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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

881 replies

OutofEverything · 23/02/2023 00:51

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.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
20
MintJulia · 27/02/2023 15:36

OutofEverything · 27/02/2023 14:49

Most independent greengrocers have closed a long time ago.

Most markets still have a greengrocer.

Lcb123 · 27/02/2023 15:40

We’ve been too spoilt. We should be buying what’s in season and grown in the Uk, not expecting stuff shipped all over the world.

Bagatella · 27/02/2023 15:42

Lcb123 · 27/02/2023 15:40

We’ve been too spoilt. We should be buying what’s in season and grown in the Uk, not expecting stuff shipped all over the world.

Assuming the growers can afford to produce it and find pickers to harvest it

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 27/02/2023 15:51

Lcb123 · 27/02/2023 15:40

We’ve been too spoilt. We should be buying what’s in season and grown in the Uk, not expecting stuff shipped all over the world.

Cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines were brown in the U.K. in winter. But the suppliers can’t afford to heat the greenhouses anymore as we have the highest power prices in the world.

That’s the issue.

Firefly2023 · 27/02/2023 15:51

YABU It is about time we stopped shipping out of season produce all round the world. We should learn to eat what is available in our own country and appreciate our farmers more.

Original poster
OutofEverything · 27/02/2023 15:52

@Lcb123 So show me where I can buy veg grown in season? That too is in short supply where I live. Carrots and potatoes are the only veg I can reliably get.
Cauliflowers are in season right now, and being rationed by supermarkets.

OP posts:
Oldnproud · 27/02/2023 15:58

People keep saying we should be buying what is in season here.

On the face of it, I agree, but - and this is a genuine question: We keep hearing of UK farmers who have had to leave produce to rot in the fields this winter because they don't have the workers to lift/ pick what is there now, so how realistic is to think that they could supply the much, much larger quantities that would be needed if everyone did indeed start trying to rely on just seasonal produce, either in the near future or even long-term?

SerendipityJane · 27/02/2023 16:00

People keep saying we should be buying what is in season here.

"People" say a lot of things. Statistics, facts and history generally show they are wrong.

MarshaBradyo · 27/02/2023 16:05

Supermarkets don’t want to buy at higher prices - grower on just now.

I suppose we don’t ultimately as that’s who they sell to

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 16:23

Oldnproud · 27/02/2023 15:58

People keep saying we should be buying what is in season here.

On the face of it, I agree, but - and this is a genuine question: We keep hearing of UK farmers who have had to leave produce to rot in the fields this winter because they don't have the workers to lift/ pick what is there now, so how realistic is to think that they could supply the much, much larger quantities that would be needed if everyone did indeed start trying to rely on just seasonal produce, either in the near future or even long-term?

It's not realistic at all.

If we all ate seasonally only what could he grown during a UK winter and didn't import from just over the channel we would have no salad, hardly any fruit and already have run out of most things we can grow.

I've been struggling to get broccoli most weeks. It's in season theoretically in the UK but is hard wok to pick and farmers have learned that they won't be able to get the workers they need so they didn't plant it.

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 16:23

Why are the prices higher @MarshaBradyo

ropeycorn · 27/02/2023 16:24

Can we go to those that are rotting in the fields and just nick some for ourselves. Remember when there was the pig cull due to Brexit....

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 16:32

Turnips are theoretically in season in the UK, although have been grown for animal feed primarily, prior to Brexit. but you can't get any.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/farmer-dubbed-turnip-king-blasts-29313983

I am so fed up of a lack of food in shops.
beguilingeyes · 27/02/2023 16:34

Lcb123 · 27/02/2023 15:40

We’ve been too spoilt. We should be buying what’s in season and grown in the Uk, not expecting stuff shipped all over the world.

We.dont.produce.enough.food.to.feed.ourselves
We don't produce enough food to feed ourselves.
We can all eat seasonal, home grown food, but there's not enough of it.

SerendipityJane · 27/02/2023 16:49

We.dont.produce.enough.food.to.feed.ourselves

And haven't for centuries. I'm all for autarky, but there are limits.

MarshaBradyo · 27/02/2023 16:52

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 16:23

Why are the prices higher @MarshaBradyo

U.K. prices will be higher presumably due to growing in greenhouses which take energy v growing outside

Even with Brexit the supermarkets chose lower price EU food

Those who say we need to fund the difference look at the energy costs that are already massive - it’s just more on taxpayers.

So supermarkets buy higher, we pay more v taxes

Or do what they are limit buys and we get low prices still

Firefly2023 · 27/02/2023 17:02

If prices were high enough to pay pickers decent wages then the produce wouldn't be rotting in the fields.

Obviously saying we should by seasonal produce isn't a quick fix when we haven't bee growing it. Maybe in future we should grow more of our own as brexit has made it more difficult to secure reliable supplies from Europe and for environmental reasons, we shouldn't be relying on salad stuff from the southern hemisphere. Heating greenhouses to produce salad out of season is also an environmental disaster.

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 17:13

Lcb123 · 27/02/2023 15:40

We’ve been too spoilt. We should be buying what’s in season and grown in the Uk, not expecting stuff shipped all over the world.

I'd like to continue with a normal British way of life cheers.

Spain and the Netherlands aren't exactly far away.

sydneysunset · 27/02/2023 17:20

My local Sainsburys this morning had a full quota of cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes-the latter were from the U.K., Spain, Netherlands and Morocco. Are Sainsburys not distributing these elsewhere? It’s odd that it’s so inconsistent throughout the country

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 17:21

The higher costs have a common theme @MarshaBradyo

Growing in greenhouses is uneconomic this year because our government have set our energy "caps" at some of the highest in the world. (Electricity is THE highest in the world)

And all the myriad knock on effects of Brexit, such as growth plummeting and our currency being devalued combined with our governments mismanagement of the economy mean that things like fertiliser have gone up 75%.

Do you personally want to pay £4 for a cucumber and £12 for a pack of tomatoes? Do you think people can afford that generally?

Or do you think the UK should be the only country in Europe that doesn't have salad from October to May?

Or shall we reverse Brexit and go back to the normal British way of life most of us grew up with?

verdantverdure · 27/02/2023 17:28

sydneysunset · 27/02/2023 17:20

My local Sainsburys this morning had a full quota of cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes-the latter were from the U.K., Spain, Netherlands and Morocco. Are Sainsburys not distributing these elsewhere? It’s odd that it’s so inconsistent throughout the country

My friend my husband and I each went shopping in different bit adjacent towns recently to try and get a normal amount of fresh fruit and veg.

Most of the supermarkets are in all three towns, and the towns are only three or four miles apart but the stock levels varied wildly. Even within all the Sainsburys or all the Lidls.

ImAvingOops · 27/02/2023 17:31

Talking all the time about shortages does tend to create them a bit. People who maybe wouldn't bother, cos they have some in the fridge already, go out and buy extra tomatoes or whatever. And then the big supermarkets don't have stuff, since they have lots of shoppers.

I bought tomatoes quite easily in Iceland at the weekend. And Lidl today at lunchtime had tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli etc. Am in south Wales.

MarshaBradyo · 27/02/2023 17:32

Are we the highest for electricity?

Denmark, Spain and Germany higher here

www.statista.com/statistics/263492/electricity-prices-in-selected-countries/

Colder countries that grow in greenhouses will be getting hit harder whether the taxpayer picks up the difference or not.

Supermarkets could compete on price for tomatoes right now but prefer to limit to buyers instead.

The people getting hit isn’t really us as we can get low cost food, it’s growers who they don’t buy from and Italian restaurants etc

We could stump up more adding it to the huge energy payouts. Do people who pay tax want that?

Natsku · 27/02/2023 17:37

That link is looking at prices in march 2022 - a lot has changed in a year to electricity prices

MarshaBradyo · 27/02/2023 17:39

As for reversing Brexit it’s not me you need to convince. It’s all been covered on other threads anyway, and it’s your MP you need to write to.

Even though it may not resolve this as supermarkets still would have to pay higher prices due to shortage and they’re not doing that.