What item(s) is still hard to find or low quantity in the stores now?

Fresh garlic, of all things.

 

How far to Gilroy?

 

Please be aware that some items are supply dependent. Things like pickles, fire roasted tomatoes, and vegetable blends are dependent on crops being harvested, then subsequently processed. For example Vlasic pickles come out of one factory in Michigan, Hunts tomato products are canned somewhere around Fresno. Most of the tomatoes are processed into tomato paste so that it can be the base for ketchup, spaghetti sauce, bbq sauce, and tomato sauce, as well as paste. Specific canned tomato items have to wait until harvest time when they can be combined with specific Ingredients or made with something other than a standard tomato. Then on the production side if an item requires aluminum in packaging, that impacts production if a specific kind of aluminum is in short supply.

 

Locally the stores have notes all over that the major companies are, in some cases, limiting their production to the main production lines (regular and diet) and some of the other lines are shut down. Pepsi had three midwest distribution centers shut down because of COVID outbreaks to the point QuikTrips around me were entirely out of regular Pepsi for a couple weeks last month.

 

Interesting. I did come up short on garlic about a month ago, but come across it on most every visit.

 

Two hours. I thought I'd read somewhere about a dismal crop expected for this year but can't find anything on it right now. When the new stuff hit starting in July it was great but not sure what is going on now.

 

Timing would be about right for you guys up there. Maybe it's like artichokes going offshore because prices are so much higher.

 

We did score at the farmstands on the central coast before coming home yesterday: A flat of strawberries, the aforementioned artichokes, pinquito beans, asparagus.

 

I stopped by Costco last week during senior hours and they were out of paper towels which I was looking for, but they had a good supply of regular napkins. They had plenty of their Kirkland brand TP, so I was able to replenish my TP supply. LOL Disinfectant wipes, sprays, etc. were pretty much all gone. I was told by one of the workers that it's all about timing, so you have to be at the store when shipments arrive.

At my local grocery store, some can goods are still hard to find, but most perishables like fruits, veggies, meats, fish, bread, dairy, etc. have been pretty well stocked. Although, prices are high on everything. I also bought their last 2 pint bottles of 70% isopropanol when I stopped by a few days ago. They were also sold out of disinfectant wipes and sprays. I've been able to buy hand sanitizer (Suave brand) online, so I have enough to last for awhile.

 

China is the source of much of the garlic in the USA and the shortage was a combination of supply chain disruption and higher demand due to my pizza exploits on Friday nights.

As for the tomatoes, @steveks225 mentioned, if you see anything on the grocery shelf that lists tomatoes as an ingredient, it most likely started out as paste. Its an enormous industry in California, the crop is mechanically harvested and the fruit is stripped off the vines and dumped into trailers where they get dumped and processed into tomato paste. Its packaged into drums or 300 gallon wood or plastic boxes in aseptic bags, much of it is actually stored outside.

When Chef Boyardee in Milton, PA makes its iconic Spaghetti-O's, they get railcar loads of paste from California. The 300 gallon boxes of paste are dumped into a big vat and re-hydrated with water.

There is an interesting documentary on Amazon right now, Empire of Red Gold, its about the tomato industry. I was surprised to learn that Africa is the #1 consumer of tomatoes on a per capita basis.

 

Lysol Disinfectant spray and the disinfectant wipes - always unavailable.. though I have seen more "industrial" strength spray at Home Depot. I personally wouldn't spray that around the house, just in case.
Plenty of sanitizer gel in stores, as well as bleach and most paper products.
I've heard that certain products specific to kids and toys at home are sold out online - we had a tough time but got lucky with a water table for our toddler.. heard kiddie pools are either nonexistent or overpriced.

 

I work for a large Kroger entity in Seattle and we still have some problems. Paper goods to an extent. but the constants would be wipes, spray and cleaning compounds. Clorox said last week that it'll be 2021 before they get caught up on wipes. Amazing.

 

How come we all didn't die as kids because Lysol hadn't yet invented the pre-bleached wipe? lol

 

I couldn't find canning lids near me. Luckily I dug through some of my bins and found a few boxes. They are probably 5 or 6 years old, but they should fine. Guess a lot of new people are canning this year since I never had issues finding them before.

Our farmers market had garlic. I think I might plant some this fall for next spring. Decided to start with refrigerator pickles and next week will process some for longer storage. I also have some beets to can. Not sure if I am doing tomatos since I tried a mixture of heirlooms this year and I am not really liking them much. Might just freeze some.

 

I keep hoping some of this might make people think more about the throw away culture we have.
It also seems hard to believe it can't be cheaper to grow garlic in the US, Canada or even Mexico versus shipping all the way across the ocean.

 

And like that ... piles of Gilroy garlic at the market today!!

 

I was shopping in CVS today and while in the bath aisle getting some Dial Body Wash, I found 12 cannisters of CVS brand sanitizing wipes....who in the heck hid them there as every other store puts the needed Covid items on a table as you come in.

I took two and then spent the rest of my time there pointing out their where-abouts to people who spotted them in my cart.

 

We have garlic but what our store is selling as "colossal" garlic is quite small -- really small.

 

We were busy playing outside, riding bikes, sharing soda from a can, drinking water from a garden hose, getting hands dirty.

 

Nooooooooooo!!!!!