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 ?

I think I read something that suggested the idea of popping to the shop for something specific are numbered. It's going to be more buying what's there and figuring it out.
I couldn't get my hands on any cheesy garlic bread (a basic staple in my house) so have had to settle for regular and added my own cheese. Send help!

No issue here. I’m in the South East. I’ve noticed the occasional gap in the shelves but if I pop to the shops a couple of days later, the gaps are filled. I’ve been able to get everything I needed. I think people are getting in a panic fuelled by the Daily Mail.

Lidl manager (call me Karen at your peril) says it's drivers being pinged, which would explain why we can't get butter when there's a dairy factory 15 minutes away. Lucky atm to have a neighbour with an allotment producing gluts of lovely veg, and have gathered about 3kg of damsons ready for jamming. Thinking about getting chickens next year, or buying a share in some another neighbour keeps nearby!

Yep,NW here and can't get tender stem broccoli in 3 supermarkets. Wine shelves also look 1/2 full 😱

I’m Midlands - we had a bad few weeks but recently it’s been pretty well stocked. The issues seem quite localised at the moment…

And I think there’s a fatigue about food shortages, if I’m honest. There’s been constant bad news - Brexit, Covid, predictions of shortages of food, winter lockdowns, etc. And while I’m not personally there, anecdotally I know a lot of people who are coping with that now by ignoring it.

No issues in Sussex

I'm in a small town outside of Glasgow. Our Tesco is mostly OK. A few things here and there are missing but it's really more one brand of something is missing so you have to get another, rather than none at all.
I did notice frozen veg is an issue, and tinned sweetcorn.

Our local supermarkets are all fine. Maybe not quite as much choice as usual, but no empty shelves.

Our local corner shop spar is another story. Completely empty shelves, never have so much as a loaf of bread.

There are some gaps in shelves, but not across the whole store. Hardly any pasta ready meals. That's really all I've noticed missing.

Rural southwest. No orange juice, no shaving foam (for DH). Friend in Hertfordshire reports no batteries.

No empty shelves in the shops I go to.

Only gaps is random items, not sections of items. Today I couldn't get individual rice puddings or chicken tikka sandwich filling for example. But all other items were in stock

My mother is having trouble with gluten free food supply. This is limiting my DF somewhat, as he can't just eat the alternatives with gluten in.

Coop have had a huge issue at one of it he supply depots or something…
It’s not entirely the same issue as the other supermarkets .

No issues where I live, but then I’m in London, so probably a bit less likely to be hit immediately.

@Samanabanana

Yeah I've not seen any empty shelves at all in the three different supermarkets I've visited the last week or so, and there were no substitutions or compromises on our online delivery that arrived today. Are you trying to stir up panic?

What a strange comment. ! Surely asking if the unusual phenomenon is occurring in my neighbourhood is also occurring in yours is simply asking a question . It's a simple fact. I asked the shelf stacker what was going on and he said 'we can't get the drivers'.

There were while swathes of empty shelves and fridges.
No chicken fillets, whole chicken. Only drumsticks and wings.
No pork of any kind.
Plenty of lamb and beef joints.

No potatoes except salad.
No carrots
No broccoli
No red onions only white.
No lots of veg. 75% of the veg trays were turned over signalling out of stock. Same for the fruit.

To comment means 'stirring up panic'? That strikes me as the brave new world of Trumpism.. if something is unpalatable and blatantly obvious- then just pretend it isn't !!

Canned goods seemed unaffected . Plenty of pasta and grains with the exception of white rice.

No issues here

To be honest, we got back into the habit of online deliveries in the lockdown so haven't been in many shops to notice - but we've had so many more substitutions and missing items than normally over the last month or so.

We had a very long list of substitutes and not available from our Tesco delivery, but the delivery guy said ours was the worst he'd had that day so hard to tell.

No couscous ,no frozen runner beans , no cats favourite cat food , no 0% Greek yoghurt , no paracetamol tablets in my local Sainsbury's in North West.

We have our food shop delivered. For the last few weeks there’s been 10-15 items missing, common items nothing unusual. We better get used to it I suppose, it’s what the people voted for. Well done to them. 😉

@Shallwegoforawalk

Empty shelves - how bad is it around you? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4350162-Empty-shelves-how-bad-is-it-around-you

Posted on this thread on this topic just a few days ago so yes it's noticeable, but seems to vary a lot across the country. Co-op does seem to feature as one of the worst stocked though.

Pure scaremongering. A poster on that thread was saying supermarkets in Cornwall had been completely empty for weeks. Lot of bollocks as I see otherwise. A poster on this thread confirms my experience.

I am home now, in the north Cotswolds. Food galore everywhere.

Fishmongers
Cheesemongers
Scaremongers

All delivering!

Apparently John Lewis are chartering ships to ensure they have stock for Christmas.

There's been daily threads in trending about this for weeks

Tonight’s Ocado…

London. I've noticed some gaps but nothing drastic so far.