A Trip to the Supermarket: Empty Shelves in "The Land of Plenty"
It being Monday today, it was time to go to the supermarket as part of my errand running to our local town.
The USA is often associated with "excess" and one of the things my relations visiting from Denmark always remark on is the size of supermarkets, as well as the immense selection and the shelves stocked to overflowing.
Doesn't look like there's much in the way of pork, today...
I think most people in this country take it for granted that you can always find what you want at your local supermarket, and the whole idea of "shortages" and empty shelves is almost unimaginable.
Sure, there was a run on toilet paper and hand sanitizer during the early days of Covid, but people recognized that as a result of hysteria and hoarding, not actual shortages.
Chicken selection is pretty limited, too... unless peppered drumsticks is your gig...
Well, the "supply chain issues" and related shortages due to many food production plants being short staffed is starting to manifest more and more.
The supermarkets are no longer able to shuffle products around to give the illusion of well stocked shelves. There are more and more gaping holes. And not just on select categories, but across the board.
Need some pasta? Better take what you can get...
Most notably affected — for the time being — are lower cost meats like chicken, pork and regular ground beef for hamburgers and meatloaf.
Some of the basics like pasta, rice and beans are looking thin.
Interestingly enough, so are over-the-counter medications. I needed to get some non-prescription allergy meds for Mrs. Denmarkguy and was grateful to get the last package of the house brand.
Better not get a cold, or the flu....
It also doesn't look good for our furry and feathered friends. Canned cat food has been almost impossible to get for the past six months now... even with the prices going up over 50% since January.
Overall, though, you're better off if you're willing to be creative and cook your own food. Prepared foods in cans and boxes, and frozen "TV dinners" are increasingly rare finds.
These days, this is a really GOOD selection of cat food!
It makes me very grateful that we always cook our own food from scratch, and we grow a lot of our own.
To many people seeing this, perhaps it seems perfectly normal. To the average American, it is scary and surreal. Having lived part of my childhood and early teens in a totalitarian dictatorship (Spain under Franco) I was very familiar with empty shelves from an early age, along with the "35 ways to cook the same thing and make it taste OK" style of cuisine!
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out, come winter and the end of the growing season.
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about YOU? How is the food supply, where you are? Do you see a lot of empty shelves, or do things seem pretty normal? Do leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 202207011 23:57 PDT
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Wow! Things are not this drastic in my neck of the woods, although, there has been a shortage of children's meds. That happened after our Premier decided that we were going to "learn to live with covid" and then removed all restrictions. The kids went back to school and they ALL got sick within weeks.
We are also suffering from a labour shortage. We had that before covid, but now it is much worse.
I honestly have no idea if our shelves here in the supermarkets look similar - I only get supplies. Here I do notice that some things are no longer available, but not to a worrying extent. This is probably due to the collapse of the supply chains - transport still takes place over very long distances instead of local production and is hardly affordable for companies due to the rising fuel costs. Food production costs a lot of energy and water - and that too is no longer affordable for everyone.
I certainly don't think we are all on the verge of starvation. But the oversupply you describe earlier is probably passé. Maybe that's not such a bad thing? I would like to have, as so often, a healthy middle ground...
Ich habe ehrlich gesagt keine Ahnung, ob unsere Regale hier in den Supermärkten ähnlich aussehen - ich lasse mich ja ausschließlich beliefern. Hier bemerke ich durchaus, daß einige Dinge nicht mehr lieferbar sind, aber nicht in besorgniserregendem Umfang. Dafür dürfte der Zusammenbruch der Lieferketten verantwortlich sein - Transport findet immer noch über sehr weite Strecken statt statt lokaler Erzeugung und der ist für Unternehmen kaum noch bezahlbar durch die gestiegenden Kraftstoffkosten. Lebensmittelproduktion kostet viel Energie und Wasser - und auch das ist nicht mehr für alle erschwinglich.
Ich denke sicher nicht, daß wir alle kurz vor dem Verhungern sind. Aber die Überangebote, die Du früher beschreibst, sind wohl passè. Vielleicht ist das gar nicht so schlimm? Ich hätte gerne, wie so oft, ein gesundes Mittelmaß...
i can see your supermarket is half empty what do you think is causing it? in my country it has happened but because of political issues after covid in veezuela things are the samewe have been living with empty shelves for over 10 or 12 years now, now we don't have anything made from us all is imported but we have food in our supermarkets
greetings
Gracias a Dios amigo, ojalá mejore defitivamente. saludos paisano
Hola amigo #chicode dinamarca. Ojalá en su zona no suceda lo mismo que pasó en mi país. Los supermercados cerraron por falta de suministros. Los que quedaban fueron reducidos y convertidos en abastos+zapaterías. Los alimentos de primera necesidad como el pollo y la carne costaban el salario de un mes.
Tuve que emigrar con mi familia a Brasil y !oYe, que gran diferencia! No solo en la cantidad de alimentos que hay en los supermercados, sino el precio tan económico.
No quisiera que ningún Pais viviera lo que vivimos los Venezolanos. Creo que ahorita los supermercados han mejorado bastante, aunque todavía son caros los alimentos y las medicinas.
Saludo amigos, espero todo mejore muy pronto.
Here, in a small town in Bavaria, the shelves are still full. For now.
But it is frightening to have to watch food shortages being warned and at the same time 30% of agricultural land in the neighbouring country of the Netherlands being set aside.