I am so fed up of a lack of food in shops.

[OutofEverything]

This has been going on for a few years but is only getting worse. I had to go to 3 supermarkets before I found some eggs. No lettuce at all, a few packs of salad tomatoes available in one supermarket, loads of empty spaces in the fruit and veg section, and in ASDA even the freezers had loads of empty spaces.

Before anyone says yes I know we will not starve, there is enough actual food. But a visit to a supermarket now is a lottery about what will be available and what is missing. And more and more I am having to visit multiple shops to get absolute basics.

Hats off to the Washington Post headline writer: "British supermarkets are rationing lettuce. That's just the tip of the iceberg."

Me too - and I still can't find the Chlorinated Chicken I was warned I'd be forced to buy immediately.

Which paper is that? I always read my favourite Dagens Nyheter and could not find any mention today. Which one do you read as I'm always on the look out for new international papers.

I stumbled upon DN when my friend was visiting Sweden and there had been another spate of violence and it now my go to paper for all Swedish news, but love adding to my collection 😂

DN is probably the best one to read, but both Aftonbladet and Expressen are reporting on the tomato crisis today. DN is a little more serious and high-brow, the other two are quicker to report on events as and when they are happening.

Hats off too to the Telegraph who, far from ingnoring the problem, are calling it a good thing. "Our grandmothers wouldn't have eaten tomatoes and lettuce in February, so why should we?" Yes, that really is a headline.

Thanks so much 😀

Looking forward to sugar, butter, eggs and meat being rationed. After all if it was good enough for my grandmother...

Bird flu is affecting eggs to an extent, but more than this is the cost of energy and grain and the reluctance of supermarkets to buy eggs at a cost that gives farmers any profit.
However, my friend sent me a photo of her supermarket in Kyiv today - very well-stocked! In Britain we are affected by Brexit because most of our fresh produce is grown abroad and import costs have risen due to Brexit paperwork). Another major factor is climate change, as the weather in Spain and Morocco has been very unseasonal.

OK went to the shop, tomatoes ranged from 3,99kg for Spanish tomatoes to 6,99kg for Finnis tomatoes, with Finnish cherry tomatoes at 4,99kg, same for Finnish cucumbers (rarely see foreign cucumbers here anymore actually, only in lidl now, as people only want to buy homegrown and willing to pay more for it) and lettuce ranging from 1,25kg to 2,39kg

In Lidl in small town Ireland today. Masses of everything, including tomatoes, lettuce, other salad stuff. Loads of eggs in various sizes, but I buy those in the village Spar on Saturdays because they're fresher there.

Lidl have started having a few boxes of fruit and vegetables getting near the end of their first freshness available at €3 under the label 'waste not want not'. By the time I got in this morning the only box left had a dozen bananas (no brown spotting) lots of easy peelers, some apples and lemons and far more parsnips that seemed necessary or desirable - a few more things, it was quite a boxful. I decided to skip it (still haven't finished the mango and fennel from last week) but it would have been great for anyone with a family.

Just picked up my Tesco delivery. The only substitute was bath foam.

It's a perfect storm

It's Brexit. What (some of) you voted for.

Why do people keep saying this? If it was Brexit we'd have no salad anywhere. The independent grocers are stuffed to the gills with it, because they pay a decent amount to the supplier, who have limited stock due to the weather, so they aren't going to sell it to our cheapskate supermarkets when they can sell it to European customers and higher end uk customers who will pay more.

They explained it yesterday on R4.

Not as good as an LA Times article years ago:

"Parmesan crisis grates on Italians"

I think it’s auto pilot

I often feel the same as you after listening to actual explanations on R4

There is no doubt that there is a Brexit effect. Brexit is not the cause, but there is little doubt that it makes a difficult situation worse.

1. Fuel prices increasing (with no support for growers) mean that UK farmers are very reluctant to plant early and pay fuel costs for heating (those great poly-tunnels with plants in them)
2. Lack of resources to pick crops mean UK farmers are decreasing the amount they are planting (why plant if you cannot get anyone to pick the results?)
3. Both of the above reduce the amount of crops that the UK can supply for itself (and the second one is directly attributable to Brexit)
4. Then we have a situation where there is a shortage in the market; the primary suppliers for these items are in Southern Europe. As such, why sell your stuff to the UK (all that extra paperwork, plus delays meaning perishable items have short dates as well) when you can sell it to the internal market within the mainland EU for just as much (if not more) money?

It is insane to claim that adding friction to international trade will NOT have an effect. In effect the UK have decided to put tariffs on ourselves - while our European neighbours just shake their heads in disbelief

I'm not in the UK.

There are no East Berlin-like scenes in any supermarkets near me or anywhere else that I'm aware of.

I think this is a specifically UK issue.

Actually, eggs are backed up in a warehouse...Birdflu means that chickens are living in even worse conditions than they usually would be...

Just back from the farm shop and the Co-Op - those Brexity bastards have filled the shelves with tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, eggs etc presumably to annoy anyone who voted remain.

Still can't get chlorinated chicken though.

I'd hate to imagine it's social media and the mainstream outlets getting carried away again.

Plenty of salad items in Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Lidl here today.

My cousin in Sydney was complaining of various shortages last week, though.

Are we rationing lettuce?

News to me.

How many lettuces per person are we allowed.

Is this limited to one lettuce product per shop or can you buy different kinds of lettuce?

I am in the south east and never heard of rationing lettuce. And I buy 3-4 per week

I certainly found no tomatoes or peppers in two local Co op stores earlier this week.

The Bird flu effects everywhere in Europe.

The war in Ukraine effects everywhere in Europe.

Inflation effects everywhere in Europe.

So what can it be that only effects the UK if it isn't Brexit? Inefficiency? Bad governance?

If you’re talking about this issue of no tomatoes the supermarkets are not paying higher prices whereas other countries’ markets are and increasing £ for customer