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

Saltines of all brands are missing and a limited supply of other crackers. Some, like Wheat Things, have greatly increased in prices but they, too, are of a limited supply.

 

I bought 33% of the saltines available in my Stop and Shop yesterday. By which I mean I bought one box of the 3 they had. And honestly, I think they were only there because they were at the back of the bottom shelf and you couldn't see them unless you looked closely.

The only frozen potatoes they had were shredded for hash browns. Not a french fry to be found. Pasta was back at full stock, and they even had a sale on one brand of the alternative pastas (think it was chickpea). Cream cheese is hit and miss, but the egg shelves were almost empty.

 

My husband likes corned beef hash in the can for Sunday breakfast and we have not been able to find it the last month. I'm not disappointed by that fact cause I am not a fan.

I started buying our beef directly from a local farmer and it is more expensive than the grocery store, but now I don't like the grocery store meat at all. I am amazed at the difference in taste/texture.

We are now raising our own chickens for both meat and eggs and again it is a big difference. My daughter and son in law have a few cows, but they are more pets and breeding animals. I am trying to convince him to raise some for beef. I can kind of see their point cause it takes 2 years to raise a calf to slaughter ready. That's a long time to have them around and get to know their personalities. Our meat chickens are ready to process after only 8 weeks. Our egg hens are more like pets too, and I see me keeping them after they stop laying.

 

And this reminds me, the Large Milk Bones were missing, so I bought 100% of the medium Milk Bones = 1 box of 'em.

 

I've noticed two, very different, categories of shortages.

As a single person, I visited food bars often. The Whole Foods salad and hot bar were regulars for lunch, dinners, etc. They've reopened , but still limited. The ones nearest my home have three or four islands/stations, but no more than 50 percent are stocked on any day.

The other category I've noticed is bargain stores. Im a fan of Marshall's type places, have scored some great deals. Bought my luggage at Nordstrom Rack. But more recently, the racks are less stocked in these places, and with fewer known brands. Same with a local food chain called Grocery Outlet.

 

Check out Aldi, they have canned corned beef hash all the time at my local.

Now is the time to look for marked down packages of corned beef with the spice packet in fresh meat case. St Patty's day is gone and these have a best use date sometimes up to June. Really good in an instant pot.

 

The cookie section. I rarely buy cookies. In fact it’s been a few years. The hubs had a craving for cookies. It had been very condensed to a small section. Normally it takes up a huge section. I didn’t even see any Oreos. I wanted the Pepperidge Farm chocolate chip. They only had a few of the other PF cookies. I bought the generic store brand. The cracker section overflowed with all brands and flavors etc.

Also 64 cents for one small lemon - yikes. Had I been smart enough I would have bought the 2 lb bag of organic lemons for a little over $4. Plus they seemed larger. I guess I had it in my mind I only needed 2 and I couldn’t be bothered to do the math.

 

New item for me, as of yesterday and today, visits to multiple stores.
Chicken livers.

According to butchers in several stores, Foster Farms, etc, simply haven't been sending them for a while now.

I'm going to try a few local, non-chain places...

 

The Foster Farms crispy chicken strips (GREAT in the air-fryer!) have been off and on in availability lately.

The Kroger house brand Coke Zero clone has been off and on, and lately very much off, in availability. I've had to splurge and buy the name brand for my fix lately.

 

Not to hijack the thread, but how do you like the new formulation of Coke Zero? I'll drink it, but I prefer the old one.

 

I am actually sipping on one right now as I speak (type) and I think it has a flavor slightly more like the original fountain Coke of my younger days (my personal cola Gold Standard) than the original Coke Zero. I actually developed a slight preference for the house brand Kroger Coke Zero clone over the original Coke Zero. I think the new Coke Zero is closer to the Kroger clone, and as I sit here I'm wondering if I would pass a taste test. A few months ago I failed an informal taste test between Bud Light and Miller Light at the bar. I could not consistently identify Bud Light (my brand), so I'm not sure on the Coke Zero vs. Kroger. I **CAN** tell the difference between Coke Zero and regular Diet Coke, however.

 

Bought my husband a bourbon for his birthday, picked up a pizza from our favorite place (not our town; we don't go out often) and made a quick stop at grocery before picking up our meat CSA - had a very big order this week.

Had 4 things on grocery list including hash browns but frozen potato aisle was totally empty. Same as last time I looked - same store brand, different location. At least they had milk, whipped cream and cupcakes (birthday....because my husband's favorite thing is cheap crisco frosting like they have on grocery store cakes/cupcakes )

 

Opus X. I still order them, but I need to look at multiple places. At usually around $30 each, and that’s held fairly steady.

 

Red Barron deep dish single serve frozen cheese pizzas.

 

The cat food was better for a while but now down again. The feral likes her Fancy Feast - pate. Yes Pate - not shredded. She thinks she is special. There has been none for over a week. She has to settle for generic.

I’m pissed my son introduced my husband to Guinness Stout. It is out of stock here a lot. They haven’t restocked the beer aisles in several days here. The Austinites come in on Friday and purge the shelves. I haven’t seen Guinness on the shelves in 5 days. - The horror. My son bought him 2 - 8 packs yesterday and he said it was the last 2 at a large store in San Antonio. He was drinking my beer butt Lone Star Light - disrespectful.

 

Baby formula!

 

What I find odd is that my local is frequently - like always - out of the store brand shredded hash browns. Little sign says due to supply. Which I could understand, however they have limitless supply of the “country” style/ cubed hash browns in their brand. Usually there is another shredded brand available for a more premium price. But to me a frozen uncooked potato is not worth paying extra for.

I realize I can just buy a potato and do it myself but with my work schedule time is a factor.

 

I did have to go to three stores to find hashbrown there were loads of French fries.
Wanted to make a favorite breakfast casserole. Can of crescent rolls flat in 9x13 greased pan, layer of cooked sausage,layer hash browns, top with package shredded cheddar. Mix 8-10 eggs with some milk, pour on top bake 350 for 45 minutes. Freeze leftovers for a quick meal.

 

Funny, there's been an ongoing shortage of frozen fries up here, but there are always plenty of hash browns available. Guess it's a regional thing

That said, Caesars dog food is still impossible to find. We have a recurring delivery from amazon now, but we were short by a day last week and I ended up driving to 3 markets and a CVS before finally finding some.

Oh, and sponges. I happened to grab a 9 pack when I was in Lowe's the other day which was fortunate as I haven't seen a sponge with a scrub pad available in the regular market for a couple of months now and was down to my last one.

 

Various frozen potato options remain an issue here. I never can tell what will be in stock - and some of it is some stores never carry what I'm looking for (my husband likes the frozen hash brown patties - the squovals, like you'd find in a fast food place - and not all the stores I normally shop carry those.) Sometimes they're out of the skinny fries I like, or the shreds. Sometimes ALL potatoes are missing. I can live without them too (I almost never eat them - I will eat a tot as part of dinner on occasion, and I do like frozen fries when I grill burgers...)