars and last for years. A little prepping can go a long way in times like this. Gardening and home canning has become a lost art but I am sure there will be a rush on the talent come spring planting. As far as cleaning and paper supplies you always buy the biggest package you an find and keep two in the shelf of everything minimum. When you open a new one go buy a replacement ASAP. Then I was amazed when we went to our Tuesday range day which we never miss unless there is a catastrophe. It was stuffed with first time buyers who most likely do not have a clue. I pity them for not having the foresight while rushing out in the spur to buy something that needs tender loving care and discipline before you even think about using it for self protection. The real tragedy will be the countless folks who through their own shortsightedness bought something that they will blow their own toe off while attempting to twirl it while watching reruns of Gunsmoke. Now is not the time to think weeks ahead. I did that years ago. The only thing I truly need is some water from time to time and that is about all I really worry about when I hit the store if they are out, beer will suffice. Anything extra is a bonus but I can survive just fine. Hope you are learning a lesson on what I could see coming weeks ago. This was predictable as they get but the worst I have ever seen.
I know you’re concerned about getting paperback books that have been used, but I want to pass this on to you if you aren’t already aware of it. Several years ago I joined paperbackswap.com, and get books periodically that I have in my wish list on the site. You post books to trade, and earn points from the people who request books from you. For every book you ship, you get a point, and when you order a book from someone else, you lose a point. You pay the postage for the books you send out, and the person you request a book from pays for the postage when they ship it to you. They have different levels of membership. I have the standard membership which costs $20 a year. When I ship books to people, I use the site, and print the label from there. The cost is all figured out, so all I have to do is wrap the book up, put the label on, and drop it off at the post office. They do have minor service charges for adding money to your postage account, and for printing each label, but they require that the books you swap be in good condition, and have a list of condition requirements for the books you post.
Goat milk?
That’s great!
I read it can be a great substitute for baby formula, which some people are having difficulty acquiring because of scalpers. :(
Not trying to be uncaring but there is still food stuffs even if it’s not our first or maybe second choice by the time the hoarders get through.
In my area, some stores are open one hour early for seniors, those with health challenges, etc. Some stores will even shop for you to drive by and pick up.
I’m with you on that goats milk and cheese though, it’s only fit for goats (or kids!)
I went to local Albertsons (Orange County, ca) last night to pickup hubby prescription. The bread delivery had just arrived, they were unloading bacon/sausage/hot dogs etc..
But no toilet paper! Fruit, vegetables were scarce but it was late.
Happy to grab some bread, bagels & bacon.
They did have milk, OJ & eggs too.
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.