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.

Brexit is the reason.
In Europe the shops are full.

The lack of fresh food in my local Tesco is very depressing tbh. No tomatoes or salad veg except stuff like mini cucumbers and a few packs of massive yellow peppers. I’m usually one of the first to dismiss complaints about this stuff but it’s very noticeable now and has been for a few weeks.

I think there's something about our supermarket supply chains in the UK that make us vulnerable to this sort of thing. I went through a market yesterday and they had mountains of peppers, lettuce, cucumbers and about 7 different varieties of tomatoes in a range of colours. During the panic buying in lockdown, Tesco was out of rice and noodles but stalls on the markets had them by sack load. Plenty of eggs in farm shops and butchers right now too.

I'd love to use a greengrocer, but we don't have one. There were 5 when I moved here 30 years ago, all now gone. It would be a 20 mile round trip to the nearest greengrocer, and would take at least 20 minutes each way.

We have 3 supermarkets, albeit small ones, and I've noticed that Aldi doesn't seem to be having supply problems on the scale that Tesco and Waitrose do.

We are reliant on food imports largely from the EU and the reality of Brexit is that this country has become difficult and expensive to export to. Any other issues such as weather will further exacerbate this. Why spend lots of money and extra red tape transporting goods across the channel when it is far easier and more profitable to sell within the EU.

i really dont think its worth getting upset over.
whatever the reasons for it, although i would be upset not to have a tomato personally, but i currently have a packet,

We should be thinking of the miracle of having a section of tomatoes available to but in the U.K. in February, and actually whether that’s desirable or sustainable!

Personally I love a tomato any time of year but I’m old enough to remember people marvelling at having tomatoes at Christmas.

We need to think hard about this stuff.

Another in an EU country not seeing any shortages here. Brexit is the reason for the UK

The only thing that I've not had delivered/had a substitute for recently in my supermarket delivery is tissues.

Loads of eggs in my local Co op. I'm right on the outskirts of London 🤷‍♀️

Food has been too cheap for years, in a minor part from the near slave labour used in it’s production. Read up on the conditions and money those EE guys earn in the fields. It’s disgusting and UK residents get more on benefits than farmers are willing (or able) to pay.
Farming needs to modernise.
As PPs say, we should be eating (more) seasonal rather than getting tomatos from Morocco etc.

Bloody hell, don’t mean to be rude people but anyone listing off the all the world’s issues as the reason for the UK not having enough stock in the supermarket needs to wake up. WAKE UP, this is Brexit, there’s not a shortage of food in Ireland, no shortages in the rest of the EU.
The country is sliding into rapid decline and it feels like everyone is just accepting and adapting. it’s a low wage economy, full time workers are using food banks, people can’t afford to heat their homes, you think that becoming what used to be known as a “second world country” can’t happen here? It’s happening.
Last year they were predicting that the UKs growth would be worse this year than every other country apart from Russia. Well one month into the new year and the IMF are now predicting Russia will out perform the UK economy. Sanctions-ridden, dictator led, warring Russia. It wasn’t like this 10 years ago- doesn’t anyone remember? Speaking with friends in Europe in similar industries are they are making up to twice as much in terms of pay.
the country needs to grow up and start talking about Brexit, how to undo it, how to rejoin the single market. Stop telling people they need to just get over it, you are trashing the future of a once successful country

@Crumpetdisappointment While it is not disastrous that we cannot buy tomatoes, the point is that this is an underlying problem for our food supply chain that has been going on for a few years but no one in government (or the bbc) is being honest about it. We are constantly being gaslit that it is weather or some other nonsense failing to address the elephant in the room that is Brexit has left us worse off with higher prices and a lot less choice. It's like the emperor's new clothes tale where we are pretending everything is okay but it really isn't.

@Evergreenlevelbest1
can Brexit be reversed?

but why should it be ok to have tomatoes flown in from Morocco?

fuel
energy
gas
we, the government, chose not to subsidise
they chose the wrong suppliers.

Bit random but I couldn't find soy sauce anywhere this week. Went to about four different shops.

Functionally, and it will be the moment the Tories are out.

Dreadful horrible old bunch of horrors and graspers who have kicked out anyone decent from their own party for a shibboleth.

Brexit, apparently they knew what they were voting for that and less immigrants.Well here it is Project Here. An apology would be nice.

I live in the southeast and haven't seen any of these shortages at all. Yesterday I was at my local Sainsbury's and M&S, both had full supplies of veg. Not sure about eggs, I had trouble getting some a few weeks back - free-range chickens don't lay as much in the winter and bird flu is affecting the industry.

Morocco has prioritised exports to the EU because it is easier and cheaper to transport to. The UK had arranged a post deal with Morocco which was to have a shipping route to the UK but alas like previous phantom ferry promises this has not materialised and someone has made money from a contract. Ideally we would grow tomatoes here but the energy costs and lack of workers have meant that growers here have scaled back. Perhaps if the government had any foresight they might have supported the UK growers better especially in the energy crisis.

I think people might have to get used to eating seasonally. And will have to stop relying on exports and imports of food to get richer and use their own resources to feed their people. Lamb always baffles me. Almost all of our lamb goes abroad, but we buy lamb in from New Zealand at a hefty markup to the consumer. Why? We already had it!

I agree with this. The other day posters were acting like it was ridiculous to expect to be able to buy eggs on Pancake Day and that planning ahead is always necessary. Nonsense! Utter nonsense. For my entire adult life I would be able to stroll down to the shops on Shrive Tuesday and pick up as many eggs as I wanted. They never sold out because shops knew people would want more and got more stock in. It’s not at all normal to be short of these things! Maybe it’s the “new normal” but we shouldn’t act like it’s just how things are.

I've seen shortages on products for over a year in the North East, not just fresh products either. Things like tomato ketchup and bottled water. Spent a week in Berlin and Amsterdam before Christmas, shelves rammed, no supply issues there.

Our local Tesco is usually out of eggs but the filling stations usually have some as does the garden centre. I got some Clarence Court eggs at 80p for 6 this week with 8 days shelf life left. Peppers have been out of stock nearly everywhere though.

quite right