4 New Grocery Shortages Shoppers Are Sharing Ahead of Winter
Last week's list of shopper-reported shortages could affect your Thanksgiving cooking… but this week's list looks like it could affect your winter. Consumers around the country have been sharing images of the grocery departments with empty shelves they've encountered this week. Have you noticed any shortage of these?
We searched social media to find on-the-ground, up-to-date signs of grocery shortages, and a Reddit community had rounded up their finds. Keep reading to see what they were—and, check out another recent list of shortages that may help you plan ahead for Thanksgiving.
Pudding and Gelatin Mix
On Thursday, a shopper in Wisconsin shared this section of shelves that they say are designated for pudding and Jell-O mix—ingredients that sometimes come in handy for holiday baking, or when you're under the weather without much of an appetite and a little something sweet would help recovery.
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Dairy Products
Shoppers in different parts of the country have recently shared word of low stock on dairy products like cream cheese and half and half. Redditor u/wish_yooper_here said they see this trend growing in these images of a market in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
On a separate thread, u/WheelsWheeler shared that in particular, they've been missing "the Omega 3 Whole Milk I usually get from Aldi [for] several weeks."
Unfortunately, the perishable nature of most dairy items makes it challenging to grab a quantity for later use—but this may serve as a good reminder to look for the expiration date with the longest lead time when you're buying dairy.
(By the way, check out the interesting role dairy appeared to play in diabetes prevention in a recent study.)
Pasta
You know the struggle is real when the most basic non-perishable, like pasta, is scant. But that's just what one shopper said they found Tuesday at a supermarket in the Midwest: "No boxed pasta at Aldi."
They added that egg noodles were available, which might still make some cozy casseroles possible, but it seems noodles in general may be dwindling for certain grocery chains in some parts of the country—"Was just at my Aldi in the northern Midwest and no boxed pasta either," revealed another user.
U/Grilipper54 added: "Pasta is completely out at aldi in the twin cities." They said they'd found pasta at Cub, a chain with stores in Illinois and Minnesota, while another user on the thread said they'd grabbed some boxed pasta at Target.
According to u/winkytinkytoo, Giant may be another chain with some locations short on pasta.
Frozen Vegetables
Thursday, u/fugeguy2point0 posted that when they were hoping to make vegetable soup, frozen veggies were hard to find at a Walmart in northern Ohio.
Other users said they'd heard of or seen the same, with u/pguschin saying, "I've heard similar from extended family both in NY and California, not just Walmart (Great Value) but other brands which tend to be manufactured by the same few companies."
For the moment, it sounds like most have been able to find canned vegetables in place of frozen, while others saw success buying frozen from other stores—"I had to go to Dollar tree to find mixed frozen veggies," said u/fatcatleah.
Check out our list of chilly-weather soup recipes. And, if you notice a product shortage at your local supermarket or anywhere you shop, fill us in by emailing [email protected] so we can do some digging.
Stock up on more breaking food news here:
- This Struggling Burger Chain Just Announced a Bounce-Back Plan With 50 New Locations Nationwide
- Costco is Opening up New Warehouses in These Areas
- This Local Fast-Food Chain Is Opening Up Inside Walmart
- Papa John's Disgraced Ex-CEO Stirs Up Controversy In a New Interview
- 23 Discontinued Cereals That Deserve a Comeback
Editor's note: Technical choices in user comments were kept to preserve the original quotation.
