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....!

(Sorry @MrsLargeEmbodied that looks snippier written down than I meant it! I just meant I doubted it too, until I had the conversations with two people who really do this! Crazy isn’t it, but I do wonder if people are doing it more and more, and if that may account for some shortages now we’ve had the massive fuel price hike?)

The situation might also have something to do with the 17 mile lorry car park (tail back) on the M20 to Dover. Funnily enough no mention of it in the media.

news.sky.com/story/crisp-and-oven-chip-brands-forced-to-change-recipes-as-uk-faces-major-disruption-to-sunflower-oil-imports-12581447

@finally you can't buy rapeseed in our area, so people are turning to vegetable and olive if no sunflower

Anything labeled "vegetable oil" is most likely rapeseed oil.

Sorry that was to @ifonly4 ^^

FindingMeno Thu 07-Apr-22 08:15:22
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.

Another confused person here hoping for clarification .

@MrsLargeEmbodied

i do think the uk farmers do need to get planting, even if not available for next year, at least it will be available, but then of course we need to buy it rather than cheaper imports, if available.

Ahh, you see the problem with this 'farmers need to.....' line, is that you can't just grow more of a crop one year on a whim - we have a six year rotation, and you can't grow oilseed rape over and over in the same field. Next year we will actually be growing more than last year, but that is down to the field size in the rotation.

And now a lot of land can't grow oilseed rape at all anymore because of the banning of neonicotinoids. That chemical was needed to stop cabbage flea beetle eating the oilseed rape plant, farmers didn't just apply it for shits and giggles you know.

How do you find out your friends are low on vegetable oil? I just can’t imagine that coming up in conversation. I know where my friends are going on holiday, if their DC are ill etc, but I have no idea of the stick levels of their pantries.

We try and eat as seasonally as we can, so no tomatoes, strawberries or cucumbers for us yet.
I do manage to grow salad leaves most of the year in pots but these are supplemented with beetroot and roast squashes in salad at this time of the year. I get most of my veg from the farm shop in the village, some of which they grow and the rest comes from the wholesale supplier at Boston.

Although we too have lost vast swathes of arable land to housing developments in our village over the past few years. 4 new estates with a 5th having planning permission all on what were fields of crops.

My current problem is Apple and Mango squash, DD only likes it from Waitrose but they didn't have any last week when I was there. We've tried every other brand including M&S but she tells me they don't taste the same. If anyone has insider knowledge on who produces it for Waitrose and who else they produce for so I can decant it into a Waitrose bottle I'd be very grateful.

@Sebastianthecoo

How do you find out your friends are low on vegetable oil? I just can’t imagine that coming up in conversation. I know where my friends are going on holiday, if their DC are ill etc, but I have no idea of the stick levels of their pantries.

Daily store cupboard updates in the group chat

This thread is so middle class..its made me laugh..
Tomatoes, fee range eggs, vegetable oils and flour.. not to mention the waitrose squash

Yeah ..lifes staples right there..we are all gonna starve

Eh? @frasersmummy

Those things are all cheap basic ingredients, including the Waitrose squash, which is quite cheap and one of the rare ones that doesn't have sweeteners in it.

Well if everyone keeps buying four bottles of oil "for their friends" obviously supplies are going to run short. Ridiculous.

@frasersmummy

This thread is so middle class..its made me laugh.. Tomatoes, fee range eggs, vegetable oils and flour.. not to mention the waitrose squash

Yeah ..lifes staples right there..we are all gonna starve

Since when is vegetable oil middle class…?

If it were sun-dried tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and pine nuts I could make sense of your comment, but flour is a staple, tomatoes aren’t fancy – and shortages of anything is a problem because it drives prices up overall, so no more cheap basics that are necessary for those currently in food poverty and fuel poverty. What a tone-deaf comment.

@frasersmummy

This thread is so middle class..its made me laugh.. Tomatoes, fee range eggs, vegetable oils and flour.. not to mention the waitrose squash

Yeah ..lifes staples right there..we are all gonna starve

I was feeling rather despondent reading it and then the apple and mango squash came up 😂 Am presuming that was a wind-up (like those ‘overheard in Waitrose’ things) but I appreciated it just the same

As sunflowers are harvested at the end of the summer, then the oil could well have all been sold and in the food chain already.
The real problems will be when this years crops aren't planted.

The lack of sunflower oil isn't just a problem in bottles in your ingredients cupboard, it's an ingredient in an awful lot of manufactured food so there will be a knock on effect there too. It's an expensive process to change an ingredient in supermarket food, there's going to be a huge impact on businesses that manufacture food for supermarkets.

Proper LOL at the poster who thinks farmers aren't aware of the need to grow more crops

Is a £1.50 bottle of squash aspirational now?

They have it in Asda too if that's OK, and it appears to be in stock for those missing it in Waitrose.

Genuinely puzzled by the comments about the squash (and flour, oil, eggs etc) being 'middle class'.

I'll need vegetable oil for my budget meal tonight - going to cost about £1 for four - I don't call that middle class!

Certainly not judging anyone who shops in Waitrose, this is a place for discussion and to vent and everyone welcome.

Sh05 I don't think you can get free range eggs right now due to bird flu season lasting longer than normal and not allowing the birds out. I believe they have signs in the supermarkets saying barn eggs are in free range boxes (to avoid a box shortage!)

Curious to know, what do people use sunflower oil for these days?

I know it was used to make chips/fried food but I thought that practice had died out in domestic settings!?

I know commercial caterers use seed oils, but I mean at home!?

@MrsLargeEmbodied

there shouldnt be free range eggs, they should be labelled as barn eggs as they have been inside for more than 16 weeks

i bought flour in anticipation, but the sunflower oil was out
luckily for us we are not at war

I'm in Ireland and have noticed that the free range eggs I normally buy have been labelled as barn eggs, with an explanation why.

I feel this thread has stumbled into some sort of parallel universe.

As well as tomatoes, flour and squash being 'middle class' we now have people asking why sunflower oils are bought by the general public.

As well as making chips or other deep fried foods, people use oil when cooking things like fried eggs, or frying onions to start a curry, stew, etc.

Please can someone back me up on this so that I don't think I'm going mad?

Also, vegetable oil middle class?

What now?

The middle classes tend to follow health trends. Seed oils are so unhealthy, I can't see that.