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The Grocery Run

It’s been 51 days since we went into a store. We’ve done three grocery online orders where we picked up curbside. No delivery service out here. In those three orders, we got bacon and 2 packs of chicken thighs. In those 51 days, we have not eaten out once or taken advantage of pick up from restaurants so we’ve had at least 51 meals at home. I keep hearing there’s going to be a meat shortage and that concerns us.

Trust is Earned:

First, I no longer know what to believe. I hardly believe the news. I hardly believe the experts. Remember in the beginning of all this when they told us not to wear masks – they would make things worse? I understand that they didn’t want ordinary (and I hate using that word but that’s how they think about it) people buying up all the N95 masks, though I still say that the few masks at Home Depot and Walmart were not affecting the supply at hospitals. When Chad was young and having to get vaccinations, I never told him “This is not going to hurt!” I knew those shots hurt. I told him “It will hurt for just a second and then we’ll go get ice cream! It’s something we have to do so let’s make the best of it!” If the “experts” had been honest from day one and told us we should be making masks and wearing them; save the N95 for medical personnel, I’d have a whole lot more faith in what they say. My belief is that if I can’t believe you ALL the time, I can’t believe you any of the time. That’s part of my skepticism with experts and government officials.

My Take on the News:

Having said all that, I feel like I get more accurate “news” from youtube videos – farmers, investors, preppers who have connections with others who know a lot more than I know. You may be laughing at me but I ask you this: If you’re watching mainstream media, what have they told you lately that has helped you in any way? Watching the youtubers I watch, I saw this coming in late January and did everything I could do to get prepared. I have one other friend who believes like I do and we talk and we both did as much as we could to be ready. I feel like watching those videos helped me way more than being glued to the TV watching biased media coverage.

So, having said that, the youtubers I watch are all talking about a potential coming meat shortage. There’s a variety of reasons they claim. I don’t know for sure but they have been right in other feelings they’ve shared.

Back to the grocery run . . we’ve had at least 51 meals from the freezer (I haven’t used the chicken thighs yet). For the most part, one package of meat will give us two meals, sometimes three, so say I’ve used 20 packs of meat out of the freezer. I didn’t feel the need to replace 20 packages of meat but I do feel like we can’t continue taking out and not putting back.

Vince went to Aldi and United this morning. We weren’t sure what he might find as we’ve heard, from other places, not here – that there were limits on meat and other items. Vince saw no limits on anything except vienna sausage. I guess with kids home from school, there’s a run on those things. United even had a sale – buy one/get one on pork chops!

Our Grocery Finds:
  • Pork Chops – 4 packages of 4 each. Most meals, Vince eats two and I eat one and that will leave one for him to make a pork chop sandwich for lunch since I don’t eat lunch, nor do I cook lunch so that’s 4 dinners.
  • Chuck Roast – 2. Each of those will be three meals so that’s 6 dinners.
  • Steak – 6. He likes strip steaks and I like ribeyes so he got a package of each – 3 per pack. I package them with one strip and one ribeye. I can’t eat a whole ribeye so I eat half of mine, he eats all of his and makes a sandwich for lunch with the other half of mine so that’s 3 dinners.
  • Hamburger – 1 package of ground beef to grill burgers. We’ll get 2 meals out of that.
  • Hotdogs – I’m going to say 4 meals out of that – though I’m guessing he will eat more of those at lunch than we actually have for dinner.

I’m guessing that’s pretty close to 20 dinners for us so actually, I guess we did replace almost everything we’ve used.

I vacuum sealed it all and except for one package of steaks, put it in the freezer, and marked it so we use the older meats first.

He was also able to buy broccoli, corn on the cob, potatoes, blueberries and ice cream! Has it really been 51 days with no ice cream? Not really because night before last, I mixed up milk, sugar and vanilla in a zipper bag, put it in a bag of ice with salt, wrapped it in a towel and shook it til we had “ice cream”.

Vince’s Observations:
  • One store – employees wearing masks but had their noses uncovered. Yes, it’s not easy to breathe with those on.
  • The other store – no employees were wearing masks .
  • No one way aisles.
  • Even though he got there at the time when the older folks can shop early, no one was turned away and there were people who were not senior citizens.
  • No place was crowded.
  • The meat counters seemed fully stocked – no visible shortages.
  • No paper towels. No toilet paper. All paper goods seemed to be missing.
  • Bakery supplies low – cake mixes, brownie mix, flour, icing, etc. He said there was lots of sugar.

My favorite thing he bought – Dr. Dazzle. As crazy as this may sound, I like the Aldi brand better than real Dr. Pepper. I’ve been rationing my supply and have not run out but it was nice to get a restock on those!

He said he felt perfectly safe shopping. He wore a mask, wiped his hands with Clorox wipes when he got back into the car. When he got home, he took his clothes off outside, threw them over the clothesline for the sun to “sanitize” them. They will go into the washer tonight. He wore is outside/garden/chicken yard shoes (another reason I didn’t go with him!) and left them outside; came home, took a shower, washed his hair. We cleaned all the groceries that we were putting away.

. . and our day resumes, with a few more groceries than we had yesterday.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Would you please share your favorite you tubers and news sources? We have not had a tv in over10 years, but use computers and iPad. Thank you!

  2. We haven’t seen any meat or fresh produce shortages here either – so far. But the local meat locker businesses are swamped with hogs not able to go to the big processing plants. Paper goods are starting to show up again but are still limited in quantity. We’ve done the pick-up grocery orders mostly, but I have gone directly to the grocery store and to Walmart in the past week. Workers were all wearing their masks properly, and most shoppers were too. Fewer shoppers at Walmart were wearing masks which didn’t surprise me. I made masks for one of my nieces who works at the grocery closest to us. She told me that supplies are starting to catch up with demand again, except for paper goods.

  3. I’ve always admired your preparedness and have known we needed to, but it’s just overwhelming. I did start using my vacuum sealer more about a year ago but after this I really need to get on it. I too would love to know a few of the you tubers you watch. A starting spot if you will. And 51 days no ice cream! Awful lol. I just got home from Snyder helping my mom, 80 and fell and broke her femur, and ate WAY to much Blue Bell. We don’t have it here in NM and I can’t wait to get back down there this weekend for more lol. Brides Cake and Homemade Vanilla………. ahhhhhhh

    • Yes! Vince got Homemade Vanilla and another one I think called Confetti Cake. So far . . we haven’t opened either carton.

  4. About a month ago there were limits on meat here, but lately I haven’t seen any signs up about limits. Paper products are starting to show up again. I haven’t seen any bleach yet, but since I don’t need any, I don’t worry about it. I have not seen any shortages of produce either. Our big Walmart had flour this past week, so I bought 1 bag since I would rather have some extra than to need it and not be able to find it. I need to take it down to the freezer…lately it has just been hit or miss on what they are low on–butter has been the main thing the last couple of weeks. In Walmart the employees are really good about wearing masks. I haven’t been to Aldi’s lately, so I don’t know how they are. (The young(er) people Vince saw may be people with compromised immune systems. They are included in the special shopping times here.)

  5. “My belief is that if I can’t believe you ALL the time, I can’t believe you any of the time.” –Yes, yes and YES!! I don’t watch or read the news very much, I’m so sick of all those talking heads. I too am very concerned about our meat supply. Good for Vince in braving the grocery stores. I really feel that if you are careful, you are safe.

  6. We ran into Sam’s yesterday for a few things (not one of those wandering around the store, just picking up specific items). We live an hour away from the closest Sam’s and the small grocery store here doesn’t have a lot of things + there has been a problem with covid19 cases associated with the store (they’ve shortened hours, done a lot of deep cleaning, etc. and I think it’s ok now BUT I really don’t want to chance it. ANYWAY, while we were in town I picked up some cream soda Dr. Pepper – daughter highly recommended it and I have to say, it’s GREAT. I do like Dr. Dazzle, too but our closest Aldi’s is about 3 hours away, LOL.

  7. The reason for the shortage of meat in some areas is that some processing plants had to close because so many employees have the coronavirus. Farmers are having to dispose of hogs that they can’t send to market. Today President Trump announced that he is ordering all meat processing plants to remain open. Not sure how that is going to work with not enough staff to do the butchering.

  8. I only usually watch local news 10-15 min at 5:00 and the same at 11:00. a holdover from the fires. I’m going to get a few extra packs of meat this Friday when I order other stuff. One thing I did see on local news as we do have a lot of orchards, farms, cattle ranches all around the surrounding area here in N. Calif is these shortages and shutdowns will probably affect the chain grocery stores, but local resources should be ok. We have several small locally owned butcher shops that source local meat and dairy mfgs. Their prices are a bit higher but I plan on looking into that.

    • That makes sense but as soon as the locals can’t get meat from their chain supermarkets, they’re going to go to the same local butcher shops for their meat.

  9. I was at Walmart yesterday. It was noticeably less well stocked than what it had been 2 weeks prior. No limits on meat but there was not a lot available in the beef section. Chicken seemed about half full. I didnt check pork as we bought a full pig last fall and are well stocked. With the news of meat shortages I am going to make a trip in to the local meat market to try to get beef. I only have burger in the freezer and we will need some steaks or stew meat for variety. Masks are now required in our state but only about 50% of shoppers had them on. One way arrows were marked in the aisles but only about half the people were observing them. After our recent harsh restrictions here in Michigan I think everyone is just over extra rules!

  10. I’m thinking there will only be a shortage if folks begin panic buying meat (beef, pork or chicken) like they bought toilet paper. That may be where things are headed since we’ve heard there is now a run on freezers. As of now, the processing plants aren’t able to produce the quantity of product they were previously putting out into the market. I was in Sam’s yesterday (for diesel additive) and they had 1 package limits in the meat department (we’re in NM) and we have Blue Bell Ice Cream here so Teri, let me know where you are and I’ll bring you some. 😉 We also ranch, so we’re keeping an eye on things from our end, but like you, Judy, we are not listening to the main stream media.

  11. After watching the news last night and seeing all the packing plants that are closed due to this, I am sure there might be a shortage on meats, but once they get the employees well, things will be better. I know you have been planning for this a lot longer than back in January. You had a feeling when you were still going to Common Grounds regularly. I remember you saying you would rather be ready than be sorry. You are one smart gal!

  12. I think there may be a meat shortage. There already was earlier and stores here were empty of most meat for almost two weeks. We have local farms, but it wasn’t the right butchering time or something, so we were waiting on corporations. At one point, I even went into Walmart, and it had the worst shortages of all. There were NO hotdogs, no hamburger, no beef, and only a few chicken parts. I hope it doesn’t become a shortage like TP, but I could see it happening. I have meat, and I don’t eat a lot of it, but I have kept the boys stocked with hot dogs and sandwich meat. They may not have salami soon, but we are good on ham, at least!

    • I don’t even know what to think about it any more. I hope it’s not going to be as crazy as it seems like it could be. I was so surprised how much I missed roast beef sandwich meat when we didn’t have any and couldn’t get it.

  13. How do you all like those vacuum sealers? I’ve been thinking about getting one. It was really hard finding meat for a few weeks after lockdown. I know that I’m a picky eater, but I don’t like meat out of the freezer. It gets ice crystals on it and seems to be dried out when thawed and doesn’t taste right to me. Would a vacuum sealer be worth it and keep it fresher? Even some of my frozen food gets ice crystals when it hasn’t even been opened yet. I’m used to shopping every other day or so, especially since I used to work in a grocery store. That’s just not working well these days. Thanks for your opinion on the vacuum sealer.

    • It would be a big change for you to buy meat ahead, vacuum seal it and keep it in the freezer. It’s the only way of life I’ve known for many, many years and if I had to go to the grocery store more than once every couple of weeks, I think we’d starve but, we’re all different.

      I know what you’re saying about the meat in the freezer that’s not vacuum sealed. It doesn’t last long if it’s just in the typical butcher packaging.

  14. I have quit watching the news except for catching the weather forecast. It stresses me too much – the news, not the weather:) The first time I went to the store several weeks ago there was no chicken to be found. Since then I’ve been to the store twice. There was no shortage of meat or fresh fish. They also had toilet paper and paper towels but I haven’t seen hand sanitizer anywhere.

  15. I am in PA and I have a friend who is a farmer. They are also concerned that there will be a food shortage later this year. Milk is being dumped but the grocery shelves have no milk on them or limits. I am seeing the youtube videos about pigs being slaughtered and laying in huge piles to be disposed of. Poultry that is going to be euthanized. Fields of produce rotting. Cattle ready to harvest but not able to do so.
    I think there is much more to this than just a virus.

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