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 ?

No, they're not empty, but they're full of shite I don't want yet, and never will, like mince pies and mini Christmas puddings. The soft drink aisle looks pretty full, but on closer inspection proves to be mainly own-brand bitter shandy. Meanwhile, in the fresh vegetable section, there's been a glut of tattered browning cauliflowers for weeks on end, presumably due to delivery rather than supply issues.

The real issue is that this is just the begining, it is not temporary. Food prices are already going up, and the UC uplift is about to be taken away.

We have wrecked our supply chains with Brexit, with is why this excuse for a government is bragging about piddling trade deals with countries on the other side of the world.

Inflation was 3.2% in August.

And the real issue is mass poverty, food waste may be an issue but it is not evenly distributed across the country.

All shops my way dont have any issues

Waitrose was really empty today on some shelves but the larger Tesco was fine

Just come back from Morrison’s after doing a weeks shop. The only thing that I wanted that they didn’t have was the cheaper red grapes although they had plenty of the 2x£3 deal ones.

The hike in gas prices is going to make this worse. CO2 is derived from gas supplies and abattoirs use it before stunning animals and supermarkets use it to keep frozen food frozen. There is a shortage of this so food shortages are going to get worse.

Article here on the UK's ability to be self-sufficient in food. Looks okay if you like lamb (yuk) and carrots.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/sourcing/how-can-the-uk-be-more-self-sufficient-in-food/653103.article

Increased wages have been needed in the industry for a while and the labour shortage will force the increase. That will translate into higher food prices though, neither the suppliers nor the retailers will swallow the increases without passing the increased costs on.

Yes BBC news had a segment on the shortage of gas and it's effects on food storage this afternoon. Going to be some mighty short dates on some items by the sounds of it, if you can get them at all.

The shortage of energy is down to climate change, lack of maintenance and Brexit causing issues with the components needed.

It sounds like a combination of issues and is different in various areas. Maybe people who regularly purchase expensive brands haven't noticed cheaper items missing?

I noticed few have stayed in today, no cars in drives and very quiet.

I'm in SE.
My local Sainsbury's and Tesco have put endless boxes of cans of lager in the chiller cabinets. Hardly any ready meals, chilled foods.

Local Coop has signs up apologising to customers for shortages. Signs been up for about a month now.

You really are quite snarky, OP.

Your first post said nothing of 'media blackout' which is something you perceive. It was purely about the shortages and your vehemence that people are just not noticing. Of course posters will report back on their own situations; what's the point of them agreeing with you if their experience isn't the same?

Be more clear perhaps? Or don't.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

You really are quite snarky, OP.

Your first post said nothing of 'media blackout' which is something you perceive. It was purely about the shortages and your vehemence that people are just not noticing. Of course posters will report back on their own situations; what's the point of them agreeing with you if their experience isn't the same?

Be more clear perhaps? Or don't.

Also, there is no media blackout. It was headline article in the DM yesterday and they were pretty pro Brexit weren’t they?

@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

I voted to stay. The logistics industry disagrees with you. T&C for HGVs in this country isn't good, there are limited facilities for them (or none at all in towns) and Covid has had a massive impact in terms of isolating/calling in sick.

But you carry on with your brexiteer posturing, that will solve everything.

Posting that you have or haven't got empty shelves is kind of neither here nor there. There are without doubt significant issues. Just because you may not CURRENTLY have them doesn't mean they don't exist. You just got lucky.

But your post was saying people don't seem to have noticed. I have others haven't it seems.

I work in a supermarket , the shelves are looking sparse, but it's because distribution is taking longer. We have a lot of deliveries at night that are put out out as soon as they come in , so where l work, it can depend on the time of the day as to when shelves look worse.

This has been the case for ages. I posted about it in July (sorry if link doesn't work).
Either empty shelves or weird shortages. I'm in London (zone 3) and have 2 large supermarkets within 10 minutes walk from where I live.
Supply chains are fucked due to a perfect storm of Covid, Brexit, shipping prices, Chinese bottle necks etc. It sucks.

Today's supermarket shortages (First world problem alert) www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4304513-today-s-supermarket-shortages-first-world-problem-alert

Just popped into Asda for some bits. The customers are seriously stocking up on fizzy drinks. Guess the word on the C02 is out there

I have to say that while it's obvious there are empty spaces on shelves (even in Waitrose!) I can get everything I need. And if it's not there today they'll have it the next time I go in, which is often the case anyway if they have offers on things and they sell out more quickly than normal.

My DH has done our weekly shop in Sainsburys today and got everything we wanted.

So I think the problem of food shortages is massively overstated. However, that's in my area.

[quote SwedishEdith]The hike in gas prices is going to make this worse. CO2 is derived from gas supplies and abattoirs use it before stunning animals and supermarkets use it to keep frozen food frozen. There is a shortage of this so food shortages are going to get worse.

Article here on the UK's ability to be self-sufficient in food. Looks okay if you like lamb (yuk) and carrots.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/sourcing/how-can-the-uk-be-more-self-sufficient-in-food/653103.article[/quote]
DH mentioned this yesterday. So many aspects of our lives are being affected by this.

Not noticed this here. Full asda shop, only one substitution. Went to sainsburys and was able to get everything I wanted except shaving foam (well I was able to get some but a different brand)

Conversely to my last post. The lack of courgette has suddenly turned out to courgette city in our local supermarket. A good 25% of the veg shelving has been taken over by courgettes I every form you can think of. Bags of big ones, bags of small ones, cardboard trays with medium sided ones & 2 displays of loose 😐 not a lot else though, just loads of courgettes

@SingingInTheShithouse

Conversely to my last post. The lack of courgette has suddenly turned out to courgette city in our local supermarket. A good 25% of the veg shelving has been taken over by courgettes I every form you can think of. Bags of big ones, bags of small ones, cardboard trays with medium sided ones & 2 displays of loose 😐 not a lot else though, just loads of courgettes

Same here! They can't give them away!

Same here! They can't give them away

That did make me laugh, bonkers isn't it

We are covered in courgettes too.