Yesterday evening Vince convinced me that he needed to go to the store . . to get some pots to plant some starter plants that he had ordered. I know better than to leave the house with that man of mine! Yes, we got pots, but we ended up grabbing dinner out because we were going to be too late getting home. We also went to Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Big Lots, and Tractor Supply and I was about to get really frustrated by the time he decided we had made enough stops.
Vince Potting Plants
He did come home and pot his plants. These are temporary pots so the cheapest thing we could find was some plastic food storage containers so he drilled holes in the bottom, and used them . . and who sits down to pot plants? Vince . . that’s who! 🙂
But we were at Wal-Mart and as I turned to go up the baking aisle, a lady was standing there looking forlorn and she said “Have you ever seen the shelves so empty? No sugar at all!” I said “No, I guess everyone was shopping for sugar today! But, it’s kinda scary to see none on the shelves.” She said “Yes, I’ve heard that some day in the near future, we might see food shortages!” Vince was all ready to send the poor lady into a full blown panic attack with the stories he was about to tell her and I said NO! I’m sure the shelves have not been re-stocked and by tomorrow, there will be plenty of sugar and really, I am quite certain that’s true.
We walked a little farther down the aisle because I needed to get salt. Of course, I keep plenty but we’ve been boiling crawfish lately and that takes a whole lot of salt. We got to the salt shelf and the salt was all gone! It’s on the very bottom shelf so I was kneeling down to see if there was more way in the back, and there was. Vince said “What’s the deal? No salt and no sugar?” A man was walking by and he was a bit frustrated too. He said to me “How many more boxes of salt are there down there?” I told him there were a few and he got down and grabbed the rest of them. He said “I’d better get it while I can.” That’s the kind of thinking that causes a run on things and can quickly get out of hand if there ever is a real shortage of something.
I saw the lady from the sugar aisle a few aisles over and she was still concerned that so many of the shelves were empty. I asked her if she usually shops that late and she said she does not (even though it was only about 6:30 p.m.) and I explained that I often see the shelves needing re-stocking when it’s that time of day. I hope that made her feel a little better but it just affirmed for me why I don’t want to ever HAVE to be in the grocery store if shortages do happen . . for whatever reason.
Once when I was younger and probably had to go to the grocery store every day before I could cook a meal, we were living in Louisiana and I stopped in the grocery store. It was packed! I went to the bread aisle and there wasn’t a single loaf. I was standing there looking kinda disconcerted and a man . . I recognized him as the local weatherman from TV, said to me “Do you have any idea why there’s no bread?” No . . no idea at all . . and he explained to me, in a lecturing manner, that there was a hurricane that had just turned and was headed our way, and admonished me for not paying closer attention to what was happening around me! I wondered how all those other people knew about it and I didn’t . . but I think I know the answer to that question now!
Store shelves can be emptied in a matter of minutes when there’s a situation, either real or imagined, that causes people to be concerned about their food supply. That’s another reason to be sure you have enough on hand to get you through at least several days.
Dottie N. says
That’s funny (not ha-ha). DH and I went to our local Aldi’s on Sunday to pick up some canned tuna (packed in water) and there was none. Went to Walmart, and saw the same thing. Very strange that water packed canned tuna was gone. They did have tuna in oil, but I haven’t bought that in years, so we passed on picking up tuna. The next time I’m out and around, I’ll pick up a few cans to have on hand (if it’s come in).
Sherrill says
My niece heard something quite awhile back that there would be a sugar shortage so she stocked up BIG TIME!! Probably has enough for 10 families for 5 yrs..HA! I haven’t noticed any empty shelves lately and I’ve been to Kroger AND WalMart. Maybe it’s something local–who knows. But it does pay to keep some extra of especially some things on hand, items you use quite a bit. AND Saturday, postal workers are gathering canned goods for local food banks so don’t forget to put some out for them!!
sharon says
We were at the grocery store yesterday and I saw the rice vinegar that my husband especially likes for salad dressing. It was 2.39 (plus 7% discount) instead of 3.49. I promptly put 12 of them in my cart and was going to get the last 3 when he told me, it was a good thing to leave some for someone else. Then he asked where are you going to put all the extras? When we got home, I showed him where the extras go. He was really surprised at what was there. His next question was “Do you know what all is here?” I laughingly told him, “not enough”
Susan says
If that became a trend, it would be disconcerting, indeed. I generally shop mornings, and not in Wal-Mart, so I’m not really sure how things are here at that time of day. I do have a friend who works in the offices at the one near my house, though, so I think I’m going to ask her about their schedules, just out of curiosity.
Sandy K says
Last week I was looking for Hersey coco.There were only two dark chocolate containers there. No regular coco at all. I only bought the one but when is there no Hersey coco?
Michelle says
I’ve seen the weirdest shelves bare at out local Walmart. This week, there was very little bread to be had. One week it was mayo. Then it was lettuce. It always seems like they’re out of something and some days there are a lot of bare shelves.