No Sunflower /Vegetable oil / tomatoes in shops...!!

[earsup]

We have bought 4 bottles a few weeks ago...yesterday and today went to 5 different supermarkets to get bits....and no oils at all...just some expensive Olive oil left on shelves....also no tomatoes for a few days now....!

Which supermarket? Everyone round here is complaining about Lidl being out of stock in loads of areas, but our Tesco is fine.

@MrsLargeEmbodied

i mean in our gardens of course/window box salads etc,.

Tried that but the neighbours’ cats just shit in it all. As a country, we’re by and large fucked for the next few years.

I've been saying for years that the UK's food security is shockingly poor and that we need to stop building all over good arable land (just up the road from us, another 100-odd acres of that has been stripped of its topsoil and is steadily being covered in houses). Pointing out that a rising population was an issue with food and water supplies used to get me accused of xenophobia. I suppose that was an easier reply than actually thinking about the issue.

Tomatoes are currently short because of cold weather in Spain, though I don't suppose fuel prices are helping. Fertiliser costs are through the roof, diesel is short (yesterday I saw a tractor filling up at lorry pumps, just past a big sign saying 'no red diesel'), and restrictions in pesticides have made it very hard to grow some crops.

I strongly suspect that we are in for a bumpy and expensive ride over the next couple of years, and that sunflower oil shortages will be just one aspect of the problem.

I rarely use sunflower oil, so hadn't noticed that, but oddly I've been struggling to find concentrated apple juice in the supermarket for weeks now.

The more expensive fresh stuff, yes, but not the cheap long life stuff that can be stored in the cupboard till it's open.

There was sunflower oil, olive oil and plenty of tomatoes in Aldi yesterday and supplies looked OK. However, the middle aisle was empty of Starstreak, heavy artillery and night vision equipment.

Forget oil! I cannot get my usual thin cut marmalade out of Lidl 😡

I may be wrong but I think the comment to VeganVampire about choosing a normal diet instead was just a joke because she’s called VeganVampire.

Unfortunately that poster hasn’t missed many opportunities over the years to say how being vegan isn’t normal etc. So definitely pathetic. I’m not sure why the poster is so triggered by ‘the vegans’. 😬

No issues with oil and tomatoes but we couldn’t get tissues for a few weeks like a pp said.

I haven't been able to get hold of vegetable oil for weeks. I use EV olive oil for everything including frying.
I'm confused about the whole smoke point thing. I'd be most grateful if someone who does understand that, and what's bad and good, and why could explain, because I read conflicting things. TIA.

I have stock piled 7484 bottles of oil and 945746 tomatoes if you want to borrow one.

I haven’t.

My local Lidl has been shit for months too! Shelves empty nothing in the middle aisles as before. No plants etc. it's a shame as I used to love it and it was local to me. Now I have to trek 30 mins away drive to Aldi !!

I know it sounds bizarre, but I know some people are buying vegetable oil to put in their diesel cars. Diesel is around £1.80 per litre, veg oil is £1.15 per litre bottle in Aldi, so a significant saving. Might this account for some of the shortages on the shelves?

i doubt people are buying vegetable oil to put in their cars?
the sunflower oil is due to the war in ukraine

Shelves full of free range eggs in Lidl yesterday.

I heard that Spanish lorry drivers were on strike which has affected salad vegetables in some supermarkets.

Sorry I know this is a sideline but you use a bottle of olive oil a WEEK? What are you eating exactly?!

I bought a bottle of vegetable oil yesterday for a school cooking project. I never normally buy it, but as I was looking for the most economical and smallest bottle I need about a teaspoonful

Off topic I know but why do schools continue to do this? It makes no sense whatsoever, leads to food waste and puts pressure on low income households who might not be able to afford food they don't actually normally buy. DSis complained about having to do this for her DDs cooking classes about 15 years ago as a struggling single parent and it seems that still no-one's cottoned on to the bleeding obvious.

It would be far more economical and less wasteful for the school to provide the ingredients and students pay the cost. So instead of 30 families each buying a small bottle of vegetable oil that they don't need, the school buys one bottle that they all share. Likewise spices or anything else where there can be economies of scale due to buying multipacks etc.

I was also wondering about the free range eggs, but the reality is that, for standard supermarket 'free range' eggs, there is little difference in the conditions for the hens.

Free range eggs are basically barn eggs where a door is left open but many hens never actually go outside.

I bought tomatoes and vegetable oil, among other things, about half an hour ago.

I'm in Germany and for the past few weeks there has been no oil or flour to be had. To begin with the specialist/fancy types were available, but even those scarce now. All my local supermarkets affected and only allowing one pack/bottle pp when it is available. No problems though with fruit and veg.

@MrsLargeEmbodied you can doubt it if you like, but I know two people who own old diesel vehicles who have done it. I didn’t believe it myself at first, either.

How much oil do you use OP, if a bottle only lasts 4:weeks? I buy extra virgin olive oil, it might be more expensive but lasts months.

Tomatoes are so easy to grow at home in garden or a sunny room and they taste amazing

Re Free range eggs - all egg producers are still under Avian Flu restrictions so birds are still not allowed to be outside. Therefore all eggs are now barn produced and can't be labelled as free range until restrictions are lifted. There won't be any free range eggs until the end of the month at the earliest I'm afraid.

No free range eggs because the chickens aren't allowed out at the moment. It's like a chicken lockdown poor things.