To think that people don't seem to have noticed that the shelves are empty. ?

[Finknottlesnewt]

I have just popped into my local co-op (decent sized supermarket not a corner shop) . I wanted a chicken to roast, some Maris piper potatoes and some frozen peas... nothing. In fact no frozen veg. No pork as a chicken substitute. Salad potatoes but nothing I could roast.

I went to Tesco and got the last chicken. Also successful with Potatoes but no frozen peas.

I am not after unicorn tears. I mean it doesn't get much more normal than chicken spuds and peas. ! Tesco had NO fruit and (much to the consternation of many in the queue) only about 4 packets of cigarettes - none of which were the variety people were after.

Am I just living in a very badly affected area (rural southeast) .. or is anyone else starting to find this worrying ?

Difficultly getting fresh veg, particularly broccoli and cauliflower, and sugar where I am. Thought I might get mugged walking out of one of the two supermarkets in town a couple of days ago with what appeared to be the last bag of sugar of any variety for sale in a 5 mile radius.

There may be worse to come:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b48247d6-17fa-11ec-8aba-5ab737a99668?shareToken=db895555856250ec782594332dbbfd9a

I've just got back from the very large Morrisons in the middle of Milton Keynes, there were no shortages of anything that I noticed. I couldn't find reduced-fat creme fraiche, and that was literally the ONLY thing they didn't have, and it didn't really matter because I don't like it!

At least we have apples...

mobile.twitter.com/mrmichaelspicer/status/1157259194749243394?lang=en

@KellyKitten

Scottish Borders here.

We've been seeing shortages for months, worse in the last few weeks.

We have a large supermarket near, plus a Lidl.

No fizzy water for the last 2 months, I gave up and scrubbed it from the shopping list. Other juices too.
Burger buns.
Frequently can't get basic fruit and veg e.g. no cucumbers or tomatoes, and we don't even care about type (any would do).
Fucking sick of having no beans apart from Heinz brand ££s.
No mushy peas tins at all.
No mayo unless low fat.
No angel delight.
Can't even get wholemeal bread most weeks.
No Cornetto once creams.
We've stopped trying to use oven chips because you can't get them reliably.
Sudocrem managed to get the last tub last week.
Not had "no tears" baby shampoo for about 4 months, ended up driving to massive local city for it.

The list goes on.

I'm sick of making a shopping list and it's pointless.

Oh, cereal, no oats and no shredded wheat last time either.

Also Scottish Borders. Only have the one supermarket in town (co-op). They are rationing milk to one carton per person and more often than not when I've been in, they've only had one pint cartons. Freezers and chilled are mostly empty of things like fresh meat, or frozen veg. Lack of canned veg, pet food and so on.

Unrelated, for those bemoaning the lack of fizzy water... buy a soda stream. I have and its meant less single use plastic going in the recycling bin from fizzy juice and so on.

I’m with you OP, rural south east here and I have been unable to get milk, some meats, the more expensive goods are here but the value stuff isn’t.
I regularly read trade mags and there is a problem, a huge problem and it will get worse. High value items will remain as they don’t take up space and make more money.

It’s the perfect storm of Brexit, pandemic and unskilled labour (lorry drivers et )

Hopefully it can be resolved prior to the rest of the country feeling the pinch of it, but if not they will.

There has been some articles in the press but they seem to be swept aside as scare mongering but there are some facts:
Weather has caused issue with production of some crops (see wheat as an example)
Labour force restricted
Supply chain

It’s sad but what we voted for….. apparently.

New Zealand has problems with their severe lockdowns export wise. It's not just Europe

The supply issues are not due to Covid, other than in a very marginal way, they are due to Brexit.

We are out of the Single Market and Customs Union, which enabled the just in time delivery chains we have been used to for decades.

Mainland Europe is not experiencing these supply issues, they are unique to the UK.

Well done Brexiters

It seems very localised. Another rural South East here and nothing missing/no substitutions from the delivery shop yesterday.

Yes. Co op empty shelves for squash, Sainsbury's and Tesco empty shelves - fish, lacto free milk, beer, bread, pasta, potatoes... so weird! I bought a cauliflower and some wine!

Sporadically like this in South Devon at the moment. Sometimes huge gaps otherwise all normal.

West Yorkshire - our local supermarkets are fine, but, I work in a restaurant and we're having huge problems with deliveries. Consistently for a few weeks now the trucks are coming with half the order missing!

We got the last few tins of the only cat food that ours deign to eat. Trouble ahead …😾

Do people HONESTLY believe that Joe Bloggs from Cambridge is really going to get up at 4:30 am on a January morning to pull frozen broccoli out of a Norfolk field . ?

Regardless of the wage being offered. ? It's not a trick question. It's reality and the answer is NO.

Of course Joe Bloggs would if the pay was decent enough. But before Brexit we expected Eastern Europeans to do it for a pittance?

Anyway I agree with pps, if it was Brexit it would be all over the country and it’s not, it’s only in pockets of places which is more likely caused by self isolating because of COVID.

Our local Tesco had no frozen vegetables at all, but I went to Aldi and their freezers were full of frozen veg.

@WitchBaby

Do people HONESTLY believe that Joe Bloggs from Cambridge is really going to get up at 4:30 am on a January morning to pull frozen broccoli out of a Norfolk field . ?

Regardless of the wage being offered. ? It's not a trick question. It's reality and the answer is NO.

Of course Joe Bloggs would if the pay was decent enough. But before Brexit we expected Eastern Europeans to do it for a pittance?

Anyway I agree with pps, if it was Brexit it would be all over the country and it’s not, it’s only in pockets of places which is more likely caused by self isolating because of COVID.

Our local Tesco had no frozen vegetables at all, but I went to Aldi and their freezers were full of frozen veg.

Aldi veg comes from Ireland who didn't lose their migrants to the same extent

I nearly descended into total panic last week when Waitrose couldn’t supply all the wine I’d ordered.

Possibl the most MN post I've seen today

@RubaDubMum89

West Yorkshire - our local supermarkets are fine, but, I work in a restaurant and we're having huge problems with deliveries. Consistently for a few weeks now the trucks are coming with half the order missing!

Same with my friends restaurant wholesale goods are suffering terribly

@wewereliars

The supply issues are not due to Covid, other than in a very marginal way, they are due to Brexit.

We are out of the Single Market and Customs Union, which enabled the just in time delivery chains we have been used to for decades.

Mainland Europe is not experiencing these supply issues, they are unique to the UK.

Well done Brexiters

Friends in France are suffering empty shelves can't speak for other EU countries

Planning to go for a couple of bits later, but as I'm in a university city and its arrival weekend, Im expecting some empty shelves.

And yet all the Halloween stuff have been in homebargains for weeks.

The mind boggles doesn’t it.

No issues here in the South East that I have seen

When the Op mentions Trumpism we should know what her agenda is.

I think it’s weird the OP says it’s not being reported when a quick Google shows multiple articles from the past week alone. The DM has an article on it today.

I've definitely noticed it in S Yorks supermarkets. It's not across the stores range but the things that are low (cat food, loo roll, bread) are worse then the first lockdown. No real pattern to the shortages but very noticeable when they happen.

Here in the SE I've noticed it a couple of times in Tesco. Couldn't get the 14p noodles, and the freezer section has been a bit sparse at times. There's still tons of food though, perhaps a bit more spread out than usual to disguise lower stock levels.
The big problem in the UK is still food wastage. Perhaps this will focus people's minds more on just buying what we need, both customers and supermarkets.

That's because they aren't empty